André W Böhler, Troy W Heffernan and Paul J Hewson
This study examines professional soccer sponsorship as a business-to-business relationship and explores key dimensions of sponsorship success in the context of the English Premier…
Abstract
This study examines professional soccer sponsorship as a business-to-business relationship and explores key dimensions of sponsorship success in the context of the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga. The findings suggest that commitment, satisfaction and cooperation positively influence the success of sponsorships; trust and effective communication do not emerge as significant variables. The implications for soccer clubs and sponsors are discussed and avenues for further research are suggested.
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Robert J. Angell, Troy W. Heffernan and Phil Megicks
Measuring service quality in higher education is increasingly important for attracting and retaining tuition‐based revenues. Nonetheless, whilst undergraduates have received…
Abstract
Purpose
Measuring service quality in higher education is increasingly important for attracting and retaining tuition‐based revenues. Nonetheless, whilst undergraduates have received substantial academic exposure, postgraduate‐based research has been scant. Consequently, the objectives of this paper are threefold: first, to identify the service factors used by postgraduates in their quality evaluations. Second, to analyse the appropriateness of importance‐performance analysis (IPA) in the measurement of service quality and, final, to provide a working example of IPA's application in a UK‐based university.
Design/methodology/approach
Convergent interviews were used to elicit attributes of service that were deemed important by taught postgraduate students. These findings were then tested using an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis was used to group the service attributes into latent “service factors”. Each service factor was then tested for service quality using Martilla and James's IPA technique.
Findings
About 20 service attributes were educed from the qualitative stage. From these, four service factors emerged; being, academic, leisure, industry links and cost. Using IPA in a UK university, the findings suggest that the “academic” and “industry links” aspects of service quality are the most critical to postgraduates. The paper's conclusions suggest that IPA is an appropriate tool for measuring service quality in postgraduate education.
Practical implications
Through the application of the IPA framework presented in this research, practitioners can successfully identify areas of service priority and thus allocate appropriate resources to encourage continuous service improvement.
Originality/value
This research provides a valuable insight into the service quality needs of the UK postgraduate segment and also a potential conceptual framework for policy makers to use when evaluating their service delivery.
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Troy Heffernan, Luke Macaulay and Lynn Bosetti
During the latter-half of the twentieth century, researchers argued that the notion of universities being communities of scholars that were governed by scholars had been replaced…
Abstract
During the latter-half of the twentieth century, researchers argued that the notion of universities being communities of scholars that were governed by scholars had been replaced by a mass-market higher education system. The new system is shaped by competition for students, a need to be budget conscious and, ultimately, a requirement for university leaders to be able to approach their work with a certain level of business acumen. This chapter examines what these pressures mean for those working at the middle level of university leadership, when they are increasingly appointed on managerial expertise but make decisions about academics and their work. Using Bourdieu's notions of fields to dissect these relationships, the chapter uses semi-structured interviews with faculty deans to examine how their work is guided by managerialist targets but impacts on their relationships with academics. The chapter highlights that, while the sector has acknowledged that successful leaders do not always need research profiles in the modern university, this often has a negative impact on leaders' relationships with academics.
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Troy Heffernan, Stephen Wilkins and Muhammad Mohsin Butt
The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the critical relational variables of university reputation, student trust and student-university identification…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the critical relational variables of university reputation, student trust and student-university identification influence student behaviour towards transnational education partnerships.
Design/methodology/approach
Students undertaking British degrees at two transnational partnership locations (Hong Kong, n=203 and Sri Lanka, n=325) completed a quantitative survey questionnaire. A conceptual model was developed and tested using structural equation modelling.
Findings
University reputation and student trust were found to be significant predictors of student identification with each partner institution, and student-university identification was a significant predictor of student satisfaction, loyalty and extra-role behaviours towards both the local and foreign educational organisations.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that student relationship management strategies should focus on strengthening the higher education institution’s reputation, and increasing the students’ trust and identification with the institution. Moreover, universities should also assess potential partners for these qualities when entering into transnational education partnerships.
Originality/value
Drawing on theories of social and organisational identification, this is the first study to consider student-university identification as the linchpin between the exogenous constructs of reputation and trust, and the endogenous constructs of student satisfaction, loyalty and extra-role behaviours in both the international education and international business literatures.
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Ben Charters, Matthew Daly and Troy Heffernan
This article discusses research addressing apartment owners’ reluctance to adopt solar photovoltaic (PV) technology by focusing on factors directly relevant to strata property…
Abstract
Purpose
This article discusses research addressing apartment owners’ reluctance to adopt solar photovoltaic (PV) technology by focusing on factors directly relevant to strata property owners. The research utilised a motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA)-based conceptual model and market segmentation, identifying discrete segments within this population with regards to their attitudes to solar PV adoption and informing solar PV adoption interventions tailored to each.
