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This study provides insights into the most salient elements of the Costa Rican bar servicescape/barscape (atmosphere). This is done qualitatively via six focus groups, six expert interviews, and six on-site observations. Results indicate that servicescape elements traditionally covered by the literature are of secondary importance. Participants instead emphasized social elements (other patrons, staff), supplemented by ambience elements (music, lighting, colors, noise, air, odors, scents). Moreover, the underlying socialization interest steered ambience preferences. Results support the increasingly important social servicescape notion. Generalizing traditionally studied servicescape elements across cultures and hospitality settings, as conventionally done, may result suboptimal. Commonalities might exist. However, research should be specifically contextualized to gain more nuanced servicescape understandings. Relating servicescape preferences to macro, meso, and micro considerations further enhances how servicescapes are understood. This study is the first to explore Latin-American barscapes. Notably, it expressly links servicescape preferences to patronage motives. It thereby uncovers why certain servicescape elements become important.

To develop an understanding of the Millennial Generation's consumption of green products. Specifically, our research sought to address the following two research questions in regard to this generation's consumption behavior: What product attributes have significant effects on purchases of green products? What are the primary reasons for not adopting green products?

A questionnaire was administered to 197 undergraduates at a private university in the southern US. The sample was 59 percent female and ages ranged from less than 18 to 25. Full time students represented 95 percent of the sample.

The findings suggest that when developing marketing communications, marketers may want to devote more attention to recyclability or re-usability, biodegradableness, and positive health effects stemming from eco-friendly product attributes, as these characteristics shared the strongest associations with Millennial intent to purchase green products. The results also indicate that the primary reason Millennials do not purchase green products is the belief that green products are too expensive.

To capture opinions of members of the Millennial Generation, the study used a sample of students at a private university which may not be representative of the entire population of Millennials. Since all participants were enrolled in higher education, there may be some relationship between education and green consumption behavior.

This research offers marketers a richer understanding of this segments' consumption behavior of green products, in addition to highlighting important obstacles marketers need to overcome to transition non-purchasers to purchasers of green products.

This paper aims to develop a scale for stadium atmosphere in the Indian context. This is considered as a key area for sports managers, as stadium attendance contributes toward the teams revenues. Moreover, while the importance of environment is well-established in the marketing literature, stadium atmosphere has received limited attention.

Through qualitative and quantitative studies in five different phases, a 14-item four-dimension stadium atmosphere scale was developed that included physical layout, facility aesthetics, entertainment experience and social interaction.

The stadium atmosphere scale developed in this study demonstrates sound psychometric properties based on various reliability and validity tests as well as scale replications using different samples.

The stadium atmosphere scale developed will be of particular use for sports marketers and management. It could be inferred that the stadium managers could expect high spectator attendance and satisfaction by focusing on stadium atmosphere factors such as the accessibility of seats and allocation of seat spaces, stadium architecture, the game characteristics and the attitudes and behaviors of stadium employees during live games.

The present study addresses a key gap identified in the sports marketing and management area. The study adds to the conceptual understanding of the stadium atmosphere construct and empirically demonstrates the measurement scale for the construct.

The use of technology in the delivery of banking services is becoming increasingly prevalent as it is being employed to reduce costs and eliminate uncertainties. This research investigates the role that technology plays in Australian banking and its impact on the delivery of perceived service quality. A sample of 440 electronic banking customers was taken and 300 useable questionnaires were analysed. Using the Hemmasi et al. importance‐performance grid, results indicated that consumers have perceptual problems with some aspects of electronic banking. Some strategic implications are discussed.

Examines New Zealand business students’ perceptions of service quality in education. Describes a study in which the respondents identified seven determinants of service quality. Unlike prior studies, uses an importance/performance‐based approach to evaluate service quality in education. Identifies some perceptual problems, such as the least important factors being the best performers. Presents the implications for education administrators and makes some suggestions for future research.

Previous research has been unable to provide a comprehensive method for measuring environment-based experience and its outcomes although it is an essential determinant of the museum experience. Therefore, this paper aims to present a measurement method for exploring how visitors’ servicescape experiences affect their positive word-of-mouth intention (PWOM).

