The possibility of drone usage for food delivery is met with enthusiasm by businesses as it promises instantaneous benefits such as reduced costs, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced environmental imprint. The objective of this paper is to explore consumer attitude and intention towards adopting a disruptive technology such as drone food delivery in the Indian context through motivated consumer innovativeness (MCI), green image, and perceived risk. We analyzed the questionnaire survey data collected from 310 respondents using structural equation modeling—partial least squares method. Functionally motivated consumer innovativeness and cognitively motivated consumer innovativeness were found to be significant positive predictors of consumer attitude and intention. Perceived privacy risk was found to have a significant negative influence on attitude. Green image had a significant positive effect on attitude towards drone usage. Other components of MCI namely, hedonic and social as well as performance and delivery risk did not show a significance influence. This study, to our knowledge, is first of its kind in India, a populous country with an established and booming economy, where the enabling and impeding antecedents of drone food delivery usage intention is simultaneously studied. The findings of this research will mainly benefit food delivery companies in framing successful drone food delivery strategies.

The synergy of technology-based innovative solutions and Social Entrepreneurship carries an immense potential to provide solutions for numerous environmental, social, and economic issues faced by an emerging economy like India. For an engineering professional, a commitment to society is regarded as integral and can be thought of as being impelled by involvement in various social causes. Therefore, this study seeks to analyze the influence of the Social Work Experience of engineering students on Empathic Concern and the newly identified construct, Hope. Additionally, the effect of Empathic Concern and Hope on Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Social Entrepreneurship Intention (SEI) is examined. Through a questionnaire survey of undergraduate students from 49 engineering and technical institutions across the country, 243 responses were collected. The research employed the Partial Least Squares Approach to Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the proposed hypotheses. This study found that students’ involvement and experience in social activities significantly influenced both Empathic Concern and Hope. Empathic Concern and Hope, the newly introduced antecedent, significantly influenced Social Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy. In line with the previous studies, self-efficacy positively and significantly influenced SEI. The establishment of Hope as an antecedent to study SEI is particularly novel and contributes to future Social Entrepreneurship research. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge on SEI of engineering students in an emerging nation where studies are particularly scarce, and techno-Social Entrepreneurship may be the ray of hope to address social, environmental, and economic concerns.

This study investigates the influence of personality characteristics and employees’ motivation to learn on safety training transfer, in the context of a chemical manufacturing company. The study focuses on five personality characteristics: Locus of Control, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Risk-Taking Propensity. Also, the roles of Motivation to Learn (MTL) and Motivation to Transfer (MTT) on Safety Training Transfer (STT) are examined. The data for the study was collected using a self-report questionnaire survey from 226 employees from an Indian subsidiary of one of the largest chemical companies in the world. The obtained responses were analyzed using Structural Equations Modelling (SEM), Partial Least Squares (PLS) method. The results of the analysis show that among the five personality factors considered, Conscientiousness and Locus of control positively influenced STT through MTL whereas Risk Taking Propensity had a negative relationship. Extraversion and Neuroticism did not indicate any significant influence. This paper adds to academic knowledge of safety training by analyzing how employees’ personality factors influence MTL, MTT, and STT behavior. The results shed light on safety training in the context of the chemical industry operational in a developing nation, a combination rarely found in previous studies.

As the food delivery sector grows in importance, new delivery modes to address service issues, such as costs, swift delivery, and environmental concerns, are being researched. However, research on drone-based food delivery services is still lacking, especially in the Indian context, which the current study aims to address. The study furthered the UTAUT2 model with additional perceived risk and price sensitivity constructs. Quantitative, cross-sectional data was collected nationwide using convenience sampling through online survey questionnaires. The 323 responses were analyzed using the partial least square-structural equation modeling method. The results identified effort expectancy, social influence, and hedonic motivation as significant predictors of attitude and behavioral intention. In an emerging economy with a vast consumer base, this study may offer a preliminary standpoint for understanding the consumer perspective on drone food deliveries. The findings of this study might be necessary for businesses that deal with food delivery logistics as a point of view to formulate successful strategies.

Despite the importance of imagination to entrepreneurship, it is underexplored by researchers in the field. Imaginativeness is a cognitive ability that coalesces the capacity for imagination with the knowledge required to rationally conjure up a variety of task-related scenarios. It is especially helpful for those who lack prior experience and therefore can be beneficial for recent graduates and anyone who wants to launch their own business. In our study, we examine whether imaginativeness, in its three forms, can influence engineering students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Our study recorded 216 responses to prove the hypotheses employing partial least squares path modeling using SmartPLS3, and we inferred that creative imaginativeness, social imaginativeness, and practical imaginativeness are positively related to entrepreneurial self-efficacy thereby strengthening entrepreneurial intention. The study provides distinctive insights into the study of imagination in the formation of entrepreneurial intention among engineering students in a developing economy, where studies are few.