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This study aims to examine the interrelationships between social media marketing activities, self-brand connections, brand equity, trust and loyalty.

A total of 402 valid responses were collected from Amazon MTurk, and the data were subjected to partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

Findings indicate that social media marketing activities strongly and positively influence self-brand connection, brand equity and brand trust. Moreover, brand loyalty was strongly and positively influenced by self-brand connection, brand equity and brand trust. Moreover, the findings from fsQCA indicate that three causal paths lead to a high level of brand loyalty, and one causal path determines a low level of brand loyalty.

This research extends current knowledge by bridging the literature between social media marketing activities and branding using self-brand connections. Additionally, this study uses the strength of two complimentary methods – symmetrical and asymmetrical modeling – to uncover how social media marketing activities bridge customer-brand relationships.

Este estudio examina las interrelaciones entre las actividades de marketing en redes sociales, las conexiones de marca propia, el valor de la marca, la confianza y la lealtad.

Se recopilaron 402 respuestas válidas de Amazon MTurk, y los datos fueron sometidos a PLS-SEM y análisis cualitativo comparativo con conjuntos difusos (fsQCA).

Los resultados indican que las actividades de marketing en redes sociales influyen fuertemente y de manera positiva en la conexión de marca propia, el valor de la marca y la confianza en la marca. Además, la lealtad a la marca es influenciada fuerte y positivamente por la conexión de marca propia, el valor de la marca y la confianza en la marca. Además, los resultados de fsQCA indican que tres vías causales conducen a un alto nivel de lealtad a la marca, y una determina un bajo nivel de lealtad a la marca.

Esta investigación amplía el conocimiento actual al vincular la literatura entre las actividades de marketing en redes sociales y el branding utilizando conexiones de marca propia. Además, este estudio utiliza dos métodos complementarios – modelado simétrico y asimétrico – para descubrir cómo las actividades de marketing en redes sociales construyen las relaciones entre cliente y marca.

本研究探讨社交媒体营销活动、自我品牌连接、品牌资产、信任和忠诚度之间的相互关系。

从亚马逊MTurk收集了402个有效回复, 并对数据进行了PLS-SEM和模糊集合质性比较分析 (fsQCA) 的处理。

研究发现, 社交媒体营销活动对自我品牌连接、品牌资产和品牌信任产生了强烈而积极的影响。此外, 自我品牌连接、品牌资产和品牌信任也对品牌忠诚度产生了强烈而积极的影响。fsQCA的结果显示, 导致高水平品牌忠诚度的有三条因果路径, 而导致低水平品牌忠诚度的有一条因果路径。

本研究通过构建社交媒体营销活动与品牌之间的桥梁, 利用自我品牌连接, 扩展了当前知识。此外, 利用对称和非对称建模两种互补方法的优势, 揭示了社交媒体营销活动如何建立客户品牌关系。

Comprehending the determinants influencing the sustained engagement in social commerce assumes paramount importance for its success, particularly within the context of developing countries. This study employs complexity theory to examine the antecedents of the intention toward social commerce continuance.

A structured online survey was designed to collect data regarding four behavioural factors: satisfaction, trust, online social support, and continuance intention. The net effect of each construct was evaluated using a symmetrical modelling technique, and to identify the asymmetric effect, the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was conducted.

The findings of the structural equation modelling confirmed the importance of satisfaction and online social support for continuance intention. The asymmetric analysis revealed three recipes leading to social commerce continuance intention and three combinations for its absence, contributing to understanding the complexity of online consumer decision-making.

Theoretically, this research highlights the interplay between online social support, trust, satisfaction, and s-commerce continuance intention. Gaining insights into the main factors influencing social media participants' behaviour assists business organizations and policymakers to foster the growth, and the sustainability of the s-commerce.

Combining two distinct methodologies, the findings of this paper allow for a comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted dynamics that underlie consumer behaviour and provide actionable insights for businesses seeking to refine their strategies within the dynamic realm of social commerce. Further, the study offers a valuable roadmap for marketers and policymakers to enhance consumer relationships and augment the efficacy of social commerce initiatives.

Virtual goods consumption has risen dramatically in recent years. Recognizing the benefits of virtual goods in generating revenue for online game companies, marketers strive to understand the motives behind virtual goods purchases. We investigated the direct and indirect effects of functional, emotional, and social values through player satisfaction on purchase intention toward virtual goods among online players.

