The purpose of this research was to examine consumers from distinct cultural groups and examine similarities and differences in their green purchase behaviors. The sample consisted of consumers from U.S.A. and South Korea and the theory of planned behavior was used as a theoretical framework to test the influence of diverse constructs on consumers’ purchase intentions toward organic cotton apparel. A total of 334 participants (164 for U.S.A. sample and 170 for South Korea sample) were recruited to examine purchase behaviors toward organic cotton apparel. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the relationship between the TPB constructs and compare the results between the two country groups. AMOS 24 and SPSS 24 were used to analyze the data. For both countries, perceived behavioral control (PBC) and descriptive norms were strong predictors of purchase intentions and injunctive norms strongly influenced attitude formation. However, the two groups showed different results regarding attitude-purchase intention, descriptive norms-attitude, and injunctive norms-purchase intentions relationship. For example, while attitude was the strongest predictor of purchase intention in the U.S.A. group, it had an insignificant effect in South Korea group. For South Korea group PBC had the strongest effect on consumers purchase intention. Multi-group SEM results showed that the difference in the chi-square statistics between the two models was significant. Significant differences were found in two structural paths: attitude → purchase intention and PBC → purchase intention. TPB provided a useful framework for explaining green purchase behaviors in both countries as PBC and descriptive norms strongly predicted consumers’ intention to purchase. However, South Koreans were more affected by the social pressure: their purchase intention were strongly influenced by both injunctive norms and descriptive norms which was in contrast to the findings from American consumers. Injunctive norms were an insignificant predictor of purchase intentions in the U.S.A. group. Injunctive norms reflect individual’s perception of whether the behavior is approved or disapproved by others while descriptive norms involve individual’s perception of whether the behavior is typically performed by others. Therefore, when Korean consumers perceive that others believe it is a good idea to purchase organic cotton apparel and when they actually see others purchasing the product, they will feel more inclined to purchase the product themselves. This result is consistent with previous research that suggest conformity is a crucial factor for people belonging to a collectivistic culture (e.g., Hofstede, 1980; Kitayama et al., 1995).

Terror management theory (TMT) highlights the impact of death related thoughts on consumers’ decisions in everyday life (Hayes, Schimel, Arndt, & Faucher, 2010) and the various coping behaviors they adopt to manage this terror-related anxiety. Individuals exposed to man-made (e.g. terrorist attacks, wars) or natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis) are obliged to mitigate the awareness of their eventual death or mortality salience (MS). MS plays a significant role in shaping individuals consumption behaviors, particularly in terms of materialism and ethnocentrism. This study aims to address (1) how MS-induced feelings impact consumers’ consumption criteria, preferences and behaviors, and (2) what contextual and cultural factors ought to be considered in this regard. Nineteen focus groups in total were conducted in Japan, Lebanon and the UK. Based on grounded theory approach, we found that consumers’ feelings based on their traumatic experiences exhibit some similarities and differences depending on their own historical, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds. Future research should include more countries and take into account a variety of cultural backgrounds. Moreover, as Japan, Lebanon and the UK represent three of the most prominent religions, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity respectively, religiosity may be a relevant concept in defining and interpreting MS in a cross-cultural context.

This study applies optimization-based algorithm to develop combination classification methods. We propose a genetic algorithm-based combination classification method of multiple decision trees to improve predictive accuracy, optimize classification rules, and interpret classification results. The basic algorithm for decision tree has been constructed in a top-down recursive divide-and-conquer manner. Based on different split measures (attribute selection measures), different decision tree algorithms can be produced, and then multiple decision trees can be formed. We proposed the parallel combination model of multiple decision trees. On top of the combination model, multiple decision trees are parallel combined. Each decision tree produces its own classification rules according to training samples from which one can present the classification result using probability distribution of target class label. At the bottom, the classification result of each decision tree serves as the input for combination algorithm in producing classification result and rules for the combination model. Combination algorithm adopts weighted summation of the outputs of probability measurement levels from individual decision trees, while genetic algorithm optimizes connection weight matrix. Finally the target class label with the largest probability output value is selected as the decision result for combination classification methods. The proposed method is applied to the issues of customer credit rating assessment and customer response behaviour pattern recognition in CRM. From the simulation results it is concluded that the proposed method has higher predictive accuracy than single decision tree. Moreover, it retains good interpretability and optimizes classification rules.

