http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/32 Tue, 01 Jul 2025 10:59:05 GMT 2025-07-01T10:59:05Z http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/15539 Title: GREEN COMPETENCIES: CONCEPTUALISATION, CONSTRUCT DEVELOPMENT AND MEASUREMENT VALIDATION Authors: Cabral, Clement Abstract: This thesis discusses about the conceptualisation and measurement validation of green competencies scale. The literature on Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) lacks wider-accepted scale to measure Green Competencies (GC) scale which is an essential requirement in an organisation. GC is considered to be a significant concept in GHRM but not much importance were given to develop the measurement scale. Even though, there are some scales in environmental psychology and few studies in GHRM which describes about the concept, no study has covered the entire dimension of GC. To address the lack of conceptualisation, construct development and measurement validation regarding the concept of green competencies. This study developed a Green Competencies Scale in accordance with the Natural-Resource-Based View and uses mixed methods approach. Initially, systematic literature review was conducted to identify the six dimensions of the construct. In case of item generation, through 15 qualitative interviews, the authors matched the literature review with the statements of the respondents and finalised a total of 40 items. Later, the Q-sort procedure was conducted to refine the results. Furthermore, an Exploratory Factor Analysis was completed to determine the factor structure of the green competencies construct, which is comprised of six dimensions and 29 items. After finalising the scale, the PLS-SEM statistical analysis tool was tested to prove the construct’s precision, which reasserted its reliability and validity. To test the nomological model, the mediating effect of green competencies on green training and environmental performance was examined. In addition, the direct relationship of green training on environmental performance and moderated mediation of environmental commitment between green competencies and environmental performance were examined. The relationship between the constructs expect the moderated relationship of environmental commitment was significant. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also discussed followed by the future scope and limitations. Thu, 01 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/15539 2019-08-01T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/15498 Title: ACHIEVING CUSTOMER BRAND ENGAGEMENT THROUGH BRAND COMMUNITIES Authors: Kumar, Jitender Abstract: Brands are the necessary source of identification and differentiation of firm’s products from competitors but mere creation of brands is not sufficient in the age of competition. Making brands stronger is how brand management is redefined and there comes the role of customer engagement with the brands. ‘Customer brand engagement’ reflects the customers’ total investment or their cognitive, emotional, and behavioural activity in the interactions with the brand that goes beyond traditional purchases and transactions. Since its inception the research on engagement has made a significant progress and management found it an influential tool to manage customers; today it has achieved a feat such that the customer engagement marketing is poised to replace traditional relationship marketing aimed at repeated transactions. Customer brand engagement is contingent on customer-brand interactions which makes the role of engagement inside brand communities of great importance. This is because the brand communities act as unique platforms for multiple direct or indirect customer-brand interactions. The brand communities hold a special place in offering brand relationships a broader meaning as the members not only interact with the brands but other users of the same brand. Despite a significant growth in the number of studies on customer brand engagement, the concept has still remained in its infancy and the scope for further exploration has been reiterated time and again. The limited number of empirical studies, insufficiency of brand engagement drivers and consequences, absence of contextual focus in its exploration constitute some of the crucial gaps in academic research that require further research attention. Engagement of customers inside brand communities remains underexplored and important as it brings favourable brand based outcomes. The promising role of brand psychological ownership and brand value-congruity in stimulating brand engagement has also remains in its embryonic stages of research. The blurred link between brand engagement and brand attachment and shortage of studies covering brand loyalty as an outcome of brand engagement constitute the specific gaps covered in this research work. To address these gaps in the literature, this study proposes a conceptual model depicting brand engagement drivers and consequences. Grounded in psychological ownership theory and value-congruity theory, brand psychological ownership and brand value-congruity, respectively, have been proposed as the drivers of customer brand engagement in the context of brand communities. There is evidence in existing literature that brand psychological ownership and the value-congruity can impact consumers’ relationships with the brands. The proposed model portrays brand attachment and behavioural brand loyalty as the outcomes of customer iii brand engagement as well. Following the descriptive, cross sectional research design, the conceptual model is empirically tested with the data collected from 312 members of brand communities through self-administered survey