Food waste is a serious global concern, with ugly food being a major contributor. Ugly food refers to produce that deviates from standard size, colour, or shape. Consumers do not purchase ugly food because of its appearance despite its normal food attributes. This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of consumer purchase behaviour towards ugly food.rnIn the first essay, we explore drivers, barriers, and interventions for ugly food purchase. We adopt a qualitative research approach using open-ended essays and employ the theoretical frameworks of Theory of Consumption Values and Innovation Resistance Theory. The key insights obtained from thematic analysis of the open-ended essays collected from 52 participants suggest that consumers purchase ugly food due to its functional attributes and fun nature. Their purchase of ugly food is driven by their environmental and social concerns and emotional connection with food-growing practices. The study also highlights the role of social media in fostering curiosity about ugly food. However, limited exposure to ugly food and difficulties in cleaning and preparation reduce consumer willingness to purchase it. Furthermore, social norms, misperceptions, and judgments also create consumer biases which can be addressed by educating them and introducing various interventions at the retail and government levels.rnIn the second essay, we conduct repeated cross-sectional studies to analyse consumer-related factors, such as nostalgia and connectedness to nature, and a product-related factor, like local support, as motivators of consumer behaviour towards ugly food. We find that nostalgia, connectedness to nature, and local support positively influence consumer attitude, which mediates their relationship with purchase intention, subsequently translating into actual purchasing behaviour. These findings remain consistent over time.rnIn the third essay, we examine how consumer health perception acts as a barrier to purchase ugly food. Drawing upon Cue Utilisation Theory, we demonstrate that ugly food develops negative health perception, which in turn reduces purchase intention. However, we suggest health messages as an intervention and employ the Accessibility and Diagnosticity Framework to illustrate that these messages can enhance health perception and increase purchase intention.rnThrough this research, we contribute to the ugly food literature and also offer multiple implications for policy and the food retail industry.

This research examines the impact of disclosure of nutritional attributes on the front of the package (FOP) on product evaluation and choice(s). Specifically, the FOP cues are of two types: the one-sided partial condition, which only has the Nutrients to Limit (NTL) information. Second, the two-sided, full information (NTL+NTE) with additional Nutrients to Encourage (NTE) information disclosures. The one-sided, partial FOP cues containing only NTL information may impede consumer decision-making. On the other hand, the two-sided, full (NTL+NTE) FOP cues have the potential to enhance their well-being.rnIn Essay 1, we use a between-subject experimental design for non-comparative contexts. Drawing from two-sided persuasion literature, we found purchase intentions are significantly different in the case of comparison between one-sided, partial (NTL) and two-sided, full (NTL+NTE) information for products that have either both congruent (High NTL and High NTE) or both incongruent (Low NTL and Low NTE) attributes. However, with products having congruent and incongruent attribute combinations (High NTL with Low NTE and Low NTL with High NTE), purchase intention will not change significantly. Subjective Attitude Ambivalence (SAA) mediates these significant changes to perceived healthfulness, leading to purchase intention. We also study the moderating role of an interpretive format versus the reductive format on the linkage of FOP cues to SAA. The two-sided, full FOP cues will evoke SAA in specific cases affecting purchase intentions. We provide a moderated dual-mediation model through SAA for halo and horn effects through separate studies.rnIn Essay 2, for comparative product evaluation contexts, we test the potential of the two-sided, full information in the interpretive format to check serving size manipulations by the marketer. Using choice architecture theory, we find that consumer choice reduces significantly for health-framed or low-serve size options for two-sided, full information, compared to one-sided, partial (NTL) information. This reduction in choice might lower the marketers’ tendency to decrease the serve size information in case of one-sided, partial (NTL) information. This decrease in serve size results in a favorable evaluation of low-serve-size option products. We find a serial mediation of the Ability to Differentiate Healthiness and perceived healthfulness, leading to the purchase intention.

