The impact of brand gender on consumer-brand engagement and consumer-based brand equity on Facebook

In this research, we investigate how two distinct and universal dimensions of brand personality - brand masculinity and brand femininity - which constitute the two dimensions of brand gender (Grohmann 2009) influence consumer-brand engagement on Facebook. Another critical aim is to investigate the relationship between brand masculinity and brand femininity perceptions and consumer-based brand equity, on Facebook

Trabalho colaborativo e representações sociais: Contributos para a promoção do sucesso escolar, em matemática

Numa sociedade tecnológica e global, como a actual, são exigidas, aos cidadãos, capacidades e competências que lhes permitam ultrapassar os desafios. A matemática assume-se como uma forma de conhecimento, culturalmente situado, importante na mediação e resolução desses desafios. Enquanto disciplina associada a elevadas taxas de insucesso académico e a representações sociais negativas, é, muitas vezes, responsável por abandonos escolares precoces. O trabalho colaborativo, em díade ou pequenos grupos, actua como ferramenta mediadora no acesso ao sucesso académico e como facilitador no desenvolvimento de capacidades e competências (matemáticas), promovendo a literacia matemática. Este trabalho insere-se no projecto Interacção e Conhecimento. Assume um paradigma interpretativo e um design de investigação-acção. Os participantes são os alunos duma turma de 8.º ano de escolaridade, o professor/investigador e outros dois observadores. Os instrumentos de recolha de dados são um instrumento de avaliação de capacidades e competências (matemáticas), tarefas de inspiração projectiva, questionários, observação, recolha documental e protocolos dos alunos. Os dados foram tratados através de uma análise de conteúdo narrativa, sucessiva e aprofundada, de onde emergiram categorias indutivas. Analisamos as trajectórias de participação de uma aluna (Carolina, nome fictício), enquanto exemplo paradigmático. Discutimos estas trajectórias de participação em matemática, nomeadamente as três tarefas de inspiração projectiva e algumas tarefas matemáticas, realizadas em aula e em díade. Esta investigação ilumina as potencialidades que o trabalho colaborativo tem na apropriação de conhecimentos (matemáticos), na mobilização e/ou desenvolvimento de capacidades e competências (matemáticas), na mudança das representações sociais relativas à matemática e nos processos de socialização dos alunos.In a technological and global society citizens are demanded to use diverse abilities and competencies, allowing them to overcome societal challenges. Mathematics is a very important cultural tool to mediate and solve these challenges. This subject is associated with high academic failure, to the development of negative social representations, and is often responsible for some of the early school dropouts. Collaborative work, particularly peer interactions and small groups work, can be used as a mediating tool promoting students’ access to the academic achievement. It also facilitates the development of (mathematical) abilities and competencies contributing to the promotion of a mathematical literacy. This work is part of the Interaction and Knowledge project. It assumed an interpretative approach and an action-research design. The participants were the 8th grade students, the teacher/researcher and two other observers. Data was collected through an instrument to evaluate students’ (mathematical) abilities and competencies, tasks inspired in projective techniques, questionnaires, observation, documents and students' protocols. Data was treated and analysed through a narrative content analysis performed in a successive and in-depth way, from which inductive categories emerged. We analyse one student’s trajectory (Carolina, pseudonym), a paradigmatic example. We discuss this student’s life trajectories of participation, particularly in mathematics, namely the three tasks inspired in projective techniques and some mathematical tasks solved in dyads. This research illuminates the potential of collaborative work in the appropriation of (mathematical) knowledge, in the mobilization and/or development of (mathematical) abilities and competencies, in the change of social representations and in students’ socialization process

Brand mergers: How attitudes influence consumer identity preferences

In the context of a merger, management of corporate brand names and logos assumes a critical role. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the corporate brand redeployment decision. This study analyses how consumers’ attitudes towards the corporate brands influence their preferences regarding the different branding strategies. Results suggest that the preference for a monolithic alternative is only clearly supported when one of the partners in the merger is a weak partner. When the merger involves two familiar brands, there is a tendency among consumers to combine elements of both brands’ identity. Finally, it is concluded that the affective and behavioural dimension of attitude towards the brand have a significant influence on consumers’ preferences

The impact of naturalness on affective response to logo design: A cross-national study

Literature concerned with logo strategy suggests that the aesthetic appeal of brand logos significantly influences consumer responses. Yet, despite the fact that companies invest significant amounts of time and money promoting, updating and changing their logos, empirical studies of logo design issues are rare. In particular, there is little systematic research on the effect of logo design across different cultures. The main purpose of this research is to address the communalities and asymmetries between consumer responses to logo design across cultures. In particular, we focus on the influences of different types of natural designs on consumers’ affective responses in three different countries, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands. Findings should provide relevant contributions for multinational companies since logos are critical brand identity sings and they tend to be used in an unaltered form in new markets

