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This study aims to draw on cue utilization and irradiation theories to: determine the extent to which country-of-origin image and its sub-dimensions exert an aggregate and relative influence on consumer brand evaluations; and identify the contextual and methodological factors that account for between-study variance in the focal relationship.

A random-effects model was used to examine 166 empirical articles encompassing 499,563 observations, and 282 effect sizes from 1984 to 2020 using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software.

Results show that country-of-origin image has a positive, moderate effect on consumer brand evaluations. Moreover, findings reveal that each dimension of country-of-origin image – general country image, general product country image, specific product country image and partitioned country image – significantly influences consumer brand evaluation, but the effect of general product country image is the largest. What’s more, the aggregate impacts of country-of-origin image on consumer brand evaluation – brand commitment, brand-specific associations and general brand impressions – show that the effect on brand commitment is the largest. Finally, findings show that contextual factors (brand source, product sector, culture [individualism vs collectivism], brand origin continents and respondents’ continent) and methodological factors (cues, sampling unit, publication year and sample size) significantly account for between-study variance.

This study provides the first meta-analytic review of the relationship between country-of-origin image and consumer brand evaluation to help clarify mixed findings and balance out the literature, which has only seen quantitative reviews on product evaluation and purchase decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to extend international marketing theory by examining country image effects simultaneously from the perspectives of Product-Country Image (PCI), Tourism Destination Image (TDI), and General Country Image (GCI), and by using tourism satisfaction as the central construct in a comprehensive model that investigates post-visit effects in both the product and tourism domains.

International tourists from multiple countries were intercepted at the end of a tourism trip and interviewed in-person using a structured questionnaire, resulting in 498 usable responses for data analysis. The model comprised seven constructs measured with 28 variables and was tested with structural equation modelling.

The study uncovers a number of cross-effects between a country as destination and as producer, and establishes tourism satisfaction as a core construct that is relevant to both the tourism and product facets of place image.

Above all, the study’s findings argue strongly in favour of greater coordination between the “product” and “tourism” sides of place marketing.

The study is original in its integrative analysis of GCI, PCI, and TDI constructs as antecedents and consequences of the tourism experience and, among other original contributions, is the first to investigate the direct link between product beliefs, tourism satisfaction, and post-visit product-related intentions.

Informed by the resource-based view of the firm, dynamic capabilities theory and contingency theory, this study examines the impact of Industry 4.0 (IR4.0) technologies adoption on firm performance (FP) while accounting for the mediating role of innovation ambidexterity (IA) and moderating roles of contextual and methodological factors that drive the performance gains of the phenomenon.

A random-effect model in comprehensive meta-analysis (CMA) is used to synthesize 113 studies in 115 independent samples with 192,188 observations.

This analysis demonstrates that IR4.0 digital technologies are directly related to financial and non-financial performance, disclosing that the performance effect on non-financial is the largest. Moreover, there is a complementary partial mediation role of the impacts of IR4.0 on FP by IA. Furthermore, this focal relationship is moderated by boundary-spanning conditions: contextual factors – firm size, business type, economic development, industry sector and methodological factors – proxy of FP, sample size and study type.

The results imply that IR4.0 produces financial and non-financial benefits by enabling firms to develop dynamic capabilities like innovation ambidexterity, which informs managers and practitioners that unless IR4.0 technologies and IA strategies are combined together to generate superior FP, IR4.0, in and of itself, would produce a less positive impact on FP than the combined impact of IR4.0 and IA. Therefore, managers should focus on converting IR4.0 resources to dynamic capabilities like IA by leveraging open innovation strategies or building IR4.0-based coordination mechanisms by creating cross-unit business synergies.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, per the literature review, this is the first meta-analysis structural equation modeling study on the interplay between IR4.0, innovation ambidexterity and firm performance.

This study aims to draw on instrumental and ethical theories to offer a quantitative review of the extant literature on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)–small-medium enterprises (SMEs) performance relationship through a meta-analysis.

Empirical studies from 57 independent peer-reviewed articles, including 66,741 firms, were sampled and analysed. Both subgroup and meta-regression analyses (MARA) were used to test the hypotheses of the study.

The authors' results demonstrated that social-oriented, economic-oriented and environment-oriented CSR activities have a positive, significant influence on overall, financial and non-financial performance of SMEs; however, the effect of social-oriented CSR activities is the strongest. Moreover, the impact CSR dimensions have on non-financial performance is stronger than on financial performance. Additionally, findings showed that the association between CSR and SME performance is positively and significantly influenced by contextual factors (i.e. sector and region of study) and methodological factors (i.e. performance measurement, study type, theory usage, sampling size and operationalisation of constructs).

The study is the pioneering meta-analytic review on the CSR–SME performance relationship, thereby clarifying the anecdotal results, synthesising the fragmented empirical studies and exploring the contextual and methodological factors that may account for between-study variance. Following the study's findings, the authors delineate insightful suggestions for future scholarship and fine-grained managerial implications for practitioners.

This paper examines the status and evolution of green innovation research from 1948 to 2018.

Using a systematic review of 293 peer-reviewed scholarly articles, the authors classify journal outlets, publication trends, research methods (research type, approach, design), themes/topics focus, country and regional distribution and theoretical perspectives, identifying main trends. They apply mixed methodologies, integrating both content and descriptive analyses.

