This study addresses the scarcity of research examining technology’s impact on learners of English as a foreign language in English for specific purposes (ESP) courses within English-medium instruction (EMI) programs. Focusing on a business communication course using a social question-answering platform, this study explores the interplay among English proficiency, motivational orientations, and online engagement. Surveying 126 university students via a mixed-method approach, this research identifies distinct motivational orientations (intrinsic, extrinsic, and self-efficacy) existing during class activities, influenced by proficiency levels, with notable differences in online participation between beginner and advanced learners. The findings suggest that while online activities enhance peer interaction and teacher feedback, they may trigger anxiety in beginners, potentially diminishing motivation and self-efficacy. These results emphasize the need to tailor technology integration to proficiency levels and motivational orientations in ESP/EMI settings. Practical recommendations are offered for educators aiming to implement effective online activities and provide targeted support, particularly for beginner learners, thereby bolstering their motivation and selfefficacy.

Social media have emerged as one of the most important tools for firms to engage customers (e.g., Chandrasekaran et al., 2022; Cheng & Edwards, 2015; Lee et al., 2018; Wedel & Kannan, 2016). Within the tourism industry, scholars have investigated the role of social media communication in various contexts, such as online travel information search (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010), sharing travel experiences (So et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2022) and establishing positive customer relationships (Jamshidi et al., 2021). Insights into which social media content makes for generating positive engagement are, however, still largely based on marketers’ intuitions or focusing on message factors of social media posts such as message appeals (e.g., Wang & Lehto, 2020). It also often neglects the importance of the visual component of social media posts, and only a few research have investigated the effects of the image in social media on the travel industry (e.g., Fusté-Forné, 2022). The objective of this research is, therefore, to understand how textual features and image features generate user engagement in social media utilizing cutting-edge transfer learning techniques and to propose how these features should be customized to maximize user engagement for online travel shopping companies. We collect and analyze more than 10,000 Instagram posts from three online travel shopping companies, including Expedia, Priceline, and Kayak. The results from transfer learning algorithms utilizing 24 features, such as the number of people in the image, emotions expressed in the people in the image, hue, and RGB value, successfully predict the level of engagement measured by the number of likes and comments.

This research aims to assess the current status of online trade relations between Kuwait and Portugal. To do so, we examine how firm managers from Portugal and Kuwait use online platforms to engage customers to enhance firm performance. A set of existing constructs was chosen (Online Experience, Customer Inspiration, Online Customer Engagement, Firm Performance, National Culture), which were included in a proposed model of structural equations, in order to assess the contribution of Online Experience and Customer inspiration to the current status of online trade relations (through Online Customer Engagement), and how these can be improved to the further development of e-commerce between the two countries.

An increasing number of Internet users use hotel booking websites and online travel agencies to arrange trips and search for information related to their travels. This study investigates the impact of customer engagement on user perceptions of the quality and value of an online hotel-booking website, as well as whether such perceptions further influence user trust in online websites (eTrust) and result in behavioral intention of eLoyalty. The empirical results of structural equation modeling analysis of 400 questionnaire results collected in Taiwan reveal that customer engagement has a positive impact on perceived website quality (i.e., usability, ease of use, entertainment, and complementarity), which in turn influences perceived value. The results do not show a direct impact from customer engagement on perceived value. Finally, the results verify that eTrust mediates the relationship between consumers’ perceived website quality and behavioral intention of eLoyalty toward an online hotel-booking website; eTrust also mediates the relationship between consumers’ perceived value and behavioral intention of eLoyalty toward an online hotel-booking website. The findings provide both academic researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of customer engagement and facilitate development of more effective customer engagement strategies for online booking platforms.

