The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the need for sustainable, smart tourism and local travel, with rural destinations gaining in their popularity and leading to increased potential of smart rural tourism. However, these processes need adjustments to the current trends, incorporating new transformative business concepts and marketing approaches. In this paper we provide real life examples of new marketing approaches, together with new business models within the context of the use of new digital technologies. Via hermeneutic research approach, consisting of the secondary analysis of the addressed subject of smart rural tourism in adversity of the COVID-19 and 6 semi-structured interviews, the importance of technology is underscored in transforming rural tourism to smart rural tourist destinations. The respondents in the interview section were chosen based on their direct involvement in the presented examples and geographical location, i.e. France, Slovenia and Spain, where presented research examples were developed, concretely within European programmes, i.e. Interreg, Horizon and Rural Development Programme (RDP). Interviews were taking place between 2022 and 2023 in person, email or via Zoom. This two-phased study demonstrates that technology is important in transforming rural tourism to smart tourist destinations and that it ushers new approaches that seem particularly useful in applying to rural areas, creating a rural digital innovation ecosystem, which acts as s heuristic rural tourist model that fosters new types of tourism, i.e. smart rural tourism.

The rapid advancement of financial technology (Fintech) has revolutionized the way financial transactions are conducted, with E-payment services becoming increasingly integral to daily commerce. This paper examines consumer perceptions and attitudes towards E-payment services offered by Fintech companies, identifying key factors that influence their acceptance and usage. Employing a quantitative approach, the research integrates quantitative data from surveys and applied SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) through AMOS. Out of 450, 420 respondents have given their views on perceptual preferences and attitudes with the help of SPSS. KMO and Bartlett’s Test are executed to understand and to check the factors for implementing factor analysis further through extractions. Anticipated findings are expected to reveal a spectrum of consumer attitudes shaped by factors such as trust, security, convenience, and technological familiarity. It contributes to the existing literature by providing updated insights into consumer behaviour in the Fintech sector and suggesting actionable strategies for service providers to enhance user engagement and satisfaction. It holds the potential to inform both theoretical frameworks in technology acceptance and practical marketing strategies for Fintech companies aiming to optimize E-payment services for diverse consumer bases.

Consumer satisfaction can be defined as the user’s response to a service or experience compared to the user’s expectations and perceived practical benefits. After reviewing consumer satisfaction models, it can be argued that there is no single model of consumer satisfaction assessment that is suitable for every service and every region of the world, as the causes and outcomes of satisfaction often vary. The research is original in its methodology: at the beginning, a theoretical research model is presented, then hypotheses are formulated, and correlation, factorial, regression analyses were made, which results confirmed hypotheses. The crop insurance system consists of relations between the state institution regulates insurance activities, farmers, insurers and insurance intermediaries. The aim of this article is to identify the factors that determine consumer satisfaction with crop insurance and to assess their impact. The empirical study found that consumer satisfaction is determined by the factors of recognizable value, functional (process) and technical (result) quality, consumer expectations, and image. The most important factors that determine consumer satisfaction of crop insurance are recognizable value, functional quality, and consumer expectations. Consumer satisfaction can be assessed by the cost paid and the quality received, the quality expected, and the consumers’ evaluation of the services. It was found that the socio-demographic elements of consumers do not have a decisive influence on the factors that determine service satisfaction and consumer satisfaction. It is also established that socio-demographic elements of consumers (farmer experience and insurance experience) have direct statistically significant but weak links with consumer satisfaction.

This study examines the influence of organizational learning and boundary spanner agility in the bank agent business of Indonesia’s financial inclusion. This study is based on quantitative studies of 325 bank agents in Indonesia. The results of this research strongly show that organizational learning has a significant impact on boundary spanners’ agility to achieve both financial and non-financial performance. This study presents a novel finding that organization learning with a commitment to apply and encourage learning activities and agility with improved responsiveness and resilience boundary spanners can achieve bank agent performance. Organizational learning of bank agents needs to improve commitment to apply and encourage learning activities, always be open to new ideas, and create shared vision and knowledge transfer mechanisms. Organizational agility in bank agents need also to improve the capability to be more responsive and adaptable to culture changes in a volatile environment. This research provides valuable insights to policymakers, banking supervisors, bank top management teams, and researchers on the factors that may improve the effectiveness of the agency banking business to promote financial inclusion. Participating banks in the agent banking business need to set a clear vision, scope, and priority of strategy to encourage organizational learning and agility.