Despite rights-based conventions and legislative structures in place, PWDs face overwhelming challenges in obtaining a paid job. Those who succeed to get employed, face numerous issues, especially during their organizational socialization, arising due to prevalent ableist discourses, that often result in negative stereotypes, prejudices, and biases against newcomer PWDs and in turn promote PWD differential treatment. Thus, an effective organizational socialization becomes extremely crucial for the adjustment of newcomer PWDs in organizations. However, despite its increased relevance, organizational socialization for PWDs remains underexplored. I contribute to the emerging yet nascent literature on the above topic by conducting a qualitative study following Constructive Grounded Theory approach, among employees with blindness (EBs) engaged in formal permanent employment in different industries at junior and middle management levels. I explored EB lived experiences during organizational socialization. Study findings provide a nuanced understanding of socialization experiences of EBs in diverse organizations in terms of ableism perpetrated/countered. I report three archetypical systems, varying on the degree of ableism, and discuss PWDs corresponding proactive behaviour and adjustment during socialization. My study immensely contributes to the literature on organizational socialization, diversity and inclusion, and ableism in organizations. Additionally, I contribute to the literature on disability issues in organizations by highlighting how the EBs proactively adapt to diverse organizations. I discussed implications for theory and practice and outline future research directions based on findings.n

Entrepreneurial competencies are a specific group of competencies that enable the entrepreneur to start and grow a venture and are relevant to ensure successful entrepreneurship (Man et al., 2002). The significant push within the Indian context towards a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem and greater entrepreneurial activity makes it imperative to look at the entrepreneurial competencies which are fundamental for business success and growth (Mitchelmore & Rowley, 2010). While the existing literature (Unger et al., 2011) relies on the investments in human capital for the development of entrepreneurial competencies, there is a developing perspective focussing on human development in terms of the notion of capabilities (Nussbaum, 2000; Sen, 1985). The capabilities encompass elements such as opportunities, freedoms, resources, and entitlements on which skill and ability development of individuals is contingent (Subramanium & Zimmerman, 2020). We are extending this perspective focussed on capabilities to understand their relationship with entrepreneurial competencies and success. The purpose of our study is multifold: (a) to examine the relationship between capabilities and entrepreneurial competencies; (b) to examine the relationship between central capabilities and success of entrepreneurs and to capture the role of entrepreneurial competencies in explaining this relationship; (c) to explore the influence of personal attributes and environmental factors on the interlinkages among entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial success. The methodology adopted for this study is a multi-method approach, conducted in two phases. Within the first phase, an exploratory qualitative study was first conducted with entrepreneurs, to primarily identify and confirm the various capabilities, competencies, success dimensions and personal factors as applicable to entrepreneurs. The inputs from the qualitative study were used to identify the relevant sample and further develop the proposed conceptual framework. Thereafter, in the second phase, we conducted a quantitative study to examine the relationships between capabilities, entrepreneurial competencies, success, personal attributes and environmental factors in the form of a conceptual framework, within which we explored the mediating role of entrepreneurial competencies in the relation between capabilities and success; following which, we examined the moderating role of environmental factors. This study becomes relevant in today's context wherein entrepreneurship can play an indispensable role in promoting economic growth (Singh et al., 2019). With the push for a more supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem and for incorporating capabilities perspective within HRM, this study contributes to the competencies literature by providing the framework for the development of entrepreneurial competencies through the capabilities perspective.n

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has traditionally been presented as a scientific tool for sustainable development by ensuring that economic development projects consider their environmental impacts in decision-making. In practice, however, the EIA regulatory process has become politically contested, which involves multiple actors with variations in power, interests, and beliefs. The Indian EIA regulation, first notified in 1994, has often been held responsible for hindering India's economic progress, and its provisions have been fiercely contested. This contestation is evident in more than 50 amendments to which the regulation has been subjected since its inception. This dissertation analyses the political dynamics surrounding the frequent amendments to the EIA regulatory provisions in India. The simultaneous stability of the broader EIA regulatory framework and the frequent change to the specific regulatory provisions lends itself amenable to the application of the neo- Gramscian framework, which has been utilized in the extant literature on climate change politics. I use Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as the methodological guide and analyze four categories of documents, with a focus on provisions related to the public hearing process: (i) Over 80 rulings from the National Green Tribunal, (ii) Reports from 41 expert committees, office memorandums, andgovernment documents, (iii) 126 media articles, and (iv) 10 recordings of public hearings. Additionally, I conducted 21 interviews with individuals closely engaged with the EIA process in India. My analysis reveals that the domestic EIA framework's relative stability is upheld by a historical bloc comprising the executive, judiciary, civil society, and industry, all driven by their mutual interest in advancing economic development. They incorporate global discourses from the sustainable development historical bloc into local narratives, emphasizing delay, balance, and a conducive business environment. Utilizing regulatory and technological strategies and organizational allies, the bloc provides strategic concessions over time by allowing contradictions to surface in the economic realm while constantly re-aligning the strategies, allies and discourses protecting their interest. Consequently, despite frequent EIA amendments, the structure remains relatively stable. This dissertation contributes to existing perspectives on policy change by offering a dialectical understanding of policy change and stability. It underscores that calls for environmental justice and EIA-related reforms, such as increased public participation and squashing environmental clearances for procedural violations, continue to operate within the broader state machinery favouring capitalist interests. Thus, the likelihood of radical changes to the EIA structure remains slim unless a potent counter-hegemonic group mobilizes to provide substantial pushback.