Data were collected by surveying 810 visitors to 3 museums (i.e. Louvre, Pera and Key) representing different museum types. The research model was validated by using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The predicted associations between sensory, spatial and social experiences, and PWOM were confirmed for Pera. In the Louvre and Key, however, only sensory and social experiences were positively associated with PWOM. In addition, the moderating effect of building type on the relationship between spatial experience and PWOM was demonstrated.

This paper contributes to the servicescape, customer experience and museum literature in several ways. Firstly, this study proposes a measurement method for servicescape experiences. Secondly, this study introduces servicescape experiences as new types of customer experience. Thirdly, this study provides insightful implications for the museum literature and professionals by highlighting how servicescape experiences affect PWOM across different types of museums.

Competition in the education sector has led a number of providers of higher education to re‐evaluate the level of service provided to its customers. Past research in this area has overlooked the needs of student customers and has focused mainly on either administrators or the faculty’s perspective. The instrument developed was administered to 216 potential tertiary students in the North Island of New Zealand. The results indicate that students take a number of factors into consideration prior to choosing an education institution for further studies. Implications for educational administrators are provided.

Intense competition in higher education in many different countries mandates the need for assessments of customer‐perceived service quality for differentiation purposes. An instrument developed specifically from a business education setting was employed utilizing an importance/performance approach with seven determinant choice criteria groupings. A sample of business students in New Zealand and the mid‐Atlantic region of the USA participated, and some important problems in perceptions were noted. Strategic implications for the universities involved and suggestions for future research are provided

The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer attitudes toward direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) advertising and whether consumer attitudes regarding these types of advertisements differ based on income.

A sample of 168 consumers completed the survey on‐site at a pharmacy while waiting for their prescription(s) to be filled.

The findings indicated that low‐income consumers were more likely than higher income customers to: report being persuaded by DTC advertising to ask for an advertised drug; go to the doctor based on symptoms described in DTC advertising; and to prefer branded medication over generic alternatives.

The results provide useful information to policy makers and drug companies. The finding that these advertisements appear to impact lower income consumers to a greater extent than their higher‐income counterparts has both positive and negative implications. On the positive side, these ads appear to influence unhealthy, low‐income consumers to seek medical treatment. The negative implication concerns the effectiveness of DTC advertising in persuading low‐income consumer to prefer more expensive, branded drugs over generic alternatives.

Limited research has been done on the relationship between consumer perceptions of DTC advertising and differences in consumer groups based on income.

Purpose of paper – Rural Banks (RBs) are unit banks owned by members of the rural community through the purchase of shares and are licensed to provide financial intermediation in rural areas of Ghana. This paper reports on the external and internal mechanisms through which corporate governance is maintained in these banks.

Design/methodology/approach – The findings reported in the paper are based on evidence obtained from a review of relevant documents and interviews with the managers of selected RBs.

Findings – The corporate governance system in the RBs is mainly a rational western model recommended by the World Bank and implemented by the Central bank of Ghana. Under this model corporate governance is expected to be maintained externally through regulatory agencies (the Central Bank of Ghana and the Association of Rural Banks) and internally through the respective Boards of Directors. However, we observe that because of the locations and ownerships of these banks, board appointments and decisions are often embedded in local political and social relations. This affects the independence of the boards and impacts on their role in maintaining corporate governance.

Research limitations/implications – We argue that any attempt to design corporate governance systems in these banks without taking these social and political factors into consideration is likely to lead to failure. This is particularly important given that the World Bank and other international donors are continuously proposing rational western models of governance to institutions in the developing world, such as the RBs. Given that these organizations operate under different sets of environmental conditions, there is likely to be differences between the actual and the idealized corporate governance systems.

Originality/value of paper – The study is important because of the role the rural banks play in the socio-economic development of Ghana. Several other developing countries have established similar institutions to support the development of the informal sector through the provision of microcredit. The research will contribute to the design of appropriate corporate governance systems so as to improve the overall contributions of these institutions.