This article investigates the perspectives of Romanian academics on implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Higher Education (HE). The article analyzes the pros and cons of AI in HE, based on the views of eighteen academics from five Romanian universities. There is a large and heated debate about the proliferation of AI in many domains, with strong supporters and determined deniers. Studies that research the implications of AI enrich the evidence-based literature on the advantages, disadvantages, threats, or opportunities that AI creates for us, for businesses, or for societies. Though many aspects are still less well known, attitudes toward AI are still under construction. HE is a domain where the implications of AI create passionate discussions. HE is, eventually, the sector that shapes the masterminds of societies’ leaders. There is a quest to find the perspectives of those who will apply AI, who will work with or for AI, and those who are opposed to or in favor of implementing AI in HE. The conclusions revealed by this study are in line with similar studies that exist in the literature. The positive aspects of AI implementation in HE are related, in the view of academics, to gains in the learning–teaching process, improvements in students skills and competences, better inclusion, and greater efficiency in administrative costs. Similarly, the negative aspects revealed by the research are linked to psychosocial effects, data security, ethical aspects, and unemployment threats. However, there are some aspects (mostly negative) related to implementing AI in HE that are less exposed by the interviewed academics, which are mostly related to the costs and efforts of implementing AI in HE. The possible explanation of this situation is related to the lack of strategic vision on what, in fact, the implementation of AI in HE means, what this process involves, and the fact that digitalization in Romanian universities (as well as in the Romanian economy) is in its infancy. The contribution of the results of this research is mainly empirical and practical. These opinions should be used as resources for managers of HE institutions to develop better policies concerning the implementation of AI in HE and for strategic vision toward AI, with the ultimate purpose of achieving progress and prosperity for the entire society.

Considering an information system—Confucian user behavior perspective and employing an integrated expectation confirmation model (ECM) and information system success (ISS) model, this study introduces three latent variables: perceived trust, perceived enjoyment and perceived risk, and constructs a travel APP research model on continuance usage intention. By collecting data through questionnaires from Chinese travel APP tourists, the study uses Smart Partial Least Squares to construct the structural equation model. The results show significant positive/negative relationships between information quality(INQ), system quality(SYQ), service quality(SEQ)—expectation confirmation (EC); expectation confirmation (EC)—perceived usefulness (PU), perceived trust(PT), perceived enjoyment (PE)—satisfaction (SAT); perceived usefulness (PU), perceived trust(PT), perceived enjoyment (PE), perceived risk (PR)—satisfaction(SAT); perceived usefulness(PU), satisfaction(SAT)—continuance usage intention. This study expands the travel APP literature by developing and testing the integrated ECM–ISS model, and makes strategical suggestions to travel e-commerce enterprises considering Confucian values. The model can be improved by including Confucian values, expanding the surveyed population and assessing perceptual relationships and the continuance usage intention-actual behavior nexus.

The omnipresent role of online information and communication technology (ICT) channels in the lives of Millennial consumers is universally recognised in industry and academia. The persistent usage of ICT platforms such as social media, especially digital video sharing conduits (e.g., YouTube), among the Millennial cohort has become an important marketing communication platform for organisations to reach this evasive target market. The extensive use of YouTube has generated billions of dollars in marketing communication income, but there is limited academic inquiry in terms of in developing economies, particularly regarding the effect of online usage and demographic factors among Millennials. This paper examines the effect of YouTube marketing communication on affective (attitudinal) responses, meaning brand liking and the impact on brand preference, among Millennials in two developing economies, Romania and South Africa, as well as the influence of usage and demographic factors on the affective (attitudinal) association. A survey was conducted among 400 Romanian and 400 South African respondents, and the hypothesised associations were evaluated via structural equation modelling (SEM) and multigroup SEM. The results of this paper reveal a favourable connection between brand liking and brand preference as a result of YouTube marketing communication, making a notable contribution to the limited YouTube inquiry on attitude-to-advertising theory in developing economies regarding brands in general and sustainable offers in particular. A number of the online usage and demographic factors were also found to have an effect on the brand liking and preference association, supporting in the reduction of the academic–practitioner gap, and assisting organisations in better understanding Millennials in the development of effective marketing communication campaigns on video sharing platforms.

What factors influence students to start their own business? What are the implications at the university level? This paper aims to answer to these questions and investigates, at a micro level (university), the motivation for entrepreneurial intentions among students in 10 universities from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An online inquiry has been conducted among 500 students between April and June 2018, and 157 fully completed questionnaires were retained. Factor Analysis with Varimax (with Kaizer Normalization) rotation and logistic regression were used to identify what factors motivate students to start their own business and, from those factors, which one is determinant in this decision. Also, age and parental self-employment status were used to determine the influence of these factors. Four factors have been identified as determinants for students to start their own business: entrepreneurial confidence, entrepreneurial orientation, university support for entrepreneurship, and cultural support for entrepreneurship. Surprisingly, the only factor significantly correlated with the intention in starting a business is entrepreneurial confidence. This factor becomes even stronger when it is associated with age (20–25 years old) and parents’ self-employment status. These conclusions involve specific challenges on the university level, related to the role of entrepreneurial education and on country level, in link with the effectiveness of governmental programs to enhance entrepreneurial endeavours. Further research can explore and test these findings on a representative sample for the UAE, and for other countries.

The study focuses on green competitive advantage from a multi-dimensional perspective, investigating the impact of green marketing tools and company descriptive variables on these dimensions. The data were collected from small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) from Western Cape/South Africa, an area marked by long-term water consumption restrictions. A qualitative approach was considered for variable tailoring to the SMMEs’ peculiarities, followed by a quantitative study, employing a sample of 237 companies, for testing each competitive advantage dimension against the established green marketing tools and company descriptive variables using logistic regressions. Each competitiveness variable was explained by at least one green marketing tool. Donating money and/or allocating time for environmental purposes explained three dependent variables, while selling biodegradable/recycled/refurbished products had an inverse relationship with two of them. Business type and number of operational years had a significant impact on three dimensions. This study enriches the literature by using green competitive advantage dimensions and not a latent factor, analyzing the impact of company descriptive variables as explanatory variables and prompting green strategies for small and medium businesses. The model could be improved by tests in other geographic areas, including green distribution and price variables and other descriptive factors (turnover, responsible investment and internationalization).

This study aims to identify factors influencing student transition to online education (STOE) during the COVID19 pandemic in Romania. Although Romania boasts high internet speed, accessibility and affordability, online education is in its infancy. Academic experience variables found in the literature were narrowed into five factors through exploratory factor analysis, and regressed together with online platform and demographic variables to measure their impact on STOE. 565 business students from all academic levels were surveyed. The study uncovered direct and inverse relationships between the five groups of factors, platform functionality, enrolment level and place of residence, and STOE. Findings are relevant to academics and university managers for improving online education.