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The impact of birth beliefs on pregnancy and delivery are universally recognized, but the factors that affect birth beliefs vary across regions depending on individual and cultural characteristics. This study aimed to determine women's birth beliefs and examine their associated factors.

This cross-sectional study was conducted with 548 primiparas in the obstetrics clinic of a university hospital located in the Southeastern Anatolian Region of Turkey from February to June 2019. Descriptive characteristics, form and the Birth Beliefs Scale were used in data collection. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, T-tests and ANOVA analyses were used.

It was determined that factors such as age group, income level, any problems during pregnancy and preferred delivery mode statistically affected women's birth beliefs.

Based on the findings from this study, healthcare personnel should provide training and consultation services to pregnant women starting from the prenatal period to help ensure a positive labor experience.

Consumers of services have expectations about what they will receive from the delivery system. These expectations are beliefs about future events which, when compared with the perceived actual service delivered, are presumed to influence satisfaction and assessments of overall service quality. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model that outlines the process through which expectations operate at the point of delivery and provide a framework for future investigations. Implications for management practice focus on service provider behavior at the point of delivery and on control of cues that may influence consumer expectations once they have entered the delivery system. Directions for research include verification of model relationships and identification of specific types of cues that relate to attributes commonly considered in consumers’ judgements of service quality.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are a significant part of smart libraries in the information age. Hence, their adoption is inevitable in the technological age. This study aims to examine VR and AR as predictors of library users’ intention to make use of public libraries.

The study adopts a descriptive survey approach. Using the random sampling technique, a questionnaire was adopted to collect data from the users of public libraries in Ikorodu Local Government, Lagos State, Nigeria. The sample size for the study is 229. Data were analysed using the IBM-Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (version 23). Descriptive statistics (frequency counts and simple percentage) and inferential statistical (simple linear regression and Sobel test) were used to analyse collected data.

The findings revealed that the users have a positive valence towards VR and AR. Results showed that library users would be influenced by subjective norms to make use of VR and AR. Findings revealed that users need the cooperation of librarians to use the technologies.

The study established that the users have a positive attitude and normative beliefs towards using the library if VR and AR technologies are introduced in library and information services in public libraries. This provides a theoretical underpinning to use VR and AR to enhance users’ intention to use public library.

The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of higher education institution as a sustainability communication channel. The theory of planned behavior was used to examine the degree to which a student’s tenure at a large university with active and visible sustainability initiatives is associated with changes in views about sustainability and changes in reported sustainability behaviors.

This study involved a campus-wide online survey on undergraduate students at a large mid-western university. A direct measurement approach to the theory of planned behavior was used to measure changes in attitudes, normative beliefs, perceived behavioral controls and self-reported behaviors on five different environmental sustainability behaviors.

Overall findings support the notion that higher education institutions can be effective communication channels for sustainability issues, as students who have been in college for a longer period of time reported somewhat more positive attitudes, normative and efficacy beliefs and more sustainable behaviors.

By measuring specific components of the theory of planned behavior, this study provides insights on specific areas in which campaigns targeting college students in different college years could become more effective.

Few studies have assessed college as an effective sustainability communication channel despite the fact that it is potentially a powerful channel to reach a large population at their critical age. This study also measures specific components to sustainability behaviors by using the theory of planned behavior as a guiding framework.

This study evaluates cross-national differences in public beliefs about the causes of health and the role of these beliefs in shaping attitudes regarding health policy.

The study uses data from the 2011 International Social Survey Program, which includes questions on health and health care, asked in 29 countries. Respondents were asked about four specific causes of poor health (i.e., genes, behavior, the environment, and poverty). Respondents were also asked about their attitudes regarding three aspects of health policy: their support for government-provided care, the perceived fairness of income disparities in medical treatment, and their support for providing health care to noncitizens.

The study has three findings. First, the study reveals the global reach of a multicausal view. The four beliefs about the causes of poor health are positively correlated in all countries. However, there is considerable cross-national variation in the average support for specific causes. Although in some countries proximate causes, such as genes, are endorsed more frequently than distal causes, such as poverty, this is by no means a uniform pattern. Support for genetic causes is high, but genetic reductionism is rare. Second, the study reveals that health beliefs are fundamentally political beliefs. The single most important determinant of beliefs about the causes of health is the country in which the respondent resides, exceeding in influence religion, education, and even personal experiences with health and health care. Third, the study reveals that the political connotations of health beliefs vary between countries, especially beliefs regarding genes. In general, those who endorse behavioral arguments favor less government involvement in health care and are more accepting of income disparities in the quality of care. Those who endorse the environment and poverty, meanwhile, tend to support a stronger role of government. Yet, the magnitude of these associations varies and, in the case of genetic arguments, even the direction of the association varies. Genetic arguments are frequently associated with support for a stronger role of government, but genetic arguments also are occasionally associated with support for the exclusion of noncitizens from the health care system.

International survey research is valuable for exploring the scope of patterns revealed in a limited set of countries, but it is difficult to pinpoint the source of cross-national differences.

