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Branching Out is a 12‐week ecotherapy programme for clients who use mental health services within the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. Over the course of a year 110 clients attended the programme, of whom 77 (70%) completed the course. In order to ascertain the outcomes of the programme and the elements that appeared to facilitate change, semi‐structured interviews with clients (n=28) and two focus groups with clinicians (n=5 and n=3) from the referring services were conducted.The data gathered therein was analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). From the results, five themes emerged as client outcomes. These were: improvements to mental well‐being, improvements to physical health, provision of daily structure and routine, transferable knowledge and skill acquisition, and increased social networking and social skills development. Three themes pertaining to the service logistics (team building and social inclusion, contrast of environments and work and recognition) emerged as potential explanations for the client outcomes. There was a perception among clients and clinicians that Branching Out represented a ‘stepping stone to further community engagement’. The results reflect a recovery‐oriented approach to health care. The limitations of the evaluation and implications for the future are discussed.

The concept of utilising greenspace to promote and maintain mental health predates the development of almost all current treatment modalities. Although the use of greenspace as a therapeutic tool decreased throughout the 20th century, research in this area has grown exponentially over the last 20 years. This review examines the theory and increasing evidence base behind the psychological, social and physical health benefits of viewing and interacting with greenspace, and considers some of the common methodological limitations within the literature.Those who use secondary and tertiary care mental health services typically experience secondary problems due to reduced levels of social and physical activity. This review argues that the holistic benefits of greenspace make ecotherapy particularly appropriate for such a population. The review recommends that the effects of ecotherapy on those who use secondary and tertiary mental health care services be explored as part of an effort to redress the absence in the literature of quality studies in this area for this population.

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which a cause-brand alliance (CBA) leads to improved attitude toward cause-brand alliance, which in turn leads to improved brand identification.

The approach uses a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design to examine the interaction effect of the brand ally, the non-profit ally, and the perception of cause controversy on a customer’s attitude toward the CBA, which in turn affects identification with the brand ally.

On average, customers’ perception of cause controversy influences attitude toward the CBA and subsequently the level of identification with the brand ally. When a non-profit organization is connected to a controversial issue, managerial options for building a successful CBA are more limited than when the non-profit is noncontroversial.

We contribute to consumer learning theory in the context of CBA research by identifying an important boundary condition – perceived cause controversy. Perceived cause controversy impedes the customer’s learning about partners in CBA. Moreover, fit and cue consistency are separate constructs.

CBAs help build customer brand identification. Brand managers must include the customer’s perceived cause controversy, the ally’s unique information, and the customer’s attitude toward the nonprofit in the decision calculus. Brands have an opportunity to demonstrate corporate social responsibility and build identification by helping a less well-established nonprofit to build positive customer attitudes. If the non-profit is linked to controversy, this opportunity is constrained.

A boundary condition-perceived cause controversy influences how the partners in a CBA differentially influence the customer’s attitude toward the CBA and, ultimately, brand identification.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the corporate brand in a brand alliance that includes one of the corporation’s product brands.

Using a scenario-based study, 899 participants were randomly assigned to one of 84 unique brand alliance scenarios involving a corporate brand, a product brand ally and a focal product brand; a total of 33 corporate brands were represented. Results were estimated using a three-stage least squares model.

Consumers’ evaluations of a focal brand were enhanced when a corporate brand name associated with a product brand ally was included in the brand alliance. The effect was mediated by attitude toward the product brand ally. The indirect effect of the corporate brand was stronger when consumers had low product category knowledge (PCK).

Consistent with competitive cue theory, the findings suggest that a corporate brand can provide superior, consistent and unique information in a brand alliance.

Practitioners should note that the effectiveness of adding a corporate brand name into a product brand alliance is contingent on the extent of consumers’ PCK.

This paper examines when and why corporate brands are effective endorsers in product brand alliances. This paper adds empirical support to previous assertions that, if managed effectively, corporate brands can be valuable assets that convey unique valuable information to consumers.

The purpose of this study was to explore influences of review-related information on topical proportions and the pattern of word appearances in each topic (topical content) using structural topic model (STM).

For 173,607 Yelp.com reviews written in 2005-2016, STM-based topic modeling was applied with inclusion of covariates in addition to traditional statistical analyses.

Differences in topic prevalence and topical contents were found between certified green and non-certified restaurants. Customers’ recognition in sustainable food topics were changed over time.

This study demonstrates the application of STM for the systematic analysis of a large amount of text data.

Limited study in the hospitality literature examined the influence of review-level metadata on topic and term estimation. Through topic modeling, customers’ natural responses toward green practices were identified.

本研究旨在通过结构性话题建模（STM）方法以开拓评论性内容对于话题组成和词条构成的影响。

本论文采用 173，607 份 Yelp.com 在 2015 至 2016 年间的评论内容为样本，STM 分析结合共变量形成话题性建模。

话题趋势和话题内容的不同存在于认证过的绿色餐馆与非认证的绿色餐馆中。消费者对于可持续性的食物话题兴趣随着时间而改变。

本研究对 STM 相关大规模文本型数据的系统分析方法给与启示。

在酒店管理文献中很少有文章研究评论性元数据对于话题和词条预估的影响。通过话题建模，消费者对于绿色措施的反馈获得了梳理和确认。

The purpose of this study is to discover the learning mechanisms and temporal dynamics of implementing systems (Six Sigma) as it unfolds over time.