questionnaire. The data was analyzed with the help of multivariate analysis techniques, viz., confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The findings of this study confirmed the positive effect of brand psychological ownership on customer brand engagement. The results also supported that value-congruity with reference to the brand positively influences customer brand engagement. Additionally, it was found that customer brand engagement affects customers’ attachment with the brands and behavioral brand loyalty positively. Overall, the empirical support was obtained for all the proposed structural relationships, thereby supporting the validity of the proposed model. This study contributes to the theory and practice in certain ways. From an academic standpoint, this study provides support for the application of psychological ownership theory and value-congruity theory in ‘customer engagement in the context of brand communities’, an area that remained largely obscure of the application of different marketing theories. Psychological ownership towards brands has been covered in a handful of studies and this study adds in that direction by conceptualizing the role of brand psychological ownership in stimulating customer brand engagement. Similarly, this study extends the reach of congruity theory in influencing brand engagement from the perspective of values, i.e., value-congruity with reference to the brand. Apart from this, the study helps in elucidating on the debated ties between brand engagement and brand attachment in existing literature. Lastly, the support for creating brand based loyalty from brand engagement is also offered through this study. From practical standpoint, the brand managers and brand community managers can benefit from the findings of this study in the direction of engagement of customers with their brands through brand communities. To engage customers with the brands, managers should try to instill a sense of brand psychological ownership towards the focal brands inside their communities. The managers should focus on creating a sense of value-congruity with regard to the brand inside brand communities by identifying the human-values of the target segment. This study can prove beneficial for the managers in a sense that they can achieve the crucial objectives of having emotionally connected and loyal customers through customer brand engagement. Managers are therefore advised to create brand communities to engage customers with the brands and reap the benefits of having strongly connected and loyal customers that will help them in making the brands stronger. Wed, 01 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/15498 2019-05-01T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/15497 Title: AN ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL LITERACY FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF INDIVIDUALS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS USING SOCIAL MEDIA Authors: Bawre, Snehal Abstract: Financial literacy has become a mandatory concern to improve economic growth and development for all the nations. For this, several governmental initiatives have been taken to reduce financial illiteracy and to make people better financial decisions. On the other hand, social media platforms are very popular among people. And, with the help of these social media platforms, many organizations are connecting with the people for multiple reasons. Thus, this study is divided into two phases; first is to investigate financial literacy level of urban Indians; second is to examine the impact of social media in creating financial awareness among people. The first phase of this research is aimed to investigate the impact of demographic factors on financial literacy and its components, namely, financial behavior, financial attitude and financial numeracy skills. It also aims to examine the relationship between the components of financial literacy and the influence of financial numeracy skills on investment pattern. For this research, a slightly modified questionnaire is adopted which has been originally developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2011). The study considers 500 individuals from Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities in India. The data will be analyzed by using two logistic regression tools viz. Multinomial logistic regression (MLR) and Ordinary Least Square regression (OLS) in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Further, the reliability of data will be measured using Cronbach’s Alpha method. The data shows that financial literacy in terms of familiarity with financial instruments and participation in formal financial system is quite reasonable at 65 percent among the participants. Demographic variables like gender, age, education, income, and reliability of income are found to have significant influence on financial literacy. Further, all the components of financial literacy are found to impact each other positively. The findings also suggest that financial numeracy skill may improve overall financial literacy and secondary market participation in India. However, the use of financial websites or social media sites for investment decisions is meager. Next, the second phase of this research is aimed to identify the extent to which social media is used by Indian Financial Institutions (FIs) for various purposes such as connecting with customers, explore new market, sell products etc. including generating financial awareness more options. For this, a total 32 FIs that are listed with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)/ National Stock ii Exchange (NSE) India are considered; 22 of them being banks and 10 