An investigation on effects of perceived value on brand popularity and brand loyalty: A B2B case study

This research evaluates the effect of perceived value on brand popularity and brand loyalty for some organizations in business-to-business (B2B) domain under the effect of risk and e-service quality. The practical relationships among six different kinds of risks including performance, social, financial, time, psychological and safety with consideration of quality in e-commerce business on customer’s perceived value are evaluated and the effects of this perception of value on consequences of perceived value are measured. In this study, using the partial least square method as well as gathering the information of some Iranian firms that use electronic services, the study finds that there was a significant relationship between various types of risks and perceived value. There is also considerable influence of perceived value on satisfaction, brand popularity, and brand loyalty

Exploring an Objective Weighting System for Travel & Tourism Pillars

AbstractThe World Economic Forum employs Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Indexes (TTCI) to measure the travel & tourism (T&T) global competitiveness of a country. The TTCI overall scores are calculated with an arithmetic mean aggregation from the scores of the fourteen composite pillars with a subjective assumption of all the pillars having the same weights. This paper attempts to release such a subjective assumption by proposing a new solution framework to explore an objective weighting system for the pillars. The proposed solution framework employs the Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering algorithm to group the 139 ranked countries into three classes and then performs the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analysis to explore the objective weighting system for the fourteen pillars. The results show that tourism infrastructure, ground transport infrastructure, air transport infrastructure, cultural resources, health and hygiene, and ICT infrastructure are the six most critical pillars contributing to the TTCI overall scores. Accordingly, the policy makers should allocate limited resources with priority to improve these six pillars to frog leap the T&T global competitiveness

Toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği daha iyi işleyen ekonomilere yol açar mı? Bayes nedensellik ağları analizi

This study explores the existence of relationships between gender inequalities –represented by the components of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index– and the major macroeconomic indicators. The relationships within gender inequalities in education, the labour market, health and the political arena, and between gender inequalities and gross macroeconomic aggregates were modelled with the Bayesian Causal Map, an effective tool that is used to analyze cause-effect relations and conditional dependencies between variables. A data set of 128 countries during the period 2007–2011 is used. Findings reveal that some inequalities have high levels of interaction with each other. In addition, eradicating gender inequalities is found to be associated with better economic performance, mainly in the form of higher gross domestic product growth, investment, and competitiveness.Bu çalışmada Dünya Ekonomik Forumu (WEF) Küresel Cinsiyet Farkı İndeksi‘nin bileşenleri kullanılarak cinsiyet eşitsizliği ile temel makro ekonomik göstergeler arasında bir ilişki olup olmadığı incelenmektedir. Eşitsizlik, eğitim, işgücü piyasası, sağlık ve politika alanlarındaki cinsiyet eşitsizliği ile makroekonomik değişkenler arasındaki ilişkiler, değişkenler arası nedensel ilişkileri incelemek için etkin bir yöntem olarak tanımlanabilecek Bayes Nedensel Ağları yardımı ile modellenmiş ve incelenmiştir. Bunun için 2007-2011 dönemini kapsayan zaman aralığında 128 ülkenin verileri kullanılmıştır. Bulgular bazı alanlardaki eşitsizliklerin yüksek düzeyde birbiri ile ilişkisi olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Öte yandan, cinsiyet eşitsizliklerinin ortadan kaldırılmasının, özellikle ülkelerin GSMH, yatırımlar ve rekabet düzeyi açısından daha iyi ekonomik sonuçlara yol açacağı saptanmaktadır

Does Gender Equality Lead to Better-Performing Economies? A Bayesian Causal Map Approach

This study explores the existence of relationships between genderinequalities –represented by the components of the World Economic Forum (WEF)Global Gender Gap Index– and the major macroeconomic indicators. Therelationships within gender inequalities in education, the labour market, health andthe political arena, and between gender inequalities and gross macroeconomicaggregates were modelled with the Bayesian Causal Map, an effective tool that is usedto analyze cause-effect relations and conditional dependencies between variables. Adata set of 128 countries during the period 2007–2011 is used. Findings reveal thatsome inequalities have high levels of interaction with each other. In addition,eradicating gender inequalities is found to be associated with better economicperformance, mainly in the form of higher gross domestic product growth, investment,and competitiveness