The data come from a European engineering company that was implementing a Six Sigma-based quality management system (QMS) over a seven-year period. The analysis is based on an event-sequence reconstruction of the implementation process as it unfolded over time and discovers four different learning mechanisms that emerged: programmatic, persistent, adaptive and dialectical learning mechanisms. The research follows a process design study, where the authors study how the process unfolds over time.

Much of the literature on implementing management systems suggests that implementation follows a prescribed sequence of “turn-key” steps. However, the findings show that only 40% of all events were driven by prescribed “turn-key” generic practices, while 56% of events required constructing new practices via adaptive and dialectical learning. Moreover, the implementation process did not proceed in a linear programmatic fashion, but instead followed a punctuated equilibrium pattern, which alternated between periods of incremental change and major organizational change. The study also found that implementation required changing many complementary organizational structures and practices that were interdependent with the management system (i.e. Six Sigma). By understanding the implementation process, managers can better assess the time and effort involved, better adapt the system to their situated context and predict critical junctures where implementation could break down.

This research complements the few studies that have examined the process of implementing management systems. Most studies examine factors or conditions that result in implementation success (the what of implementing systems), but few examine the process of implementation and the learning that takes place during implementation (the how of implementing systems), which is a complex nonlinear process that involves different modes of learning.

This research paper explores the perspectives of Australian school principals in the state of New South Wales (NSW) regarding what they believe constitutes “merit” when selecting deputy principals, assistant principals (primary) and head teachers (secondary).

An online survey was utilised to collect qualitative and quantitative data from school principals across the state of NSW to investigate their understanding of, and approach to, the merit selection of their respective school leadership cadres.

Study findings indicated a statewide variance in the perceptions of principals when identifying merit for the purposes of recruiting school leadership teams. These findings question the widely held view that candidates compete for school leadership positions on a level playing field.

In practical terms, the findings indicate that NSW school principals would benefit from more intensive professional learning opportunities designed to enhance their ability to objectively identify and assess merit when selecting school leaders.

This study contributes to an enhanced understanding in an area where there is a paucity of research-based evidence focusing upon the perspectives of school principals regarding their understanding of meritocratic theory and its influence on their school leadership selection practice.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the public views two corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives practiced by a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. This study examined the role of perceived fit between an MLB team and its two CSR initiatives in shaping consumers’ intentions to support the team’s CSR efforts.

A between-subjects experiment (n=207) was conducted using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to examine the impact of CSR fit on consumers’ patronage intentions.

The results of this study showed that consumers’ perceived fit between sports teams and their CSR has a positive impact on consumers’ patronage intentions. The values-driven and strategic-driven attributions of the team’s CSR initiatives were positively associated with their patronage intentions.

Both the values-driven and strategic-driven attributions were positively associated with consumers’ patronage intentions, while previous studies suggested negative association between strategic-driven attributions and consumer behaviors. The findings indicate that consumers do not view professional sports teams’ strategic-driven CSR initiatives to be negative business practices. This could result from the fact that CSR initiatives have become a prevalent and expected organizational practice.

This study contributes to the literature of CSR within the context of professional sports teams as corporations. The findings of this study suggest that professional sports teams could benefit from CSR initiatives when the teams select social causes with which consumers could infer values-driven and strategic-driven attributions.

The purpose of this paper is to use a blended learning environment to introduce principals in small businesses to the benefits of electronic commerce, while avoiding many of the barriers identified in recent research.

The paper reports results from field tests of the Virtual Product Development Workshop (VPDW) approach to introducing leaders of small businesses to the benefits and practical issues involved in adding e‐commerce capabilities to their firms.

The paper finds that the benefits to smaller business of e‐commerce are real. Even so, senior staff in smaller firms have been reluctant to invest the time and resources needed to develop e‐commerce activities tailored to their firms' strengths and needs. A training approach blending online preparation and physical participation is found to be more effective than either approach alone. This paper allows senior staff participation in tailored e‐commerce design with a lower time and monetary commitment than other sources of individualized support.

While the participants in the field tests represented small business from throughout Europe, there was little participation from outside Europe.

The approach described provides a route to exposing senior staff in small businesses to opportunities and solutions for e‐commerce implementation. The VPDW approach allows customized advice at a lower cost and using less time than other sources providing firm specific advice.

The paper provides guidelines to running a successful VPDW. Recommendations address the kick‐off, introductions, context and content, participants' experience, and the closing. Actual participant comments from the tests are included.

This chapter expands traditional approaches to Corporate Reputation Management by employing postmodernist approaches to value co-creation in order to identify how Facebook Features can be used to facilitate company–consumer Corporate Reputation co-creation.

Using content analysis of Facebook Fan Pages, the chapter explores how 29 of the world’s most reputable corporations use Facebook Features.

To a surprising degree, the corporations in the sample, despite having virtually limitless access to marketing communications resources, fail to make full use of the opportunities Facebook offers them. It appears that they have not yet fully adapted to this novel medium.

Facebook together with the locus has also shifted the focus of corporate communications from one-way company-controlled transmission of information to multiparty user-controlled conversations. Thus, Corporate Reputations can no longer be managed. Instead, by offering consumers experiences and emotional triggers, corporations can engage them into willingly marketing the corporation and its products to each other.

This is the first systematic analysis of the practices the world’s most prominent corporations utilize (or fail to employ) on Facebook. It illustrates that companies that adapt to the Social Media ecology can successfully orchestrate customer experiences that foster the co-creation of the desired Corporate Reputation.