1. Ph.D Theses
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Item An Empirical Investigation of Factors Influencing Exit Intentions of Micro and Small Enterprises in India(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2021) Socrates, K.; Gopalakrishna, B. V.India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and its socio-economic growth is tightly coupled with the growth of the micro, small and medium enterprise sector. Recognizing its potential in the nation’s development, the Government of India is increasingly strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem to promote start-ups and innovation-led growth in this sector. Despite these numerous supportmeasures, enterprise closure is prevalent andmost of the closed enterprises areMicro and Small Enterprises (MSE). Paradoxically the reasons for such closures are not known due to the unorganized and proprietorship nature of this sector. Research findings indicate that entrepreneurial exits have a substantial impact on future entrepreneurial activities in the country. These reasons necessitate the need to gain a better understanding of the exit decisions of IndianMSE owners. Existing research on entrepreneurial exit has primarily focused on the conceptualization of the exit phenomenon, identification of the motives and the exit strategy of the exiting entrepreneur, factors influencing exit intention, exit planning and timing, and the post-exit activities of the exited entrepreneurs. A large share of empirical studies has investigated the impact of various internal and external factors on firm exits in developed countries. Recently, researchers have shown interest in investigating the actual exit strategies adopted by the exited small business owners. A few studies have acknowledged that the intentions and motivations of the entrepreneurs affect their choice of exit strategy. These studies have empirically examined the influence of personal level triggers on the exit intention of small business owners using behavioural theories. Based on the literature review, it is found that the key factors influencing the choice of exit option still remain largely unexplored, particularly in the context of micro and small enterprises of developing countries. The existing research in this area is mostly of a qualitative and country-specific nature. Since the Indian business environment is different from that of other countries and since there is a lack of research on entrepreneurial exits in an Indian context, this study responds to the need of research in understanding the determinants of the exit intentions of Indian MSE owners. ii This research aims at empirically investigating the influence of individual, firm, and market environment related factors on various exit intentions of Indian MSE owners using the theory of planned behaviour. A questionnaire-based survey approach is used to collect the primary data for this study and hypotheses are tested on a sample size of 360 MSE owners having a working enterprise in industrial estates of Karnataka state. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software is used to perform both descriptive and multiple regression analysis of the data obtained. The analysis has revealed that high human capital, strong psychological ownership, high firm performance, suitable firm location, severe market competition, low product demand is related to an entrepreneur’s intention to exit. Our results indicate that entrepreneurs with a high level of entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial experience demonstrate subsequent entrepreneurial re-entry intention. Incidentally, entrepreneurs with strong psychological ownership prefer to pass-on the firms to their family, since their psychological ownership negatively influences exit intention. Owners of high performing firms derive exit intention to harvest their past investment to pursue other activities. Strategic location of the firm influences the exit intention of the owner to reap maximum benefits through harvest sale. Owners who are facing unfavourable market conditions, namely severe market competition and low product demand, intend to opt for distress sale to avoid failure. Although this research contributes to entrepreneurial exit research, the results might also be of interest to the entrepreneurs and policymakers trying to understand the conditions leading to entrepreneurial exits.Item Information and Communication Technology and Export Performance of Firms: A Study of Food Processing Industry in India(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2021) R, Navyashree G.; Bhat, Savita.The role of ICT in enhancing the performance of an economy and business enterprises cannot be neglected in the present era of globalization. The use of ICT can be one of the strategic ways or tools for the firm to improve efficiency and performance, which leads to the long-term survival of the firm in the market. Several studies in the context of developed countries have examined the relationship between ICT and firm performance and found a significant relationship between the two. However, there are very few studies that have examined the impact of ICT on firm performance in the case of developing countries, particularly in India. Therefore, the objective of present study is to examine the determinants of investment in ICT and its impact on export performance of food processing firms in the context in India. The study also tries to understand the perceptions of owners or managers of food processing firms about investment in ICT. The sample and data for the study are extracted from a secondary source, namely Prowess Database for a period of seven years from 2012 to 2018. The econometric method, namely generalized method of moment (GMM) is used to identify the significant determinants of investment in ICT and its impact on export performance of food processing firms. The study also adopted a case study method to understand the owners‘/managers‘ perceptions regarding the investment and use of ICT. The result of GMM model shows that the firm‘s previous year investment in ICT, size of the firm, international exposure, labour intensity, capital intensity, and