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Online Brand Communities as A Services Marketing Channel: An Exploratory Study of Apple Support Community Using a Machine Learning Approach
No full textOnline brand communities are a vital services marketing channel and relationship marketing tool. Community members share a common interest and actively engage in community activities, such as content engagement, product, experiences and ideas sharing. These online brand communities offer a range of benefits, including enhanced customer service, incentives for active members, and strengthened brand loyalty. We particularly focus on customer service aspect of online brand communities and investigate how membership types and product categories affect the resolution rate of consumer problems. Using a machine learning approach, we explore dynamic interactions among members within the Apple Support Community over a time span of one year from 2023 to 2024. We investigate the contribution from varying membership types, examine variation in consumer experiences across different product categories and discuss the implications for marketers of consumer service strategies
The Effects of Academic, Extracurricular, and Co-Curricular Engagement on Undergraduate Employability and Compensation
No full textEmployers worldwide are increasingly seeking undergraduates who combine strong academic performance with professional competencies developed through extracurricular and co-curricular activities. This empirical investigation surveyed 651 U.S. and multinational hiring managers (HMs) to assess how these factors influenced their internship and entry-level hiring decisions. Results indicate that while superior academic performance (AP) remains paramount, HMs assigned well-rounded students engaged in relevant ECAs and CCAs, higher perceived employability and compensation premiums (CPs). Candidates holding leadership roles in activities directly related to their position of interest commanded the highest CPs. Implications include early-career guidance for students, counselors, recruiters, and other higher education institution (HEI) stakeholders
How You Start Is How You’ll Proceed: Using Examples From the Fashion Industry, Is Path Dependency a Barrier to Sustainable Business Model Innovation?
No full textStrategic choices made by a successful firm, combined with the unique situation surrounding its origins, may determine how well it can adapt to the challenges of sustainability. Sustainable business model innovation (SBMI) may be necessary when pursuing a competitive advantage, yet, paradoxically, what got the organization its initial success may prevent it from achieving needed innovation. Given the complexity of an industry with multiple stakeholders in an extended value chain there are barriers that prevent SBMI in a well-established firm. When considering the reconfiguration of an existing business model, firms should explore the stakeholder perspective, including all partners in the value chain, to determine how value is created and by whom. Using examples from the fashion industry, this conceptual paper illustrates the challenges of maintaining a competitive advantage while incorporating a unique value proposition, value creation, delivery, and capture mechanisms. We explore whether sustainability might only be possible for those firms whose mission incorporated the stakeholder value proposition from the beginning, whose path dependence incorporates the dynamic capabilities necessary to innovate business practices
How Purpose Shapes Organizations’ Strategic Decisions: An Analysis of Purpose-Driven Climate-Related Strategy-Making
No full textEcosystems and the societies they support are under intense pressure. The impact of climate change is becoming an ever greater threat. In response to these challenges, businesses are increasingly developing corporate purposes that go beyond profit maximization and focus on societal impact as the organization's ultimate goal. But how exactly does corporate purpose influence strategic decision-making in organizations? This study uses qualitative empirical data from climate-related strategy-making processes in B2C multinational food and beverage companies to explore the role of purpose as a strategic innovation in strategy-making. Findings suggest that purpose influences climate-related strategy-making in four distinct ways: agenda setting, compass decision-making, extended analysis, and employee value application. Further, a key moderator was found to be the alignment between the corporate purpose and an organization’s culture. These findings promote an improved understanding of the impact of purpose on climate-related strategy-making and the nature of strategy-making more broadly. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential impact of purpose on climate and organizational performance outcomes
Chronopolitics of Time: Delays, Power, and Inequality in Higher Education
No full textOften seen as technical issues, delays profoundly shape higher education by reinforcing structural inequalities and asserting temporal control. This position paper examines how waiting affects access to academic resources, administrative services, and learning opportunities—especially for marginalized, international, and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. It identifies three key dimensions: temporal asymmetries that perpetuate inequality; cultural and psychological meanings associated with waiting; and the strategic use of delays as instruments of institutional power. In contexts such as enrollment, grading, or pedagogical access, delays can compromise student well-being, sense of belonging, and academic success. Drawing from immigration, labor, and geopolitics, the position paper reframes delays as socially constructed. It calls for inclusive, time-sensitive policies to foster equity in globalized academic settings
