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This paper aims to examine the sources of consumer‐brand relationship investment, specifically isolating the sources and outcomes of communality and exchange relationship characteristics.

The paper utilizes a survey‐based empirical study and subsequent structural modeling approach to test a series of hypotheses concerning how brand performance perceptions influence the development of consumer relationship connections.

The paper finds that perceptions of product performance and service quality influence the development of brand reliability and brand fidelity respectively. Similarly, brand reliability is the primary source of an exchange orientation, while brand fidelity leads to communal brand connections and, ultimately, consumer‐brand relationship investment.

This research is limited by the scope of the sample, fast food restaurants. Future research should explore consumer relationship investment in other product and service categories in order to determine the extent to which relationship development processes vary by product category.

Brands that wish to develop enduring relationships with their customers must understand the relative impact of both personal and functional (exchange) relationship characteristics on the development of relationship investment. Each has a specific role to play and the roles of each vary at different relationship stages.

This research offers at least three significant contributions to the marketing discipline and marketing practice. First, it introduces constructs and associated scales for brand fidelity, communality, exchange and relationship investment. Second, it demonstrates how brand service and product performance differentially contribute to two dimensions of consumer‐brand relationships. Finally, it describes three discrete relationship development stages that play specific roles in the evolution of consumer‐brand relationship investment.

This paper seeks to explore the ethical implications of creating committed customer relationships.

The paper uses an empirical study to test a series of hypotheses concerning the impact of customers' commitment to a brand on their behaviors toward that brand. It then contrasts these behavioral changes with the assumptions of ethical frameworks.

Customers' behaviors toward a brand change as they become committed to the brand. They shop less, consider fewer brands, and are willing to pay more. These changes violate assumptions of less stringent ethical frameworks. The result is that, as customer commitment increases, the ethical burden on the brand also increases.

This research is limited by the scope of the sample, automobile finance. Future research should explore customer commitment in other product and service categories to determine the extent to which commitment varies.

The implications of these results are that, when a brand does a great job of satisfying customers and building trust, commitment develops, which increases the ethical burden on the brand. The very brand actions that develop commitment high quality, good service, caring about the customer, must actually increase in importance once strong customer relationships are built.

The findings in the paper are unique, in that they evaluate a marketing model in terms of ethical impact, rather than simply in terms of increased sales or market share. These findings should be valuable to any brand manager who is focusing on building or managing customer‐brand relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and test segmentation of multi‐dimensional customer‐brand relationships as a superior method of defining, understanding, and predicting customer loyalty behaviors.

A method of segmenting customer‐brand relationships is proposed, based on the development of personal and functions connections. The resulting groups are hypothesized to better define and predict customer loyalty behaviors. The model is tested with an empirical sample.

Customers can be effectively segmented into relationship groups, based on the extent to which they have personal and functional connections with the brand. These relationship groups display different levels of commitment to the brand and engage in significantly different levels of loyalty behaviors. The resulting segments serve to define and measure levels of customer loyalty.

The primary limitation of this research is that behaviors were self‐reported. However, the impact was limited by the fact that the initial survey was conducted six months before the behavior questionnaire.

These results have extensive implications for developing customer‐brand relationships that promote, enhance, and expand loyalty behaviors.

Measures of loyalty based on behavior in the market or customer satisfaction have proven ineffective at defining, measuring, and predicting loyalty behaviors. Relationship segmentation not only better defines loyalty, but also provides insight into loyalty development, based on personal and functional connections.

To propose and test a multi‐dimensional model of relationship commitment defined by personal and functional connections which are, in turn, driven by trust and satisfaction.

A model is proposed to define relationship constructs better within marketing practice and to evaluate the relationships between these constructs. Structural equation modeling was employed to validate the model using data from two case studies.

Satisfaction is antecedent to trust, but primarily contributes to functional connections. Personal connections, on the other hand, stem from trust. The relative strengths of personal and functional connections determine the nature and outcomes of relationship commitment. This trust‐based model is statistically superior to previous models and explains customer‐brand relationships much more extensively.

The primary limitation of this research is that it explores only two product/service categories, potentially limiting the generalizability to other domains.

These results have extensive implications for brand building, establishing customer relationships, and incorporating relationships into brand strategies.

These results improve our understanding of customers' relationships with brands and provide managers with guidance on developing, nurturing, and utilizing these relationships.

This study reflects an examination of four teachers and their approaches to teaching the Holocaust and comparative genocide. The purpose was to address four succinct research questions that followed a conceptual framework which emerged around these teachers’ rationale, methodology, preparation, and characteristics. Analysis of the results allowed for the emergence of six themes: (a) citizenship, (b) curriculum and design, (c) teaching pedagogy, (d) influence of modeling, (e) neoteny, and (f) life-altering experiences.

The purpose of this study was to determine the leadership practices needed to improve academic achievement and generate positive change in school organizations. The study was also conducted to provide insight to principal preparation programs and school districts about effective transformational leadership practices. A quantitative research method was used to achieve the survey study. Ninety-two teachers completed the Leadership Practices Inventory developed by Kouzes and Posner. Data was analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics and t- tests. The findings of the study indicate that (a) principals in high performing schools employ all leadership practices more frequently than principals in lower performing schools and (b) inspiring a shared vision and challenging the process are the two practices that have the biggest impact on student achievement. It is recommended that principal preparation programs incorporate Kouzes and Posner’s transformational leadership model into their curriculum in order to develop highly qualified school leaders.

School principals should lead for social change, particularly in support of vulnerable or marginalized students. An important social justice issue in which principals must provide strong leadership, but may not be adequately prepared in university training, is creating positive and inclusive school environments for lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and questioning (LGBTQ) students. Research reveals that LGBTQ students experience high rates of discrimination, bullying, and physical assault due to their sexual orientation or gender expression. This Application Brief describes how faculty members at a Midwest university developed curriculum and pedagogy for their principal preparation program with the goal of promoting the knowledge and skills that future school leaders need to provide effective leadership for protection, acceptance, and affirmation of LGBTQ students.

The Home Depot case is a great story. It's about entrepreneurship, growth, CEO leadership, and the dramatic impact, good and bad, a CEO can have on a company's growth culture, strategy, and performance. Home Depot had faced market growth challenges for the last seven years as it tried in numerous ways to reignite its growth engine. The case explores the growth strategies of CEOs Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, and Blank's successor Bob Nardelli, a former GE executive. After examining Home Depot's growth history, the case challenges students to devise a growth strategy for the company under a new CEO.

This study applies social identity theory (SIT) to explore the perceptual differences among various stakeholder groups regarding the relevance of social and environmental accounting (SEA), SEA education and mandatory disclosure of SEA.

The study adopts a mixed method applying a qualitative and quantitative approach. In total, 325 structured questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively, using ANOVA and group comparison methods. Responses from 18 interviews were analyzed qualitatively to provide complementary evidence for the quantitative study.

There were significant differences between various stakeholder groups regarding the relevance of SEA practice and SEA education. Regulators were mostly affected by considerations about the external perception of work quality, followed by financiers. Practitioners and shareholders were influenced by the ability of SEA in its current state to affect actual work quality. This possibly indicates that academic qualifications have marginal effects on predicting considerations about SEA compared to social identity.

This is the first application of SIT to SEA research and contributes to the effort to improve SEA within emerging economies, highlighting that a one-size-fits-all approach may be ineffective.