Ahmed Eldegwy, Tamer H. Elsharnouby and Wael Kortam
The purpose of this paper is to integrate branding and higher education literature to conceptualize, develop, and empirically examine a model of university social augmenters’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to integrate branding and higher education literature to conceptualize, develop, and empirically examine a model of university social augmenters’ brand equity.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on an empirical survey of 401 undergraduate students enrolled in private universities in Egypt, this study model was tested using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings reveal that university social augmenters’ reputation, coach-to-student interactions, and student-to-student interactions influence students’ satisfaction with social augmenters. The results also suggest that students satisfied with university social augmenters are more likely to exhibit outcomes of brand equity – namely, brand identification, willingness to recommend, and willingness to incur an additional premium cost.
Practical implications
The results offer managerial implications for university administrators in their quest to enrich students’ university experiences and build strong sub-brands within the university setting. University social augmenters are found to have strong brand equity manifestations and may hold the potential to differentiate university brands in an industry dominated by experience and credence.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the extant literature by filling two gaps in university branding literature. First, previous research has never unified separate streams of literature related to augmented services and brand equity. Second, limited conceptual and empirical research on university branding in general and university social augmentation in particular has been conducted in emerging markets, which has resulted in conceptual ambiguity for the key factors constructing students’ university social experiences.
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Dalia Sedky, Wael Kortam and Ehab AbouAish
The purpose of this study is to examine how sports marketing can attract audiences towards less popular sports.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how sports marketing can attract audiences towards less popular sports.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 22 interviews were conducted first to explore the opinions of sports professionals about how audiences can be attracted towards less popular sports. Then 479 responses to an online questionnaire were collected. The online questionnaire includes a pretest-posttest experiment in which each respondent has watched a video. Confirmatory factor analysis, reliability test and hierarchical regression analysis have been performed.
Findings
The elements of sports marketing that can help to attract audiences towards less popular sports are sports media, sports advertising, star athlete and sports sponsorship. The performance of national teams moderates the relationship between sports advertising and attraction towards less popular sports.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, a definition of sustainable sports marketing is introduced for the first time. Sustainable sports marketing can be defined as the continuous implementation of marketing activities in the sports context to ensure the continuous existence of the sports themselves (all types of sports) and the prosperity of future generations. Elements that can attract audiences towards less popular sports have been examined for the first time.
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Salah S. Hassan, Stephen Craft and Wael Kortam
This study introduces a hybrid approach to segmentation of global markets. It examines an integrated inventory of macro‐ and micro‐bases associated with segmentation of world…
Abstract
This study introduces a hybrid approach to segmentation of global markets. It examines an integrated inventory of macro‐ and micro‐bases associated with segmentation of world markets. The paper calls for a universal perspective on market segmentation to aid global marketers in identifying similarities across national boundaries while assessing within‐country differences. The main conclusion of this research is augmentation of the argument that a hybrid/universal market segmentation strategy should serve as the conceptual link and action mechanism that provides substance and rationale to striking a trade‐off between the two indispensable global strategy ends of standardization and adaptation. This balanced relationship can only be created when focus is devoted to building brand equity through emphasizing a global consumer orientation.
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Maha Mourad, Christine Ennew and Wael Kortam
The potential to provide customers with information about experience and credence qualities in advance of purchase has resulted in widespread recognition of the significance of…
Abstract
Purpose
The potential to provide customers with information about experience and credence qualities in advance of purchase has resulted in widespread recognition of the significance of brands in relation to consumer choice in the service sector. Arguably, what is of particular significance in this process is brand equity – the value that the consumer ascribes to the brand. The main objective of this research is to enhance academic understanding of brand equity in the higher education (HE) sector and explore the implications for management practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative data collected via a self‐completion survey are used to test a model of brand equity in the context of HE. The empirical setting is Egypt which, following liberalization, has a mixture of public and private provision and an increasingly competitive environment. It provides an example of an emerging market where building brand equity is likely to be an important component of organizational strategy.
Findings
The results provide partial support for the proposed conceptual model, with image‐related determinants of brand equity being far more significant than awareness‐related determinants.
Practical implications
For those involved in marketing service brands, the asymmetric impact of various determinants of brand equity provides guidance on how and where to focus marketing efforts.
Originality/value
The distinctive contribution of this research arises from the examination of brand equity in the context of an emerging service sector market with a mix of public and private provision.
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Mariam Mourad Hussein Abou-Youssef, Wael Kortam, Ehab Abou-Aish and Noha El-Bassiouny
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of Islamic religiosity on consumer attitudes toward Islamic banking in Egypt.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of Islamic religiosity on consumer attitudes toward Islamic banking in Egypt.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, employing both qualitative in-depth interviews and quantitative surveys.
Findings
The main findings of the study show that religiosity has an impact on consumer attitudes toward Islamic banking in Egypt. Major religiosity clusters were identified from the sample and these were associated with attitudes toward Islamic banking.
Practical implications
The findings of this research are of practical importance for marketers in Islamic banks, as they reflect on the likely role religiosity would play in shaping the attitudes of potential customers toward their products. Thus, marketers can use the religiosity scale in measuring intention to use their banking services.
Originality/value
The study was implemented in Egypt, where the volume of research on this topic is very limited; thus the context of the study is of value to researchers and practitioners and it can serve as a base for future studies in the Middle East region.