Marketing is a broad discipline spanning numerous fields, often leading to cross-disciplinary research. It is a saturated discipline with numerous academic outputs published annually. With a constantly expanding knowledge base, and increased emphasis on researchers ‘proving the worth’ of their research, marketing scholars are increasingly required to quickly search, extract and synthesize literature. Researchers must then be able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of their research context. This often calls for a systematic approach. Typically, Systematic Literature Review (SLR) searches are conducted across multiple databases, over a number of years, which is a lengthy and complicated process that can result in errors. The present research outlines the search strategies of previously published SLR’s searches, and replicates these searches in Google Scholar (GS). The aim is to understand the reliability of GS as a primary search tool to, potentially, alleviate lengthy and complicated procedures seen in existing SLR’s.

This study aims to extend previous research on the structural relationships between organisational empowerment and frontline employees’ behaviors，and explores the role of the self-regulating process and its impact on service recovery performance by using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Following the procedure of applying fsQCA (data calibration, truth table construction and fsQCA analysis) on the data of express mail firms in China, the results explore the combination of several causes as solutions that lead to both high and low service recovery performance. The findings show that the organisational empowerment is a sufficient antecedent for high service recovery performance, especially in case where frontline employee have full awareness and positive work involvement. Moreover, in the context of organisational empowerment, a reasonable level of emotional exhaustion represents a positive impact on performance in service recovery. This study offers more comprehensive insights for practitioners to empower frontline employees and monitor their emotions and behaviors using more appropriate approaches.

Aims: Using text mining techniques to investigate the understudied publication trend and thematic areas in the Confucius Business Ethics relating publications. Methods: Research articles which were published during 1999–2016, were searched in 10 business relating databases on April 9, 2017; resulting a total of 488 articles were included. The titles and abstracts were extracted for the text mining analysis using SAS Text Miner, themes were identified by the Text Topic Node. Publication trend, clustering and associations between themes were analyzed. Results: Eight groups of themes were identified. During 1999–2016, the appearance of the Themes “Confucius Leadership”, “Competitive Advantage”, “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)", and “Satisfaction and Health” was continuously increasing; meanwhile, research relating to “Chinese Economy” was continuously decreasing; there was a fluctuation trend in that of “Global Ethics”, “Moral and Human Right”, and “Asian Studies”. In the cluster analysis, three main clusters of themes were classified: “Ethics and Leadership”, “Competition and Economy in Asia”, and “CSR and Satisfaction”. Besides, the appearance of “Confucius Leadership” and “Global Ethics”, “Confucius Leadership” and “Moral & Human Right”, “Asia” and “Competitive Advantage”, and “Asia” and “CSR" was positively associated; whereas, that of “Global Ethics” and “China Economy” was negatively associated. Conclusion: The research of Confucius Business Ethics has been focusing on Eastern and Western cross-cultural business ethics, the Confucius ethics and CSR, which was associated with leadership, moral and human rights, in the Global and Asian environments. A call for future research in “Global Ethics” and “China Economy” were suggested.

