Primary succession on bare ground surrounded by intact ecosystems is, during its first stages, characterized by predator‐dominated arthropod communities. However, little is known on what prey ...sustains these predators at the start of succession and which factors drive the structure of these food webs. As prey availability can be extremely patchy and episodic in pioneer stages, trophic networks might be highly variable. Moreover, the importance of allochthonous versus autochthonous food sources for these pioneer predators is mostly unknown. To answer these questions, the gut content of 1,832 arthropod predators, including four species of carabid beetles, two lycosid and several linyphiid spider species caught in early and late pioneer stages of three glacier forelands, was screened molecularly to track intraguild and extraguild trophic interactions among all major prey groups occurring in these systems. Two‐thirds of the 2,310 identified food detections were collembolans and intraguild prey, while one‐third were allochthonous flying insects. Predator identity and not successional stage or valley had by far the strongest impact on the trophic interaction patterns. Still, the variability of prey spectra increased significantly from early to late pioneer stage, as did the niche width of the predators. As such the structure of pioneer arthropod food webs in recently deglaciated Alpine habitats seems to be driven foremost by predator identity while site and early successional effects contribute to a lesser extent to food web variability. Our findings also suggest that in these pioneer sites, predatory arthropods depend less on allochthonous aeolian prey but are mainly sustained by prey of local production.
PurposeA significant body of research has now been accumulated in the intercultural service encounter (ICSE) literature. However, no study to date has provided scholars and practitioners with a ...systematic review to map and better understand the ICSE domain.Design/methodology/approachTo fill this gap, the authors systematically review and critically examine the state of academic research on ICSE.FindingsBased on a systematic review of 31 journal articles published over the last two decades, the results illustrate that ICSE research is a vibrant and rapidly growing stream of the broader international business domain, and it is topically and methodologically diverse. This review also identifies significant knowledge gaps related to the adoption of different theoretical orientations by researchers examining ICSE at different levels of analysis, a lack of contextual positioning, as well as poor methodological rigor.Originality/valueBased on the findings, the authors introduce a multilevel and multidisciplinary conceptual framework that integrates the concepts of emotional intelligence (EI) and intercultural communication competence (ICC) as the key variables that explain trust development during the interaction between two key culturally different stakeholders: service providers (employees) and service receivers (customers). Finally, the authors discuss the contributions and implications for both academics and practitioners.
Brand emotional connection and loyalty Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia; Ruediger, Kaufmann Hans; Demetris, Vrontis
The journal of brand management,
10/2012, Volume:
20, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This study, for the first time, aims to integrate brand attachment as an antecedent of brand love and both, affective commitment and brand trust as mediators between brand love and loyalty. It is ...also the first time that differences between male and female consumers’ perceptions on this topic have been compared in literature. On the basis of previous research, a model was developed and validated using consumers who bought one of three car brands: Toyota, Ford and Renault. Living in three regions of Portugal, the sample consisted of consumers who bought a new car 2 years before the research and had declared being satisfied with the purchase. The model is tested in the context of a non-hedonic product, differing from the common perspective that focuses on hedonic products. Hypotheses were tested by employing multi-group structural equation modeling. Findings suggest that brand attachment is positively related to brand love. Brand love reinforces the trust, interest in continuing a relationship and faith in the future of the brand. Women exhibited trust and placed more importance on dyadic relationships than did men. Men, however, desired to identify socially with the brand.
Soil microbial communities regulate global biogeochemical cycles and respond rapidly to changing environmental conditions. However, understanding how soil microbial communities respond to climate ...change, and how this influences biogeochemical cycles, remains a major challenge. This is especially pertinent in alpine regions where climate change is taking place at double the rate of the global average, with large reductions in snow cover and earlier spring snowmelt expected as a consequence. Here, we show that spring snowmelt triggers an abrupt transition in the composition of soil microbial communities of alpine grassland that is closely linked to shifts in soil microbial functioning and biogeochemical pools and fluxes. Further, by experimentally manipulating snow cover we show that this abrupt seasonal transition in wide-ranging microbial and biogeochemical soil properties is advanced by earlier snowmelt. Preceding winter conditions did not change the processes that take place during snowmelt. Our findings emphasise the importance of seasonal dynamics for soil microbial communities and the biogeochemical cycles that they regulate. Moreover, our findings suggest that earlier spring snowmelt due to climate change will have far reaching consequences for microbial communities and nutrient cycling in these globally widespread alpine ecosystems.
