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This study aims to explore a potential conference experience design strategy, namely, festivalization. It investigates the potential festivalization effects on conference attendees in two formats of business conferences: virtual and in-person.

A series of two scenario-based experimental studies were conducted. A series of one-way analysis of covariance and PROCESS procedures (Model 6) were performed for data analysis.

The inclusion of festivalization elements significantly enhances positive responses of attendees, especially for in-person conferences. This effect is further explained by a serial mediation effect, where enhanced perceived values and conference engagement play key roles in improving attendees’ conference experience.

By incorporating festivalization elements, conference organizers can create a more engaging and satisfying event experience for attendees. This can lead to greater satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth and increased registrations.

This study represents a pioneering effort in revealing the underlining mechanisms that explain how festivalization affects attendee engagement and subsequent behaviors in business event management in both face-to-face and virtual settings.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of sports sponsorship on brand equity using two managerially related outcomes: price premium and market share.

This study uses a best–worst discrete choice experiment (BWDCE) and compares the outcome with that of the purchase intention scale, an established probabilistic measure of purchase intention. The total sample consists of 409 fans of three soccer teams sponsored by three different competing brands: Nike, Adidas and Puma.

With sports sponsorship, fans were willing to pay more for the sponsor’s product, with the sponsoring brand obtaining the highest market share. Prominent brands generally performed better than less prominent brands. The best–worst scaling method was also 35% more accurate in predicting brand choice than a purchase intention scale.

Future research could use the same method to study other types of sponsors, such as title sponsors or other product categories.

Sponsorship managers can use this methodology to assess the return on investment in sponsorship engagement.

Prior sponsorship studies on brand equity tend to ignore market share or fans’ willingness to pay a price premium for a sponsor’s goods and services. However, these two measures are crucial in assessing the effectiveness of sponsorship. This study demonstrates how to conduct such an assessment using the BWDCE method. It provides a clearer picture of sponsorship in terms of its economic value, which is more managerially useful.

Communication with employees during times of crisis has become a crucial aspect of crisis management for building organizational resilience knowledge. Thus, explaining how internal crisis management promotes positive employee behaviour has become imperative. This study aims to investigate the relationship between internal crisis communication, job engagement, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour towards the Environment, Communicative behaviour for sensemaking and sensegiving and organizational resilience.

An online survey was conducted with 483 full-time employees in Pakistan. The structural equation modelling technique was employed to assess the study's hypotheses.

The findings of this study demonstrate that internal crisis communication can boost employee job engagement, organizational citizenship behaviour towards environment, sensemaking and sensegiving, which will also have a downstream effect on organizational resilience.

The findings of this study indicated that effective internal communication can aid managers in making well-informed decisions, coordinating response efforts and disseminating vital information to relevant stakeholders. As a result, this study contributes to the literature on internal crisis management by incorporating employee behavioural intention towards the environment. It provides managers and practitioners with knowledge on managing employees during a crisis.

Surprisingly, the conservation of resource theory (COR) does not explain communicative conduct (sensegiving) and environmental (e.g. organizational citizenship behaviour towards environment) components. This research combines the tenets of COR theory that have yet to be researched with the employees' environmental responses element. The mechanisms of cognition and communication were also ignored in earlier studies. This study sheds light on the process through which higher levels of job engagement, organizational citizenship behaviour towards environment and the capacity for comprehension (e.g. sensemaking) and meaning-transmission (e.g. sensegiving) ultimately help organizations navigate the crisis successfully.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role and features of internal online events (IOE) in organizations and measure their impact on employee outcomes (communication satisfaction and loyalty in active and passive forms).

The study conducted a mixed-method process – first, which involved three semistructured interviews in India, Russia and France, and the data were analyzed through a qualitative coding procedure. Subsequently, a survey was conducted among employees regarding their perceptions of IOE. One hundred eighty-four fully completed questionnaires were collected, and the results were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The analysis of qualitative data revealed common patterns in IOEs in the organizations across India, Russia and France. The quantitative analysis showed the significant impact of IOEs on perceived communication satisfaction. Which in turn primarily stimulates the development of active employee loyalty rather than passive loyalty.

