From brand experience to happiness: exploring the impacts on brand loyalty and price premium

Since the advent of the 21st century, the overemphasis on the utilitarian aspects of products has shifted the interest to the hedonic facets of consumption (Pine & Gilmore, 2011). Experience marketing presents a new approach to address this shift and to achieve long and lasting competitive advantages (Gentile, Spiller & Noci, 2007) and loyalty (Smilansky, 2009). Despite the increasing number and quality of articles addressing brand experience, this research area remains underdeveloped and not as well-established as other marketing constructs, such as consumer attitudes, consumer satisfaction and brand equity (Schmitt & Zarantonello, 2013). More recently, happiness has received attention from marketers, and studies examining happiness in consumer research have also begun to appear (Schmitt, Brakus & Zarantonello, 2015; Bhattacharjee & Mogilner, 2014; Schmitt, 2012; Bettingen & Luedicke, 2009). Further, in a world where social concerns are garnering more insistence, it is argued that brands should contribute to consumers’ happiness through experiences (Schmitt, Brakus & Zarantonello, 2014). The main aim of this study is to model the relationship between brand experience dimensions (sensory, emotional, relational and cognitive) on the one hand and happiness on the other hand through the three orientations to happiness (pleasure, meaning, and engagement) (Peterson, Park & Seligman, 2005), and to examine the influence of happiness on brand loyalty and price premium. Therefore, the current research represents a meeting point between brand experience and happiness—two unique areas in marketing and psychology that are being afforded more importance nowadays (Brakus, Schmitt & Zarantonello, 2012; Carter & Gilovich, 2010; Brakus, Schmitt & Zarantonello, 2009; Peterson, Park & Seligman, 2005). Figure 1 displays the conceptual framework and the suggested hypotheses of the study

Oncocytoma of the upper conjunctival fornix

Oncocytomas are tumors characterized by large, eosinophilic epithelial cells with abundant mitochondria that form ductular or glandular spaces. While these tumors have been described in other organs, those of the ocular adnexa occur infrequently, with the caruncle being the most common site of involvement. Conjunctival oncocytomas are extremely rare and are believed to arise from the ductal elements of the lacrimal gland proper and the accessory lacrimal glands of the conjunctiva. We describe the clinical and histological features of a case of an oncocytoma presenting as an atypically located superior fornix mass in a 78-yearold female, with a review of the literature

Refugee women business mentors: new evidence for women’s empowerment.

With over 27.1 million refugees displaced globally across national borders as a result of protracted crises, conflict, and danger, resettlement in host nations remains challenging. One approach for empowering refugee women in their host nations is to enhance their economic participation through entrepreneurship. We contribute to the growing research on refugee women's entrepreneurship by focusing on refugee women entrepreneurs as mentors to other refugee women and exploring the impact of mentoring upon the empowerment of refugee women business mentors. The aim of the study is to explore the impact of being a mentor on the empowerment of refugee women entrepreneurs settled in the United Kingdom. As such, the research question asks to what extent does being a mentor influence the empowerment of refugee women entrepreneurs. The qualitative study involved six refugee women business mentors who co-designed and led an entrepreneurship training programme for refugee women in the United Kingdom and charted their empowerment journeys through four potential empowerment junctures within the mentoring process. First, the refugee woman as a mentee, then as a member of a mentoring group, thirdly as a facilitator in the mentoring process, and finally as a reflective agent. Our contribution to the women's entrepreneurship discipline lies in our finding that refugee women's engagement as mentors enhanced their empowerment in ways that their entrepreneurship alone cannot

Women's empowerment as an outcome of NGO projects: is the current approach sustainable?

The area of women's empowerment has attracted increasing attention among a wide range of interest groups, from authors to researchers to feminist scholars and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This paper aims to identify the diverse understandings of women's empowerment in the literature and to discuss empirical evidence from NGO projects in the field. A systematic literature review is employed that includes an analysis of relevant high-quality articles and research papers published in the Scopus database, as well as those produced by United Nations (UN) bodies and well-published authors. The findings highlighted four common understandings of women's empowerment including granting women a voice, challenging existing power structures, the radical transformation of lives and livelihoods, and gender mainstreaming. The findings of these empirical studies on the role of NGOs in this field revealed understandings limited to granting women a voice and gender mainstreaming, thus reflecting the fact that limited knowledge of women's empowerment hampers the ability of NGOs to serve women's advancement and sustainable development. Further-more, and given that these approaches and understandings still fall short of achieving social inclusion for women, it is recommended that these NGOs discharge their efforts toward initiating systemic change to actually sustain female empowerment in the communities in which they are active

Factors influencing patient loyalty to outpatient medical services: an empirical analysis of the UAE's government healthcare system.