Becoming a Care-Ready Institution: Operationalizing a Relational Framework for Student Success
No full textIn contemporary higher education, outcomes-driven imperatives often privilege efficiency, data, and technology over relational dynamics that underpin student thriving. This article advances the argument that care, understood relationally, institutionally, and structurally, constitutes a form of capital with measurable impact on equity. Building on Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of capital and Yosso’s (2005) framework of community cultural wealth, I introduce the C.A.R.E. Framework (Community and Connection, Accountability and Advocacy, Reflection and Relationships, Equity and Empowerment). Developed through years of leadership practice, this model conceptualizes care as a value and a resource, positioning care-readiness as a strategic and moral imperative for higher education
Do Investors Follow Their Values? Impact Investment Behavior and Sustainable Development Goals
No full textThis study examines the behavioral determinants of investment decisions, with a focus on value alignment and congruence with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Drawing on behavioral finance theory, this study explores how pro-environmental and prosocial orientations influence individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) for social- or pro-environmental stocks. Using hypothetical investment scenarios, the study reveals that SDG-alignment in-creases investment willingness. This underscores the salience of value-congruent framing over abstract value-led orientation. The findings challenge the homo economicus paradigm and affirm bounded rationality as a more suitable model for impact investment behavior. The study contributes to sustainable finance literature by highlighting the role of value alignment and SDG-based framing. These insights support the design of more effective impact investment products and communication strategies tailored to the profiles of ethical investors
Capital Market Integration and the A-H Premium: Evidence From China’s QDII Reform
No full textThis study examines the impact of capital market integration on the price premium of China A-shares over Hong Kong H-shares (A-H premium) following the introduction of the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program in 2007. Using a sample of Shanghai and Hongkong dual-listed Chinese companies from 2001 to 2014, we find that the QDII reform significantly reduced the A-H premium by allowing domestic investors to access H-share markets, thereby mitigating market segmentation effects. The average A-H premium declined from over 600% in 2001 to just 15% by 2014, with large-cap stocks even trading at discounts. Panel regression results show that capital control relaxation through QDII explains a significant portion of this convergence, after controlling for firm size, liquidity differences, market sentiment, and exchange rate expectations
Managerial Communication Styles as Predictors of Employee Job Satisfaction: A Mixed-Methods Study
No full textThis mixed-methods study explores how managerial communication styles shape employee job satisfaction. Five communication styles: assertive, manipulative, passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive were explored through quantitative survey data (n = 138) and qualitative interviews (n = 20) with managers and employees from organizations across Hawaii and the mainland United States. Grounded in Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory, Face Negotiation Theory (FNT), and Self-Construal Theory, the research contextualizes communication styles within workplace relationships. Findings show that assertive communication strongly enhances job satisfaction, while passive, manipulative, and passive-aggressive styles reduce it. Interview themes highlight the value of clarity, openness, and supportive leadership in fostering satisfaction. As an exploratory study using convenience sampling, results are not broadly generalizable but point to important implications. Organizations aiming to strengthen retention, motivation, and performance should prioritize training in assertive and inclusive communication. By treating communication styles as direct predictors of satisfaction, rather than mediators, this research offers new insights. The mixed-methods design further enriches understanding of how communication influences employee attitudes and workplace outcomes
Disembedding and Reconstruction of Village-level Organization at an Ethnic Village from the Perspective of New Institutionalism under the Background of Tourism Development
No full textGrassroots social governance is a crucial measure for achieving stability and prosperity in rural communities and promoting rural revitalization in China. With tourism entering a rapidly changing era, the structural changes brought about by tourism have a disruptive impact on tourist destinations. This paper, from the perspective of new institutionalism, takes the organizational transformation of a village during its tourism development as a case study, to demonstrate the significance of village organization as a unit of the national society in helping local villagers regain social trust in the context of uncertainty brought about by tourism. The paper not only presents some accidental situations that occurred in the village organization during the tourism development process, such as the special process whereby a company replaced the village committee, but also, through a temporal review of the organizational transformation of the village, shows the revolutionary changes brought about by over 40 years of tourism development to the social structure of a village. The article further proposes that the grassroots organization of the state play a mediating and adjusting role for villagers in the face of uncertainty, and that the social significance of grassroots organization in the context of tourism modernity should be emphasized