The Role of Perceived University Support in the Formation of Students' Entrepreneurial Intention

Entrepreneurship education is central to student entrepreneurship. Previous research has attempted to understand the role of entrepreneurship education in the formation of students' entrepreneurial intention and behavior, albeit in an isolated manner. Universities can support entrepreneurship in many ways, but it is important to measure students' perception of the support that they receive in order to understand the extent of such support and its impact on students. The current study proposed and tested an integrative, multiperspective framework. We have hypothesized that the three dimensions of university support, that is, perceived educational support, concept development support, and business development support, together with institutional support, shape students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy. In turn, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and individual motivations constitute the fundamental elements of the intention to start a business. A sample of 805 university students took part in the study and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Our findings showed that perceived educational support exerted the highest influence on entrepreneurial self-efficacy, followed by concept development support, business development support, and institutional support. Self-efficacy in turn had a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention. Individual motivations such as self-realization, recognition, and role had an additional impact on intention. However, intention was not related to financial success, innovation, and independence. The findings suggest that a holistic perspective provides a more meaningful understanding of the role of perceived university support in the formation of students' entrepreneurial intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Investigating the role of customers’ perceptions of employee effort and justice in service recovery

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is, first, to identify the relationship, if any, between customers’ perceptions of justice (functional element) and employee effort (symbolic element) and their effects on satisfaction and loyalty in the context of service recovery and, second, to determine the impact of cross-cultural differences on these relationships. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data from actual customers were gathered in three countries (n = 414) and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings: The results demonstrate the role of the constructs of perceived employee effort and perceived justice in influencing post-recovery satisfaction and loyalty across cultures. While perceived justice is valued across cultures, customers from feminine (masculine) cultures require more (less) employee effort to influence post-recovery satisfaction positively. Customers from low (high) uncertainty cultures are more (less) willing to give the provider another chance after a service recovery. Research limitations/implications: The study shows that both functional and symbolic elements of service recovery are important determinants of customer satisfaction and loyalty and that their influence can be significant in a cross-cultural context. Practical implications: International service managers must consider the nature of cultural differences in their markets to develop and implement tailored recovery strategies that can result in satisfied customers. Originality/value: This study is the first to integrate the functional and symbolic elements of service recovery, their impact on customers’ behavioral responses and the influence of cultural variations

Understanding customer‐specific factors underpinning internet banking adoption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deepen our understanding of customers' actual internet banking behaviour by combining the construct of technology readiness with the technology acceptance model and demographics, such as age and gender, into one integrated framework. Design/methodology/approach – The customer-specific internet banking acceptance model (CSIBAM) is validated through 435 UK internet banking users. Findings – The results indicate the importance of customer-specific factors in predicting actual behaviour. Technology readiness, age and gender moderate the beliefs-intention relationship. Customers with varying levels of technology-related views and demographics hold different beliefs about technology. The relationship between usefulness and behaviour was stronger for younger males with high levels of optimism and innovativeness (explorers and pioneers), whilst the relationship between ease of use and behaviour was stronger for older females with a high level of discomfort (paranoids and laggards). Practical implications – In today's highly competitive financial services market, knowledge of key customer-specific factors can help banks to enhance customer experience by focusing more on each segment's particular needs. This knowledge would also help managers to decide about the extent to which technology-based systems can be used, the appropriate type of these systems, the pace of implementation, and the type of customer support required. Originality/value – A distinctive contribution of this study is that it does not rely on self-reported intention or usage, but instead it employs actual behavioural data. Greater understanding of seemingly established relationships could improve the design of the service and the development of differential marketing strategies aimed at driving adoption and allaying rejection

Revisiting Drucker's theory: has consumerism led to the overuse of marketing?

Purpose – This paper sets out to review the business history of consumerism and to ask whether over-consumption is leading to an unacceptable level of inappropriate social behavior that is detrimental to both society and business. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews Peter Drucker's writings on management and explores the meaning of consumerism and how it could have led to the over-use of marketing. The paper discusses how the word “consumerism” has evolved and brings attention to the role of the internet in consumerism. It explains why poor knowledge management strategies are presenting a new set of challenges for business. Finally, it discusses the reasons why the balance of power between businesses and consumers needs to revert to a status of equilibrium. Findings – The paper contends that the growth of consumerism has led to the over-use of marketing and it explains why, in twenty-first century marketing, social responsibility should be extended to a wider group of stakeholders that includes government, businesses and consumers. Practical implications – The “consumer is king” concept has implications for management because of the emphasis businesses have placed on their customers. The paper asks managers to review their knowledge management systems and processes. Electronic document management systems (EDMS) and business process management systems (BPMS) will protect corporations from some of the cybercrime examples discussed here. Originality/value – The research reviews Drucker's work on knowledge management and asks why management continues to fail to implement appropriate knowledge-based systems for protecting their business