A decision support methodology to enhance the competitiveness of the Turkish automotive industry

This is the post-print (final draft post-refereeing) version of the article. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Three levels of competitiveness affect the success of business enterprises in a globally competitive environment: the competitiveness of the company, the competitiveness of the industry in which the company operates and the competitiveness of the country where the business is located. This study analyses the competitiveness of the automotive industry in association with the national competitiveness perspective using a methodology based on Bayesian Causal Networks. First, we structure the competitiveness problem of the automotive industry through a synthesis of expert knowledge in the light of the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness indicators. Second, we model the relationships among the variables identified in the problem structuring stage and analyse these relationships using a Bayesian Causal Network. Third, we develop policy suggestions under various scenarios to enhance the national competitive advantages of the automotive industry. We present an analysis of the Turkish automotive industry as a case study. It is possible to generalise the policy suggestions developed for the case of Turkish automotive industry to the automotive industries in other developing countries where country and industry competitiveness levels are similar to those of Turkey

Analyzing two-way interaction between the competitiveness and logistics performance of countries

Logistics has crucial importance in national and international trade and, hence, in the development and competitiveness of a country. On the other hand, making investments in different pillars of competitiveness, such as infrastructure, higher education, etc., is expected to enhance logistics performance. In this study, this two-way interaction between the competitiveness and logistics performance of countries is investigated using a hybrid methodology. Initially, the causal directions between the competitiveness of countries and their logistics performance are established by using a Bayesian Net (BN). Subsequently, the cause-effect information gathered from the BN is taken as the input in a Partial Least Square (PLS) path model to highlight the competitiveness pillars that are more critical in contributing to countries’ logistics performance. As the last step, an importance performance map analysis (IPMA) is applied to specify the importance of the pillars that have a significant effect on logistics performance. As a result, a roadmap is provided to policymakers that specify which pillars to focus on, thus delivering a significant and immediate improvement in the logistics performance and highlighting which logistics performance indicators will lead to improvements in the competitiveness of the countries. An empirical study is conducted based on two basic indexes, as follows: (1) the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and its pillars are used to track the competitiveness performance, and (2) the Logistics performance Index (LPI) is used to analyze the logistics performance. According to the results, the most important GCI pillars that affect the logistics performance of a country are determined to be “Business Sophistication”, “Financial Market Development”, “Infrastructure” and “Good Market Efficiency” and “Higher Education and Training”. On the other hand, the improvement in the logistics performance index, in its turn, will especially influence the Market Size pillar of a country

Utjecaj marketinške strategije društvenih medija na korisnikovu namjeru sudjelovanja u odnosu na medijatorsku ulogu korisnikove percipirane vrijednosti

