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The aim of this study is to attempt to understand the role of content strategy followed by leading higher education institutes in India which have created brand community on social media web sites to initiate and enhance customer engagement. The impact of content strategy variables – content type, posting agility, posting day and content context on number of likes and number of comments, which were manifest variables for customer engagement was assessed here.

This study follows a positivistic paradigm and employs case study research design. The data were collected by netnography method from brand communities on social networking web sites. The data were collected on a longitudinal basis for one year. Ten brand communities were tracked for the period and the analysis is based on total 1,440 posts made by brands during this period.

The content type and content agility were found to have significant impact on number of likes and comments, which were treated as manifest variables for customer engagement. The two‐way interaction indicated that content type and content context had significant impact on number of likes and comments.

It is one of the first attempts to characterize the relationship between a firm's content strategy of its BC on social networking sites and the customer engagement. This study identifies various manifest variables for both the content strategy of the firm and the customer engagement.

This study would facilitate practicing community managers and content managers to understand and develop content strategy which would lead to desired customer engagement on brand communities created on social media.

With the application of this study's results, an organization should be able to avoid misuse of its social media marketing efforts, and should be able to focus on its content strategy, which maximises customer engagement on its brand community.

Interest is currently growing in open social learner modeling (OSLM), which means making peer models and a learner's own model visible to encourage users in e-learning. The purpose of this study is to examine students' views about the OSLM in an e-learning system.

This case study was conducted with 40 undergraduate students enrolled in advanced programming and database management system courses. A Likert-type questionnaire and open-ended questions were used to obtain the students' views. System usage data were also analyzed to ensure the richness and diversity of the overall data set.

The quantitative data of the students' views were analyzed with descriptive statistics; the results are presented as graphics. The qualitative data of the students' views were examined by content analysis to derive themes. These themes are organized into four subtopics: the students' positive views, their negative views, their improvement suggestions and their preferences about using similar OSLM visualizations in other e-learning systems. The students' subjective views are discussed in the context of their recorded interactions with the system.

Competition due to seeing peer models was considered by participants both as positive and negative features of the learning system. So, this study revealed that, the ways to combine peer learner models to e-learning systems that promote positive competition without resulting social pressure, still need to be explored.

By combining open learner models with open peer models, OSLM enhances the learning process in three different ways: it supports self-regulation, encourages competition and empowers self-evaluation. To take advantage of these positive contributions, practitioners should consider enhancing e-learning systems with both own learner and peer model features.

Despite increasing interest in OSLM studies, several limitations and problems must be addressed such as sparsity of data and lack of study of different contexts and cultures. To date, no published study in this area exists in Turkey. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by examining OSLM features in an e-learning system from the perspectives of Turkish students by using both their system interaction data and their subjective views.

In a progressively more knowledge‐dependent economy, businesses need to learn to harness the knowledge that resides within their organizations. However, organizations often find it challenging to manage this most important asset that people possess. Researchers have asserted that it is mostly organizational factors that pose a challenge to the management of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of knowledge infrastructure capability in knowledge management (KM) practices within an organization.

This paper employs a single case study strategy to explore the objective. A medium‐sized, global Indian IT solutions company, headquartered in Bengaluru, India (MindTree Ltd) was chosen, as this company is admired globally for its KM initiatives and also featured in the Globally Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) list in 2010. Research methods included in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with key informants, as well as non‐obtrusive participant observation.

The study's findings show the relevance of knowledge infrastructure capability in KM excellence. The case highlights the role of a knowledge‐sharing culture throughout management systems and routines. The findings also suggest that organizational structure plays a facilitating and steering role in developing the culture of knowledge.

The issues identified are explored in a single case‐study setting. Future research could look at the relevance of the findings to other similar settings and in multi‐site settings, to bring about a wider theoretical generalization.

This study will help managers to understand the role of knowledge infrastructure capabilities in KM success and will help them to devise further studies to realize the full potential of KM initiatives.

This paper adds empirical insight from the Indian ITES industry on existing literature concerning KM.

Case Studies generally ask: (1) What accounts for the success/failure of this real‐life “Case” (Corporation, Government or Organization)?; (2) How can we transport the lessons learned across time and space?; (3) What immediate/eventual issue/objective(s) should the “Case” pursue to enhance its survival/success; and How? The student is graded on the Case Study by the force of his/her reasoning and arguments, two diametrically‐opposite action plans both scoring “A”. But which one should the CEO implement? Why? Are there minimal criteria that any Case Study of management should fulfill? The raison d etre of management is the pre‐committing of scarce resources for unknown/unknowable results (e.g., market share, mind share), which are generated by interactions of variables and/or participants. Does the Case Study identify the cogent interactions; does it suggest how to allocate resources to achieve pre‐specified results? This Case Study has been checked by the corporation for accuracy. We structure the narrative by systems theory which provides a framework to assess what the company has achieved, and to formulate what it should do to improve its chances of survival/success. The theory is buttressed by illustrations of systems approach to complexity, ranging from Apollo lunar landing to the $91‐billion IT Services Company, IBM. According to National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), exports rose 30.5 per cent to $12.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2003‐04 ending on March 31, 2004 from $9.6 billion in Fiscal 2002‐. Indian exports totaled $52.72 billion in 2003‐04. Applying the growth in the first five months, we estimate the total exports in 2003‐04 at $54.8 billion. The IT exports contributed 18.2 per cent in 2002‐03, rising to 22.8 per cent in 2003‐04.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the social construction of gendered subjects in entrepreneurship education (EEd), through the analysis of course descriptions. For this purpose, the analytical constructs of the Fictive Student and the Fictive Entrepreneur are developed.

