A Bibliometrics Portrait of Chinese Research through the Lens of China Economic Review. A research proposal.

Notwithstanding, in the last two decades, there has been a noticeable increase in published work on the research field of Chinese economy. There are few studies, which analyze the evolution of Chinese economics research, and the weight of international economics within it, by resorting to objective methods, namely bibliometrics. Giving our focus on Chinese economics related research, we select to base our empirical analysis on the “seed journal” China Economic Review (CER), which is the most important economic journal especially concerned with the issues of Chinese economy. We classify and assess all the (522) articles that were published in CER from its genesis (1989) up to December 2010. We construct three main databases: the first database as bibliographic database that contains the more than 500 articles published in CER, where we classify articles by themes (such as Macroeconomics, Microeconomics and International Economics) and types(such as formal vs. empirical); the second database includes the references of those 500 articles, which we denominate ‘roots of Chinese economics research’; and the third database, the ‘influence of Chinese economics research’, where we have all the studies that cited (more than 3000 references) the 500 articles published in CER. By undertaking an exploratory statistical analysis on the three databases - bibliographic database, ‘roots’ database and ‘influence’ database, we are able to assess three main group of issues: 1) the importance, within Chinese economics of the topic ‘international economic’; the types of research that are pursued in the period of analysis (formal vs empirical); and the most prolific authors in the area; 2) the ‘roots’ of Chinese economics, that is, who and which outlets are influencing most Chinese economics research; 3) the scope of influence of Chinese economics literature.Evolution of research, Economics, Bibliometrics, China Economic Review

Consumer brand relationships: the determinants of brand loyalty in the context of football clubs

The present research resides within the field of consumer brand relationships and is grounded in the Service dominant logic (S-D logic) marketing stance as framework. Following the realisation of a lack of works in this novel marketing approach addressing the area of emotions with service brands, the present research aims to fill this gap by achieving a more comprehensive knowledge of the underlying components responsible for the occurrence of brand loyalty with emotion-laden brands, and for the emotional consequences and attitudes the supporters of the brand are faced with. This was addressed by following an exploratory approach on a single industry (i.e. football) in the European context. Where, the primary unit of analysis of this research is the individual as a resource integrator/beneficiary as part of a wider social network engaged with the brand. Integrating the emerging view on consumer brand relationship theory where brands are dynamic and actively co-created entities that evolve with consumers and cultures in kind (Allen et al., 2008) and in line with theoretical framework of this research, S-D logic. Therefore, a bibliometric study was initially carried out on the S-D logic literature, followed by a critical review of the research areas that underpinned this research, which collectively defined the implementation of the subsequent research stages. Resulting in a mix methods approach, comprising of a qualitative study with 46 interviews on three Portuguese football clubs and a quantitative study with 842 respondents across six European countries. A service brand model is proposed where brand loyalty is built from the interaction of the five constructs identified (brand associations, involvement, satisfaction, emotional attachment, and trust), with emotional attachment representing a crucial construct. Providing brand managers, the knowledge on how to improve the level of relationship between the organisation and its consumers. Moreover, this research brings to the forefront of S-D logic research the consumer brand relationship realm, more specifically the concept of emotions with service brands.O presente estudo integra-se na teoria dos relacionamentos do consumidor com a marca, tendo a lógica dominante de serviço (lógica D-S) como enquadramento. Dado que existe uma escassez de estudos relativamente às emoções para com as marcas de serviço nesta singular abordagem do marketing, o presente estudo pretende reduzir esta lacuna através da aquisição de um conhecimento mais abrangente dos componentes responsáveis pelo surgimento da lealdade para com marcas de cariz emocional, e que contribuem para níveis emocionais mais elevados em termos das atitudes e consequências dai resultantes para os apoiantes da marca. Estes aspetos foram considerados seguindo uma abordagem exploratória numa única industria, a do futebol num contexto europeu. Onde a principal unidade de analise desta pesquisa é o individuo como integrador/beneficiário envolvido com a marca, fazendo parte de uma network social mais abrangente. Incorporando a perspetiva emergente na teoria de relacionamento do consumidor com a marca onde as marcas são dinâmicas e são entidades cocriadas que evolvem com os consumidores e suas culturas (Allen et al., 2008) em linha com o enquadramento teórico desta pesquisa, lógica D-S. Consequentemente, um estudo bibliométrico da literatura referente à lógica dominante de serviço foi conduzido numa primeira fase, seguido de uma revisão critica das áreas de pesquisas que integram esta pesquisa, definindo a implementação das etapas de pesquisa subsequentes. Resultando numa abordagem de métodos mistos, correspondente a um estudo qualitativo com 46 entrevistas referentes a três clubes Portugueses de futebol e um estudo quantitativo com 842 inquiridos em seis países Europeus. Um modelo de marca de serviço é proposto onde a lealdade à marca é construída com base na interação de cinco construtos identificados (associações à marca, envolvimento, satisfação, ligação emocional, e confiança), de onde a ligação emocional se evidencia como um construto crucial. Permitindo aos gestores de marcas o conhecimento de como incrementar o nível de relacionamento entre a organização e os seus consumidores. Acresce o facto de que esta pesquisa salienta a relevância empírica da área de relacionamento do consumidor com a marca, em particular o conceito das emoções com marcas de serviço, na literatura referente à logica dominante de serviço