The study is aimed to find out the influencing factors when consumers decide to choose products with low quality. The result indicates that major considered factors should be short life cycle, low quality, design, price and purchase intention, while price be considered as the one which has significant effect on consumers’ choices of accepting low quality, as well as product design. Most companies put the market share at the vital position, in traditional commercial thinking, high quality always means that products will be accepted by most customers; but now it is totally different. We take fast fashion industry and mobile phone industry as examples and choose fsQCA as the methodology to analyses the relationship between variable and result. Most of the customers are pursuing for high quality with low price (Dodds et al., 1991; Alfred, 2013; Shirai, 2015). But the companies are difficult to make the high quality products have low price. The companies can have the high quality advantage. However, quality is not the only factor to make the products with high price, design, corporate culture and brand can also be the factors (Homburg et al., 2015). How to make the consumers accept the low quality in short lifecycle product (e.g. fast fashion or high-tech industry), which means consumers may purchase new product to replace the old one before it has problems. In our study, we collect these data from customers via questionnaire. And use fsQCA to analyze the relationship between price, design and short lifecycle, all these influencing factors and customer purchase intention on low quality product. And we have some findings. Sometimes, low quality products can help companies achieve success by bringing income and satisfy consumers’ needs of goods and services in affordable price. From company’s aspect, low quality products are more affordable than those of high quality, so these products will win larger market share and promote fast fashion items to sell fast. While customers sometimes demand more products with good design, at the same time, they cannot bear the expensive items, low quality products can achieve balanced between demands and consuming ability. This means both companies and customers can get win-win situation.

This paper presents the findings of a survey of Turkish marketing academics undertaken between 2007 and 2016. As a follow up, replicating Erdoğan and Uzkurt’s study (2007), this study aims to accommodate the existing studies approaching the status and problems of marketing academics and add a longitudinal dimension in 2016.

New media has been an important component of modern life with recent development of immersed media-rich environments (Lim & Nekmat, 2008). Jenkins and his colleagues (2006) refer such environments and their dynamics as participatory culture, in which meaning making and consumption processes are influenced by other new media users. These processes are especially attracting youth, who are open to experimentations with online identities. Such experimentation does not necessarily have to be related with entertainment. Rather it can also be related to learning and education. The primary aim of the current study is to understand the relationship between new media literacy and imaginativeness among undergraduate communication majors. The main assumption of the study is that communication undergraduates heavily use new media products and services. And such practices inevitably impact on their creative, social and practical imaginativeness. Findings aim to shed light on how interactions with the new media technologies impact on imaginative processes and practices of aspiring communication professionals.

What is the connection between aesthetics or classroom design and engagement towards courses, teachers and groups? Students spend at least one quarter of their waking hours in schools, most of it in classrooms, which have become a potentially powerful setting for influencing them. Especially in recent years, where marketing classes are often projectbased and students are required to regularly interact in class and participate in group assignments, the role of classrooms and their design is crucial for improving learning and engagement (e.g. Abernethy and Lett III, 2005; Razzouk, Seitz and Rizkallah, 2003). Education research over the past decade has demonstrated that classroom designs have an effect on learning behaviors. Ample evidence suggested that classroom layout, technology and overall design can have a profound effect on student learning (e.g. Cheryan, Ziegler, Plaut and Meltzoff, 2014; Neill and Etheridge, 2008). So far, literature on classroom design and teaching has mainly focused on the relationship between quality of physical infrastructure and student achievement (Cheryan et al., 2014), on flexible learning spaces (Neill and Etheridge, 2008) and on the use of interactive technology (i.e. student response systems or clickers) for improving satisfaction, creative interaction, and achievement (e.g. Eastman, Iyer and Eastman, 2011). Little research has examined the role of classroom design on engagement (Kuh, 2001; Marks, 2000), investigating it primarily in the online or distance learning contexts (Chen, Lambert and Guidry, 2009). Unexplored in previous research is the role that a high vs. low technological classroom design may play in students’ engagement, and more specifically, in the general engagement level experienced by students towards a course, a teacher and a group. This work includes a comparison of two courses taught by the same instructor in a lowtechnology space (traditional class) versus a high-technology space, demonstrating counterintuitively that students perceive a higher engagement in a traditional classroom setting, evaluate the teacher more positively, and like to work in groups more.