Forecasting temporal data is vital in diverse managerial applications. Depending on the application, data can come in different forms, such as real-valued time series, multidimensional time series, functional (infinite dimensional) time series, and other object-oriented data such as shape data, symbolic data, etc. In this dissertation, we propose methods to address customized multi-criteria optimal forecasting and change point detection for real-valued time series processes and parametric modeling of empirically obtained density functions, i.e., functional time series data. The literature widely discusses forecasting methods based on optimizing a single criterion. However, multiple evaluation criteria are vital in most managerial applications of forecasting. In the first essay, we propose an algorithm, titled Adaptive Ensemble Generator or AEG, for generating a customized forecast ensemble that considers the user's preferences across multiple criteria. We demonstrate the usefulness of AEG through realworld forecasting applications of COVID-19 (weekly new cases in the United States) and inventory management for intermittent demand (SKU record from a Walmart California store). This algorithm's robustness and other characteristics are examined by applying it to an extensive time-series database. In the second essay, a new family of non-parametric test statistics (namely, I1, I2, and I2f ) collectively termed as the I-statistics for change point detection in real-valued time series data is proposed. Using scan-based measures obtained through sliding windows, first and second-order derivative-like discrete sequences are generated from the input time series. The characteristics of these sequences can then be used to detect various types of change points in the original time series. Subsequently, this information can be used for both diagnostics and forecasting purposes. The distributions of the I-statistics under the null hypothesis of no change are estimated empirically. With these test statistics at the core, an algorithm for quick detection of multiple change points of multiple types is proposed, titled Dimorphic Changepoints detector using I-statistics or DCI. The performance of the I-statistics is compared with existing tests from the literature by comparing the power of the test(s), false positive rate, and error in the location of detected change point(s). The proposed algorithm's efficacy is demonstrated in diverse real-world applications such as change points analysis of Bitcoin market price, Brent crude oil spot price, monthly total private construction spending in the US, monthly total no. of passengers at the JFK airport, and more. In the third essay, we work with infinite-dimensional functional time series data in discrete time. We focus our scope on curves of probability density functions evolving in time. We propose a method for parametric modeling and reconstructing the underlying data-generating process of empirically obtained probability density functions evolving in discrete time. This reconstruction can explain the variations in the data and forecast the same. The proposed method, titled Functional Fusion Method or FFM, operates by assessing the evolution of parameterized basis functions in both scale and shape. This dual-evolution capturing capability provides improved accuracy and easier interpretability compared to existing methods in the literature. The application of FFM is demonstrated on the annual time series of empirically estimated probability density functions of daily temperatures in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC.

Enhancing user engagement on social media platforms such as Twitter is imperative for sports franchises, organizations and individual influencers because higher engagement correlates positively with better sponsorships. This dissertation focuses on improving user engagement and delves deeply into the factors that influence engagement between a fan and numerous stakeholders on Twitter. Our results emphasize the significance of a differentiated Twitter content generation strategy for sports clubs. The first essay examines the factors that enable and enhance harmonious relationships between fans and sports franchises. Through an empirical investigation of tweets on the Indian Premier League (IPL) and a survey of fans, we deduce a fandom research framework and show that even though franchises are providing fans with the content that motivate fans to follow the franchise on Twitter, more efforts are needed in terms of content generation to make these fans engage with the content. In the second essay, using the Homophily Theory in the social media domain, we conceptualize a model and investigate the influence of a perceived and an actual match between a tweeter's and a sports franchise's geo-locations on Twitter engagement. Our findings reveal that a tweets engagement metrics positively correlate with whether the tweeter demonstrates demographic homophily with the mentioned sports franchise or the user perceives a demographic homophily between the two. In the third essay, we propose a Deep Player Performance Index (DPPI) to evaluate a player's in-season performance. To build DPPI, we first modify the FAdA©ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) performance evaluation guidelines in the context of T20 cricket. We then propose DPPI based on K-Means clustering and Random Forest algorithm. Our empirical results show that DPPI captures a player's batting and bowling strengths better than other indexes. In the fourth essay, we utilize the DPPI results to analyze the impact of a player's performance on user engagement metrics of the player-related social media content during in-season. Our results reveal that fans pre-season performance expectations from a batter and a batter's divergence from those expectations, have a significant impact on social media engagement of content generated around that player during the season.

