Globally, e-commerce warehouses have begun implementing robotic mobile fulfillment systems (RMFS), which can improve order-picking efficiency by using automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to realize operations from parts to pickers. AGVs depart from their initial points, move to a target rack position, and subsequently transport racks to picking stations. The AGVs return the racks to their original positions after the workers pick them up. When all tasks are completed, the AGVs return to their starting point. In this context, the main challenge is the task assignment and route planning of multiple AGVs to minimize travel times. We formulate a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model with valid inequalities to solve small problem instances optimally. We introduce a reinforcement learning (RL)-based hyper-heuristic (HH) framework to solve large instances to near-optimality. A typical HH framework comprises two levels: high-level heuristics (HLH) and low-level heuristics (LLH). The framework starts from an initial solution and improves iteratively through LLHs, while the HLH invokes a selection strategy and an acceptance criterion to generate a new solution. We propose a novel selection strategy based on the improved MultiArmed Bandits algorithm called Co-SLMAB and Exponential Monte Carlo with counters (EMCQ) as the acceptance criterion. The corresponding collision avoidance rules are then formulated for different conflicts to construct a conflict-free traveling route for AGVs. Besides testing the proposed framework's effectiveness in real-life warehouse layouts, we perform extensive computational experiments and a thorough sensitivity analysis. The results show that (i) the proposed valid inequalities aid in obtaining better lower bounds and significantly speed up the solution process; (ii) the Co-SLMAB-HH framework is quite competitive compared to CPLEX, outperforming the other tested hyper-heuristics and the problem-specific heuristic regarding convergence and computation time; and (iii) a pool of LLHs consisting of a wide range of different operators is advantageous over a limited set of simple operators while solving problems using hyper-heuristics.

PurposeThis study examined the factors impeding the implementation of micro-credentials and accepting it as a credible source of earning professional qualifications and certifications necessary for pursuing higher education or other career goals.Design/methodology/approachThe factors were identified by reflecting on the recent literature and Internet resources coupled with in-depth brainstorming with experts in the field of micro-credentials including educators, learners and employers. Two ranking methods, namely Preference Ranking for Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) and multi-objective optimization based on ratio analysis (MOORA), are used together to rank the major challenges.FindingsThe results of this study present that lack of clear definitions, ambiguous course descriptions, lack of accreditation and quality assurance, unclear remuneration policies, lack of coordination between learning hours and learning outcomes, the inadequate volume of learning, and lack of acceptance by individuals and organizations are the top-ranked and the most significant barriers in the implementation of micro-credentials.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings can be used by educational institutions, organizations and policymakers to better understand the issues and develop strategies to address them, making micro-credentials a more recognized form of education and qualifications.Originality/valueThe novelty of this study is to identify the primary factors influencing the implementation of micro-credentials from the educators', students' and employers' perspectives and to prioritize those using ranking methods such as PROMETHEE and MOORA.

The need to constantly adapt to the changes in the business environment and selling situations places enormous demands on salespeople. Applying the Job Demands-Resources theory, this study examines the negative impact of adaptive selling on salespeople. Using survey data from 384 sales professionals in different industries in an emerging market, we find that adaptive selling directly increases cognitive anxiety among salespeople. Furthermore, our research suggests that cognitive anxiety mediates the relationship between adaptive selling and emotional exhaustion. However, our study did not find support for the direct impact of adaptive selling on emotional exhaustion, suggesting that in some instances, the need to practice adaptive selling by itself might motivate salespeople to get more involved. Our study also demonstrates that salesperson perseverance reduces the negative impact of adaptive selling on cognitive anxiety, suggesting a moderating effect. The study concludes by providing theoretical and practical implications.

Purpose - Ageism has deleteriously influenced individuals and society for nearly half a century. Despite receiving increased attention, it remains under-researched regarding how it might be reduced in the workplace. Even though its prevalence and allure, review studies on workplace ageism (WA) are also scarce, and thus a review is warranted. Design/methodology/approach - To fill the preceding void, this study will systematically review the existing literature on WA using data from the past four decades. Findings - This study identified the various antecedents and the intervention mechanism through which WA may be reduced. Additionally, through reviews, the authors advance the research by offering promising avenues for future research. Originality/value - This review contributes to human resources managers and will inspire future scholars to delve deeper into combating age discrimination, stereotypes and bias toward employees in workplaces.

