In pursuit of competitiveness, brands are critical as they represent valuable intangible assets that contribute to creating and sustaining competitive advantages. The emerging idea of brand competitiveness, defined as a brand’s outperformance of competing brands, represents a promising solution to the problem that existing branding constructs fail to incorporate competition as a relative concept. This article addresses three gaps in the current literature on brand competitiveness. It discusses conceptualizations of the construct, arguing for a customer-based perspective and introducing customer-based brand competitiveness (CBBC). It then explores the construct’s nomological network and suggests CBBC as a mediator of the strategic orientations–performance relationship, thus proposing customer-related and firm-related performance as consequences and several strategic orientations as antecedents. It finally reports on the development of a new measurement scale for brand competitiveness.

The current paper aims to understand green behavior from the perspective of Gen Z, the emerging consumers of a new tech-savvy world, driven by social media. We offer a novel definition of green behavior via the lens of consumer activism in the context of social media, the basis for purchase decision-making by Gen Z. Undertaking a review of extant literature, we also identify a conceptual model for green behavior as a form of consumer activism in social media. We identify perceived environmental transgression as a precursor to green behavior. We also study the less-studied moderators of green stigma and green skepticism, which are important both in the context of Gen Z as well as social media.

NFTs are touted as revolutionary to market and monetize digital assets. However, critics have questioned NFT value, labeling it as fraudulent. Despite mixed reviews, various firms are leveraging NFTs as a value proposition for customers. In this study, using service-dominant (S-D) logic, we explore how NFTs can help firms in value co-creation and service exchange. We propose and test a conceptual framework using a multi-method approach -1) we investigate NFTs popularity using historical news articles spanning ten years, 2) we use a case study to examine business NFT use in value co-creation and service exchange, subsequently, proposing a conceptual framework illustrating such value exchange, 3) we test our conceptual framework by analyzing data from multiple sources, including surveys, online forums, social media, and transactions. Results from our study, provide business valuable insight into using NFTs as value co-creation and service exchange tool.

This study will explore the paradoxical tension influencer face when promoting sustainable luxury leisure activities for sponsoring brands. Social media influencers play a pivotal role in this advocacy as luxury consumers are inspired to associate themselves with sophisticated social values, superior social status, or differentiate themselves from others with lower esteem. However, the commodification of their influence to stimulate consumption amongst their audience and followers creates paradoxical tensions between their brand performance, economic incentives, and ethical socio-ecological outcomes. Despite numerous studies have been undertaken to examine the role of influencers in sustainable luxury tourism, there is still a need for understanding of how influencers negotiate the paradoxical tensions arising from (a) sustainability and luxury; (b) instrumental goals and personal brand identity. Data sources for this study include influencer interviews and social media contents created by the influencers, such as video, blog posts and tweets.

People spent around 90% of smartphone usage time on mobile applications (apps). In response to these opportunities, companies have developed branded apps to interact with consumers and facilitate loyalty. However, companies have hard time retaining consumers to their own brand due to the fierce competition in the app market. As such, it is imperative to unveil factors driving continuance intention of branded apps. This is one of a key research themes in a recent literature review of marketing research on mobile apps. Most of prior studies have adopted the utilitarian perspective where perceived usefulness and ease of use are identified as the key drivers. However, the fit perspective has received limited attention. It has gained increasing importance as recent studies have emphasized the role of person-app fit and person-brand fit in driving consumers’ purchase decision performance and as consumers’ lives are highly embedded into branded apps. This study aims to investigate continuance intention of branded apps from the fit perspective. This research selected the target branded apps in Taiwan based on prior studies. A market research firm was contracted to collect data randomly on various social media sites, and its membership database by using online questionnaires. 198 usable questionnaires were obtained. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

An increasing number of companies are using service robots, such as physical robots and virtual chatbots, to interact with their customers. Service robots are autonomous agents with the purpose of providing services to customers by performing a variety of physical and nonphysical tasks (Joerling et al., 2019). Conceptual work has suggested that social robots will increasingly be used in the front line of service encounters (Gonzalez-Jimenez, 2018; Van Doorn et al., 2017). Real examples of the inclusion of these robots in retail settings already exist. For instance, some retailers use Softbank´s robot Pepper to greet and inform customers. Social robots such as Pepper can use their sensors and cameras to interpret customer reactions and adapt accordingly. Moreover, the robot can even make product recommendations based on the assessed customer´s mood, age, gender and, if available, purchase history (McKenna, 2018). Not surprisingly, there is a vast market potential associated with these robots, which is expected to grow to 87 billion by 2025 (BCG, 2017).

