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The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a psychometrically reliable scale to measure centrality of brand (CoB) or brand centrality construct in the domain of fashion apparel brands. The scale quantitatively validates that brand relationship can be of equivalent importance to religious relationship in an individual fashion brand lover’s life.

Based on a previous literature review, brand centrality has been conceptualized. Following that, CoB scale has been validated in a step-by-step process following the scale validation methodology suggested by Churchill (1979).

The final outcome of the study is a psychometrically reliable CoB scale. The study results validate the relationships between CoB, and other important theoretical antecedents and consequences of brand centrality.

This study contributes to the existing body of fashion branding research by showing that a consumer-fashion brand relationship can be of importance akin to a religious relationship in an individual’s life.

Discusses the application of the English and Welsh Building Regulations to the form of earth‐walled buildings of the West Country commonly known as cob. Its aim is to provide designers and controlling Authorities with a better understanding, so as to enable a more informed approach to the approval of earth‐building projects. Presents findings in respect of new building, alteration and extension to existing buildings and the material change of use of cob building. Concludes that such buildings can comply with the Building Regulations, advising that it is essential that the aims of the Regulations are incorporated into the design as early as possible, thereby avoiding conflicting needs at a later stage.

The influence of flood conditions upon traditional cob construction is little understood. This paper aims to investigate the ability of cob materials to resist flood situations and documents basic failure mechanisms. This work also seeks to investigate the wettability characteristics of cob materials utilising environmental scanning electron microscopy.

This paper takes the form of a literature review and case study underpinning laboratory experiments.

Cob walls that are suitably compacted, straw reinforced and are composed and manufactured of the correct materials appear to have the ability to resist total failure when subjected to initial flood conditions, however, the duration to which these structures will remain intact has still to be ascertained, and testing is ongoing. A correlation appears to exist between the rate of cob material's compaction and the duration to which the structural integrity of the walls was retained when the samples were submerged in water. In addition, the use of straw reinforcing increased the duration to which the wall could be submerged before failure. Un‐reinforced cob walls that were submerged in simulated floodwaters, exhibited an undercutting pattern of deterioration prior to failure. The materials for cob construction exhibited both hydrophobic and hydrophilic characteristics. This would have an influence on the material's ability to saturate and dehydrate, and also have an impact on moisture transfer mechanisms. Unsaturated cob wall/samples developed surface tension between hydrophilic surfaces and this is believed by the authors to increase inter‐particle bond strength within the material by the suction effect.

This paper is believed to be the first preliminary investigation into the effect of flooding on cob structures. Additionally, it utilises environmental scanning electron microscopy to reveal information about the surface characteristics of the materials and uses wettability studies to assess the hydrophilic and hydrophobic nature of the aforementioned.

Thatch roofs are an important part of our heritage. Describes the history of thatch, the fire precautions necessary, its thermal properties and life span. Many thatch roofed properties are supported by cob walls. Describes the history of cob walls, the repair of existing cob walls, new work and the building regulations. Suggests that the Government should give more incentive to the use of thatch and cob walls, both for the purposes of construction and to keep alive the rural crafts associated with them.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the celebrity-brand association from a different perspective.

This study uses exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and binary logistic regression.

This study conceptualizes celebrity-owned brands (COBs). It statistically validates the complimentary and synergistic effects of six inter-related but distinct factors that are likely to influence a buyer’s willingness to pay price premium for COBs.

This study makes a novel attempt by analysing the celebrity-brand relationship from a different perspective. The paper deviates from the traditional and widely researched linkage of a celebrity with a brand through endorsement.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of different soldering temperatures on the performance of chip-on-board (COB) light sources during vacuum reflow soldering.

First, the influence of the void ratio of the COB light source on the steady-state voltage, luminous flux, luminous efficiency and junction temperature has been explored at soldering temperatures of 250°C, 260°C, 270°C, 280°C and 290°C. The COB chip has also been tested for practical application and aging.

The results show that when the soldering temperature is 270°C, the void ratio of the soldering layer is only 5.1%, the junction temperature of the chip is only 76.52°C, and the luminous flux and luminous efficiency are the highest, and it has been observed that the luminous efficiency and average junction temperature of the chip are 107 lm/W and 72.3°C, respectively, which meets the requirements of street lights. After aging for 1,080 h, the light attenuation is 84.64% of the initial value, which indicates that it has higher reliability and longer life.

It can provide reference data for readers and people in this field and can be directly applied to practical engineering.

Globalization and outsourcing have decoupled country of origin into the country of origin of manufacture (COM) and the country of origin of the brand (COB). This study seeks to extend the work of Gurhan‐Canli and Maheswaran and Lee et al. by investigating the interactive influence of COB and personal involvement with a product on purchase intention.