This dissertation investigates whether family firms differ from non-family firms in key decision-making scenarios such as international expansion and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. Unlike non-family firms that focus on maximizing shareholder wealth, family firms prioritize socioemotional wealth (SEW), encompassing various non-financial objectives. This fundamental difference in focus leads to distinct strategic decisions between the two types of firms. The study is based on listed Indian (NSE-500) family and non-family firms. Family firms are those in which at least one member from the founder’s family holds an executive or board position, and the founding family maintains at least 20% equity ownership.rnrnThe first essay of the thesis delves into differing choices of family and non-family firms related to the governance structure (equity vs. non-equity) of international strategic alliances (ISA). ISAs are unique due to the inherent risk of partner opportunism, where, despite joint value creation, tensions regarding value appropriation may lead to failures. This essay argues and empirically shows that family firms, compared to non-family firms, prefer international equity alliances over international non-equity alliances despite the former being riskier. Additionally, this essay explores the moderating role of partners’ industry-relatedness and the focal firms’ prior experience in the partner’s home country on the choice of equity vs. non-equity alliances.rnrnThe second essay explores how family and non-family firms differ in their preference for host-country regulatory environments in cross-border acquisitions (CBA). This essay empirically shows that family firms, compared to non-family firms, prefer host countries with stronger regulatory environments in CBA. Further, the essay investigates how two informal institutional factors—political affinity between the home and the host country and family business legitimacy in the host country—influence the choice of the host-country regulatory environment.rnrnThe third essay examines disparities in CSR disclosure between family and non-family firms, particularly within the unique Indian context. This essay sheds light on how these differences manifest by examining the diverging motivations of family and non-family firms driving CSR disclosures and the contingent effect of CSR committee independence and women’s representation on corporate boards.rnrnThis dissertation mainly contributes to the family firms’ internationalization literature and corporate governance literature.

Extensive food advertising has contributed heavily to promoting unhealthy eating behaviour in developed and developing countries alike. Especially young children who have tremendous exposure to this advertising through platforms such as digital games are at a higher risk of contracting lifestyle diseases early on. Turning them away from unhealthy foods and toward healthy foods is a challenge which needs to be tackled using a gamut of techniques and strategies. A few such strategies are involving them in meal preparation and influencing them in favour of fresh produce and home-made food besides imparting nutrition knowledge to them. Since these children spend a lot of time online on digital games and are influenced heavily by them, it may be worthwhile to integrate these strategies within digital games itself.rnrnThis dissertation examines the role of psychological ownership and perceived experiential value amongst children in increasing uptake of healthier food options through digital games. It also examines the shape-food healthiness correspondence amongst children in the digital games space in the context of heathy foods. To that end, we conducted separate experimental studies with school children in Ahmedabad.rnrnThe first study shows us that psychological ownership mediates the relationship between playing the food preparation digital game and choice outcome. We also found that the perceived experiential value significantly mediates the relationship between playing the food preparation digital game and purchase intention. The second study shows that young children do not identify a correspondence between shape, health and taste of food products that were displayed to them during the game. They exhibited a greater preference for unhealthy food items as compared to healthier ones, irrespective of their shape, i.e. roundness or angularity. We also found that affect and taste perception significantly mediate the relationship between the food type and their preference.rnThis study advances the research in the domain of psychological ownership, visual marketing and pathways to food preference. It highlights the role of digital games in effecting behavioural changes in food consumption.

Rewards, external environment, and costs have been drivers of all behaviors, including prosocial behavior. Common intuition would argue that costs and negative shocks in the external environment act as deterrents, whereas rewards encourage behaviors. Across three essays, I collaborate with eight organizations and leverage eight field experiments (three large-scale), five lab studies, and three large datasets of actual charitable giving and find that, contrary to common intuition, negative shocks (disasters) and costs (costly vs. costless) encourage prosocial behaviors, whereas rewards (gifts) deter people from prosocial behaviors.rnGifts have been one of the most common strategies used by charities for donor retention. In essay 1, across four (two large-scale) field experiments, I examine the impact of gifts on donor retention. I find that gifts are counterproductive for charities as they decrease donor retention rates and subsequent donations. Heterogeneity analysis shows that a significant proportion of donors reject gifts and the negative impact of gifts is primarily due to the donors who reject gifts. Across four lab studies, I examine the underlying reasons for ‘why donors reject gifts’.rnNearly every day, a natural disaster strikes some part of the world. In essay 2, I investigate whether natural disasters affect total monthly donations. Importantly, I examine whether donors substitute donations from either non-disaster causes or their future donations to donate to disaster relief efforts. To examine these questions, I utilize longitudinal data of nearly 40000 donors from both USA and India and across two disasters. I find that donors increase their overall donation during natural disasters. Interestingly, donors do not substitute donations from non-disaster causes or from their future donations. These effects persist even after prolonged exposure to the disaster. I investigate managerially relevant variables for donor targeting for disaster-relief efforts.rnIn essay 3, I examine whether donors are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior when it is costless than when it is costly, and donor choice between costly and costless prosocial behavior. Across five field experiments in various contexts of social media, Charity giftcards, and Word-of-mouth, I find that donors are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior when it is costly than when it is costless. Moreover, people are more likely to choose to incur costs than not incur costs to engage in prosocial behavior. I also explore underlying mechanisms for these findings.