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to assess the effect of social media marketing strategy components on customer participation with organizations active in the Iranian insurance industry, taking into account the mediating role of value perceived by insurance service customers. Design/Methodology/Approach – This is an applied research study based on the objective and a descriptive survey. A questionnaire was used in the research to collect the research data among the customers of Iranian insurance companies. Fifteen insurance companies were randomly selected for the sample using the simple random sampling method. The respondents to the questionnaires were identified using a judgmental method. Findings and implications – The results of this study show that social media marketing strategy has a positive and significant effect on customer participation intention. The results also indicated that the perceived value of customers in the insurance industry plays a mediating role in the relationship between the social media marketing strategy and customer participation intention. Companies working in the insurance industry as well as other service-providing organizations can apply the findings of this research to enhance the level of participation of their customers and improve the performance of social media marketing in attracting customers. Limitations – Since this is an exploratory study, the research findings are limited to the specific sample, and thus, the results may change in the case of changes in the sample size. Also, different opinions about the research topic among members of the sample population can affect the research results to a certain extent. Originality – Proper analysis of the impact of social media marketing strategies on customer participation intention, and attention to the perceived value of customers when receiving insurance services, is crucial in improving the performance of insurance companies. This is the first time that research on the Iranian insurance industry was conducted for this purpose and the results can be very effective.Svrha – Glavna svrha studije jest procijeniti učinak komponenata marketinške strategije društvenih medija na sudjelovanje korisnika u uslugama u iranskoj industriji osiguranja, a s obzirom na medijatorsku ulogu percipirane vrijednosti korisnika usluge osiguranja. Metodološki pristup – Radi se o primijenjenom, opisnom anketnom istraživanju. Za prikupljanje podataka korišten je anketni upitnik. Statistički skup istraživanja činila su aktivna poduzeća u iranskoj industriji osiguranja. Metodom slučajnog uzorkovanja odabran je uzorak od 15 osiguravajućih poduzeća. Ispitanici koji su sudjelovali u anketnom istraživanju odabrani su na temelju prosudbe. Rezultati i implikacije – Rezultati studije otkrili su da marketinška strategija društvenih medija ima pozitivan i značajan učinak na namjeru sudjelovanja korisnika. Rezultati su također pokazali da percipirana vrijednost korisnika u industriji osiguranja igra posredničku ulogu u odnosu između marketinške strategije društvenih medija i namjere sudjelovanja korisnika. Poduzeća u industriji osiguranja, kao i druge uslužne organizacije, mogu koristiti zaključke ovog istraživanja kako bi unaprijedili razinu sudjelovanja korisnika usluga i poboljšali učinkovitost marketinga na društvenim medijima radi privlačenja korisnika usluga. Ograničenja – S obzirom da se radi o izviđajnom istraživanju, rezultati su ograničeni veličinom uzorka pa se mogu i promijeniti ako se promijeni veličina uzorka. Osim toga, različita mišljenja o temi istraživanja među ispitanicima mogu donekle utjecati na rezultate. Doprinos – Pravilna analiza utjecaja marketinških strategija društvenih medija na korisnikovu namjeru sudjelovanja, kao i njegovu pozornost na percipiranu vrijednost pri korištenju usluga osiguranja, presudni su za poboljšanje poslovanja osiguravajućih poduzeća. Ovo je prvi put da se u iranskoj osiguravajućoj industriji provodi istraživanje u tu svrhu, a dobiveni rezultati mogu biti korisni

ارائه الگویی ساختاری از علل و پیامدهای ایمنی روانی

هدف این تحقیق، بررسی علل و پیامدهای ایمنی روانی در کارکنان اداره کل میراث فرهنگی،گردشگری و صنایع دستی استان خراسان رضوی در قالب یک مدل مفهومی است. بدین منظور 101نفر از کارکنان این اداره به عنوان نمونه مورد مطالعه به شیوه نمونهگیری تصادفی ساده انتخاب شدندو از طریق پرسشنامه های توزیع شده میان آنها به گردآوری اطلاعات مورد نیاز پرداخته شد. به منظورتحلیل دادههای حاصله از مدل یابی معادلات ساختاری و روش حداقل مربعات جزئی توسط نرم افزارآماری پی ال اس بهره گرفته شد و نتایج حاصل از شاخصهای برازندگی مدل مفهومی، حاکی ازبرازش مناسب مدل تحقیق بود. با استفاده از تحلیل مسیر به منظور آزمون فرضیات مشخص گردید کهتمامی فرضیات مربوط به عوامل تأثیرگذار بر ایمنی روانی )اعتماد و هوش هیجانی( به جز حمایتاجتماعی مورد پذیرش قرار گرفتند و فرضیات مربوط به پیامدهای ایمنی روانی )رفتار شهروندی،رفتار یادگیری و تمایل به تسهیم دانش( نیز تأیید شدند. هم چنین، نشان داده شد که ایمنی روانی درروابط بین هوش هیجانی با رفتار شهروندی سازمانی و اعتماد با تمایل به تسهیم دانش، نقش واسط راایفا میکند

