Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers

International mobility is a growing trend among multinational corporations (MNCs), requiring employees to relocate and adapt to work, social interaction and general environments in foreign host countries. This study investigated everyday adjustment by analyzing data from 214 expatriates in India via structured questionnaires. The research focused on how demographic variables impact daily adaptation. The findings confirm that country of origin, age, gender, family status, family presence and the reason for relocation significantly influence adjustment scores. Understanding these relationships provides vital insights into the specific challenges and opportunities that expatriates face during international assignments.

As international mobility becomes a primary strategy for multinational corporations (MNCs), this research provides a comprehensive examination of the expatriate adjustment process among 214 professionals living and working in India. While traditional studies often focus on professional performance, this specific investigation shifts the lens to the non-work aspects of relocation, evaluating how individuals adapt to the sociocultural and environmental demands of a foreign host country. Utilizing data collected through structured questionnaires, the findings reveal that demographic variables are not merely incidental but are crucial determinants of cross-cultural success. The analysis demonstrates that factors such as country of origin, age and gender significantly dictate an individual’s adjustment trajectory and overall psychological resilience in a foreign setting. Furthermore, the research emphasizes the vital role of family dynamics, noting that both family status and the physical presence of family members in the host country serve as essential support mechanisms that buffer against culture shock and facilitate a smoother transition in the host country. The study also identifies that the initial motivation for relocation—whether driven by personal career development or a company mandate—heavily influences an expatriate’s long-term adaptation to their new surroundings. By illustrating how these personal profiles and relocation motives impact everyday life, the research offers high-value insights for human resource practitioners. These findings suggest that organizations should move beyond traditional technical competency selection and instead implement tailored pre-departure training, robust family support systems and targeted on-site mentoring programmes to effectively mitigate the unique sociocultural and environmental challenges of international assignments.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a comprehensive two-level analysis of the literature on employee green behaviour in the hospitality industry. It seeks to map current research trends and identify future directions, thereby offering a holistic understanding of the scholarly landscape. Using a two-tier approach, the study integrates bibliometric analysis with thematic content review to capture the breadth and depth of existing academic work across disciplines. A key finding is the interdisciplinary nature of research on green behaviour, which reveals how multiple fields converge on this topic. This study contributes by synthesizing fragmented insights, enhancing the understanding of green behaviour among hospitality employees and outlining new avenues for future inquiry.

This study presents a two-level literature review on employee green behaviour, encompassing both a bibliometric analysis and a detailed thematic review of the literature in the hospitality industry. The purpose is to trace the trend of research, distinguish intellectual structures and the future path of this rapidly evolving field. To assess the relevance of the topic to the literature, a bibliometric analysis based on Scopus data from 2004 to 2023 reveals that the number of publications has increased since 2020, indicating a growing academic and professional interest in sustainability-related research. Critical journals, authors and country partnerships are identified, and major clusters of research are found in the areas of green HRM, leadership, and green innovation. The systematic review of 31 related studies reveals an ecosystem of green creative behaviour determinants comprising of organizational practices, leadership style, psychological processes, and employee values. The review demonstrates that green HRM, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes and supportive leadership have a considerable effect on green creativity of employees by mediating through green climate, work engagement and emotional exhaustion. These relationships are often based on theoretical frameworks, such as the conservation of resources, ability–motivation–opportunity, resource-based view and social exchange theory. Although there have been significant developments, the discipline remains fragmented, with excessive dependence on quantitative and cross-sectional designs, a geographical focus in select regions and a lack of multi-level or integrative theoretical perspectives. The research suggests the following directions, including longitudinal and mixed-method studies, cross-cultural and sectoral comparisons, multi-level modelling and the inclusion of new themes such as customer influence and digital green technologies. The review will provide a structured, sector-specific synthesis that informs researchers, practitioners and policymakers on how sustainable behaviour can be promoted in hospitality workplaces.

This article outlines the structure of the metaverse and identifies key themes related to consumer behaviour. It provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of consumer behaviour research in the metaverse, based on 143 Scopus articles, offering performance analysis and science mapping insights. Bibliographic coupling reveals five prominent research clusters. Employing the theory–context–characteristics–methods review framework, the study unveils 11 key themes in ‘What affects consumers?’, ‘How and why do they process?’ and ‘How do they respond?’ The study also reflects on how artificial intelligence is likely to impact consumer interaction in the metaverse.

