Journal Press India^®

It is our pleasure to add another feather of MANTHAN to the stock of knowledge of commerce and management. This issue comprises of nine research papers coving important areas of marketing, insurance, benefits of IT, leadership, and real estate sector in India.

There are two research papers on marketing. Gupta, Sharma and Parrey in their paper “Cause Related Marketing and Customer Value: The Role of Service Quality and Perceived Risk as Mediators” makes an attempt to understand the role of mediating variables in the relationship of cause related marketing and customer value. The results of the research show higher total effect than direct effect, which signaled the role of mediators in the relationship of cause related marketing and customer value. It is also evident from the analysis that service quality has a direct and significant impact on the relationship of cause related marketing and customer value, as compared to the perceived risk. Chauhan and Bhagat analyze the impact of subjective norms and perceived behaviour control on the purchasing pattern of consumers while selecting ecofriendly products.

There are three research papers relating to insurance sector. Choudhary attempts to review the existing literature in relation to foreign as well as Indian life insurance markets. The literature review reveals that most of the existing Indian studies are descriptive in nature looking only at the profile of companies, buyers; nature of products; comparison of public and private companies; service quality and so on. However, in case of foreign studies, informational and behavioural aspects are studied in greater detail vis-à-vis the life insurance market focusing on phenomena like information asymmetry, heuristics and biases. Jeniffer, Chandran and Arokianathan examine the pivotal facets of distribution channels in travel insurance. Tyagi, Rayat and Aqeel study the factors that affect the job satisfaction of employees of the insurance sector in India.

Dutta and Borah study the employees’ acceptance of use of information technology in Post Offices in the Assam Postal Circle. It is greatly influenced by organizational leadership. In this context, Mufeed analyzes that the committed and dedicated workers who work tirelessly in realizing their own aspirations and strive hard in attaining organizational goals are inspired and guided by leaders so that they can be more effective and result oriented.

Panchal and Kakar undertake fundamental analysis for the real estate sector in India, and especially IRB Infrastructure and Developers Limited.

Vinmalar and Joseph analyze real life cases of retired persons and other person who is yet to retire. A detailed analysis in this study brings out the need and precautions to be considered to have a secure retirement life for the upcoming retirees. The habit of saving is been given more importance and the time to initiate such habit has been established in this study. The study reveals how one should be aware of upcoming events and plan accordingly to lead a peaceful retirement life.

I hope this issue of MANTHAN makes for an interesting reading on marketing, insurance, benefits of IT, leadership, and real estate sector in India. I also hope that the journal would continue to get patronage of the readers and contributors from diverse and unexplored areas of Commerce and Management.

Dr. Himanshu Sekhar Rout

Dr. M. C. Pande

         Editors