government intervention are the significant factors in determining the investment in ICT. With respect to impact of ICT investment on export performance, the study found no significant relationship between the two. However, it is found that the affiliated firms‘ investment in ICT has significant impact on the export performance of food processing firms. The result also shows that import and adopt (IAT) strategy is one significant factor to improve the export performance of food processing firms in India. Other factors like the age of the firm, capital-labour ratio, research and development intensity, and government intervention are also found to be significant in explaining the export performance of the firms. These result also supported by the findings the case study conducted in the present study.Item A Study on Indian Stock Market Modeling using Artificial Neural Networks(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2021) R, Arjun.; R, Suprabha K.The Indian stock exchange markets, specifically in banking, are dynamic due to diverse micro and macro-level factors. Current research aims to build a predictive model for the banking sector stock market. Statistical estimation models are tested to identify the best predictive parameters. For intelligent decision support design, artificial neural network architectures are simulated. Preliminary results suggest that market volatility has a lesser impact than fundamental and technical indicators, contrary to random walk theory. The artificial neural networks have superior accuracy for National Stock Exchange prediction. However, it requires model retraining, real-time market data, whereas time-series models suit Bombay Stock Exchange forecasting. Additionally, banking stock performance strongly correlates with technological advancements. Hence, bibliometric analysis extracts areas for the implementation of predictive information systems. An integrated framework is envisaged to adopt blockchain and fintech technologies stimulating organizational impact. Lastly, future research directions provide methodological progress along with the challenges outlined.Item A Study on Factors Influencing the Role of Children in Parental Purchase Intention(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2021) P, Anitha.; Mohan, Bijuna C.Children are an indispensible part of any household decision making. Often ignored as a significant consumer group, children have slowly emerged as an important driver of purchases worldwide. There is a strong need to study the purchase intentions of parents under the influence of various behaviors displayed by the children for purchasing the products that they desire. The present study focuses to identify the purchase intention from a parental point of view, under the influence of various factors which generates child influence strategies namely bargaining, emotional, persuasion and request strategies. The study adopts descriptive approach for answering the research problem. The study uses quantitative methods of research enquiry. The hypotheses are formulated and the variables were measured using questionnaires. Samples were chosen from metros namely Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai based on probability and non-probability sampling. The study used structural equation modeling to determine the measurement model, structural model and to test the hypotheses. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze data. Qualitative study was conducted limited to the context of understanding the select variable of child influence strategies by using observational method. The factors considered for the study are namely advertisement exposure, packaging, peer group and family communication patterns (Socio-oriented and Concept-oriented families) in generating child influence strategies. Socio-oriented family communication patterns and peer group have emerged as the most significant predictor of child influence strategies leading to parental purchase intention followed by packaging and advertisement exposure. Contrary to the popular belief, the study reveals that rather than child directed marketing efforts such as advertisements and packaging, children are more influenced by factors such are peer groups and family communication patterns. The study bridges the gap in the literature regarding parental purchase intention under the influence of child influence strategies. The study has proposed an integrated model on parental purchase intention. The proposed model can act as a guideline to create suitable marketing strategies by aiming at giving more information about the products to peer group and parental units.Item Destination Branding in Indian Medical Tourism – An Empirical Study(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2020) M, Sudheer Muhammed K.; Kiran, K B.Destination branding has been critically viewed as the success formula of medical tourism business with firms realising that acquiring new customers is far more expensive than maintaining the existing ones. It focuses on keeping the medical customers loyal, though, there is little in agreement on which antecedents could be used to achieve this aim. In response, this thesis develops a model of destination branding based on a review of the literature to empirically investigate in one single model: (1) the effect of destination source credibility on place attachment and perceived value; (2) medical tourism service quality on place attachment and perceived value; (3) destination image on place attachment and perceived value; (4) the ultimate effect of both place attachment and perceived value on customer loyalty. In particular, this thesis seeks to investigate the moderating role of the perceived price reasonableness variable on study constructs (destination image, medical tourism service quality, destination source credibility, perceived value and place attachment). Furthermore, it presents and discusses empirical findings from a survey of 1205 medical tourists at various hospitals examined from their perspectives as end users using structural equation modelling (AMOS 23.0). The findings of this thesis largely support the hypothesised relationships