The applicability of species-specific primers to study feeding interactions is restricted to those ecosystems where the targeted prey species occur. Therefore, group-specific primer pairs, targeting ...higher taxonomic levels, are often desired to investigate interactions in a range of habitats that do not share the same species but the same groups of prey. Such primers are also valuable to study the diet of generalist predators when next generation sequencing approaches cannot be applied beneficially. Moreover, due to the large range of prey consumed by generalists, it is impossible to investigate the breadth of their diet with species-specific primers, even if multiplexing them. However, only few group-specific primers are available to date and important groups of prey such as flying insects have rarely been targeted. Our aim was to fill this gap and develop group-specific primers suitable to detect and identify the DNA of common taxa of flying insects. The primers were combined in two multiplex PCR systems, which allow a time- and cost-effective screening of samples for DNA of the dipteran subsection Calyptratae (including Anthomyiidae, Calliphoridae, Muscidae), other common dipteran families (Phoridae, Syrphidae, Bibionidae, Chironomidae, Sciaridae, Tipulidae), three orders of flying insects (Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Plecoptera) and coniferous aphids within the genus Cinara. The two PCR assays were highly specific and sensitive and their suitability to detect prey was confirmed by testing field-collected dietary samples from arthropods and vertebrates. The PCR assays presented here allow targeting prey at higher taxonomic levels such as family or order and therefore improve our ability to assess (trophic) interactions with flying insects in terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
The objective of the present research is to examine the relationship between consumer’s perception of Firm of Origin (FOO) of a company and the equity they associate with the brand. FOO is related to ...the importance consumers attribute to human dimension of a company. Brand equity (BE) is conceptualised as a three-dimensional construct including brand awareness/associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. In order to investigate the relationship between brand equity and FOO, a FOO scale was developed and validated. Then, a survey was undertaken using a convenience sample. The questionnaire used to collect data included two categories of brands: convenience and luxury brands. The relationship between BE and FOO was examined using multivariate analysis of variance. In addition, the impact of FOO has been investigated on consumers’ intention to purchase the brand products. Results indicate that brand equity varies with the importance associated with FOO. This is true for both luxury and convenience brands, and FOO affects each driver of BE, namely brand awareness/associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. The principal contribution of this study is that it demonstrates empirically a positive relationship between the human dimension of the firm (FOO) and brand equity. The people considered are those placed at every level in the organisation: entrepreneurial, managerial and operational.
A microarray spotted with 369 different 16S rRNA gene probes specific to microorganisms involved in the degradation process of organic waste during composting was developed. The microarray was tested ...with pure cultures, and of the 30,258 individual probe-target hybridization reactions performed, there were only 188 false positive (0.62%) and 22 false negative signals (0.07%). Labeled target DNA was prepared by polymerase chain reaction amplification of 16S rRNA genes using a Cy5-labeled universal bacterial forward primer and a universal reverse primer. The COMPOCHIP microarray was applied to three different compost types (green compost, manure mix compost, and anaerobic digestate compost) of different maturity (2, 8, and 16 weeks), and differences in the microorganisms in the three compost types and maturity stages were observed. Multivariate analysis showed that the bacterial composition of the three composts was different at the beginning of the composting process and became more similar upon maturation. Certain probes (targeting Sphingobacterium, Actinomyces, Xylella/Xanthomonas/Stenotrophomonas, Microbacterium, Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, Low G + C and Alphaproteobacteria) were more influential in discriminating between different composts. Results from denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis supported those of microarray analysis. This study showed that the COMPOCHIP array is a suitable tool to study bacterial communities in composts.