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Brand's Image, Love, and Loyalty: Is it Enough for Word of Mouth Marketing?
Get PDFLaptop products are no longer luxury products, and they are commodities commonly used by university students. However yet, every laptop brand has its brand image in the market. Also, Brand love and loyalty have become central concepts in brand and customer relationships. This paper investigates the effects of ‘brand image on brand love’ and ‘brand love on customer loyalty’ and ‘word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing’. Additionally, it investigates which phases of loyalty have priority in creating WOM. Questionnaires had distributed to 300 college students to collect data. Structural equation modeling (SEM) had used to analyze the hypothesis, and from Multi Criteria Decision Making methods, TOPSIS was used to rank the priority of the phases of loyalty. Analyses show that brand love and image remarkably effect on brand loyalty. In addition, it has been determined that brand love affects WOM. The TOPSİS results also reveal that affective loyalty has priority effective on WOM. Other predictors are cognitive, behavioral, and cognitive loyalty, respectively. The results can help practitioners engage customers while creating a brand image and marketing their laptop brands to construct loyal customer support. The ranking of the type of loyalty can also ensure a phase for marketers to develop future strategies
Alliance Portfolio Effects on New Venture’s Performance
Get PDFThis study investigates the effects of an alliance portfolio on a new venture’s performance. Specifically, this paper draws on the legitimacy perspective. It presents a model that aims to understand the influence of an alliance portfolio’s different characteristics on a new venture’s performance. The paper also considers the contingent role of the equity market environment. These relationships are investigated in a cross-industry sample of 123 new ventures with pre-IPO alliances. The data has been compiled from various databases selected for their comprehensiveness and extensive use in Strategy research. Hierarchical Multiple Regression models are run to analyze the data. This study suggests that new ventures can potentially send important signals regarding their quality by virtue of their partnership formations. The most important characteristic of the alliance portfolio that affects the value of the new venture is size. Consistent with prior research, this study finds that new ventures with prestigious underwriters have higher valuations at IPO across all industries. The results also extend this line of inquiry by showing that relationships with prominent underwriters, VCs and alliance partners are not prestigious equivalent relationships. This study also shows interesting results contrary to prior research that stable partner relationship benefits are not relevant. Based on these findings, this study provides key managerial implications by providing managers insight into how they should develop their venture’s alliance portfolio to enhance the venture’s legitimacy and thereby its IPO performance. 
The Impact of Green Technologies on Transition to Circular Economy
Get PDFAt the end of 2019, the European Commission presented its new long-term vision for the development of the EU. A strategy for growth, a fair environmental transition, a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy are the key highlights of this ambitious strategy for the next decade. Built on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this transformation goes through a complete change in the production and territorial infrastructure. It covers a whole set of activities, new practices and business models, interconnected and hierarchically ordered, according to their contribution to optimizing the use of raw materials and energy. The circular economy refers to the ability of an economy to grow while the use of resources decreases. The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between key indicators presenting the countries progress of transition to the circular economy, and a group of factors related to investment in R&D, green technologies and waste recovery and on this basis to outline the opportunities that the European Green Deal opens up for a faster and more efficient transformation of the economy from linear to circular. Comparative analysis between three clusters of EU countries is made. Time series analysis and correlation analysis along with comparative analysis are applied in the research. The conclusions reached point to the still existing connection with the linear model of development and the delay of the transition to a model of real circular economy. Efforts done till now have yielded results, but for the active "closure" of the circle active policies, synchronized actions by government, business and society are needed. This requires adequate measures taken by the public authorities and decisive reforms in the eco-innovation policy
Motivation: Up and down: Implementation of a Motivational Model and Assessing the Results
Get PDFThe opportunity to enroll in a foreign university skyrockets the motivation of many students. However, a huge number of these students eventually find themselves, in the midst of their studies, to unsure that they will even be able to graduate. This article focuses on the causes of demotivation for these students and aims to find a solution to this problem. Our study relies on previous research conducted by H. Douglas Brown, Zoltan Doernyei, Natalie Ness, Penny Ur, Desley I. Watson-Raston, and others. This article contributes to this literature by, first, looking into the causes of motivation loss among foreign students studying the English language in Russia, and second, by proposing certain tactics that could be put into practice in the classroom. By conducting our research over the last year and a half, we have come to several conclusions. According to our observations, authentic materials, along with the freedom for students to choose study topics and the way assignments are presented determinately increases not only student motivation but also improve learning results in speaking and writing. In our research, we tried to use a big variety of research methods. These included focus and control groups, general and individual questionnaires, video essays, and classic tests
Assessing the Effect of Direct and Indirect Corrective Feedback in Process-based vs Product-based Instruction on Learners’ Writing
Get PDFThe present study peruses EFL learners in a kind of process-product approach in writing and investigates the possible effects of teachers’ direct and indirect corrective feedback in four English language institutes in Isfahan, Iran. Four groups of intermediate students participated as a case in this study. The total number of participants was 120 female EFL learners selected based on a convenient non-random sampling method but randomly divided into four experimental groups. In the first group, the product-based approach was used to teach writing, and the learners received direct corrective feedback. In the second group, again product-based approach was used to teach writing, and the learners received indirect corrective feedback. In the third group, the writing was taught using a process-based approach, and the learners received direct corrective feedback, and in the last group, the learners received indirect feedback in process-based writing. The writing performance of the students in all four groups was compared in terms of accuracy. ANOVA and Post-hoc tests revealed that the process-based approach through which direct feedback was provided was more effective than other teaching writing approaches