Design/methodology/approach
The research utilised a tailored survey distributed to strata property owners. To identify segments within the resulting 547-respondent sample, latent class analysis and k-means cluster analysis were performed.
Findings
Data analysis revealed three discrete segments within this sample: “Frustrated Advocates”, who are highly supportive of strata solar but are less likely to consider it feasible for their particular strata scheme and who might respond to an ongoing collaborative intervention; “Passive Supporters”, who are more confident that strata solar would be feasible for their scheme but less enthusiastic in their personal support; and “Older Avoiders”, who are indifferent to strata solar in principle, unwilling to support it in practice, and who might require a carrot-and-stick approach that recognises their actual motivations.
Research limitations/implications
The research does not test interventions targeting the identified segments. However, its findings can inform tailored interventions and subsequent case studies, and influence broader research into multi-stakeholder decision-making.
Practical implications
This article proposes intervention strategies based on the segments' identified characteristics, to encourage and support adoption of solar PV in existing strata properties.
Social implications
This article could help strata property owners and their tenants to access an important form of renewable energy.
Originality/value
Through the application of an MOA-based model, this article enhances extant literature by enabling the conceptualisation of the directly relevant factors facing strata property owners seeking to adopt solar PV, particularly the need for collective approval from diverse stakeholders, and demonstrates how a segmentation-based methodology can provide robust findings with regards to their resulting attitudes.
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Ben Charters and Troy Heffernan
This paper addresses the current lack of solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption by Australian apartment dwellers by proposing a conceptual model that identifies and integrates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper addresses the current lack of solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption by Australian apartment dwellers by proposing a conceptual model that identifies and integrates the factors influencing owners' attitudes towards PV adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual model, which this paper terms the apartment-based solar adoption (ASA) model, is developed by applying motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) theory to relevant findings in property development, green energy and strata governance literature.
Findings
The ASA model demonstrates the process by which an apartment-owning consumer may progress from considering solar PV adoption to recommending the action to their strata property's Owners' Committee (OC). It incorporates three motivational drivers (pragmatic considerations, perceived values and perceived social norms), three conditional mediators (location accessibility, resource availability and decision-making conditions) and three requirements from the consumer (actual and perceived knowledge, the ability to participate in decision-making and social connections and status).
Research limitations/implications
This article contributes originality to research on two counts. Firstly, it provides a conceptual framework of specific relevance to issues concerning solar PV adoption, and secondly, it offers a systematic means for research into strata governance decision-making. Further research is required to develop the means with which to utilise the model prescriptively and measure longitudinal effects, such as ongoing trends in apartment owners' motivations. Further research is also recommended into how the ASA model may be utilised to identify generalisable consumer typologies among apartment owners.
Practical implications
The ASA model may assist building maintenance providers in developing and marketing solar PV services tailored to apartment residents' requirements and enhance strata managers' ability to inform and guide apartment owners. In turn, property developers would be able to review apartment-based solar projects, measure their increased value and decreased energy costs and incorporate this information when planning future developments.
Social implications
The ASA model may provide a template for apartment owners and owners' corporations considering solar PV for their property. Public policymakers could also refer to the model to incentivise apartment-based solar PV adoption, whether through designing local information campaigns, developing financial incentives or mitigating identified regulatory barriers. By facilitating solar PV adoption in Australian apartment housing, the model may ensure sustainable post-carbon energy consumption for Australia's housing stock and act as an example for high-density housing development internationally.
Originality/value
The ASA model addresses the many drivers and barriers known to affect solar PV adoption by apartment owners, presenting a framework on which to arrange these factors and outline their causal relationships. This framework may inform strata properties' future solar PV adoption initiatives by incorporating their specific physical characteristics, stakeholder dynamics and institutional structure. It also consolidates and provides generalisability to the concepts established in current literature.
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Ben Charters, Troy Heffernan and Matthew Daly
This paper aims to examine a situation in which individual action requires collective approval – solar power adoption in strata properties – and offers a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine a situation in which individual action requires collective approval – solar power adoption in strata properties – and offers a motivation-opportunity-ability theory-based model with which such a situation may be approached.
Design/methodology/approach
A Delphi methodology was undertaken for this study, with three iterative questionnaires administered online to a panel of strata property, renewable energy and sustainable housing experts.
Findings
The Delphi panel’s insights have informed a new conceptual model, the Strata Solar Champion Roadmap (SSCR), outlining the variables affecting strata-based solar power adoption.
Research limitations/implications
Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to test and enhance the model’s generalisability. Further case studies or quantitative analysis measuring the strength of the relationships identified in the SSCR model is particularly necessary. The SSCR could also be applied when examining other common strata governance disputes.