Promotional credit is a unique price promotion that requires more than one purchase to realize savings and is valid until redemption or expiry of credit. This thesis focuses on the impact of (a) restrictions on promotional credit redemption, (b) purchase channels where customers receive the promotional credit, and (c) the non-redemption/expiry (slippage) of credit on consumers' purchase preferences. In Essay 1, through ten experimental studies and one natural field experiment, we find that customers' psychological ownership over promotional credit increases with increased perceived control over how they can redeem the promotional credit, leading to increased repurchase intention. We show that psychological ownership and perceived promotion fairness, together, fully mediate the effect of perceived control on repurchase intention. While customers normally prefer immediate price promotions over equivalent promotional credit, we find that psychological ownership reverses this preference. Expectedly, post-slippage, customers' repurchase intention significantly decreases compared with successful redemption. However, high ownership feeling attenuates slippage's negative effect as the customers take responsibility for slippage; in contrast, when the customers perceive that the marketer is primarily responsible for slippage, post-slippage repurchase intention decreases with increased ownership. Post slippage promotion fairness perception and consumer anger serially mediate the effect of ownership feeling on post-slippage repurchase intention. In Essay 2, through seven experimental studies and a single paper meta-analysis, we find that receiving promotional credit in online purchase channels increases the repurchase intention compared to receiving the same credit in physical purchase channels. Customers perceive promotional credit received in online channels as psychologically closer than offline promotional credit. We show that psychological distance to the credit and perceived control serially mediate the effect of the purchase channel on repurchase intention. We also find that, as the validity period of promotional credit increases, the positive online channel effect (vs. offline) on repurchase intention diminishes. Redemption restrictions and increased customer preference towards physical channels moderate the positive online channel effect (vs. offline) on repurchase intention. This thesis contributes to the literature on price promotion, shopping channels, psychological ownership, and psychological distance. Further, the thesis has significant managerial implications regarding promotional credit promotion design.

India's diverse socio-economic fabric has been shaped by its caste system over centuries. This thesis constructs and analyzes a unique database on caste sub-groups (jatis) to study population structures, occupational diversity, education, and entrepreneurship in colonial and contemporary India. In the first essay, we use 1911 Indian caste census data to create a novel pan-India map of caste compositions, revealing regional disparities in caste composition, dominant castes, and their attributes – fractionalization and sex ratios. We correlate these findings with agroecological factors like rainfall and soil quality to offer insights into the relationship between caste dynamics and regional geography. The second study investigates the impact of diverse historical caste compositions on contemporary educational and occupational outcomes in India. It reveals a diminishing influence of individual caste and religious identities when transitioning from the oldest to the youngest generations. Nevertheless, it also highlights that geographical location can disrupt this trend. Specifically, the historical caste composition of a region continues to be a significant factor across different age groups, affecting educational and occupational outcomes, which does not necessarily exhibit a diminishing trend from the oldest to the youngest cohorts. In the third essay, we study the cumulative impact of a large demographic shock caused by the 1918 influenza pandemic and drought on occupation-based caste groups and the resulting occupational shifts of these groups in the Central Provinces. The findings suggest an inverse relationship between population decline and caste rank. However, population shocks did not directly correspond to the magnitude of changes in sectoral shifts or a significant shift to traditional jobs, despite a temporary preference for traditional occupations among skilled non-agricultural castes during the influenza decade. In our fourth essay, we study the relationship between the caste system and entrepreneurship. Using the 1911 Industrial Census, we create the first comprehensive caste-based firm mapping, unveiling the dominance of trading castes, regional variations, and greater significance of non-trading castes than suggested in the existing literature. We connect the historical findings to the present using the 2013-14 Economic Census, revealing persistent barriers for lower-ranking castes in entrepreneurship. Additionally, we emphasize the role of ritual purity and traditional occupations in business and introduce a framework for analyzing caste and entrepreneurship.

Achieving environmental sustainability has been a priority for firms in the recent past. Firms are trying to reduce emissions and engaging with stakeholders to reduce the overall emissions in their extended value chain to be environmentally sustainable. While substantial knowledge is available on stakeholder engagement, there has been limited exploration on it for sustainability purposes and the determinants that might influence it. The first essay investigates factors influencing a firm's ability to engage stakeholders in mitigating value chain emissions. The essay proposes that internal (i.e., board oversight of climate-related issues and incentivization) and external (i.e., climate change commercial risk opportunity and ESG controversies) factors, along with contingencies (e.g., emission targets and management commitment) might drive firms to engage with stakeholders for value chain emissions. The essay relies on the tenets of control theory to theorize the effects. Using data from 226 firms and a robust empirical setup, the essay finds that board oversight, incentivization, and climate change commercial risk opportunity positively influence firm's engagement with stakeholders for value chain emissions, but there is no significant influence of ESG controversies. Through post hoc analyses, the essay illustrates the effects of different factors on customer engagement and supplier engagement, with particular focus on how monetary and non-monetary incentives and beneficiary types influence stakeholders. The second essay examines how a firm's awareness of various climate change risks and opportunities influences its decision to reduce emissions in its value chain through stakeholder engagement. Despite extensive discussions about climate chang's impact on businesses and preventive measures, little is known about climate change risks and opportunities. With data from 211 firms across 24 industries over five years, the essay reveals that firms display varied behavior in response to different categories of risks and opportunities. The essay identifies a significant positive association between transition risks and opportunities and stakeholder engagement, and no significant link for physical risks and opportunities. The essay further delves into the market-generated aspect of transition concerns, revealing that risk identification prompts supplier engagement, and opportunity identification drives customer engagement. It theorizes the effects of market-generated risk and opportunity on customer and supplier engagement, with the moderating effects of board oversight and environmentally sensitive industries, based on the principles of natural resource-based view of firms. The essay contributes to the field of climate change and expands the boundary of marketing literature by investing its implications on firms and subsequent behaviour.

