Issue #2 (Volume 19 2023)

It is significant to promote food tourism behavior. This paper aims to build a comprehensive behavior model of tourists suitable for food tourism to promote such tourism in Chongqing city, China. The paper deals with the place-bound and people-bound memories affecting tourist satisfaction, perceived holiday quality of life, and experience loyalty in the food tourism industry. The data were collected from 413 tourists who have experience traveling to Chongqing city through the online questionnaire. Multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network simulation provides a basis for factor ranking for structural equation modeling. The results show that place-bound and people-bound factors can predict experience memory, experience satisfaction, holiday quality of life, experience loyalty, and destination loyalty. In addition, it reveals the mediating role of experiential memory and contributes to the process of memory formation. Place-bound factors emphasize the vital role of marketing and social media information. They are consistent with the actual food experience of tourists at the destination. People-bound factors explained the different aspects of the food experience. The noteworthy aspects are intelligence, emotion, sense, behavior, and natural flow experience. The research results show that tourists, local governments, and tourism departments should focus on developing memory structures with local characteristics and improving quality and experienced food tourism destinations so that tourists can gain more sensory experiences or other experiences to attract more food tourists.

A marketing strategy is a firm’s overall plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into permanent customers of their services or products. This paper aims to investigate the link between profitability and marketing strategy to understand how firm profitability influences marketing strategy. Moreover, it assesses the impact of return on assets (ROA) on the company’s marketing strategy. The study uses random effect regression models; a marketing strategy is measured using a sales expenses ratio, which equals sales expenses over total assets. The firm size is a control variable represented by the total sales normal logarithm. The study sample comprises Jordanian industrial shareholder companies; the analysis period is from 2005 to 2020. The study collected 808 annual observations. The findings reveal that ROA has a statistically significant effect on marketing strategy, but its components have no effect. The adj-R2 (the explanatory power) for model 1 is 18.8%, and for model 2 is 11.4%. Therefore, the main conclusion is that ROA components do not have any incremental information content in explaining the marketing strategy variance. The study recommends industrial firms in Jordan increase their profitability by adopting a diverse marketing strategy, focusing on customer satisfaction, investing in market research, using social media, and developing a strong brand image.

Software as a digital product has been shown to improve companies’ performance and efficiency. One product that is now at the core of many businesses is Software as a Service (SaaS). By utilizing cloud computing platforms, SaaS is a method of providing applications as a service. SaaS applications have unique characteristics that can be customized to meet customers’ needs. Hence, SaaS has become suitable for companies of all types and sizes, including small- and medium-sized enterprises. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of customer involvement on the development of SaaS applications and the impact of customer engagement on the co-creation of services, satisfaction, and loyalty, with the co-creation level used as a moderating variable. Data were collected from responses to an online questionnaire by 282 users of a SaaS application in Indonesia who were the decision-makers of the selected SaaS provider. The data were then analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that customer involvement in developing SaaS applications significantly positively affects the co-creation of services, satisfaction, and loyalty (t-value > 1.645). Moreover, the level of co-creation was proven to strengthen the impact of customer involvement on the co-creation of services with an interaction Standardize Loading Factor (SLF) path of 1.36. Hence, the findings indicate that higher customer involvement promotes collaborative activities with service providers, and the optimum level of co-creation raises customer satisfaction.

To improve the marketing activity and brand management and justify the most effective marketing decisions, organizations should implement different information technologies, mathematical methods and models into the marketing decision support system (MDSS). The goal of this paper is to form an architecture of an MDSS, the model base of which is developed on Data Science tools, in particular regression analysis and machine learning methods. The proposed MDSS is a multi-agent information system comprising nine intellectual agents (market environment monitoring, data processing, marketing mix modeling, price policy support, portfolio management, strategic analysis, forecasting, customer segmentation, and customer classification). The functionality of these agents is realized through Data Science, which allows for the optimization of marketing activities (e.g., an effective brand management strategy and its elements (portfolio strategy, price policy, and media strategy) or solving the problems of attracting new and retaining current customers with the maximal return on marketing investments). The MDSS analyzes the marketing environment, media activity, and business indicators by constructing different models and forecasting various combinations of marketing factors to select the best one. The joint work of MDSS agents provides decision-makers with interactive reports. The research findings offer a scientific basis for making effective marketing decisions based on data, and the proposed MDSS can become part of an intelligent system for planning marketing activities.

Adventure tourism has received significant attention recently because it offers unique sensations. Managers of adventure tourism objects need to understand the determinants of satisfaction in adventure tourism. This study aims to examine the effect of intrinsic motivation and flow theory on extreme and non-extreme adventure tourists’ satisfaction in Indonesia. This study uses a quantitative approach. The sample includes 405 tourists engaged in adventure tourism activities (extreme adventure tourism activities – 200 respondents, and non-extreme adventure tourism activities – 205 respondents). Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) was used to analyze the data. The results show that autonomy and competence influence flow experience (p-value < 0.05). This applies to extreme adventure and non-extreme adventure tourism. Furthermore, flow experience has a positive effect on adventure tourist satisfaction. In the context of extreme adventure tourism, autonomy does not affect the satisfaction of extreme adventure tourists (path coefficients = 0.025 and p-value = 0.761). In the context of non-extreme adventure tourism, competence does not affect the satisfaction of non-extreme adventure tourists (path coefficients = –0.036 and p-value = 0.682). This study recommends that managers of non-extreme tourism spots add challenging aspects to tour packages because they are believed to increase tourist satisfaction.

