Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar

In a quest to examine people’s perceptions of biopesticide usage, the current research investigates the influence of the health belief model and theory of planned behavior constructs on farmers’ intentions toward using biopesticides. Furthermore, the study explores the mediation effect of attitude on usage intention. Data were collected from 323 vegetable and fruit growers from seven northern states of India and examined by applying the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique using SmartPLS software. The results reveal that all the factors, except perceived behavioral control, significantly influence farmers’ attitudes and behavioral intention to use biopesticides. Moreover, a mediation analysis reveals a full mediation effect of attitude for health motivation and a partial mediation effect for perceived benefits on behavioral intention. Finally, the proposed research model has substantial explanatory power and helps to examine farmers’ intention to use biopesticides. The government and policymakers may use the current research findings to develop strategies to enhance biopesticide usage.

While earlier studies have examined how AI social chatbots provide emotional support or alleviate loneliness, their direct implications on user wellbeing remain underexplored. Drawing on the theory of emotional intelligence, this research investigates the dual impact of emotionally intelligent (EI) social chatbots on users' wellbeing, enhancing psychological wellbeing while potentially deteriorating social wellbeing (i.e., real-world human-to-human connection). Using a mixed-method design, first, we conducted a netnographic analysis of user-generated data from Reddit, YouTube, and Trustpilot to identify how users experience emotional intelligence within chatbot interactions. Building on these insights, two experimental studies (N = 167; N = 350) confirm that high-EI chatbots positively influence users' psychological wellbeing but simultaneously decrease their social wellbeing. Furthermore, the study found that perceived closeness mediates both the relationships and the chatbot interaction mode (text vs. augmented reality), and also moderates these mediating effects. These findings highlight a wellbeing trade-off growing in chatbots and offer implications for the ethical design of AI companions that maximize emotional benefits without compromising users' real-world connections.

Indian banking system was exposed to a regulatory overhaul during 2015-2016 through many policy reforms. These reforms came in tandem with the asset quality review (AQR) instituted by the banking regulator. One of such reforms was an enforcement of mandatory disclosures which aimed at improving earnings quality. The banking regulator framed these disclosures in terms of divergence in asset qualities between the regulator and the banks. The goal was to limit the opportunistic behavior of banks, reduce their ability to suppress unfavorable information, and improve certainty about the banking sector-which is opaque in general. Therefore, our study examines the efficacy of this policy-whether the mandatory disclosure policy reduced information asymmetry making the banks better disciplined, thereby alleviating to an extent the moral hazard problem. Using fixed effects panel regression and generalised methods moments (GMM), we find divergence disclosure to have a positive effect on earnings quality. We witnessed banks to reduce the discretionary portion of the loan loss provisioning after the enforcement divergence disclosure. Thus, the policy-making process to improve transparency and surfacing 'good' versus the 'bad' banks was effective and derived the intended results. Furthermore, our study recommends institutionalizing a metric driven policy approach to steer regulatory outcomes. For example, we propose the policy convergence initiated in 2022, to adopt the expected credit loss standard for credit impairment from the current incurred loss to be looked at with the lens of earnings quality. A mandatory disclosure with divergence in provision between the two credit loss models could be a possible solution to ensure realization of the intended policy outcome. (c) 2025 The Society for Policy Modeling. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

Information systems (IS) research has continually evolved alongside rapid technological advancements, shaping its impact on business and society. While past analyses have explored the discipline’s identity and diversity, the accelerating pace of information technology (IT) innovation necessitates continuous reassessment of emerging trends. This study employs a novel BERT topic modeling approach, enhanced by a large language model, to analyze author-supplied abstracts from Information Systems Frontiers (ISF) and eight other leading IS journals. Our findings highlight the emergence of the SMAS (Social Media, Mobile, Analytics, Security) paradigm, reflecting the growing significance of these areas in IS research. As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in societal structures, critical topics such as social networks, content generation, and data protection have gained prominence. ISF continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the next frontier of IS research while maintaining a strong focus on core concerns, including IT management, development, and business value.

This study explores how informal sector competition influences the innovation strategies of formal emerging economy firms (FEEFs), focusing on the novel concept of 'innovation time off,' where employees are given discretionary time to pursue new ideas. Using data about Indian firms from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, the findings show that informal competition drives FEEFs to adopt innovation time off, though this effect diminishes for firms that are located in SEZs or have numerical labour flexibility. This study advances strategic management literature by offering actionable insights into the interplay of informal competition, innovation, and policy-induced firm characteristics in resource-constrained environments. (c) 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)