SLIIT Business School Students Research Conference [SBSSRC]
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://rda.sliit.lk/handle/123456789/316
The Conference is open for all the business research students in Sri Lanka. The goal of the conference is to promote student research, while gaining and increasing the enthusiasm among students for academic research.
This conference gives the opportunity to showcase their scholarly work and to discuss the research interest with students with other Higher education institutions in Sri Lanka.
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Publication Embargo FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CUSTOMER PROMOTION ACCEPTANCE CIRCULATED BY FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Jiffry, S.; Adithya, T.; Wasundi, V.; Sakkaf, S.; Thelijjagoda, S.; Kumarasinghe, H.The fast food industry in Sri Lanka is growing and recently has undergone revolutionary transmutation within the frequent consumer behaviours. The purpose of this research is to specify the factors which influence customer promotion acceptance circulated by fast food outlets. To accomplish the goals of this study, the required data were gathered from a convenience sample of 384 respondents in the Colombo suburb. The target population consisted of teenagers, youngsters, professionals and middle-aged consumers. A closeended and Likert scale questionnaire with 21 questions was utilised to collect the necessary data. To review the results, the analysing process was conducted by using SPSS, Power BI and for testing the hypothesis Pearson's correlation was used. The outcomes mainly depict that most of the consumers tend to have fast food frequently. Moreover, the target population crave for a limited price range where they distaste to go for the higher price range. With regard to the mode of having fast food, most consumers are keen on having it in outlets and by deliveries where they have hesitated about the takeaway options. At the same time, in the Sri Lankan context, most of them received promotion messages via short message service (SMS) and secondarily through Facebook and Instagram. According to findings, among the reason for choosing fast food are to enjoy the taste, choosing to eat with families and friends and less expensive compared to prices on usual days. Eventually, the survey results brought the key insight of this promotion message is, the most people visit fast food restaurants when there's a promotion going on and they evaluate the value of the spending's for their foods, and the customers are always aware of the price of the industry before they make their purchasing decisions.Publication Embargo The Impact of Board Diversity on Firms Financial Performance in Sri Lanka.(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Herath, H.M.C.K.; Madushani, A.D.K.P.; Mel, H.D.R.M.; Weerasooriya, W.M.B.K.; Gunawardena, M.M.D. de S.This study’s purpose was to explore the impact of board diversity to the firm’s financial performance in Sri Lankan context. Specifically, the study aimed at determining the effect of board diversity on financial performance of public listed companies in Sri Lanka to ascertain whether there is a causal association between the specific board characteristics of age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, organizational membership, educational background and industrial experience of the company board members on the financial performance of listed companies in Sri Lanka. Thus, the research adopted an exploratory design. All listed companies in the country is the population of this study. There are 291 listed companies in the country. This study tries to identify the reasons behind low board diversity in Sri Lanka. The analysis of the semi structured interviews provides five reasons driving low board diversity in Sri Lanka; appoint family members as the board of directors, invite Allies to perform as a board member, male dominant culture in Sri Lanka, conflicts of interest in women, weak corporate governance codes can identify as the reasons behind low board diversity in the firms. According to the results of the study, diversity variables do not have significant impact on firms ROA. However, age diversity, ethnic diversity and academic qualification diversity variables shows significant impact on firms’ financial performance measured in terms of Tobin's Q.Publication Embargo Employing the deaf community: challenges and opportunities for companies in the developing world(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Charuka, W.A.A.; Samarakkody, N.W.; Senaviratne, V.E.M.G.; Wijayanayaka, K.A.M.S.This research investigates opportunities and challenges of employing deaf personnel in organisations in developing world. Though much research related employing people with disabilities is done in western countries, only a few similar empirical studies have been published in this part of the world. Hence an exploratory investigation is carried out adopting a grounded theory approach. Accordingly, five companies in Sri Lanka, both large and small, employing deaf people have been investigated. 