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Examines the relationship between the financial institution that issues the affinity credit card and one of the recognized affinity groups on whose behalf the card is issued, the alumni of higher education institutions. Builds on previous research and publications (Worthington and Horne, 1995, 1996) but involves taking into account a new perspective on the relationship, that of the affinity credit card issuer. Bases research on the same five‐phase model of relationship formation and development used in the previous studies. Before discussing the results of the research, considers the context of the study, followed by a section on methodology. Then presents the research results followed by a summary and conclusion.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate an integrated model mapping the influence of brand affinity, customer experience, and customer satisfaction on brand equity in retail banking.

Data were collected from 315 banking customers in Trinidad and Tobago through personally administered structured questionnaires and analyzed with Structural Equation Modelling.

The findings showed the mediating role of customer satisfaction in brand equity relationships. The results also showed the pivotal role of brand affinity, customer satisfaction, and service experience in explaining brand equity.

The study provides an integrated approach to brand building. It also offers an objective framework brand owners can use to evaluate marketing investments. It also provides a clear brand differentiation strategy for bank brands. Finally, it introduces cross-cultural research in brand equity which can be a useful competitive tool for indigenous banks and foreign banks seeking market expansion strategies.

This research is one of the few studies that analyzed brand equity in retail banking. It advanced a brand equity framework that explores the mediating role of customer satisfaction and provides a guide to uplift perceptions and stimulate customer confidence in the banking sector.

This paper aims to demonstrate that Facebook likes affect outcomes in nonprofit settings. Specifically, Facebook likes influence affinity to nonprofits, which, in turn, affects fundraising outcomes.

The authors report three studies that establish that relationship. To examine social contagion, Study 1 – an auction field study – relies on selling artwork created by underprivileged youth. To isolate signaling, Study 2 manipulates the number of total Facebook likes on a page. To isolate commitment escalation, Study 3 manipulates whether a participant clicks a Facebook like.

The results show that Facebook likes increase willingness to contribute in nonprofit settings and that the process goes through affinity, as well as through Facebook impressions and bidding intensity. The total number of Facebook likes has a direct signaling effect and an indirect social contagion effect.

The effectiveness of the proposed mechanisms is limited to nonprofit settings and only applies to short-term effects.

Facebook likes serve as both a quality signal and a commitment mechanism. The magnitude of commitment escalation is larger, and the relationship is moderated by familiarity with the organization. Managers should target Facebook likes at those less familiar with the organization and should prioritize getting a potential donor to leave a like as a step leading to donation, in essence mapping a donor journey from prospective to active, where Facebook likes play an essential role in the journey. In a charity auction setting, the donor journey involves an additional step of bidder intensity.

The approach the authors study is shown effective in nonprofit settings but does not appear to extend to corporate social responsibility more broadly.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first investigation to map Facebook likes to a seller’s journey through signals and commitment, as well as the only investigation to map Facebook likes to charity auctions and show the effectiveness of this in the field.

The cashless society, where clumsy and expensive‐to‐handle coins and notes are replaced by efficient electronic payments initiated by various types of plastic cards is a tantalizing prospect for the twenty‐first century. Some of the interested parties stand to gain more than others if the cashless society becomes a reality. Outlines the rationale of those who are keen to promote the cashless society and the implications for marketeers charged with winning consumer acceptance for payment by plastic card. Commencing with a European‐wide view of the European plastic card market, focuses on recent developments within the UK, one of Europe′s leading countries in the use of plastic cards as a means of payment. The plastic card payment product is analysed under the three headings of pay later, pay now and pay before and a view is offered as to the future prospects for each type of plastic card in contributing to the development of the cashless society.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a course in data mining as an example of an interdisciplinary mechanism of bridging the academic/practitioner divide in marketing.

The academic/practitioner divide in marketing education is first examined along with current challenges for increasing curricular relevancy. Alternative approaches for pedagogically satisfying marketing academicians and, at the same time, meeting practitioner needs is explored.

Developing a course in data mining is presented as a holistic way of providing subject knowledge in relationship marketing, information technology and analytics coupled with experiential learning.

The course in data mining provides practical skills in information technology, marketing analytics and problem‐solving that provide students with a strong point of differentiation in the job market that has proven attractive to employers.

This paper provides a description of a course in data mining offering that helps students position themselves at the nexus of marketing, information technology, and analytics.

The purpose of this paper is to report on research undertaken within a European‐based airline services firm. As a result of pressures within the airline industry the firm embarked on a cost reduction programme, recognising the need to achieve more synergy from its procurement spend, located in semi‐autonomous business units (BUs). The paper describes sequentially the two stages of the author's involvement in the project and the outputs and results realised.

