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The study aims to provide a theoretical framework of how information, entertainment and social interaction value associated with automotive Facebook brand pages (FBPs) in Sri Lanka influence customer engagement behaviors (CEBs), and further, how CEB is likely to result in FBP-specific relationship outcomes.

A printed questionnaire was used to collect the data from a convenience sample of 374 undergraduate Facebook users in Sri Lanka, and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS 21.0.

The findings highlighted that information, entertainment and social interaction value positively influenced CEBs in automotive FBPs in Sri Lanka. Moreover, results showed that CEB had a positive influence on FBP trust, FBP commitment and FBP loyalty. Additionally, information value was found to positively influence FBP loyalty, while social interaction value had a positive influence on FBP trust and FBP commitment.

The study proposes a framework for relationship building in automotive FBPs by integrating values that drive CEBs and the FBP-specific relationship outcomes of CEBs. As such, the novelty of this paper is that it focuses on building customer relationships with the FBP, instead of the brand in the context of automotive FBPs in a developing country, Sri Lanka. Further, this study proposes some additional linkages between the constructs apart from testing the antecedents and FBP-specific relationship outcomes of CEBs.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2019-0352

Social media brand pages have emerged as an influential relationship-building tool and continue to grow in popularity as an integral part of the marketing strategy across diverse industries. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for building relationships through customer engagement in Facebook brand pages (FBPs).

Using a sample of 327 undergraduate Facebook users in Sri Lanka, the conceptual model of the study depicting relationships between eight latent constructs, is tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS 21 statistical software.

The data analysis reveals that customer engagement with FBPs is positively influenced by customer motivations; information, remuneration, social interaction and personal identity in apparel/fashion, FMCG and hotel/restaurant FBPs. However, the relationship between entertainment motive and customer engagement is found to be insignificant. Additionally, customer engagement is found to be positively related to FBP trust and FBP commitment. Further, the study highlights that the different types of FBPs are guided by different relationship principles. Hence, the strength of the relationships between customer motivations and customer engagement, and, further, the relationships between customer engagement and FBP-specific relationship outcomes are dependent upon the type of the FBP. Moreover, customer engagement is found to be mediating the relationships between motivations (information, remuneration, social interaction and personal identity) and FBP trust.

The study provides strategies for FBP marketers. It emphasizes the value of FBPs as an effective marketing tool to build up relationships with customers. Marketers are advised to identify and address what customers expect from the FBPs to engage them on FBPs and strengthening their relationship with the FBP itself.

The study provides insights into the nature of engagement in FBPs by incorporating the motivations and FBP-specific relationship outcomes of customer engagement in a single framework. The study focuses on the development of a framework explaining the role of customer engagement in building customer relationships with the FBP itself, rather than with the brand.

In Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects, value for money (VFM) tests and accounting treatment are distinct but related issues. VFM analysis should be concerned with total risk, not just with the sharing of risk, which dominates the accounting treatment decision. A framework is developed for logical thinking about what is meant by “best VFM” in the context of PFI projects. This involves consideration of the full set of alternatives, not an artificially diminished subset. The credibility of analytical techniques can be tarnished if they are misused to legitimate a predetermined decision. A reduction in construction risk may be a powerful source of VFM gains under PFI, but, under UK accounting regulation, this should not influence the accounting treatment decision. New complications about how VFM should be interpreted arise directly from the process of public sector fragmentation: affordability to the client is not necessarily the same as VFM for the public sector as a whole. Only public auditors, such as the National Audit Office, can gain access to PFI documentation on the conditions necessary for a comprehensive assessment of both accounting treatment and VFM. However, such studies require the kind of theoretical underpinning provided in this article, as otherwise the findings are likely to be ambiguous and hence vulnerable to rebuttal. In particular, VFM judgements must make explicit the basis of comparison on which they rest.

The purpose of this paper is to verify whether gender traits of brand personality (masculinity vs femininity) are able to differentiate services brands belonging to the same service industry. Second, this paper intends to assess the validity of Grohmann's scale (that measures the masculine and the feminine dimensions of brand personality) among Italian consumers.

Empirical research was conducted on a sample of 200 consumers. Participants were asked to rate their perceptions of the masculinity vs femininity dimensions of four different service brands (two brands of food retailers and two brands of airlines).

The findings show that Grohmann's scale reaches high levels of validity in the Italian context, as well and that femininity and masculinity measured by that scale are able to register differences in services brand positioning for brands belonging to the same service industry.

The services category includes very heterogeneous services with different degrees of interaction and consumer's involvement. Further studies are needed to isolate the impact of the perceived MBP and FBP associated either with the service industry/category or with the specific brand.

Marketing managers can actively try to influence consumer's perceptions of FBP and MBP through the brand logo colors, brands slogans, masculine or feminine spokespeople, etc. to obtain their desired positioning.

The paper is the first to specifically study brand personality's gender dimensions within services environments. The paper also supports the validity of Grohmann's scale outside the German context.