23 operational-level deaf employees (DEs), with five supervising managers are the subjects involved. The results brought a number of opportunities for hiring DEs from strategic, productivity and customer satisfaction perspectives. Managers of all companies confirmed that their skills, ability to learn, concentration on work and the productivity are much higher than their parallel workers. The DEs are not provided with any special privileges (e.g. remuneration, leave, infrastructure facilities). Thus, there is no extra burden, financially or otherwise, to the company for hiring them. However, as a safety initiative all DEs are assigned to work together with a parallel worker with no hearing impairments. Two companies where DEs deal directly with customers confirmed that customer feedback on DEs are very positive. All managers indicated a negative comment that the DEs become emotionally disturbed when their communication is not heard well. The existed negative connation of all managers on DEs had disappeared after orientation. It can be concluded that employing DEs appear to be me more productive to the company, as highlighted in the past research studies of the developed world.Publication Embargo Determinants of Turnover Intention of Sewing Machine Operators in Sri Lanka(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Nagendrakumar, N.; Dissanayake, L.D.A.D.; Guruge, P.R.G.; Panagoda, K.D.; Jayasekara, M.E.N.; Kavindya, M.A.P.This study aims to identify the relationship between the determinants of the turnover intention of SMO’s in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. The study adopted the deductive approach using the judgmental sampling in selecting the factories of four and the convenient sampling in selecting the respondents of 321. A structured questionnaire was administered, and the number responded was 274. The Pearson correlation was employed in testing the hypotheses and the study found that the job condition, living and social condition, personal characteristics, HRM activities, negating sexual harassment, and responsibilities are the significant determinants of the turnover intention of SMO's in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. This study highlights the importance of having a policy decision to reduce the turnover intention of SMOs in the apparel industry since the apparel exports hold a prominent place in Sri Lankan economy as its contributions cover a significant portion of the country's exports.Publication Embargo The Role of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) in Human Resource Planning in Banking Sector of Sri Lanka.(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Tharushika, G.D.R.; Withana, L.K.N.; Jayasinghe, P.D.P.; Kumari, P.D.S.C.; Dissanayake, L.D.A.D.Despite its wide variety of uses, the management of the banks in Sri Lanka is using HRIS (HRIS) for fundermental operations. In the study, it focuses on the utilization of HRIS in the Human Resource Planning (HRP), with special focus on the banking sector in Sri Lanka. The study focuses on one sub function in HRP: recruitment and selection. The problem arises as how HRIS contributes towards the planning of recruitment and selection in the banking sector. Thus, the aim of the research is to analyse how recruitment and selection sub function efficiently affected by HRIS towards the achievement of HRP. There are three constructs, developed through the literature survey to achieve the main objective of analysing the impact of recruitment and selection sub system done through HRIS on the HRP. Result of the analysis determine, “Job Analysis” and “E-Recruitment” have positive impact for HRP in Banking sector while “Skill inventory” result in negative impact. Authors suggest to use this study as a guide or a base for future researchers who were willing to research related to HRIS, HRP and banking industry.Publication Open Access e Behavioral Advertising Avoidance in Online Retailing in Sri Lanka: Through the Mediating Role of Ad Skepticism(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) niya, U.P.R.P.; Yalegama, M.M.H.H.; Mannapperuma, M.Y.S.S.; Wickramasinghe, A.K.K.D.; Jayasuriya, K.K.N.A.As the rapid growth of technology, there’re new advertising trends which can deliver the communication messages to the people more accurately. Therefore, every business connecting with the advertising to aware people and to promote their business. Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA) is a trend which developed with the innovation of technology. It’s an advertising technique which decides what to show to the audience after tracking their surfing behavior and purchase history. Though these advertisements are beneficial for the business firm to target their audience accurately, the online users tend to avoid these advertisements due to some reasons. However, there are no adequate studies done on finding the factors behind this ad avoidance behavior. Thus this study shed light on this under-researched area focusing on the development of a conceptual framework based on the identified major reasons behind this ad avoidance.Publication Embargo ANALYSIS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND INTERNET SERVICE QUALITY DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC IN SRI LANKA(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Rashad, M.N.M.; Hansini, M.P.; Muthugala, M.H.N.; Karunarathne, U.W.S.P.; Munasinghe, R.M.; Bulathsinghala, A.S.K.The tracking of Service Quality is an important consideration for a business as customers may go with an alternative service provider if they are dissatisfied with the standard. In particular we look at Internet Service Providers (ISP) and research the impact of Internet Service Quality (ISQ) on Customer Satisfaction. The prevailing COVID-19 situation in Sri Lanka reveals the importance of this study as government rules and regulations have been imposed to promote work from home, online learning and online entertainment. Previous studies have looked at the influence of ISQ on Customer Satisfaction in other countries – however to the best of our knowledge, no such evaluation has been done in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, in the context of COVID-19 the existing literature is lacking. Past research identifies the following factors which impact ISQ: Tangibility, Assurance, Empathy, Reliability, Responsiveness (Eze, et al., 2008) and Price (Joudeh & Dandis, 2018). This study was carried out as a deductive study and a quantitative method was employed. Our sample included 500 respondents obtained from the convenience sampling method by distributing a questionnaire survey among university undergraduates within Sri Lanka. The findings revealed that there is a positive relationship between Internet Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction. The study was also able to extract insights for ISP managers by highlighting the aspects of ISQ which can satisfy their customer base as well as measures which could be taken with reference to the practice gaps identified.Publication Open Access Measuring the RQ Between Celebrity Endorsement and Young Femalé’s Purchase Intention (Study of Fairness Cream Industry)(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Bandaranayake, R. S.; Kulacathe, P. S. C.; Pathirage, H. C.; Perera, D. P. S H.; Bernard, D.T.K.The celebrity endorsement's involvement in advertising is gradually becoming essential in modern marketing. This study investigates the relationship between celebrity endorsement and the consumer purchase intention of young females in Sri Lanka. Considering the intense celebrity endorsement attachment, the study was based on the fairness cream industry in Sri Lanka. The attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertise, and the country of origin of celebrities were established as variables in the study. The required data was obtained from young females aged between 18-25 belong to 4 major subgroups namely; school students, undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and salon clients. The findings suggest that there is a weak positive relationship between celebrity endorsement and consumer purchase intention, and the strength of the relationship between each variable to purchase intention is discussed separately. This paper offers useful information to practitioners on selecting the best celebrity match for endorsing their brand as well as the study would facilitate effective brand promotion to develop existing business and upcoming entrepreneurs to assist competing with current and potential competitors in the market.Publication Embargo PESTER POWER: THE NEXT BIG GAME OF YOUNG CONSUMERS INFLUENCED BY INFORMATIVE FACTORS(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Wasala, W.M.A.S.M.; Ravindran, N.; Bandara, W.A.S.C.; Pratheepan, T.; Jayasuriya, N.A.; Munasinghe, A.A.S.N.The pester power of a young consumer has held the attention of scholars for decades, introducing them to a plethora of new research topics. According to the researchers, the goal of this study is to evaluate the child's influence on parental decisions in Sri Lanka's fast-moving consumer goods market, which is governed by informational characteristics exposed by children throughout their everyday activities. Adding to the quest for reality in respondents' narratives of their experiences and feelings, as well as the construction of indepth descriptions of the occurrences, this phenomenological study investigates the pester power of a young consumer in Sri Lanka. An in-depth interview and focus group conversations with children ages eight to eighteen were conducted, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis to reveal patterns and trends in the data. Previously conducted research has largely neglected this request relationship, as well as the consistent number of components that influence behavioural outcomes. As a result of this research, previously unknown informative characteristics have been unveiled that may explain why children in Sri Lanka play such a big part in family buying decisions. This is the first study of its kind in Sri Lanka, and it fills both the empirical and practical gaps that existed previously. A new generation of active, aware young consumers is emerging, yet the country's traditional culture continues to value group conformity