Search results

This study aims to investigate the impact of brand engagement on consumer responses to brand extensions, particularly in terms of value perception, attitude and purchase intention in a masstige context. The study examines low-fit/high-functionality and high-fit/low-functionality products. It also explores the crucial role of self-congruence in enhancing brand engagement, which leads to positive consumer responses towards brand extensions.

After establishing the theoretical foundations, pre-tests identified the product types and their fit level. In this quantitative study, 464 questionnaires were administered. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling validated the model and tested the hypotheses for low-fit/high-functionality and high-fit/low-functionality products of a masstige brand.

Data analysis shows that brand engagement positively affects value perception, attitude and purchase intention. However, consumers’ responses to brand extension differed for low-fit versus high-fit products. Moreover, social self-congruence and actual and ideal self-congruence positively impact consumers’ active engagement with masstige brands.

This research shows that low-fit extensions of masstige brands can succeed with high functionality, while high-fit extensions mitigate the negative effects of low functionality, a key attribute of masstige brands. The study adds to the limited literature on self-congruence and engagement by identifying actual and ideal self-congruence as determinants of brand engagement. It is also among the first to demonstrate that social self-congruence drives brand engagement for masstige brands.

This study aims to answer the following research questions: The research questions were as follows: What factors contribute to faculty, postdocs, research staff and graduate students feeling part of a healthy and inclusive team environment? and How can faculty, postdocs, research staff and graduate students contribute to creating and maintaining a healthy and inclusive research team environment?

The authors conducted student, postdoctoral fellow, staff and faculty focus groups to solicit perceptions on the characteristics of healthy and inclusive research teams, and how research team members can contribute to shaping this environment. Focus groups were semistructured and guided by an appreciative inquiry approach. Thematic analysis was used to summarize and categorize findings across focus groups and to understand how these themes contributed to the overall research questions.

The authors conducted 11 focus groups that were comprised of 48 different individuals: 30 graduate students (6 focus groups), 6 faculty members (2 focus groups), 6 staff members (2 focus groups) and 6 postdoctoral fellows (1 focus group). Themes that were discussed included collaboration and clarity on role definition; effective communication; cultivating safe relationships; promoting and modeling work–life balance; and supporting professional development in these areas.

This study reinforces the role that research teams can have on how graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, staff and faculty experience the research environment. The authors also identified a number of themes and factors that can be used to develop training initiatives to facilitate healthy research team environments.

This paper investigates the integration of middle mile drones (MMD) into logistics operations, addressing two key questions: (1) What are the drivers, financial implications and upcoming innovations associated with integrating drones into MM logistics? and (2) What challenges need to be overcome for successful implementation of drones in MM logistics?

The study combines expertise from an industry professional with over ten years of experience in drone operations and logistics applications, along with insights gained from discussions with 33 industry executives.

The research identifies several unique advantages of integrating drones into MM logistics, including their potential to improve operational efficiency in challenging environments. However, significant challenges related to scalability, evolving airframe designs and operational constraints remain. Early-stage use cases demonstrate the viability of MMD technologies in lower-risk logistics environments, but broader implementation requires overcoming the identified challenges.

As MMD logistics is a nascent field, the study is exploratory and based on early-stage use cases and expert discussions. The limited scope of practical implementations may restrict the generalizability of the findings. Future research should focus on larger-scale operations and empirical studies of MMD integration in diverse logistics contexts.

The findings offer valuable insights for practitioners related to the costs, benefits and challenges of integrating drones into logistics operations and for policymakers related to societal implications, workforce development, privacy and safety concerns, and environmental impact.

This paper contributes to the evolving understanding of drone applications in MM logistics by presenting early use cases and identifying both challenges and opportunities for MMD technology and offers a foundation for future research and practice in this emerging domain.

This study aims to examine the factors of the vegan lifestyle on the travel experience. Special emphasis was placed on difficulties during travel and influencing factors for destination choice.

The vegan lifestyle has emerged as a growing market. The dietary reference is well-known, but the impact of the vegan lifestyle on tourism has received less attention. Earlier researchers have cited motivations of ethics, the environment and health as key. An online survey was conducted within the target group of vegans to provide more understanding of vegan tourism.

A few participants stated that they refused to visit countries due to too high meat consumption or due to long flight distances. Nature was named as the most decisive factor for choosing a travel destination among the respondents. Problems that might arise were mainly the general lack of awareness about veganism, as well as the confusion between vegetarianism and veganism in the destinations. Most respondents indicated that these problems were generally prepared for during the pre-planning process.