Abstract Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending platforms are two-sided markets that connect individual borrowers with individual lenders. The long-term sustainability of these platforms depends heavily on maintaining a critical mass of active lenders. However, lenders face substantial risks, particularly the risk of borrower default, and require reliable information to make informed funding decisions. This research comprises two essays that utilize data from an Indian P2P lending platform to investigate borrower repayment motivations and lender churn behavior, offering valuable insights for improving lender retention strategies. Essay 1 explores borrowers’ motivations to repay throughout the loan tenure and how these are influenced by peer behavior on the platform. Using a Cox Proportional Hazard Model with discrete durations, the study reveals that the probability of default follows an inverse-U pattern: it is lower at the beginning, peaks mid-tenure, and decreases again toward the end. Additionally, a borrower’s likelihood of default increases with a higher proportion of geographical peers who defaulted. This peer effect is strongest mid-tenure and weaker at the beginning and end. Essay 2 focuses on lender churn behavior—the probability of lenders leaving the platform—and how it evolves with platform tenure, network connectivity, and external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Cox Proportional Hazard Models with continuous durations, findings indicate that lenders become less likely to churn the longer they stay on the platform—until the COVID-19 outbreak, after which churn rates increased with tenure. Furthermore, lenders who were part of referral networks exhibited consistently lower churn rates both before and after the pandemic onset. This research enhances the understanding of platform dynamics, peer influence, and user retention in digital financial ecosystems. It provides actionable insights for platform managers to design more robust lender engagement and retention mechanisms.

While digital platforms adopting a multi-sided marketplace as a model facilitate matching and information sharing between buyers and sellers, they continue to face disintermediation risk wherein buyers defect with a matched service provider, continuing subsequent transactions outside the platform. Such transactions have adverse economic implications for the platform. Therefore, digital platforms strive to reduce disintermediation. To this end, this thesis examines the role of having a layer of human agents, over and above the usual digital layer, as a cushion against disintermediation.rnSpecifically, in the first essay, I draw on the Mangle model to theorize antecedents (type of service and the presence of third-party insurance) of the customers' adoption of the human agent layer. I test these effects using a dataset from a car aftermarket service platform. Results reveal that a customer’s likelihood of interacting with the human agent is higher for services with a perceived functional value than social value. Findings also illustrate that customers with third-party insurance are more likely to interact with the platform’s human agent.rnIn the second essay, I investigate the consequences (repurchase decisions and cost implications) of the customers' adoption of the human agent layer. I show that the incidence of customer repurchases interacting with human agents increases by 37.5%. I demonstrate the mediating role of customer satisfaction in the relationship between the use of the human-agent layer and customer repurchases. Finally, I also illustrate the cost benefits of deploying human agents for the platform. Collectively, these findings offer several managerial and theoretical insights concerning the use of human agents to curtail disintermediation.

The concept of digital sustainability has been defined “as the organizational activities that seek to advance the sustainable development goals through creative deployment of technologies that create, use, transmit, or source electronic data (George et al., 2020, p. 1000).” In this thesis, I study how organizations develop capabilities for digital sustainability.rnIn the first essay, I review the literature on capability development in entrepreneurship. In summary, entrepreneurship research on capability development needs a better understanding of (a) how new ventures build capabilities for digital sustainability, (b) the role of entrepreneurial support organizations (ESO) such as accelerators in the capability development of new ventures, and (c) the capability development at the ESO or accelerator level. The second and third essays attempt to understand these questions.rnI study the role of accelerators in the capability development of new ventures in the second essay. Accelerators are cohort-based programs designed to support new ventures by providing resources such as mentoring, capital, and industry connections. Using eight cases of new ventures in an accelerator, I study how they develop capability for digital sustainability during the program. I find four stages of capability development: co-identification of needs, availing resources, learning, and origin of capability. Further, these capability outcomes depend on the venture stage, founder’s expectations and perceptions, team, priorities, external dependencies, and engagement with the program.rnrnIn the third essay, I explore the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities of an accelerator. While accelerators have proliferated in the last decade, they represent a relatively new form of organization operating in dynamic environments. These accelerators need sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring capabilities to support new ventures. Using a single case of accelerator focusing on digital sustainability ventures, I study its sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring capabilities. I find that it sensed the opportunities to support ventures by understanding the segment, selecting relevant ventures, and identifying their support areas. It seized those opportunities by engaging, providing support, mentorship, and advice, working with partners, and connecting ventures. Further, due to its learning across cohorts, it realigned activities related to focus and selection, bootcamp and training, portfolio support, and program.