proposed in the theoretical model. Specifically, the results revealed that destination image, medical tourism service quality and destination source credibility are crucial in affecting perceived value and place attachments. The results also provide substantial evidence of the relationship between perceived value and place attachments, which, in turn, are crucial determinants of customer loyalty. This study contributes significantly to the very limited literature available by arriving at medical travellers' price-dependent decisions in the international medical tourism industry. This thesis contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge by providing for the first-time evidence about relationships between destination images, medical tourism service quality, destination source credibility, and analysing how perceived value and place attachments can be associated. The inclusion of a perceived price reasonableness construct is suggested to contribute additionally to the body of medical tourism destination branding literature and provide a complete model within a medical service provider context. Findings imply the need for service firms in general, and medical service providers in particular, to strategically lever on the key antecedents of customer loyalty including perceived value and place attachments, in pursuit of a more competitive advantage, and long-term profit.Item A Study on Entrepreneurial Intention among Nascent Entrepreneurs of Coir Industry in Kerala(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2020) S, Remya; Kiran, K B.Entrepreneurship is regarded as the mainstay of any developing economy. The enterprise promoting economic as well as environmental sustainability is a powerful weapon in nation building. Coir industry is one among these industries. This traditional, agro-based labourintensive industry has the potential to trigger the nation towards economic freedom without disturbing the ecological balance. Entrepreneurship, especially in the traditional industries, always remains as a perennial domain for research. The present study tries to unveil the Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) and Entrepreneurial Self Efficacy (ESE) of the Nascent Entrepreneurs (NE) of the coir industry. The main objectives of the study are to explore the antecedents of ESE and to analyze the impact of ESE on EI. Attitude, External factors and personality traits are identified as the factors influencing the ESE. The influence of demographic profile on the ESE and EI are also explored in this research. Thorough survey on literature pertaining to the coir industry helps to develop a better understanding of the current status of the coir industry in the country. The survey method was administered to collect primary data from 402 NEs of the coir industry in Kerala. A simple random sampling was adopted to select the respondents. The statistical analysis of the data indicatethat ESE has a significant impact on the EI of the NEs. The attitude, external factors and personality traits of the NEs have an influence on the ESE.An NE’s attitude towards setting up new business is found to influence the ESE of the NE, whereas the attitude towards risk taking has an insignificant effect on ESE. Social Subjective Norms and Entrepreneurial Education could not exert any identifiable difference in the ESE of the NEs whereas Social Networking could. The Big Five personality factors except Conscientiousness have an influence on the ESE. The relationship of independent variables with EI is partially mediated by ESE. Among the demographic variables, education, work experience and role model are found to influence the ESE and EI. Apart from its contribution to the existing entrepreneurship literature, thestudy results help in policy framing and curriculum designing for the Entrepreneurship Development Programmes pertaining to the coir industryItem A Select Study of Mobile Health Applications in Indian Context(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2020) Pai, Rajesh R.; A, Sreejith.Mobile health (mHealth) is an essential requirement in healthcare for improving health service delivery. Despite its increasing attention across different countries, there is a dearth of evidence about its usefulness among Indian populations. The literature considers mHealth as “the use of transportation systems such as mobile medical units or vans and/or mobile phone/ICT for providing health service to the people living in a particular locality”. The study aims to answer the research question “how to improve the usefulness of mobile health applications for health service delivery?” by i) analyzing the accessibility and acceptance of mobile health among the rural population; ii) studying affordability in terms of cost to consumer and financial viability of the service provider; and by iii) identifying the awareness level in the use of mobile health applications among the citizens. A convergent mixed method design has been carried out to address the research objectives. A qualitative interview was used to measure the accessibility and acceptance of mHealth among rural regions. The study identified a lack of awareness about the term and government-initiated applications among people and doctors though it has been used for vaccination remainders and cessation programmes. The programmes and applications are available at places where network and its supporting technologies are connected to scheduling vaccinations and conducting regular interventions. The consolidation of interview findings proposed an acceptance model pertaining to rural Indian populations. The affordability of mHealth is measured by conducting interviews among technology entrepreneurs and software developers. Findings illustrated that people’s need and unwillingness, lack of application infrastructure, ecosystem development, governmental policies, and training and support influences mHealth systems implementations. As Twitter in health research is a growing body of work, the study extracts its messages and performs sentiment analysis to analyze emotions and themes surrounding mHealth applications, social media games, social media movement, and mental