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The purpose of this study is to explore customer engagement (CE) in Facebook brand communities. It clusters Facebook brand fans to establish whether an existing typology holds in a diverse sample, and examines the differences in CE between the clusters. The predictive capabilities of CE on an important brand outcome, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), are determined.

In total, 493 respondents participated in an online survey. A two-step cluster analysis was conducted to determine the fan types. ANOVA was used to assess the differences in CE between the clusters. Multiple regression determined the predictive capabilities of CE on eWOM.

This research confirms the Facebook fan typology on a more diverse sample. Significant differences exist between the fan types on CE (captivation and gratification) and CE significantly predicts eWOM.

Future research could include motivations behind brand fan behavior. Using other CE measures may bring a different view. Theoretical perspectives other than social identity theory (SIT) may elicit other insights.

Insights into brand fan segments’ behavior and engagement allow brand managers to develop targeted marketing interactions. Gratification engagement is a stronger driver of eWOM, suggesting that brands should focus on marketing actions that will encourage gratification.

This research expands on Facebook brand fan typologies and explores CE as a multi-dimensional construct, rather than as a mere “like” action. Additionally, it determines the predictive capabilities of CE dimensions on eWOM. The findings suggest that SIT could be useful when examining CE in brand communities.

Our theoretical understanding of subjective well-being in the workplace is incomplete without a dynamic understanding of antecedents and outcomes of subjective well-being. While between-person differences provide useful information about employee outcomes, these differences do not provide information about the relationships between subjective well-being and employee outcomes that evolve over time and across situations. In this paper, we discuss specific statistical methods within the nomothetic and idiographic perspectives that can support dynamic research on subjective well-being in the workplace and outline unanswered contemporary questions regarding structure, processes, and dynamics of subjective well-being that may be addressed with these methods reviewed; some of which were proposed in early research but progressed slowly due to a lack of adequate methods. This discussion highlights how idiographic methods from outside organizational psychology can be applied to the study of worker subjective well-being to strengthen this dynamic approach in a way that addresses limitations associated with reliance on between-person models.

Market mavenism and opinion leadership are two important consumer influential concepts in marketing communication literature. The purpose of this paper is to explore two overarching research questions. First, can we separate market mavenism from opinion leadership in China? The answer to this question would solve an important issue of targeting in marketing communication. Second, if market mavenism is indeed distinctive from opinion leadership, are market mavenism and opinion leadership determined by same or different factors in China? The answer of this question would help determine how to reach each type of consumer influential and add knowledge to market segmentation.

An online survey was conducted to test the hypotheses. In total, 316 Chinese respondents completed this survey.

The results were illuminating: market mavenism and opinion leadership were indeed distinctive yet related concepts in China. Monochronicity, altruism, price-value consciousness, and income significantly influenced market mavenism after controlling for all other variables while monochronicity, price-value consciousness, and age significantly predicted opinion leadership after controlling for all other variables.

This study provides a richer picture of market mavenism and opinion leadership in the Chinese market.

This study helps scholars and professionals efficiently and effectively reach each type of consumer influential.

Much of public relations scholarship in the last three decades has been dominated by discussions about best practices. Theories developed over the years have often been based on western practices with little focus on emerging economies such as Africa. The growing call for a shift to a new system, especially from a non-western perspective has resulted in scholars examining public relations scholarship and practice in other jurisdictions, particularly in Asia. The onset of globalisation increased the scholarly discussion on public relations theorising, with culture playing a significant role in these discussions. This paper undertakes a review of the various discussions on public relations theorising due to globalisation and discusses its implications for public relations scholarship and practice in Africa.

The paper approaches the issue by examining relevant literature on globalisation and societal changes, public relations theorising, and the African worldview.

The paper concludes by proposing an African public relations framework that reflects the African worldview. The framework proposes that African public relations can be premised on four levels, humanist, relational, communalist, and strategic.

This research is limited in the sense that the proposed framework has not been empirically tested for verification. It offers scholars the opportunity to empirically test it within the African setting.

The framework presents an opportunity for practitioners to review public relations practice within the African context.

The paper's originality is premised on the development of a public relations framework premised on African social values.

In this unashamedly polemical piece it is argued that we should not jump into bed with virtue too quickly. It is suggested that the concept of virtue is dangerously ill defined, so it becomes what those in power hegemonically define it to be; that virtue’s rise may serve factional political purposes within social science; that system implications are frequently missed, side-lined or minimised so that virtue niavely becomes a purely individual construct; that aspirational codes, which expect a-contextual demonstration of ‘virtue’ from practitioners, need to be tempered with a dose of reality; and that the achievable ‘good enough’ is better than the unrealisable and idealised virtuously ‘perfect’. It is suggested that the implied centrality of ‘virtue’ in research is problematic, that being ‘critically virtuous’ has limits, and that better education will not necessarily lead to morality and integrity in research – any more than it does in the general population. Finally it is argued that ethics committees should focus on (probable) behaviours, rather than rather than imagined motives or vague character traits. Locating virtue in an individual is dangerous because it allows the system to blame and punish an individual, rather than acknowledge the collective responsibility of the whole system. It is suggested that we need to move from a purist pursuit of virtue to a more realistic and nuanced appreciation of the real world consequences of its adoption. Whilst the present emphasis on sound research ethics and responsibility is a positive development, we need to slow down.

The main objective of this study is to analyse the influence that service brand extensions have on corporate image.

After reviewing the previous literature, a model is proposed and tested that shows how extending a services brand affects the overall corporate image. Statistical analysis of data from a market survey involving actual services brands and hypothetical extensions was undertaken. Structural equation modelling was the main methodology employed.