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Managers of all the FIs will be interviewed using self-administered questionnaire. The result shows that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the most widely used social media platforms for exploring new markets, developing new ideas, selling financial products, connecting with the customers and customer relationship management (CRM). Further, banks and NBFCs are found to adopt these media pages to post important financial announcements, which increases customer’s interest in investment options. The study provides a view on social media usage in terms of cost reduction and customer satisfaction. However, there are some risks associated with social media such as reputation risks, operational risks, data and information risks etc. Furthermore, managerial discussions highlight their contribution to the use of social media to increase financial literacy. Mon, 01 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/15497 2019-04-01T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/15473 Title: FLEXIBILITY AND QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AS PREDICTORS OF WORK-FAMILY ENRICHMENT Authors: Rastogi, Mansi Abstract: Work and family are two integral realms of life. The interaction between work and family domains can be categorised into two parts, negative (work-family conflict) and positive (work-family enrichment. Giving emphasis on positive work-family interactions, the study begins with establishing the significance of work-family enrichment construct; where, the researcher pointed towards the under responded question of "how to promote and effectively develop work-family enrichment". With work-family enrichment figuring amongst the top most concerns being faced by the organisations (McNall and Masuda, 2011), experts are moving towards academic researchers for empirically examined solutions for developing and promoting work-family enrichment in organisations (Crain and Hammer, 2013). However, existing gap with respect to information around antecedents of enrichment is causing major barrier towards the way to smooth evolution of research and practice, targeted at enhancing work-family enrichment among workforce in organisations, as reflected in the contemporary statements by distinguished scholars in the field as explained below. Highlighting the need for research around the predictors of work-family enrichment, Frone (2003) held that work-family literature is dominated by conflict focused studies and little is known about positive work-family interplay i.e. work-family enrichment. According to the review study of Crain and Hammer (2013), there is scarcity of systemised empirical studies around the predictors of work-family enrichment and very little is known about the way work-family enrichment can be influenced by organisational factors. Further, Carison and Hunter (2014) listed examining the predictors of work-family enrichment as a crucial future research agenda, which could provide scholars with the tools to foster enriched employees. Though a number of antecedents to work-family enrichment have been proposed, only a few of them have been empirically examined (Crain and Hammer, 2013; McNall et at., 2009). Additionally, most of the literature around the predictors of work-family enrichment has come from developed nations particularly from the West such as USA, Canada and Netherlands etc., whereas Asian work-family enrichment studies have continued to be dominated by China with little scientifically proven about its predictors in other culturally different settings, like India. Since the culture of a nation tends to have a dominant impact over employee perceptions regarding work experience and consequently on work-family related issues (Agrawal and Sadhana, 2010; Powell et al., 2009), the drivers of work-family enrichment recognised in Western settings may differ considerably in Indian context, due to its unique socio-cultural ill legacy (Agrawal and Tyagi, 2009). One custom being appreciated in a particular culture may not be welcomed in another culture. In this direction, it can be stated that one size doesn't fit all when it comes to values associated with work and family relations (Powell et al., 2009). Hence, it becomes essential to determine what drives work-family enrichment in India, considering the remarkable growth of Indian economy. Thus, we have ample motivation to extend work-family enrichment research to one of the fastest developing economy of India, which still remains under-represented in the present literature. The present study of this thesis work has attempted to examine the role of flexibility and quality of work life as predictors of work-family enrichment among middle level employees from select business organisations in India. More specifically, the study analyses flexibility, quality of work life and work-family enrichment in select business organisations sector, i.e., public and private along with select industry, i.e., manufacturing and service. Apart from this, the study intends to examine the influence of marital status on employee's perceptions regarding flexibility, quality of work life and work-family enrichment. Further, the study attempts to unfold the mechanisms underlying the relationships among study variables by proposing and empirically testing mediation and moderation hypotheses based on appropriate theoretical framework. The target population for the present research study consisted of middle level employees from manufacturing and service select public and private sector industries. In order to collect the data, total 559 Indian middle level employees were contacted irrespective of their gender and marital status. Out of 559, only 405 employees participated