Despite the substantial body of research on entrepreneurship and identity separately, there remains ambiguity about how female entrepreneurs construct their identities. This study seeks to explore how Sri Lankan female entrepreneurs in the tourism sector construct, negotiate, and transform their entrepreneurial identities within the cultural, familial, and gendered constraints they encounter. A qualitative methodology, specifically a narrative research design, was employed, as this approach remains underutilized in the entrepreneurship area. A total of 11 life stories were collected and analyzed. The findings reveal four key themes: (1) identity formation within cultural and familial boundaries, (2) reframing femininity through hybrid identity, (3) embracing the underdog entrepreneurial identity, and (4) temporal identity shifts through seasonal relocation. This study contributes to the field of female entrepreneurship by advancing knowledge on identity construction and the role of identity work in enabling or constraining women’s legitimacy within entrepreneurial communities, particularly in contrast to dominant Western perspectives.
Although existing research has systematically examined factors influencing the educational quality of international students in China, few studies have addressed the causal relationships and relative influence of these factors. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review across sociology, psychology, and education, this study investigates the determinants of educational quality for international students in Chinese universities. First, we identified 22 factors across five dimensions. Second, we applied the Decision Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory-based Analytic Network Process (DANP) to estimate causal connections and influence weights. In the DANP calculation results the top three dimensions by influence weight are Teacher’s Effectiveness (ranked fourth in prominence), Campus Environment (ranked third), and Interpersonal Dimension (ranked second). Across the five dimensions, Educational System, Family Background, Teacher’s Communicative Competence, Economic Factors, and Relationships with Administrative Staff exhibit the highest within-dimension weights. By integrating relational strength, causality, and directional impact, the study pinpoints priority levers for policymakers and institutional leaders to improve educational quality and advance the sustainable development of international higher education in China.
The study investigated how leadership self-efficacy and technology transfer appropriateness (TTA) influence the relationships among ethical climate, job resourcefulness, and community citizenship behaviour (CCB), as well as the moderating role of contingency planning in Chinese SMEs. Data were collected from 550 leaders working in Chinese SMEs using a self-administered questionnaire, and the hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM. The findings indicate that ethical climate and job resourcefulness positively influence leadership self-efficacy, while job resourcefulness also enhances technology transfer appropriateness. Leadership self-efficacy significantly promotes community citizenship behaviour and mediates the relationships between ethical climate, job resourcefulness, and CCB. In contrast, neither technology transfer appropriateness nor contingency planning demonstrates a significant influence on community citizenship behaviour. Overall, the findings suggest that leadership-related psychological mechanisms play a more prominent role than technological or structural factors in explaining community citizenship behaviour in Chinese SMEs.
Digital marketplaces have transformed consumption globally, yet limited evidence explains how sustainable digital consumption emerges among young consumers in developing economies. This study examines its determinants among Generation Z in Laos, integrating technological perceptions, social influence, trust, perceived risk, and sustainability cognition into a unified behavioral framework that treats technology acceptance as a baseline mechanism rather than a dominant driver. Survey data from 200 Generation Z consumers with prior online shopping experience were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in WarpPLS 8.0. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use fostered positive attitudes toward digital platforms but functioned primarily as enabling conditions. Attitude toward online marketplaces was the strongest direct predictor of purchase intention, while trust and sustainability cognition influenced self-reported online purchasing behavior mainly through marketplace evaluations and sequential indirect pathways. Behavioral intention to use did not significantly predict purchase intention, and perceived-risk relationships departed from the hypothesized directions, indicating that risk awareness can coexist with trust and favorable marketplace evaluations among experienced consumers. Sustainability operated through a multi-stage pathway in which environmental awareness enhanced sustainability awareness and interest, subsequently shaping marketplace attitudes and behavioral commitment. The study demonstrates that sustainable digital consumption among Generation Z is associated less with technological novelty than with trust, value alignment, and ethical marketplace evaluations, particularly under institutional uncertainty, offering implications for policymakers and platform operators seeking inclusive and sustainable digital markets in emerging economies.
This study examines whether major cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB), serve as diversifiers, hedges, or safe-haven assets relative to equity markets across four structurally distinct crisis episodes: the COVID-19 pandemic, the post-pandemic inflation surge, the Russia–Ukraine war, and the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Using daily data from 2019 to 2024, the analysis applies rolling correlations, Dynamic Conditional Correlation GARCH (DCC-GARCH) modelling, and regression frameworks with macro-financial controls (VIX, Treasury yields, gold returns) to characterise time-varying linkages between cryptocurrencies and the S&P 500, NASDAQ, and MSCI World indices. The results show that cryptocurrencies act as diversifiers in tranquil periods but lose their hedging and safe-haven properties during systemic stress, with correlations remaining firmly positive in every crisis window and rising sharply during the Russia–Ukraine episode. Bitcoin and Ethereum display strong synchronicity with technology equities, consistent with speculative, sentiment-driven behaviour, while Binance Coin exhibits more stable linkages consistent with its platform-utility characteristics. The study makes three contributions: theoretically, it applies the Baur and Lucey (2010) state-contingent framework to digital assets and shows that the diversifier role is itself state-contingent, weakening when protection is most needed; methodologically, it triangulates three estimators across four shocks of distinct economic origin, addressing the single-asset, single-event, and single-method limitations of prior work; practically, it challenges the “digital gold” narrative and shows that cryptocurrencies are embedded in the same global risk network as conventional financial markets, with direct implications for portfolio construction and macroprudential supervision.