This paper proposes a novel explainable artificial intelligence (AI) driven ensemble machine learning (ML) framework for predicting fertilizer price movements and assessing the contributions of the technical and macroeconomic indicators. We integrate the Boruta algorithm, Maximal Overlap Discrete Wavelet Transformation (MODWT), Random Forest (RF), and explainable AI. The predictive analytics exercise utilises the residual of the previous stage as an additional indicator for arriving at the subsequent stage forecasts. We observe a significant influence of the residual in providing forecasts for time series with higher frequencies. The explainable AI is used at the global and local levels to explain the impacts of the indicators on fertilizer price movements. We have used monthly urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) prices for nearly the last 30 years for predictive analytics. The explainable AI identifies the more significant impacts of the technical indicators compared to macroeconomic counterparts in forecasting urea and DAP prices at the global level. Also, the price movements of urea and DAP are similar at the global level. On the contrary, macroeconomic indicators influence more at the local level. The CBOE volatility index for urea, geopolitical risk, and commodity industrial input for DAP significantly influence the price movements at the local level.

Conditional process analysis has garnered significant attention as an analytical technique, and the literature has progressed to accommodate intricate combinations of conditional process models. As the field of information systems witnesses a growing use of conditional process models in empirical research, there is a need to develop a shared understanding of the technique to advance theory-building efforts. Considering the significant emphasis on contextspecific theorizing in the discipline, we reviewed the technique's application, focusing on publications in the Senior Scholars' Basket of Journals. By conducting a critical review of 72 articles published over the past two decades, we identified variations in the technique's application and underscored optimal approaches for scholars to consider. Furthermore, recent advances were deliberated upon. Drawing from the observations and recommendations, we assert that this study is poised to reorient thought processes within the information systems discipline, encouraging the exploration of novel perspectives for richer theorizing in the field.

The inopportune organization of spice supply chains (SSCs) results in aided risks, resource wastages, and sustainability issues. Nevertheless, practitioners and academicians alike must investigate spice supply chain management (SSCM) in terms of long-term sustainability. This study draws on the available literature to compile a collection of characteristics and maintain sustainable spice supply chain management techniques which come up with associated risks and relevant obstacles. Existing studies claim that due to a lack of resources, the associated risks are the root of poor SSCM performance. As a result, the goal of this study is to identify the primary risk variables using qualitative data; nevertheless, the attributes must be converted into a scale that is comparable. The fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) was used to obtain valid and reliable attributes from qualitative data, while the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (FDEMATEL) was used to address uncertainty and interrelationships simultaneously. FDM results suggest that there are eighteen critical risk variables and seven risks threatening effective SSCM. FDEMATEL results reveal qualitative data translated into crisp, comparable values in order to investigate causal linkages between variables and confirm the compatibility of the theoretical structure with industry realities. The findings show fluctuation in the Price (C8), diseases and pests (C20), human contamination (C23), spice adulteration (C24), and loss of food quality, and quantity (C36) are all important risks and sub-risks in these causative interrelationships. The primary risks involved in enhancing SCM include Financial Risk (A5), Ergonomic Risk (A8), and Operation and Management Risk (A10). The study recommends that industry professionals use future marketing tools to protect themselves from price changes which allow them to assess supply and demand circumstances and manage price risks over distance and time. Spices are the key contributors to earning a sizable amount of foreign currency through export in a developing country. It suggests to policymakers, regulatory organizations, and practitioners to develop regulations, raise farmer understanding about pest control, impose stiff penalties on vendors and businesses proven to be involved in spice adulteration, and develop a sustainable fertilizer distribution system. These corresponding action plans for improving the SSC sector and comparing it with agro-food and short-supply chains are investigated. This study contributes to theory by utilizing FDM and FDEMATEL methods for addressing the uncertainty and interrelationship among associated risks that hinder SCM from attaining sustainability.

PurposeThis paper aims to evaluate the impact of various preview modes on tourist attitudes and intentions to visit a destination based on consumers' level of involvement in travel decision-making.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted as a between-subjects one-factor [preview mode: static images vs 360-degree tour vs virtual reality (VR) mode] in a laboratory experiment setup to examine how consumers with different levels of involvement in travel decision-making respond to destination marketing toward three different preview modes.FindingsThe findings indicated that VR preview mode highly influences tourist attitudes and visit intentions toward a destination compared to static images and 360-degree tours. This effect is more significant among participants with higher levels of customer involvement. Finally, the results from the study offer empirical evidence of the effectiveness of VR in shaping user behavior compared to traditional preview modes.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations are using a non-probability sampling method, a small sample size and affordable mobile-compatible VR headsets.Practical implicationsThis study offers empirical evidence on the effectiveness of VR in shaping tourist behavior compared to traditional preview modes. It helps destination marketers develop appropriate strategies for promoting tourist destinations.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper lies in understanding the effectiveness of VR in shaping tourist behavior with different levels of customer involvement in travel decision-making.

