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The purpose of this paper is to construct and investigate relationships between knowledge-sharing factors, attitude and the intention to share of UK academics, as research on knowledge sharing in higher education is extremely sparse.

A research model and hypotheses were constructed from individual and organisational factors that were identified to affect knowledge sharing. Questionnaire data were obtained from 367 academics concerning their attitude and intention towards knowledge sharing. This was then used in a two-stage structural equation modelling approach where the measurement model was used for confirmatory factor analysis. The structural model was used to measure and test the hypothesised relationships.

Findings indicate that, in general, individual beliefs amongst academics were more influential on their knowledge-sharing attitudes than organisational culture. Furthermore, leadership was the most influential factor within the overall organisational culture whereas autonomy demonstrated the weakest relationship. Belief in the possibility of rewards through associations was found to be a highly significant individual factor. The relationship between attitude and intention was relatively weak although still statistically significant.

The research demonstrates that management should ensure that departmental leaders promote knowledge sharing and that valued rewards are linked to sharing within the department.

As organisations are increasing their investment in social media marketing (SMM), evaluation of such techniques is becoming increasingly important. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to knowledge regarding SMM strategy by developing a stage model of SMM evaluation and uncovering the challenges in this process.

Interviews were conducted with 18 key informants working for specialist SMM agencies. Such informants are a particularly rich source, since they manage social media campaigns for a wide range of clients. An exploratory research was conducted and thematic analysis surfaced the key components of the SMM evaluation process and associated challenges.

The SMM evaluation framework is developed. This framework has the following six stages: setting evaluation objectives, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs), identifying metrics, data collection and analysis, report generation and management decision making. Challenges associated with each stage of the framework are identified, and discussed with a view to better understanding decision making associated with social media strategies. Two key challenges are the agency-client relationship and the available social analytics tools.

Despite an increasing body of research on social media objectives, KPIs and metrics, no previous study has explored how these components are embedded in a marketing campaign planning process. The paper also offers insights in the factors that make SMM evaluation complex and challenging. Recommendations for further research and practice are offered.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to research on knowledge management in higher education institutions (HEIs), by studying the enablers and barriers to knowledge management in a country with a developing higher education sector, Mauritius.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior staff in the main public and private HEIs in Mauritius. Questions focused on knowledge management, including relevant barriers and enabling factors to knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer.

Although participants were able to discuss knowledge management, none of the universities had a knowledge management strategy. Moreover, more barriers than enablers to knowledge management were identified. Barriers included: a lack of policies and reward mechanisms, resources, data, funding and time for research, coupled with frequent leadership changes, a lack of a knowledge-sharing culture and research repositories and weak industry–academia linkages. Enablers were perceived to be: qualified and experienced academic staff in public HEIs, information technology (IT) infrastructure and library/digital library and some incentives for knowledge creation and transfer.

Previous research on knowledge management in universities has focused on countries with a relatively well-developed higher education sector. This research contributes by focusing on the perceived barriers and enablers to knowledge management in a country with a small and developing higher education sector.

Universities need to manage their knowledge assets, and, to work creatively to maximize the enablers and minimize the barriers associated with knowledge management processes. This research offers a comparative perspective on knowledge management in universities in two countries whose university sectors are at different stages of their development, South Africa and Mauritius.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with expert informants from 10 high-ranking universities in Mauritius and South Africa, who held senior roles in research and its management within their respective universities

Both enablers and barriers (eandb) were evident in relation to: strategies and policies, organizational structures, rewards and incentives, culture, technology, leadership, human resources, resources and funding, and university-industry linkages, although the significance of these eandbs varied between the three knowledge processes, knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. Overall, Mauritius, with a less developed university sector, faced more challenges in respect of knowledge management than did South Africa.

This study's theoretical contribution is a holistic framework for enabling KM in universities on the basis of a mapping between KM eandb's and KM processes. This comparative country level study, embracing a number of universities, offers insights into national policy, and cultural expectations that influence the extent and nature of barriers and enablers to effective KM. The insights offered by this study will be valuable for Mauritius and South Africa, and also for universities in other countries.

Social media has significantly impacted the value creation processes within the consumer–brand relationship. This study aims to examine value formation processes within a cosmetics social media brand community and to establish the types of value formation associated with different categories of interactions within a social media brand community.

The research adopted a netnographic approach and followed the operational protocols of netnography. Conversations in one large cosmetics social media brand community were observed and downloaded for analysis over a two-month period. Examples of value-creation and formation processes were identified using netnographic interpretative procedures to develop higher-order themes.

The findings supported the creation of a “Consumer and brand value creation and co-creation framework” highlighting disparate value types within the following interactions: consumer-to-consumer; brand-to-consumer; and consumer-to-brand. The identified value types were specific to the actors (i.e. consumers and brands) involved in value formation processes. The analysis also revealed consumers’ ability to independently generate value through direct interaction with a social media brand community and the brands’ role in supporting consumers in value formation through value facilitation.

