Vittoria Marino

Tourism satisfaction effect on general country image, destination image, and post-visit intentions

The study analyzes the relationship between tourism satisfaction, cognitive and affective country image, destination image, and post-visit intentions. The proposed research model is tested with a survey on a sample of 542 international tourists intercepted in two Italian airports at the end of their journey. Results suggest that general country and destination images are able to mediate the effect of tourism satisfaction on post-visit behavioral intentions. Moreover, empirical findings show that a high-quality tourism experience is able to not only affect intention to return and willingness to recommend the country as a tourism destination but also induce more positive intentions toward the products made in the sojourn country. On the basis of results, the study concludes with discussion of managerial and research implications.

In search of an integrated framework of business longevity

Even if the domain of business longevity has been enriched by the multidisciplinary nature of approaches used to investigate the phenomenon, the lack of a unifying perspective has impeded systematic research and caused definitional ambiguity. The main aim of this special issue is to extend existing knowledge on business longevity by integrating theoretical and empirical studies that adopt different approaches and perspectives. This is essential in order to identify the key factors of long-term success and the effects of longevity on firm performance. The multifaceted nature of business longevity research is mirrored in the five articles included in this special issue, that offer different and interesting perspectives for the investigation of the domain.

Valutazione e analisi del processo di country branding . La percezione del capitale reputazionale dell'Italia nel mercato cinese

Il lavoro esplora la relazione tra gli stereotipi legati al paese di origine e le valutazioni dei consumatori relative ai sistemi di offerta estera. La costante evoluzione del- l’impatto del country-of-origin (Coo) richiede un’analisi approfondita che valorizzi la sua natura di indicatore multidimensionale. La ricerca propone un’originale concettualizzazione riferibile alla prospettiva della country reputation al fine di ricostruire e comprendere le dinamiche effettive del fenomeno del Coo. La reputazione rappresenta un criterio interpretativo alla base delle influenze esercitate dal paese di origine sulle decisioni finali prese dai consumatori esteri. Un’indagine sul campo finalizzata alla verifica delle relazioni tra l’Italia, paese di origine, e la Cina, mercato obiettivo, ha testato il modello proposto. Nello studio sono state, inoltre, esaminate le strategie per la creazione di un country brand per il made in Italy.

From citizens to partners: the role of social media content in fostering citizen engagement

This paper examines the communication modalities on Twitter to broadcast content to citizens and measures the effectiveness of the posted content in activating the citizens’ political participation proposing an retweetability rate.,Through content analysis of the European Commissioners’ posts, this paper identifies the most used communication modalities to broadcast content to the citizens. A retweetability rate is proposed to measure the effectiveness of the posted content in activating the political citizens’ engagement. The methodology is applied to the tweets posted by European Commissioners, who are currently facing democracy legitimation issues and Euroscepticism.,Empirical results show that Twitter is not fully used yet as a citizen engagement tool. However, the paper highlights the potentiality of Twitter to broadcast contents of value and build a relationship of citizens and institutions.,Measuring citizen engagement based on the posted messages can help the institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of the posted social media content. Moreover, the paper gives suggestions regarding how governments might implement social media content capable of fostering a dialogic communication with citizens.,A measurement of citizen engagement permits the identification of which kinds of public communication stimulate the engagement and favor a closer bond between citizens and public institutions.

Social Media Mix in the University Communication Plan: A Bridge Towards Public Engagement: Structured Abstract

The role of Higher Education in the social context has been always object of debate within the academic community and not only. Universities have always been responsible for the traditional functions of education and knowledge transfer but, across all the European countries, a “Third Mission” imposes to universities to be also a “partner” that collaborates at the community’s growth. In this sense, social networks can be a tool to create an effective bridge between research, teaching, and public services by means of the possibility of sharing information, opinions, and ideas in real time and in a multimedia way. This research investigates which forms of social media communication are mainly used by the European Universities to engage their own stakeholders by performing a comparative analysis of the posts in Twitter and Facebook. Furthermore, this research deals with the problem of gauging the engagement rate in the University by means of social network advancing the current state-of-the-art about the analysis of the social media use within public engagement strategies.