Introduction Brand community influences consumer behavior due to the growing impact of social media in both virtual environment and in real life. Social networks for the brand - it's an opportunity to simply, accessible and round the clock talk about all the important events of its audience within an online brand community. The subject of our research is based on the type of user and the motivations for participating in the online brand community. We investigate how the brand relationship quality and online brand community engagement are related and what consumer motives influence the online brand community engagement. This study represents how brands and consumers make interactions in a virtual environment. Theoretical Development Past research demonstrates that members of brand communities are motivated to join or participate in life of brand communities for various reasons. Some scholars distinguish motives, values, drivers, stimulating the attention, activity, relationship with the online brand community or brand commitment and engagement as well. They include: information or knowledge-seeking motives, entertainment, remuneration, personal identity, integration, social interaction, sense of belonging, level of communication, self-discovery and hedonic benefits (Muntinga, Moorman, & Smit, 2011; Dholakia & Bagozzi, 2004; Yen, Hsu & Huang, 2011; Wang, Fesenmaier, 2004). The benefits gained by consumers through engaging in an OBC are obvious, which were discussed in prior studies (Yen, Hsu & Huang, 2011) such as entertainment, gratification, social – appreciation or learning (Wang, Fesenmaier, 2004). But accordingly to Tseng, Huang & Setiawan (2017) the main initial reasons why people join the online brand community are usually pragmatic, for example, they seek information or entertainment. Tseng, Huang & Setiawan (2017) focus on two pragmatic motives, knowledge- and entertainment seeking motives, that served as the members‟ initial drives to participate in online brand communities. They categorized motivations into pragmatic (functional-related) and symbolic (social-related) motives. In this case, not all of the motives are on the same level. Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh (2004) demonstrated that the crucial factor that influence on the interaction of consumers with online brand communities is that consumers are more actively involved in online communities when there are economic incentives (discounts, actions, competitions). Zhou, Zhang et al. (2012) came to a similar conclusion, that companies should provide material assistance and also deliver care and rewards to the brand community as well. Communication can relate to the necessity to receive feedback from the brand on the issues of consumer‟s interest as well as communication with community members, which may be caused by motives such as social – appreciation, creating a status or self-esteem status, sharing personal experience, self-confidence or establishing relationships (Dholakia, Bagozzi, and Pearo 2004). For brands, on the one hand, it is important to understand the motives of the community members, and on the other, to help them achieve their goals. Directly concerned the online brand community allows not only to increase brand awareness, establish brand identity to the consumer's perception, but also promotes the penetration of the brand's personality into the consumer's lifestyle. That is why such serious importance should be paid to the content (filling) of the brand pages: external events, news, which can be popular in the internet environment, or simply congratulates subscribers on holidays (Schau, Muñiz, & Arnould, 2009). Great attention is paid to the diversity of content in the brand communities of well-known cosmetic brands: video lessons, make-up instructions, contests for every new product launch, interesting facts about the brand, beauty memories for instance. In the brand communities of sports goods the content of expert materials about sports and their benefits is used, about the nuances of performing certain exercises, about proper nutrition, about new scientific discoveries concerning sports and health, and even food recipes. But qualitative content is not a frequent phenomenon, as mass borrowings of other people's materials and ideas are most often observed. If the content is really useful and qualitative, then the community will gain tremendous trust from subscribers or active members (Habibi et al., 2014). Motivational content is important for brand promotion as well. For example, motivation is often not enough for people to start a healthy lifestyle. And due to the lack of motivation many consumers throw begun half-way. If the company gives selfconfidence to the community members, then it will become a loyal friend to them and will be able to gain trust, create an emotional connection with them. This variety of content in one account is useful for different categories of subscribers. Therefore it is worth emphasizing that for communities it is important UGC (user generated content). According to Muntinga et al. (2011) the term „user-generated content‟ (UGC) is used for the content produced and uploaded by consumers rather than companies. Schau, Muñiz, & Arnould (2009) demonstrate that companies can encourage the interaction of practices to foster greater customer engagement with the brand in the process of value co-creation. Choi, Ko and Kim (2016) emphasized that value cocreation means that customer emotional, cognitive, and behavioral experiences are the basis of the value, impressions, recognition, and internalization they accord to the brand. Some people like to participate in the creation of content, give some recommendations. Accordinly to Schau, Muñiz, & Arnould (2009) if the firms give consumers the opportunity to construct brand communities and the freedom to modify their products, they will be ready to take the initiative. Different motives, values, brand trust, brand loyalty, brand identification and brand community identification are related. Martínez-López, Anaya, & Molinillo (2017) explain in their study, that members‟ OBC engagement and participation based on their relationships with other members and with the community sponsor (companies/brands). But there are points of view that determine that the relationship between motives and community commitment can be both direct and indirect. Bagozzi & Dholakia (2004), Zhou & Zhang et al. (2012) support the positive influence of brand community identification on brand identification and attachment. Previous studies find that members‟ commitment to a brand community leads to their commitment to the brand (Kim, Choi, Qualls, & Han, 2008) and consequently consumers tend to purchase the same brand consistently (Algesheimer et al., 2005). Positive aspects of the community's influence will lead to positive behavioral intentions, such as consumer recommendations for joining this community to friends and acquaintances (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh, 2004). Therefore electronic positive word-of-mouth‟(eWOM) on social media is significant tool for online consumer-to-consumer interactions both about brands (Muntinga et al., 2011) and about brand communities (Pop & Woratschek, 2017): consumers can generate and spread brand related information to their friends, peers, and others without constraints (Kim & Ko, 2012). The best channel for promotion at any level is a positive experience that a person receives from the use of products, and the desire to share it arises as a consequence. Cooperation with opinion leaders has recently become a priority for many brands. In addition, collaboration with different bloggers allows to establish contact with a wider audience, because in the last few years it is the authors of popular blogs that shape the tastes and preferences of the public. Leaders of opinion help shape the brand's image in the eyes of the widest audience of consumers and, as a result, influence sales. Quite often, when bloggers become brand ambassadors, they take part in advertising campaigns. Research Design In our study we attempt to determine the influence of the type of consumer (innovators, opinion leaders, status seekers, etc.), the motives for participating in the online brand community (entertainment, information search, reward, hedonistic motives, self-expression) on online brand community engagement (interaction), positive WOM online brand community. Therefore, this study particularly addresses the following research questions: 1. What consumer motivations influence the online brand community engagement and the positive WOM online brand community? 2. Does the brand identity influence the online brand community engagement (interaction) and the positive WOM online brand community? 3. What factors influence the promotion activity of brand and online brand community? Our study suggests that consumer motivations (social interaction, knowledge seeking, hedonic motives) and type of consumers (innovators, opinion leaders, status seekers) positive influence on the online brand community engagement and WOM brand community. Accordingly, we have developed the following hypothesis: H1: Hedonic consumer motives influence online brand community engagement positively. Н2: Knowledge seeking consumer motives influence online brand community engagement positively. Н3: Creation UGC consumer motives influence online brand community engagement positively. H4: Opinion leaders influence brand relationship quality positively. H5: Innovativeness (consumer innovators) influence brand relationship quality positively. H6: Brand relationship quality influences e-WOM online brand community positively. Today in Russia, social networks reach 70% of the population (about 87 million people), and many users are active on multiple sites (http://mandmglobal.com/digital-marketing-trends-in-russia-social-networks). 87% of Internet users use social networks, including 51% have accounts in several online communities. Studies by Nielsen show that people increasingly buy online or choose goods and things on social networks, and then buy them offline. Recently most Russian and international fashion, cosmetics, clothing companies have began to use social media actively as a channel of communication with end customers. Data collection took place between March and December 2017. We developed two online questionnaires, using www.esurveycreator.com and conducted research on two topics – interaction with cosmetic and sportswear brand-communities. The popularity of a healthy lifestyle is constantly gaining momentum, and at the same time the number of new sports brands is growing. The survey questionnaires were originally designed in English then translated into Russian using a translation/ backtranslation procedure. All of the constructs used in this study were adapted or modified from extant research and multiple item statements were measured by seven-point Likert type scale. Result and Conclusion A total of 444 respondents from Russia were included in this study: 216 respondents interacted with cosmetic online brand-communities and 228 respondents from sportswear brand-communities. The survey involved young people, as the most active part of social networks users. We found that respondents are mainly subscribed to the community brand in the networks: VK (Vkontakte) and Instagram. Less popular are Facebook and Twitter. Russian social network Vkontakte has the largest audience with a monthly user-base of 82-90 million monthly users (it is most popular with younger users (ages 18-34)), then it is followed by OK, Instagram (about 30-17 mil) and Facebook (21 mil), (http://mandmglobal.com/digital-marketing-trends-in-russia-social-networks). Basically, Instagram is interesting for the audience at the age of 18-24 (36.6%) and 25-34 (34.22%). Older social media users generally prefer the social media site OK (originally Odnoklassniki – “classmates”). OK.ru has over 31.5 million viewers a month, with the majority (69%) being women. (https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-8-russian-social-networks- makes-great). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), using AMOS 19.0, was first employed to assess the properties of the constructs. Relevant loadings were significant, and construct reliability values ranged from 0.6 to 0.885. Discriminant validity relies on average variance extracted (all AVEs are at level of 0,5-0,7) and it was supported. The Structural Equation Modelling was conducted for examining the model (fig. 1). Overall model fit indices are satisfactory: RMSEA is = 0.06 (according to Hu & Bentler (1999)), x2/df = 2,9 (Chi-Square=3373, df=1153), CFI =0.87, IFI = 0.819, P-value<0.001. Thus, according to the results of the research, not all hypotheses have been confirmed. We find that hedonic consumer motives, creation UGC consumer motives influence on the online brand community engagement (table 1). Social interaction benefits have significant impact on creation UGC consumer motives (ß=0.96, t=16.86, p<0.001). Knowledge seeking motives has negative influence on the Online brand community engagement (ß= - 0.96, t=-5.086, p<0.001). Finally, our findings reveal that, brand relationship quality has no significant impact on WOM Online Brand Community (ß=0.192, t=3.81, p<0.001), it is not related to the Online Brand Community Engagement. Construct of brand loyalty was completely excluded from the model due to poor findings. Online communities can follow distinctive norms of interaction, contain rituals or general agreements (Jang H., Olfman L., Ko I., Koh J., Kim K., 2008). Accordingly, our further research should include research on the influence of online brand community atmosphere (norms, rituals, traditions) on the intentions to continue to be a member of the community. In addition, we would like to pay more attention to the impact of content types on the intentions of the participants.