and social acceptance, supporting a collectivist culture where youngsters are expected to be obedient. Innovative marketing strategies can be used to promote a company in the fast-moving consumer products industry, and marketers in this area can benefit from this singularity. Academics can conduct additional research on this universal and widely discussed topic children's behaviour, which is currently under investigation.Publication Embargo COVID-19 MODIFYING THE DYNAMICS OF FINANCIAL REPORTING: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Nagendrakumar, N.; Lokeshwara, A.A.; Naresh, R.; Abeywickrama, D.P.; Hewaarachchi, S.H.; Edirisinghe, A.M.I.E.The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced many business sectors worldwide, including the Accounting and Finance reporting perspectives. This motivated the researchers to investigate how the pandemic has affected the financial reporting of listed companies in the Sri Lankan context. It was evidenced that the empirical studies on the influence of COVID-19 on corporate financial reports based on accounting standards and techniques are still in the beginning stages; therefore, this paper sets the foundation in bridging the existing knowledge gap by examining how Covid-19 has modified the dynamics of financial reporting. This study is exploratory in nature, and the researchers adopted interpretivism philosophy and have used an inductive approach in conducting the research. The case study method was adapted, where in-depth and semi-structured interviews were applied to collect data. The study population is one hundred and fifty-eight (158) companies consisting of six (6) sectors: Banking, Materials, Consumer services, Diversified financials, Capital goods, and Telecommunication in Colombo Stock Exchange, out of which seven (7) sub-cases were chosen under the purposive sampling technique and the collected data were analyzed on thematic procedures using the Wordcloud analysis tool. Based on the findings, it was revealed that reporting aspects of different sectors were influenced differently by COVID- 19. LKAS 1(Going concern), LKAS 2 (Inventory), LKAS 16 (Cost of depreciation), SLFRS 13 (Fair value measurement) are a few of the standards generally mentioned by the respondents. The result of this study contributes to filling the existing knowledge gap and will be a value addition to contemporary academia.Publication Embargo THE IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT IN LEAN IMPLEMENTATION ON EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY IN ABC COMPANY(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Gamlath, O.A.The concept of lean manufacturing is rapidly getting to the top of many production companies' improvement strategies in a global manufacturing environment, where businesses must know how to manufacture high-quality goods at the lowest cost. Many companies have recently become keen in transferring to the lean manufacturing model, and countries are becoming more involved in this transition (Nawanir, et al., 2016). Lean manufacturing is being implemented or planned in a variety of industries worldwide. ABC company has tried many times to move to a lean culture and has used lean tools and techniques. These lean implementations failed because of poor leadership and management commitment. Therefore, this paper is aimed to investigate the impact of leadership and management commitment in lean implementation on employee productivity in ABC company in Sri Lanka. The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of leadership and management commitment in lean implementation on employee productivity in ABC company. The findings of this study be a guideline for the managers in manufacturing firms, especially in the apparel field in Sri Lanka. The study uses a quantitative approach. In this study, primary data has been collected from a survey questionnaire with close-ended five-point Likert scale questions. In conclusion, there is a significant impact of leadership and management commitment in lean implementation on employee productivity.Publication Embargo IMPACT OF E-WOM AND BRAND IMAGE ON THE PURCHASE INTENTION OF CUSTOMERS TO SELECT A HOTEL IN SRI LANKA(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Wijesinghe, K.; Lakruwan, D.; Sazeem, M.; Rajapakshe, R.The most influential method of information transmission is e-WOM. Today's internet social networks are altering the way information is transmitted. In today's environment, marketing strategy and effective communication tools are generally acknowledged by the majority of users. The majority of companies in the hotel sector have concentrated on online marketing. People prefer to enhance their use of e-WOM by following current trends to share their experiences, information, and expertise. Even though e-WOM, brand image and purchase intention are highly discussed in the global context, a knowledge gap exists in the Sri Lankan context which will be addressed by the research. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of e- WOM and brand image and how it would influence the perception of new local customers when choosing a hotel in Sri Lanka. To complete the study, the conceptual framework was developed by considering e-WOM and brand image as the independent variable while taking the purchase intention as the dependent variable. Primary data were gathered via a direct survey and a questionnaire designed in line with the study's goals. Digital marketing tools such as social media platforms were used to communicate the questionnaire with the respondents. Data was gathered from a sample of 348 Sri Lankan consumers. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the relationship e- WOM has on the purchase intention as well as to determine the impact brand image is having on the purchase intention. The results showcased that the e- WOM and brand image has a significant positive impact on the purchase intention of customers when selecting a hotel in Sri Lanka.Publication Embargo The Influence of Interpersonal Communication Skills on Job Satisfaction of Front Line Managers in FMCG Industry(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Wijedasa, V. S.; Somawardana, W.S.D.; Gunaweera, T.; Madhubhani, M.A.H; Weligodapola, H.W.M.C.The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of Interpersonal Communication Skills on Job Satisfaction, identify the determinants, current level of Interpersonal Communication Skill level and methods to enhance the Interpersonal Communication Skills of Front Line Managers in FMCG sector. The questions that answer through this research are, what is the impact of Interpersonal Communication Skills on Job Satisfaction of Front Line Managers, what are the determinants and current level of Interpersonal Communication Skills of the Front Line Managers, what are the methods to enhance the Interpersonal Communication Skills of the Front Line Managers. Data were gathered via questionnaire survey, results were analysed through SPSS, in order to investigate the impact of Interpersonal Communication Skills, identify the current Interpersonal Communication Skills. The results of observations and interviews determine the methods to enhance Interpersonal Communication Skills of Front Line Managers. The qualitative data from the interview with area sales managers and Front Line Managers were analysed through the pattern matching. Through the results it identified that there is a positive impact with Interpersonal Communication skills on job satisfaction which impact six determinants on Job Satisfaction of the Front Line Managers in the FMCG industry. Cultural Communication Skill and Conversational Skill have highest impact while Assertiveness Skill has the least impact on Job Satisfaction. Current Interpersonal Communication Skill Level is in moderate level. Organizations arrange Interpersonal Communication skills workshops which including crosscultural and Assertiveness Skill workshops to enhance the skill level.Publication Embargo THE PROBLEMATIC ISSUES FOR STARTING A BUSINESS FACED BY BUSINESS GRADUATES(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Randuwa, T.D.S.D.; Liyanahity, L.R.L.; Rathnayake, E.P.; Kovalan, S.The objective of this research paper is to investigate the process and obstacles that new business start-ups face. The identification of entry barriers is critical because the removal of these restrictions and the development of small businesses may lead to the development of the country, as small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. These serve as engines for developing countries such as Sri Lanka, which is now a lower-middle emerging market. The objective of this research is to identify and investigate the most fundamental issues that new businesses encounter. Our country's government aims to reduce unemployment, with the higher unemployment rate among fresh graduates. For more than three decades, graduate unemployment has been a major issue in Sri Lanka. We investigated the challenges, difficulties, and obstacles that graduating entrepreneurs have faced or would face while launching a startup through this study. For this study, 184 newly graduated business faculty students from private tertiary educational institute provided data. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The analysis of the study was conducted using correlation and regression analysis further using factor analysis. The study findings will aid in determining which obstacles would most impact business graduates, the level of government regulations that would be more supportive, and the educational system improvements that would be adopted. This article focusses on the effects of challenges and issues, graduate motivation, educational support, employability and start-up finance, and government regulations and policies on business start-upsPublication Embargo Senior Citizens’ Intention to use Digital Banking - with Special Reference to a Selected Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Kuruppu, C.; Jayawardena, A.; Weerasinghe, S.; Samarathunga, D.; Mihipal, R.With the technological advancement, digital banking became imperative in contemporary financial institution. It was revealed that most of the senior citizens are away from the digital banking platform even though bank has made huge