Energy transition has become a pivotal instrument of climate action across governance scales—international, national, and sub-national (Turnheim et al., 2020). Within the transition discourses, energy justice has been recognized both as a central tenet of just transition imperatives and as a normative-analytical construct to inform the design, analysis, and evaluation of transition policies across geographies and governance scales, to ensure inclusivity in systemic energy transitions (Carley & Konisky, 2020; McCauley & Heffron, 2018). Situated within this evolving landscape of energy transition, this thesis critically examines the justice-awareness embedded within renewable energy transition discourses pertinent to the Indian context, employing a dual approach that integrates top-down and bottom-up governance frameworks.rnThe thesis comprises two interlinked essays. The first essay operationalizes Saussurean linguistic structuralism through Semantic Query-based Coding (SQC), a computational social science method, to empirically assess the institutionalization of energy justice as a policy preference in renewable energy transition discourses across international, national, and sub-national governance scales, with Karnataka as the sub-national focal case. The study interrogates temporal shifts in justice formulations, their governance across modes and scales, and the interplay between policy mechanisms. Our findings in this essay reveal that energy justice policy formulations have evolved in response to “external dislocation events” aligned with pivotal “climate justice moments” (Kaufmann & Wiering, 2022). However, a lack of policy diffusion is evident, with international governance emphasizing restorative justice and national governance prioritizing distributive justice. Furthermore, we find that state- and market-driven mechanisms dominate just transition governance through provisioning, authority, enabling, and self-governing modes (Bulkeley & Kern, 2006).rnThe second essay employs a case study design to critically examine sub-national energy transition governance, using Karnataka as the focal case. This bottom-up analysis investigates the governance dynamics of solar transition in the state, integrating policy analysis with an in-depth evaluation of the justice perceptions of communities living around the Pavagada Solar Park. Our findings reveal systemic injustices in policy implementation, manifested along regional, caste-based, and gendered dimensions. The essay concludes with actionable recommendations aimed at addressing these inequities, providing targeted reforms for policymakers in Karnataka.rnMethodologically, the thesis demonstrates the utility of contextualized word embeddings in scaling normative policy evaluations through deductive coding. Substantively, it addresses critical gaps in literature on sub-national just energy transitions in India, offering novel insights into the governance architectures and justice framings of renewable energy transitions.

An underdog brand is a brand with limited resources that competes with passion and determination against dominant market players. While literature has long documented consumers’ preference for market leaders, there is growing evidence that some consumers favor underdog brands—even at the expense of price and quality.rnrnThough underdog narratives date back to ancient stories like David vs. Goliath, academic research into their use in marketing strategy is still emerging. This study contributes to the field by investigating how underdog brand positioning (UDBP) influences consumer value perceptions.rnrnEssay 1 explores the connection between UDBP and consumer-perceived value. The study finds a mediating role of empathy, suggesting that UDBP enhances the perceived hedonic value of a brand, while utilitarian and overall service value remain unaffected. Additionally, the effect is moderated by individual differences in personal control and empathetic ability, both of which influence the empathy evoked by UDBP.rnrnEssay 2 examines a behavioral outcome of UDBP in the context of media consumption. Consumers often support underdog brands by sacrificing quality or paying a premium. In digital media platforms, advertisement revenue is driven by user engagement. This essay investigates whether consumers spend more time watching ads on media platforms with an underdog identity and whether that extended engagement diminishes perceived value. Findings show that consumers do spend more time on such platforms, and this increase attenuates their perceived value. Furthermore, consumer skepticism toward advertising moderates this pathway.