We aim to determine the level of Image Interactivity Technology which can create an optimal engagement on the online consumer’s experience while surfing on hotel websites. Our model includes three personal traits as moderating variables and will be tested through a mixed approach (i.e. experiment, interview and questionnaire).

As Internet use has increased, customers have become more active at sharing their travel opinions through social media regarding their experiences with service organizations. Social media has become a ubiquitous tool that enables customers to share their travel experiences. In particular, members of Generation Y are more likely to be active on social media and more likely to share their experiences online. Understanding Generation Y’s online customer engagement preferences on different social media platforms may help to enhance brand loyalty. Customer engagement (CE) has been attracting the attention of both practitioners and academics because it may help to enhance both brand loyalty and purchase decisions. Social media platforms have become a significant communication tool for both customers and service providers, creating an opportunity to engage with customers. Interacting with active customers on the right social media platform can increase direct bookings, building brand loyalty. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine Generation Y’s brand loyalty preferences through its members’ engagement with social media. The results of this research will expand understanding of Generation Y customers’ online engagement through social media. This research may also suggest how hotels are able to utilize social media platforms in order to encourage online engagement with Generation Y by building brand loyalty.

As information technology advanced, customers’ service consumption process heavily shifted to the online environment, particularly social media and mobile. A new topic, customer engagement, has emerged along with the fast advancement of social media. Customer engagement refers to a type of customer behavior that is beyond purchase such as spreading word-of-mouth, providing recommendations to family and friends, interacting with fellow customers, and writing online reviews (Bijmolt et al., 2010; Verhoef, Reinartz, & Krafft, 2010). This study introduces the Flow theory, which is especially important to understand consumers’ online experiences, with the intention to shed light on how to better engage consumers in the hospitality industry (Bilgihan, Okumus, Nusair, & Bujisic, 2014; Hoffman & Novak, 2009). The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of flow and further investigate its influence on positive attitude and continuance intention among restaurant social media users. This study specifically examines restaurant customers who use social media through their smart phones in searching information and sharing experiences with others. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and a Structure equational modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Study results support the hypotheses, indicating the importance of creating flow to increase customer engagement. Academically, this study contributes to the limited body of literature on flow experience and customer engagement in the hospitality context. Additionally, it provides practical insights for hospitality marketers on how to gain competitive advantages by strategically managing customer engagement on social media marketing through flow.

This study aims at identifying a novel framework that further explains the relationship between brands and customers in the online context at different touchpoints (e.g. social media, website) of the customer journey. In pursuing this goal, authors expect online brand experience as the main trigger in determining specific customer brand engagement (CBE) behaviours.

New communication challenges for companies that use social media are: 1) the knowledge and control of the degree of alignment between communicated and perceived brand personality in order to measure the effectiveness of competitive positioning, and 2) the measurement of engagement among consumers who share comments about brands in online communities. Our research proposes research tools that can help fashion companies meet these challenges. In particular, we present an innovative methodological approach that combines netnography and text-mining to extract and analyze data from online communities of fashion brands.

“Learner engagement” in higher educ ation is a challenging goal, even more so as we consider designing for, and supp orting, lifelong learners online. Learning organizations, from traditional to cybersystems, are tempted to look for universal plans and strategies that promise specific and guaranteed outcomes for students. While there are some universal strategies worth considering that support online learner engagement, we must also familiarize our selves with diverse sociocultural contexts of lifelong learning and about the effect of “engagement” as an explicit conceptual framework for developing online learning environments. As we work to further devel op online learner engagement, we must also consider the impact of interactions between and among instructional designers, subject matter experts, instructors, learners, the broader community, and the learning institution. These interactions in culturally -based, dynamic communities of learning and practice shift instructional design away from the purely predictable towards engaged learning. In this discussion paper, originally pre sented as a conference paper for the e-Lea rning Asia Conference 2009, we contrast institutional and sociocultural (global) responses to lifelong learning in the online environment, share Canadian approaches to engaged learning and instructional design, and reflect upon key questions about the development of engaged learning opport unities for online learners.