Drawing from the uses and gratification theory (UGT), the study intends to investigate audiences’ motivation to watch Livestream and its influence on subscription and donation. The roles of viewers’ parasocial relationships and identification with live streamers were also examined. The results also indicate the presence of a mediation effect.

Luxury, which can be defined as 'high standard goods’ provide symbolic, emotional values based on scarcity and exceptional quality. In reference to previous studies, luxury fashion product is classified differently from other general products because of their differentiated quality, design, and premium price. There are a few stereotypes about people who wear luxury fashion products which are known as high social status, materialism, fashion involvement, and sustainability. As these various perceptions of luxury fashion consumption are established among people, this study intends to examine how these perceptions are formed when people wear luxury fashion products from an observer’s perspective and explore the effects of perceptions on emotions, and evaluations regarding the wearer. Lastly, within the formation of perception, emotion, and evaluation of luxury fashion wearers, this study aims to examine the differences between the real world and the metaverse.

Corporate purpose is postulated across industries as a strategic success driver. In the context of a literature analysis, this study works out whether the concept of purpose is anchored in well-known concepts such as mission and vision. An empirical study will examine the assessment of purpose in relevant stakeholder groups.

The rapid spread of Artificial Intelligence through various connected intelligent objects (wearables, robots) profoundly changes how service is delivered and experienced by the customers (Bolton et al., 2018; Larivière et al., 2017). Robotics, in combination with rapidly improving technologies, has brought prospects for a wide array of innovations that have the potential to transform service industries radically. Service robots provide businesses with new opportunities to reorganize their frontline and serve their customers in new and innovative ways. Advanced technological innovations that become better, smaller, and smarter are virtually renovating the servicescape (Wirtz & Zeithaml, 2018). Transformation in the Healthcare industry is happening the world over. The International Federation of Robots predicts an ever-increasing demand for healthcare robots, estimated at 9.1 billion USD market in coming year. RoboDocs (Robots helping Doctors) can help standardize the common surgical procedures and catalyze a paradigm shift in the healthcare sector. RoboDocs are the linchpin to greater efficiency, more value, and reducing surgical variability (Muaddi et al., 2021, Huang & Rust, 2018).

By using signaling theory, we shed light on how international entrepreneurial ventures co-brand with international players by leveraging multichannel approaches involving social media platforms. The contribution to signaling theory within international marketing literature is multi-fold.

Smart technologies are critical for businesses to develop these dynamic connections, as technologies enable them to network with others and exchange resources seamlessly. This fact makes it possible to modify the tasks performed by employees of tourism organizations that are in contact with consumers/tourists.

The unbounded nature of digital innovation requires innovating firms to be agile in the way they manage the processes, governance and outcomes in order to sense and seize the market directly and timely. This study adopts an inter-organizational approach and asks to what extent and in what way does organizational agility impact on innovation performance? This perspective underscores the interdependencies between collaborating partners, which creates a relationship regulating system of workflow to drive value creation in the process of innovation. While the literature has offered a broad conceptual argument for organizational agility in the context of digital innovation, the mechanisms through which value is transformed in the innovation process is still unclear. We contend that an agile innovation process stands on four main cornerstones: (1) joint strategic planning, (2) joint problem solving, (3) joint improvisation and (4) community (market) sensing. The empirical research is set in the video game industry, which is in a largely digitalized and borderless business environment. The data was collected through an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The sampling frame is based on a Swedish trade association database. Usable sample is 113. We performed structural equation modelling to test the hypothesized model, including main and moderation effects, using Mplus. The findings show that while only improvisation has a significantly positive effect on innovation performance, the role of strategic planning and problem solving between two collaborating partners remains unclear. For example, strategic planning has shown to be a negative influence in our empirical research. Problem solving has no effect on innovation performance, but it interacts with community sensing and subsequently facilitates innovation outcome. This highlights the importance of community sensing, which could offer rich, crucial knowledge and resources for problem solving that proves to be effective. The results provide further theoretical arguments for understanding organizational agility and digital innovation, but also raise further questions for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore underlying antecedents for inconspicuous luxury motivations by developing and testing a conceptual model under the self-concept mechanism with the influence of cultural capital. A questionnaire-based survey is used to collect data, and structural equation modeling is applied to analyze the data. Although growing interests in academia focus on the relationship between cultural capital and inconspicuous luxury, quantitative studies are scant. This research contributes to the literature by empirically investigating the impact of cultural capital in the relationship within the construct of consumers’ self-concept and inconspicuous luxury motivations.

