Rui Vinhas da Silva

Assessing brand personality associations of top-of-mind wine brands

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine brand knowledge of wines produced in a selected Portuguese viticulture area. More specifically, we intend to understand how consumers organise brands that have the highest awareness in their memory in terms of perceived personality traits. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was developed to assess brand awareness of Portuguese green wine brands and brand personality using Aaker’s brand personality framework. Multiple correspondence analysis was used in this study to present the relative positioning of the top-of-mind green wine brands. Findings – Despite the large number of green wine brands available on the market, six brands dominate in terms of brand awareness. Top-of-mind green wine brands are marked with clear and distinctive brand personality, and a small subset of brand personality attributes serve as significant criteria for brand positioning. Practical implications – The results of the present study could be beneficial for academics and practi...

Managing Volunteering Behaviour: The Drivers of Donations Practices in Religious and Secular Organisations

The present research deals with donations practices and the extent to which drivers of donations practices contribute to volunteering behavior. The paper aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between volunteerism and key drivers in donating behavior and donations practices, thus allowing charities to pursue more efficient ways in which to elicit volunteer work as well as better manage fundraising practices. It is argued that gender, age, religious affiliation, compassion, altruism, egoism, and religiosity impact on the level of volunteerism of the donor.A sample of 612 Portuguese donors was selected from within a population of donors that donate regularly to charitable institutions. The key findings of the current study are grounded on the idea of interaction between the volunteering behavior of a donor and both his level of religiosity and his religious affiliation. With regard to other drivers of donations practices, it was found that both altruism and compassion are positively correlated with donor volunteerism.

Nothing is Sacred...Or a Dispassionate Look at Government Deficits

A few years ago Robert Barro published a book, aptly called “Nothing is Sacred” (2003). In it he dealt with an area of intellectual query in economic sciences that has always attracted the interest and opinion of many. In effect there has been much controversy and contention over the critical importance of keeping a tight fist on government spending, and conversely on whether compliance by national economies with public debt/GDP ratios (around 60%) is attainable by way of an emphatic focus on the numerator of this ratio. In this paper we argue that the imperative of keeping budget deficits tightly under control should not undermine the policy measures that are needed for augmenting the denominator in the same ratio, in other words economic growth (Cecchetti et al., 2010). Given the truly alarming public debt situation afflicting not only Eurozone economies, but also global economic powerhouses, there have been more and more calls for government policy measures aimed at the curtailment of public spending and the reduction of public sector deficits (Buti, et al., 2003). The poignant question remains however, as to whether under current conditions, these economies can ever escape the stranglehold of severe austerity in which they are deeply submerged.

Drivers of Donations: Does Religiosity Make a Difference?

The topic of donations is one of high relevance and widely covered in the marketing literature today, being of interest to theoreticians and practitioners alike, particularly due to its implicit links to fundraising research and activities. The reality of what makes a donor ultimately part with his money and give it away to a not for profit organization is a hot contemporary topic. This study looks into religiosity and its moderating impact on the intention for donating to a nonprofit organization. It also compares and contrasts three types of donors: religious, religious but non church goer and secular, highlighting their differences and similarities insofar as donations are concerned. The results show unequivocally that religiosity has the potential to influence donating behavior. Moreover, this study predicts that volunteerism and religious affiliation remain important drivers of donations. The findings are useful for marketers who want to attract and retain donors.