Design, personality traits and consumer responses to brand logos

Despite the relevance of logos as communication cues, empirical studies of logo design issues in marketing journals are still scarce (Peterson et al., 2015). This study seeks to address this research gap by examining consumers’ responses to logo design, and specifically to the different types of natural designs, at a behavioral and psychological level. Additionally, we explore whether socio-demographic variables and consumer personality traits are sources of differences in such reactions

Building Inference Skills with Web-based Scaffolding Tools

160 páginasEste documento es un registro del uso de andamios basados en la web para fomentar la inferencia, mejorando la comprensión de lectura. La lectura es una habilidad crucial que depende del papel activo del lector para construir el significado. El desarrollo de esta habilidad activa apoya el aprendizaje permanente. Se han implementado estrategias para mejorar la capacidad de comprensión de los alumnos por inferencia. Este documento propone que los andamios basados en la web pueden aumentar las habilidades de inferencia y el rendimiento de los alumnos. Investigaciones anteriores han demostrado cómo la inferencia tiene un efecto positivo en la comprensión lectora, presentando cómo fomentar el desarrollo de estas estrategias y su impacto en los lectores. Sin embargo, los estudios carecen de detalles sobre las herramientas tecnológicas utilizadas para promover estrategias de lectura en los alumnos. Este estudio de investigación mixta utilizó pruebas simuladas para explorar cómo las estrategias de inferencia afectan la comprensión de los alumnos en las secciones de lectura de una prueba estandarizada. El estudio recopiló información sobre la percepción de los alumnos sobre los andamios web utilizados para promover la inferencia a través de entrevistas y la evidencia reunida a través de Google Classroom, siguiendo la metodología de la teoría fundamentada. Los datos sugieren que las herramientas integradas para promover la inferencia permitieron un enfoque de lectura más fácil para los lectores con dificultades, que se reflejó en el rendimiento de los alumnos en la sección de lectura de la prueba de salida. Fomentar la inferencia léxica es viable a través de andamios basados en la web. Los andamios seleccionados deben implementarse teniendo en cuenta los recursos disponibles y la integración adecuada al programa de estudios

America(n)-Nature, conquestual habitus and the origins of the “Anthropocene”: Mine, Plantation and their geological (and anthropological) impacts

Since its irruption, the “Anthropocene” voice has provoked a profound epistemic and political upheaval, revealing the critical radicality of the threats to life on Earth. By placing as a horizon of intellection the devastating balance that the predominant course of human events has printed on the Planet, said concept designates more than a discussion on the nature of the present geological age. It has opened a new dimension in the understanding of the interlinkages between the ecological and the political; a new problematization on the nature of the affections between the anthropological and the geological. On this plane, from our previous research, this article aims to highlight the excluding centrality of America(n)-Nature as the historical-geographical origin and constituent epistemic-political principle of this new Era. After a review of the critical reception that the concept has given rise to in the field of the Social Sciences, the paper invites us to review the “Anthropocene” on the basis of an elementary shift of gaze: from “nature” to history; from the species to social formations; from substances (carbon, uranium, plastics) to practices, ways of life and power relations. By investigating its genealogy from the decolonial critical materialism of the Political Ecology of the South, the environment of the “conquest of America” is explored as a geological-political turning point that gave rise to the emergence of a new geo-sociometabolic regime. This approach visualises the Conquest not only in terms of its immediate catastrophic impact (Pico Orbis), but also as a geo-historical ground where a new matrix of relationships (conquestual habitus) between humans and non-humans, between the biological and the political, was forged, which would end up disrupting the dynamics of flows and sociometabolic cycles of terrestrial life. It aims to highlight the ontological effects (geological, anthropological and socio-political) of those original practices of extractivist occupation/appropriation of territories and populations. It is postulated that these practices – configured and sedimented through the establishment, expansion and generalization of the Mine and Plantation forms as technologies of power and new means of conception and production of human and terrestrial existence in general – would have most probably been the triggers of the geosocial emergence in which the human species has now become gravely involved.Seit seinem Aufkommen hat der Begriff „Anthropozän“ einen tiefgreifenden epistemischen und politischen Umbruch ausgelöst, der die kritische Radikalität der Bedrohungen des Lebens auf der Erde offenbart. Indem das Konzept die verheerende Bilanz, die der vorherrschende Lauf menschlicher Ereignisse auf dem Planeten zur Folge hat, als Erkenntnishorizont setzt, bezeichnet es mehr als eine Diskussion über das Wesen des gegenwärtigen geologischen Zeitalters. Es hat eine neue Dimension im Verständnis der Verflechtungen zwischen dem Ökologischen und dem Politischen eröffnet; eine neue Problematisierung der Natur der Beziehungen zwischen dem Anthropologischen und dem Geologischen. Auf dieser Ebene zielt dieser Artikel darauf ab, die ausschließende Zentralität der America(n)-Nature als historisch-geographischen Ursprung und konstituierendes epistemischpolitisches Prinzip dieser neuen Ära hervorzuheben. Nach einem Überblick über die kritische Rezeption des Konzepts im Bereich der Sozialwissenschaften lädt der Beitrag dazu ein, das „Anthropozän“ anhand einer elementaren Blickverschiebung zu überprüfen: von der „Natur“ zur Geschichte; von den Arten zu sozialen Formationen; von Substanzen (Kohlenstoff, Uran, Plastik) zu Praktiken, Lebensweisen und Machtverhältnissen. Durch die Untersuchung ihrer Genealogie aus dem de-kolonialen kritischen Materialismus der Politischen Ökologie des Südens wird die Umwelt der „Eroberung Amerikas“ als ein geologisch-politischer Wendepunkt erforscht, der die Entstehung eines neuen geo-soziometabolischen Regimes zur Folge hatte. Bei diesem Ansatz wird die Eroberung nicht nur im Hinblick auf ihre unmittelbaren katastrophalen Auswirkungen (Pico Orbis) betrachtet, sondern auch als geohistorischer Ort, an dem eine neue Beziehungsmatrix (conquestual habitus) zwischen Menschen und Nichtmenschen, zwischen dem Biologischen und dem Politischen entstand, die schließlich die Dynamik der Ströme und soziometabolischen Zyklen des irdischen Lebens unterbrechen sollte. Ziel ist es, die ontologischen (geologischen, anthropologischen und soziopolitischen) Auswirkungen dieser ursprünglichen Praktiken der extraktivistischen Besetzung/Aneignung von Territorien und Bevölkerungen aufzuzeigen. Es wird postuliert, dass diese Praktiken – konfiguriert und sedimentiert durch die Etablierung, Ausdehnung und Verallgemeinerung der Minen- und Plantagenformen als Machttechnologien und neue Konzeptions- und Produktionsmittel der menschlichen und terrestrischen Existenz im Allgemeinen – höchstwahrscheinlich die Auslöser der geosozialen Emergenz waren, in die die menschliche Spezies nun tiefgreifend verwickelt ist.Fil: Machado Aráoz, Horacio Alejandro César. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet Noa Sur. Instituto Regional de Estudios Socio-culturales. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Instituto Regional de Estudios Socio-culturales.; Argentin