This study aims to examine how brand gender (masculine/feminine brand personality [FBP] traits) stimulates brand engagement (cognitive processing, affection and activation) inside online brand communities (OBCs). The authors also explore the mediation of this effect through brand identification and brand personality appeal (BPA). The moderating role of consumers’ biological sex is also investigated.

The theoretical model has been tested with the data collected from OBC members through the structural equation modelling technique. Bootstrapping is used for mediation analysis and multiple group analysis for testing the moderating effects.

Results show that masculine brand personality (MBP) influences brand engagement directly, as well as through brand identification and BPA. However, FBP elicits brand engagement only through the mediation of brand identification and BPA. Consumers’ biological sex moderates the effect of FBP on brand engagement, but no moderation was traced for the effect of MBP on brand engagement.

The context of the research poses a limitation on the broader replication of study findings. Other limitations include the absence of community-based variables and the focused use of gender centric brands in this study. This research will help researchers to understand the nuances in the underlying relationship between brand gender and brand engagement inside OBCs.

The managers can emphasize MBP but should not downplay the importance of FBP inside OBCs. To achieve brand engagement, the marketers should curate FBP in a way to affecting consumers’ brand identification and brand appeal. To achieve consumer brand engagement, MBP can be targeted at both male and female consumers, whereas FBP holds more importance among female consumers. Therefore, classifying members as per their biological sex is recommended for better brand engagement from brand gender inside OBCs.

This study explores finer mechanisms in the relationship between brand gender and brand engagement inside OBCs by charting out the powerful mediating role played by brand identification and BPA. The moderating role of consumers’ biological sex is an important dimension to these relationships, not explored hitherto.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of brand gender on brand equity across countries and cultures in various product domains.

Consumers from ten countries on four continents rated 20 global brands, leading to a total of 16,934 cross-clustered observations. Linear mixed effect models examined a series of nested models, testing three novel brand gender effects with respect to the impact of androgynous brands on brand equity and the moderating role of consumers’ biological sex as well as individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Additional robustness tests provide support on form, metric, and scalar invariance of the measurements and the robustness of the observed effects across countries and cultures.

The current research reveals that androgynous brands generate higher brand equity relative to exclusively masculine, exclusively feminine, and undifferentiated brands. The authors also show a brand gender congruence effect such that male consumers value masculine brands higher than females while female consumers value more feminine brands higher than males. Finally, highly masculine brands generate higher brand equity in more individualistic countries whereas highly feminine brands generate higher brand equity in more collectivistic countries.

This is the first research examining and demonstrating the positive influence of androgynous brand gender perceptions on brand equity. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is also the first paper examining brand gender effects across countries and cultures.

This study aims to examine the effects of pathos in sustainable brand stories featuring masculinity on brand masculinity and men’s sustainable brand attitude using Aristotle’s rhetoric theory.

Three independent online experiments (N = 398; N = 216; N = 247) were conducted to observe how participants responded to a sustainable brand story. Data collected through a post-experimental survey were used to test the proposed model. Research hypotheses were inspected using SPSS.

The authors reveal brand masculinity is influenced by varying degrees of pathos: participants who read stories with all three pathos elements (metaphor, humor and empathy) demonstrated the highest level of perceived brand masculinity. Male consumers showed more positive attitudes toward masculine sustainable brand stories than feminine ones. The authors also identify the moderating effect of consumer generation: Gen Z (versus Gen Y) consumers demonstrated stronger character identification with hybrid masculinity (versus hegemonic masculinity) sustainable brand stories, resulting in more favorable sustainable brand attitudes.

The study provides a new angle for exploring the relationship between gendered sustainable brand stories and sustainable brand attitudes. It is the first (to the authors’ knowledge) that links Aristotle’s rhetoric theory to brand gender research, and it empirically demonstrates how male consumers from different generational cohorts respond to different masculinity strategies used by sustainable brands.

Internet domain plans announced. The Internet's International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC), whose formation was reported on in our last issue, has announced its plan to increase the number of names that can be used to specify Internet locations and to introduce competition in the registration of Internet names.

This paper aims to examine the effect of customer relationship management (CRM) on patient satisfaction and patient loyalty, controlling for other socio-demographic characteristics.

The study used a two-stage sampling process and structured questionnaires to collect data from 788 patients from three health facilities (public, quasi-public and private) in Greater Accra, Ghana. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression via the partial least squares-based structural equation model.

The results suggest that CRM is significantly positively correlated with patient satisfaction and patient loyalty, with patient satisfaction also significantly correlated with patient loyalty. Additionally, the results suggest that the introduction of education, health facility ownership, health insurance status and gender, neither impact significantly on the relationship between CRM and patient satisfaction/patient loyalty nor influenced patient satisfaction and patient loyalty directly.

The findings of the current paper can have substantial practice implications for operators in the health-care industry in Ghana. CRM components such as service quality, customer service, communication and the use of appropriate technology to deliver service will be fundamental if organizations operating in the health-care ecosystem in Ghana are to be able to compete effectively.

This is one of the very few papers on the relationship between CRM and patient satisfaction and patient loyalty in African health-care literature. Thus, the findings of the paper can constitute a great resource not only to academics but also to practitioners who are looking to be competitive in the health-care market.