Purpose Increasingly Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are facing uncertainties and pressures with a strong emphasis to differentiate from competitors with a clear offering to multiple stakeholders (Amber et al., 2016; Anctil, 2008; Chapleo, 2010; Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka, 2006). Universities in particular are viewed as “businesses” operating in a competitive global marketplace where differentiation plays a key role in attracting students and funding (Walton, 2005; Bunzel, 2007). One subject area that seems to address some of the uncertainties and pressures is the topic of corporate branding. Corporate branding can alleviate universities from a complex set of multi-faceted features (Hemsley-Brown and Goonawardana, 2007) which include among others, accreditation, tuition fees, positions in league tables and status in the global marketplace, and reinforce an institution’s unique selling point to multiple stakeholders, such as students, academics and funders (Whisman, 2009; Chapleo, 2010). Thus, a strong corporate brand can support, for example, charging higher tuition fees, recruiting leading academics and attracting students from underrepresented groups (Chapleo, 2010; Croxford and Raffe, 2015). Despite a move towards “marketisation”, it is unclear whether corporate branding has allowed universities to develop authentic, convincing brand identities, which would help to alleviate these pressures as HE, unlike the private sector, has typically less resources to implement branding strategies and has a tendency to be internally focused, unsure what is important for their brand and stakeholders (Jevons, 2006). The limited studies in this area call for more research and understanding into the application of corporate branding in the context of higher education (Anctil, 2008; Chapleo, 2010; Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka, 2006). Dibb and Simkin (1993: 26) discuss the branding variance of intangibility in different services placing “education” at the extreme end of the continuum questioning: ‘what is the product, the institution, the course; the experience or the qualification?’ It could be these different specialisms may be the very source of differentiation that can ensure the success of a HE corporate brand. Although ‘higher education and branding go back a long way’ (Temple, 2006: 15) those branding studies that have been conducted in universities have had limited application in specialised areas (Hankinson, 2004; Chapleo, 2011) such as the sciences or teacher education, as opposed to a business school where most marketing research is generally undertaken. Balmer and Liao (2007:368) point to other ‘institutional settings’ such as the Department of Music, at the University of York, which warrant a study with students into their identification with a university’s corporate brand. This highlights the complexity and challenges of managing multiple sub-brands within a corporate brand (Spry, 2014; Chapleo, 2015) and presents a unique opportunity for the research proposed which will consider relationships between a university corporate brand and sub-brand. As corporate branding can be described as the process of framing the organisation’s identity, which is derived from its culture, values, strategy and tangible cues (Balmer, 2001) it is brand identity that is the ‘unit of analysis’ (Uggla, 2006:78) and the focus of this study. Specifically, corporate brand identity relates to ‘what the organisation is and what it seeks to be’ (Abratt and Kleyn, 2012: 1051). Similarly Steiner et al. (2013: 411) maintain that a university’s identity is ‘who we are’. Since Albert and Whetten’s (1995) study on organisational identity and the authors’ claim that it is an evolving, collective phenomenon, there has been an increasing interest in institutional identity. Indeed, the link between corporate brand identity and shared values amongst stakeholders has been extensively documented (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001; Balmer and Gray, 2003, Kay, 2006; Chapleo, 2010). These ‘ bundle of values…’ (Balmer and Gray, 2003: 981) give the organisation its uniqueness and ‘….a sense of individuality’ (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001: 442). Balmer (2001) maintains that the values of an organisation’s identity as can be both tangible and intangible. However, with increasing competition in the marketplace and the rapid progress of modern technology organisations are looking to differentiate the emotional, rather than functional characteristics of their brand (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). Gutman and Miaoulis (2003:106) describe these emotional values as those ‘that underlie important goals of students ….’ which ‘deal with the end states of our existence or the ultimate goals that people wish to achieve in their lives’ (Durvasula et al., 2011: 33). Thus the corporate brand becomes ‘the interface between the organisation’s stakeholders and its identity’ (Abratt and Kleyn, 2012: 1053) and a transition occurs from university identity to image (Steiner et al., 2013). It is therefore an organisation’s “values” that should correspond with the emotional needs of both employees and external stakeholders (Chapleo, 2010; Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). However, Steiner et al (2013) maintain that university faculties may not see themselves as part of the university’s overall identity which Brookes (2003:139) argues is due to marketing concepts being ‘theoretically uncomfortable’ for most academics or even ‘insulting’ (Waeraas and Solbakk, 2008). Traditionall, centralised corporate branding has played a less visible role in HE which has allowed different departments to develop strong brand identities of their own, referred to as the ‘house of brand approach’ (Hemsley-Brown and Gonnawardana, 2007: 946). This approach is one of three key branding strategies outlined by Ollins (1995) and Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000), which relate to the discipline of brand architecture and is one which puts distance between the corporate brand and the businesses and products such as the Virgin Group. The second approach is that of the branded house where a single Masterbrand unites the company and its businesses and products, such as the Virgin Group. Hemsley-Brown and Gonnawardana (2007: 945) refer to this approach as ‘corporatization’ in universities and is when branding practices change and departments are encouraged to align their identity with that of the university; hence they lose their individual branding. This particularly affects departments operating in niche markets and presents a difficult challenge for universities where understanding and expressing a single identity ‘may be too complex and fragmented’ (Waeraas and Solbakk, 2009: 459) as multiple identities and values held by staff may provide uniqueness to the university. Jevons (2006) cites the University of Cambridge in the UK where the identity of their colleges is much more distinct than the entire University. The endorsed brand strategy is when a company’s businesses and products are endorsed with the corporate brand (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000) and a common identity such as Courtyard by Marriott. Sub-brands are also part of the brand architecture arena and similarly to endorsed brands can stretch across products and markets with an offering that is different and new (Uggla, 2006). While Ollins (1995) did not distinguish between sub-brands and endorsed brands, Hemsley-Brown and Gonnawardana (2007) refer to university faculties/schools/departments as sub-brands where the university simply provides brand endorsement to the sub-brands. However, several authors maintain the difference between sub-brands and endorsed brands is subtle (Devlin, 2003); in the latter case the Masterbrand plays a far less dominant role than that of the former which allows the Masterbrand to compete in markets than would otherwise be the case (Hsu et al, 2014). If the Masterbrand is more distant as in