Crowd-based platforms have become increasingly popular for fulfilling financial, ideational, and expertise-based needs. Recognizing this potential, academic research has explored numerous factors influencing supply and demand dynamics on these platforms. This dissertation contributes to scholarship and practice in this domain by analyzing unique scenarios and identifying key demand-side advantages. Underlying these scenarios are interesting and dichotomous theoretical viewpoints. Addressing these gaps enhances our understanding of the phenomenon, contributes to the existing literature, and proposes solutions for the demand side.rnrnConsidering donation-based crowdfunding, the first essay examines how crises as an exigency impact prosocial behavior. Altruism logic suggests that projects from affected regions should attract more funds, while the bystander effect argues for fewer donations. Beyond this dichotomy, we explore racial determinants of funding. Our findings reveal that projects from crisis-affected regions receive lower funding, supporting the bystander effect. However, projects from regions with higher non-white populations receive better funding, given the baseline reduction. Consequently, these insights offer practical guidance for effectively managing platforms in response to external events such as disasters.rnrnExamining reward-based crowdsourcing platforms, the second essay studies the effect of concurrent contests on solver efforts. Network effects logic suggests that more contests should attract more efforts, while resource allocation theory argues that efforts will spread thin. Using participant-level data, we find that more active contests reduce efforts. We further explore contest-level interventions of reward amount and description. A richer contest description mitigates this negative effect, while high rewards exacerbate it. These findings offer managerial implications for competition organizers and platform designers to optimize user engagement.rnrnFocusing on equity crowdfunding, the third essay examines the role of innovativeness narrative in funding success using an entrepreneurial storytelling perspective. Based on signaling theory, this narrative can convey originality to investors but also holds the risk of appearing embellished. We further explore the role of the geographical affiliation of the venture in complementing this narrative. Our results indicate that high innovativeness reduces funding, but disclosing the venture's specific location mitigates this effect. Finally, we offer strategic insights for entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of location-aware narratives.

Students differ in their learning patterns which can be studied by examining their learning trajectories. Analyzing students’ learning trajectories helps to ensure their progress and identify low-performing students at risk of falling behind or dropping out. Regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds, students can improve their performance if they are exposed to the appropriate learning environment, making it crucial to identify factors that facilitate continuous progress. Growth models are valuable tools for school leaders and policymakers as they can provide crucial information on the factors responsible for improving learning.rnThis dissertation comprises three studies concerning the within-year growth trajectories among students of grades 3 to 5 in mathematics and science, two core learning areas. The first study investigated students’ learning trajectories to determine whether significant within-year growth occurred. Using a curriculum-based measures framework, we administered short multiple-choice quarterly tests, analysed them through item response theory, and linked the tests to measure growth. The results indicated average linear growth within the sample. The second study explored the association between teachers’ academic emphasis, self-efficacy, trust in students and parents, and teachers’ growth mindset with students’ within-year growth. We modeled these characteristics along with students' and teachers’ demographic variables in the multilevel growth model. The results showed that teachers’ academic emphasis was positively associated with students’ within-year growth, while teachers’ self-efficacy and growth mindset showed no significant association. Notably, trust in students and parents was negatively associated with growth, warranting contextual interpretation.rnThe third study investigated the presence of latent classes amongst students’ within-year growth trajectories using a growth mixture modeling approach. The analysis revealed that all the students in the sample belong to one class only. This showed homogeneity among the variations in the learning trajectories of these students despite belonging to different genders, castes, and socio-economic backgrounds. Together, these studies contribute to the literature on within-year growth modeling and offer insights into factors influencing academic progress. Implications for policy and practice in India’s school education are discussed.

Heightened economic uncertainty contributes to increasing inflationary pressures.rnThe consequent impact on firms has significant implications for price stability sincernfirms are price setters. In this thesis, I examine the impact of macroeconomic shocksrnand uncertainty on firm inflation expectations and cash holdings. The findings provide insights into the transmission of shocks and are crucial for tailoring effective policy actions.rnrnIn the first essay, I analyse the impact of macroeconomic shocks on firm inflationrnexpectations using unique firm-level survey data. Understanding firms’ inflation expectations is critical for central bank policymaking. The significance is more evident post COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war when central banks across the world are struggling to anchor inflation expectations. The findings suggest that increases in universal intermediate prices show up in firms’ price-setting behaviour. This points towards the importance of supply-side management in achieving the inflation target.rnrnIn the second essay, I examine the relationship between inflation uncertainty, beliefs and inflation expectations of firms. I find that the effect of crisis-led inflationrnuncertainty on inflation expectation is asymmetric. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the impact of high inflation uncertainty on inflation expectations. On thernother hand, the Russia-Ukraine war had a negative impact on inflation expectations.rnThe war effect may be attributed to geopolitical factors that helped India procurerncrude oil from Russia on favourable terms. Additionally, firms’ beliefs about theirrnprofits are negatively associated with inflation expectations.rnrnIn the third essay, I study the differential impact of global and domestic economicrnpolicy uncertainty on the cash holdings of firms across ownership groups. Globalrneconomic policy uncertainty is likely to impact firms that have higher exposure torninternational markets. I find that the cash holdings of foreign firms are higher thanrnthose of other firms when there is an increase in global economic policy uncertainty.rnIn contrast, for domestic economic policy uncertainty, firms affiliated with businessrngroups increase cash holdings at a higher rate. I observe similar results for firmsrnthat are financially constrained. This may arise from precautionary motive of cashrnholdings.