Recent years have seen a rising interest in the metaverse from both the practicing community and academicians, making it difficult to ignore. Studying consumer behaviour in the metaverse becomes crucial because it can provide a valuable and deep understanding of how people interact with each other, brands, and products in this virtual space. To achieve this, our paper aims to synthesize the current state of the literature on consumer behaviour (CB) in the metaverse by providing a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 143 Scopus-indexed articles, identifying key themes, theories, and future research directions in metaverse CB. Cluster analysis, using bibliographic coupling, revealed the following five clusters linked to foundational perspectives, brand strategies, emerging technologies, immersive experiences, and virtual co-creation. This was followed by the adoption of the Theory–Context–Characteristics–Methods (TCCM) framework to explore ‘what impacts consumers’, ‘how and why they process information’, and ‘how they respond’ within the metaverse. We identified 11 themes, including experiential value, social presence, and virtual ownership, and conceptualised a model linking antecedents, moderators, and outcomes. The findings underscore the criticality of immersive technologies, multi-sensory experiences, and gamification in driving consumer engagement. Social residency, enabled by avatars and virtual influencers, emerges as a pivotal factor in fostering co-creation and personalised experiences. Future research directions were categorised under platform-related and individual-related categories. Platform-related research avenues include areas related to platform and stimuli design, virtual ownership of experiences, and the use of metaverse as a promotion mechanism. Individual-factor-related research opportunities include exploring the role of individual characteristics, their value drivers, and finally safety and wellness mechanisms. The study also reflects on the role that artificial intelligence (AI) plays and how it is likely to impact consumer interactions with avatars, bots, and other entities in the metaverse. Overall, this study contributes to both academia and practice by demystifying the black box of consumer immersion and engagement in the metaverse. It offers actionable insights for marketers to design effective strategies and for policymakers to ensure ethical and secure virtual environments.

This study examined the multifaceted effects of financial literacy on the inclusion of economically disadvantaged populations. Structural equation modelling with smart partial least squares (PLS) was employed to analyze the effects of financial literacy on financial inclusion. This study reveals that financial literacy exerts a multi-dimensional influence on households’ financial inclusion below the poverty threshold. Additionally, it indicates that improved access to financial services is correlated with increased usage of these resources. This study shows that access to financial services and financial literacy play a significant role in increasing households’ use of financial products, thereby promoting greater financial inclusion.

This study assessed the impact of financial literacy on financial inclusion among households living below poverty line (BPL) in Kerala. It is based on primary data collected through a structured questionnaire from a sample of 384 BPL households using random sampling. To assess the influence of financial literacy on inclusion, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used. The results revealed that financial literacy has a significant impact on financial inclusion among BPL households. Access to financial services is positively related to the usage of financial services. This study also highlights that financial literacy and access to financial services are major factors contributing to financial usage by BPL households, thereby fostering financial inclusion. There is a gap in the literature regarding the impact of financial literacy on the inclusion of BPL households. This gap has been filled by this study through its multi-dimensional analysis of financial literacy and inclusion. Financial literacy has subdimensions, such as financial awareness, knowledge, attitude and behaviour. Similarly, financial inclusion has subdimensions, such as financial access, affordability, quality and usage. This study highlighted the significance of knowledge of financial services in fostering financial inclusion in rural areas and vulnerable sections of society.

This study empirically investigated the impact of strategic human resource (HR) capabilities, HR inducements and their influence on the line manager’s commitment and internalization of HR practices. The results indicate that perceived strategic capability and HR inducements positively influence satisfaction with HR practices. Furthermore, satisfaction with HR practices has a positive relationship with line managers’ commitment and HR internalization. This study uniquely examines the association between perceived strategic capability, satisfaction with HR practices, HR inducements, line managers’ commitment and HR internalization in the Indian context. The study highlights the necessity of creating a perception among employees that their organization has proper strategic HR capabilities and effective HR inducements.

