Sonal Purohit

As the metaverse emerges as a novel landscape offering opportunities to the retailers, it becomes imperative to understand the factors that shape the consumer trust. The unique dynamics of metaverse requires a separate investigation of the consumer trust factors. In this chapter we explore the dynamics of consumer trust in metaverse retail by synthesizing the insights from Trust Transfer Model, Mayer's Trust Model, and Social Exchange Theory. Through a comprehensive integration of these theories into the unique environment of metaverse, we present a framework that explains the key drivers of trust in the metaverse retail. The consumer's prior experience, retailer or brand reputation, consumer's privacy and security concerns, and social connections play a pertinent role in shaping the trust of consumers in the metaverse. Perceived risk and social influence are identified as mediators in the trust-building process.

This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding the structural resurgence of central bank gold accumulation within the context of geo‐economic fragmentation. The paper conceptualizes gold accumulation as the expression of a mercantilist orientation—a latent strategic disposition, grounded in bounded rationality and institutional routines. This orientation is analytically embedded within a geo‐economic realist framework that treats reserve composition as an instrument of strategic statecraft. The framework introduces reserve sovereignty—the capacity to manage reserves without external interference—as a novel analytical outcome. Seven testable propositions are advanced, structured around antecedents, mediators, moderators, and outcomes.

Sustainable digital is an imperative tool that the financial sector can use to mitigate climate change. Over the past years, banks have transformed into digital-enabled platforms, such as neobanks and full digital institutions, although with traditional branches. They are significant because they help enhance sustainability by providing services that minimize carbon intensity, environmental objectives, and increase exposure to green finance. This chapter discusses how digital platforms create opportunities to lend in an environmentally responsible way, invest and save sustainably, and provide financial services to everyone. It also examines the regulatory and institutional frameworks to create effective, sustainable digital banking ecosystems, including focusing on governance, trust, and the necessity of avoiding greenwashing. The chapter, based on real-life examples, points to how digital banking can help achieve climate-resilient financial systems and offers information to policymakers, financial institutions, and researchers who engage in digital transformation and sustainability.

The relationship between international trade and security cooperation has re‐emerged as a central concern in global political economy, international relations, and international business scholarship. While research examines the effects of trade on peace and the economic consequences of security alliances, existing work remains theoretically fragmented and largely static, offering limited insight into how trade and security jointly evolve over time. This article develops a co‐evolutionary framework: the Trade–Security Loop, to explain the reciprocal and dynamic interaction between economic interdependence and defense alliances. Integrating insights from economic interdependence theory, institutional and alliance theories, geo‐economics, and international business research, the framework theorizes how trade interdependence shapes security cooperation, how alliances restructure trade patterns, and how these processes generate self‐reinforcing feedback mechanisms. We advance six propositions specifying the conditions under which the trade–security loop produces virtuous cycles of integration or vicious cycles of fragmentation. In particular, we identify strategic sector sensitivity, power asymmetry, and institutional compatibility as critical boundary conditions that moderate the strength and direction of trade–security feedback effects. By reconceptualizing trade and security as mutually endogenous systems, this article refines existing theories of economic interdependence and alliances, and provides a theoretically integrated foundation for understanding alliance‐based trade governance.

This study aims to investigate and define the boundaries of brand conscientiousness in the Metaverse by examining how brands sustain ethical engagement in decentralised virtual environments through the lenses of Stakeholder Theory and Signalling Theory. Drawing on 46 interviews conducted across multiple countries, we conduct a thematic analysis that identifies four recursive engagement phases (Equity and Access Justice, Trust Architecture and Assurance, Ethical Self-Alignment, and Responsible Immersion) that together form the Ethical Engagement Cycle, explaining how users iteratively evaluate the ethical legitimacy of brand behaviour in immersive environments. By conceptualising ethical engagement as a cyclical evaluative process structured around these four phases, this study expands the theoretical discourse on conscientiousness in digital ecosystems, highlighting emerging stakeholders and decentralised governance dynamics. For policymakers, it addresses the importance of regulating digital rights and ethical practices, emphasising that brands’ conscientiousness practices must align with consumer expectations in virtual environments.