Results reveal the following critical conclusions: (1) publication trends disclose a steady growth of interest in green innovation research in the last decade (2011–2018), with most of the articles appearing in top-ranked journal outlets; (2) empirical studies involving quantitative surveys dominate the field over other methods like experiments, case studies (qualitative) and conceptual models; (3) research themes/topics are multi-perspectives, covering management and strategic dimension of green innovation (e.g. green innovation integration and adoption strategy; collaboration and networking in green innovation; green innovation management systems, green supply chain management, etc.), performance (financial, non-financial and both), drivers/antecedents and consumer green behavior; however, the “management and strategy” papers are by far higher; (4) studies are preponderately multi-country focused, concentrated in Europe and Australasia, with a low concentration in emerging markets like Africa and South America; And (5) the field lacks the adoption and development of novel theories. So far, the research fields principally focus on the “Porter hypothesis” and resource-based view in terms of the theory-driven studies. Based on these findings, knowledge gaps are identified, as are limitations and actionable agenda for future research.

As the first systematic review to adopt a comprehensive, holistic approach in synthesizing and summarizing research vis-à-vis the phenomenon of green innovation, the study offers practitioners and researchers an insightful understanding of the relevant issues that have been investigated on green innovation, thereby anchoring the evolutions for further sustainable-oriented research and improvement in management practices.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of three selected physical components of the urban environment – physical design, space layout and functionality, and store external appearance – on consumers' perceptions of service quality and behavioural intentions (desire to stay and repatronage intentions).

The research framework is based on the atmospherics, servicescape and service quality literatures. The proposed model is tested with a survey conducted in an inner‐city shopping street in Benevento (Italy).

Results show that physical space functionality and store appearance provide cues upon which customers base their perception of service quality provided in the shopping street and that service quality inferences, in turn, are able to affect desire to stay and repatronage intentions.

Findings are able to provide policy makers and retailers with suggestions in developing appropriate strategies for managing the urban setting with particular reference to individual shopping streets with the objective of improving customers' perception of service quality and subsequent behavioural outcomes.

The paper contributes to both retail and place marketing literature in that it is one of the few empirical studies aiming to investigate the influence of atmospheric stimuli on consumers' perception in an urban setting.

The purpose of this paper is to provide some insights for the evaluation of town centre management (TCM) effectiveness, by proposing the importance‐performance analysis (IPA) as a valuable tool to ensure a multi‐perspective evaluation. The need for more empirical methods of measuring town centre effectiveness is related to the risk of commonly used evaluation methodologies reflecting only the success criteria of dominant stakeholders.

By reviewing the service management literature, a definition of the “town centre product” is proposed, and how IPA can be used to analyse the city users' quality perceptions is emphasized. The theoretical framework is enriched by an empirical case study: the city centre of Benevento.

The results provide a clear guidance for the implementation of a TCM scheme in the historical centre of Benevento, by identifying the main area of intervention.

The paper addresses a gap in the academic literature by using the IPA as an alternative evaluating paradigm of TCM and providing a definition of the town centre servicescape. Further research could investigate the impact of the selected environmental variables on the city users' internal responses (e.g. satisfaction) and behaviours (e.g. desire to shop), beside on their quality perceptions.

The paper proposes a handy tool both for the exante and the expost evaluation, As well, it could be used as a benchmarking tool.

The paper has significant implications both for practitioners and for academics. It provides an original framework for further research and factual implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the identification of stakeholders involved in town centre management (TCM) projects and the main areas of intervention according to their interests and needs.

The proposed framework is tested in the town of Benevento, Italy. On the basis of stakeholder theory, key stakeholders were interviewed according to the different kinds of linkages they had with the TCM organisation.

Results from the paper support a stakeholder‐based approach to the development of TCM projects. In addition, a set of categories is proposed to define and evaluate the overall town centre offer.

The proposed framework can be used by cities or towns for the evaluation of the role of different public and private stakeholders in TCM projects, and for the assessment of their “stake” in the town centre.

Despite the need to promote a partnership approach between the public and private sectors having been recognised as a vital ingredient for the implementation of TCM, literature is still lacking which provides clear guidance for stakeholder analysis. This is one of the first papers to propose a theoretical framework addressing this issue.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a definition of the concept of “entertainment orientation” for shopping centres and to provide a framework for analysis of the main antecedents and performance outcomes related to a shopping centre's entertainment orientation.

The framework used in this study is based on contingency theory and resource‐based theory. The concept of entertainment orientation is approached from the perspective of external recreational services. Seven categories of antecedents are established – categorised as environment and centre‐specific factors. The performance of entertainment orientation is evaluated using sales and market measures.

The paper provides empirical evidence about the main factors that influence the adoption of entertainment orientation by shopping centres and finds a positive link between entertainment orientation and performance outcomes.

The model should be tested on a larger sample using structural equation modelling.

The paper provides shopping centres and other retail organisations with clear guidance in developing strategies for incorporating entertainment into the traditional retail setting.

The paper addresses some gaps in the academic literature by focusing on the managerial issues related to the convergence of retail and entertainment.