investment for the implementation of the digital banking systems It is anticipated that the senior citizen's population in Sri Lanka will be increased by 100% (5.3 million) in 2041 which was stated as 2.5 million in 2010. Thus, this study conducted to investigate the impact of Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use, Perceived security and Social influence on the intention of senior citizens to use the digital banking systems with the application of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A structured questionnaire served as the main instrument in gathering primary data from 200 respondents from 20 branches of the selected commercial bank in Sri Lanka by using convenience sampling method. The necessary data were analyzed through the demographic analysis, descriptive analysis, and correlation and regression analysis to test and identify the impact of variables. This study investigated that there is a positive relationship and impact between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived security, social influence and senior citizen intention to use digital banking. This study recommended the digital banking platforms need more friendly interfaces to the senior citizen. Furthermore, it is recommended to invent the digital banking software with new features and attractive colors which will be more easy for the adults to capture and to provide more trust to the customers through advising towards the digital banking.Publication Embargo IMPACT OF THE CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN SRI LANKAN MSMES(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Gunawardane, Y.; Sathiyakumar, J.; Sivalingam, K.; Rasathurai, B.; Rajapakshe, W.; Kumarapperuma, C.Nowadays, the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a trending software that is a highly efficient platform for the HR department to carry out their operations. Still, there are some challenges faced by organisations with regard to HRIS implementation. The primary objective of the research is to explore the impact of the challenges such as the cost of maintenance, technical knowledge, management support and staff training in implementing the HRIS in Sri Lankan micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The authors collected both primary and secondary data. The primary data have been referred from previous research. To study the impact of the challenges and to obtain secondary data, authors analysed 300 surveys as a sample in the Western Province from a total of 1,017,352 MSMEs population in Sri Lanka. This survey had closed-ended questions to collect quantitative data from the respondents, and the convenience sampling method has been used as the data collection method. As the data analysis tool, the authors have used simple and multiple regression analysis to study the significant impact of the challenges on implementation. Lack of researches have been conducted on HRIS implementation, especially in MSMEs, and a minority of HRIS service providers are focusing on MSMEs to promote their systems. To conclude, this research will boost the demand for HRIS technology among MSMEs, pay attention to the HRIS service providers to focus on MSMEs. Further, it helps to spread HRIS knowledge among HR students and HR industrial people to improve the information technology units in the HR industry.Publication Open Access THE STUDY OF THE CLINICAL DRUG DELIVERY PROCESS AND THE HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES IMPACTED DURING THE LOCKDOWN PERIOD(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Prabashwara, W.; Fernando, W.I.N.D.; Alwis, R.M.V.D.; Igalawithana, D.K.; Thelijjagoda, S.; Pathirana, U.P.G.Y.This study was conducted to explore the drug delivering process and the impact Human Resource practices towards the delivering drugs to the clinical patients during the lockdown period in Sri Lanka. This study carried out a qualitative analysis. Improvements required during the pandemic for most provisional Human Resource practices on health and safety, and training was identified from this process. Researchers conducted interviews with the government employees who contributed to this process (Postmen and PHI). Gampaha district was selected as the sample area for this study, Further, this research motivated the researchers to study about the effectiveness of employee training and health and safety practices in drug delivery process on COVID-19 situation.Publication Embargo Corporate Governance on Capital Structure Decisions: Evidence from Listed Non-financial Companies in Sri Lanka – Quantile Regression Approach(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Chathurya, P.A.D.; Perera, D.K.T.S.; Perera, G.K.S.S.; Fernando, W.C.The main objective of this study is to discuss about how corporate governance has an impact on the capital structure decisions. The focus of this empirical study emphasis on the top 100 market capitalization non-financial companies as at 31st December 2018 in CSE for 2012- 2018-year period. Quantile regression analysis is used to determine the relationship between corporate governance variables such as, CEO duality, Board size, Number