In this paper, we challenge the traditional text-based case teaching method and present a live video case method for problem-posing as a pedagogical approach that facilitates problem identification over mere problem-solving among management students. Using data from the feedback of 200 students in a data analytics (MBA) course, we present a theoretical framework that explains how and why the live-video case method for problem posing leads to transformative learning and develops core competencies among management students. Through the live video case, students are encouraged to critically reflect on the situation to identify the business problems leading to transformative learning. This enhances their engagement, and they critically think through the situation to diagnose the root cause of the issue and apply theoretical knowledge to find solutions. Our findings advance theories on transformative learning through problem posing, offering new insights on effective pedagogies for preparing management students for real-world business situations.

This study examines how international political awareness (IPA) shapes international partner selection (IPS) in an increasingly fractured global economy. Specifically, it investigates the roles of geopolitical knowledge and political and trade activism in translating firms' political awareness into legitimacy‐sensitive international partner choices. Drawing on institutional theory and the resource‐based view, the study conceptualizes IPA as a dynamic political capability distinct from existing constructs such as political risk management and nonmarket strategy. Survey data were collected from 714 export–import firms operating in Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Bangladesh. The results show that IPA has a strong and positive association with IPS across all country contexts. Geopolitical knowledge mediates the IPA–IPS relationship, indicating that political awareness becomes strategically consequential when firms possess interpretive depth regarding geopolitical disruptions. Political and trade activism further moderates this relationship in India and Bangladesh, where activism pressures are more intense, but not in Malaysia and Thailand—a divergence attributable to differences in institutional maturity, global value chain exposure, and the salience of informal governance mechanisms. This study advances international business research by offering an integrative framework that links political capabilities, geopolitical knowledge, and activism to explain partner selection under conditions of geopolitical fragmentation.

Consumer guilt has emerged as a negative sentiment or feeling that influences consumer behavior, resulting from the belief that one has violated a social, personal, or ethical norm. Despite the need for a better understanding of the consumer guilt phenomenon, the antecedents and consequences remain unknown, creating a literature gap on this topic. In this study, we have attempted to assess the existing research on consumer guilt from the past two decades. We analyzed and classified them according to the review structure of Paul and Rosado‐Serrano's (2019) TCCM (theories, contexts, characteristics, methods) framework. Therefore, this study combines the literature on consumer guilt, drawing on theoretical underpinnings, contextual factors, constructs, and research methodologies to examine the growth of consumer guilt research over a specific period. Additionally, based on the concept of amalgamation, we have developed a conceptual model that illustrates the antecedents, mediators, and outcomes of consumer guilt. Furthermore, we have identified some overlooked aspects and proposed insightful research guidelines to advance this field of research.

This study examines the emerging concept of brand coolness (BC), which is becoming increasingly important in shaping consumer–brand relationships. Albeit its increasing significance, the literature in the domain of BC remains patchy. To bridge this gap, 103 peer‐reviewed articles, published from 2000 to 2025 from the Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) databases were examined utilizing the SPAR‐4‐SLR (Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews) protocol along with TCCM (Theory, Context, Characteristics, and Methodology) and ADO (Antecedents‐Decisions‐Outcomes) frameworks. The research identifies four primary antecedent categories, namely, brand‐specific, consumer‐oriented, cultural/experiential, and influencer/advocacy that influence coolness perceptions. Brand connection results involve increased emotional attachment, brand affection, advocacy, and a propensity to pay a premium. Mediating effects arise from psychological processes and value‐based mechanisms, whereas demographics, customer traits, and service quality function as moderators. A novel conceptual framework of BC is demonstrated by conducting expert interviews with 17 branding professionals and academicians, providing theoretical and management insights. The results designate BC as a unique research field and underscore its strategic importance in differentiation and relationship development. Future study avenues are proposed to enhance comprehension within digital, cultural, and sustainability frameworks.