University and Development: A Shared Commitment

Universities are undergoing significant transformation as a result of the information society and the globalisation process. This is provoking a series of changes in planning and in approaches to management, as well as giving rise to the need to measure results. Amongst the various missions of the University should be a commitment to development and to valuegeneration. Following an appraisal of the impact of Universities on their operating environment, a theoretical model is proposed and applied to a case study in which the University takes the lead on value-generation.Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00

Sensibilidad y elasticidad de las universidades españolas a los indicadores del Ranking de Shanghái (ARWU)

The Shanghai ranking (ARWU) is one of the best known and most influential, good proof is its presence in traditional and digital media when it is published every year. Due to its characteristics, it is one of the most used and referenced in university management. This work analyzes the sensitivity and elasticity of the indicators that comprise it, distinguishing between indicators of a personal and institutional nature. The analysis focuses on the Spanish universities among the thousand collected in 2021, showing those that are more and less sensitive and elastic to the different indicators, both in position and in score. In addition, five homogeneous groups of universities are identified based on their elasticity. This shows the great heterogeneity of the changes due to the elimination of each indicator and type of university. This is useful for benchmarking between universities and identifying improvement actions to manage presence in the ranking.El ranking de Shanghái (ARWU) es uno de los más conocidos e influyentes, buena prueba es su presencia en medios tradicionales y digitales cuando se publica cada año, siendo de los más utilizados y referenciados en la gestión universitaria. Este trabajo analiza la sensibilidad y la elasticidad de los indicadores que lo integran, distinguiendo entre indicadores de naturaleza personal e institucional. El análisis se centra en las universidades españolas dentro del millar recogidas en 2021. El resultado identifica, y cuantifica, las universidades más y menos sensibles y elásticas a los diferentes indicadores, tanto respecto a la posición como a la puntuación. Además se identifican cinco grupos homogéneos de universidades en función de su elasticidad. El estudio prueba la gran heterogeneidad de cada indicador para cada universidad. Esto es útil para realizar benchmarking entre universidades e identificar acciones de mejora para gestionar la presencia en el ranking

Actividad investigadora y contexto económico. El caso de las universidades públicas españolas

Universities’ R&D and innovation activity takes place within the economic and social context of a specific territory. This activity is multidimensional and its different dimensions may be unduly influenced by the economic context in which it is carried out. The present work analyses the research activity of Spanish public universities in the context of per capita GDP of their territories. The work examines data from 2002–2010 obtained from the IUNE observatory. The relationship between GDP and the different dimensions of research activity are analyzed: recognition, scientific activity, innovation, competitiveness and research training capacity. The results show that the economic context in which the activity takes place is not neutral and that there are significant correlations and linear relationships between per capita GDP and various dimensions of research activity. The significance is particularly notable once the dimensions are relativized according to the number of inhabitants. Statistically significant differences have also been found for different dimensions of research activity between universities located in territories with higher, or lower, per capita GDP.La actividad investigadora de las universidades se realiza en un contexto socio-económico y un territorio determinado. Sus dimensiones pueden verse condicionadas por dicho contexto. Este trabajo analiza la actividad investigadora de las universidades públicas presenciales españolas en relación con el PIB per cápita de su territorio, para datos de la primera década del siglo XXI obtenidos del Observatorio IUNE. Se analiza la relación entre PIB y las diferentes dimensiones de la actividad investigadora: reconocimiento, actividad científica, innovación, competitividad, y capacidad formativa. El contexto económico no es neutro y presenta correlaciones significativas, así como relaciones lineales entre el PIB pc y diversas dimensiones. Especialmente, la significación se constata para las dimensiones relativizadas por el número de profesores. En particular para la competitividad, capacidad formativa o actividad científica. En suma, hay diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre las universidades localizadas en los territorios más ricos frente a las de territorios menos ricos

Auditing the Marketing and Social Media Communication of Natural Protected Areas. How Marketing Can Contribute to the Sustainability of Tourism

Natural Protected Areas face the challenge of conciliating attractions with satisfaction of their different stakeholders without compromising their own resources. Marketing can play an important role to this challenge from a macromarketing perspective. No studies are found in the literature on the integral assessment of marketing practices in Natural Protected Areas. For the first time, it proposes a marketing audit in Natural Protected Areas to fill that gap applying the Importance-Performance Analysis matrix, useful in strategic decisions, through interviews with directors of Natural Protected Areas. The main strengths, weaknesses, and deficits in the application of marketing are identified. The presence of a restricted and biased attitude towards marketing was noted among directors. In addition, the marketing behaviour is studied in two of the main social networks (Twitter/Facebook), comparisons were established in the USA, Spain, Italy and Mexico, identifying behavioural profiles in five groups in accordance with the 26 indicators under analysis

