Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine two significant political advertising campaigns which used the “It’s Time” slogan and to reflect on how these related to official, popular and commercial nationalism in Australia. The paper is primarily concerned with two main issues: identifying and examining the variety of images of Australia in two key television advertisements, and exploring the methods by which advertising agencies created positive images of Australia and Australians in the two campaigns. It specifically highlights the significance of the “It’s Time” campaign, which is relevant for scholars and advertisers seeking to understand effective political communication.

This paper examines television advertisements by using semiotics as the principal methodology. The research methodology devised for the advertisements consists of two main components: a shot combination analysis, also known as a shot-by-shot analysis, and a semiological reading of the visual and acoustic channels of the advertisement.

This paper examines the use of commercial nationalism in television advertising. As one of many social and cultural influences, advertisements assist the individual in understanding their notion of themselves and their relationship with the wider community – be it local, national, regional or global. The primary focus of this research is the phenomenon of commercial nationalism – the adoption of national signifiers in the marketplace. However, by examining the more general discourse on nationalism, particularly the voice of official nationalism – the promotion of nationalism by the nation-state (or those aspiring to power), the symbiotic relationship between these two complementary brands of nationalism is explored.

The methodology adopted for analysing the two political advertising campaigns offers conceptual and practical value. It provides a consistent set of terms and concepts for further research to build upon. The paper provides insights for the marketing or examination of advertising campaigns. The paper demonstrates the power of market research to inform a framing strategy for a political campaign. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge in this area and thus society’s understanding of these important periods in the nation’s history. In particular, the paper provides an exploration into the “It’s Time” campaign and how it mobilised a broader cultural awakening to engineer success at the ballot box in 1972. The two case studies examined in this paper are relevant to political scientists and media and communication scholars.

This paper aims to present the findings of an analysis of the environmentally sustainable policies and practices (ESPPs) used by independent and chain-affiliated hotels. The study aimed to ascertain the engagement of hotels with ESPPs and provide tentative evidence of their commitment towards meeting the expectations of environmentally conscious stakeholders.

This study used secondary data and content analysis to examine the ESPPs of a sample of 220 hotels in Melbourne, Australia. A systematic review was conducted of hotel websites to reveal, in a tabulated way, the range of reporting of environmental material provided by various rated hotels.

This analysis suggests that environmentally friendly business practices are prominently displayed by the hotels sampled; however, independent non-chain affiliated hotels are yet to adopt ESPPs in any visible way.

This study was broadly informed by stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984) and aimed to ascertain the engagement of hotels with ESPPs. While previous studies have focussed on chain hotels, this research involved a greater range of hotels of different profiles to highlight the mix of ESPPs across the hotel sector. Rather than merely examining the corporate websites of hotel companies, the research additionally examined ESPPs at the individual hotel property level, as this is where policies are implemented into practice. The extant literature to date has not studied the extent to which ESPPs are adopted by independent and chain-affiliated hotels at this level, and it is this research gap that the study addresses.

The paper presents the findings of research into the barriers to and drivers of environmentally sustainable policies and practices (ESPPs) in the Australian hotel industry. This study aims to explore these drivers and barriers from the perspective of hotel managers and involve a range of hotels with different hotel industry profiles and management structures.

The study conducted one-on-one interviews with hotel managers to explore the barriers to and drivers of ESPPs. The purpose of the sample and sample size was to ensure representation of different segments of the hotel industry to include international chain affiliated hotels, Australian chain affiliated hotels and independent hotels.

An analysis of the findings suggests that the major barriers to implementing and sustaining environmental sustainability in the Australian hotel industry are time, financial challenges, availability of resources and the views and imperatives of hotel owners and shareholders. The major drivers are financial, marketing, owner and shareholder interests and guest preferences. These stakeholders play a major role in creating both barriers and drivers.

Based on the results, this study can modify the application of stakeholder theory to a degree and argue that stakeholders need to co-operate further to drive sustainability. This study demonstrates that management of environmental sustainability is a challenge for many hotels and there is a particular need for small and independent hotels to embrace environmental sustainability to keep pace with their larger counterparts.

This study is broadly informed by the stakeholder theory. Owners, shareholders and associated stakeholders have a significant influence over environmental sustainability in the Australian hotel industry and they create both drivers and barriers. Responses from hotel managers in this research demonstrate that owners act as a barrier to as well as a driver of environmental sustainability initiatives in the Australian hotel industry.

This paper seeks to analyse Foster's Lager advertising since the early 1980s. In particular, it aims to focus on the Foster's Lager “I Believe” integrated marketing communications (IMC) campaign launched in 2000 and the use of “commercial nationalism”.

A close textual analysis consisting of semiotics, shot combination analysis, and content analysis is incorporated into the discussion of the Foster's Lager advertisements examined. These methodologies are helpful for deconstructing mediated representations of this iconic beer brand.

Nationalism and humour have both played an important part in Foster's Lager advertising campaigns. However, campaigns in more recent times have become more sophisticated and ironic. In examining a number of significant advertising campaigns for Australia's flagship beer, the transition from national to global beer brand can be documented. Since 1888 the brand name Foster's has evolved from being just one of a number of beer brands in Australia to the international flagship product of the global beverage giant, and fourth largest brewing company in the world, Foster's Group Limited.

