Exploring the relationship between customer participation and online brand community and consumer loyalty

The popularity of online brand communities has maintained the close link between consumers and brands and it encourages consumers to actively participate in online platforms. From this emerges intentions to achieve social and functional goals, leading to the question: How is loyalty affected by online participation? Based on a constructivist perspective, empirical data were generated through in-depth interviews to explore millennial’s level of participation in online communities and the extent to which it affects their loyalty to the brand and the community in the fashion industry. The study provides a conceptual framework that links a set of online participation characteristics contingent to different participatory motives. The study proposed four main customer participatory behavioural traits (brand identification, interactivity, media valence and perceived community sentiment) linked to consumers’ perception towards a brand in the fashion sector. The main findings reveal how the four categories impact the level of customer loyalty. These key categories are explored to create a framework for future research in this area, and further contribute to the field of online brand engagement, particularly in the fashion industry

Determinants of the characteristics of online brand communities and millennials: Towards a re-conceptualisation

Key words: online brand community, millennials, qualitative research, social influence theory, fashion industry Description: This paper provides a conceptual framework that links a holistic set of online brand characteristics to millennial consumers’ perceptions in the fashion sector and how millennial consumers involvement and participation in online brand communities impacts the development of customer engagement strategies in the fashion industry

An empirical investigation and conceptual model of perceptions, support, and barriers to marketing in social enterprises in Bangladesh

Existing studies on social enterprises offer conflicting and contrasting perspectives on the impact of social enterprises on developing countries. Although several studies focused on social enterprises in developing countries, an empirical study that examines how social enterprises develop marketing strategies in an increasingly interconnected digital marketing environment is lacking. The current study empirically investigated the effects of consumer perceptions on social enterprises’ marketing strategies in a developing country and, in particular, the perceptions of, and barriers to, social enterprises in Bangladesh. Drawing on the technology−organisation−environment framework and a social constructionist perspective, 22 in-depth interviews were conducted with individuals from social enterprises. The emergent data were analysed using thematic analysis. The current study proposed an enabler and impediment social enterprise conceptual framework. The present study suggests that social enterprise engenders self-reliance and community empowerment, however, technological imbalance and infrastructures are the key impediments to adoption of effective social enterprise. Our analysis contributes to the theory of social enterprises’ marketing strategies and barriers, and suggests practical lessons in managing social enterprises and the development of marketing strategie

Determinants of online brand communities’ and millennials’ characteristics: a social influence perspective

Online communities have evolved to allow larger numbers of individuals to interact with other users to form a collective virtual environment influenced by members within the community. Existing studies on online brand communities (OBCs) tied millennials’ participation and interactions to a unidimensional view. Specifically, OBCs scholars generally aggregate individual millennials’ participation and commitment, ignoring the variance among the demographic cohort. Our exploration challenges not only the existing ensemble interpretation within studies of OBC but also the characterisation of millennials’ burgeoning participation in OBCs. Unlike other competing epistemologies, the authors developed a conceptual framework that links a holistic set of OBCs’ characteristics (brand sentiment, identification with source, affirmative experience, conspicuous effect) to consumers’ perceptions in the fashion sector. Drawing on social influence theory along with a constructivist perspective, we conducted fine‐grained in‐depth interviews to explore millennials’ participation in online communities and brand perceptions in the fashion industry. The main findings reveal four categories of customer engagement in OBCs (bias situators, sugar‐coaters, rationalisers, judgmentalists). These key categories are explored to create a framework for future research in this area, and further contribute to the field of online brand engagement, particularly in the fashion industry

DNA Sequence Analysis of SLC26A5, Encoding Prestin, in a Patient-Control Cohort: Identification of Fourteen Novel DNA Sequence Variations

Prestin, encoded by the gene SLC26A5, is a transmembrane protein of the cochlear outer hair cell (OHC). Prestin is required for the somatic electromotile activity of OHCs, which is absent in OHCs and causes severe hearing impairment in mice lacking prestin. In humans, the role of sequence variations in SLC26A5 in hearing loss is less clear. Although prestin is expected to be required for functional human OHCs, the clinical significance of reported putative mutant alleles in humans is uncertain.To explore the hypothesis that SLC26A5 may act as a modifier gene, affecting the severity of hearing loss caused by an independent etiology, a patient-control cohort was screened for DNA sequence variations in SLC26A5 using sequencing and allele specific methods. Patients in this study carried known pathogenic or controversial sequence variations in GJB2, encoding Connexin 26, or confirmed or suspected sequence variations in SLC26A5; controls included four ethnic populations. Twenty-three different DNA sequence variations in SLC26A5, 14 of which are novel, were observed: 4 novel sequence variations were found exclusively among patients; 7 novel sequence variations were found exclusively among controls; and, 12 sequence variations, 3 of which are novel, were found in both patients and controls. Twenty-one of the 23 DNA sequence variations were located in non-coding regions of SLC26A5. Two coding sequence variations, both novel, were observed only in patients and predict a silent change, p.S434S, and an amino acid substitution, p.I663V. In silico analysis of the p.I663V amino acid variation suggested this variant might be benign. Using Fisher's exact test, no statistically significant difference was observed between patients and controls in the frequency of the identified DNA sequence variations. Haplotype analysis using HaploView 4.0 software revealed the same predominant haplotype in patients and controls and derived haplotype blocks in the patient-control cohort similar to those generated from the International HapMap Project.Although these data fail to support a hypothesis that SLC26A5 acts as a modifier gene of GJB2-related hearing loss, the sample size is small and investigation of a larger population might be more informative. The 14 novel DNA sequence variations in SLC26A5 reported here will serve as useful research tools for future studies of prestin

Corporate culture in Singapore : Chinese capitalism, societal characteristics and political economy

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Determinants of online brand communities’ and millennials’ characteristics: a social influence perspective

Online communities have evolved to allow larger numbers of individuals to interact with other users to form a collective virtual environment influenced by members within the community. Existing studies on online brand communities (OBCs) tied millennials’ participation and interactions to a unidimensional view. Specifically, OBCs scholars generally aggregate individual millennials’ participation and commitment, ignoring the variance among the demographic cohort. Our exploration challenges not only the existing ensemble interpretation within studies of OBC, but also the characterisation of millennials’ burgeoning participation in OBCs. Unlike other competing epistemologies, the authors developed a conceptual framework that links a holistic set of OBCs’ characteristics (brand sentiment, identification with source, affirmative experience, conspicuous effect) to consumers’ perceptions in the fashion sector. Drawing on social influence theory along with a constructivist perspective, we conducted fine-grained in-depth interviews to explore millennials’ participation in online communities and brand perceptions in the fashion industry. The main findings reveal four categories of customer engagement in OBCs (bias situators, sugar-coaters, rationalisers, judgmentalists). These key categories are explored to create a framework for future research in this area, and further contribute to the field of online brand engagement, particularly in the fashion industry