Income interventions with pro-poor targeting is a common fiscal policy around the world. However, their corresponding distributional effects on consumption and savings are not well understood. In the first essay, using an Aiyagari - like economy with heterogenous households calibrated to Indian data, we show that the standard scheme of interventions that consistently targets low-income cohorts, has small distributional impacts on targeted and non-targeted cohorts. In contrast, a fiscally-equivalent scheme that changes the expected income profile of the targeted households in the same initial cohort irrespective of their future incomes, generates substantially larger effects by changing income mobility for both the targeted and non-targeted cohorts. This mobility-based channel generates consumption responses even though the magnitude of the shock is lesser for the initially targeted cohort, as it more than offsets the effect from permanent income shock. In the second essay, we estimate the preference parameters, time discount factor and elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS), for a set of Indian households. We assume power utility with constant coefficient of relative risk aversion and estimate these parameters using the Euler equation of consumption. We find substantial heterogeneity in these parameters across households. We observe a robust statistically significant negative relationship between the time discount factor and CRRA parameter. We find consistent patterns in sensitivities of preference parameters with household demographics. The third essay explores trade-offs in portfolio allocation of Indian households. A unique characteristic of an average Indian household according to a report by the Household Finance Committee in 2017 is that it holds around 11% of wealth in gold. In view of such a unique setting of household portfolio allocation we find that in the same sample of Indian households, a household would reduce their gold holding by 1% for a 0.41% increase in their holding in stocks, assuming power utility and optimal mean-variance portfolio allocation for each household in the sample. This trade-off was significantly affected by the demonetisation implemented by the Indian government in November 2016 which can be explained as a shock to the liquidity preference of the households. The assumption of mean-variance portfolio optimization rule might be slightly underestimating the share of gold in the sample.

The continued prevalence of fake reviews in the online marketplace poses a pervasive challenge impacting consumers, businesses, and online platforms. Fake reviews deviate from honest evaluations, potentially distort consumer purchasing decisions, and substantially affect global spending. This thesis consists of two essays that investigate how consumers cope with fake reviews and respond to the question and answer (Q&A) feature. The essays utilize experimental studies to examine the strategies websites can adopt to address the issues associated with fake reviews and consumer trust. Essay 1 investigates consumers ability to adjust purchase intention when exposed to fake reviews. Despite acquiring knowledge about fake reviews, consumers tend to base their decisions on the reviewer virtual presence rather than the reviews authenticity. Perceived deception in reviewers mediates the influence of virtual presence on purchase intention. Consumers perceive higher dissemination control of the firm over the reviews on the firms own website as compared to third-party e-commerce websites. We find that the mediation is moderated by perceived dissemination control. The inability to adapt evaluations in the presence of fake reviews suggests a vulnerability in consumer decision-making, emphasizing the need for effective mechanisms to counter the impact of fake reviews. Essay 2 focuses on the strategies adopted by e-commerce websites to enhance consumer trust. By incorporating a Q&A feature, websites can provide an interactive platform for consumers, potentially minimizing opportunities for review manipulation. The essay demonstrates that incorporating a Q&A feature can improve perceptions of website interactivity and that perceived interactivity can foster consumers trust in the website, mediated by social presence and website informativeness. We examine how the purchase verification mechanism moderates the relationship between interactivity and trust in the website. This research offers valuable insights for understanding and addressing the issues surrounding fake reviews. As consumers confront distorted product perceptions, websites face the challenge of enhancing consumer trust. Theoretical implications are discussed, while managerial implications provide practical strategies for businesses to manage the prevalence of fake reviews.