in the survey yielding 80% response rate. But due to incomplete and irrelevant information in the form of missing and multiple responses, only 380 questionnaires were used in the fmal analyses. With the adoption of mixed mode approach, the data were collected personally by researcher using paper and pen method as well as via online mode. Data collection from public as well as private firms functioning in service and manufacturing sector has confirmed heterogeneous nature of the sample. In order to examine the hypothesized relationships, a series of statistical tests was conducted. The data analyses section has included normality tests to check the normal distribution of the sample and common method bias test using Harman's single factor analysis. With the examination of variance inflation factor value, the multicollinearity has also been verified among the received samples followed by examination of psychometric properties of all iv the instruments used for measuring the variables under study. The validation of the instruments was followed by the information regarding descriptive statistics included values like mean, standard deviation, correlation coefficients and standard error values. After this, the hypothesized relationships were tested with the help of t-test, multiple hierarchical regression analysis, moderated multiple regression analysis and Path analysis by using SPSS (PROCESS). In answer to the direct need for empirical investigation around predictors of work-family enrichment, the present study can be said to have developed new knowledge in the field by proposing and studying new mechanisms of relationships among flexibility, quality of work life and work-family enrichment. By studying mediation and moderation relationships among formerly unexamined and distinctive combination of variables, the present study makes an effort to bridge the gap in academic literature, where there is substantial dearth of literature in work-family enrichment. Additionally, this study goes a step ahead in investigating the mechanisms underlying the relationships among quality of work life, flexibility and work-family enrichment by proposing and examining mediation and moderation hypotheses. Building on the theoretical framework of work-family enrichment model (Greenhaus and Powell, 2006), developed on Sieber's (1974) theory of role accumulation and Marks's (1977) expansionist approach; Herzberg's two factor theory (Vincent et al., 1960) and social role theory (Eagly, 2013), the study has enriched understanding of the concept and process of work-family enrichment in new unique ways and has further reinforced theory construction around work-family enrichment. The present study can be projected to have provided further support for work-family enrichment model by investigating the role of organisational resources and personal resources in work-enrichment process. This is relatively more refined and advanced model as compared to other positive work-family interplay constructs in the domain of positive work-family interactions. In addition to its established validity in developed nations, the study increases the validity of the work-family enrichment model and process by validating the model in the unique cultural settings of India. The empirically tested and scientifically obtained results will help the limited work-family enrichment literature to grow further. More importantly, this study can be said to obtain extended work-family enrichment literature in significant ways. Furthermore, the study has imparted knowledge on the way to robust theory building around each of the variables under study being tested in a unique background. To conclude, it was observed that workplace flexibility and quality of work life both significantly predicted work-family enrichment. Further, the results have indicated that gender v does not moderate the relationship between flexibility dimensions and work-family enrichment. Quality of work life is reported to have partially mediated relationship between flexibility dimensions and work-family enrichment. The discussion provided in this study rationalises the findings with the background of existing literature. The final part of the study provides value to the existing work-family research by offering conclusion, implications, limitations and scope for future studies. Along with a pragmatic theoretical contribution, the research also provides business executives, managers and employers with greater intricacies into what really influences and promotes work-family enrichment within the organisation. This way, employees and employers both can be said to get benefitted in planning effective strategies and initiatives to promote work-family enrichments. The findings of the study confer that support from organisation in the form of flexibility at workplace, has the potential to influence the life of employees at workplace and home. Thus, flexibility has a positive impact on quality of work life and work-family enrichment among employees. Designing the interventions focused to enhance the work-family enrichment level of employees, the study provides direction by proposing the action plan to proceed with. The enrichment can be reached to employees by strengthening personal resources such as quality of work life by promoting organisational support measures in the form of flexibility at workplace. Additionally, the findings of the study could also be of use for an effective knowledge pool creation for strategising work-family enrichment initiatives in anti-social work culture sectors like nursing and hospitality sectors. Sun, 01 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT http://localhost:8081/jspui/handle/123456789/15473 2016-05-01T00:00:00Z