In particular, the Foster's Lager “I Believe” campaign was an excellent example of the witty use of nationalism and patriotism to communicate a message.

Examining how the Foster's Lager brand evolved into a global brand provides lessons for marketers and educators, particularly in the effective use of commercial nationalism.

The paper brings a detailed analysis of the successful use of commercial nationalism.

Culturally responsive teaching is widely recognized as beneficial to students, especially those from historically marginalized communities. The social studies literature includes many studies of what culturally responsive teaching looks like in practice and how it can be taught to pre-service teachers. However, little is known about how in-service social studies teachers advance their knowledge and skills in this area. Studies of professional development (PD) suggest action research is a powerful format for teacher learning, but few closely examine the specific mechanisms through which action research fosters culturally responsive teaching.

This qualitative case study of three secondary social studies teachers draws on the following data: two in-depth interviews with each teacher, audio recordings of action research meetings, project artifacts and field notes. Data were analyzed through multiple rounds of inductive and deductive coding using a codebook developed by a diverse group of researchers. The teacher participants reviewed and confirmed the findings.

All three teachers expanded their use of culturally responsive social studies instruction through systematic inquiry into their own interactions with students. The action research process fostered this growth through the following specific mechanisms: reflecting and reading independently, using data to strengthen relationships and leveraging a structure for addressing race and power in the curriculum.

This study illustrates how teacher action research can foster culturally responsive teaching by allowing educators to self-direct their own critical reflection and data gathering on inequities in their schools. It can also provide a structure for elevating histories that have traditionally been marginalized in standardized curricula.

This chapter attempts to capture what teaching excellence looks and feels like for students. Our research reports on research conducted by two student authors at separate institutions. It suggests that the most crucial aspect of the student experience of ‘teaching excellence’ is a teacher's ability to build rapport and create meaningful interpersonal relationships with their students. Leanne Hunt's research was conducted with her fellow students at the University of Bradford. She outlines how, for her participants, the student–teacher rapport informed a positive learning experience which translated into a mutual understanding of excellent teaching. Widening participation, college-based HE student Hollie Shaw, now at Sheffield Hallam University, defines teaching excellence as flexible enough to respond to student learning needs, but strong enough to inspire interest in the discipline. In this chapter, we consider their separate testimonies carefully: we argue that exploring unconscious bias furthers understanding of how differences between student and teacher may compromise interpersonal relations and so student recognition of a tutor's positive and crucial role in the student experience and the implications of how one might measure this given the emphasis on proxies for teaching excellence in the TEF. We suggest breaking down unconscious bias calls for embracing differences, reflection and recognising the complexities of contemporary staff and student university lives. This chapter's exploration of staff–student partnership opens up potential for the creation of more equitable and honest learning dynamics in higher education – where a nuanced understanding of ‘teaching excellence’ can be defined, understood and evidenced within a HEI, with external bodies such as the Office for Students, and included in the Teaching Excellence Framework.

This paper aims to examine the antecedents of customer inertia (i.e. knowledge, confusion, perceptions of competitor similarity and switching costs) and their relationship to customer satisfaction, service providers’ switching intentions and actual switching behavior. Customer inertia is said to reduce the incidence of service provider switching; however, little is known about the antecedent drivers of inertia.

The conceptual model was tested by a longitudinal/discontinuous panel design using an online survey research of 1055 adult (i.e. +18 years old) subscribers to cell phone services. Partial least squares (PLS) path modeling was used to simultaneously estimate both the measurement and structural components of the model to determine the nature of the relationships between the variables.

Findings of the PLS structural model provide support for the direct relationship between customer inertia and its antecedents (i.e. knowledge, confusion, perceptions of competitor similarity and switching costs). The results show that customer inertia has a moderate negative effect on the intention to change service providers but had no measurable effect on the actual behavior of changing service providers, other than indirectly, by influencing the perception of difficulty in switching some 11 months later. Further results from an analysis of indirect pathways of the antecedents to inertia show that switching costs are the only variable which indirectly reduce intentions to change service providers. The results also show that the effect of satisfaction on switching service providers is partially moderated by inertia. Importantly, these relationships are reasonably robust given past switching behavior and contract status of consumers.

The authors find evidence which explains some of the causes of inertia, and show that it has both direct and moderating effects on service provider switching intentions, though not necessarily the behavior of changing service providers. However, support was found for its indirect role through intent as an influence on switching behavior. Importantly, the authors find that inertia has lingering effects, in that it influences the perception of switching difficulties and, hence, behavior up to 11 months in the future.

Managerial implications are that service firms can profit from customer inertia through a reduction in churn. However, high levels of customer inertia over the longer term may increase the level of customer vulnerability to competitor offers and marketing activities, as satisfaction with the provider does not in itself explain switching intentions or behavior.

This study is the first study to contribute to an understanding of the antecedent drivers of customer inertia with respect to service provider switching and to empirically evaluate a variety of antecedent factors that potentially affect switching intentions. Importantly, the long lasting latent effect of inertia in indirectly influencing service switching behavior was found to persist some 11 months later.