Country-level legal and regulatory institutions play a crucial role in the overall economic development of the country by facilitating the raising of external financial capital, and the flow of foreign investments among others (Cumming et al., 2017). In addition, successful financial regulations in place promote macroeconomic stability and prevent market failure. In this thesis, with three essays, I examine two specific country-level national laws the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016 of India; and Section(11) of the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBIs) Act 1992 and their interplay with the Indian financial market. A combined brief summary of all these three essays have been given below. In the first essay, the trading of exchange-listed stocks which have already entered for insolvency proceedings has been examined. The essay highlights two important questions:(a) are market participants incorporating information related to the bankruptcy event and (b) is there a lack of availability of the information in the financial market? The second essay brings another dimension of bankrupt firms. Here, the earnings management of the listed firms in their pre-bankruptcy period has been examined. This question is of special significance as earlier studies have mostly been carried out in a country where the insolvency regime is pro-debtor whereas the IBC of India is a leading example of a pro-creditor insolvency regime. Cumming and Johan (2019) argue that to properly analyse the impact of securities market regulations, an understanding of computer surveillance is a must. The third essay, thus, aims to make an additional contribution to the literature falling at the intersection of law and finance, by examining one of the surveillance actions implemented by the Indian Stock Exchanges. A separate summary of each of the three essays is provided below:Previous laws related to corporate insolvency resolution in India neither aided in credit recoveries by the lenders nor in the reorganization of firms. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016, thus is considered as a major structural reform as it restrained managerial opportunism by making the incumbent management relinquish control over the company's affairs, once the firm is admitted to insolvency proceedings. As a result, the impact of this pro-creditor insolvency law on the financial market is of special importance given significant amount of trading witnessed in some of these bankrupt firms1. Using a simple mathematical model, this essay shows that even to recover the initial invested amount in such stocks, it would take a significant amount of time to recover the original money. In this study, the concept of insolvency tub has also been introduced indicating a clear difference between the true price and market price of the firm resulting from information asymmetry among the market participants. Thus, this essay poses a crucial policy question. How reasonable it is for the regulators to allow continued trading in such stocks, given the confidential treatment of the resolution plan would lead to information asymmetry in the market? The findings from this study does not only contribute to the literature on the trading of stocks of bankrupt firms but also alerts policymakers and regulators about market inefficiency at the time of insolvency proceedings.

Literature is replete with studies on impacts of participation in non-farm work in the rural context and how it contributes to attenuation of rural poverty. The differential impacts of women's participation in non-farm work have received less importance. The three essays of this dissertation bring to the forefront the gendered impacts of participation in non-farm work. It explores impacts of women's participation in non-farm work on social esteem and diet quality. The first essay provides an overview of the evidence related to the determinants and impacts of non-farm incomes. The determinants include individual, economic and household level determinants that have varied effects across countries. The major impacts included in this essay comprise household income, poverty and inequality, agricultural productivity and food security. However, we argue that the impacts of livelihood diversification to non-farm employment is not restricted to only these tangible welfare indicators, especially when women are employed in non-farm work. We establish a conceptual framework using the Gender, Gaps and Assets Framework of Quisumbing et al. (2015) and empowerment framework of Kabeer (1999) to outline the pathways of women engagement in non-farm work to social esteem, an intangible indicator and nutrition of the household focusing on diet quality. The objective of this essay is to establish the relevance of the focus of the dissertation and serve as an introduction to the other essays. In the second essay, we explore intangible effects such as social esteem and self-worth that have been studied less in the literature of non-farm work participation by women. We investigate whether higher levels of social esteem will be observed among women employed in non-farm work, reflected in greater altruistic behaviour. To test this, we conduct dictator games in a lab-in-the-field setting to observe donations of participants across occupation types in rural Andhra Pradesh, India, followed by a survey of the participants. Using a between-subjects design and a treatment of public vs. private donations and associated social esteem concerns, we find that making the donation action visible increases the donation by 15 percentage points on average. Results also show that giving significantly vary among women across the visibility of the donation action, social esteem and the occupation type. The predicted donation amounts of women participating in both farm and non-farm work are higher by 32 percentage points on average than those of the women participating only in farm work. The third essay investigates whether the household diet quality is improved when the women participate in non-farm work for a rural farming household in India. We argue that women's engagement in non-farm livelihoods, not only generates a positive income effect, but also a higher bargaining power effect that promotes diet qualities. Using a secondary panel data set (Indian Human Development Survey) and employing instrumental variables regression techniques, we find that participation by women in non-agricultural livelihoods enables greater dietary diversity by positively affecting, the share of food expenditure on proteins and diet quality, as measured by the household diet diversity score. We find that the diet diversity score will increase by 6% if the women in the household are employed in non-farm work versus households where women are employed in only farming activities. Income from non-agricultural livelihoods has a significant positive impact on the diet quality of the households and this corroborates findings from earlier research. Diversification of occupations and changing dietary habits, features of the rural Indian economy, underscore the significance of such research with implications for both employment and nutrition policies. Policies or programs aimed at expansion of the non-farm sector could benefit from such research that highlights promotion of intangible prosocial behaviour and community level welfare effects via the channel of empowerment arising from employment in non-farm work by women.

