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This study revisits the Great Canadian Grain Logistics Crisis of 2013-14 to explore the competitiveness of the country's grain exports. An approach to comprehending the dilemmas of the international grain supply chain and trade, and national logistics policy in an era of multinational corporations, draws upon the literature on global value chain analysis. This analysis identifies both the grain industry's global and local dimensions. An important literature on the 'politics’ of the supply chain is also called into play to discuss who controls what aspects. This task of interpreting the various steps in Canada's grain logistics chain recognizes the key economic actors - producers, grain companies, railway companies, port terminal operators and export buyers - and political struggles between them as they each seek to maximize their self-interest. Policy implications for streamlining logistics operations are drawn from identifying where changes in the supply chain arrangements have gained or lost opportunities in export markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

The purpose of this study is to empirically develop and validate a practical, consistent and specific scale to assess perceived service quality at the service encounter at quick-service restaurants (QSRs).

Development and validation of the scale involved a five-stage process. Data were collected from 430 customers of a QSR belonging to an international brand located in Barcelona. Surveys were applied immediately after the service encounter, using the face-to-face method. The scale development procedure involved exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.

The results suggest a specific and parsimonious measurement scale, whose structure comprises 14 items in four dimensions. In contrast to previous studies, this study identified the appropriateness of splitting the interaction quality dimension into two single dimensions, one focusing on the interaction time and other on staff–customer interaction. Furthermore, these indicate that a speedy service, pleasant treatment and food quality are the most valued attributes in QSR.

This scale is a useful instrument to administer and assure service quality standards within QSR management systems. Its practical approach and short survey length ease data collection, considering that customers spend short amounts of time in this type of restaurant. Furthermore, it could also be used by franchisors and restaurant operators as a tool to monitor continuing compliance with service quality standards.

The resulting scale introduces a novel four-factor structure with high goodness of fit to effectively measure customers' perceived service quality in QSRs, where the ease of use and speed of gathering client responses are a key factor for successful implementation.

Leadership cannot exist without followership. The phenomenon of direction and guidance, coaching and mentoring, has at least three components: the leader, leadership, and followers. With each component, the composition of purpose and goals, ethics and morals, rights and duties, and skills and talents is critically important. While the leader is the central and the most important part of the leadership phenomenon, followers are important and necessary factors in the leadership equation. Leaders and followers are engaged in a common enterprise: they are dependent upon each other; their fortunes rise and fall together. Relational qualities define the leadership–followership phenomenon. A major component of such a relationship is how the leaders create and communicate new meaning to followers, perceive themselves relative to followers, and how the followers, in turn, perceive their leader. This mutual perception has serious ethical and moral implications – how leader uses or abuses power, and how followers are augmented or diminished. This chapter features the essentials of ethical and moral, corporate executive leadership in two parts: (1) the Theory of Ethical and Moral Leadership and (2) the Art of Ethical and Moral Leadership. Several contemporary cases such as inspirational leadership of JRD Tata, Crisis of Leadership at Infosys, and Headhunting for CEOs will illustrate our discussions on the ethics and morals of corporate executive leadership.

How does the human brain absorb information and turn it into skills of its own in psychotherapy? In an attempt to answer this question, the authors will review the intricacies of processing channels in psychotherapy and propose the term transprocessing (as in transduction and processing combined) for the underlying mechanisms. Through transprocessing the brain processes multimodal memories and creates reparative solutions in the course of psychotherapy. Transprocessing is proposed as a stage-sequenced mechanism of deconstruction of engrained patterns of response. Through psychotherapy, emotional-cognitive reintegration and its consolidation is accomplished. This process is mediated by cellular and neural plasticity changes.

The purpose of this study is to develop a scale to measure coronavirus shopping anxiety. Numerous studies have developed a scale for measuring coronavirus anxiety and fear, notably absent is a concerted effort to review and assess the impact of coronavirus on the shopping anxiety of consumers. This scale fulfills this gap.

The steps taken for checking the various psychometrics of the scale include item generation, followed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) through SPSS and confirmatory factor analysis through AMOS. The data were collected from over 208 respondents.

This study resulted in the development of a nine-item scale with robust psychometric properties. The scale resulted in highlighting two factors related to anxiety: in-store shopping anxiety and online shopping anxiety.

The scale developed has the desirable reliable and valid properties that could be used by aspiring researchers.

The scale developed highlighted that the restrictions in shopping impact the mental health and psychology of consumers. The scale resulted in analyzing the factors related to shopping anxiety, which could give top management a perspective and vision to look into the minds of the consumer's shopping anxiety behaviors.

Companies, firms, health professionals and marketers could use this scale to investigate the various shopping anxiety perceptions among consumers in society.

This research fills the gap by developing a first nine-item scale based on the qualitative research and quantitative assessment for measuring shopping anxiety caused due to the pandemic.