Research on vegan tourism is a relatively unexplored niche topic, the study used related topics adapted to a vegan tourism context.

Enhanced education about veganism among tourism service providers would be desirable to counteract such problems in the future and make the travel experience more carefree for vegans.

There has been little research in the field of vegan tourism, thus, this study provides valuable information on the needs and challenges of this growing market.

The purpose of this paper is to explore ambidextrous leadership, a complex and multifaceted domain within leadership studies. This study examines the concept of ‘ambidextrous leadership’ from its inception, employing bibliometric analysis and the Theory–Context–Characteristics–Methods (TCCM) framework to address critical research questions and identify pathways for future investigation in leadership research.

To accomplish this objective, the authors conduct a bibliometric analysis and TCCM analysis of ambidextrous leadership, using data sourced from Scopus, the most extensive scientific database for review purposes. By examining 99 documents (spanning from 2007 through September 2023) related to ambidextrous leadership research from Scopus, this paper unveils insights into the performance analysis (such as publication year, noteworthy articles, prominent journals, influential authors and geographic distribution) and the evolution of scientific exploration (including key topics and themes) within the field of ambidextrous leadership over two decades. The investigation used various science mapping tools like keyword analysis, three-field plots, bibliographic coupling, co-occurrence network analysis and thematic mapping analysis. To evaluate the Bibliometric Coupling and Co-occurrence Network, a VOS viewer was used. TCCM analysis guides the future directions of research.

The bibliometric analysis reveals the publication trends, most influential authors, articles, journals, countries and important keywords. Subsequently, it presents the network connections in the field of ambidextrous leadership. TCCM analysis recognized emerging research diversifications in the literature on ambidextrous leadership.

A single database, i.e. Scopus, was used to extract the data which poses a limitation for the current study. This study provides insights to the researchers and practitioners on a comprehensive understanding of the emerging concept of “ambidextrous leadership,” an overview of the publication trends and emerging research themes identified in the clusters, and suggests possible directions for further study using TCCM analysis.

This study provides the intellectual structure of ambidextrous leadership literature and its advancement over the years using bibliometric analysis and TCCM analysis.

How does a manager’s coaching behaviour encourage taking charge behaviour among subordinates? Although prior research has found a positive association between managerial coaching behaviour and employee performance, to date few studies have examined its effect on proactive behaviours in the workplace such as taking charge. Drawing on social exchange theory (SET) and social cognitive theory (SCT), this study develops a theoretical model to examine the mediating effects of work engagement and role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) in the relationship between managerial coaching and subordinates taking charge. Additionally, drawing on social role theory (SRT), we test whether our proposed relationships are contingent on subordinates’ gender.

We tested our proposed moderated-mediation model using empirical data collected across two waves from 196 employees within a large Malaysian services enterprise. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results revealed that managerial coaching has a significant, positive relationship with taking charge, work engagement and RBSE. However, only work engagement was found to partially mediate the relationship between managerial coaching and taking charge. Subordinates’ gender was found to positively attenuate the direct effect between managerial coaching and taking charge among females. However, the mediating effects of work engagement and RBSE in managerial coaching and taking charge were found to be not contingent on subordinates’ gender.

Finding from this study reveals that managerial coaching is useful in shaping employees' taking charge behaviour through work engagement. Hence, organisations should focus on strategies aiming to enhance managers' coaching capabilities.

This study extends the nomological networks of managerial coaching by highlighting it as a predictor of taking charge. Moreover, drawing on SET and SCT to explain the mechanism of managerial coaching and taking charge, we provide a novel perspective on how managerial coaching can influence taking charge. Specifically, we highlight the critical role of work engagement as a key mechanism that influences the relationship between managerial coaching and taking charge. Finally, we demonstrate managerial coaching as a means through which organisations can improve individual functioning.

This study aims to explore and understand the role of word-of-mouth (WOM), including electronic WOM (e-WOM), in healthcare services through social identity theory.

A qualitative approach was adopted based on semi-structured interviews with patients in healthcare units. In total, 36 interviews were conducted between March and April 2022. The interviews were transcribed following the principles of thematic saturation and analysed using the software NVivo 12.0.

The findings were divided into two domains: pre- and post-consumption. During pre-consumption, e-WOM influenced the creation of the hospital’s brand image, which affected the patients’ expectations before their visit. During post-consumption, the patients can generate e-WOM, and its valence represents their overall experience.