Multiple job holding (MJH) refers to working more than one job simultaneously in exchange for, or expectation of, compensation. The rise of MJH has evoked a variety of responses from leaders of organizations that employ full-time workers- from overt denial of MJH to conditional acceptance at best. The research regarding the relationship between MJH and performance remains limited and equivocal. In this thesis the relationship between MJH and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), a discretionary aspect of work performance, also referred to as contextual performance was examined. Using tenets of conservation of resources theory, organizational support theory, and job demands-resources theory, it is predicted that perceived organizational support (POS) will moderate the relationships between MJH and OCB. In addition to studying the impact of holding MJH on performance, the similarity of the multiple job(s) to the side job and the amount of time spent on the paid side job on performance were also tested. A total of 601 participants working in different industrial sectors, comprising those who hold multiple jobs (N = 294) and those who hold only one full-time job (N = 307) were surveyed. Findings from regression analyses revealed no significant differences in the contextual performance displayed by multiple jobholders (MJHers) and people who work only a full-time job. MJHers whose paid side job was highly similar to their full-time job were found to display higher OCB compared to those whose paid side job was dissimilar to their full-time job. Further, MJHers who spent more hours weekly on their paid side job were found to display less OCB as compared to those who spend fewer hours towards it. POS was found to significantly moderate the relationship between jobholding status (doing MJH or not) and OCB, meaning those MJHers who report high perceived support from their full-time job, display higher contextual performance at their full-time job, compared to those MJHers who evaluate their organization to be providing low support. Just because someone does MJH does not mean their performance is going to be poor. The performance of MJHers is impacted by the experiences employees have at their full-time job organizations. The number of hours spent on MJH, and the nature of work done in the side jobs influences performance. Contributions to theory and practice, and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Policy reforms in developing countries are increasingly shaped by New Public Management (NPM) principles, emphasizing technological integration, contractual employment, and performance-based compensation, with the goal to enhance public service delivery. The Indian government's Ayushman Bharat (AB) initiative, aimed at providing comprehensive primary healthcare, represents one such NPMdriven reform. Situated within the NPM literature, this study examines the intersection of policy reforms and frontline implementation practices. Focusing on the transformation of health sub-centres into Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), it explores how these reforms shape the everyday practices of frontline health workers. While existing research on HWCs addresses systemic challenges and workforce performance, it largely overlooks the perspective of frontline health workers, who are critical to the successful implementation of the policy.. This study adopts a "practice-based approach" (Bartels, 2018) as the theoretical lens to analyze the implementation of the AB-HWC policy, focusing on the everyday practices of health workers at HWCs as the unit of analysis. Based on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork, it integrates participant observations, in-depth interviews, and policy document reviews to generate rich qualitative data. Using Straussian grounded theory as its analytical strategy, the study investigates how health workers at HWCs interpret, engage with, and adapt policies within their specific contexts through their daily practices. The analysis uncovered pathways of practice that map the progression and adaptation of health worker practices in response to specific events and contexts, offering a nuanced understanding of policy implementation processes. Community Health Officers (CHOs) and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), as temporary contractual workers, demonstrated substantial practice adoption and adaptation over time, navigating new responsibilities and aligning with directives from higher authorities. In contrast, permanent health workers adhered to established practices, displaying limited adaptation to policy changes. This divergence is theorized through precarity within critical NPM literature, extending beyond structural aspects, which dominates current scholarship, to emphasize relational dimensions influencing practice variations across employment types. By highlighting the interplay between employment conditions and relational experiences of precarity, the study sheds light on the differential responses to policy directives among frontline health workers. It also elucidates the theoretical and practical implications of policy interventions, contributing to the broader understanding of policy implementation in public organizations.