the endorsed approach, it acts as ‘a powerful cushion against contamination and risk' (Hsu et al, 2014). Devlin (2003) cites the key reason for putting distance between the corporate brand and businesses and products as being to maintain relationships and indicate distinctive competencies to different target markets. For example, and in the context of HE, w hile a University has key stakeholders, such as the Government, the general public and media it would seem worthy of consideration that the corporate brand might shape different images for these stakeholders while allowing different specialisms, particularly those with strong but different external influences, to nurture relationships with specific target markets (Muzellec and Lambkin, 2008). Although clear brand architecture models have been developed over time in the literature there appears to be a conflict of views and a lack of context-specific approaches. For example Chapleo (2015) found in his research that university departments often displayed qualities of sub-brands for specific target markets. However, there is no literature that has applied these different brand architecture approaches to the context of a university and more specifically a particular area of specialism. Indeed Chapleo (2015:159), who maintains that brand architecture is an approach 'with which universities struggle’, calls for more research into its applicability. Responding to the identified gaps in the body of knowledge this research, which provides a unique insight into an under-researched area, seeks to examine a university’s identity, related values and considers the development of an operational framework. The framework will investigate the complex nature of corporate brands in the context of HE in order to identify a coherent and effective brand architecture (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000) which signals a differentiated offering? Although Spry (2014) responded to these gaps by qualitatively exploring perceptions of staff and students in a UK university and found significant relationships between the corporate brand and sub brand there is a need for a quantitative study that examines the suggested relationships further. The context is a university in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) focusing on a College of Nursing. The findings will offer internal university management advice on how best to investigate and potentially manage multiple sub-brands and ensure consistencies and coherencies with the corporate brand. Therefore the following objectives for this study have been developed: • To explore perceptions of corporate brand identity-image by students in both the context of a university and that of a university department • To examine the role that corporate brand identity plays in shaping perceptions of emotional and functional values • To conceptualise a framework that university practitioners can assimilate in order to develop appropriate brand architectures. Research Design Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses In keeping with objectives developed in the previous section, the following conceptual model has been developed. So as to gain a more detailed understanding of the relationships highlighted in figure 1, including the strength of the causal relationships and differences, the follow three hypotheses have been developed: H1: University corporate Identity will positively influence Emotional Values H2: College identity will positively influence Emotional Values H3: Emotional Value will positively influence Functional Values In addition, two further hypotheses have been developed to test if emotional values act as a mediator between Identity and Functional Values. This will measure the importance of Emotional Values as a key element of branding strategies to be considered by University management: H4: Emotional Values mediate a positive relationship between University Corporate Identity and Functional Values H5: Emotional Values mediate a positive relationship between College Identity and Functional Values Method All validated items of the variables in the conceptual framework were heavily influenced by the work of Lages and Fernandes (2005). A total of 165 questionnaires were collected from final year undergraduate students and Masters students, studying at the College of Nursing, in a University in the RoI. The majority of respondents were female (84%) and aged 22 – 30 (76%). One respondent was dropped from the study after data cleaning and as a result, data from 164 respondents was used to test the hypotheses. Hair et al. (2010) maintain that a minimum sample size for a model with five or fewer constructs is 100. This study uses Amos 23.0 to test the model and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) will be employed to assess the model fit and test the hypotheses respectively. Further, this study follows the bootstrapping method developed by Preacher and Hayes (2008) to test the mediating role of Emotional Values. University and that of the College of Nursing in terms of values. Specifically, the questions posed to students will provide an understanding on how they view the University’s identity compared to that of the College of Nursing. This will also help us to understand how successful the university has been in implementing its corporate branding initiatives and whether or not the corporate brand values align with that of the School of Nursing. In other words, do College staff perform in a way that the University (identity) and the students (image) expect? More specifically, do the values of the University, and that of the College of Nursing align with those of the students or are they viewed as separate entities with different perceptions as a result? Therefore is there a gap between the communicated corporate HEI brand identity and understood image? Further, can any relationship be identified between the corporate brand identity and emotional and functional values? Specifically, we are interested to see if emotional values mediate a positive relationship between corporate brand identity and functional values. In addition, does this suggest a sub-culture (sub-brand) within the corporate brand? If this is the case is it possible that different specialisms may provide the very source of differentiation being sought by universities across the globe? It is proposed to develop and test a framework that can be applied to HE and other organisations where there may be different departments with different sub-cultures operating in different environments. HE institutions will be able to use the proposed framework as a mechanism to understand the interplay, relationships and identity-image of the corporate brand and sub- brands. This in turn will enable HEI’s to respond to findings and develop-refine HE branding strategies for future development to shape, direction, values, vision etc. and highlight the most appropriate brand architecture to develop. The framework will also offer corporate brands within and beyond the HE context on how to evaluate their corporate brand and ascertain whether a house of brands or branded house approach is suitable for long term development. Conclusion It is proposed that research will add to the limited studies in HE and corporate branding both in terms of context and furthering the concept of corporate brand identity and, in particular brand architecture where HE literature is virtually non-existent. This study will also contribute to educational branding theory through demonstrating an understanding of those values that are most important to students therefore advancing understanding the development of global ‘educational brands’. Future comparative studies could be conducted to assess the transfer potential of the proposed framework to national and international settings and make adaptations if required. This research forms part of a larger study and qualitative data has been collected from employees in the College of Nursing which would also support these findings. If time allows findings from this would also be presented at the conference.