This study acknowledges that the samples were limited to only a few geographical regions of India, Russia and France. Also, the research is subject to sampling limitations due to snowball approach.

Internal communication (IC) managers can use this research findings to develop more effective IOEs to address organizational goals and create synergy-based positive outcomes (such as loyalty) within the employees of the organization.

Research contributes to exploring the role and characteristics of IOEs by applying engagement theory, emphasizing their capacity as a strategic IC channel to enhance employee involvement. Moreover, the study investigated the impact of IOEs on communication satisfaction and employee loyalty by applying affective events theory to communication.

Effective customer journey design (ECJD) is considered a key variable in customer experience management and an essential source of brand meaning and pro-brand behavior. Although previous research has confirmed its importance for driving brand attitudes and loyalty, the role of consumer-brand identification as a social identity-based influence in this relationship has not yet been discussed. Drawing on construal level and social identity theories, this paper aims to investigate whether effective journeys and the resulting overall journey experience are equally powerful in driving brand loyalty among customers with different levels of consumer-brand identification.

The present article develops and tests a research model using data from the European and US service sectors (N = 1,454) to investigate how and when ECJD affects service brand loyalty.

Across two cultural contexts, four service industries and 33 service brands, the results reveal that ECJD is a crucial driver of service brand loyalty for customers with low consumer-brand identification. Moreover, the findings show that different aspects of journey effectiveness positively impact the valence of customers’ experience related to those journeys – a process that is ultimately decisive for their brand loyalty.

This study is unique because it generates theoretical and practical knowledge by combining the literature streams of customer journey design, customer experience and branding. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that consumer-brand identification is a critical boundary condition to be considered in the relationship between ECJD and brand loyalty in services.

Patriotism is often described as the “love of country” that individuals display in the acclamation of their national community. Despite the prominence of this sentiment in various societies around the world, organizational research on patriotism is largely absent. This omission is surprising because entrepreneurs, human resource (HR) divisions, and firms frequently embrace both patriotism and patriotic organizational practices. These procedures include (among other interventions) national symbol embracing, HR practices targeted toward military members and first responders, the adulation of patriots and celebration of patriotic events, and patriotic-oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR). Here, the authors argue that research on HR management and organization studies will likely be further enhanced with a deeper understanding of the national obligation that can spur employee productivity and loyalty. In an attempt to jumpstart the collective understanding of this phenomenon, the authors explore the antecedents of patriotic organizational practices, namely, the effects of founder orientation, employee dispersion, and firm strategy. It is suggested that HR practices such as these lead to a patriotic organizational image, which in turn impacts investor, customer, and employee responses. Notably, the effect of a patriotic organizational image on firm-related outcomes is largely contingent on how it fits with the patriotic views of other stakeholders, such as investors, customers, and employees. After outlining this model, the authors then present a thought experiment of how this model may appear in action. The authors then discuss ways the field can move forward in studying patriotism in HR management and organizational contexts by outlining several future directions that span multiple levels (i.e., micro and macro). Taken together, in this chapter, the authors introduce a conversation of something quite prevalent and largely unheeded – the patriotic organization.

Drawing upon a push-pull-mooring model and the literature on behavioral loyalty, this research aims to examine the underlying factors and mechanisms that influence switching intention in the context of professional sport in Japan.

Using a two-wave survey design (pregame and postgame surveys), we collected data from 367 fans of a professional soccer team in Japan. Our data included three push factors (quality, satisfaction, and perceived value of the current favorite team), a pull factor (alternative team attractiveness), a mooring factor (team identification), and behavioral loyalty and switching intention to the alternative team. We used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses.