An increasing number of aspirants for a diverse range of competitive examinations, and a culture of high-stakes examinations, has led the Indian test-preparation, or test-prep/coaching industry, to experience strong and sustained growth over the past several years (Sharma et al., 2022). Its rapid growth and growing influence has also led to various stakeholders raising concerns like equity of access to educational resources (Kishore & Sarin, 2022); stress on students and quality-of-life-related issues, including mental health (Chhapia, 2018; Sharma & Sidhu, 2011); impact on quality of school-level education, higher education and pedagogic practices (Barua, 2011; Misra et al., 2015); as well as issues of law and order (Chauhan, 2017; Saxena, 2015). In the Indian context, various dimensions of the issue have been brought under the lens of academic exploration, including, inter alia, life experiences of aspirants and role of the test-prep industry in influencing the technical higher education system in India (A berg, 2018); effects of test-prep pedagogic practices on school education and students approach to learning (Punjabi, 2020); test-prep industry and urban development in the context of popular engineering and medical entrance test-prep hub, Kota, Rajasthan (Rao, 2017); and representations of class and caste in the context of the portrayal of test-prep industry in popular culture (Salovaara, 2020). Aspects related to the historical evolution of the industry in India, and the nature of the policy responses by the Indian state to the issue of the presence, growth and functioning of the industry, however, remain unexplored in this tradition of academic exploration. This is important in the light of evidence which suggests that the Indian state's policy responses to the issue have often been contradictory, across various state-led institutions, as well as over time. That is, while some state-led institutions have been critical of the presence, growth and functioning of the test-prep industry (Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2020), others have been supportive of it (NITI Aayog Ties up with BYJUS, 2021), and their positions on this issue have evolved over a considerable time period. Such contradiction in policy responses and positions of various state-led institutions has meant that the state has consistently evaded clarity in terms of its de-facto approach to the issue, which in turn has had an influence on the search for solutions of problems associated with it. This has also implied, that academic exploration of the issue in the Indian context has mostly taken place in a vacuum of a clear understanding of the Indian states role vis-A-vis the issue. In this context, the present thesis attempts an exploration of the issue of the presence, growth and functioning of the test-prep industry from historical and institutionalization perspectives, to contribute to the growing academic as well as policy debate focused on it. The thesis proceeds in two broad parts. The first part consists of a historiographic inquiry, a critical policy historiography (CPH) (Gale, 2001) of the Indian states policy responses to the issue of the presence, growth and functioning of the test-prep industry in the Indian context. The second part consists of a field-based investigation of the institutionalization (Scott, 2014) of the test-prep industry at a popular test-prep-hub city in north India- Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. While the first study is secondary data based, the second study primarily relies on in-depth interview data collected from the field. As conclusion and contribution to the growing literature on the topic, a synthesis of insights from both studies is presented. Implications for policy practice and directions for possible future research are also identified.

Wrongdoings at work have the potential to harm the interests of individuals, organizations and the wider society, making it necessary that they get reported to prevent adverse consequences. Accordingly, whistleblowing at work, which is the disclosure by organisation members of illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organisations that may be able to effect action (Near & Miceli, 1985, p. 5), becomes relevant. The importance of courage, particularly moral courage, in the context of whistleblowing has been highlighted by many research scholars in the past; yet, its role has been underexplored. To fill this void, the current study explored the trajectory of moral courage in whistleblowing at work through actual whistleblowers lived experiences. van Manens (1990) hermeneutic phenomenology was adopted to explore the lived experiences of 24 whistleblowers across various kinds of organizations, organizational levels, occupations, sectors and geographical locations in India. The study took D'Cruz and Bjorkelos (2016) contextualized process model of whistleblowing at work as its theoretical point of departure to explore the lived experiences of moral courage among whistleblowers. Following van Manen (1990), the data, gathered through in-depth interviews, were thematically analyzed, leading to the identification of three core themes, namely, moral courage with minimal fear, moral courage with tractable fear and moral courage with excessive fear. Each core theme comprised major themes, themes and sub-themes. Various trustworthiness criteria were followed to ensure methodological rigour. The study shows that fear may not be central in the conceptualization of moral courage; yet, it plays a quintessential role in impacting whistleblowers trajectory and nature of moral courage to blow the whistle. The study validates D'Cruz and Bjorkelos (2016) contextualized process model of whistleblowing by showing the importance and interaction of organizational, situational and societal factors, beyond individual factors. In so doing, the study adds to the existing knowledge on the link between moral courage and whistleblowing by showing how a plethora of factors operating at multiple levels of analysis together impact the moral courage of whistleblowers.

Research on workplace bullying has predominantly reported negative physiological, emotional and behavioural outcomes on targets, highlighting a stressor-strain approach (Conway et al., 2021; Hansen et al., 2021; Vranjes et al., 2017). However, recently, postpositivist studies emphasize an alternate perspective, showcasing targets agency, strength and growth, thereby evidencing targets quest for well-being (van Heugten et al., 2021). The current empirical study, situated in the physical platform economy (DCruz & Noronha, 2023), further fine-tunes and extends these nascent findings by exploring the nature of targets well-being in terms of hedonia and eudaimonia. Data were gathered through in-depth conversational interviews from thirty-two food delivery platform workers based in Ahmedabad, India, and thematically analyzed. Three major themes emerged, namely, seeking eudaimonic well-being at work: food delivery platform work as a means to an end; experiencing bullying on the job: manifestation, etiology and impact on hedonic well-being at work; and focusing on eudaimonic well-being at work: neutralizing the ill-being of exposure to bullying at work, representing targets experiences of well-being vis-A -vis exposure to bullying, subsumed under the core theme the primacy of eudaimonic well-being at work: countervailing the scars of bullying at work. The study showed that, despite exposure to workplace bullying, targets downplayed and neutralized the consequent strain owing to the experience and pursuit of eudaimonic well-being at work and subsequently moved towards positive functioning in the long run. The subjective experiences of food delivery platform workers bring forth the complex interface between bullying and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being at work and the contextual influences therein. In the process, the study makes several theoretical and substantive contributions, along with practical implications towards policy interventions. Through its theoretical anchoring in hedonia and eudaimonia, the study advances the linkage between workplace bullying and positive organizational scholarship, pinpointing the synergies between the dark and bright sides of workplaces. It elaborates the nature of targets well-being, in terms of hedonia and eudaimonia, thereby extending emergent perspectives on target outcomes in the context of workplace bullying. The study adds a novel work context (i.e., the physical platform economy) in which workplace bullying is experienced, furthering existing insights into the workplace bullying-informal sector/employment interface. The study reinforces DCruz and Noronhs (2021) varieties of workplace bullying conceptualization, evidencing the types of bullying present in the physical platform economy.

