Search results

Shows, giving examples, how information technology is changing business practices. Investigates the benefits of information systems which are brought about by structural changes to processes and organizations. Identifies three value disciplines on which market leaders concentrate ‐ operational excellence, customer intimacy and product leadership. Concludes that information processes operate to achieve better control and efficiency, enhance productivity and harness innovation.

Children are bombarded by branded communication every day. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role that particular linguistic devices play in communication, and whether this process differs between children and adults. One such device is phonetic symbolism, which has been shown to lead adults to prefer brand names whose phonetic attributes match product and/or brand features.

Three experiments were undertaken to examine children's (six to 12 years of age) preference for phonetically manipulated brand names. Experiment 1 replicates findings in previous research showing that preference for a particular brand name within a single product category is dependent on how the brand is described. Experiment 2 extends this research across product categories that are expected to lead to differential brand name preference (based on product features). Finally, experiment 3 investigates the interaction between pure phonetic symbolism and semantic information.

Children show similar patterns of brand name preference (with some age differences that could be attributable to developmental stages), and that they link particular sounds with specific brand/product attributes.

This research shows that when selecting an inventive and distinct brand name, consideration could be given to the relationship between vowel sounds and brand characteristics. The authors believe that the findings are of importance to marketers as they consider different approaches to the naming of new brands.

This is the first set of experiments to investigate the effects of phonetic symbolism on brand name preference utilising a children's sample.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the value to consumers of the brand name element for established brands, given that the focus in the literature has been on new brands. To accomplish this, conceptual development was initially undertaken to illuminate the links between the brand name element and the brand entity and to provide a theoretical framework for looking at changes in value of the brand name element to consumers over time.

A conjoint analysis experimental approach was used. This involved consumers making trade-off decisions between changes in brand name and changes in price for established brands, where they were active purchasers. This approach enabled isolation of the brand name element and obtained the relative value of the brand name element for each participant.

The mean value obtained for the importance of the brand name element for established products appeared to show substantial importance to consumers. However, further analysis identified a position where the majority of participants placed little value on the brand name element and a smaller but material group perceived its value as of overwhelming importance.

This paper advances branding theory through clarification of the relationship between the brand name element and the brand entity. It provides theoretical argument and empirical data for the value of the brand name element to the consumer differing between established and new brands.

This chapter explores two policies guiding the education and funding related to students with and without disabilities in the United States. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 serves as the nation's primary legislation outlining policies, procedures and funding for the education of students with disabilities. Thus, IDEA 2004 is integral in understanding inclusion throughout the United States. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 is regarded as the primary educational legislation concerned with funding to provide all students with access to a well-rounded education. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the laws in relation to inclusion and funding for teacher professional development (PD) and argues in support of funding specifically aimed at the PD of highly effective classroom teachers. Preparing, recruiting and retaining high quality teacher candidates must be a top priority in PK-12 education. In the current political climate, there is a need to examine how to use available resources in a time of shrinking budgets, teacher shortages and increasing equity gaps.

This chapter will examine budgets from the most recent five years available and make connections to issues related to funding for inclusive programming, including professional development of teachers. While ESSA does not guide PD of teachers, it guides the funding for said programmes. Through budget evaluations and analysis of the President's rationale for decreasing funding under Title II of ESSA, we demonstrate that the current President is decreasing funds for PD, recruitment, preparation and more on the basis that Title I funding of ESSA covers these activities. With a new election set to take place next year, this chapter explores how the budgets have impacted funding for inclusive programming while looking to the future and its impact on the preparation and development of teachers.

There is a dearth of knowledge regarding how user dependency offers valuable resources to develop the intellectual capital of social streaming apps (SSAs) companies. This study aims to integrate major conceptual components of the UandD model, identify contextualized goal-oriented SSA dependency and empirically evaluate their interrelated user-dependency relationships in the SSA context.

A mixed-methods approach was utilized in this study. First, user gratifications were elicited through a qualitative approach, considering the exploratory stage of the SSA phenomenon. Second, statistical methods were applied to investigate and extract the sub-dimensions of SSA dependency. At last, a research model was developed grounded on the UandD model and empirically validated using the quantitative approach.

The results validated the gratification-dependency-attitude-behavior relationships hypothesized by the UandD framework in SSA. The role of user-SSA dependency in enhancing intellectual capital in the social media industry has been highlighted in this study.

This research not only provides an opportunity for the UandD model to realize its theoretical potential as envisioned by scholars but also contributes to the scholarship on social streaming apps and media dependency theory by conceptualizing goal-oriented dependency in SSAs.

The research results will guide digital media practitioners to a more nuanced understanding of the relationships between their users and modern digital media apps and thus empower the practitioners to better manage their intellectual capital based on the facilitation of their users’ dependency.

