José I. Rojas-Méndez

Determinants of Student Loyalty in Higher Education: A Tested Relationship Approach in Latin America

ABSTRACT Student loyalty is a critical measure in the success of higher education institutions that aim at retaining students until graduation and then attracting them back. This study examines the relative importance of relationship pathways among key factors affecting student loyalty in the following order: perceived service quality, satisfaction, trust, and commitment. The findings reveal that perceived service quality and student satisfaction do not translate directly into student loyalty, but, rather, indirectly through the mediation of trust and commitment. Implications of the findings are discussed.

The nation brand molecule

Purpose – The papers aim is to determine, by means of an extensive exploratory study and the metaphorical use of a molecule, the set of dimensions and facets that exist in peoples minds in regards to a country brand, and at the same time to compare the results with the dimensions used by practitioner-led sources to measure the same construct. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 532 graduate students living in 20 different countries freely reported the concepts they associate with different country names. The construction of the nation brand molecule was carried out in three steps: generating the inventory of all the associations made by participants in relation to country names; classifying the inventory; and mapping the molecule. Findings – The nation brand molecule (NBM) which encompasses all the associated concepts that give shape to the overall molecule was developed. Seven dimensions, with their corresponding facets, were identified: economy, tourism, geography and nature, culture and heritage...

Testing self-congruity theory in the context of nation brand personality

Purpose – The overall aim of the present study is to advance research by drawing from this body of work and applying the brand personality construct, which has so far been considered mostly in connection with commercial product brands, in the context of nation branding. More specifically, and also more importantly, the study aims to contribute to research both in nation branding, as well as, indirectly, in the broader domain of brand personality in general, by being one of the first to examine the relationship between individual personality (IP) and nation brand personality (NBP) traits. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted via a Web-based questionnaire in Arabic language to Saudi citizens living in Saudi Arabia. The study object was defined as the brand personality of the USA. To make possible the comparison between respondents’ personality and the US brand personality, the Big Five factors typology was used as a proxy (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeablene...

Understanding Attitude and Behavior of Canadian Consumers Toward Organic Wine

The main objective of this study is to identify the determinants of organic wine purchase and understand their effect in order to illustrate what influences whether Canadian consumers are willing to buy this special type of wine. The data for this study were collected across Canada by means of an online self-administered consumer questionnaire survey. Our major findings indicate that the attitude toward organic wine is defined mainly by consumers’ health consciousness and is negatively influenced by the wine involvement pleasure experienced with regular wine. Interestingly, Canadians are not forming positive attitudes toward organic wine based on their knowledge of organic production and its offering. The main predictors of organic wine purchase are attitude toward organic wine and wine involvement interest. Unexpectedly, price consciousness was not found to be a good predictor of organic wine purchase.

Exploring Consumer's Needs and Motivations in Online Social Lending for Development

This study is the first in exploring the needs and motivations of those who participate in the social phenomenon of Online Social Lending for Development (OSL4D). OSL4D represents a new form of charity support behavior that has raised numerous important theoretical issues about the evolving nature of charitable giving and the motivation of its participants. A model of lending behavior is proposed. Using data from Kiva.org, the authors consider the different theoretical needs and motivations to participate in social lending and, through content analysis of 1,283 consumer statements from the members of the Team Canada lending team about the reason they lend, conclude that OSL4D consumers are principally intrinsically motivated to make a small difference in the lives of the working poor. Managerial conclusions are offered as well as ideas for future research.

Chilean wine producer market orientation: comparing MKTOR versus MARKOR

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the degree of market orientation of a sample of Chilean wine producers; to compare two different instruments for assessing market orientation in this context; and to comment on the possible cultural sensitivities of these two measurement instruments developed from a North American context but applied in culturally dissimilar contexts.Design/methodology/approach – In total, 69 CEO and Marketing Managers, representing approximately one quarter of the total number of wineries in Chile, completed a face‐to‐face survey questionnaire that utilized both the Narver and Slater MKTOR and the Kohli and Jaworski MARKOR market orientation scales. SmartPLS was used to carry out the measurement and structural analysis.Findings – Results reveal that more than half of surveyed Chilean wine producers are market oriented, with 65 per cent congruence between the two scales. Cluster analysis also reveals three distinct segments and sets of characteristics that distinguish marke...