of committees, Board balance, and gender diversity on capital structure decisions of the listed non-financial companies. Due to non-normal distribution of data which was identified using higher variance in kurtosis and skewness created a disadvantage of using OLS model which shows the results conditional to the mean. Therefore, quantile regression method was used in order to determine the above mentioned objective in an accurate manner. The results indicate that, gender diversity has significant negative relationship and board committees have statistically significant positive relationship to different levels of capital structure. Board size, board balance, CEO duality, doesn’t have significant impact on different levels of capital structure decisions. The interpretation of the results and the reasons for such variations were identified.Publication Embargo Technology in retail marketing and the way forward with Gamification: An exploratory study(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Alles, T.; Jayasooriya, S.The retail landscape is evolving rapidly as firms embrace innovative technologies in an attempt to stay ahead of the aggressive competition prevalent within the industry. The focus of this paper deems to be to explore technologies used by retail firms in the execution of their marketing efforts as well as the drivers and challenges in adopting Gamification for such efforts. A qualitative inductive research approach was taken whereby critical analysis of literature was followed through with in-depth interviews with marketing professionals in the moderntrade retail industry. The interviewees were selected through judgmental purposive sampling technique and the thematic analysis was conducted in generating insights. Findings show that the retail firms currently employ several technologies in line with those discussed in existing literature such as loyalty card systems, digital signage, VR technologies, online Gamification amidst others in carrying out their marketing efforts. Mobile Instant Messaging & Autonomous shopping carts are to be employed in the near future while firms are receptive to experiment on Hologram technologies and In-store Gamification. Furthermore, key drivers that propel firms to implement novel technology like Gamification are; to generate customer insights, enhance customer experience and achieve marketing related KPI targets. Conversely, inadequate technology infrastructure, justifying focus on a niche crowd of tech-oriented customers and slow ROI pose as challenges in the process of Gamification adoption. The study offers theoretical contribution to the knowledge gap in this domain especially in the Sri Lankan context and while it is limited to modern-trade retailers future research can be extended to other formats of retail.Publication Embargo THE IMPACT OF MOBILE MARKETING ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: CASE OF LISTED HOTELS IN SRI LANKA(SLIIT Business School, 2019-12-10) Premasinghe, P.K.S.D.; Ashintha, B.W.T.; Perera, M.A.D.C.H.; Fernando, D.L.P.T.; Kuruppu, C.L.; Lokeshwara, A.A.Digital tools, including mobile phones, have been widely popularised amongst both resident and non-resident tourists to explore vacation destinations and to make subsequent bookings. This provides a versatile platform for hoteliers and prospective clients to exchange information effectively. However, according to the past literature, it was revealed that the adaptation of digital marketing tools such as mobile marketing is scarce in the context of Sri Lanka. Furthermore, according to the preliminary interviews held with experts, one of the main contributory factors was identified as the lack of experience and confidence of hoteliers in investing in digital marketing solutions such as mobile marketing due to ambiguity in relating to financial and non-financial outcomes. Hence, this study aims to bridge the existing knowledge gap by evaluating the impact of mobile marketing on listed hotels’ financial performance in Sri Lanka. All thirty-seven (37) hotels registered in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) under Listed Tourist Hotels category were chosen as the population sample for this quantitative study with Mobile Marketing as the independent variable and Return on Equity (ROE) as the dependent variable. The required data was collected through structured questionnaires distributed among the marketing managers of the firms. The Statistical Package for Social Studies (SPSS) was used to analyse and obtain results on the research objective from the collected data. Descriptive statistics, Correlation and Regression, were deployed in assessing the impact of mobile marketing on the financial performance of listed hotels. The findings revealed a significant positive impact on the financial performance of hotels from mobile marketing since its significance value is less than 0.05. This demarks that mobile marketing, if utilised appropriately, could influence the financial performance of hotels positively allowing firms to reap greater economic benefits. In addition, the results help allay the ambiguity and uncertainty that hotel managers have