Line managers are essential for implementing human resource (HR) practices into action, but many organizations struggle with inconsistent execution due to limited commitment and weak internalization of these practices by line managers. This study examines how line managers’ perceptions of the HR function’s strategic capability and the inducements provided through HR practices influence their satisfaction with HR, and how this satisfaction leads to greater commitment and internalization. The study uses survey data from line managers working in various sectors in India, such as manufacturing, services, banking, information technology and consulting. Based on social exchange theory and human capital theory, the research tests a conceptual model to understand these relationships. The findings show that when line managers believe the HR function is strategically strong and receive fair and supportive inducements— such as training, career development and rewards—they feel more satisfied with HR practices. This satisfaction then increases their commitment to HR responsibilities and helps them internalize HR values more deeply. The results highlight that satisfaction with HR practices is an important link between HR capability, HR inducements and line managers’ behaviour. Interestingly, factors such as age, tenure, HR department size and HR managers’ experience do not have a significant impact on satisfaction. This suggests that effective and well-designed HR systems are more important than individual or organizational characteristics. The study offers useful guidance for organizations that want to strengthen their HR implementation. It stresses the need for HR departments to build strategic trust, clearly communicate their value and provide inducements that align with the practical needs of line managers. When line managers are satisfied with HR practices, they are more likely to be committed and internalize these practices, which ultimately improves the effectiveness and longterm success of HR management.

Digital payments have emerged as the predominant payment method in India since the introduction of the unified payments interface (UPI) in 2016. This study investigates how this digital transformation has impacted the ease-of-doing business for people residing in rural India. We conduct a computational thematic analysis using a topic modelling technique to analyse unstructured feedback given by sole-ownership-type entrepreneurs operating in the unorganized labour market in rural India to identify the beneficial aspects of UPI on their businesses. The analysis reveals that UPI users appreciate the ease of transactions, unconstrained access to funds, wider reach of customers and transparent monetary transactions.

Digital payments have emerged as the predominant method of payment in India since the introduction of the unified payments interface (UPI) in 2016. India has been traditionally a cash-heavy economy, and Indian businesspeople have been accustomed to drawing cash from banks or ATMs to conduct transactions. India does not boast a robust banking system in its rural corners. This creates huge inconvenience among rural traders to execute financial transactions due to a lack of funds. The advent of UPI has brought about a significant change to the professional activities of rural Indians. This study undertakes a scoping investigation of the extent to which this digital transformation has impacted the ease-of-doing business for people residing in rural areas of India. We conducted a computational thematic analysis through semi-structured interviews with 801 UPI users in rural locations of India, utilizing the topic modelling technique latent Dirichlet allocation. This approach is intended to address the issue of credibility that is commonly cited as a major drawback of qualitative research designs. The primary objective was to comprehend the major issues shared by the users regarding their UPI experience with regard to their business-related transactions. The analysis reveals that businesspeople from rural India who have been using UPI appreciate the ease of transactions facilitated by this technology and are content with the benefits it offers to entrepreneurs and workers in the unorganized sector. In terms of ease-of-doing business, the findings revealed that the major benefits were in terms of leveraging more transactions with tourists, which were earlier declined due to a lack of cash, more transparency of transactions, speed of transaction and reduced reliance on middlemen. However, the participants also expressed concerns about security issues and challenges arising from inadequate infrastructure, lack of a legal framework to safeguard against such type of malicious attacks and the potential for fraud.

This research examines the adoption of Industry 4.0 standards in Indian companies’ recruitment processes, focusing on IT, legal, finance and higher education sectors in Tier 1 cities. We surveyed 126 companies to determine their readiness for an AI-based system capable of autonomously classifying resumes based on Fourth Industrial Revolution competencies. Our research aims to understand the recruitment dynamics within these sectors and the relationship between company size, industry sector and willingness to adopt AI in recruitment. This study contributes to the broader discussion on integrating AI technology in recruitment practices.

The current research explores the recruitment process in the context of Industry 4.0 competencies and its impact on the workforce. It pertains to the recruitment procedures within the Industry 4.0 landscape. To investigate the feasibility and usefulness of the AI-driven automated system, an industrial survey was conducted in Tier 1 cities of India. The Tier 1 cities included in the survey are Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. These cities are India’s economic and commercial centres and have a significant presence of industries across different sectors (Khomiakova, 2007).