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a contribution to advancing knowledge on the more recent phenomenon of social brand community.Design methodology approach - The paper is based on an ...extensive interdisciplinary literature review in areas such as sociology, management, and marketing. Three interrelated and consecutively developed conceptualizations resulting from a co-operation of the researchers over the last three years are presented to explain the influence of the evolution of current social trends on the relationship between consumers and brands in different contexts (socio-demographic aspects and culture). The conceptualizations have been applied to a qualitative case study on Cypriot consumers, which conducted in-depth expert interviews and focus groups. The research project has been designed in three stages: the first stage elicited thenature of relationships between consumer, brands and social groups; the second stage was concerned with differentiating consumer behaviour and segmentation patterns in the various stages; finally, the last one conceptualized the influence of culture on the brand-consumer relationship and benefited from a progressive knowledge of the researchers in the field of embedded learning and human branding.Findings - The first conceptualization (Siano and Basile) explains the various stages of the evolution of the relationship between the consumer and the brand. The second conceptualization proposes a new segmentation and categorization pattern of brand consumers and their respective behaviors derived from the different stages of the consumer-brand relationship development (Siano and Basile; Siano, Kaufmann and Basile). The third conceptualization has been developed from the findings of an exploratory study on Cypriot brand related consumer behavior (Kitsios and Kaufmann), which had expanded the previous two conceptualizations by integrating cultural aspects. Beyond that, the third conceptualization integrates the influence of embedded learning and stimulant experience on the consumer-brand relationship.Originality value - The paper provides innovative knowledge on a new quality, even new paradigm, of consumer-brand-social group relations leading to newly arising segmentation patterns and socially responsible marketing.
Purpose - Environmental changes require higher levels of corporate authenticity when communicating with stakeholders. This is achieved by a congruence of stakeholder and brand identities. Focusing on ...employee identity, the purpose of this paper is to explain relationships of factors predicting brand-building behavior.Design methodology approach - The study pursues a triangulation approach, applying case study and survey as research methods and telephone interviews and questionnaires as research techniques in the respective exploratory and explanatory research stages.Findings - Confirmed by exploratory and explanatory research, the antecedent factors of behavioral branding have been elicited. Interestingly, marketing control reflected differentiated results compared to previous research. It showed the highest level of contribution to explain R square followed by role identity salience and value congruence. This factor also had the highest correlation value.Research limitations implications - Additional qualitative and quantitative research with increased sample size is suggested to validate the findings in diverse cross-cultural research settings.Practical implications - The findings enable global marketing managers to more effectively relate to stakeholders by a holistic, empathetic and authentic corporate branding strategy execution.Originality value - The interdisciplinary study validates and further develops recent pioneering research by using different measurements, scales and sample scopes. This multidisciplinary research delineates innovative and integrated conceptualizations on corporate branding, identity and leadership and supports the call to upgrade the branding concept within the marketing discipline.
A new love–hate scale for sports fans Shuv-Ami, Avichai; Toder Alon, Anat; Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia ...
International journal of sports marketing & sponsorship,
08/2020, Volume:
21, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
PurposeThis study, an empirical research, aims to construct and validate a new love-hate scale for sports fans and tested its antecedents and consequences.Design/methodology/approachThe scale was ...designed and validated in three separate empirical survey studies in the context of Israeli professional basketball. In Phase 1, the authors verified the factorial validity of the proposed scale using exploratory factor analysis. In Phase 2, the authors conducted a confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling. In Phase 3, the authors tested the nomological network validity of the scale.FindingsThe findings show that fans' involvement, loyalty and fandom significantly predicted their love–hate, which in turn significantly predicted self-reported fan aggression, fans' acceptance of fan aggression, price premium and frequency of watching games.Research limitations/implicationsThe model was tested on a relatively small sample of fans within a single country. This lack of generalizability should be addressed in future studies by examining the model in other sports contexts and countries.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that understanding the properties of the love–hate measure may assist team sports clubs in identifying, preventing and controlling potential fan aggression.Originality/valueThe study provides three incremental contributions above and beyond existing research: it develops and validates a scale for measuring the phenomenon of sports fans' love and hate as mixed emotions; it makes it possible to capture the variations in the magnitude of fans' love–hate; and it relates fans' love–hate to important attitudinal and behavioral outcomes.
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