Strategic attention to customer-centricity and skilful use of e-WOM is essential in the healthcare business. By incorporating these strategies into a strategic framework, healthcare organisations can successfully enhance their brand image, foster patient loyalty and consequently gain a competitive advantage in the industry.

This study is distinctive for thoroughly investigating e-WOM in healthcare, exploring both the pre-and post-service consumption phases through qualitative analysis. This study adopts a relatively novel approach by applying social identity theory within the healthcare context to explore patient affiliation with healthcare brands and institutions.

This study aims to analyze memes as valuable engagement and marketing communication tools in promoting over-the-top (OTT) platforms by monitoring users' sentiments and offering insightful information about their opinions by drawing themes from viral memes.

Content analysis of 1,230 user interactions was conducted using NVivo software on Instagram and Twitter pages from May 2022 to July 2023. Data were collected for sentiment analysis (consumer responses), and relevant themes (consumer interactions) were drawn which created the virality of memes.

Research findings reveal relevant themes, such as relatable, informative and interest-generating, that make memes go viral over social media. The sentiment analysis results showed that the intensity and strength of the positive comments were more substantial, contributing more to the virality of memes.

These findings provide themes for engaging content for OTT advertisers to boost brand recognition and engagement by strategically creating meme content and implementing better marketing communication.

This study uses factual data to offer new perspectives on viral meme propagation. It provides evidence that OTT marketers boost brand value and customer engagement through innovative customer-centric social media analysis.

This research is designed to explore the relationship between social media addiction, student engagement and student retention. Social media addiction is dealt with as an independent variable student engagement acts as a mediating variable and student retention as a dependent variable.

This is a cross-sectional and quantitative research. Primary data are collected from 600 respondents (university students) with the help of a structured questionnaire. Multistage sampling techniques, i.e. simple random sampling and judgment sampling, are used for the selection of respondents.

Results indicate that for direct relationships, social media addiction has a significant positive impact on student engagement and student retention, respectively, while student engagement is partially mediating the relationship between social media addiction with student retention.

In the future, these kinds of research may also be conducted on students of different universities in Pakistan, which are located in other cities of Pakistan besides Lahore. This research provides a practical framework for the higher authorities of the universities of Pakistan and explains how the use of media positively fosters the levels of student retention directly and indirectly through the path of student engagement. It is commonly believed that media addiction is bad but the result of this research indicates that anything is not dangerous but depends upon its use, media addiction itself is not bad but if someone uses this for a good purpose in limitation then it has better outcomes. The result indicates that the media addiction of students has a positive impact on student retention. This means that if someone uses media for a positive purpose then he/she will use it as a supporting tool for success. Longitudinal research on these variables will also help to check the status after a specific interval of time.

The current study will help the practitioners or policymakers (Managers) of higher education institutions by providing practical insights into the positive use of media by students for increasing their knowledge and grades. This research can also help practitioners or policymakers to focus their students on the positive use of social media for fostering the levels of student retention.

To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no previous study has been done to incorporate social media addiction and student engagement in a single model in the Pakistani cultural context. Similarly, the relationship of variables social media addiction with student engagement is rarely checked empirically because the research of Wang et al. (2011) proposed that social media addiction has a relationship with student engagement so that is why this is the rationale of the research is to check this empirically. Moreover, this study is an initial effort to check the mediating effect of student engagement in the relationship between social media addiction and student retention. This research is also proposing the framework of social media addiction, student engagement and student retention based on the social exchange theory (SET).

This paper sheds light on the factors facilitating the digital transformation (DT) of companies, examining the empirical evidence according to a new and original dual lens: the internal and external marketing management perspective.

Through an explorative research design based on semi-structured interviews, we investigate the perceptions of some managers involved in managing the DT of their own companies.

The findings, organized from an internal and external marketing perspective, show how DT requires efforts in nurturing: (1) its organizational and cultural nature; (2) new managerial skills and e-leadership. These factors activate DT as an accelerator of (3) production processes and service provision and (4) competitive strategies.

Our findings underscore critical practical implications for organizations embarking on a DT journey. Firstly, managers should prioritize creating a culture that encourages employees to embrace change and technology. Secondly, recognizing the importance of new managerial skills and e-leadership, managers need to invest in developing the expertise to effectively lead DT efforts. The related skills encompass digital literacy, change management and the ability to inspire and guide teams through the complexities of a DT.

This paper suggests that organizations should holistically approach DT, focusing on culture, leadership and strategic deployment of digital tools. The proposed dual lens offers a valuable and simple answer for academics and practitioners to effectively frame the internal dynamics and external factors shaping DT.