Consumers often face uncertainty in decision-making while assessing options presented as attribute-bundles as they are unable to assess their utility. This confusion is exacerbated by the presence of a decoy, or an inferior option, which leads to the phenomenon of attraction effect, while the presence of an equally attractive alternative leads to the compromise effect. In this study, we show that if functional attribute values are converted into ratings on a common scale, consumers do not depend on attribute-based processing but choose an option by considering appropriate attribute-bundles based on the attribute ratings. This shift in decision-making process attenuates both attraction and compromise effects.

This study presents a novel, thorough approach for central banks to identify and rate digital currency adoption obstacles. The study uses AHP and ANP to identify and prioritise CBDC adoption issues in two phases. The biggest hurdles identified are economic, technical, and financial.

Purpose-Smart manufacturing is revolutionizing the manufacturing industry by shifting the focus from traditional manufacturing to a more intelligent, interconnected and responsive system. Despite being the backbone of the economy and despite the government's efforts in supporting and encouraging the transformation to smart manufacturing, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been struggling to transform their operations. This study aims to identify the challenges for SMEs' transformation and the benefits they can get from this transformation, following a systematic review of existing literature. Design/methodology/approach-A systematic review of existing literature has been performed to identify the peer-reviewed journal articles that focus on smart manufacturing for SMEs. First, a comprehensive list of keywords relevant to the review questions are identified. Second, Scopus and Web of Science databases were then used to search for articles, applying filters for English language and peer-reviewed status. Third, after manually assessing abstracts for relevance, 175 articles are considered for further review and analysis. Findings-The benefits and challenges of SMEs' transformation to smart manufacturing are identified. The identified challenges are categorized using the Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI) framework. Further, to address the identified challenges and initiate the SME's transition toward smart manufacturing, a framework has been proposed that shows how SMEs can start their transition with minimum investment and existing resources. Originality/value-Several studies have concentrated on understanding how smart manufacturing enhances sustainability, productivity and preventive maintenance. However, there is a lack of studies comprehensively analyzing the challenges for smart manufacturing adoption for SMEs. The originality of this study lies in identifying the challenges and benefits of smart manufacturing transformation and proposing a framework as a roadmap for SMEs' smart manufacturing adoption.

PurposeRecent technological advancements, often linked to Industry 4.0, require organizations to be more agile and innovative. Blockchain technology (BT) holds immense potential in driving organizations to achieve efficiency and transparency in supply chains. However, there exist some insurmountable challenges associated with the adoption of BT in organizational supply chains (SC). This paper attempts to categorically identify and systematize the most influential challenges in the implementation of BT in SC.Design/methodology/approachThis study resorts to an extensive literature review and consultations with experts in the field of supply chain management (SCM), information technology and academia to identify, categorize and prioritize the major challenges using VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and Combined Compromise Solution method (CoCoSo).FindingsThe top three classes of challenges revealed in this study are privacy challenges (PC), infrastructure challenges (IC) and transparency challenges (TC). Maintaining a balance between data openness and secrecy and rectification of incorrect/erroneous input are the top two challenges in the PC category, integration of BT with sustainable practices and ensuring legitimacy are the top two challenges in the IC category, and proper and correct information sharing in organizations was the top most challenge in the TC category.Originality/valueFuture scholars and industry professionals will be guided by the importance of the challenges identified in this study to develop an economical and logical approach for integrating BT to increase the efficiency and outcome of supply chains across several industrial sectors.

Public administration in the recent years has become a very dynamic and vast domain owing to evolving challenges. Our study aims to comparatively evaluate the changing discourse in public administration research in general and 'Public Administration and Development' (PAD) in particular. For this purpose, we have taken research articles from nine journals of public administration domain for the period of 2010-2022. We have used the text-mining based approach of Dynamic Topic Modelling to understand the evolution of topics in public administration research. This is followed by the Named Entity Recognition (NER) to discover the geographic importance given in public administration research vis-a-vis PAD. We have used the measure of 'Jaccard similarity' to compare the changing discourse of PAD with respect to other journals. We have found that topics on approaches to governance, organization performance and health were always on the priority in literature. We have also found that topic coverage in PAD is more diverse and niche compared to the overall trends in public administration research. NER findings suggest that public administration research is more Euro-North American centric while PAD has pan-continental presence with focus on developing countries.

In the current piece, we trace the rise, spread and subsequent decline of maritime trade relations between the eastern coast of India and Southeast Asia, with special attention to the regional state of Odisha of the Indian Union. Through a narrative history approach, we critically examine the historical accounts of India-Southeast Asia relations. While doing so we focus on Odisha and its shared past with the Southeast Asian region. As India stresses its 'Act-East' policy to improve its relations with Southeast Asia, such accounts hold special significance. We revisit historical narratives to highlight how it was not marked by a unilateral process of assimilation but that of acculturation in which both sides contributed to a shared past.

