Bring the Real-World Digital Marketing Experience to Classroom: Google Online Marketing Challenge

Experiential learning is a process of learning through experience and reflection. It is different from the traditional didactic learning, in which students read or are told about others\u27 experiences of the subject. In many university classrooms, faculty members have incorporated hands-on projects to stimulate learning experience. However, experience doesn\u27t always lead to experiential learning. A well-designed experiential learning can produce benefits such as 1) enhancing deep learning, 2) ensuring engagement, and 3) developing employable skills. The students who enrolled in an advanced e-Commerce course participated in the Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC), in which each team used $250 provided from Google on helping small business clients to promote their businesses. Incorporating the GOMC project in class produced the aforementioned benefits of experiential learning. The experiential learning activity seems to be a promising pedagogy to engage students and prepare them to be the future workforce of fashion marketing and branding in this Internet era

Religiosity, Faith Driven Consumption, and Apparel Shopping Orientation

Faith driven consumers refer to devout Christian consumers whose consumption and shopping behavior is strongly influenced by Christian values and worldviews (Faithnomics.com, 2012). This segment of consumers accounts for 17% of the US population, or 41 million people. By size, it is similar to the Hispanic segment of the market; however, with $1.75 trillion, the annual spending power of this segment is 75% more than that of the Hispanic segment (Faithnomics.com, 2012). Strong moral and Christian values rather than simple consumer needs drive their purchase decisions in the marketplace. In this study, the authors define the consumption behavior based on the biblical views and teachings as faith driven consumption (FDC)

Religiosity and Store Choice Criteria: Exploring Christian Consumers’ Apparel Shopping Behavior in the United States

Religiosity is “the degree to which a person adheres to his or her religious values, beliefs, and practices, and uses them in daily live” (Worthington et al., 2003, p.85). As a key element of culture, religion not only affects a society’s value system and provides conduct code to its believers, but also affects consumers’ consumption and shopping behavior (e.g. Bailey and Sood, 1993). It is a relatively new subject in marketing and consumer behavior research. Limited studies have investigated the effect of religiosity on retail patronage behavior; even fewer have focused on the US markets. However, the United States is a highly religious country with 76% of US adults being Christians (US Census, 2012). Therefore, religiosity might have been an important affecting factor in US markets

Love Language Scale in Retail Service Environment: An Exploratory Study

In this study, Chapman\u27s five love languages are adapted to create a scale in the retail service context. According to Chapman (1992), most humans use one (or two) of the five love languages, namely words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch, to communicate and receive love, which ultimately helps to maintain relationships. The theory of relational maintenance (Dindia & Canary, 1993), which states that certain maintenance behaviors (e.g. love languages) are used to sustain desired relational features, also supports Chapman\u27s claims. The study was designed to develop a reliable and valid self-report measurement of the love-language scale in the retail service environment to measure the retailer-customer relationship

The Effects of Celebrity-Brand Congruence and Publicity on Consumer Attitudes, Buying Intention, and Loyalty

Celebrities have been used for decades as a marketing tool to endorse brands or products. However, once a direct link has been formed from a celebrity to a brand, the negative information about the celebrity may reflect back on to the endorsed brand. Applying the balance theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of celebrity-brand congruence and publicity on consumers\u27 attitudes toward the celebrity and brand as well as their buying intention and loyalty. A survey with 2(congruence vs. incongruence)×2(positive vs. negative publicity) experimental design was conducted and a total of 105 usable data from generation Y female consumers were collected. The study revealed that consumers tend to like and be loyal to the brand/product when there is a celebrity-brand congruence and positive publicity. Interestingly, the congruence was found to be more important influencer to motivate consumers to purchase a brand than publicity

Cruise passengers’ perception of key quality attributes of cruise lines in North America

This study identified cruise passengers’ perceived importance and performance of quality attributes for cruise lines in North America by utilizing an importance–performance analysis tool. The results concluded that: (a) room temperature, behavior of other passengers, food and beverages, and accommodation require immediate attention from cruise line operators; (b) the cruise lines are succeeding in providing excellent services for their customers, as well as maintaining a high level of overall shipboard cleanliness; and (c) cruise marketing efforts should promote the attractiveness of onboard activities and facilities, including entertainment, recreation and sports facilities, fitness and health facilities, supplementary facilities, and facilities for children. Overall, the results of this study help cruise lines identify which onboard attributes need more attention and determine the areas that may be consuming too many resources

The Effect of Behavioral Tracking Practices on Consumers’ Shopping Evaluations and Repurchase Intention toward Trusted Online Retailers

The study applies the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model and Social Contract Theory to investigate the effect of behavioral practices scenarios (stimulus) on consumers’ evaluations of their online shopping experiences (internal organism) and repurchase intention toward online retailers (external response). The findings suggest there is a disconnect between online shoppers and their trusted online retailers regarding the information collected from online shoppers since, currently, sharing of information collected from customers within affiliates or even with third-party companies such as networking advertising associations for secondary uses (e.g. targeted advertising) is a fairly common practice in the marketing field. Left unresolved, this disconnect may undermine consumers’ repurchase intention toward the retailers and potentially injure the social contract between retailers and their customers. These findings are significant for the online retailing industry, consumers and public policy makers

Pathways to care in first-episode psychosis in low-resource settings: Implications for policy and practice.

Developing countries such as India face a major mental health care gap. Delayed or inadequate care can have a profound impact on treatment outcomes. We compared pathways to care in first episode psychosis (FEP) between North and South India to inform solutions to bridge the treatment gap. Cross-sectional observation study of 'untreated' FEP patients (n = 177) visiting a psychiatry department in two sites in India (AIIMS, New Delhi and SCARF, Chennai). We compared duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), first service encounters, illness attributions and socio-demographic factors between patients from North and South India. Correlates of DUP were explored using logistic regression analysis (DUP ≥ 6 months) and generalised linear models (DUP in weeks). Patients in North India had experienced longer DUP than patients in South India (β = 17.68, p < 0.05). The most common first encounter in North India was with a faith healer (45.7%), however, this contact was not significantly associated with longer DUP. Visiting a faith healer was the second most common first contact in South India (23.6%) and was significantly associated with longer DUP (Odds Ratio: 6.84; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.77, 26.49). Being in paid employment was significantly associated with shorter DUP across both sites. Implementing early intervention strategies in a diverse country like India requires careful attention to local population demographics; one size may not fit all. A collaborative relationship between faith healers and mental health professionals could help with educational initiatives and to provide more accessible care. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.