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This paper investigates the role of economic disagreement in the cross-sectional pricing of individual stocks. Economic disagreement is quantified with ex ante measures of cross-sectional dispersion in economic forecasts from the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF), determining the degree of disagreement among professional forecasters over changes in economic fundamentals.

The authors introduce a broad index of economic disagreement based on the innovations in the cross-sectional dispersion of economic forecasts for output, inflation and unemployment so that the index is a shock measure that captures different aspects of disagreement over economic fundamentals and also reflects unexpected news or surprise about the state of the aggregate economy. After building the broad index of economic disagreement, the authors test out-of-sample performance of the index in predicting the cross-sectional variation in future stock returns.

Univariate portfolio analyses indicate that decile portfolios that are long in stocks with the lowest disagreement beta and short in stocks with the highest disagreement beta yield a risk-adjusted annual return of 7.2%. The results remain robust after controlling for well-known pricing effects. The results are consistent with a preference-based explanation that ambiguity-averse investors demand extra compensation to hold stocks with high disagreement risk and the investors are willing to pay high prices for stocks with large hedging benefits. The results also support the mispricing hypothesis that the high disagreement beta provides an indirect way to measure dispersed opinion and overpricing.

Most literature measures disagreement about individual stocks with the standard deviation of earnings forecasts made by financial analysts and examines the cross-sectional relation between this measure and individual stock returns. Unlike prior studies, the authors focus on disagreement about the economy instead of disagreement about earnings growth. The authors' argument is that disagreement about the economy is a major factor that would explain disagreement about stock fundamentals. The authors find that disagreement in economic forecasts does indeed have a significant impact on the cross-sectional pricing of individual stocks.

Fat‐tailed distributions have been found in many financial and economic variables ranging from forecasting returns on financial assets to modeling recovery distributions in bankruptcies. They have also been found in numerous insurance applications such as catastrophic insurance claims and in value‐at‐risk measures employed by risk managers. Financial applications include:

Introduction: Amidst Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA), turbulence is a vital component of an entrepreneurial landscape. VUCA world has set a new dynamic in the business environment and organisation’s settings. In such an environment, it is pertinent for entrepreneurs to exhibit creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance.

Purpose: The study investigates whether creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance of entrepreneurs are fostered through employee engagement practices in a highly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment.

Methodology: The methodology involves a systematic review and meta-synthesis. By identifying the major topics, a systematic literature review helped critically analyse and synthesise the literature.

Findings: According to the study, corporate entrepreneurial factors like (management reinforcement, reward/reinforcement, job autonomy/discretion, time attainability, and organisational boundaries) entrepreneurial potential, entrepreneurial orientation, human capital, self-efficacy beliefs lead to employee engagement, which, in turn, fosters creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance among entrepreneurs in the VUCA world.

To understand the experiences, expectations and suggestions of digital nomads towards intangible cultural heritage in the places they travel.

The qualitative research method was used and the research design is a phenomenological design. Multiple qualitative research design steps were followed in obtaining the research data. In this context, online interviews were conducted with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers, and the social media accounts of digital nomads were monitored. The sample consists of nine digital nomads who were interviewed online and five digital nomads whose videos and comments shared on social media were monitored. The inductive thematic analysis method was used to analyse the data.

It was found that digital nomads experience intangible cultural heritage elements, especially religious rituals and food culture, and actively participate in activities and rituals related to these elements as well as sharing them on their social media accounts. It was also concluded that the participants expected to work towards the protection of intangible cultural heritage elements through a number of activities such as awareness-raising and education, and that it is difficult to experience cultural heritage in societies that are not foreign-friendly.

The data were obtained from volunteer participants consisting of digital nomads and digital nomads who shared their experiences on social media. It is suggested that traditional food and religious rituals as intangible cultural heritage should be promoted and transferred by sharing the experiences these digital nomads on digital platforms.

Religious rituals and food cultures are prominent in the ICH experiences of digital nomads. Digital nomads who stay longer in their destination than tourists can play an intermediary role in promoting and transmitting this heritage. The social media and other digital platforms enable digital nomads to share their experiences of cultural heritage and create a global dialogue and understanding through these experiences.

The experiences and expectations of digital nomads towards ICH require a reassessment of traditional approaches to the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage. By experiencing different cultural heritages and sharing these experiences through digital platforms, digital nomads contribute to the reinterpretation and reproduction of cultural heritage. This process reveals that cultural heritage is not limited to a particular community or geography, but is rather a global phenomenon, and therefore needs to be addressed from a global perspective.

It is one of the pioneering studies on the experiences of digital nomads towards intangible cultural heritage.