The aim of this research is to uncover issues that inhibit patients' satisfaction and loyalty and identify factors that could enhance customer retention by government hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The mediating impact of outpatient satisfaction on service quality, word of mouth (WoM), hospital image, outpatient–physician relationship and outpatient loyalty were tested. The sample data used to test the hypotheses were drawn from a pool of patients served by a government healthcare agency in Abu Dhabi. Questionnaires were provided to 418 participants using methods such as short message service, e-mail and face-to-face delivery. The data were analyzed using SmartPLS 3.3.2 software. The results indicate that service quality, WoM and outpatient–physician relationship positively impact outpatient satisfaction and indirectly effect outpatient loyalty; that hospital image positively impacts outpatient satisfaction and loyalty and has a partially mediating effect on loyalty; that waiting time satisfaction has no effect on outpatient satisfaction and no moderating effect on the outpatient satisfaction–loyalty relationship and that switching cost has a positive effect on loyalty but no moderating effect on the outpatient satisfaction–loyalty relationship. The first limitation of this study concerns the fact that only patients who had previously been served by these hospitals' outpatient units were included. Furthermore, the research was not able to obtain extensive findings related to the various factors that negatively impacted patient satisfaction and loyalty among all of the departments of government hospitals, such as inpatient care and emergency care. Centered on the findings from this research, increasing switching costs would prevent patients from switching to other healthcare providers. Therefore, it has the potential to create a false loyalty or a hostage customer (Jones and Sasser, 1995). Additionally, making patients feel connected to their treatment plan and engaged in their care by developing a tool to maintain their enthusiasm about their health is important. It is therefore recommended that government hospital care providers and management consider providing online tools that patients can use to self-manage their care. The results regarding patients' satisfaction level suggest several areas for improvement. The first pertains to waiting area entertainment and comfort because patients indicated that there is not enough entertainment or ways to pass the time when waiting for services. In addition to enhancing the entertainment and comfort of waiting areas, government hospital staff should maintain contact with patients who are waiting to ensure that they are aware of the time they will spend. Another area for improvement is the parking lot. During summer, patients prefer to walk less in the sun, which causes them to seek parking closer to the door. Government hospital management should consider different methods for transporting patients closer to the door, such as golf carts or valet services. This is the first study to investigate the mediating impact of outpatients' satisfaction between its antecedents and loyalty in the UAE. These results provide an improved understanding of the factors influencing patient choices and establish more accurate methods for increasing patient loyalty to retain more patients

A Multiple Dependent State Repetitive Sampling Plan Based on Performance Index for Lifetime Data with Type II Censoring

In this paper, a multiple dependent state repetitive (MDSR) sampling plan based on the lifetime performance index C-L is proposed for lifetime data with type II censoring when the lifetime of a product follows the exponential distribution or Weibull distribution. The optimal parameters of the proposed plan are determined by minimizing the average sample number while satisfying the producer's risk and consumer's risk at corresponding quality levels. Besides, the performance of the proposed plan is compared with that of the existing lifetime sampling plan in terms of the average sample number and operating characteristic curve. Two illustrative examples are given for the demonstration of the proposed plan.11Ysciescopu

Effects of ecological innovation, governance structure, and social development on the adoption of sustainable reporting in the global tourism industry

This study analyzes the effects of institutional factors on adopting sustainability reporting in the worldwide tourism industry. Initially, it compiled the data on the organizational environment, including environment, social and governance performance, and sector-level macroeconomic control variables such as economic growth, exports, and tourism receipts from 2001 to 2019. For empirical estimations, it applies multiple panel estimators; pooled ordinary least square (OLS), fixed effect, and random effects model, while dynamic Generalized Method of Moments is applied to address endogeneity issues in panel data. The results report that environmental, social, and governance indicators are essential for sustainable tourism. Mainly, ecological and social circumstances are more prominent than others. Further, ecological innovation is considered essential for sustainability in this sector. This research suggests an innovative theoretical approach that exposes the importance of sustainability reporting in the tourism industry. It also provides the guideline to the regulators that they should expand their focus on the regulations of sustainability reporting on the tourism industry