This case stems from a 2019 scenario at Caspar Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a rapidly growing digital marketing and automation service provider in India. CEO Jacob faced concern after presenting to a major client, Pragati, the founder of Villuvia.com, one of India's top online jewellery brands. While email marketing had been a core strategy since the beginning, its return on investment had dwindled compared to social media advertising, exacerbated by a recent overhaul introducing a new digital marketing team. They excelled in social media but were new to email marketing software. Caspar Technologies unveiled cMercury, an AI-based technology to streamline email marketing campaigns. Although initial tests showed promise, it came at a five-fold cost compared to traditional email management software, which demanded extensive manual intervention. Jacob considered offering Villuvia a discount for the festive season but awaited Pragati's decision. This would determine whether their budget would be allocated to email marketing, social media, or offline expansion. This case allows students to delve into email marketing intricacies, assess metrics and make quantitative evaluations. It also presents a platform for qualitative discussions on managerial dilemmas, like evaluating the digital team's capabilities, prioritizing customer acquisition or retention and gauging the long-term viability of AI-powered email communication.

Knowledge acquisition and integration across boundaries is essential for developing innovative solutions in social enterprises (SEs). The vital role of knowledge brokers in this process has been sparsely discussed. This study examined knowledge brokering roles for effective solution development in SEs. We qualitatively analysed four Indian SEs using analytical techniques of grounded theory and the Gioia method. Brokering emerged as a collective process involving multiple agents who spanned for, translated and integrated two knowledge sets: expert and contextual. Correspondingly, two brokering roles emerged: boundary spanners and translators, which were further subdivided into primary and secondary. SEs displayed varying brokering configurations, which we explain by developing one of the first models of collective knowledge brokering using Schein's organisational cone (1971) and immersion. SEs can employ our model to identify and groom agents into specific brokering roles, and develop beneficial brokering configurations, for enhanced effectiveness.

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a public health programme in India involving multiple stakeholders across sectors with the common goal of reducing mother and infant mortality by boosting institutional deliveries. Under JSY, pregnant women receive financial assistance in the form of cash transfers into their bank accounts. Using data from the latest National Family Health Survey providing a sample of 15,968 poor women, we show that Financial inclusivity is associated with greater uptake of JSY. Our research highlights the inter-relatedness of health and financial sector policies, signifying the need to address citizen-centric development beyond the silos of schemes.

This study investigates the impact of online disinformation and hate speech on a country's image, considering its implications for the destination's image and tourism prospects. Utilizing the theoretical lens of soft power, the study performs a macro-level empirical analysis across 56 countries on the influence of a diverse array of online disinformation variants and hate speech on the nation's brand image. The results from the configurational analysis demonstrate the increasing dominance of state and partisan factions-led disinformation, which collectively impact the nation's image. The findings also shed light on the diminishing role of foreign disinformation, while the ancillary function of online hate emphasizes the significance of disinformation amplified hate speech, which has become increasingly commonplace in global political discourse, with such disinformation campaigns using hate speech as an amplification strategy. The study contributes to contemporary tourism research, which underscores the vitality of the country's image to tourism and offers recommendations to destination marketing organizations towards intensifying efforts to preserve the country's image.

Public health communication acts as a social vaccine in case of pandemics. Prior research has identified that such initiatives often fail to reach vulnerable sections of society. In India, while the first wave of infections mainly hit the urban areas, rural areas witnessed a surge in the second wave. Using the World Bank data, we attempt to understand the effectiveness of public awareness campaigns in rural areas. We use the Ecological Model for public health and find how the various factors relate to public health outcomes. The ecological factors are found to be related to awareness of Covid-19. We find inadequate awareness about the symptoms and preventive measures associated with Covid-19 among the rural population. We also find significant differences in communication and awareness along dimensions such as education and access to media. The role played by SHGs and hospitals in dealing with pandemics is also evident in this study. We conclude that the disparity in public health communication needs to be bridged to ensure equitable access to health information in society during public health crises.

Although the role of creativity in influencing consumer responses is well explored in research related to marketer-generated content, it has yet to be examined for consumer-generated online reviews. Across two studies (a text analysis of 33,508 online reviews and an experiment), this research examines the influence of creativity in online review narratives on readers' perceptions of review helpfulness. The results from these studies show that: 1. more creative reviews are evaluated as more helpful than less creative reviews, 2. perceived cognitive effort of the review originator mediates this relationship, but perceived sincerity of the review does not, and 3. product type moderates the relationship, such that greater creativity positively impacts perceived helpfulness of reviews for search products but has a negative effect for experience products.