Value creation is essential for successfully operating a firm and becomes a critical issue for realizing cross-firm competition and industrial performance distinctions. Tourism scholars have viewed tourism value-chain (TVC) as a useful tool to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of performance through controlling the impact factors in tourism products and services. However, few extant studies focus on the works of performance measurement in the tourism industry. This study applies Yilmaz and Bititci’s (2006 a, b) concept to develop novel performance measurement and value creation indicators for industrial tourism and customers through a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The QCA approach considers asymmetric relationships—reporting conditions that are sufficient or necessary to cause an outcome condition. QCA allows exploring the causal-effect relationship between the variables. In-depth interview with five senior managers and five customers were conducted. The QCA results showed that industrial tourism and customer performance indicators have complex links with value creation. The main theoretical contributions of this study extends through four stages of TVC on both manufacturing and industrial tourism, developing causal-effect connections of industrial tourism, and customer performance on value creation. The study describes how proprietors and service providers promoted brand identification and firm’s reputation for achieving industrial tourism value. The findings beneficially provide practical implications for proprietors and customers for applying performance indicators once aiming to develop an appropriate marketing strategy and create industrial tourism and customer values.

This presentation introduces a methodological framework that analyzes a model of destination image formation (Baloglu & McCleary 1999; Beerli & Martin 2004). Specifically, the main aims of this study are to investigate what type of stimulus factors (information sources) are connected to the formation of destination image, and to explore if there is a connection between their strength of willingness to visit a destination and their patterns to associate with the destination. The study employs an advanced nonparametric Bayesian relational model (Glückstad, Herlau, Schmidt, Rzepka, Araki and Mørup 2013; Mørup, Glückstad, Herlau & Schmidt, 2014) for a two-steps analysis . The first step attempts to segment consumers according to patterns of attributes consumers associate with three arbitrary selected destinations. The second step statistically analyzes latent structural patterns per segment by contrasting two independent datasets, one consisting of information sources and members of a segment and another consisting of destination attributes and the members of the segment. The results of two-steps analysis demonstrated that patterns of attributes respondents associate with the three selected destinations differ across individuals and the applied method enabled to segment respondents according to the differences, and consumers’ associations, their willingness to visit the destinations and types of information sources they have accessed to learn about the destinations are connected to each other.