A mediation analysis revealed that perceived value of an individual’s current favorite team was negatively associated with behavioral loyalty to an alternative team, whereas attractiveness of the alternative team was positively associated with behavioral loyalty, which, in turn, resulted in fans’ switching intention. Latent moderated structural equation modeling further revealed the negative moderating effect of team identification with the current team on the relationship between behavioral loyalty and switching intention.

The findings provide new evidence about the role of behavioral loyalty in understanding sport consumers’ switching intention and highlight the importance of team identification that can foster a sustainable and long-term relationship between fans and their favorite sport teams.

This research addresses the critical challenge of fostering customer loyalty within the highly competitive landscape of the insurance industry. The study investigates the interplay between customer satisfaction, loyalty, and the influence of technology and service quality in the context of insurance services and in periods of crisis.

A quantitative research approach was employed, utilizing a structured questionnaire distributed among diverse insurance customers in Lebanon during crisis conditions. The data were analyzed using SPSS-Amos, incorporating descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM).

This research emphasizes the crucial role of customer satisfaction in fostering loyalty in the insurance sector, especially during crises. High satisfaction levels, influenced by user-friendly online platforms, positively correlate with increased customer loyalty. Technology plays a vital role in maintaining and improving satisfaction, making it a key driver during challenging times. Positive interactions between service quality and satisfaction further highlight the multifaceted impact of technology on shaping customer loyalty.

The research findings provide valuable insights with practical implications for insurers aiming to boost customer loyalty. The study recommends strategic investments in critical areas like claims processing, customer service, communication strategies, digitalization initiatives, and employee training. The study provides insights applicable particularly to insurance companies navigating crisis conditions.

This research contributes both to academic understanding and practical applications by shedding light on the distinctive challenges and opportunities faced by insurers in cultivating customer loyalty within the insurance industry during crisis. The elucidations provided serve as a foundation for developing targeted strategies to address these challenges and to leverage opportunities for enhanced customer loyalty.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of innovation in e-service delivery on trust and loyalty of Indian customers in the banking sector.

The stated relationships were drawn on the grounded theories by developing a conceptual model. Purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data from 400 bank customers who were availing the e-innovation services.

The findings of the study reveal that e-service innovation has a direct impact on e-service delivery and trust. The existence of a positive relationship between e-service delivery, trust and loyalty in the banking sector of India has also been found.

The findings of the study would help the practitioners and experts in the related fields to understand and adopt the innovative management practices in financial services in developing country like India.

Continuous e-innovation can create a distinct competitive advantage and avert the risk of vanishing from the market. The study contributes in terms of e-service innovation and e-service delivery in the banking sector in India. The impact of e-service innovation on banking outcomes begins with e-service and trust, these factors positively influences e-service innovation. Furthermore, e-service innovation exerts a positive effect on e-service delivery, trust and loyalty, thereby improving organizational value.

The purpose of this study is to identify the structural determinants of e-returns service interactions, examine their impact on online shoppers' loyalty and propose returns service interventions from an interactive marketing perspective to facilitate consumer interaction and repeat purchase intentions with e-retailers.

This study empirically tests the research hypotheses based on cross-sectional survey data collected from Chinese online consumers who experienced interactions during the product returns process.

E-return service interaction includes three determinants: access support, friendly interaction and communication support. These interactions positively impact ease of return, returns satisfaction and customer loyalty. Returns satisfaction is a key mediator in the relationship between return service interaction and loyalty. Access support and friendly interaction have both direct and indirect effects on loyalty, while communication support has only an indirect effect.

This study contributes to understanding e-returns service interaction by analyzing its structural determinants, providing a robust scale foundation and analytical framework for future empirical research. Additionally, this study explores the driving role of e-returns service interaction in forming e-customer loyalty, offering a theoretical basis for the service recovery function of e-returns service interaction. It enriches the application of service recovery theory and relationship marketing theory in the field of interactive marketing.