health. A quantitative survey approach is adopted to study the awareness level in the use of the mobile phone for health communication and delivery, and self-managing health applications among the technical and working staffs and medical and healthprofessionals. The study also tested the relationships between the individual characteristics, adoption characteristics of new product or service, individual cognitive factors, and health-related use behavior. The results showed that personal innovativeness, awareness, and perceived usefulness tends to explain better intention to use than they do individually. A triangulation of studies explains that the dynamics associated with mHealth applications in the real environment are somewhat disorganized and formed a vicious cycle. This resulted in a sense of dissatisfaction among the people, healthcare practitioners, government, and the techno-entrepreneurs. The need for a sensitization programme, the right policy and the governance framework for mHealth applications would contribute to the nation’s health policy objective. Thus, recommendations from healthcare professionals influence users and patients in improving awareness that subsequently improves the intention to use and acceptance for health service delivery. This thesis contributes by integrating multiple theoretical models and methods, i.e., qualitative and quantitative, towards the development of mobile health framework for investigating a research question. Compared to earlier studies, this study examines the relationships across the layers of people, process, and technology for achieving the research question. Future research can consider mHealth accessibility in-terms of the digital divide and medical divide, and the influence of trust, technology anxiety, environmental concerns, health severity, health susceptibility, and behavioral control on awareness and intention to use can be studied.Item Development and Implementation of Lean Service Tools and Techniques in India Post Mail Service – A Case Study(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2020) M, Vadivel S.; Pavan Kumar, S.Purpose of the Study: The primary role of the post office is collecting, scanning, sorting, transmission; and delivery of mail with consistent, speed, and security. The Indian postal service has taken a significant role in sorting and transporting the mails throughout the countries. Though the degree of the sorting process varies from country to country, the ultimate aim is to make letter-sorting a fully customized one. For example, developed countries such as the USA, Japan are using the automatic sorting machine to increase their delivery speed, whereas, in India, sorting is being done manually because of abundant labor availability. The processing, transmission, and delivery of mail are the core activities of the postal department. In India, daily mails are collected from almost 5,79,595 letterboxes and are processed through a network of 389 mail offices by roads, rails, and airline transportation. In this research, we proposed implementing lean service concepts for productivity enhancement in a service enterprise at the Indian Postal Head Sorting Center - National Sorting Hub (NSH), Mangalore. Recently, NSH has worked on the Mail Network Optimization Project (MNOP) to improve the standardization and operational processes in terms of mail processing, transmission, and delivery. Methodology: Successful lean tools that have been used in manufacturing industries were adopted for the service industry and applied here. VSM is one of the graphic visual tools to find the broad and complete representation of an organization used for better understanding and interventions in operations. Facility Layout Design (FLD) using MCDM Methods: There were many problems which have been identified in the existing layout such as, backtracking of mails while handling a high volume of articles during the current process flow, poor working environment which causes discomfort during regular working hours and employees are not agreeable for a long working hours, sorting the mail is challenging for the postal employees, the whole process is time consuming, the present production delivery articles are not satisfactory as compared to the target. This study attempts to rectify the problems by modifying the layout and improving operational performance using MCDM methods. The critical parameters for selecting the optimal layouts are lean service, working environment, and ergonomics. The MCDM methods such as AHP, TOPSIS, Fuzzy TOPSIS, GRA has been used for finding the optimal layout considering quantitative andiv qualitative data. The postal administrations had spent almost INR 2 Lakhs for implementing the selected optimal layout. Implementation of Lean Service Tools and Techniques: Applicable lean service elements are incorporated in NSH, manual sorting centre, and in eliminating waste by taking suitable courses of action. Here, the cellular approach (Nagare cell) was used to reduce the walking distance in the sorting section. Reduction in cycle time and employees shoulder pain was taken care of by executing fixed scanner; 5S for housekeeping concepts for everything; everything in its place. Visual management was utilised for visualizing the objects in the workplace. Single piece flow was adopted for reducing the backtracking of the mails. Workload balancing was availed for maintaining load uniformity while distributing to all the employees by using systematic scheduling and careful analysis. Findings: The impact of the change and adherence to the recommendations were monitored continuously. After twelve weeks, an audit of the effect performed, and the following were observed. Cycle time had reduced by 15.13% from 371 sec, flow speed had increased by 11.36% from 590, individual article processed per person had increased by 11.36% from 8620. Lean Service Assessment: The impact of the lean system on operational performance has been assessed in mail service operations in India. Measuring operational performance in mail service operations is a big challenge in the postal service industry. Hence, a cross-sectional survey was conducted and the relationship and