The aim was to design a practical tool, based on academic inputs, which could be used by the business to achieve purchasing synergy. The research is reported in a case study format and develops an original mixed method approach. This approach combines interviews, a focus group, cognitive mapping and portfolio analysis and leads to the production of a decision‐making framework for implementing purchasing pooling.

The results illustrate that prior to the study, procurement was highly fragmented with little co‐ordination between BUs. The company needed to standardise many of its item specifications to facilitate purchasing pooling. A hierarchy is created as a valuable tool for understanding the various and conflicting factors in item selection for pooling initiatives. In addition, four purchasing strategies are identified, to support synergy in the firm.

The decision‐making framework developed for the business is used to illustrate how the firm achieved purchasing synergy across its BUs. The approach can similarly be adopted in organisations with a high level of fragmentation in their spend.

The research demonstrates the value of applying academic knowledge and multiple methods in creating practical solutions for managers. It also addresses some of the weaknesses identified in using single methods of analysis such as portfolios.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how Instagram can be used as a communication channel in green marketing digital mix through content analysis of posts published on the official Instagram account of bio&bio, the first Croatian organic food store.

Method: Using a case study approach, qualitative content analysis was implemented in the period from January to May 2020. A total of 93 textual posts published on the official bio&bio Instagram account were analysed and then categorised using Carlson, Grove and Kangun's categorisation of the following five types of environmental claims – product orientation, process orientation, image orientation, environmental orientation and combination.

Findings: Instagram in the first line serves as the promotion channel. Although Instagram de-emphasises textual description in favour of image use, which makes it different from other social media platforms, this study showed how companies can send effective green messages using the appropriate environmental-oriented claims to their audience and in that way raise the awareness about their products and position themselves as good corporate citizens.

Research limitations: The results derived from this case study cannot be generalised since they are based on a single case in one country.

Originality/value of paper: The paper represents the first research on how Instagram can be used as a communication channel in the context of green marketing digital mix in the Republic of Croatia. The results derived from this case study can serve as a ground floor for future researches on how companies can use Instagram as a communication channel embedded in green marketing digital mix.

This paper aims to investigate the scale and drivers of cross-border real estate development in Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe.

Placing cross-border real estate development within the framework of foreign direct investment (FDI), conceptual complexities in characterizing the notional real estate developer are emphasized. Drawing upon a transaction database, this paper proxies cross-border real estate development flows with asset sales by developers.

Much higher levels of market penetration by international real estate developers are found in the less mature markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Analysis suggests a complex range of determinants with physical distance remaining a consistent barrier to cross-border development flows.

This analysis adds significant value in terms of understanding cross-border real estate development flows. In this study, a detailed examination of the issues based on a rigorous empirical analysis through gravity modelling is offered. The gravity framework is one of the most confirmed empirical regularities in international economics and commonly applied to trade, FDI, migration, foreign portfolio investment inter alia. This paper assesses the extent to which it provides useful insights into the pattern of cross-border real estate development flows.

Commercialization of research projects at the university, in particular, its efficiency and performance, have attracted little attention in the empirical literature to date. This despite the fact that commercialization of university knowledge is increasingly seen as a third task of universities and understanding of what enhances and what blocks the processes involved, is virtually lacking, particularly on the project level. The purpose of this chapter is therefore to identify factors that influence the performance of university-driven knowledge projects, including efficiency, in the context of commercialization of knowledge at universities. In this context, the study employs Data Envelop Analysis combined with Rough-Set Analysis on a sample of 42 projects in the Netherlands. The major factors influencing overall performance in commercialization turn out to be years of collaboration with large firms and efficiency in use of resources in the projects, but the affinity of the project managers at university with the market also plays a role. The best overall results in commercialization (introduction to market in a relatively short time) are gained with a longer period of collaboration with large firms (5–10 years) and a medium level of efficiency. There are also some contradictory trends. The chapter concludes with implications of the results, as well as some future research paths.

This paper proposes a conceptualization of factors that influence the ability of individuals to reduce their personal unsecured debt levels, especially credit card debt. As such the paper's conceptualization offers relationship lessons for bank marketers in the USA and the UK, where bank credit cards are a key element of many bank marketing programs. A key contribution is the paper's focus on customer compliance behavior in a personal unsecured debt management program. Factors discussed within our conceptualization are behavioral variables and psychological variables. Also examined is the role of geographic and demographic explanatory variables in personal debt management program success.