Demographics, attitudes, and technology readiness: A cross-cultural analysis and model validation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the cross-cultural validity of the Technology Readiness Index (TRI) (Parasuraman, 2000) and explore how demographics and attitudinal variables may help to explain adoption and use of technology-based products and services. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on surveys conducted with probabilistic samples from two culturally distant countries, the USA and Chile. Findings Results support the TRI’s cross-cultural validity. They also suggest that demographic variables do matter when explaining people’s willingness to adopt new technology, with education being the most consistent predictor. Moreover, some of the findings seem to challenge the attitude-behavior consistency implied by conventional theory – while attitudinal variables are better predictors of pro-technological behavior in the USA, with technology-related insecurity being the most important of four attitudinal dimensions included in the analysis, demographic variables perform as better predictors in Chile, with educational level outperforming age and gender. Originality/value This is the first-ever cross-cultural test of the TRI using actual consumer samples from two culturally very different countries.

Countries’ positioning on personality traits Analysis of 10 South American national tourism websites

This article discusses a change in the positioning strategies by countries as tourism destinations from cognitive components to affective ones. The tourism literature recognizes destination personality as an affective evaluation. While previous literature has established that place personality traits are important for Destination Marketing Organizations to consider, little empirical work assessing the personality metaphor in destination branding has been undertaken. This study uses a multistage methodology using a combination of content analysis and correspondence analysis to analyze the use of the personality metaphor in the official English tourism websites of South American countries. Results reveal that South American countries can be classified in four main clusters of different personality profiles: Ecuador is somehow associated with agreeableness; Brazil and Paraguay with openness to experience and conscientiousness; Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay as strong in extraversion and emotional stability; and Bolivia, Venezuela, and Colombia do not display any dominant personality characteristics. Overall the results indicate that South American countries are not yet using in a substantial way the affective cues of personality traits to create a clear positioning among international tourists.

Brand personality: theory and dimensionality

Purpose This paper aims to critique human personality as a theory underpinning brand personality and to propose instead a theory from human perception, and by doing so, to identify universally relevant dimensions. Design/methodology/approach A review of published measures of brand personality, a re-analysis of two existing data bases and the analysis of one new database are used to argue and test for the dimensions derived from perception theory. Findings Existing work on brand personality suggests 16 separate dimensions for the construct, but some appear common to most measures. When non-orthogonal rotation is used to re-analyse existing trait data on brand personality, three dimensions derived from signalling and associated theory can emerge: sincerity (e.g. warm, friendly and agreeable), competence (e.g. competent, effective and efficient) and status (e.g. prestigious, elegant and sophisticated). The first two are common to most measures, status is not. Research limitations/implications Three dimensions derived from signalling and associated theory are proposed as generic, relevant to all contexts and cultures. They can be supplemented by context specific dimensions. Practical implications Measures of these three dimensions should be included in all measures of brand personality. Originality/value Prior work on brand personality has focussed on identifying apparently new dimensions for the construct. While most work is not theoretically based, some have argued for the relevance of human personality. That model is challenged, and an alternative approach to both theory and analysis is proposed and successfully tested.

Brand Personalities of Global Wine Exporters: A Collective Reputation Theory Perspective

ABSTRACT This study examines the perceptions of the personalities that wine drinkers attribute to the wines of the six top exporting countries. An exploratory study with an inductive approach was used, and data were collected from 757 wine consumers from 22 countries. Based on the collective reputation theory, we question the use of standardized versus localized strategy when approaching international markets by the top producers of the world. By means of correspondence analysis, our results indicate that each wine producer country tends to have a different positioning among consumers from different regions of the world. Besides, it is evident that a standardized approach to marketing and promotion of a specific country’s wines to global markets could be viewed as rather myopic, representing a gross oversimplification of reality, and contradicting what our findings reveal about differences in global consumers’ perceptions of wines from the big six producers.