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This paper aims to provide evidence on the role study tours play in expanding student cultural capital via increased confidence in international travel.

In this paper, survey data from individuals who participated in a study tour experience offered by a Florida-based university are analyzed for the assessment of cultural capital acquisition across select demographic types. Results are derived for paired difference tests as well as differences in population means.

Findings indicate that students participating in study tours did, in fact, gain confidence in engaging in international travel, especially so for first-time passport users and female participants.

The study was limited because of the size of the sample population. It is likely that significant relationships via other demographic cohorts will unfold as program participation increases.

Study tours represent a viable pathway for the acquisition of cultural capital.

Study tours present a unique means of providing students a first-hand global experience, and when marketed to a non-traditional student population, offer opportunities for acquisition of cultural and social capital that could not be achieved through non-experiential means.

The results of this study show that the study tour experience enriched the cultural capital of student participants through an increase in confidence associated with traveling abroad. The benefits of the study tour were widespread, as virtually, all population groups analyzed tended to gain confidence in traveling abroad, even those who had prior experience traveling internationally. This paper also suggests future pathways for research based on other demographic cohorts.

The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of the intellectual capital of SMEs on innovation and organizational performance in the context of an emerging country.

The sample consisted of 259 industrial SMEs from the Cordoba, Argentina. The data were analyzed by partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM).

The study provides empirical evidence that the three components of intellectual capital generate positive and significant effects on innovation in processes and products. Structural capital is the component that has the greatest effect on innovation. It also showed a positive and significant relationship between innovation in processes and performance, contributing to the scarce empirical literature in the context of SMEs.

The research exposes limitations that uncover a path for future. First, the work uses as the only source of information, the consultation at the highest level of the company. Second, the study covered only industrial companies. Future studies should focus on other sectors and countries.

The results may have important practical implications for SME owners and managers and offer a vision of the influence of intellectual capital on the innovative capacity of the organization.

The value of work lies in establishing the importance of intellectual capital in the environment of an emerging country such as Argentina, given the low level of knowledge that exists in this area.

The purpose of this study is to propose a novel relaxation modified factor to accelerate the numerical solution of the radiative transfer equation (RTE) with several high-resolution total variation diminishing schemes. The methodology proposed is denoted as the X-factor method.

The X-factor method was compared with the technique deferred-correction (DC) for the calculations of a two-dimensional cavity with absorting-emiting-scatteting gray media using the discrete ordinates method. Four parameters were considered to evaluate: the absorption coefficient, the emissivity of boundary surface, the scattering albedo and under-relaxation factor.

The results showed the central processing unit (CPU) time of X-factor method was lower than DC. The reductions of CPU time with the X-factor method were observed from 0.6 to 75.4%.

The superiority of the X-factor method over DC was showed with the reduction of CPU time of the numerical solution of RTE for evaluated cases.

This paper analyses the interrelationships between emotions, the cognitive information cues of online reviews and intention to follow the advice obtained from digital platforms, paying special attention to the moderating effect of the sequencing of review valence.

The data were collected from 830 Spanish Tripadvisor users. In a two-step approach, a measurement model was estimated and a structural model analysed to test the proposed hypotheses. SmartPLS 3.0 software was used. The moderating effect of sequencing of reviews is tested.

The data analysis showed a bias effect of review sequence on the impact of online information cues and emotions on intention to follow advice obtained from Tripadvisor. When the online reviews of a restaurant begin with positive commentaries, their perceived persuasiveness is a stronger driver of the pleasure and arousal elicited by online reviews than when they begin with negative reviews. On the other hand, the perceived helpfulness of online reviews only triggers arousal when the user reads negative, followed by positive, comments. The impact of pleasure on intention to follow the advice provided in an online travel community is higher with positive-negative than with negative-positive sequences.

While researchers have demonstrated the benefits of customer reviews on company sales, a largely uninvestigated issue is the interplay between emotions and cognitive information cues in the processing of online reviews. This is one of the first studies to examine the moderating effect of conflicting reviews on the impact of emotions and cognitive information cues on consumer intention to follow the advice obtained from digital services.

The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of the structural capital of SMEs in the capacity of innovation and organizational performance, in the context of an emerging country.

The sample consisted of 259 industrial SMEs from the province of Córdoba Argentina. The data was analyzed by Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS–SEM).