impact of Lean Service Practices (LSP), Lean Workplace Environment Practices (LWEP), and Lean Social Practices (LSoP) was measured on operational performance in India post service industry. Findings: The results indicate that there is a strong correlation between LSP (r = 0.728), LWEP (r = 0.722), and LSoP (r = 0.654) and operational performance. Significant impact has been observed on LSP (β = 0.484) on Operational performance, then LWEP (β = 0.387) and followed by LSoP (β = 0.182) on operational performance. The practical effect of the findings of a lean service system has been implemented for enhancing the operational performance of the business. Simulation Techniques and Taguchi methods: This study aims to present an innovative method in designing Lean Service Systems (LSS) in India's post-service industry, using Taguchi and simulation to reduce the system's complexity; using logic and systematic building blocks simulation models developed from LS elements through Arena software. Five control factors considered for the system's performance were takt time, process ratio, production lead time, value-added time, and inventory. The simulation used for imitating the real model guides thev future production system and the Taguchi method used for the robust system to determine the optimal parameter values. Postal Sustainable Design by Quality Function Deployment (QFD): The need of the hour today is to incorporate sustainable principles to the public postal service facilities to withstand in the market. Here, the objective is to develop a model to explore the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) concept and technique to be incorporated in India post service operations. It aims to support sustainability by finding customer factors (queries) that affect Service Quality (SQ) design/dimensions. This survey was helpful, to understand how India's post can remain strategically sustainable for the next few decades. This study improves QFD tools for the postal service quality design known as the House of Quality Sustainable Design (HOQSD) model. This model highlights and bolsters the sustainability principles and performs the integration of customer priorities, information, and their knowledge.Item Customer Loyalty Development in Online Shopping: An Integration of E-Service Quality Model and the Commitment-Trust Theory(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2020) Goutam, Doddahulugappa.; V, Gopalakrishna B.The success of the Business to Consumer (B2C) online shopping websites relies profoundly on customer’s relationship with the online shopping website. Rapid development in science and technology, as well as quick growth in internet penetration, has made things easy. Buying online has become one of the most preferred channels in the 21st century business world. The success of online shopping websites depends primarily not only on such customers who are willing to revisit the same website for repurchase, but also on those who spread positive word of mouth. Hence, it is very important to understand the factors influencing the loyalty development in this digital marketing war. This topic has been relatively under-examined in the purview of the Indian context. The present study examines the determinants of customer loyalty in the context of online shopping by integrating EService Quality Model (E-S-QUAL Model) proposed by Parasuraman et al. (2005a) and The Commitment-Trust Theory Developed by Morgan & Hunt (1994) in B2C Electronic Commerce settings in India. These two models have been the backbone of this study. All the measurement items have been adapted from the previous studies. For the purpose of the present study, data was collected from 937 online shoppers. This study uses Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-AMOS) to determine the measurement model, and the structural model to test the formulated hypotheses. The study results revealed that E-service quality and perceived value are the major predictors of E-satisfaction, E-trust, and E-commitment. Esatisfaction has a positive and significant influence on E-trust; consequently, E-trust has a direct effect on E-commitment. Further, only E-satisfaction has a positive impact on affective loyalty. However, other factors, such as perceived value, E-trust, and E- commitment do not influence affective loyalty. Finally, E-Service Quality, Perceived Value, E-trust, and Ecommitment play a pivotal role in developing cognitive loyalty among online shoppers in India. However, E-satisfaction fails to develop cognitive loyalty in B2C E-commerce context in India. The current study findings help to understand the determinants which form the loyalty dimensions among Indian online shoppers in a B2C E-commerce context.Item An Empirical Investigation of Drivers and Outcome of Employer Branding(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2020) Mishra, Sovanjeet.; Pavan Kumar, S.Nowadays, organizations are striving hard to become the best place to work for and the phenomena of employer branding plays a crucial role in the same. The aim of this study is to identify the drivers and outcome of employer branding from a retention perspective. The survey tool developed for this research was administered among 381 employees of Indian insurance industry. The stratified sampling method was used. The data were examined using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 and analysis of moments structure (AMOS) version 20.0. The results disclosed that reward & recognition, reputation and diversity drives employer branding, which in turn decreases the turnover intention. Further, reward & recognition was found to be an important prognosticator of employer branding. Additional, it was also revealed that employer branding acted as a mediator. Since, the study was dependent on crosssectional data, therefore robust causal inferences cannot be implied. Findings expressed in this research can be accosted by academicians’ and practitioners’ in the area of human resource management, organizational behaviour, marketing and communication. Amalgamation of drivers and outcome of employer branding and again it being a mediator, in a single study is rare.