https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6534 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 17:28:23 GMT 2026-04-08T17:28:23Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6540 Role of Mindfulness in Entrepreneurial Success: A Review Balasooriya, B. M. N. J. K.; Dhammika, K.A.S.; Sewwandi, D.K. The life of an entrepreneur is often stressful with more time spent at work making decisions, facing ever-growing market competition, and undertaking business risks. An entrepreneur is so deeply involved in their business that it is difficult to demarcate between the venture and the owner. The success of the venture highly reflects the competence and focused mindset of the entrepreneur. Such a dynamic business nature requires best practises that can enhance the cognitive capabilities of the entrepreneurs and make them more aware or mindful of present moment phenomena. In a context where many studies are done to unveil success factors of entrepreneurial ventures and still a significant portion of them struggle to survive and succeed in the market, it is high time to view factors affecting entrepreneurial success from a novel angle. Accordingly, this review aims at uncovering the links of mindfulness to entrepreneurial success via an extensive critical review of the extant literature. Considering the vast array of benefits of being mindful, it is recommended for entrepreneurs to engage more in practising mindfulness to make them more vigilant in capturing opportunities, making decisions, and escaping the failures of the past and anxiety about the future. However, given the controversial nature of certain findings in literature and the dearth of studies on mindfulness and entrepreneurial success, the increasing necessity of further conceptual and empirical research in this area is explicit. Sat, 01 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6540 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6539 Factors Affecting Employability of Big Data Professionals: an Analysis with Special Reference to Logistics Companies in Sri Lanka Gunathilake, Lahiru; Weerasinghe, Vihanga; Gishanthi, Malsha; Kumarasinghe, Ovindi; Kumarasinghe, Kelum Big Data Analytics is swiftly growing and has revolutionised the field of business, through advanced analytics. Similarly, Sri Lanka is progressively embracing big data technology, and the pioneering adopters include logistics companies. This emerging field has opened-up many employment opportunities for big data professionals (BDP). However, Sri Lanka has encountered a shortage of BDP, amidst the significant growth in the field. Thus, this study urges to analyse the factors that potentially impact the employability of BDP in the field of big data analytics, with the motive of finding solutions to reduce the skill shortage, which serves as the main objective of the research. The study was executed by analysing qualitative and quantitative data collected through a questionnaire survey followed by a series of structured interviews. The questionnaire survey was distributed among 180 employees who are currently employed in the field of big data analytics, whereas the structured interviews were carried out with 08 experts in the field. Based on the initial Exploratory Factor Analysis conducted, Education Factors, Skills and Competencies, and Job Market Factors were identified as the three main variables that affect the employability of BDP. Subsequently, a Thematic Analysis was carried out in order to investigate the impact of the aforementioned factors on the big data skill shortage, and to navigate possible remedies for it. As implications of the study, it was revealed that certain educational and competency development factors should be considered in order to diminish the skill shortage of BDP. Sat, 01 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6539 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6538 Factors Affecting Urban Consumer Intention towards Online Purchasing of Agricultural Commodities in Sri Lanka GANGEWATTA, I.I.; KURUPPU, I.V.; WIJERATNE, D.U.S. The development of internet technology has made it possible for customers worldwide to change their daily routines. Both globally and in Sri Lanka, online retail sales have sharply increased in recent years. This study intends to identify the factors affecting urban consumers’ intentions to buy agricultural Products online in Sri Lanka. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the most urbanised districts in Sri Lanka: Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, and Kandy. And using the convenience sampling technique, a total of 112 questionnaires were collected via a Google form. The research examined perceived Ease of Use and Food Quality as independent variables and dependent variables such as Perceived Usefulness, Website Trust, Perceived Risk, and Purchase Intention. IBM SPSS version 26 and IBM SPSS AMOS version 26 were used to analyse the data and develop the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to test the hypothesis. The results revealed that the influence of Food Quality on Purchase Intention, the influence of Perceived Ease of Use on Perceived Usefulness, and the influence of Perceived Ease of Use on Website Trust are significantly positive. Perceived Risk on Purchase Intention has a negative relationship and is not significant. The study suggests conducting additional research on novel marketing strategies distinct from conventional media tools and further analysing food quality. Sat, 01 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6538 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6537 Crop Diversification and its Determinants among Vegetable Farmers in Kotagala, Nuwara Eliya District in Sri Lanka THAYAPARAN, ARUPPILLAI; GUNATHILAKA, G.Y.N.; USHADHANI, R. A sound understanding of the demographic and farming characteristics of smallholder farmers and how they stimulate their crop diversification decisions would help policymakers make appropriate measures for encouraging crop diversification. The objectives of the study are to assess the degree of crop diversification and examine in what ways the demographic and farming characteristics of smallholder vegetable farmers impact their crop diversification at Kotagala area in the Nuwara – Eliya district of Sri Lanka. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 86 randomly selected farmers who were cultivating nine vegetable crops in the Kotagala division using the structured questionnaires during the period from October to November 2019. The degree of crop diversification among vegetable farmers was measured using the Herfindahl index, which has a mean value of 0.36. It shows that there is a low degree of crop diversification and the practices in multiple crop cultivation among the farmers is very low. Results of the frequency analysis revealed that 60.5 percent of the farmers are diversifiers, while 39.5 percent of them are non - diversifiers. Further, the tobit regression model was used to examine how demographic and farming characteristics of smallholder farmers influence crop diversification and its results indicated that age squared and education negatively influenced on crop diversification at a 10 percent significance level. On the contrary, crop diversification is positively influenced by the age and size of cultivated land at a 5 percent significance level. The findings of the study will assist the decision makers in developing the best possible policies to support crop diversity, which will motivate farmers to make better choices, boost production, and improve food security in the study area. Sat, 01 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://ir.kdu.ac.lk/handle/345/6537 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z