Intralogistics plays a vital role in efficiently managing and optimizing the movement of goods and materials within warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities. This thesis focuses on addressing optimization challenges in intralogistics with the aim of enhancing operational efficiency, productivity, and worker well-being in intralogistics warehouse management. The thesis consists of three essays that address layout and routing problems in intralogistics, specifically the tool indexing problem in manufacturing facilities and the picker routing problem in warehousing facilities. The first two essays investigate the tool indexing problem in automated machining centers. These centers are crucial in modern manufacturing facilities and rely on automatic tool changers for efficient operations. In the first essay, we specifically tackle the tool indexing problem without tool duplication. By eveloping local search and tabu search algorithms that incorporate innovative bookkeeping techniques, we achieve significant reductions in search time and obtain high-quality solutions. Computational results on benchmark instances demonstrate the competitiveness and effectiveness of our proposed algorithms. In the second essay, we extend our study to the tool indexing problem with tool duplication. The inclusion of multiple copies of each tool in the tool magazine introduces additional computational complexities in evaluating the objective function. To overcome these challenges, we introduce an efficient approach for updating the objective function value during the neighborhood search. We then develop tailored neighbourhood search algorithms that improve computational efficiency and solution quality for this problem. In the third essay, we shift our focus to the issue of worker safety in order picking processes within warehouses. Research in this field has primarily focused on cost and order delay minimization, neglecting worker safety considerations. However, given the importance of ensuring a safe working environment in the backdrop of infectious diseases like the COVID-19 pandemic, we address this concern by optimizing picker routes using a mixed-integer linear programming model and deploying four well-known routing policies. By optimally assigning wait times to pickers, we effectively reduce picker overlap without compromising order completion time. Our findings demonstrate the potential to achieve significant reductions in picker overlap by allowing a slight increase in the maximum picking time for pickers.

Family firms (FFs) differ from non-FFs in that they have unique succession plans, nonfinancial goals, ownership structures, and strategic choices compared to non-FF. At the same time, FFs are a very heterogeneous group, and their preferences for socioemotional wealth (SEW), governance configurations, values, and generational involvement in business can vary greatly. In three independent essays, we examine the role of FF heterogeneity in FFs strategic choices. In the first essay, we examine the role of the FFs existing headquarters-subsidiaries (HQ-subs) networks institutional distance on the post-entry speed of internationalization (PSI). We focus on HQ-subs governance, knowledge, and administrative distances on the FFs PSI. Drawing on the organizational learning theory, we argue that existing HQsubs institutional distance negatively impacts an FFs PSI. However, the relationship is weakened if family owners belong to the trading community and the founder occupies the CEO position. The second essay investigates the chief financial officers (CFO) role in earnings management in FFs. Drawing on the social exchange theory, we hypothesize that the CFOs long tenure negatively affects earnings management. Using social identity theory, we hypothesize that CFO caste similarity with family owners is also negatively related to earnings management. We argue that these relationships are contingent on the CFOs last year of tenure, such that earnings management increases in the last year of the CFOs tenure. In the third essay, grounding our arguments in the SEW perspective, we bridge the conflicting findings in the FFs entrepreneurial orientation (EO) literature by investigating the role of types of SEW in FFs. Using computer-aided text analysis, we validate the two-dimensional measurement of SEW (extended and restricted SEW) and report that family owners who value restricted SEW have a lower level of EO, while family owners who choose extended SEW have a higher EO. We further explore the contingent role of the FFs internationalization status and find that it positively moderates the relationship between types of SEW and EO. We test the hypotheses of our three essays using panel data of the large-listed Indian FFs in the NSE 500 index from 2005-20.