Country reputation and attitudes towards made in Italy products: a study on Chinese consumers

The study examines the relation between stereotypes linked to country-of-origin and consumer assessment relative to foreign product supply systems. Evolving trends in terms of the impact of country-of-origin demands an in-depth analysis that highlights and enhances its multidimensional nature. The research conceptualises from an innovative perspective, the underlying dynamics of country reputation in order to analyse its structure and system. Reputation represents an interpretative criterion underpinning the influence exerted by country-of-origin on foreign consumer’s decision-making processes. A field study to verify the relations existing between Italy, country-of-origin, and China as target country, tested the model proposed.

Turismo internazionale ed effetto made in : l'influenza dell'immagine Paese sulla soddisfazione turistica e le intenzioni post-visita

Questo studio propone un modello di ricerca finalizzato ad indagare la relazione esistente tra le diverse componenti dell’immagine Paese - valutate a livello generale (general country image) e con riferimento agli attributi turistici (tourism destination image) e alle produzioni nazionali (product-country image) - la soddisfazione turistica e le intenzioni post-visita in termini di fedelta attesa e propensione all’acquisto delle produzioni nazionali. Il framework analitico e stato testato su un campione di turisti internazionali intercettati al termine della propria visita in Italia. Sulla base dei risultati, vengono discusse le principali implicazioni di ricerca e fornite indicazioni utili per la gestione dell’immagine Paese da parte degli enti pubblici che si occupano di promozione turistica e delle imprese del made in.

L'espansione internazionale e il passaggio generazionale. Il caso delle imprese storiche familiari campane

This study has investigated the link between business transfer and internationalization pathways of longestablished family businesses. In particular, through the reading of the experiences of the firms belonging to «I Centenari» Association, it has been possible to identify the determinants of internationalization, that have contributed to make the succession an opportunity of international development. This has allowed the extrapolation of homogeneous clusters in order to classify the internationalization pathways, based on the influence produced by the entrepreneurial family on the internationalization process.

Erratum to: Managing Online Anti-branding Consumer Behaviours: A Multiple Case Study Analysis in the Italian Landscape

This article seeks to contribute to the extant knowledge about branding in the digital era exploring why consumers assume adversely behaviours towards brands and how brand managers react when their brand is attacked. From the multiple case study analysis emerged that not every brand reacts at the same way. Specifically we noted the following four different strategies: (1) ignore; (2) apologize; (3) start a dialogue with trolls and haters; (4) change behaviour. Interestingly, (3) and (4) appeared more effective in mitigating consumers attacks. On the contrary (1) and (2) would be risky in some contexts.

Approaches to university public engagement in the online environment: Insights from Anglo-Saxon higher education

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the construct of online public engagement by identifying the modalities universities use to give visibility to their approach on institutional websites.,An exploratory factor analysis outlined the principle dimensions that explain online public engagement starting from the analysis of a sample of American and English universities. To finish, a t-test shows the differences in the approaches to online public engagement in the sample universities.,The results of this analysis show that the construct of public engagement used for online communication has been investigated through three dimensions and that the American and English universities have different approaches in its declination.,The analysis was conducted on a sample of American and English universities; however the study underlines the fact that the traditional approaches to public engagement can assume different connotations for online communication.,Coherent organization of the online communication of public engagement activities can reinforce the perception of the university in the eyes of both internal and external stakeholders. For this reason, research offers interesting input for evaluating which kind of strategy should be adopted for online public engagement in line with the desired positioning and as defined by the governing bodies of the university institutions. However, the universities still need to institutionalize public engagement.,This work constitutes the first attempt to investigate public engagement in the university context through the web, using quantitative methodologies in order to highlight the different strategic orientations and operative declinations.