本研究擬設計一個等級表、以量度新型冠狀病毒肺炎肆虐期間之購物焦慮和不安。至目前為止,已有很多研究成功設計等級表、以量度人們對新型冠狀病毒肺炎的焦慮和恐懼。唯就學術研究而言,顯然缺乏協同一致的努力、去仔細審核和評估新型冠狀病毒肺炎對消費者購物焦慮的影響。本研究擬設計一個有關的等級表,以填補這個研究缺口。

研究人員檢查其設計之等級表的各個心理測量學時所採用的步驟包括:項目生成,以及透過統計產品與服務解決方案軟件 (SPSS) 而進行的探索性因素分析、和透過AMOS而進行的驗證性因素分析。數據取自208名以上的受訪者。

本研究成功設計了一個具有嚴格心理測量特性的九項目等級表。這個等級表、使人注意到與焦慮相關的兩個因素,就是:店內購物的焦慮和網絡購物的焦慮。

本研究透過定性研究和定量評估、設計了首個九項目等級表、來量度大流行病導致的購物焦慮; 就此而言,本研究填補了有關的研究缺口。

Based on flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to explain why the use of mobile advergames can enhance players’ brand perceptions and purchase intentions, as well as the factors that affect players’ flow experience.

Data from 212 participants who played a mobile advergame was analysed. Structural equation modelling with PLS was used to test the research model.

The results reveal that challenge, interactivity, focused attention and telepresence significantly influence the flow experience while playing mobile advergames. Results also show that the greater the flow, the more positive the attitude towards the featured brand and the greater the purchase intention.

The findings of this study are important for advertising practitioners and advergames developers as understanding the key game features that promote flow is crucial to designing engaging mobile advergames that persuade players most.

This study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides new insights into the effectiveness of mobile advergames, which is an under-researched area. Second, it offers a conceptual framework based on flow theory for understanding why the use of mobile advergames can enhance players’ brand perceptions and purchase intentions.

This study aims to identify integrated marketing communication (IMC) antecedents and the consequences of planned brand identity in the context of higher education, and empirically test a number of hypotheses related to the constructs of these antecedents and consequences.

A model of the IMC antecedents and consequences of planned brand identity was tested in a survey conducted among stakeholders in two London-based universities. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to gain insight into the various influences and relationships.

The study identifies and confirms key constructs in planned brand identity. IMC antecedents of planned brand identity, such as brand elements, service attributes, public relations and place/country of origin, were found to positively influence the planned brand identity consequences of awareness, image and reputation. However, websites, social media, advertising and direct marketing were not found to have significant influence.

The focus on two UK universities limits the generalisability of the findings. Future research should be conducted in other country settings to test the relationships identified in the present study. Also, future research may build on the study’s findings by investigating the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of brand identification in the higher education context.

Professionals responsible for universities’ promotional and branding activities need to evaluate the relative contributions of the IMC antecedents of planned brand identity. Brand elements such as design, colour and name, for example, should be reviewed to determine whether modifications are required in different international markets. The increasing prevalence of social media, one of the key antecedents of brand awareness, offers opportunities for universities to engage in brand co-creation by interacting with past, present and future students on relevant digital platforms. Finally, the place/country-of-origin cue is of particular relevance to institutions of higher education given the increasing numbers of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels who are choosing to study abroad (Melewar and Akel, 2005). The attraction of the UK as a country to study in, or the appeal of individual cities such as London, should be fully integrated into universities’ IMC strategies.

The study makes two main contributions. First is the theoretical contribution by identifying the core IMC antecedents and consequences of planned brand identity for universities and from this extrapolate key directions for future research. Second it is indicated that a number of managerial implications are designed to assist in the formulation of improved professional practice.

This paper aims to operationalise and juxtapose variables related to identity, strategy and communications, and then examine the impact of such integration on organisational stakeholders’ trust, loyalty and commitment by using commitment/trust theory.

This research design utilises explanatory research at the preliminary stage, as informed by the literature and conceptual framework. The subsequent model was examined via a positivist survey carried out among stakeholders in high-end retail stores in London. Structural equation modelling (SEM) via AMOS was conducted to gain insight into the various relevant influences and relationships.

The results indicate that identity and strategy are key drivers of integrated corporate communication, and they serve to build stakeholder trust, loyalty and commitment.

The paper shows that while practitioners have indicated that integrated marketing communication is important for organisations, there are a few other areas of concern with regard to consequences related to trust, loyalty and commitment, especially in a retail context. This paper empirically examined relationships between these constructs by validating a conceptual model by using SEM.

This study examines the relationship between trust, organizational climate and team learning among project team members (PTM). In recent years, many companies have come to recognize the important role team learning plays in achieving competitive advantage.

Data were collected through a survey questionnaire, and responses from 86 PTM provide support for the research model and demonstrate that how organizational climate mediates the relationship between trust and team learning.

The structural equation analysis of the data collected from 86 project team members indicate that both vertical and horizontal trust influences organizational climate, which, in turn, is a determinant of team learning. In addition, although both types of trust contributed to organizational climate, the results indicated that horizontal trust had a greater influence on organizational climate and team learning.

The study employed the survey method and is not without limitations. The first limitation concerns our sample size, which was selected from one global company. Second, the survey data were all collected at a single point in time. Therefore, the authors cannot unambiguously infer causality. To attempt to do so, it would be useful to investigate the model in the context of organizational and development change. Despite these limitations, the results of the study have implications for theory and practice.

The implication for theory is that the results provide empirical support for the view that organization climates mediate the relationship between trust and team learning. On the practical side, the organizations should also pay more attention to increasing trust at the work place, especially among PTM that may contribute to favorable organizational climate, which is vital for team learning.

This paper addresses the simultaneous role of vertical and horizontal trust on organizational climate and how it contributes to team learning. The results indicate that organizations emphasis on horizontal trust can plays a vital role in team learning, which is a contribution to enhancing teamwork and performance in organizations.