Real-time Blind Source Separation (BSS) can significantly enhance applications that traditionally rely on offline BSS. Real-time BSS can also enable new real-world applications. In atypical scenarios, especially those involving deliberate obfuscation, jamming, and active interference, classical BSS techniques often exhibit suboptimal performance. We propose a novel technique and reason how it can use spatial discrimination to effectively separate desired signals from signal-mixtures in such challenging environments.rnrnUsing a simulation model of a drone-based machine condition monitoring application and a public dataset of real-world factory sounds from five types of industrial machines, we first show that a widely-used BSS technique – Independent Component Analysis – fails to perform adequately. Then, we give a proof-of-concept demonstration of our proposed technique, Blind Spatiotemporal Beamforming (BSB), using the same model and dataset, and quantify its performance using multiple statistical measures. The computational cost of BSB averaged over one thousand runs is used to validate BSB’s real-time functionality.rnrnIn a second proof-of-concept demonstration, we develop an elaborate simulation model for a drone-based logistics management application. The model includes three scenarios, each with a single transmitter and varying numbers of co-located active interferers. Millions of simulation runs are conducted to quantify BSB’s performance across all three scenarios. The results show that BSB successfully extracts signals from the transmitter in all cases, including the most challenging scenario, where the transmitter is surrounded by sixteen active interferers. BSB’s performance is quantified using efficiency and effectiveness measures. Using the computational cost measure, averaged over thousands of simulations runs, we corroborate real-time functionality of the BSB technique for the drone-based logistics management application.rnrnFinally, we discuss the potential for the BSB technique to improve performance and enable real-time functionality in current BSS applications across management and healthcare disciplines.

Many developing countries introduced agricultural market reforms that allowed farmers to bypass the traders (intermediaries) in the agricultural wholesale market. It enabled the rise of alternate marketing channels (AMCs) whereby farmers could now sell to private markets, direct markets, and digital platforms such as Bigbasket and Ninjacart. Common intuition might suggest that reforms would improve farmer welfare by increasing marketing channel choices for farmers. However, they have met with strong resistance from not just the traders but also the farmers. Past research offers limited insight into the effect of such reforms, allowing farmers to bypass traders and sell directly via AMCs on macro and micro-level outcomes.rnIn this context of the rise of AMCs, the first essay examines the effect on macro-level outcomes of elasticity and speed of price transmission and on the probability of markets getting integrated by leveraging cointegration, Vector Error Correction Model, and logistic regression. Interestingly, the results show that AMCs lead to a decrease in price transmission elasticity despite an increase in price transmission speed. This implies that such reforms potentially weaken inter-market linkages yet enhance market efficiency by enabling quicker responses to price changes.rnIn the second essay, we develop a game theoretical model to examine the effect of such reforms on micro-level outcomes: farmer welfare, consumer welfare, and the profitability of traders and digital platforms. Additionally, we capture the heterogeneity in transportation costs, farmers’ direct selling costs, and market competition. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, our analysis indicates that allowing farmers to bypass the traders can decrease farmer welfare when direct selling costs to the platform are high. Surprisingly, our results show that traders are not eliminated from the market; in fact, bypassing them can sometimes increase their profits. We also find that reforms can increase platform profits only if the markets are large and competitive. Importantly, it has unintended downstream consequences for consumers as it always reduces their welfare. Our results hold significance for the policymakers as a) they suggest that the government should consider lowering farmers’ direct selling costs while implementing policies that facilitate AMC. b) they dispel fears regarding AMCs eliminating traders in agricultural wholesale markets.