The study provided evidence that acquisition of information and knowledge management, organizational culture and structure, systems and processes have positive and significant effects on the innovation capacity of SMEs. Only the communication and cohesion component did not show positive and significant results on it. It also showed a positive and significant relationship between the capacity for innovation in processes and performance, contributing to the scarce empirical literature in the context of SMEs.

The research exposes some limitations that uncover a path for the development of future lines of research. In the first place, the work focuses on the use of a single source of information, the consultation at the managerial level of the company, without considering other representative variables to measure the capacity for innovation. Second, the study covered only companies in the industrial sector and country. Future studies should focus on other sectors and countries.

The results of the study can have important practical implications for the owners and managers of SMEs. The results offer a vision of the dimensions of structural capital that most influence the innovative capacity of the organization. This is especially useful given that in the context of Argentina there is a low level of knowledge and structural capital is key to being more competitive. The managers of SMEs can thus increase the innovative potential of the company and favor the acquisition of information and knowledge and improve its processes and systems to contribute to the development of innovation capabilities to make SMEs more competitive.

The results obtained can be useful for those responsible for making public policy decisions, since in the knowledge of the economy to maintain a developed state and nation, it is necessary to include as one of the main issues on the national agenda the improvement of intellectual capital of its people to promote the competitiveness of companies.

The research contributes to the development of intellectual capital literature focused on the generation of innovation and performance in the perspective of SMEs in emerging countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine in greater depth the influence of internal factors on the disclosure of environmental information by companies. The influence of pro-environmental managers´ personal values on environmental disclosure quality is analyzed and the extent to which the influence of those values is mediated by the practices associated with the environmental organizational structure of the company.

The authors use a partial least squares structural equation model to analyze the relationship between the quality of the environmental information disclosed by 137 environmentally sensitive Spanish firms, their level of commitment towards the environment and the personal values of the directors in charge of those reports.

A central finding of this work is that a positive relationship between the pro-environmental managers’ personal values and environmental disclosure quality is fully mediated by the environmental organizational structures of their companies.

A better understanding of the relationship between the personal values of managers and corporate environmental reporting quality will contribute to the design of policies that can enhance firm transparency and accountability, for example, by educating future managers in sustainability values.

Light is cast on the mechanisms that can enhance corporate transparency and accountability in relation to environmental matters.

In this paper, a quantitative study of the internal driving forces of environmental disclosure is conducted, an aspect that has often been ignored in the literature on quantitative voluntary social reporting. The merit of this approach is its contribution to the literature through the analysis of the reasons why powerful actors within firms could (or could not) develop corporate social reporting practices.

This study aims to analyze the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) customer perceptions, customer–company identification and customer trust on customer engagement (CE), paying special attention to the moderating effects of two types of social media communication, firm-generated content and user-generated content.

The study uses a mixed-methods’ approach. First, a single-factor experiment using Twitter posts as stimuli with 227 hotel guests. The structural model was analyzed using SmartPLS 3.2.7. Second, structured in-depth interviews were undertaken with three hotel industry experts to complement the conclusions of the quantitative study.

The results show that when a customer trusts a hotel and identifies with its corporate values, CSR tweets generate CE toward the hotel. CSR communications made by customers reinforce the impact of CSR tweets on customer trust more than CSR tweets posted by hotels. Hotel industry experts give insights to explain these results in different types of hotels.

CSR communications made through Twitter affect customers’ perceptions of a hotel’s CSR activities and customer trust in hotels, especially if they originate from a source external to the company. This result can be of use for hotel managers who have not previously given importance to active CSR communications or the interactivity of social media.

The authors show the moderating effect of user-generated content in the relationship between CSR customer perceptions and customer trust, thus contributing to the research into the effectiveness of social media. They use a mixed-methods’ approach to increase the validity of the results.

Este estudio analiza el papel de las percepciones de RSC, la identificación cliente-empresa (CCI) y la confianza en el engagement del cliente (CE), prestando especial atención al efecto moderador de dos tipos de comunicación en redes sociales: Contenido Generado por la Empresa (FGC) y Contenido Generado por el Usuario (UGC).

Se emplean métodos mixtos: un experimento de un factor usando publicaciones de Twitter como estímulo con 227 huéspedes del hotel, cuyo modelo estructural se analizó con SmartPLS 3.2.7., y 3 entrevistas en profundidad con expertos de la industria hotelera.

