Understanding consumer behavior in digital environments is increasingly becoming crucial. This study investigates the influence of key metaverse characteristics—sociability, immersiveness, and environmental fidelity—on continuance intention to use the metaverse by examining the mediating role of consumer experience. In study 1, a Delphi method involving 26 experts was employed to establish a consensus on the significance of metaverse characteristics in shaping consumer experience and behavior. In study 2, data from 391 metaverse users were collected via an online survey, and a two-step PLS-SEM approach was used to evaluate the hypothesized relationships. The Delphi study confirmed the theoretical relevance of the identified metaverse characteristics, which were subsequently validated through user data. The results show that consumer experience fully mediates the influence of immersiveness and environmental fidelity on continuance intention and partially mediates between sociability and continuance intention. Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) further established consumer experience as a prerequisite for continued metaverse use, while importance performance analysis (IMPA) identified sociability as the most influential driver of continuance intention. This study advances our theoretical understanding of consumer behavior in virtual settings and offers practical insights for enhancing consumer engagement and continued metaverse use.

With the changing paradigm of the world and highly competitive business environments, organizations are encountered different challenges. This paper investigates the relationship between management accounting information (MAI) and decision-making and the role of cloud computing among small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan. In particular, the focus of this paper is on the influence of MAI on decision-making. Cloud computing is a modern technology to strengthen relationships. A quantitative research design that involves printed questionnaires was used to analyze the relationships of the variables. The survey was conducted on 384 Pakistani small and medium-sized enterprises of various sectors. The study obtained 105 useable responses. Data were analyzed using Smart PLS 3.0 (Partial Least Square) to test the researcher’s hypotheses. The study found MAI to be positively related to Pakistani SMEs’ decision-making. The findings also exposed all the dimensions of MAI; namely broad scope, timeliness, aggregation and integration, to be positively related to decision-making. Additionally, the findings indicated that, as modern technology, cloud computing strengthens the relationship between MAI and decision-making. This paper contributes by helping organizations realize the importance of MAI in decision-making and how they could relate a selection of information characteristics in terms of their business environments. Moreover, it enhances the understanding of SMEs on the function of cloud computing to get better decision-making in the light of the competition in SMEs. Pakistani industry is running successfully, and small-medium enterprises have a wide gap. Small and Medium Enterprises are going successful in Pakistan, and investor can ease to decide after receiving research directions.

Purpose: Brands are seizing their latitude in the metaverse – this study conceptualizes a digital doppelgänger as the sense of embodiment of the physical person and unpacks their effect on consumer brand engagement by examining the mediating role of digital doppelgänger’s brand interactions. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected through an online self-administered questionnaire employing criterion-based judgment sampling, resulting in 475 qualified responses. The data was validated through a two-step SEM (structural equation modeling) application of Hayes’s Process in the SmartPLS4 package. The IMPA analysis technique identified the most important and influential factor driving brand performance in the metaverse. Findings: The study reveals that digital doppelgänger’s brand interactions mediate the relationship between the digital doppelgänger (embodiment of the person) and consumer brand engagement. Brand interaction manifests enjoyment, relaxation and reputation felt by the physical person. The result indicates that digital doppelgänger’s brand interaction drives brand performance in the metaverse. Originality/value: Our study is an original attempt to conceptualize a digital doppelgänger as the sense of embodiment of the physical person and their brand interactions in the metaverse influence consumer brand engagement to produce enjoyment, relaxation and reputation – this is a novel contribution to interactive marketing literature.

The human capital becomes a significant achievement of every organization in the context of the transformation of the fundamental principles in doing business. Every business structure creates and maintains a unique organizational culture that determines the degree of comfortable conditions for employees in their workplace, the level of their interest in the successful operation of the company, and the desire to gain leadership in the market. The human resources and the degree of workers’ satisfaction with jobs directly affect the performance of the company. At the same time, the organizational culture of the company depends on the general policy of the company in which the maximization of profit, not the employee’s satisfaction with working conditions, is the primary purpose of its activity. The systematization of existing scientific capacity in the field of human resources management has shown the relationship between the level of dissatisfaction of employees with working conditions and the degree of their readiness to find a new place where they can work in more comfortable conditions. The study is based on the use of analytical and comparative methods. The object of the research includes organizations in Muzaffargarh, Layyah, and Dera Ghazi Khan Punjab (Pakistan). The study is based on a method of data collection, which contains the analysis of the results of 320 successfully returned (out of 350 distributed) questionnaires. A 5-digit Likert scale analyzed the results. The purpose of the research is to analyze the relationship between job satisfaction, organizational culture, and staff turnover in Pakistan. According to the results of the study, the authors conclude that organizational culture directly influences employee satisfaction, which in turn has a negative impact on employee turnover. The results of the conducted research can be useful for managers and business owners in terms of understanding the possibilities of improving the employees’ productivity from the perspective of increasing their satisfaction with working conditions. Keywords: Human Resource Management, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Culture, Turnover.