Practical implications
Policymakers and social marketers are encouraged to apply the SSCR when planning interventions to facilitate strata scheme solar power adoption. Furthermore, the SSCR offers guidance to strata property owners and strata schemes seeking to adopt solar power, thus increasing renewable energy use in a major sector of the Australian energy market.
Originality/value
Within this context, the SSCR’s conceptualisation of strata-based solar PV adoption provides new insights into individual behaviour change requiring collective approval.
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Michael Mehmet, Troy Heffernan, Jennifer Algie and Behnam Forouhandeh
The purpose of this paper is to examine how upstream social marketing can benefit from using social media commentary to identify cognitive biases. Using reactions to leading…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how upstream social marketing can benefit from using social media commentary to identify cognitive biases. Using reactions to leading media/news publications/articles related to climate and energy policy in Australia, this paper aims to understand underlying community cognitive biases and their reasonings.
Design/methodology/approach
Social listening was used to gather community commentary about climate and energy policy in Australia. This allowed the coding of natural language data to determine underlying cognitive biases inherent in the community. In all, 2,700 Facebook comments were collected from 27 news articles dated between January 2018 and March 2020 using exportcomments.com. Team coding was used to ensure consistency in interpretation.
Findings
Nine key cognitive bias were noted, including, pessimism, just-world, confirmation, optimum, curse of knowledge, Dunning–Kruger, self-serving, concision and converge biases. Additionally, the authors report on the interactive nature of these biases. Right-leaning audiences are perceived to be willfully uninformed and motivated by self-interest; centric audiences want solutions based on common-sense for the common good; and left-leaning supporters of progressive climate change policy are typically pessimistic about the future of climate and energy policy in Australia. Impacts of powerful media organization shaping biases are also explored.
Research limitations/implications
Through a greater understanding of the types of cognitive biases, policy-makers are able to better design and execute influential upstream social marketing campaigns.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates that observing cognitive biases through social listening can assist upstream social marketing understand community biases and underlying reasonings towards climate and energy policy.
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Troy Heffernan, Grant O'Neill, Tony Travaglione and Marcelle Droulers
The two aims of this paper are to explore the development of trust for relationships between staff and customers in the banking sector and to investigate possible links between…
Abstract
Purpose
The two aims of this paper are to explore the development of trust for relationships between staff and customers in the banking sector and to investigate possible links between financial performance of relationship manager and their levels of emotional intelligence (EI) and trust.
Design/methodology/approach
An internet survey was undertaken, where respondents were asked to complete an EI test and questions relating to trusting behaviour. These data were integrated with financial performance data supplied by the bank. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analysis was used to identify links.
Findings
Trust was found to be made up of three components: dependability; knowledge; and expectations. Further, there were significant correlations between both trust and EI, when compared to the financial performance of a relationship manager.
Research limitations/implications
The methods used by the bank to collect performance data have limited the analysis that could be conducted.
Practical implications
Increased awareness by the relationship managers of their own emotions, and how they perceive and act upon the emotions of others, should favourably impact financial performance.
Originality/value
This paper is an important initial step in highlighting the significance of EI and trust in the relationship marketing/selling arena.
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The purpose of this paper is to focus on the critical, yet under‐researched dimension of relationship development, being interpersonal liking. Liking has been found to positively…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the critical, yet under‐researched dimension of relationship development, being interpersonal liking. Liking has been found to positively influence relationship success. However, these issues have not been extensively explored in the banking sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study methodology was adopted for this research. The unit of analysis used was the relationship dyad that exists between a business lender at a major international bank and their customer. Ten case studies were conducted with a range of techniques in an attempt to increase the reliability and validity of the findings.
Findings
Findings suggest that the interplay between similarities, communication, professionalism, trust and personality are the driving forces leading to interpersonal liking in business lender‐customer relationships. Further, the outcomes of interpersonal liking emerged as increased commitment and cooperation in the relationship and a growth in business referrals for the bank lender. These findings contribute to the limited theory on interpersonal liking.
Research limitations/implications
Several limitations emerged due to the nature of the research undertaken. These include the examination of relationships in only one major bank in Australia and the research undertaken uses cross‐sectional not longitudinal data.
Practical implications
These findings have implications for human resource management policies when recruiting personnel in relationship development rolls in the banking sector. Further, training programs aimed at developing interpersonal liking skills could be fashioned. Finally, dissemination of these findings in the banking sector would allow the important concept of interpersonal liking to gain more academic and practical attention.
Originality/value
This paper identifies what interpersonal liking is. Findings for three research questions are presented followed by an explanation of the methodology adopted.