Acquisition of English Discourse Markers by Chinese L1 Speakers Learning English in the US: Frequency and Social impact
Get PDFSankoff et al. (1997) indicated in their research on discourse markers (DMs) used by anglophones in Montreal that the mastery of DMs is a good indicator of the non-native speakers’ integration into the linguistic community. As DMs, especially the informal ones, are not taught explicitly in language classes, their acquisition could only be fulfilled by extracurricular contact with native speakers. Despite fruitful works done on DMs in both native and non-native speech, to our knowledge, most of them deal with only one or several DMs at a time without providing a comparable complete list of frequency of DMs in non-native speech. In this article, by exploring the data from 29 semi-guided sociolinguistic interviews conducted in English with non-native speakers in the US, we established a list of frequency of 72 DMs employed by Chinese L1 speakers learning English. By conducting statistical tests, we examined the impact of some extralinguistic factors relevant to non-native speakers in their use of DMs. Our results showed that gender and social network are the two most influential factors for informal DMs, while the age factor seems to be the weakest for all DMs
Affordances and Challenges of Mixed- Methods Needs Analysis for the Development of ESP Courses
Get PDFThis paper addresses the conceptions of needs analysis and mixed-methods research, and the affordances and challenges of mixed methods needs analysis in implementing ESP courses. Language researchers and educators maintain that a lack of identifying students’ needs hampers the development and improvement of English language education in ESP. ESP teachers and educators may not be cognizant of utilizing needs analysis effectively in their classrooms. Hence, the purpose of the paper is to characterize mixed-methods needs analysis and recognize affordances and challenges of using needs analysis with the considerations of mixed methods in research on foreign and second language education. A systematic mixed-methods learner needs analysis can increase the rigour of course design, materials development, and the enhancement of curriculum and instruction. This paper also informs ESP educators, teachers, professionals, and researchers of the usefulness and practicality of mixed methods approaches in conducting needs analysis for ESP learners in the educational context
Trainees’ Needs in Higher Diploma Program Training Module Evaluation: A case study of English Language Teachers
Get PDFThis study attempted to determine ELT trainees’ needs in Higher Diploma Program (HDP) module evaluation, and assess the overall pedagogical value of the training module to teachers at higher education. The study applied qualitative case study design by purposively selecting six English language teachers completed HDP training from Arba Minch University. E-mail interview and module evaluation checklist were tools used for data collection. The data was analyzed based on themes in the interview and the contents in the rubric with the level of quality stated in the scale. The results revealed that the training material did not fit for all trainees equally. Though trainees were different in their knowledge bases, the enhancement of HDP training module content for some knowledge bases was adequate. Furthermore, the training material helped trainees to develop their pedagogical skills in the field-based study. However, the topics and contents were not subject area specific, and some activities were weak to promote interaction. For the well-designed activities, their applicability in addressing for diverse audience was poor. Furthermore, the material was not designed in line with the scientific research findings, lacks additional resources to support training and no instruction was indicated to adapt it for various classrooms’ learning environments. From the English Language teachers’ viewpoints, it was concluded that training and training material have to be designed according to particular discipline’s needs. Limitations, recommendations and implications for future research areas were indicated
Universities' Contributions to Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation
Get PDFThe general objective of this research work is to know if the university context, attitudes, norms, and perception of behaviour control influence the intention of social entrepreneurship and social innovation in undergraduate students from the areas of economics, administrative and social. The methodology was based on the Global Survey of University Entrepreneurship Students -GUESSS- in which 34 countries have participated since 2011, with a sample of more than 150,000 students per year. The results by lineal regression and R show that the university context, attitude towards behaviour and subjective norms have a low influence on entrepreneurial intentions. However, they should not be neglected since they generate an effect on entrepreneurial intentions, which is important to highlight in the perceived behavioural control of the ease or difficulty of becoming an entrepreneur
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Employee Outcomes in the Aviation Industry during the COVID-19 Pandemic Era. A Conceptual Framework
Get PDFPurpose – By drawing on conservation of resources, social identity and attachment theories, this paper investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives on work engagement, covid-induced perceived job insecurity and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The mediating role of organizational pride and trust is also explored. Relevance – The pandemic has caused an unimaginable collapse of air passenger and cargo volumes, sweeping job cuts and huge financial losses for aviation. Employees in the aviation industry have been afflicted by the pandemic but also decipher CSR and are part of the road towards recovery combined with responsible business practices. Methodology – An integrative literature review method was adopted. A range of literature review relevant to the concept and the materialization of CSR, both generally and specifically in the aviation industry, is explored. A conceptual model linking CSR to certain employee outcomes is then proposed and discussed. Findings – The paper offers insights into the ways CSR initiatives may impact employees in the aviation industry at the emotional, attitudinal and behavioral level during the pandemic. It is proposed that when companies undertake CSR activities, employees develop higher levels of organizational trust and pride particularly reinforced by empathetic leadership and employee CSR participation. Those emotions, in turn, lead to more engaged employees with reduced feelings of job insecurity. An improvement in employees’ OCB is considered to be the end result. Practical implications – This study is helpful for companies within the aviation industry, during the pandemic and post-pandemic era, to plan and implement CSR activities in such a way that could positively affect employee outcomes