In total, we surveyed 332 online game players utilizing a structured questionnaire. We employed a multi-analytic approach combining partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA) to examine the proposed relationships.

The findings show that all dimensions of value and player satisfaction significantly affect the intention to acquire virtual goods. However, social value does not exert a significant effect on player satisfaction. Moreover, we confirmed that player satisfaction mediates the relationships between functional value, emotional value, and purchase intention. Furthermore, NCA results indicated that all predictors in the model are necessary conditions of purchase intention for virtual goods.

These findings contribute to an enhanced understanding of purchase intentions among online game players from a symmetric (PLS-SEM) and asymmetric (NCA) perspective by proposing a multi-analytic approach.

This study aims to examine the symmetric and asymmetric impact of external debt on inflation in Sudan from 1970 to 2020 within a multivariate framework by including money supply and the nominal effective exchange rate as additional inflation determinants.

The authors utilize an Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to examine the symmetric impact of external debt on inflation, while the asymmetric impact is examined using a Nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) model. The existence of a long-run relationship between inflation and external debt is tested using the bounds-testing approach to cointegration, and a vector error-correction model is estimated to determine the short parameters of equilibrium dynamics.

The linear ARDL model results show that external debt has no statistically significant impact on inflation in the long run. On the contrary, the results of the NARDL model show that positive and negative external debt shocks statistically affect inflation in the long run. The estimated long-run elasticity coefficients of the linear and nonlinear ARDL models reveal that the domestic money supply has a statistically significant positive impact on inflation. In contrast, the nominal effective exchange rate has a statistically significant negative impact on inflation.

The reliance on symmetric analysis may not be sufficient to uncover the existence of a linkage between external debt and inflation. Proper external debt management is crucial to control inflation rates in Sudan.

To date, no empirical study has assessed the external debt-inflation nexus and its potential asymmetry in Sudan, and the current study aims to fill this gap in the literature.

The environmental deterioration has become one of the most economically consequential and charged topics. Numerous scholars have examined the driving factors failing to consider the structural breaks. This study aims to explore sustainability using the per capita ecological footprints (EF) as an indicator of environmental adversities and controlling the resources rent [(natural resources (NR)], labor capital (LC), urbanization (UR) and per capita economic growth [gross domestic product (GDP)] of China.

Through the analysis of the long- and short-run effects with an autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL), structural break based on BP test and Granger causality test based on vector error correction model (VECM), empirical evidence is provided for the policies formulation of sustainable development.

The long-run equilibrium between the EF and GDP, NR, UR and LC is proved. In the long run, an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship existed, but China is still in the rising stage of the curve; there is a positive relationship between the EF and NR, indicating a resource curse; the UR is also unsustainable. The LC is the most favorable factor for sustainable development. In the short term, only the lagged GDP has an inhibitory effect on the EF. Besides, all explanatory variables are Granger causes of the EF.

A novel attempt is made to examine the long-term equilibrium and short-term dynamics under the prerequisites that the structural break points with its time and frequencies were examined by BP test and ARDL and VECM framework and the validity of the EKC hypothesis is tested.

This paper aims to propose various theoretical lenses to explore the relationship between internal communication (IC) and its impact on employee loyalty.

A systematic review followed by a synthesis of the literature is adopted after identifying articles from various databases such as Scopus, Google Scholar and EBSCO and found that employee loyalty remains a significant gap in organisational IC research. The review will bring greater attention and focus for scholars to check how IC can help increase employee loyalty using the proposed theories – more so for IC in the Asia-Pacific.

The findings from this paper explicitly highlight that both individual/managerial theories (social cognitive, social identity, social exchange, expectancy and socio-analytic theories) and organisational theories (network, resource-based view and sensemaking theories) are close and relevant to study the IC and employee loyalty.