Los resultados muestran que, cuando un cliente confía en el hotel y se identifica con sus valores corporativos, los tweets de RSC generan engagement. La comunicación de RSC emitida por usuarios refuerza el impacto de los tweets de RSC en la confianza del cliente más que los tweets publicados por hoteles. Los expertos de la industria hotelera aportan nociones para explicar estos resultados en diferentes tipos de hoteles.

La comunicación de RSC realizada a través de Twitter afecta las percepciones del cliente sobre las actividades de RSC del hotel y la confianza en el mismo, especialmente si proceden de una fuente externa a la empresa. Este resultado puede ser útil para gerentes de hoteles que no se benefician de la comunicación activa de RSC o la interactividad de las redes sociales.

Se valida el efecto moderador del UGC en la relación entre las percepciones de RSC y la confianza de los clientes, contribuyendo así a la investigación sobre la efectividad de las redes sociales. Se emplea un diseño mixto para incrementar la validez de los resultados.

Comunicación de RSC, Engagement del Consumidor, Fuente del mensaje, Contenido generado por la empresa, Contenido generado por el usuario, Twitter, Compromiso con el cliente

Trabajo de investigación

This study aims to investigate the Chile–China diplomatic and economic relations in the light of the extension of the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) and the Chile's accession to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2019.

This study takes Chile as a case of study to identify the main upcoming challenges and opportunities for relations between China and Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) countries. The study examines news and official data on trade, investment and foreign policy.

The findings are twofold. First, the increasing and diversification of exports from Chile to China. Second, the participation of Chinese companies in public tendering procedures, which is increasing Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. The growing volume of trade does not make Chile's economy more dependent on copper exports, and Chinese investment may help solve the structural deficit in infrastructures of the Andean country.

This study presents an overview of Chile as a partner for China and evaluates the relationship's impact on the development of the former. Recently collected data on bilateral trade and investments are analyzed to contribute to the emerging literature on Chinese and Chile relations.

The purpose of this paper is to describe fresh fruit consumers in Spain according to their food-related lifestyle (FRL).

A random stratified sample of 500 people, representative of the persons responsible for household food purchasing and resident in Spain, was interviewed in 2017 using a revised and adapted version of the FRL instrument (Grunert et al., 1993). Questions about fruit purchasing criteria, consumption habits and demographics were also included. Factor and cluster analysis (Ward method) yielded four segments.

The segments identified are: “Total indifference (TI)”, small segment with disinterest in extra-domestic and social consumption, nutrition and innovation; “Little time to cook, concerned about nutrition and extra-domestic consumption (LICNE)”, the largest consumers of fresh fruit who show interest in nutrition and health, but no interest in the price of products, convenience foods or liking cooking; “Cooks and preference for natural products (COOKNAT)”, the largest segment, with a medium-high consumption of fresh fruits, who are related to cooking at home, natural products and a concern for the price-quality ratio; and “Unconcerned (UNC)” presents the lowest fresh fruit consumption and shows the lowest interest in natural products and some indifference to the other criteria.

The information obtained in this study gives interesting new insights for the marketing strategies of the fresh fruit suppliers to Spain and the Food and Public Health Administrations.

The Spanish lycanthrope arrived successfully to Spanish screens with The Mark of the Wolfman (Eguiluz, 1968), introducing iconic actor and scriptwriter Paul Naschy as werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. This persona would be later developed in more depth in The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman (Klimovsky, 1970) and Curse of the Devil (Aured, 1972). Furthermore, Daninsky’s construction responded to the historical repressive context of Francoist Spain, and the strong ideal of masculinity imposed and promoted under the fascist regime (Pulido, 2012).

After a long hiatus in the horror genre, the more recent film Game of Werewolves (Martínez Moreno, 2011) revisits the figure of the Spanish lycanthrope by introducing two different sets of characters embodying two different types of masculinity and, more significantly, by linking the strong, traditional male identity to the myth of the werewolf, paying homage to Waldemar Daninsky.

Thus, through the film’s historically contextualized textual analysis, the chapter seeks to study the myth of the werewolf in twenty-first-century Spain, in relation to the changes in the masculine identity and the historical context to which it refers, exploring the struggle of men to move from the traditional male identity imposed during the dictatorship to a more progressive one.