Despite a surging amount of research on value co-creation in the social media context, research on how value co-creation and value co-destruction coexist from a system perspective remains scarce. This conceptual research aims to understand how social media allows for value to be co-created and/or co-destroyed in interconnected social networks. The study takes a first step toward integrating the two value processes in the social media context and opens up new research possibilities. By looking at value co-creation, we differentiate between values that are created from both firm and customer sides and show the value can be destructed if without cautions. From a managerial standpoint, the proposed framework could facilitate managers to build a more holistic view of creating social media value through collaboration with their social media users.

본 연구는 아시아의 국제관계가 변화하는 맥락에서 "아시아 나토"의 실 행 가능성과 잠재적 영향을 검토한다. 아시아 버전 나토의 가능성을 분 석하기 위해 세 가지 목표를 추구한다: (1) 나토의 성격을 조사하고 아시 아에서의 잠재적 적용을 검토한다, (2) 세력균형이론과 위협균형이론의 관점에서 나토의 과거 실패를 검토한다, (3) 정치와 군사적 도전을 고려 한 아시아 나토의 실행 가능성을 평가한다. 이 연구는 미국과 일본을 중 심으로 아시아 나토에 대한 관심이 증가한 지정학적 변화를 탐구한다. 현재 미중 균형과 위협 사이의 균형은 양자 및 삼자 동맹을 설정하는 데 이르렀지만 아시아 나토의 가능성은 여전히 쉽지 않다. 그러나 중국이 지역 패권 추구로 인한 압도적인 외부 위협을 초래하면, 아세안 국가들 은 집단 안보 체제에 가입할 수 있다. 본 논문은 특히 이러한 상황에서 한국이 직면할 수 있는 문제점에 대해서도 지적한다.

The aim of this study was to determine the contamination of mycotoxins and the concentration of preservatives and antioxidants in commercial pet food. 106 pet foods were purchased from online in Korea. Mycotoxin analysis were performed using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and preservatives and antioxidants were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The contamination of the mycotoxins in all samples was proved to comply with the Korea legislation with regards to animal feed, the analyses revealed presence of aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, zearalenone and fumonisins, with values below 1.6 ㎍/㎏, 12.1 ㎍/㎏, 478.5 ㎍/㎏ and 1873.5 ㎍/㎏, respectively. Furthermore, the simultaneous presences of different mycotoxins were observed in most of positive samples. The levels of dehydroacetic acid (DHA), sorbic acid (SA) and benzoic acid (BA) were, respectively, with values below 0.24 g/㎏, 4.82 g/㎏ and 6.35 g/㎏. The concentrations of butylated hydroxy anisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT) were demonstrated to be acceptable, with values below 0.04 g/㎏, and 0.02 g/㎏. This indicated the need for further investigation into the potential risk deriving from chronic exposure to low doses of mycotoxins. Additionally, a co-contamination of mycotoxins which interact in synergic manner are more concern. As DHA that not accepted was detected and very high levels of SA were identified in samples, an upper limit for preservatives in pet foods should be established in pet foods. BHA and BHT were detected within the recommended levels for antioxidant content, so these are considered as safe.

