There are more male nurses than ever before in India. While there is a large number of studies that focus on the differences in working conditions between male and female nurses and perceptions towards male nurses in western contexts, these studies are almost non-existent in highly patriarchal contexts like India. Utilising twenty semi-structured interviews with male nurses in three cities of Kerala, geospatially located in South India, this research aims at exploring the reasons why male nurses select the profession and their gendered experiences during their career paths. The research argues that male nurses select the profession for increasing their chances to migrate to industrialised countries like Australia and the United Kingdom. However, they face various social and work-related impediments in their career, which include negative perceptions of families and others towards the profession, the discrimination faced in terms of occupational segregation at the workplace, negative perceptions towards their manhood and the difficulties in finding a bride. Male nurses, if unsuccessful in migrating abroad, are not committed to remaining in the profession, particularly after their “shelf-lives” are over. In this case, they are highly likely to move to other professions or migrate to second-option countries in the Middle East. This emerges as a concern for India which is in dire need of nurses and highlights that Indian and State governments need to take prompt actions that would eliminate the stereotypes concerning male nurses, improve the working conditions and reduce discrimination towards male nurses, and in general to include more men in mainstream nursing.

Hospitals all around the world are failing to keep up with demand due to an aging staff and a rising population. India has a severe shortage of nurses and the number of males entering the nursing profession has increased significantly over the last two decades, which shows that Indian men are eager to seek careers in nursing. Their experiences in the profession, however, has not received significant attention. This chapter aims at exploring the work experiences of male nurses in a profession in which workforce is predominantly female. A total of 45 participants from three major cities in Kerala were recruited for the study using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Semistructured face-to-face interviews were used to collect the data and thematic analysis were used. Four key themes were found. Male nurses had individual motivation to choose the profession, but over time, they have become discouraged and disillusioned with it. Male nurses were reticent to advocate nursing to other males because they saw no future in the profession. The study highlights the difficulties that male nurses encounter, and if these difficulties are not addressed, there may be a significant decline in the number of males choosing to pursue careers in nursing.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relative impacts of the cognitive dissonance on brand switching (BS) and satisfaction level (SAT) by considering the mediation role of purchase regret (PRG) in these relationships in an online shopping context. Design/methodology/approach The data was collected from 354 participants, and structural equation modeling and mediation analysis were conducted to test the conceptual model hypotheses. Findings The findings revealed that the cognitive dissonance positively affects PRG. Also, the study indicated a negative and nonsignificant relationship between cognitive dissonance and SAT and a negative significant relationship between cognitive dissonance and BS. In addition, a positive and significant correlation was found between PRG and BS. Furthermore, the results revealed that PRG mediates the relationship between cognitive dissonance and SAT. Originality/value This research provides a novel contribution by examining the impact of the cognitive dissonance on BS and SAT and uncovering the underlying mechanism of how and under what conditions cognitive dissonance promotes BS and SAT in an online shopping context.