Browsing by Author "Sharif, Saeed Pahlevan"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

The Impact of Scarcity on Impulse Buying from the Perspective of Chinese Consumers
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Jing, Zhang Jing; Jiang, Nan; Jamesturner, Jason; Sharif, Saeed Pahlevan
The global COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global healthcare system, instilling dread and anxiety among billions of people (Jackson et al., 2020). With the high mortality and infectiousness, medical protective products became scarce, especially at the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China (Wu et al., 2020). The scarcity of medical protective products leads to consumers' impulse buying. Consumer’s impulse buying resulted in stockpiling and the increase of prices by the shopkeepers and insufficient frontline workers, which in turn, affects epidemic control work and market order. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the effect of scarcity on consumers' impulse buying during the epidemic in China. In this study, under the theoretical guidelines of S-O-R and bandwagon effect, the researcher will identify how scarcity of medical protective products affects consumers' impulse buying by the fear of missing out and the bandwagon effect on the relationship between scarcity of the medical protective products and Chinese consumers' impulse buying. Based on these aims, the quantitative method was used in this study to better explain the relationship between scarcity on impulsive purchase. This study developed a self-reported questionnaire and targeted Chinese consumers in China. Due to the largest population, time limitation and the lockdown in China, convenience sampling was adopted for this study and 488 data was collected from Chinese consumers through online social media WeChat and QQ during the peak period of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Besides, to ensure the reliability of the results, the measurement and structural model were evaluated by using the Smart-Pls 3 software. The empirical results show that the scarcity makes consumers fearful of missing the chance to get the medical protective products, leading ultimately to impulse buying. While the scarcity effect on consumers' impulsive purchase depends on the other consumers' follow up behavior (bandwagon) under such an emergency. The result will extend the current research on scarcity, impulsive purchase, fear of missing out and bandwagon. It also provides practical recommendations. Firstly, the result would help the marketer effectively use the scarcity strategy in the general environment (without public emergency affairs). They may increase the effect of fear of missing out and bandwagon effect to enhance the scarcity effect and attract more consumers' attention. Secondly, the results provide valuable information for the government. They can adopt measures to control the consumers' bandwagon consumption to decrease the scarcity effect. Moreover, the government can claim that the medical organization makes an effort to produce medical protective products to diminish consumers' impulse buying, as the claim may let consumers believe that they will get the medical protective products in the future.
An NLP-Based Approach to Modelling of Consumers Perceived Quality and Intention to Recommend in Paid Massive Open Online Courses (Moocs): Mediating Roles of Consumption Emotions
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Lan, Ma; Sharif, Saeed Pahlevan; Ray, Arghya; Wei, Khong Kok
Paid massive open online courses (MOOCs), which dominants most commercial MOOC platforms, contribute largely to the sustainable development of quality distance education in supporting personal development, professional advancement, and even economic opportunity. However, little attention has been paid to the post-consumption behavioral intentions of those who paid MOOCs. To study this, we utilize a novel mixed-method approach based on natural language processing (NLP) techniques drawing upon 14,585 online reviews from a well-known global commercial MOOC platform, Udemy.com. Perceived quality factors, post-consumption emotions and intention to recommend have been identified by topic modelling technique. The relationships among those factors are examined from a cognition-affect-behavior perspective using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The result suggests that positive consumption emotions positively mediate the relationships between course quality, instructor quality and platform quality and intention to recommend, while negative consumption emotions negatively mediate the relationships. Interestingly, course quality displays a positive effect on negative emotions while two other quality factors show negative effects on negative emotions. These findings offer some insights into the emergency paid knowledge market and suggestions for instructional design of online courses.
Organizational Support and Turnover Intentions: A Moderatedmediation Approach
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Sharif, Saeed Pahlevan; Bolt, Ester Ellen Trees; Ahadzadeh, Ashraf Sadat; Turner, Jason James; Nia, Hamid Sharif; Mohammadinezhad, Mobin; Kohestani, Daniyal
Aim: The current study aims to examine the moderating role of psychological ownership in the process that translates organizational support into nurses' turnover intentions through job satisfaction.Design: A cross-sectional research design was used to test the hypotheses.Method: Using a purposive sampling 341 self-completed survey data were collected from nurses working in two public hospitals in Iran. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data.Result: The research revealed that organizational support and job satisfaction were negatively related to a healthcare professionals' turnover intention. Moreover, job satisfaction mediated the negative relationship between organizational support and turnover intention. The research also revealed that psychological ownership strengthened the positive relationship between organizational support and job satisfaction.
Psychometric Evaluation of the Persian Version of Spiritual Well- Being Scale (SWBS) in Iranian Patients with Cancer
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Sharif Nia, Hamid; Mohammadinezhad, Mobin; Allen, Kelly A.; Allen, Kelly A.; Boyle, Christopher; Sharif, Saeed Pahlevan; Rahmatpour, Pardis
The spiritual well-being scale (SWBS) is a widely used clinical scale which should be evaluated for Iranian patients with cancer. This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the SWBS in Iranian patients with cancer. This crosssectional, methodological study was conducted among Iranian patients with cancer (n=400). The participants were recruited using convenience sampling. The content, construct, convergent and discriminant validity, and reliability of the Persian version of SWBS were evaluated. A two-factor structure for the scale was indicated with the factors being: connecting with God and meaningless life that explained 54.18% of the total variance of the concept of spiritual well-being. The results demonstrated the model had a good fit. Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, and the inter-item correlation values of the factors indicated good internal consistency of the scale. These results suggest that the Persian version of the SWBS is a reliable and valid measure to assess the spiritual wellbeing of patients with cancer through 16 items related to connecting with God and meaningless life.