Understanding customer-specific factors underpinning internet banking adoption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deepen our understanding of customers' actual internet banking behaviour by combining the construct of technology readiness with the technology acceptance model and demographics, such as age and gender, into one integrated framework. Design/methodology/approach – The customer-specific internet banking acceptance model (CSIBAM) is validated through 435 UK internet banking users. Findings – The results indicate the importance of customer-specific factors in predicting actual behaviour. Technology readiness, age and gender moderate the beliefs-intention relationship. Customers with varying levels of technology-related views and demographics hold different beliefs about technology. The relationship between usefulness and behaviour was stronger for younger males with high levels of optimism and innovativeness (explorers and pioneers), whilst the relationship between ease of use and behaviour was stronger for older females with a high level of discomfort (paranoids and laggards). Practical implications – In today's highly competitive financial services market, knowledge of key customer-specific factors can help banks to enhance customer experience by focusing more on each segment's particular needs. This knowledge would also help managers to decide about the extent to which technology-based systems can be used, the appropriate type of these systems, the pace of implementation, and the type of customer support required. Originality/value – A distinctive contribution of this study is that it does not rely on self-reported intention or usage, but instead it employs actual behavioural data. Greater understanding of seemingly established relationships could improve the design of the service and the development of differential marketing strategies aimed at driving adoption and allaying rejection

Researching consumers in multicultural societies: emerging methodological issues

The paper presents a critical review of the main studies in cross-cultural consumer behaviour and marketing research, and identifies the methodological issues that frequently undermine the quality of research in this area. The paper offers suggestions for addressing these issues, which are becoming even more complex due to growing Internet-based marketing research and increasingly multicultural societies. The authors discuss the relevance of cross-cultural marketing research and the challenges associated with it in the context of a changing global environment, and explain how, by understanding and addressing these concerns, marketers will be able to achieve superior marketing research findings through improved validity of results

Why do I follow fashion bloggers? Insights from Jordanian consumers: an abstract

Fashion blogging has been booming in the last few years, transforming traditional forms of fashion communication (Kristensen and Christensen 2017). As the readership and following of fashion blogs have grown, it is important to understand their influence on consumer behavior. Exploratory studies have identified certain attributes of bloggers that are important to readers (e.g., Clarke and Johnstone 2012; Marwick 2013), but quantitative research on the topic is necessary to test whether findings from these studies can be generalized to a larger population. This study contributes to existing literature by providing empirical evidence of consumers’ attitudes and behavior toward fashion bloggers. Using an online survey, data from a sample of Jordanian fashion blog followers (n = 184) were collected and analyzed. Attitudes toward the four core characteristics of a “good blogger,” trustworthiness, expertise, authenticity, and personal relevance to the reader (Clarke and Johnstone 2012), were measured by means of 12 items developed from the literature, rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree (three items for each attribute). The findings show that fashion blogs are an important influence on consumer behavior (Clarke and Johnstone 2012; Halvorsen et al. 2013). Respondents perceived the blogger’s authenticity as the most valued attribute influencing their consumption behavior, followed by trustworthiness, self-relevance, and expertise. The findings also show that fashion blogs are predominantly read by younger women, who follow them for inspiration, to gain knowledge of latest fashion trends, and to discover new items to buy. Most respondents were more likely to purchase a fashion product that they first saw on a blog, especially when it had been recommended by more than one fashion blogger, which indicates a need for consumers to fit in with their communities. The study demonstrates that bloggers need to be genuine and honest, stay relevant and connected, and avoid being too commercial to be successful. Marketers should be more aware of the opportunities and challenges presented by fashion bloggers and find ways to reach these powerful opinion leaders to promote their products and expand their brands’ market coverage

Situational influences on consumers' attitudes and behavior

While classical and operant conditioning are frequently implicated in the formation of attitudes, there is no generally accepted theoretical portrayal of the processes involved and how the two conditioning processes might interact. We describe a model of attitude–behavior relations, the behavioral perspective model (BPM), which suggests how situational influences on consumer choice may be categorized, and employ Mehrabian and Russell's [An approach to environmental psychology. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press, 1974] approach to environmental psychology to test that model in the contexts of attitude formation and attitude–behavior consistency. Venezuelan consumers (N=254) rated descriptions of consumer situations based on the contingency categories identified by the BPM in terms of pleasure, arousal and dominance. The results indicate that attitude responses to consumer environments vary as predicted by the model. Moreover, the model presents a framework for managerial action through the understanding of how structural components of consumer situations (namely, utilitarian and informational reinforcement and behavior setting scope) are related to the generation of affective responses (pleasure, arousal and dominance) and approach–avoidance responses

A Spanish translation of Mehrabian and Russell's emotionality scales for environmental consumer psychology

The development of a translation of Mehrabian and Russell's scales for the measurement of pleasure, arousal and dominance from the original English to a Spanish version for use in Venezuela is described. The translated scales were administered to two samples of middle-class Venezuelan consumers (n = 127,n = 127) between the ages of 20 and 50, among whom males and females were represented approximately equally. Internal reliability (measured by Cronbach's alpha) and scale validity (measured by factor analysis) indicate that the translated scales are suitable for consumer and other social psychological research in Spanish