Through analysis of 86 course descriptions from 81 universities in 21 countries, this study examines the degree to which course descriptions use gendered language, how such language constructs gendered subjects, and the resultant implications.

This paper finds that course descriptions are predominantly, but not exclusively, masculine in their language. More importantly, the distribution of feminine and masculine language is uneven across course descriptions. Context variables such as regional or national culture differences do not explain this distribution. Instead, the phenomenon is explained by course content/type; whereby practice-based entrepreneurship courses are highly masculine, compared to traditional academic courses, where students learn about entrepreneurship as a social phenomenon.

Universities and educators have not taken into account recent research about the real and possible negative consequences of positioning entrepreneurship in a stereotypical, masculinized fashion. This may offer an inexpensive opportunity to improve recruitment and description accuracy.

The paper’s contribution is fourfold. First, it contributes to debates on the gendering of entrepreneurship by extending these into EEd. Second, it extends Sarasvathy’s (2004) concern with barriers to, rather than incentives for, entrepreneurship to include EEd. Third, it contributes to the emerging literature on entrepreneurship as practice, by highlighting the masculization of EEd, as it gets closer to practice and the role of language in this. Finally, it highlights the gendered implications of English medium courses.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the practice of celebrity athletes’ product endorsement in the context of social media, guided by meaning transfer model.

The study adopted a content analysis method based on data gathered from the official Twitter account of 17 of the highest-paid athletes over a period of five months.

Results outline the state, involvement level, roles, modes, preferred content types, discernible differences, shared features, and best practices employed in endorsement tweets. A framework of athletes’ product endorsement on Twitter is presented.

The study presented theoretical and practical implications, and limitations and impetus for future research.

The study investigated professional athletes’ use of their own media channel for the purpose of endorsement, presented a framework that illustrates the practice of celebrity athletes’ product endorsement on social media, and identified a best practice and an exemplary reference.

The purpose of this paper is to revisit a decade after its conception the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style and analyzes its relevance to address current challenges from the Library and Information Science (LIS) discipline.

Conceptual aspects of REST are reviewed and a generic architecture to support REST is presented. The relevance of the architecture is demonstrated with the help of a case study based on the collection registration database of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

The authors argue that the “resources and representations” model of REST is a sustainable way for the management of web resources in a context of constant technological evolutions.

When making information resources available on the web, a resource-oriented publishing model can avoid the costs associated with the creation of multiple interfaces.

This paper re-examines the conceptual merits of REST and translates the architecture into actionable recommendations for institutions that publish resources.

Does civic participation, especially in the arts, increase democracy? This chapter extends this neo-Tocquevillian question in three ways. First, to capture broader political and economic transformations, we consider different types of participation; results change by separate participation arenas. Some are declining, but a dramatic finding is the rise of arts and culture. Second, to assess impacts of participation, we include multiple dimensions of democratic politics, including distinct norms of citizenship and their associated political repertoires. Third, by analyzing global International Social Survey Program and World Values Survey data, we identify dramatic subcultural differences: the Tocquevillian model is positive, negative, or zero in seven different subcultures and contexts that we explicate, from class politics and clientelism to Protestant and Orthodox Christian civilizational traditions.

To empirically examine the usefulness and value of supply chain mapping (SC mapping), which has been neglected despite its importance in research and practice.

Based on three combined theoretical perspectives, we conducted a case study on a car manufacturer's managers mapping their downstream supply chain (SC). We conducted semi-structured interviews and a mapping exercise with them, followed by a focus group.

We find differences between individual and corporate SC maps and between how managers define the outbound SC, the SC map they draw and what they say when mapping. The three theoretical perspectives allow us to enrich SC mapping thinking. We focus on boundary objects to formulate propositions. SC mapping and maps are discussed with respect to contemporary SCs and SCM.

Based on a single case study on one firm's outbound SC. Research could be expanded to the company's external partners and follow the development and use of maps in real time.

Highlights the usefulness and difficulties of SC mapping, for individuals and organisations. For the company, it opens avenues for further development and use of SC mapping to improve inter-functional and inter-organisational collaboration.

Confirms the need for SC mapping competences in SCM and consequently the usefulness of teaching SC mapping courses in logistics and SCM programs.

Highlights the usefulness of SC mapping and rekindles interest in SC mapping and maps in SCM. Introduces boundary objects into SCM research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of small-scale, rural festivals to the social sustainability of their host communities. Small-scale, community originated festivals proliferate the rural landscape throughout the UK and yet despite this, festival research has focussed predominantly on large, urban events and on their economic impact (Wood, 2009; Gibson and Connell, 2011). This paper seeks to address the perceived research gap by examining these events through a lens of social sustainability.

The research uses a case study approach focussed on four festivals in Northumberland, UK. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with festival organisers, key figures and visitors. Following a constructivist grounded theory method four principle indicators were identified to determine festival contribution to community social sustainability. These indicators are: contribution to community pride and localness, enhancement of knowledge and understanding, contribution to the continuity of local culture and enablement of networks of connectivity.

The findings demonstrate the networks of connections which festivals enable between the culture, heritage and people (individuals and groups) of a place. By focussing on four indicators the paper shows the social impact of connections through the festival processes and content. The paper argues that small-scale festivals in rural locations can contribute to social sustainability if they demonstrate a balance of both consistency and innovation and accessibility and openness within the locale.

This paper addresses the gap in social impact research into rural festivals and presents an original approach to identify festival impact on community social sustainability.