Pyrus Pyrifolia (Sand Pear) is one of the most underused pear variety despite its nutraceutical potential. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the Pyrus Pyrifolia in term of origin, distribution and classification, nutritional and bioactive potential, therapeutic potential and valorization along with future prospectus.

A wide variety of publications (88) were identified through electronic databases (Science direct, PubMed, SciELO, Google scholar, Link springer and Research gate) under the umbrella of different keywords such as bioactive compounds, health benefits, nutrition, sand pear, Pyrus and Pyrus pyrifolia.

Pyrus Pyrifolia (Sand Pear) is abundant in nutritional and bioactive compounds such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenoids, vitamins and minerals. It exhibits therapeutic potential as being an antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agent. However, P. pyrifolia is not much explored by food researchers and industrialists, hence remaining underused. A few attempts have been made toward the use of P. pyrifolia for jam, jelly, candy and wine preparation. However, more research is required for the commercial processing of P. pyrifolia and to enhance its availability outside its growing area.

In this paper, nutritional and bioactive compounds of P. pyrifolia are discussed that provide knowledge to the researchers for its use as a functional ingredient.

The study investigates the factors that impact the adoption of learning management systems (LMSs) among educators for effective implementation of open and distance learning (ODL) environment in advanced technological institutes (ATIs).

This study uses the extended technology acceptance model (TAM) and analyses data using the partial least square–based structural equation modelling approach to validate the construct and test proposed hypotheses. Data were collected through an online questionnaire from the respondents.

This study reveals that perceived self-efficacy and job relevance significantly impact perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU). PU, PEU and service quality significantly impact attitudes of educators, which impact their behavioural intention and actual use of LMS as a chain reaction.

The management should organise hands-on training sessions to improve educators' computer self-efficacy and explain the importance of the LMS and its features to offer an effective ODL environment for delivering high-quality education.

The previous studies focused on LMS use from the students' point of view rather than educators. This study investigates educators' LMS adoption in ATIs using the extended TAM. The findings may be helpful for management to implement an effective ODL environment that offers fully integrated distance learning and e-learning during the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aims to systematically examine gender specific behavioral differences and similarities in online shopping consumers, underlying theories for such differences and similarities and moderating and mediating roles of gender in studying the effects of online marketing strategies. This synthesis explores gender differences and similarities from a wide range of online settings, including readiness for adoption of new technology, willingness to make online payments, trust in online vendors, perception and behavior toward online business websites and perceived online service quality.

A systematic approach was adopted to derive and then analyze the existing literature. The authors accessed relevant literature from three electronic databases. After a thorough screening process and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, the study shortlisted 61 academic articles from an initial pool of 187 papers.

The findings reveal more differences than similarities between men and women as online consumers. Men generally have more favorable attitudes toward e-tailers (electronic retailing), online purchase/re-purchase and e-payments than women do. Social influences positively affect the online purchase intentions of men and women, but they have a more substantial effect on women. Privacy concerns negatively affect the online trust of men and women, but they also manifest a more significant influence on women.

Findings of review guide practitioners in formulating effective positioning and communication strategies that enable them to appeal to gender-specific consumer segments in multiple products and business contexts. It offers guidelines to online businesses for developing e-business platforms (websites) that persuade the target audience across gender groups, based on consumer browsing and web navigation preferences.

This review fulfills the need for a systematic synthesis of empirical research vis-à-vis online consumer behavior studies to find gender-specific perceptions, attitudes and behaviors.

This study aims to investigate the adoption and use of electronic voting (e-voting) system as an option to credible elections in Nigeria, as well as the factors that could influence the readiness of Oyo state citizens in Nigeria to use the system.

The study adopts the survey research design, while the Technology Readiness Acceptance Model provides the theoretical framework. A two-stage sampling procedure (random and convenience) was used to select 500 Nigerian citizens, who are of voting age, while data were collected with a structured questionnaire.

Findings reveal that the citizens are ready to use the e-voting system if adopted by the Nigerian Government. Optimism and innovativeness are positively correlated, and perceived discomfort and perceived insecurity are negatively correlated, with readiness to use e-voting system by Oyo state citizens. The Technology Acceptance Model constructs (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use), as well as computer self-efficacy also have positive correlations with readiness to use of e-voting.

The population of the study was limited to only citizens in one state of the federation; hence, the results cannot be generalised to all citizens in Nigeria.

The study contributes to existing knowledge on adoption and use of technology and confirms that optimism and innovativeness are motivators and discomfort and insecurity are inhibitors of intention to use and actual usage of technology. Hence, these constructs should be taken into account and promoted when Nigeria is planning to adopt the e-voting system.

This paper could assist the Nigerian Government on the factors to consider when implementing the e-voting system.

This paper is one of the first pieces of empirical research that attempted to investigate the factors that could promote acceptance and use of the e-voting system in Nigeria.