This dissertation analyzes strategic interactions between an upstream seller and a downstream buyer in three two-period settings: (i) when the seller opens a direct channel in parallel to an existing indirect channel (aka seller encroachment); (ii) when the buyer may purchase advance units as strategic inventory (SI) or forward units to create supply-side competition between the seller and her advance units; (iii) when the consumers can sell their used products to a new cohort of consumers through a P2P platform. The first essay examines the impact of the seller's manufacturing cost learning on his encroachment decisions. We find that cost learning can help reduce the manufacturing cost enough to make encroachment profitable for the seller, despite his additional direct selling cost. However, encroachment induces the buyer to lower her orders, adversely impacting cost learning, and hence, the manufacturing cost. As a result, encroachment, which typically benefits the seller, may hurt him in the presence of cost learning. Surprisingly, the seller still continues to encroach and sell directly unless he can credibly assure the buyer that he will not encroach. The second essay studies the role of forward contracting when the buyer can carry SI. Since forward units and SI have a similar effect on the future spot price, we show that forward contracting eliminates the buyer's incentive to carry SI. We further reveal that it is always in the seller's best interest to offer a forward contract, which also benefits the buyer. Although in equilibrium, the buyer never carries SI in the presence of a forward contract when the holding cost is sufficiently low, the buyer's SI option distorts the forward contract, hurting all players; otherwise, the SI option has no impact on the players' profits. The third essay considers the role of SI and forward contracting in the presence of a P2P platform. Earlier studies suggest that in the absence of a P2P platform, the seller raises the first period price to suppress the buyer's SI, thereby limiting the buyer's bargaining position in the second period. By contrast, we find that the competition from the P2P platform may induce the seller to encourage, rather than discourage, the buyer to purchase additional units in the first period by dropping the respective price. Further, the seller prefers offering a forward contract over letting the buyer carry SI, which may hurt the buyer.n

What explains differential rates of healthcare technology adoption in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)? Three determinants that can help determine the technology adoption trajectory in LMICs are demand-pull from patients, technology push through actors with an appropriate network, and ecosystem provided by the market and non-market institutions. This thesis aims to study these three determinants to understand the changing dynamics of technology adoption and innovation in healthcare. In the first chapter, we exploit the COVID-19 shock to examine how intra-organization technology replacements occurred due to concurrent shifts in the demand and supply side. We use unique electronic medical records data from LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), which is one of the largest not-for-profit eye hospitals in India. We focus on the adoption of high-end medical technology by ophthalmologists to diagnose prevalent eye diseases replacing less costly and older technology. We find that visual acuity among the non-paying patients worsened during the lockdown. Demand-pull generated through increased impairment propelled new technology adoption, predominantly facilitated through technology- push by young physicians. Higher adoption of new technology, in turn, contributed to improving the eyesight of non-paying patients. In the second chapter, we focus on the demand-side factors to examine how sudden change in the opportunity cost of time changes technology engagement. We analyzed two million call records of enrolled users of ARMMAN. ARMMAN is an internationally recognized NGO that leverages mHealth to send timely informational calls to mobile phones of underprivileged pregnant women in Mumbai. We find that during the COVID-19 induced lockdown period, the hearing duration of these calls significantly increased; however, technology engagement behavior exhibited demographic heterogeneity. In the third chapter, we focus on the institutional side and propose a framework for the governments in the LMIC setting. We conceptualize the role of margins of digital endowment and methods of information dissemination through digitalization in healthcare. We substantiate this framework with empirical evaluation based on Indian data to find that when public health information is disseminated individuals with digital endowments report better health. However, the distribution of this benefit is not uniform, and heterogeneities exist based on caste and location.

The Indian derivatives market is one of the largest derivatives markets by volume in the world. The existence of liquid single stock options, single stock futures, and spot market along with very high retail participation makes the Indian financial market unique. In this thesis, we examine three different aspects of this market. The first essay examines the role of the derivatives market in attenuating left-tail risks anomaly. We find that the negative association between left-tail risk measure and future return is absent only in stocks with derivatives (DR stocks), indicating that derivatives trading hastens the diffusion of negative information into the stock prices. We also find evidence that the information generation role of derivatives contracts plays a primary role compared to the reduction of investor inattention and limits to arbitrage. Our results show that the existence of a derivatives market hastens the incorporation of negative news in the stock price. In the second essay, we examine investors behavioral biases and preferences in the options market near 52-Week high and low (52W-H/L).We document that as the stock price approaches 52W high (low), the risk-neutral skewness (RNS) and out-of-the-money (OTM) call volume decreases (increases), while OTM put volume increases (decreases). After crossing the 52W high (low), the RNS and OTM call volume increases (decreases), while OTM put volume decreases (increases). The effects are economically large and significant. Our findings provide evidence consistent with the anchoring theory of belief distortion near 52W-H/L. In the third essay, we examine if the embedded leverage of an instrument can impact relative trading activity across markets. Using option/stock, option/future, and future/stock volume ratios as measures of relative trading activity, we empirically find higher trading volumes in securities offering higher embedded leverage in general and especially during earnings announcements. Additionally, we find that embedded leverage incentivizes information generation thereby reducing future price uncertainty. Taken together, our findings show that derivatives improve information flow and they do so by making it easier to trade. Therefore, sometimes, they can also amplify biases. Our results provide valuable insights for investors, policymakers, and regulators.