Fauziah Sh. Ahmad

The Impact of Intercultural Communication Competence on Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction

This article aims to better understand the impact of intercultural communication competence (ICC) on personal interaction (PI) and customer satisfaction (CS) in grocery retailing. Measurement of the constructs and their interrelationships were examined based on structural equation modeling. Although numerous researchers have studied the topic of service quality (SQ) and CS, none of those studies has explored the critical role of ICC and integrated the construct into their SQ and CS models. Intercultural notions are acknowledged as key determinants to improve our understanding on this phenomenon and provide an impetus for further research.

Mediating effects of students’ social bonds between self-esteem and customer citizenship behaviour in the context of international university branch campuses

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer empirical evidence on the role of self-esteem and social bonding in explaining citizenship behaviour of students at international university branch campuses (IBCs). Design/methodology/approach A sample of 400 students from four IBCs in Malaysia was administered in a questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS and partial least squares 3.0. Findings This research demonstrates that students’ self-esteem and social bonds have positive direct effects on customer citizenship behaviour (CCB). Moreover, self-esteem has an indirect effect on CCB via intervening of attachment, commitment and involvement of social bonds. Research limitations/implications CCB of IBC students can be explained by self-consistency theory via mediation of social bonds from social bonding theory. Practical implications To encourage CCB in IBCs, university management should target students who have high self-esteem, closely tied to parents and lecturers, committed to university, highly involved in co-curricular activities and comply with university regulations. Originality/value Greater understanding of students’ citizenship behaviour may help transnational universities to improve relationship marketing strategy and enhance students’ campus experience.

Baby Dreams: pricing for products and apparel

Subject area Marketing Management, Entrepreneurship. Study level/applicability This case meant for advanced undergraduate students, taking courses of marketing management that covers the topics related to pricing strategies. With regard to strategic marketing class, this case can be used to explain how pricing strategy plays significant role in attracting and retaining customers. Case overview This case teaches about the importance of understanding the marketing strategies pertaining to pricing. Nora the entrepreneur of Baby Dreams focusing on baby items was in a dilemma in deciding the appropriate pricing strategy for her business. She was in doubt whether her low-price strategy which she believed was appropriate for the low- and middle-income groups was the best strategy for her business. The drastic decrease in sales pushed her to think about the effectiveness of her pricing. All together, Nora owned three Baby Dreams’ outlets. However, due to poor sales, she had to shut down two outlets in 2013. For the last outlet, she had to take an immediate decision in terms of pricing, as the start-up money was depleting, and with no improvement, it was expected to be finished by May 2014. Expected learning outcomes Using this case, students will be able to have an intellectual openness in accepting different ways of finding a solution for a particular problem. This case illustrates the importance of understanding the marketing strategies pertaining to pricing. Moreover, it is also highlighted that, offering low price is not the panacea of sales decrease. It is also necessary for the small business’s survival to look at competitors’ pricing effort to come up with a better pricing policy. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.