Where are We Standing and Where Should We Be Going? Gender and Climate Change Adaptation Behavior

peer reviewedClimate change poses as one of the greatest ethical challenges of the contemporary era and which is rapidly affecting all sectors and ecosystems, including natural ecosystems and human and social environments. The impacts on human societies, and societies’ ability to mitigate and adapt to these changes and to adhere to ethical principles are influenced by various factors, including gender. Therefore, this study aimed to design a model of climate change adaptation behavior among rice farmers in Mazandaran Province, northern Iran, based on gender analysis (IUCN, UNDP and GGCA in Training manual on gender and climate change, 2009) and using the developed model of protection motivation theory (Bockarjova and Steg in Glob Environ Change 28:276–288, 2014). For this purpose, 173 female and 233 male rice farmers in Mazandaran Province were selected through stratified random sampling. The results showed that threat and coping appraisal had positive and significant effects on climate change adaptation behavior in both groups. Additionally, men’s and women’s perceived severity had the greatest impact on threat appraisal, and response costs had the greatest impact on their coping appraisal of climate change. Given that climate change adaptation behavior has been largely dependent on the development of ethical principles and the behavior of men and women toward climate change and based on the research findings, some suggestions are recommended at the mega (international), macro (governmental and legislative), meso (related organizations) and micro (rice farmers) levels for male and female rice farmers to adapt to the climate change phenomenon

Myynnin rooli asiakkaiden suositteluissa

In business-to-business relationships, customer satisfaction and referrals as marketing measures have been widely studied. These concepts have been found to have positive effects on the value of their respective customers. However, when considering the focal role of sales force in complex business relationships, it is apparent that the importance of sales activities on customer referrals has been overlooked. The present study investigates this relationship by analyzing longitudinal sales activity data and respective Net Promoter Scores of 268 customers of a multinational business-to-business company using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling. The results show that the busier a salesperson is, the less probably his or her customers will refer the company to their network. However, when the activity is focused on only few different salespeople, the effect is contrary. Contrary to a hypothesis, the findings also reveal that the customers of an active and well-performing sales team are also less likely to refer. The results suggest that managers should focus sales efforts and adapt to customer-specific needs in relationship management.Yritysten välisissä asiakassuhteissa asiakastyytyväisyys ja suositteleminen ovat saaneet runsaasti huomiota markkinointikeinoina, ja näillä konsepteilla on todettu olevan positiivinen yhteys asiakkuuksien arvoon. Huolimatta myynnin merkittävästä roolista monimutkaisissa yritysten välisissä suhteissa, myynnin vaikutukset suositteluaktiivisuuteen on jätetty vähemmälle huomiolle. Tässä diplomityössä tutkitaan myyntityön yhteyttä suositteluaktiivisuuteen 268 asiakkaan Net Promoter Score -vastausten sekä monikansallisen yrityksille tuotteitaan ja palveluitaan markkinoivan yrityksen myyntiaktiviteettitietojen avulla. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin osittaisen pienimmän neliösumman (PLS) rakenneyhtälömallia. Diplomityön tulokset osoittavat selkeän yhteyden tutkittavien parametrien välillä: mitä kiireisempi myyjä on, sitä pienemmällä todennäköisyydellä hänen asiakkaansa päätyvät suosittelemaan yritystä verkostolleen. Toisaalta, kun aktiviteetit keskittyvät pienelle myyntiryhmälle, on vaikutus päinvastainen. Tutkimushypoteesin vastaisesti tuloksista ilmenee myös se, että aktiivisen ja tuloksellisen myyntiryhmän asiakkaat suosittelevat myös vähemmän todennäköisesti yritystä. Tulosten perusteella yritysten tulisi kohdentaa ja mukauttaa myyntitoimenpiteitään asiakassuhdekohtaisesti asiakkaan tarpeiden mukaan