Goa Institute of Management

PurposeThis study aims to examine the marketing drivers influencing medical device selection among surgeons in suburban Tier II Indian cities, with an explicit focus on the mediating role of surgeon training. The research addresses a major gap in existing research where multiple marketing and product-related drivers have not been jointly analysed, nor has the mediating role of surgeon training been explored in resource-constrained suburban Tier II Indian markets. Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional structured survey of 394 surgeons across 40 suburban Tier II Indian cities was conducted. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, the effects of device safety, performance, innovation, vendor reliability, peer influence and cost consideration on device selection were assessed. Surgeon training was assessed as a mediator. Reliability, validity, mediation and structural effects were assessed using a bootstrapped sample of 5,000 iterations. FindingsAll predictors significantly influenced device selection (beta = 0.1117-0.358, p < 0.01). Surgeon training partially mediated the relationships between device safety, performance, innovation and peer influence, strengthening the impact of marketing-related and peer-driven influences on adoption. The model demonstrated strong predictive power (R & sup2; = 0.71) and acceptable fit (SRMR = 0.045). Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional design limits causal inference. Specialty-specific behaviors were not analyzed. Future research should investigate longitudinal adoption patterns and comparative analysis between urban Tier I and suburban Tier II cities. Practical implicationsMedical device marketers targeting suburban Tier II Indian cities should prioritize surgeon training initiatives as a strategic lever to increase medical device selection. Building strong vendor relationships, emphasizing safety and performance and leveraging peer endorsements can enhance device selection. Social implicationsPolicymakers can institutionalize and facilitate accredited surgeon training programs, introduce evidence-based procurement policies, introduce vendor reliability ratings and leverage key opinion leaders in government panels to aid device adoption. Originality/valueThis is one of the first empirical studies to integrate marketing, technical and social drivers into a unified model of medical device selection in a developing-country context. It advances theoretical understanding by identifying surgeon training as a critical cognitive mechanism linking marketing and clinical attributes to adoption behavior. The findings offer actionable insights for medical device marketers and policymakers operating in low-resource markets.

PurposeScholars have used the concept of microaggression to document gendered experiences in the workplace. However, in the context of pronatalist Indian society, experiences of childlessness at the workplace have not been documented adequately through a microaggression lens.Design/methodology/approachBased on a qualitative study of middle-class professionally engaged childless women in Indian academia, the present paper examines their experiences of childlessness through the lens of microaggression.FindingsThe findings indicate that at the organizational level, childless women are perceived as a perfect fit to be ideal workers yet their ideal worker image is loaded with various expressions of microaggression. The findings are analysed through Bourdieu's concept of field, habitus, and doxa. The analysis indicates that they could create the ideal worker image due to their gender habitus of middle-class class professionally educated career-oriented women, who could negotiate with the masculine and feminine doxa at work but their experiences of microaggression indicate the outcome of prevailing feminine doxa at the workplace that overrule the masculine doxa for these women.Practical implicationsThe paper concludes with recommendations for organizations to be inclusive towards childlessness as a form of diversity in the workplace. The study indicates significant challenges that this segment of employees faces, due to the pronatalist society around them.Originality/valueThe paper examines the overlooked area of workplace gendered norms, interacting with reproductive identities of childless women through microaggression lens.

Sustainability is transforming how organisations capture, share, and update knowledge related to consumer behaviour in retail environments. Firms require dynamic knowledge management (KM) systems to track preferences for eco-friendly products such as certified organic goods and fully recyclable packaging while aligning operational practices with sustainability objectives. This study develops a continuously adaptive framework that integrates machine learning (ML) methods, including Self-Organising Incremental Neural Networks, Principal Component Analysis, and Variational Autoencoders, with organisational learning and knowledge economy principles. The model identifies evolving consumer segments influenced by affordability, brand credibility, and recyclability, and translates these insights into actionable knowledge for pricing, inventory planning, and communication strategies. Empirical application within sustainable retail demonstrates the framework's ability to anticipate emerging green segments and embed knowledge within decision-making systems. The contribution advances theory by linking knowledge lifecycle processes - creation, sharing, use, and updating - with sustainability-driven retail practice to enhance managerial agility.

Organizations face growing scrutiny over their sustainability claims, making knowledge governance a critical concern in the management of corporate credibility. This study develops an analytics-driven knowledge management framework designed to detect and mitigate greenwashing by modeling the breakdowns in codification, verification, and dissemination of sustainability-related information. Drawing on legitimacy theory, signaling theory, and stakeholder theory, the paper conceptualizes greenwashing as a failure in organizational knowledge processes and introduces a Greenwashing Index (GWI) as a quantifiable proxy for credibility erosion. The proposed system integrates advanced digital tools-BERT-based sentiment classification, relational recurrent extreme learning machines (RRELM), Monte Carlo uncertainty modeling, and network diffusion analytics-to capture how misleading sustainability messages spread and influence stakeholder trust. A process-oriented approach is used to trace knowledge from acquisition and structuring to its influence on perception and decision-making. Empirical results from real-world data demonstrate how predictive and interpretative analytics can improve transparency, enable early risk detection, and guide governance interventions. The study contributes to the field by bridging process-based knowledge management and digital trust monitoring, offering both a conceptual model and a practical decision-support system. Implications for sustainable knowledge governance and process improvement are outlined for managerial practice and organizational design.

PurposePrior e-HRM research mainly studies knowledge workers in developed economies, overlooking frontline employees who constitute the majority workforce in labor-intensive sectors. This study addresses three gaps: (1) insufficient examination of social-technical subsystem interplay in resource-constrained retail, (2) absence of socio-technical frameworks for frontline workers in emerging markets and (3) limited understanding of e-HRM effectiveness for low-skilled, mobile-dependent employees with minimal digital literacy.Design/methodology/approachComparative case studies of two Indian hypermarket chains employing grounded theory methodology. Unlike survey-based e-HRM research, this processual approach reveals micro-level socio-technical realignments during execution through expert interviews.FindingsE-HRM effectiveness depends on four interconnected domains: workforce planning, employee lifecycle stages, process improvements and performance management. Critically, mobile-first design emerges as essential, social ecosystems fundamentally shape technology acceptance beyond TAM predictions and cost-efficiency trade-offs manifest differently in the context of emerging markets.Practical implicationsPracticing managers can learn the integral considerations to be kept in mind when developing the vision for e-HRM in their organizations. These include the social ecosystem, ease of resources, the trade-off between cost and efficiency, and the employee lifecycle touchpoints, among others. The socio-technical systems influence the final outcome of e-HRM implementation, which is the job redesign.Originality/valueThree theoretical contributions include the development of a contextualized socio-technical framework for frontline employees, the demonstration that social affordances are more consequential than technical sophistication for frontline performance, and the extension of socio-technical theory by explicating how resource constraints necessitate "frugal innovation" approaches, harmonizing minimal technical features with maximal social support.