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The main objective of this research is to analyze the living and learning experience of foreign students at Jinan University (JNU). The study aims to elicit two basic purposes; first, to help JNU administrators to measure the level of satisfaction of students and response to their needs. Second, to assess the existing facilities in the context of quality of education, the syllabus, credit system, choices of available courses, foreign faculty, teaching resources, effective dissemination of knowledge, behavior of administration and teachers, quality of food versus price, dormitory conditions, library resources, and other necessary facilities for productive learning.

To recognize the issues of foreign students and obtain their responses, this research has relied on several techniques. We have created a questionnaire and applied a systematic sampling technique. The questionnaire has been divided into several categories and sub-categories.

Findings of this study have confirmed that majority of the foreign students at JNU are satisfied with the learning and living conditions.

Though our study is subject to limitations, yet it provides some valuable insights. Due to lack of resources and time, we have limited our sample size to 27. However despite having few respondents, the overall feedback represents the entire population. Additionally, this study is mainly focused on foreign student’s living and learning experiences satisfaction. Hence, no dependent and independent variable relationship is being determined or argued.

However, as indicated by the respondents, JNU needs to improve its learning facilities, as well as induction of additional foreign faculty, availability of English text books, security of student dormitories, expansion of sports facilities, renovation of university roads, and installation of new equipment in the laborites. Such conclusion provides the administration and other stakeholders with valuable indicators of how well the JNU is meeting with the expectations of international students and how resources might best be directed to improve further services.

Our approach is unique and inventive, as so far there has been very little research that has been carried out on this topic on Chinese Universities. This study serves as a benchmark in measuring the living and learning experience of foreign students at JNU. The results of the research would be useful for planning and improving the quality of services and help the administration in formulating better policies for international students.

This empirical study investigated the relationships among leisure behaviors and life satisfaction of Thai labors in Taiwan. Convenience sampling and several statistical techniques were adopted. The key findings were (1) Leisure preference, participation, constraint, satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction are influenced by one's socioeconomic background. (2) Because of living in a new country, Thai labors' past and current leisure participations although are strongly related, they are different. In addition, the relation between their leisure preference and participation was found significant when living in Thailand but not when living in Taiwan. (3) The constraints preventing Thai labors from participating in leisure activities in Taiwan were found. They significantly reduced one's leisure participation and satisfaction. (4) A positive relationship between Thai labors' leisure participation and leisure satisfaction in Taiwan was found along with the finding that their leisure satisfaction was also positively related to their life satisfaction.

This paper aims to highlight the pertinent design issues that could impact upon satisfaction with apartment living. Till date, the literature review identifies “design inadequacies”, along with a range of other factors, in embracing apartments as a permanent housing option.

This paper presents findings from a face-to-face household survey undertaken in a medium-density apartment housing in Fairfield, Sydney, using a mixed method.

First, the paper states the four predictors of overall living satisfaction derived through a logistic regression analysis. Second, the top five variables that commanded high dissatisfaction and the two most negative aspects of apartment living for the open-response question are identified. Further, it discusses the possible influence of dwelling floor on residential satisfaction. The coherent narratives of the residents substantiate the design inadequacies from the aforementioned empirical analysis.

The paper reflects upon ideal design suggestions from a face-to-face household survey, the first of its kind in more than 30 years in Sydney.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of personalisation in the relationship between the architectural design of homes and inhabitants’ psychological well-being.

This interdisciplinary mixed-method study first investigates the existence of a link between personalisation and users’ association with home through a quantitative study (n = 101) and then explores the nature of this relationship through qualitative interviews (n = 13) in a sequential explanatory approach.

The main findings of the study highlight the significance of personalisation in relation to the way people perceive home. A direct link was established between participants’ involvement in the transformation of the home and their satisfaction with the residence, as well as satisfaction with life in general. Further thematic analysis of the qualitative study revealed further conceptualisations of personalisation, which together form an umbrella concept called transformability.

The findings underscore the need for embedding flexibility as an architectural concept in the design of residential buildings for improving the well-being of occupants.

The design of homes has a great impact on inhabitants’ psychological well-being. This is becoming of greater importance in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic that has led to an increase in the amount of time spent in homes. This research contributes to this debate by proposing concepts for a deeper understanding of architectural influences on the psychology of the home.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Brazilian residents’ internal perspectives in terms of their satisfaction with the country. The paper identifies the convergences and divergences among factors related to the reputation of Brazil.

Residents’ perceptions were investigated by combining measurement scales based on previous studies in the literature; thus, a survey of 236 Brazilian citizens was employed, followed by exploratory factor analysis.

Two factors related to country reputation were identified. Factor 1, residents’ perceptions related to their overall satisfaction with Brazil, shows that Brazilians like and respect the country yet have low levels of trust – this dimension involves place attachment because of its emotional influences. Factor 2, representing residents’ perceptions of Brazil’s reputation abroad, shows that Brazilians think the country has a moderately positive image but not a desirable and good reputation abroad – these results indicate the need for improvements through governmental efforts.

As this study opted for a comprehensive sample and not for a stratified sample, it was not possible to explore specific aspects regarding each region (Midwest, North, Northeast, Southeast and South) of the country. This type of detail could be interesting due to Brazil’s diversity. To identify destination-branding opportunities, further study should investigate Brazilian regions or cities from the residents’ point of view.