본 연구는 간호대학생의 공감 능력과 돌봄 효능감의 관계에서 간호전문직관의 매개효과를 파악 하고자 시도하였다. 연구대상자는 국내 K시와 E군에 소재한 대학의 간호학과에 재학 중인 간호대학생 175 명으로 자기기입식 온라인 설문조사를 통해 자료수집을 하였다. 수집된 자료는 SPSS 29.0을 이용하여 기술 통계와 t-test, ANOVA(사후분석 scheffe), Pearson correlation coefficient, 회귀분석을 하였으며 매개효과 검증을 위해 Sobel test를 하였다. 연구 결과, 간호대학생의 공감 능력과 간호전문직관, 돌봄 효능감은 유의 한 양의 상관관계를 보였으며 공감 능력과 돌봄 효능감의 관계에서 간호전문직관은 완전 매개효과를 나타 냈다. 이는 간호대학생의 돌봄 효능감을 높이기 위하여 공감 능력을 증진하는 것도 중요하지만, 간호전문 직관 향상을 위한 간호교육도 중요함을 시사한다.

본 연구는 대학에서 미래 일자리 지형변화에 대응하고 신기술분야의 주요 직무를 성공적으로 수행하기 위한 핵심 직무역량 도출을 국내 K대학의 사례를 통해 제시하는데 그 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 신기술분야 로 지능형드론 및 UAM 신기술분야를 선정하고 지역산업 및 K대학 역량 분석 기반으로 핵심직무역량 도출하고자 신기술분야 사례분석-신산업 분야 직무 역량 정의-산업체 전문가 의견 수렴(FGI)-대학 교원 인터뷰 및 설문조사-산업현장성 검증 단계로 연구를 진행하였다. 주요 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 신 기술분야의 문헌 및 자료분석을 통해 직무역량을 정의하고 산업 전문가 의견수렴을 통해 직무기초역량 11개, 직무기술역량 43개, 및 초직능적 기술역량 28개 후보군이 도출되었다. 둘째, 관련 대학 교원을 대상 으로 설문조사 결과, 총 7개의 직무기초역량, 9개의 직무기술역량, 8개의 초직능적 기술역량으로 직무역 량 모델을 구성하였다. 셋째, 도출된 직무역량을 토대로 지역 산업 현장 검증을 설문조사를 실시하였고 최종 선정을 위해 각 역량에 대한 Needs Weight를 산출하였다. 그 결과 직무기초역량으로 ‘직업적 윤리 의식, 창의적 사고, 혁신적 사고, 융합적사고, 미래지향적 사고’, 초직능적기술역량은 ‘문제인식 및 문제해 결력, 자기주도성, 탐구정신, 협동 및 기술협력, 의사소통’ , 직무기술역량은 ‘이동체 제어기술, 설계/제작/ 제어능력, 무선통신기술, 센서시스템 활용기술, ICT 기술이해 및 활용’ 등으로 규명되었다. 결과를 토대로 신기술분야의 핵심직무역량 도출을 위한 시사점과 연구의 한계점을 제시하였다.

본 논문은 예수회 선교사들이 16-18세기에 서양 원근법 관련 저서를 중국에 들여오게 된 과정과 맥락을 페어하렌의 『북당 도서관 목록』을 중심으로 고찰해 보았다. 『북당 도서관 목록』에는 예수회 선교 사들이 서양 서적을 매개로 중국의 황제나 사대부층과 대화하려는 접촉점을 마련하려 했던 역사와 노력이 반영되어 있다. 또한, 이 목록에 있는 원근법 저서의 저자와 내용을 살펴보면, 예수회 선교사들이 서양 의 예술 분야의 책뿐만 아니라, 광학, 수학, 천문학 분야의 최신 서적을 통해 중국 지식인들의 관심을 끌어서 하나님의 창조질서나 본성에 관심을 가지게 하려는 선교적 의도가 반영되어 있다. 한편 명말 청초의 중국 지식인층은 서양의 천문학이나 지리학, 수학, 기하학, 예술기법으 로서의 원근법에 커다란 관심을 가졌고, 원근법 책을 번역하는 작업에 도 관심을 가졌다. 물론 서양 선교사들이 중국 지식층에게 서양 학문을매개로 하나님을 알아가게 했던 노력은 의도한 만큼 큰 효과를 거두지는 못했다. 하지만 이러한 문서선교를 통해서 중국의 지식인 계층이 서양 의 학문과 기독교를 좀 더 주체적으로 번역하고 확산할 수 있는 기초작업 을 했다고 본다.