Indian Institute of Management Raipur

This paper examines whether strengthening creditor rights improves firm productivity in emerging markets, where weak bankruptcy enforcement and inefficient credit allocation often constrain productivity-enhancing investment. We exploit the implementation of India's Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) of 2016 as a quasi-natural experiment to identify the causal impact of enhanced creditor protection on firm-level productivity. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find that strengthened creditor rights significantly increase productivity, particularly among financially distressed firms. The effect operates through reduced resource misallocation, expanded access to debt financing, and higher investment in both technological and non-technological capital. We further document improvements in capital and labour productivity, indicating more efficient input utilization following the reform. Our findings provide firm-level evidence that well-designed bankruptcy reforms can alleviate financial frictions and enhance resource allocation. From a policy perspective, strengthening creditor enforcement and improving insolvency resolution mechanisms can foster firm efficiency and long-term productivity growth in emerging markets.

PurposeUsing the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, our study aimed to examine the resources and demands of digital content creation (DCC), a growing occupation that remains underexplored from JD-R perspective. We focus on Indian YouTubers to offer contextually grounded insights into this emerging form of work.Design/methodology/approachBased on 21 semi-structured telephonic interviews with Indian YouTubers, this study examines the job demands and resources that define DCC, with a specific focus on the Indian context.FindingsDrawing on JD-R theory, we identified the job resources and demands of the DCC occupation, which occurred at occupational, social, and digital ecosystem levels. The data analysis revealed several occupational, social, and digital ecosystem level resources and demands unique to this occupation (e.g. audience response uncertainty, and online hostility and trolling). The digital ecosystem level came up as a unique aspect of DCC, distinguishing it from other self-employed occupations. Under this level are resources such as "Digital platform capabilities" and demands such as "Navigating platform dynamics." The findings show that the job resources and demands are interrelated and vary in their centrality.Research limitations/implicationsThe grayscale diagram provides a nuanced understanding of the sources of the job resources and demands and their centrality, enabling both research and practice to accurately identify the areas to focus on for future research and effective interventions.Originality/valueThis study examines the job resources and demands of a growing but understudied occupational group. It extends the JD-R framework by developing a multi-level JD-R Grayscale Centrality Diagram, categorizing resources and demands into occupational, social, and digital ecosystem levels. The diagram reflects their centrality based on frequency and emphasis in participant accounts and captures their complex interrelations across levels, which are often oversimplified in existing research.

This paper examines how immersive design and social features in metaverse fitness services enhance user engagement, intention to use, and sustained participation. We combine Norman's System Design Theory, the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, and Flow Theory, to examine how the immersive design and social architecture of metaverse fitness applications shape user experiences. A sequential mixed-methods approach comprising 42 interviews with fitness-oriented users followed by a large U.S. survey (N = 819) analyzed with PLS-SEM and full reliability/validity checks produces consistent findings. We find that rich sensory design enhances focused absorption and task engagement with metaverse fitness services. Community-focused features strongly boost emotion and persistence, with these effects depending on users' fitness involvement, showing when to prioritize immersion versus social connection. We integrate design, presence, and flow to explain behavior in immersive services beyond entertainment, and extend metaverse research into health-focused retail. The results advise managers to enhance sensory features to sharpen focus, add social elements to sustain motivation, and adjust the mix based on user involvement. Applying these design principles can boost user retention, maintain engagement, and increase lifetime value, turning metaverse fitness into an effective healthpromoting experience.

PurposeThis study explores how workplace dignity (WD) and positive emotions (PE) contribute to employee flourishing (FW), while examining the moderating role of career tenure in Indian organizations.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave longitudinal survey over six months was conducted with employees from diverse industries in India. Structural equation modelling was employed to test mediation and moderation effects, and importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) was used to identify actionable priorities.FindingsWorkplace dignity mediates the relationship between PE and flourishing. While overall moderation effects were not significant, analysis of tenure subgroups revealed a curvilinear pattern under which career tenure moderates both pathways: early-career employees (0-2 years) report stronger emotion-dignity links, whereas long-tenure employees (11+ years) benefit most from dignity-flourishing relationships. Mid-tenure employees (3-10 years) show weaker effects, suggesting a curvilinear trajectory. IPMA highlights amusement and love as underperforming emotions requiring targeted interventions.Research limitations/implicationsFindings are based on self-reported data within a six-month timeframe and limited to Indian organizations. Future studies should incorporate multi-source data and cross-cultural contexts to enhance generalizability.Practical implicationsEmbedding dignity in human resources (HR) practices and fostering positive emotional climates can enhance flourishing across career stages. Organizations can design targeted interventions for specific emotions and tenure groups to sustain employee well-being.Originality/valueThis study introduces workplace dignity as a novel mechanism linking PE to employee flourishing and highlights career-stage nuances using longitudinal evidence from an emerging economy.

Against the backdrop of neoliberal reforms and increasing vulnerability in higher education, we argue that microaffirmations, as a form of corporeal generosity, have a subversive potential and as such may contribute to a much-needed renaissance in academia. In this paper, we offer an empirically-grounded investigation of the experience of being affirmed through practices of what we call "collegial generosity." Through highly sensitive micro-phenomenological interviews with academics across ranks and disciplines, we show how these fleeting moments are lived as subjective shifts - often marked by surprise, joy, and gratitude - that can instill a renewed sense of possibility and professional purpose. Building on embodied ethics, we conceptualize microaffirmations as ethical encounters that enhance our capacity to act and connect to others in our academic environments. These acts are experienced as restorative space-opening gestures that create joy and enhance an individual's sense of belonging to their academic discipline and collegial community.