Interdisciplinary debate is encouraged among scholars, consultants, businesses and government authorities involved on the reputation of a country.

Showing how the population feels about the country may offer ways of thinking about how to improve the satisfaction of these “ambassadors” of the brand Brazil, which could have impacts in the foreign perceptions about Brazil.

This study contributes to the understanding of country reputation by exploring residents’ perceptions and roles related to their satisfaction and attachment to Brazil.

Live chat e-service provides a communication platform for online customers to make information inquiries and receive instantaneous assistance from a service representative. It is important for organizations to explore ways to improve their live chat e-service. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new organization–customer communication model (Schema Resonance Model), explicate how schema resonance can be achieved in live chat e-service, and investigate the impact of schema resonance on live chat e-service effectiveness, efficiency, customer satisfaction and intention of continued use.

A post-test only, between-subjects experiment was conducted. A total of 409 participants completed the experiment sessions, and 389 of these participants were used in the analysis.

Research results suggest schema resonance could improve the time efficiency of the live chat e-service while maintaining e-service effectiveness. Schema resonance could increase customer satisfaction with the overall e-service, the communication approach used by the representative and the information provided.

Because a convenience sample was used in the experiment, results cannot be generalized to all live chat e-service users. Future research should include observation of real-world organization–customer live chat e-service sessions.

Organizations can consider applying the Schema Resonance Model in live chat e-service practices to enhance customer satisfaction and increase representatives’ service productivity.

This research proposes and tests a new organization–customer communication model to explore how organizations can improve live chat e-service in response to customers’ information inquiries.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the motivation and satisfaction of visitors, both tourists and residents, of a sacred urban complex located in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

This descriptive research uses quantitative and survey methods to collect the data. The sample of this study consists of 400 visitors, comprising tourists and residents who were in Vale das Graças, Santa Catarina, Brazil, between August and September 2019. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were used to analyse the data.

The results of this study showed people who visit the site for reasons of religious belief, cultural pleasure and mental relaxation feel satisfied and emotionally touched by the religious atmosphere. It was also perceived that all dimensions of satisfaction significantly influenced the motivation to visit the Vale da Graça; that is, tourists and residents tend to feel more motivated to visit the Sacred Complex when they are satisfied with the contact with faith provoked by the visit.

This research provides theoretical and managerial contributions. Initially, this study contributes to research related to urban religious tourism and the perception of residents and tourists (visitors) in relation to a sacred complex. In general, this research on the subject investigated only the tourist's perspective. In addition, this study also brings management contributions for the destination administrators by understanding the behaviour of visitors to religious tourist sites located in the urban area of municipalities and giving their opinions on the satisfaction and motivation of aspects related to religious contact to visit such sites, thus helping in the management process of the attraction and surroundings.

The main purpose of this study is to link work‐family conflict, quality of work and non‐work lives, quality of life and social support (supervisor and spouse supports). Specifically, it seeks to address three different roles of social support that have theoretical and empirical support and the mediating roles of quality of work life and quality of non‐work life.

The SEM‐based approach has been used to study supervisor and spouse supports as moderators between work‐family conflict and quality of life; independent variables of work‐family conflict; independent variables of quality of life. The study has been carried out in Malaysia.

The main findings are: work‐family conflict has relationship with quality of life; quality of work life and non‐work life are “partial” mediators between work‐family conflict and quality of life; and, among the various roles of social support, its role as an independent variable of quality of life gives the best results.

The research is based on a cross‐sectional study conducted in Malaysia and addresses only the spouse and supervisor supports as components of social support.

The research has developed a comprehensive model linking work‐family conflict, quality of work and non‐work lives, and quality of life and has studied the role of social support.

The purpose of this paper is to formulate and validate a measurement model to evaluate the service quality of cultural centers. This study aims to expand the domain of service quality measurement models by extending the SERVQUAL model to an alternative measurement tool called the ARTQUAL model based on three different preferences and scenarios including concert halls, theater halls and art galleries.

The data were collected from 15 cultural centers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized in the current research to study the association between aesthetic environments and service quality. An exploratory factor analysis took place to formulate the fundamentals of the measurement model. The validation process is based on a hybrid framework integrating the covariance-based SEM along with the partial least square technique to present a robust validity of the ARTQUAL model. Ultimately, an extensive managerial analysis has been established to show the practicality of the ARTQUAL model.

This study provides empirical evidence that the ARTQUAL instrument is proven to be valid, reliable and appropriate to evaluate the service quality of cultural centers. Based on the real-world managerial analysis, the ARTQUAL model showed a significant practicality in quality evaluation of aesthetic environments.

One of the most important limitations of quantitative studies, based on aesthetic features, is the cultural preferences. This limitation is due to the nature of cultural preferences and partialities applied in different countries based on the definition of quality involving aesthetic aspects such as age, sex and culture. Meanwhile, the findings of this study can guide the service management experts to better understand and improve customers’ perceptions and orientations of service quality in aesthetic environments.

This paper presents a novel service quality measurement model in order to evaluate the service quality of cultural centers. The originality of the current study is not merely limited to the suggestion of a new quality measurement model, a hybrid statistical validation framework has been provided as well. Therefore, this study provides valuable guidelines to both practitioners and academics to enhance the quality of service measurements in cultural centers.