Using social network analysis, the current study examines the image of a unique festival in a well-established tourist destination on the East coast of the United State of America, the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina. Social Network Analysis (SNA) emphasizes the importance of constructing interconnectedness among concepts and knowledge networks in respondents’ minds (Hanneman & Riddle, 2011; Scott & Carrington, 2011). The technique visualizes complicated perception of tourists in a most simple but scientific way. Using concept maps and degree centralities derived from social network analysis as well as dendrograms, this study provides insights on wine and food festival in Myrtle Beach Area. Together with cluster analysis, the SNA suggests unique contributions to the understanding of tourist behaviour in tourism destination research.

Customers’ cognitive and affective responses evoked during shopping are closely linked to their attitude toward a brand (Kim, Park, Lee & Choi, 2016). Furthermore, personal traits have been known as important moderators. Studies on the antecedents of customer attitude have focused on the main effects of specific predictors and are yet to examine the combined effect of cognitive and affective responses during shopping and personal traits (Fiore & Kim, 2007). Using complexity theory, this study intends to fill this gap in the research, particularly in the luxury fashion retail context. Employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study offers 6 combination patterns of cognitive responses, affective responses, and personal traits leading to positive brand attitude. The results reveals three major findings. First, to shape a customer’s positive attitude toward a luxury brand, managing cognitive responses is more important than managing affective responses. Second, results show that avoiding negative feelings is more important than evoking positive feelings. Third, the combinations that lead to positive attitudes differ by the level of brand familiarity. This study contributes to the S-O-R literature by demonstrating the intertwined relationship between components of the organism (O) (i.e., cognition and emotion). The identified configurations can help luxury retail managers recognize patterns of influential factors on customer attitudes and better design retail experiences.