Social entrepreneurship has been widely recognized as a powerful mechanism to tackle poverty, empower marginalized population, catalyze social transformation and foster inclusive growth. Rooted in the intersection of entrepreneurship, social innovation, and public value creation, it differs from traditional entrepreneurship by prioritizing social value creation alongside economic sustainability. Despite its growing prominence, the field still faces critical gaps, particularly in synthesizing fragmented knowledge on key constructs such as social entrepreneurial intention and behavior. In this thesis, we focus on understanding the concept of social entrepreneurship from the intention of becoming a social entrepreneur to starting a social enterprise and choosing different ways of organizing the venture.rnrnFirst, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge, limitations and future research directions within the social entrepreneurial intention literature through a systematic literature review of 133 research articles.rnSecond, we study the determinants across institutional and individual levels that influence organizational form choice by social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs have been found to organize under various forms to engage in essentially the same type of activity. Using the framework of Saebi’s theory of social entrepreneurship, we propose a theoretical model that explains this variation in both pre-formation and post-formation stages of a social organization. We use multiple case study methodology to analyze data from seven social organizations in the education and skill development sector of India.rnrnThird, we study in detail the factors that influence the translation of social entrepreneurial intention into social entrepreneurial behavior. All studies on social entrepreneurial intention use self-reported intention as a proxy for the actual venture creation in spite of increasing evidence that not all entrepreneurial intentions translate into the creation of a new venture. We propose a research framework including two groups of factors- intrinsic and extrinsic, that are likely to impact this relationship. We investigate this relationship using mixed methods approach. To test the hypotheses around social entrepreneurial behavior, we use a 2-wave survey separated by 9 months and complement the findings with qualitative interviews with 82 respondents filling the two surveys.

Linguistic framing, the way messages are presented through language, plays an important role in influencing consumer decisions, particularly in contexts that involve helping others. Prosocial decisions, such as donations, volunteering time, or supporting social causes, are often influenced by how the requests are communicated. By strategically framing their messages, marketers can effectively shape perceptions, drive motivations, and influence behaviors, demonstrating the critical role of language in encouraging prosocial behavior.rnThis thesis explores how different linguistic frames can impact prosocial decisions. Essay 1 focuses on how framing national achievement messages in a competitive manner differentially impacts consumers’ helping behavior. Through a survey and a field experiment conducted in 20 Indian villages, we demonstrate that competitive framing of national achievements reduces prosocial behavior. Further, we find that this effect is attenuated when the consumption context is not prosocial.rnIn essay 2, we examine the effectiveness of emotional framing in acquiring prosocial funds, demonstrating that emotional framing can sometimes reduce the likelihood of funding. We demonstrate that the effectiveness of emotionality depends on whether a microentrepreneur frames the appeal for an entrepreneurial pursuit or a family need. An empirical analysis of 351,410 prosocial crowdfunding appeals finds that emotionality works only when the narrative highlights the opportunity to help the microentrepreneur’s family and not when framed as supporting an entrepreneurial pursuit.rnOverall, this research contributes to our understanding of how strategic linguistic framing can significantly influence consumer decisions that promote societal well-being. Understanding its influence can help marketers, policymakers, and organizations design more effective communication strategies to foster prosocial behavior and achieve higher social impact.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) expects Gram Sabhas to claim community forest rights (CFR) on traditionally accessed forest resources for recognition by the District Level Committee. Despite over 15 years of implementation, the FRA literature reports inconsistent findings on how village and district-level factors influence the claiming and recognition of CFR. Drawing on the three-legged stool framework for successful participation of communities in forest-related actions, in Essay 1, I construct a theoretical framework of 12 factors potentially influencing the demand for rights, capacity for claim-making, and the supply of (i.e., institutional support for) CFR recognition. Analyzing secondary data from CFR recognition across Maharashtra, the leading state in CFR recognition, I find the villages characterized by the availability of the offices of the Tribal Development Department, regulated by the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act 1996, affected by left-wing extremism, higher traditional forest areas and population percent of the Scheduled Tribes, and availability of minor forest produce are more likely to receive CFR recognition. I find counterintuitive results of village-level fractionalization index and per capita income poverty rates on CFR recognition.rnIn Essay 2, I adopt a longitudinal case study covering 13 years of CFR recognition in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli District. While contributing to the general understanding of relatively better implementation in Gadchiroli, I demonstrate that performance can only be attributed to two of the eight District Collectors (DCs). Further, I develop two studies to explore information-rich cases associated with respective CFRs claim receipt spurts. These case studies show the relative dominance of top-down approaches in the implementation strategies adopted by two high-performing DCs. The essays contribute to the literature on FRA, forest tenure reforms, and policy implementation. The study has implications for policy and implementation: a legislated decentralization reform that uses largely a demand-based approach will then depend heavily on community interest and capability, and may require explicit mechanisms for bridging awareness and capacity gaps in the target population. Providing space for bureaucratic innovation that enables implementation through supply-side support can be one mechanism, although its outcomes might be uneven.