A total of 168 young adults in Hong Kong were intercepted for mall interviews and presented with mock advertisements for personal computers ostensibly with brands originating in Japan and Korea. Their personal involvement with such products was measured using an instrument designed by Zaichkowsky, and their purchase intentions were self‐assessed.

COB was found to predict purchase intentions among consumers with a low level of personal involvement with computers, but not among consumers with a high level of personal involvement.

First, to improve internal validity, the study involved a single product type and a sample limited to 15‐34 year olds. However, this improvement in internal validity places limitations on generalisability. Second, a median split was used to divide the subjects into low and high involvement groups. Third, only one dependent variable, purchase intention, was studied.

For marketers whose product is branded in a country with a favorable image, emphasizing the COB would be appropriate when communicating with low involvement consumers. Marketers whose product is branded in a country with a less favorable image ought to emphasize other peripheral cues when communicating with low involvement consumers.

By finding that COB has a significant impact on the purchase intentions of low involvement consumers, but not with those more highly involved, this research constitutes a small but important extension of the conclusions of Gurhan‐Canli and Maheswaran and Lee et al.

Nurses in hospital settings are a primary contact point and the way their behaviors are perceived by patients is a critical determinant of overall patient satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test and extend knowledge of the determinants of customer‐oriented behavior (COB) of contact personnel in a high‐contact service setting (healthcare industry). The paper contributes to the literature by examining two groups of constructs – dispositional variables (e.g. personality traits of the service provider) as well employee perceptions of service climate, mediated by surface traits and organizational commitment, on the dependent variable, COB of nurses in a hospital context.

The study involved both qualitative (focus groups) and a large‐scale survey, with a final sample of 270 nurses from five hospitals in Thailand. The dependent variable was a self‐reported measure of COB. Tests for common method bias suggested however that this was not a problem. All measures were sourced from the literature and demonstrated sound measurement properties. The conceptual model was tested using structural equation modeling.

Analysis supported the hypothesized model. Basic personality (extraversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) as well as customer orientation as surface trait (COS) all impact either directly or indirectly, on nurses' COB. Nurses' perceptions of the service climate and their commitment to the hospital are also significant predictors.

Future research might attempt to obtain objective measures of nurses' performance in lieu of self‐report measures. Further, as the healthcare industry has very specific characteristics (high affect, high anxiety among patients, high customization, etc.) this model should be tested in a variety of service settings. For healthcare managers, the findings, especially related to basic personality traits, have important implications for the type of person that should be recruited. The adage “Hire for attitude, but train for skill” certainly applies here.

The paper's contribution lies in analyzing the impact that both basic personality (extraversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) as well as surface traits, have on nurses' behavior; and simultaneously examining the impact of nurses' perceptions of service climate and organizational commitment.

As requirements for system performance and density increase, more attention is being given to chip‐on‐board (COB) packaging techniques. COB is ‘surface mount packaging taken to the extreme’ as it involves the direct mounting of bare semiconductor die to printed circuit board substrates. In this paper, the ‘thermal resistance’ of a single COB package is proposed. An analytical model for this resistance is developed for a multilayer board configuration using a combination of Fourier transform and adjoint‐solution techniques. Parameters in the model include the chip and board geometric parameters, individual layer unit conductances, and top and bottom surface film coefficients. A series of curves are developed from the model. These curves may be used in the initial design process to determine, for example, required film coefficients and the efficacy of adding thermal planes to the board. The model is also used to test the adequacy of the ‘effective series conductivity’ of a multilayer board.

This paper aims to model staff reactions to a hotel based on the way they perceive hotel’s treatment of customers. It suggests that employees are not motivated to help abused customers in the form of customer-oriented behaviors (COBs) until employees also feel that they are victims of abuse by the hotel. Hence, effects of staff’s unfavorable justice perceptions for customers on employee COBs are expected to be negative until staff’s unfavorable justice perceptions for themselves, interacting in this relationship, turn it positive.

Drawing on social exchange and compassion theories, the argument is made that staff members who are also victims of abuse by the hotel can empathize more with guests, turning quid pro quo responses to abuse of customers into compassionate responses.

Regression results from a field study of 280 employees at ten hotels in the Canary Islands provide general support for our hypotheses.

By understanding when and why (un)fair treatment of guests and staff has consequences for the hotel in the form of COBs, hotel managers can favor a better staff response to hotels’ careful stewardship of the service encounter in terms of COBs. The reversal of the direction in the relationship suggests the unfolding of compassion within a justice framework, which challenges the long-lived perceived incompatibility between compassion and justice in the organizational literature.

The present study is the first one to study COBs stemming either from staff responses to hotels’ abuse of customers or COBs resulting from the interaction between perceived justice for customers and justice perceptions for themselves.