Branding as a reflection of culture - An analysis of brand consumption patterns in China

This study examines cultural factors influencing brand building strategies in the Chinese market. Our purpose is to investigate what Chinese consumers value in a brand, examining consumer behavior as well as manufacturers and their business strategies to respond to customers. Findings show a positive correlation between branding strategies considering cultural factors and business success in China, implicating that culture, lifestyle, and economic development influence customers’ attitude towards a brand. In particular, brand image, a connection with a social group, and a strong need to avoid uncertainty, reflect dominant culture values in the purchase decision of consumer goods, implicating that they are valued as a reflection of Chinese consumers’ own cultural values. The paper concludes with a discussion about implications and suggestions for future researchinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Appearance comparisons, affect, body dissatisfaction and eating pathology in Portuguese female university students

Physical appearance comparisons have been theorized to be associated with negative indicators of body image. This study aimed to study appearance comparisons and their association to affect, body dissatisfaction, and eating pathology. Three hundred and ten female university students with ages between 17 and 25 years (M = 20.2, SD = 1.9) completed sociodemographic and clinical data, self-reported questionnaires, and questions about appearance comparisons. Among the participants, 98.71% reported making appearance comparisons, and 42.15% of these reported making them frequently or always. Higher reported frequencies of appearance comparisons were related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction, negative affect, and eating pathology. Appearance comparisons to acquaintances were the most frequent. Comparisons in person and through media were reported in similar proportions. Upward comparisons were more frequent than lateral and downward comparisons and were related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction than downward comparisons and to higher levels of body dissatisfaction, negative affect, and eating pathology than lateral comparisons. Upward comparisons to close peers were associated with higher body dissatisfaction as opposed to models/celebrities. Results, limitations, and implications are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Brand mergers: Examining consumer response to name and logo design

It is critical to investigate reactions to the various name and logo redeployment alternatives available in the context of a brand merger. Yet research on this topic is relatively limited. This paper aims to start filling this gap in the literature, by developing a typology of the visual identity structures that may be assumed in the context of a merger, as well as an exploratory study (n = 467) analysing consumers’ preferences regarding the alternative branding strategies. It uses an innovative design, which gives respondents freedom to choose their preferred solution. Results suggest that there is a clear preference for figurative logos. Furthermore, there is evidence that the logo may play a role as important as the name in a merger, ensuring consumers that there will be a connection with the brand’s past. Data also show that the choice of the logo reflects consumers’ aesthetic responses, whereas the choice of the name reflects consumers’ evaluation of the brand’s offer or off the brand’s presence in the market. These results should guide managers in the evaluation and choice of the post-merger branding strategy.brand identity, logos, brand mergers, consumer preferences