Marketing and information systems research has a long history of studying the customer’s acceptance and adoption process of new technologies (Venkatesh et al., 2003). These studies are often motivated by the potential of new technologies such as smart home systems to improve our everyday life. To benefit from these technologies, individuals have to accept them in the first place. To better understand the acceptance process, scholars regularly employ various theories in their studies such as technology acceptance model (Davis, 1989), innovation diffusion theory (Rogers 2003), and perceived risk theory (Featherman and Pavlou, 2003). Although each of these theories provides valuable insights, only recently scholars started combining them in larger framework and examining their interrelationships. These studies argue that each theory has the potential to make a unique contribution to understanding of technology acceptance, but the combination of theories leads to novel insights. The purpose of this study is the development of a comprehensive adoption model combining constructs from various theories and testing these theories against each other to provide new insights. The study develops this model in a smart home applications context which is a complex technological system. The study is based on an online survey consisting of 409 participants; the data is analyzed using structural equation modelling.

Previous studies showed that poor weather conditions lead to increased online browsing behavior, which again enhances the likelihood for consumers to see an online advertisement (Ghose & Todri, 2016; Weißmüller et al., 2017). The authors assume that these changes in media consumption behavior effect not only one but many advertising channel simultaneously. Therefore, the authors investigate in this study how weather influences the effectiveness of several advertising channels at the same time. Specifically, they use field data over two years from an online streaming provider to capture advertising-spending, and -reach, as well as subscriptions. Furthermore, weather data from different weather stations across Germany are matched with customer data. The authors analyze five different advertising channels: television, email, affiliate, online display and search engine. By applying a count regression, preliminary empirical evidence suggests that weather-induced changes in media consumption leverages advertising effectiveness.

Recently, flipped learning has become prevalent as a new education model in higher education. Flipped learning (FL) refers to switching and restructuring classwork and homework content, i.e., instructional multimedia concepts at home and enrichment and reinforcement in class. Flipped or inverted classes focus on activities and participation during the class time of students, who should previously watch the video materials. However, FL is different from just watching videos before classes. Video clips are not supplementary class material or even all the lectures. FL is an innovative way to change passive learners to active learners as they lead the classes and utilize teachers for guidance. The purpose of the study is to investigate how technology-driven FL works for marketing courses at the college level. In class, students are supposed to do projects as a member of a group and they also lead the class with what they have learned from video clips they watched before coming to class. FL offers student centered learning, where students can control the learning pace and can get benefits from peer learning in marketing courses.

In this research, we investigate the dynamics of one market cycle of Indian art through its various phases of development from early growth to peak and then through a decline. Using the entire online market data for Modern Indian art, we examine how the internal dynamics of the price formation process during auctions changed during the course of this market’s evolution. Our results show that the structure of the price formation process varies systematically over the course of the cycle and the impact of the brand (artist), the product (painting), market information (pre-auction estimates), demand (competition), and consumer (bidder) characteristics changed across the stages of market evolution. Specifically, the revenue, price per square inch, and the number of lots sold (items) from established artists closely followed the overall trend in the market. On the other hand, the number of lots and revenue from emerging artists had a minimal increase during the growth phase of the market. However, these artists maintained their value even when the market was declining. Furthermore, 80% of the lots by established artists beat the preauction estimates during the growth period, compared to only 40% for emerging artists. In contrast, during the decline stage, more lots from emerging artists (8%) beat the preauction estimates than lots from established artists (2%). We also find that bidders entered the auction much earlier during the growth phase of the market than during the maturity and decline stages. These findings have implications for multiple stakeholders in the online art auction market including, sellers, buyers, artists, and auction houses.