Auditing Marketing and the Use of Social Media at Ski Resorts

Mountain and snow tourism are sectors of immense social and economic importance that are developed in an especially sensitive environmental context. A large part of this tourism is channeled through ski resorts. The literature on comparative studies of ski-resort management and, in particular, on marketing management, is limited. This study contributes knowledge on the application of marketing practiced at ski resorts. For the first time, an audit of marketing at ski resorts is performed through a quantitative survey at resorts in two countries (Spain and Italy). The importance–performance analysis (IPA) is used, which identifies both the strong and the weak points and the great deficits of marketing management at ski resorts from the perspective of their directors, to whom the questionnaire was addressed. The social media usage of the ski-stations is also analyzed, identifying different typologies of resorts in accordance with their performance against 11 indicators from Twitter and 15 from Facebook. Knowing the opinion of the visitors, the online and competitive strategy, and adapting to the legislative changes are the aspects to which the directors attach greater importance. The greatest deficits were linked to employee motivation and communication (internal and non-integrated). There are minor differences in Twitter and Facebook indicators between Spanish and Italian ski resorts. The turnover results of the ski resorts present more correlation with Facebook indicators than with Twitter ones. This analysis provides recommendations and implications for the management of ski resorts in the six dimensions of marketing under consideration. It, likewise, offers knowledge of the social-media-related behavior of resorts that are leaders on both Twitter and Facebook, for benchmarking purposes

The Tipping Point in the Status of Socially Responsible Consumer Behavior Research? A Bibliometric Analysis

Looking at the impact of society on the environment or, as we write this manuscript in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the scenes of consumers hoarding products, we wonder if consumers really do exhibit socially responsible consumer behaviors (SRCB). An initial literature review showed that few studies have addressed this issue, which creates opportunities for the development of new research lines. Furthermore, no study had examined the conceptual evolution or whether SRCB is a developed or fragmented theme from an exhaustive compilation of all previous academic research. To address the proposed research questions, we conducted a bibliometric analysis applied to a corpus of manuscripts on SRCB indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) bibliographic database, from its inception in 1991 up to 2019. Co-word analysis provided a structure of conceptual sub-domains classified based on their density and centrality. In addition, thematic networks were extracted that showed the important associations between the main issues that the SRCB community has addressed, which enabled the authors to examine the subject’s intellectual structuring over almost three decades. The findings showed that the research, over time, has focused most on corporate social responsibility (CSR), this being a motor theme between 2013 and 2016. In general, SRCB has been a very fragmented field of study, however in the last three years, it has developed into a distinct entity; in the past, it was basically addressed through CSR. The most productive thematic areas during the last 30 years have been: (a) Research into consumer attitude, (b) research on CSR, and (c) research on social and sustainable consumption behavior. In response to calls for greater theoretical clarification of the SRCB discipline, the authors providing experts and novices with a better understanding of the current state of the art and suggest future research directions.The authors are grateful for the financial assistance provided via the ADEMAR research group (University of Granada) under the auspices of the Spanish National Research Programme (R+D+i Research Project ECO2017-88458-R)

Efecto de la agregación de universidades españolas en el Ranking de Shanghai (ARWU): caso de las comunidades autónomas y los campus de excelencia

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) or Shanghai Ranking is a de facto standard to determine the position of universities worldwide. Improving ranking positions has become the goal of universities and governments. No wonder therefore that the aggregation of universities in Spain is nowadays suggested as a means to raise the international profile of our university system. In this context, the goal of this study was to test two potential groupings, universities belonging to the same Autonomous Community and campuses of international excellence (CEIs), to determine the ARWU placement that would result. To compute the ARWU indicators of these possible groupings, we used the methodology developed in Docampo (2012b). The results of our analysis clearly show the difficulty of improving ranking positions by calculating the sum of aggregated institutions. As a matter of fact, the only way to place a university cluster from Spain in the top 100 would be to treat all of the Catalan universities as a single institution. The next best ranking for Spain would be achieved by the Habitat 5U (universities of Comunidad Valenciana), BKC (Barcelona and Politècnica de Catalunya) and VLC/Campus (Valencia and Politécnica de Valencia), CEIs which would lie in the 150-200 range

Relación entre marketing y universidad. Revisión teórica y propuesta de un modelo teórico y de marketing 3.0