It was found that the extent of perceived fit between the corporate brand and the service extension influences the perceived quality of the extension, which in turn affects corporate image, especially for corporate brands that originally had highly rated images.

Given that the study was done with hypothetical brand extensions, the proposed model is not tested in a real situation.

The results offer important implications, both for academics and managers. Through an effective communication policy, the company must increase the perceived fit. The results also suggest directions for further research. For example, it would be interesting to explore how the model works across services categorised on the continuum of search, experience and credence.

In the literature, there are few works analysing the effect of service extensions on corporate image. The research allows the understanding of the concept of corporate image and the role performed by service brand extensions. The proposed model and the estimation with SEM methodology add value to the existing knowledge.

This chapter explores the determinants of satisfaction of the Islamic microcredit borrowers in Bangladesh. A total of 245, mostly educated and young, borrowers of rural development scheme, the largest Islamic microcredit institution (MCI) in the world, were included in a survey using a structured questionnaire. Factors were extracted using exploratory factor analysis. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify influential determinants of satisfaction of microcredit borrowers. Borrowers have identified the activities and interaction in the “center,” which includes weekly/monthly meetings, investment-related training, and group performance review, as the most vital factor influencing their overall satisfaction. Competence of the microcredit staffs and officials is the second important determinant. Trust plays the next important role in overall satisfaction of the borrowers with the Islamic microcredit institutions. Convenience, of applying for loan, getting an approval, and paying instalments, is the other influential determinant of the borrower’s satisfaction. The findings imply that given the competition and social need of the Islamic microcredit institutions globally, policymakers must ensure greater investment in human capital, in creating awareness about products and services of the Islamic microcredits, and in initiating a prudent change in the regulation so that Islamic microcredit can become a tool for sustainable socioeconomic development. Use of a proper marketing strategy can also help the MCIs to support the financial inclusion policy of the government. Satisfaction of the borrowers of the Islamic microcredit institutions is yet to arrive in Islamic marketing literature. The proposed borrower-centric model can help reduce poverty and the internal loan-shark problem through adequate engagement of relevant stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to identify trust‐building signals and signaling patterns of commercial and non‐commercial wine bloggers within a trustworthiness framework and assess prominence of balanced versus unbalanced resource‐based or compensatory approaches for the management of consumer trust beliefs and the facilitation of positive trust intentions.

Development and validation of theory‐based signal‐classification scheme and two‐stage content analysis of trust‐building signals embedded in wine blogs.

It is found that wine bloggers manage consumer trust beliefs using an unbalanced signaling approach emphasizing ability over character. Ability sub‐dimension signals vary by commercial orientation. Also, character signaling varies with commercial orientation.

Only English‐language wine blogs were studied. Limitations of content analysis procedures preclude direct evaluation of signal efficacy in absolute or contextualized terms.

Bloggers must secure reader trustworthiness to be effective communicators. Readers are likely to possess latent concerns about the bias of commercial bloggers and abilities of non‐commercial ones. Bloggers recognize the importance of ability signaling but may not be fully exploiting their positions of perceived advantage nor fully compensating for their distinctive inherent perceived weaknesses.

Trustworthiness signaling in wine blogs has implications for bloggers in other contexts, including consumer and non‐consumer information environments and not‐for‐profit and governmental communicators. Blog and blogger trustworthiness must be addressed by these communicators to effect audience persuasion.

The paper discusses deductive development and validation of a novel signal classification scheme applied to trust building by bloggers that, through analysis of signal content, sheds light on behavior of commercial and non‐commercial information sources in emerging product information environments.

The goal of the study is to develop an integrated, non-sequential framework for excellent public relations management for the financial services sector in Ghana. The study empirically analyzes how PR is conceptualized and practiced in relation to the purpose (models) and roles (activities).

The study adopted the qualitative in-depth interview approach to gauge the views of 22 PR practitioners.

Practitioners of most communication departments have no PR background, and this influenced their conceptualization of PR. Essentially, PR in Ghana is shaped, to a large extent, by a western ideology. PR is however influenced greatly by strong interpersonal relationships, which is premised largely on the culture of the country. What is obvious is that PR in the financial services sector is not fully strategic. Although practitioners occupy managerial roles, they are limited in their ability to make impact due a lack of understanding by management about the purpose of PR and budgetary constraints.

The use of a qualitative approach means the result cannot be generalized. As the study focussed on one sector, it will be essential to look at other sectors using a generalized sample.

The study developed an integrative non-sequential PR framework based on literature and empirical findings. The framework differs in certain aspects from some of the recommendations made by literature for an excellent PR practice.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to analyze the content of influential wine blogs.

The study used content analysis software, Leximancer, to analyze the entire contents of five influential amateur wine blogs.

A key finding is that these blogs all balance self-promotion with the content of their blogs, namely, wine and wine-related topics. The wine blogs, though evaluating wines in different ways, review not only the product attributes but also the experience surrounding wine.

Limitations of this study include that the analysis only included five wine blogs and the content analysis was conducted by a sole researcher using a computerized approach.

Wine blogs have increasing influence in the wine industry, especially those written by amateur wine bloggers. As such, understanding the tactics used by wine bloggers is of interest to practitioners who aim to market their wines using such channels as well as providing insight into this contemporary platform for current and aspiring wine critics.

This is the first content analysis study that analyzes the content of wine blogs as the readers themselves see it. It provides insights of value not only to those involved in marketing in the wine industry but also to those interested in the developments of amateur blogs in marketing.