The pivotal role of disparate actors’ interactions in value formation processes is highlighted, alongside the autonomous ability to form value with the aid of resources stored and shared within the social media brand community. The network of interactions and value-creation processes contribute to a holistic understanding of the interactions in a social media brand community. Furthermore, the research explores and highlights the emerging role of social media brand communities as “value vestiges”.

The purpose of this paper is to research on knowledge management (KM) in higher education institutions (HEIs) by studying its processes, knowledge creation (KC), knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge transfer (KT), in Mauritius.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior staff in the main public and private HEIs in Mauritius. Questions focussed on KM strategy and processes. Interviews were recorded and transcribed prior to thematic analysis.

Although participants could discuss KM processes, none of the participating institutions had a KM strategy. All institutions are involved in KC and acquisition, KS and KT. In addition to research, knowledge was regarded as being created through teaching and learning activities, consultancies, organisational documentation and acquisition from external sources. Knowledge is shared among peers during departmental and curriculum meetings, through annual research seminars and during conferences and publications in journals. KT with industry through consultancies is restricted to a few public HEIs. In the remaining HEIs, KT is limited to their students joining the workforce and to organising tailor-made courses and training programmes for public and private institutions. The study also provides evidence that some processes and activities contribute to more than one of KC, sharing and transfer.

This study contributes to the very limited body of research into KM processes in countries with developing higher education sectors. In addition, this research disaggregates the processes associated with KC, sharing and transfer, whilst also examining the relationship between them.

Competition for space in peer-reviewed academic journals, together with a plethora of changes in the academic publishing processes, including, for example, open access publishing, the internationalisation of the publishing community, predatory publishing and the increasing role of journal ranking systems presents challenges for early career researchers (ECRs). The purpose of this paper is to offer practical advice on getting published in business and management.

The stages in the publishing journey are identified. The journey commences with the articulation of a contribution and building relationships with supervisors and other researchers. It then moves on to the evaluation and selection of appropriate journals (including consideration of open access publishing options), publishing policies and ethics, writing and revising the article and submitting and subsequently revising your article in response to reviewers’ comments.

This paper concludes with an acknowledgement of the shifting nature of journal publication processes and contexts and the need for doctoral and ECRs to continue to monitor changes in journal publication practices.

Whilst other articles and publisher web pages offer advice on getting published in specific journals and disciplines, few provide a rounded perspective of the experience of publishing and how this can be navigated successfully.

Online kiosks have the potential to be a significant alternative to mobile technologies in retailing, information provision and service delivery. This article describes the development and use of different types of online kiosk in contexts where users are on the move and away from fixed technologies. A case study of a major UK airport terminal is used to illustrate different types of kiosk applications. Comparisons are made with mobile phone technologies. Online kiosks have a niche in allowing access to information, services and e‐commerce technologies for all potential consumers. However, they also have a much wider role in self‐managed, self‐service delivery of information, services, goods and relationships to consumers on the move.

While substantial scholarly attention has been given to children’s understanding of advertising in the context of traditional advertising channels, there is a gap in the literature with regard to children’s commercial awareness in the context of online social networking sites. This paper aims to seek to explore the nature and extent of advertising literacy among young consumers in the context of their use of social networking sites, namely, Facebook and Bebo.

A three-stage study was conducted with 12 to 14-year-old girls, using focus group discussions, participant observation and in-depth interviews.

The study illustrates that the increasingly blurred line between online advertising and other forms of online brand-related content is militating against the development of advertising and marketing literacy in young consumers. A key issue which is discussed is the extent to which the traditional conceptualisation of advertising literacy is “fit for purpose” in an online context.

The authors propose an alternative to the advertising literacy concept, namely, the Online Brand Communications literacy framework. This framework recognises the convergence of traditional online advertising and other forms of online brand content and also acknowledges that the messaging around a brand may originate from the brand owner in a variety of overt and covert forms. Equally, online consumers may also act as brand promoters when they engage in brand-related word-of-mouth.

This paper aims to present the first systematic review of the literature relating to the relationships between organisations and their marketing agencies, the agency–client relationship, and presents a concept matrix that identifies the key areas of investigation, and topics where further research would be beneficial. As agencies play a pivotal role in operationalising marketing strategy, this relationship is central to marketing theory, management and practice.

A systematic review of the literature was performed using key databases and search terms, and filtering on the basis of criteria relating, for example, to relevance and format, to create a core set of refereed papers on the agency–client relationship in the marketing and advertising domains. Bibliographic and thematic analysis was used to profile the literature in the dataset, and to draw out key themes.

The paper provides an analysis of the extant knowledge base, including key themes, journals and research methods. The following themes emerged from the literature, and are used to elaborate further on the existing body of knowledge: conflict, client account management, contracts and agency theory, cultural and international perspectives and co-creation. An agenda for future research is proposed that advocates a focus on theoretical foundations, research strategies and research topics and themes.

This is the first systematic review of the literature on agency–client relationships, which is scattered across disciplines and informed by several theoretical perspectives. Given the increasing complexity of agency–client relationships in the digital age, and increasing need to understand “marketing-as-practice”, the coherent overview offered by this paper is of particular value for guiding future research.