ABSTRACT The universities apply marketing measures in their management. The adoption of marketing practices has been a response to the many political, technological and social changes (as well as increased competition and globalization) affecting the world of higher education. In this paper the state of the question about marketing management at the university is reviewed. The goal is to understand the emergence and evolution of these practices in college and establish a conceptual model. People, processes, capabilities, quality (premium) and projection (image): five variables within the university marketing are proposed. In addition a model of Marketing 3.0 to serve to guide the direction of marketing within the higher education sector is proposed.Las universidades aplican medidas de marketing en su gestión. La adopción de prácticas de marketing ha sido una respuesta a los múltiples cambios políticos, tecnológicos y sociales (así como un aumento de la competencia y la internacionalización) que afecta al mundo de la educación superior. En el presente trabajo se revisa el estado de la cuestión acerca de la gestión del marketing en la universidad. El objetivo es comprender la aparición y evolución de estas prácticas en la universidad y establecer un modelo conceptual que comprende cinco factores: personas, procesos, capacidades, calidad (premium) y proyección (imagen). Además, se propone un marketing de 3.0 que sirva para orientar la dirección del marketing dentro del sector de la educación superior. ABSTRACT The universities apply marketing measures in their management. The adoption of marketing practices has been a response to the many political, technological and social changes (as well as increased competition and globalization) affecting the world of higher education. In this paper the state of the question about marketing management at the university is reviewed. The goal is to understand the emergence and evolution of these practices in college and establish a conceptual model. People, processes, capabilities, quality (premium) and projection (image): five variables within the university marketing are proposed. In addition a model of Marketing 3.0 to serve to guide the direction of marketing within the higher education sector is proposed

Modelo de lealtad de los egresados universitarios. Influencia de la motivación y el empleo

El presente estudio formula un modelo integrado de consecuencias y antecedentes de la satisfacción determinando la formación de la lealtad en el sector universitario. Además de contrastar el modelo, se evalúan las diferencias existentes en las relaciones según motivos de elección de los egresados (vocación y salidas profesionales) y estado laboral actual (empleado o no). Basado en la literatura, se propone el modelo conceptual y se prueba a través de PLS apoyado en una muestra de 9.685 egresados de todas las ramas de conocimiento cuyas respuestas se recogieron a través de un cuestionario online auto-administrado. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que el valor percibido determina la imagen, la satisfacción y la lealtad así como la relación causal positiva de la imagen sobre la satisfacción y la lealtad. La vocación y la situación laboral determinan de forma significativa el impacto del valor sobre la imagen mientras que las salidas profesionales no producen diferencias. La influencia de estas variables no ha sido examinada anteriormente en la literatura. Dado el entorno competitivo de la educación superior, las conclusiones ayudan en la toma decisiones a directivos y gestores de instituciones de educación superior, así como a mejorar la satisfacción y lealtad del egresado o la reputación de la universidad.We present a consolidated model in this study of both the consequences and the antecedents of satisfaction that are determinative of the formation of loyalty in the university sector. In addition to testing the model, we evaluate the differences found in the relations between the motives given by the graduates for their choices (vocation and career paths) and their current employment situation (employed or unemployed). Grounded on the literature, we propose the conceptual model and test it with PLS supported by a sample of 9,685 graduates of all branches of knowledge whose answers were collected through a self-administered online questionnaire. The results highlight that perceived value determines image, satisfaction and loyalty, as well as the causal relation between image and both satisfaction and loyalty. The vocation and employement determine in a significant way the impact of the value on the image while the career options do not produce differences. Given the competitive world of Higher Education, the conclusions may assist directors and managers of Higher Education institutions in decision-making, as well as improving graduate satisfaction and loyalty and the reputation of the university

Does Partisan Bias Modulate Neural Processing of Political Information? An Analysis of the Neural Correlates of Corruption and Positive Messages

Daily worldwide newspapers print articles exposing government corruption. Yet these messages do not lead to a loss of votes for the corrupt parties. Sympathizers’ partisan bias, which respectively minimizes and maximizes corruption and positive messages of their own parties respectively, is widely considered the main cause of the loss of effectiveness of political communications. Despite the well-established existence of such bias when processing political information, little is known as to its psychological origin. Through the use of neuroscience (fMRI), this study explores the underlying brain mechanisms of negative (corruption) and positive political messages related to a conservative and a socialist Spanish political party, as well as the differences between their sympathizers. The findings reveal that negative (vs. positive) political messages exert the greatest neuroimaging impact on the electorate, as shown in aversive, risk, and disappointment-related brain regions. Interestingly, we show that there exists a main partisan bias against opposite parties (and not a positive bias toward one’s own party) that stems from a higher risk, ambiguity, and disbelief provoked by both positive and negative information about rival parties. Furthermore, this bias was more pronounced among conservative supporters. The current findings provide valuable insights for political parties to improve their communication campaigns.2018-1