http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12348 Sat, 18 Apr 2026 21:02:53 GMT 2026-04-18T21:02:53Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12503 Title: BREAKING THE VIRTUAL WALL: WHY BUSINESSES RESIST METAVERSE IN THE RETAIL INDUSTRY? Authors: Li, Wenjie; Cham, Tat-Huei; Zhang, Yanyan; Loebiantoro, Ika Yanuarti; Mirzaliev, Sanjar Abstract: While the metaverse is considered the next big thing associated with the information system ecosystem, this disruptive technology has not been widely adopted by many of the enterprises to date. Given its potential to drive the success of businesses as evidence across literature, this study aims to investigate retail enterprises’ non-adoption intentions toward the metaverse. The Technology, Organisation, and Environment (TOE) framework is used as an underpinning theory to examine the impact of various barriers on non-adoption intention towards the metaverse. Data were collected from 400 large- and medium-sized retail enterprises in China and analysed using partial least-squares structural equation models (PLS-SEM) to ensure reliability and test hypotheses. The findings indicate that both technological barriers (i.e., perceived complexity and perceived risk), organisational barriers (i.e., a lack of top management support), and environmental barriers (i.e., a lack of governance and standardisation) were found to have a significant effect on resistance to the adoption of the metaverse in retailing, which in turn significantly influenced non-adoption intentions. It is believed that the findings from this study will provide a better understanding of the metaverse's adoption from a business organisation's perspective and its impact on related stakeholders. Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12503 2025-03-01T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12501 Title: THE ROLE OF INNOVATION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FDI AND INCOME INEQUALITY: EVIDENCE FROM A TRANSITION ECONOMY Authors: Pham, Tuan Nhat; Lam, Hoanh Thi Hoang; Yang, Yan-Jie Abstract: This study explores the impact of innovation and foreign direct investment (FDI) on income inequality, emphasizing the moderating role of innovation in the relationship between FDI and income inequality, using panel data from 63 Vietnamese provinces from 2005 to 2020. As economic expansion raises concerns about income inequality in Vietnam, understanding the distributional effects of innovation and FDI is essential. While innovation fosters technological progress and job creation, its benefits primarily accrue to skilled labor and capital-intensive sectors, potentially widening income inequality. Similarly, FDI promotes economic expansion, but its effects on inequality depend on absorptive capacity and investment composition, which may exacerbate income gaps. Using the system generalized method of moments (GMM) method on 1,008 observations, the findings reveal a U-shaped relationship between innovation and income inequality, whereas FDI exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship. Specifically, innovation exacerbates inequality beyond a threshold of 27.63, while FDI reduces inequality once it exceeds 0.76. Moreover, the negative coefficient of the interaction variable between innovation and FDI suggests that innovation weakens the impact of FDI on income inequality. These findings remain robust when substituting the Human Development Index as an inequality proxy and align with modernization and endogenous growth theories. This study contributes novel empirical insights and policy implications for promoting inclusive innovation and sustainable investment, advancing Sustainable Development Goal 10 on inequality reduction. Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12501 2025-03-01T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12499 Title: TOURIST VOICES ON TWITTER: SENTIMENT AND TOPIC ANALYSIS FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN PENANG Authors: Zhu, Kun; Saad, Nor Hasliza Md; ElSayad, Ghada; Ali, Muhamad Mu’az Mohd; Qian, Jiahui Abstract: This research aims to analyse the opinions expressed in tweets about a tourism destination in Malaysia and elucidate the dominant topics discussed on Twitter. This research examines tourist sentiment on a Malaysian destination from a sustainability perspective by analysing 18,018 tweets, collected from November 9, 2021, to January 9, 2022, using Lexicon-based sentiment analysis for polarity detection and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) for topic modelling. Results revealed that 46% of sentiments were positive, 39% were neutral, and 15% were negative. Tourists primarily discussed food, tourist spots, events, hotels, traffic, and driver attitudes. Core tourism services received positive feedback, whereas additional fees were noted as less favourable. The integration of sentiment analysis and LDA enables a nuanced understanding of tourist experiences, providing actionable insights for policymakers and businesses to enhance sustainable tourism practices and optimize resource management in Penang. Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12499 2025-03-01T00:00:00Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12496 Title: BALANCING SUSTAINABILITY AND INNOVATION: EXPLORING THE INTERVENTION OF STRATEGIC AMBIDEXTERITY IN PROCESS INNOVATION Authors: Mukarram, Muhammad; Shakil, Muhammad Haseeb; Ehsan, Sadaf; Anees, Rao Tahir; Nordin, Nordiana Ahmad Abstract: Accomplishing sustainable performance notwithstanding an inexorably uncertain environment has become both a basic test and a convincing objective inside the domain of contemporary business. Even with rising uncertainty, accomplishing sustainable performance has arisen as a foremost test and a convincing objective in contemporary business. The study aims to address the imperative set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) by exploring the mediation role of strategic ambidexterity in the relationship between intellectual capital dimensions (Structural Capital, Relational Capital, Human Capital, Social Capital) and sustainable performance within businesses. Given the increasing global challenges, particularly the call for sustainability, this research investigates the intricate connections among these variables. Employing quantitative methods and Smart PLS, the study conducted an online survey distributed to managers of selected hotels, yielding 385 workable responses out of 500. The results reveal a positive correlation among the variables of interest, confirming the acceptance of all hypotheses. In conclusion, the findings suggest that hotels strategically leveraging their intellectual capital for innovative exploration and exploitation processes exhibit enhanced capabilities to attain sustainable performance, aligning with the broader goals of global sustainability. The managers could benefit from the implementation of putting resources into the turn of maintenance of a very capable workforce, supporting social ties inside and outside the association. Furthermore, executing situation arranging and possibility techniques empower fast arrangement, adding to sustained performance. Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/12496 2025-03-01T00:00:00Z