The value of this review is to move forward the debate on how IC can significantly contribute to developing employee outcomes (loyalty), how it can further enhance employee performance and commitment and what theories better explain this relationship. This review will inspire and inform future scholars to explore IC’s role in employee loyalty in the Asia-Pacific context.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the challenges of health emergency communication as presented in the COVID-19-related research articles in the fields of organisational communication, strategic communication and public relations published between 2020 and mid-2022. A qualitative literature review consisting of two rounds of data selection and ATLAS.ti-assisted content analysis was conducted. The data include 67 articles published in quality journals of communication studies, with a focus on the abstract, results and discussion sections. The findings emphasise the need for emotional support, empathy and both vertical and horizontal informal communication in uncertainty reduction during a major health emergency. The limitations of the study include that the data are limited to the first published journal articles concerning the consequences of COVID-19 and that it comprises publications in communication studies but not related fields, such as health, psychology or management. However, it provides an overview of the research findings and offers guidelines for managers and communication professionals for the development of communication practices under the threat of a major health crisis. Moreover, it proves the importance of healthy and trustful workplace relationships as a prerequisite for coping with uncertainty. All in all, the study provides a good basis for further studies of organisational communication and health emergencies.

Money management practices among couples from 27 countries were studied to understand how they reflect egalitarian values. The welfare system was used as a classification criterion, to account for the distinct socio-political contexts in which couple relationships are formed.

The data are sourced from the 2012 Survey on Family and Changing Gender Roles of the International Social Survey Programme. The analytical strategy used has been binary logistic regression.

The results demonstrate that participation of the woman in the household economy and financial decision-making indicates higher levels of egalitarian values in the couple. Couples who distinguish between a common fund and individual funds demonstrate more egalitarian values than those who have only a common fund. Besides, symmetry in the couple in terms of the income level of each partner increased the probability of having more egalitarian values. Greater equality was found among couples who resided in countries with a Mediterranean welfare system.

The paper makes an original contribution to the field of sociology and social policy by focus on couples' money management and improve understanding of the finance-well-being nexus.

This research paper aims to explore the added value of knowledge management (KM) and its antecedents for innovation and organizational performance (OP) in marginal healthcare organizations.

Using insights from the resource-based view and knowledge-based theory of the firm, the model explains the effects of technology capabilities (TC) and organizational culture (OC) on the KM process, process innovation (PIN), administrative innovation (AIN) and OP. The authors used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze data collected from 168 healthcare practitioners in Cameroon using a survey.

The authors reveal that TC and OC positively impact some KM components. Knowledge sharing (KS), knowledge acquisition (KA) and responsiveness to knowledge (RK) influence PIN, while only PIN and KA influence OP. FsQCA provided several configurations that lead to high OP within healthcare centers. As a result, the results are adaptable to any healthcare center that wishes to set up one or more KM processes.

Given that the results will help the health workforce make concerted decisions about medical care, the authors contribute significantly to the definition and optimization of KM in healthcare by implementing various processes and policies to ensure the continued existence of high-quality and outstanding healthcare systems. The KM propositions will enable healthcare centers to: (1) improve the quality of patient care through collegiality in medical practice; (2) optimize processes in the patient care chain; and (3) leverage knowledge gained though knowledge sharing among the medical team. The propositions open up avenues for future research in addition to providing practical implications for healthcare center practitioners.

This study sheds new empirical light on the relationships between KM antecedents and processes, innovation and OP in healthcare centers. This research is one of the few to examine the relationship between TC, OC, KM processes, innovation and OP in developing countries. This paper aims to fill this gap and inform future research concerning KM in the healthcare sector. Further, this study goes beyond testing the PLS-SEM approach's hypotheses by applying fsQCA to provide practical and comprehensive knowledge on how to increase the efficiency of a healthcare center through KM.

This article aims to contribute to a clearer understanding of the importance of mentor preparation and provide recommendations for effective mentor preparation programmes based on the literature.

A narrative review of a range of literature focussing on the importance and characteristics of effective mentor practice and preparation.

Many mentors working in educational contexts lack adequate preparation, and a shift in mentoring practice from a mentor as expert approach, which mentors are likely revert to without training, to a more collaborative relationship in line with educative mentoring is recommended. Relationship building, working collaboratively and encouraging critical reflection are essential mentoring capabilities, and can be supported by participation in effective mentoring preparation programmes. Characteristics of these programmes include: providing time for mentors to reflect on their personal capabilities and attitudes; strengthening their knowledge about mentoring and learning a range of approaches and tools.

Implications for mentor preparation include consideration of curricula that focus on the nature of effective mentoring relationships, provision of effective observation-based feedback and the facilitation of critical reflection. Blended learning models appear to have potential and organisational leaders need to recognise and value mentoring to ensure that it is prioritised.

This article makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the nature of effective mentor preparation programmes.