?Brain drain? is the depletion or loss of intellectual and technical personnel. The United Nations defines it as a one-way movement of highly skilled people from developing to developed countries that only benefits the industrialised (host) world. Today, brain drain is a major problem facing less developed countries, while Australia and other developed countries are the beneficiaries. Brain drain is reported to have direct negative impact on the population?s health status in the donor country, with associated consequences for the productivity and welfare of the population. This paper reports on a qualitative study to understand the key factors behind brain drain from the perspective of the migrating doctor, and to consider possible solutions. Interviews were conducted with doctors who have migrated to Australia from southern Africa to explore reasons for brain drain. Specifically, the study tests the supposition that push factors play a much greater role than pull factors, and identifies which push factors are most important. Strategies to prevent brain drain from this depleted labour region are considered.

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PurposeAccessibility to a precise tool for healthcare management and self-precaution among diabetic patients is an absolute necessity. This paper aims to develop and validate diabetes-related awareness instrument (DRAI) – an instrument that measures diabetics awareness about risk factors and prevention strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe reliability and validity of the DRAI were tested with a sample of 112 diabetics. The construct validity of the DRAI was measured using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Item discrimination, reliability, usefulness and validity of the items were determined by performing Cronbach's alpha, item difficulty and discrimination index analysis.FindingsThe study finds DRAI – a reliable and valid instrument to assess diabetics awareness towards diabetes mellitus, its associated risk factors and prevention strategies. The value of Cronbach's alpha for all three constructs was above the threshold level of 0.70. Under exploratory factor analysis, “Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin” test value of 0.805 exhibits a meritorious sample adequacy and “Bartlet's test of Sphericity” was statistically significant with p = 0.032. Therefore, results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that all fitness indices of the model to be excellent fit.Practical implicationsThe present instrument can help to determine whether the individual is susceptible to diabetes, timely prevention and reduction in the incidence of diabetes mellitus.Originality/valueDRAI is the first of its kind tool to assess the awareness and knowledge about diabetes-related risk factors and prevention strategies in such a demographically diverse population of India.

In the present era of globalization, trade is always considered as an indispensable catalyst for the growth and development of any nation. The present study examines the trade performance and degree of trade specialization of India and ASEAN members for the pre- and post-AIFTA period at Harmonized Standard (HS) 6-digit level of product classification. The study evaluates the data sources viz. United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN COMTRADE), United Nation Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) and trade map to evaluate the trade specialization of India and ASEAN members by using Lafay Index (LFi) approach. The present study found that though India experiences a shift from low specialized economy towards a more competitive and specialized one, still, it faces a competitive disadvantage from ASEAN members for distinctive industry levels. The study suggests that India should confront issues such as technological dissemination, diversification of merchandise manufactured, quality sophistication and reliability at different industry levels which constrain higher degree of trade specialization.

With the technological advancement, shopping behaviour among the young consumers undergone a paradigm shift. Online shopping has made the market available at a single touch of customer. The aim of the present article is to identify the determinants of online purchase intention among young consumers. A structured questionnaire based survey was performed in the state of Punjab, with a multi-stage stratified random sample of 200 respondents. The analysis was made with the help of descriptive statistics and Probit regression. The analysis of the Probit regression identified age, convenience and ease of quality comparison are positively affecting online shopping among youngsters. On the other hand, personal privacy, risk in giving card details and tangibility of product act as a barrier in online purchase intention among young consumers of Punjab. Online sellers should focus on these factors in order to target young consumers.