The study demonstrates the importance of national context in shaping health beliefs, as well as the role of beliefs regarding the causes of health in setting the stage for public receptivity to government-provided care. The study also illustrates the value of thinking about beliefs about genes as reflecting larger projects of biocitizenship, at least in some countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect customers’ switching intentions among banks in the context of mergers and acquisitions, using particularly the case of the merger between Lloyds TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland, which took place in 2009.

On the basis of the theory of planned behavior, a quantitative survey was developed and administered to 515 account holders from both banks in branches located in Spain. Structural equation modeling was then utilized to evaluate the significance of direct and indirect relationships between the various factors under study.

Empirical findings indicate a significant direct relationship between switching intentions and each of: behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, attitudes, and subjective norms. Results also reveal an inverse significant relationship between switching intentions and both control beliefs and perceived behavioral control.

The absence of a longitudinal study measuring the actual impact of the merger on customer switching behavior is the main limitation of this study. Moreover, despite being insightful, the results of this study should be generalized with caution since the sample was based on a list purposely chosen by the banks’ management.

This paper discusses customer switching behavior in the context of a real-life case of banks’ consolidation.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the research paradigm focusing on behaviorally-based first-mover advantages (FMA) by applying the widely-accepted Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and offers insights into differences between a mature market (USA) and an emerging market (EM) (India) regarding how intentions to purchase the pioneer are formed.

Utilizing samples of 208 USA and 194 Indian consumers, hypotheses examining the underlying beliefs, attitudes, social norms and purchasing intentions regarding pioneer brands are developed and tested using structural equation modeling.

Insights from the study suggest the TRA provides a means for assessing behaviorally-based FMAs across cultures, even as manifestations of purchase intentions differ significantly. According to the TRA and findings of this study, intentions are a function of overall attitudes and social norms. In the USA, individual attitudes were found to play a more significant role than social norms in formulating purchase intention. In India, social norms played a more dominant role in intention formation.

The study represents one of the first empirical attempts to shed light on the extent of behaviorally-based FMAs in an EM and how manifestations of intention to purchase the pioneer differ from mature markets. The study expands the behavioral paradigm of analysis to include one of the most sought-after EMs today (India) and provides one of the first empirical studies to utilize the TRA in addressing behaviorally-based FMAs.

The demand for second-hand clothing has risen rapidly in the past few years. Yet, the understanding of the motivations of consumers buying second-hand clothing is very limited. The purpose of this study is to propose and empirically test an integrated model of the theory of planned behaviour and the theory of consumption values to explain consumers' intention to buy second-hand clothing.

Data (n = 290) are collected from consumers in Malaysia and analysed by partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Results of this study show that attitudes towards second-hand clothing, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, moral norms, and perceived behavioural control have a significant positive influence on consumers' intention to buy second-hand clothing. Furthermore, emotional value and environmental value are found to have a significant positive influence on attitudes. However, no support is found for the positive influence of social value and epistemic value on attitudes.

The study confirms that the integrated model is useful in explaining consumers' intention to buy second-hand clothing. Furthermore, this study also provides some valuable suggestions to practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of country of origin (COO) information on brand perception and brand image structure.

Through an analytical review, research hypotheses were built. An empirical investigation was carried out among Japanese consumers. Two brands of electronics with different levels of reputation were investigated.

Results showed that COO had an effect on brand perception. This effect differs across brands and across countries of production. Brand‐origin appears to be of significant impact on consumer perception. Brand images are found to be multidimensional. Their structures differ across brands and across COO.

COO has multiple effects on brand image perception. Brand image is multidimensional. This research dealt with one type of product among culturally similar respondents which may limit the finding.

Marketing actions should be customized across brands with different levels of reputation. Brand image should be assessed as a multidimensional concept incorporating multiple facets. Consumers are influenced by the brand‐origin. Marketers should be aware of this association.

This research tests the multidimensional aspect of brand image structure and effect of COO information on brand image structure. Results show that COO information affects both the degree of fragmentation of brand image as well as its composition.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of brand associations and the formation of attitudes towards a new sponsor. Specifically, the paper evaluates the Under Armour brand and its anomalous position in the Barclay’s Premier League.

The research design is longitudinal, qualitative and interpretivistic, utilising 26 online focus groups with 213 participants over a 24-month period encompassing the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 Premier League seasons.

The results indicate that Under Armour’s lack of football (soccer) presence in the context of the Premier League offered significant differentiation, as it diminished “common ground” with other fans, offered the opportunity to create personal identities beyond the club and the consumption of kit apparel, and was seen as positive given the articulation that brands such as Nike and Adidas were “forced” onto fans. Additionally, for the first time in the sports sponsorship literature, the findings reveal fans engaging with brands in a utilitarian manner, expressing concerns relating to cost, durability, functionality and value for money.

This study is exploratory in nature and highly contextualised, and a larger-scale study of the phenomenon is desirable. This study extends the literature on fans’ perceptions of sponsoring brands and shows that a new sponsor, without prior league or club associations, can generate significant brand interest and elicit consumption behaviours beyond team apparel.

The findings suggest that there are considerable opportunities for “outside” brands to garner a market share and instigate loyalty through sponsorship. Subsequently, kit manufacturers should consider strategies that encompass entry into new sporting areas.

The study reveals that fans seek uniqueness and differentiation in a sponsoring brand, with brand image paramount in relation to the club and to both social and personal identity.