This work is one of the pioneers in contextualizing the UandD model in the SSA field, refining and measuring the SSA dependency and its distinct subdimensions and employing mixed-methods to offer a comprehensive understanding of how user dependency boosts intellectual capital in the SSA industry.

This research aims to examine how credence, search and experience attributes compete with suggestive brand names that are incongruent with the attributes they cue (e.g. expensive EconoLodge Motel, short-lasting Duracell battery and joint-stiffening JointFlex pill).

This study relies on experimental studies, together with analyses of variance, t-tests and logistic regressions.

Incongruent suggestive brand names can distort product evaluations and alter perceptions of product performance in joint product judgments involving contradictory credence attributes; they can misdirect product evaluations even if the search attributes conflict with competitor brands. Furthermore, they are more likely to backfire if contradictory experience attributes are readily available to consumers.

This test of the role of incongruence between suggestive brand names and actual product features includes key concepts that can inform continued studies, such as search attributes that consumers can readily observe, experience attributes that can be observed only after product use and credence attributes that might not be observed even after use.

This study provides applicable guidelines for managers, consumers and policymakers.

The findings expand beyond prior literature that focuses on memory-based, separate evaluations of advertised benefits and inferences or expectations of unavailable attributes. Specifically, this study details the implications of congruence between the suggestive brand names and different types of attributes observable at different consumption stages.

Consumers' ethical shopping habits are of increasing interest, but there has been little discussion and development of the methods used to research them. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the methodology employed for an empirical study of consumers' ethical concerns in buying clothes.

The paper adopts an interpretivist epistemology and interactive approach with the data collection and analysis rooted in grounded theory. More specifically, the study takes an ethnographic approach in the form of existential‐phenomenological interviews coupled with accompanied shopping.

The paper reflects on the use of observational methods in researching the role of ethics in consumer clothing choices and finds that they are invaluable in dealing with the challenges of defining ethics, social desirability bias and the problems involved with consumers translating their stated beliefs or intentions into action.

As a pilot study, the research is only conducted with six respondents. Future research should seek to investigate ways to overcome the challenges outlined in this paper; particularly that of social desirability bias.

There is a need for academics and marketing researchers to adopt innovative observational research methods to investigate ethical consumer behaviour.

Provides a reflection on a unique, emergent approach to researching ethical consumer behaviour. The findings of the research will be of value to anyone researching consumer ethics or buyer behaviour in retail, grounded theorists or those interested in qualitative interactive research techniques.

Marketers of new brands increasingly utilize complex names to draw consumers’ attention. Although complexity can make a brand stand out, whether it encourages or discourages consumers’ patronage intention remains unclear. To address this issue, the research explores the double-edged sword of brand name complexity on consumers’ patronage intention, mediated by uniqueness perception and psychological distance. It also examines the moderating effect of brand self-introduction.

Three between-subjects experimental studies were conducted across different scenarios and brands. In Study 1 (N = 151), a single-factor (simple name vs complex name) between-subject design examined the mediating effect of uniqueness perception between brand name complexity and consumers’ patronage intention. Study 2 (N = 112) replicated this design to test the mediating effect of psychological distance. Study 3 (N = 231) conducted a 2 (simple vs complex name) × 2 (no introduction vs self-introduction) between-subject design to test the moderating effect.

The results indicate that a complex brand name (vs simple) can make the brand appear more unique, thereby increasing patronage intention. However, complexity also creates a sense of psychological distance, which can reduce patronage intention. Further, our results reveal that brand self-introduction can attenuate the association between brand name complexity and psychological distance.

This research extends brand name strategy literature by addressing the dual impact of brand name complexity on patronage intention, particularly emphasizing the impact of brand name complexity on psychological distance for a new brand. Additionally, the findings offer practical insights for marketers, highlighting that brand self-introduction is a key strategy to reduce psychological distance. This underscores the importance of balancing complexity with clear and effective communication.

The purpose of this paper is to examine factors affecting the development of brand attitudes and brand behavior among children aged seven to 12.

The study involved a literature review investigating the theoretical models underlying studies of brand attitude development among children and empirical studies of brand attitude development, and an empirical study using a questionnaire administered to a sample of 221 Cypriot children.

Cypriot children are found to have high awareness of internationally famous brands. The principal influences on children's brand attitudes are older siblings, parents, and close friends. Brand attitudes are the principal influence on brand behavior (brand requesting and brand buying). Age is found to be an important factor affecting brand buying decisions, with older children more likely than younger children to buy brands.

Generalization of the results beyond the population from which the sample was drawn should be undertaken with caution. Further research in geographically and culturally close regions would extend this research.

Cognitive development is very rapid in this age group, and marketers should segment for age. Younger children are more influenced by intra-family socialization factors, older children more by extra-family socialization factors.

The study investigated the relatively under-explored pre-teen age group, and examined children across a sufficiently wide age range to encompass different stages in models of child cognitive development. The research context (a Mediterranean country) is also original.