The educational system across the world has immensely been affected due to outbreak of COVID-19; it forced the shut down of educational institutions, which adversely affected student fraternity across the globe. Due to its contagious nature, COVID-19 demanded containment and enforced isolation that tremendously affected personal interaction of teachers and students. In the absence of traditional classroom teaching and one-to-one interaction, computer-based learning has emerged as closest substitute for off-line teaching. Against such a backdrop, it is pertinent to examine the students’ perception and readiness about online-learning system adopted at the university level during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For the present study, the quantitative approach has been adopted and responses from 184 university students of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, India namely Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University) and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University are collected through online questionnaire. This research study was conducted during June–August 2020. The findings of the study reveal students’ positive perception towards e-learning and thus acceptance of this new learning system. It has also empirically demonstrated the significance of e-learning in the time of COVID-19 crisis. In fact, e-learning has emerged as a new way of enhancing the learning process where social media may further improve the learning output. The findings of the study will facilitate educational institutions and policy makers to take this online-learning process to the next level in a better way.

Online examinations, commonly referred to as e-exams (electronic examinations), underwent a considerable progression, getting adapted ubiquitously among higher education institutions worldwide. Their preferment was rapid due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The process of conducting exams online is being opted as the appropriate way of assessment, ensuring the students’ safety and well-being. According to Warts et al., this form of examination has been pretty effective in the past when blended with the conventional assessment. However, at present, implemented as the singular way of assessment, e-exams have shown a more significant promise in being beneficial to the learners. As a matter of fact, a comprehensive analysis on understanding the learners’ perception towards the e-exams was not done earlier, particularly in the developing nations. Thus, it was pertinent to examine the pre-requisites of e-exams to promote it as a useful tool for the smooth conduct of exams in the aforesaid nations. Against such a backdrop, this study was conducted during January to March 2021 on 207 students enrolled in four universities, three situated in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, India: Delhi University (DU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and one situated in Saudi Arabia, namely Saudi Electronic University (SEU). A quantitative approach was employed for the study, with the responses recorded via web questionnaires. Confirmatory -factor analysis (CFA) was applied in the study to examine whether the process of conducting online examinations is being chosen as the appropriate form of assessment, ensuring the safety and well-being of students through AMOS (version 24) software. For determining the reliability of the two latent constructs, namely “Perceptions of students towards E-exams (PSE)” and “Pre-requisites of E-exams (POE),” Cronbach’s alpha was used through SPSS (version 25) software in the study, and the results reveal that the strong internal consistency exists between all the measured variables. In addition, the mean and standard deviation were used by the researchers to find out the pre-requisites of the online examination system. The participants expressed their insights on the relative benefits of online examination. Their perception was based on pedagogy, validity and reliability, affective factors, practicality, and security. From their insights, it was concluded that online examination is more advantageous than conventional paper-based exams. The outcome also applies to the authenticity of grading and the overall efficiency concerning the time, effort, and expenditure on conducting the examination. Contrarily, the participating students also recognized numerous hurdles in implementing e-exams concerning security, validity, and impartiality. The conclusion further revealed that online examination is especially relevant for formative assessment of learning instead of summative assessment, provided authenticity, security, and flexibility are used as fundamental tenants in the proper implementation of e-exams. The outcome of the present study will facilitate higher education institutions and policymakers in taking the electronic examination system to the next level.

The main objective of this research is to identify the impact of store design and ambience on consumer purchase decisions in retail chain outlets in Delhi-NCR, India. The foremost purpose of this research was to examine if the design and ambience of retail stores have any effect on the decisions of customers’ purchases. The study was descriptive in nature. For this research, a sample of 100 consumers was drawn who generally visit retail stores for shopping. A systematic questionnaire was prepared to collect the data and to analyze it; SEM, reliability, Convergent, Discriminate Validity and model fitness were achieved through SmartPLS3. The current study’s findings indicate that variables, such as window and mannequin display, visual merchandising, and store design and atmosphere have an effective impact on shoppers’ purchase decisions, whereas lighting and color, music, and signage have negligible effects. The findings of this study will provide managerial involvement to the industry in order to emphasize purchase ambition in order to improve profitability and sustainability. More examination of the factors that contribute to purchase aspiration and in other geological areas is advised for future scrutiny. This study presents a validated instrument for measuring the association between design atmosphere and consumer purchasing behavior and serves as a tool for evaluating the influence of various design atmospheric indicators. It is important to keep a steady staff of well-trained, polite salespeople on hand at all times. Customers are more likely to come back and eventually recommend the store to others if their needs are met by customer-focused salespeople who provide excellent service. This helps the merchant to compete in the market.

To examine how the CSR activities facilitate a company’s brand-building process and useful in building its Brand Equity i.e., Firm-Based Brand Equity (FBBE). Methodology: For the present study, responses have been elicited from a sample of 69 company executives. Multi-stage sampling (method of random sampling) is used in the present study to select the sample executives. The collected sample dataset is analyzed through SPSS (version 25) and AMOS (version 24) software. Cronbach’s Alpha technique is used to measure how closely related a set of items are as a group. This is considered to be a measure of scale reliability. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) statistical method is used to uncover the underlying structure of a relatively large set of variables. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is conducted in the study in order to test the statistical hypotheses formulated for the study and to examine the effect of CSR on Brand Equity with the moderating effect of Marketing Communication and Brand Identity. Findings: The outcomes of the study revealed that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Marketing Communication, Brand Identity and Brand Equity are positively associated. Thus, it can be surmised that CSR affects Brand Equity with the mediating effect of Marketing Communication and Brand Identity. Originality: The present study is based on original research that facilitates new insight instead of summarizing what is already known in a new form. Though many studies on CSR have been conducted in the past, but studies on the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm-Based Brand Equity with the moderating effect of Marketing Communication and Brand Identity are few and far between. Implications: The outcome of the study will cast new light on the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Brand Image and also facilitate future research endeavors on CSR. The results of the study will help corporate houses in building a strong brand image. As a matter of fact, the CSR activities implemented by the companies offer a better brand recognition, resulting in greater brand awareness among customers and society at large. Such awareness is related to CSR initiatives of the companies brings brand trust and loyalty. Consequently, the trust and loyalty so developed enhances the Brand Image and strengthens the Brand Equity.