This study aims to investigate the influencing elements of consumers’ behavioral intention to use online food delivery apps in Bangladesh. MS Excel and SPSS were used to calculate the relevant information. The targeted population of this study is the current users of online food delivery apps in Bangladesh. The final sample size is 368, with a response rate of 92%. The information was gathered from the respondents through a web-based survey in Google Forms. Due to the nature of the study object, the purposeful sampling method has been used and is quantitative and exploratory. The results show that five predictors affect consumers’ intention to use food delivery apps. The findings demonstrate that social influence, perceived trust, perceived safety, performance expectancy, and effort expectancy significantly affect the consumers’ usage intention of food delivery apps. The study also found that perceived trust is the strongest predictor of usage intention among five intention predictors. However, following an extensive literature review, only a few studies have been conducted in this context, so there is a deficiency in investigating key influencing factors of users’ motivation to adopt online food delivery apps in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study could be indispensable for app delivery operators, governmental and non-governmental organizations, businesses, and researchers to make policies and strategies to create intention among consumers to use online food delivery apps.

This paper aims to examine the effect of competitive advantage, business innovation, corporate social responsibility, social media, business adaptation, and human capital management on the effectiveness of tour operators in South Thailand. This quantitative study used a questionnaire as a research tool. Five hundred owners/executives of tour operators in South Thailand were asked to fill in the questionnaire during the survey; however, only 470 questionnaires were accepted for further data analysis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the data and hypotheses.
According to the empirical results, competitive advantage, social media, business adaptation, and human capital management significantly, positively, and directly affect effectiveness. Moreover, business innovation and corporate social responsibility have a significant, positive, but indirect effect on effectiveness through competitive advantage. Whereas business innovation and corporate social responsibility have an insignificant, negative, and direct effect on effectiveness. Human capital management also has a direct effect on effectiveness through business innovation. This shows that competitive advantage, social media, business adaptation, and human capital management are, respectively, the factors that could directly increase the tour operator’s effectiveness. In contrast, innovation and corporate social responsibility do not directly promote effectiveness. However, these results cannot be generalized, as they may be different if conducting the research in other regions of Thailand.

Innovation is critical to modern economies’ development; new process requirements within Industry 4.0 highlight its significance and necessity. This study aims to identify the relationship between R&D expenditure and the aggregate innovation index in the V4 countries. The statistical data from 2014 to 2021 are taken from the European Commission and Eurostat databases. The analysis focuses on identifying the degree of correlation between the standardized score of the Aggregate Innovation Index and the amount of R&D expenditure in countries of the Visegrad Group. The study uses the following methods: the Shapiro-Wilk test (to verify the normality of the samples), Pearson’s correlation coefficient (to check the degree of tightness of dependency), the Tukey test (to examine which countries have statistically significant differences), and chi-squared test (Χ2-test). Among the V4 countries, the Czech Republic was the best performer in the aggregate innovation index. Hungary showed the second-highest score, Slovakia ranked third place, and Poland had the lowest score. The findings indicate a positive correlation between R&D expenditures and the aggregate innovation index in all V4 countries. However, the relationship is statistically significant only in the Czech Republic and Poland. These results were confirmed by the Tukey test of differences within the correlation coefficients, which showed only a statistically significant difference within the correlation coefficients between Poland and Slovakia (1.790) and between Poland and Hungary (–1.640), respectively.

Acknowledgment
This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic [grant VEGA No 1/0357/21], “Multiplier effects of human capital quality on economic performance and competitiveness of the Slovak economy.”

The constantly evolving legislation concerning the usage of cookies raises many concerns about the effectiveness of targeted online advertisements. Retargeting represents an advanced targeting strategy requiring detailed user data and thus may be potentially highly sensitive to cookie restrictions. The retargeting effectiveness is tested in terms of type (standard, dynamic), advertising platform (Meta Ads, Google Ads), and the ad performance development in time. The data were collected through a Czech home goods online retailer. This paper tests the effectiveness of 432 retargeting ads collected during the opt-out cookie regime by comparing them with 432 retargeting ads collected after the transition to the opt-in cookie regime. The study created 216 ads on Google and 216 ads on Facebook. The entire experiment took one month to be implemented in 2021 and repeated in precisely the same manner in 2022. After this period, data were processed with SPSS Statistics. Both Facebook and Google (Conversion Lift) provide A/B testing tools. The results suggest that standard retargeting ads are more effective in utilitarian browsing. In contrast, dynamic retargeting is more successful in reaching users in the hedonic environment of social networks. Moreover, the performance of retargeting ads evolves in the different stages along the customer journey. There are differences in the total number of tracked users in terms of the transition from the opt-out to the opt-in cookie regime. However, the performance of programmatic advertising appears moderately affected.

Acknowledgment
This work is supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic under the Program of Applied Research ZETA through the Grant TJ02000206 – Developing the skills necessary for the digital business transformation.

Organizations should equip human resources and sales managers with the vital information and knowledge needed to recruit and select salespersons with the required qualities to help them achieve improved sales performance. This paper aims to determine a salesperson’s educational qualification, selling experience, and persuasive ability and their effect on the salesperson’s performance at Innoson Motors Manufacturing Company Ltd. The study surveyed 131 company staff to collect the data; only 120 questionnaires were correctly filled and returned. First, the study checked the instrument’s reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.982). Data were then analyzed using a simple linear regression analysis. The findings revealed that salesperson educational qualification has a significant positive effect on salesperson performance (r = 0.944; t = 54.251; F = 2943.209; p < 0.05). Next, salesperson selling experience was found to have a significant positive effect on salesperson performance (r = 0.964; t = 68.905; F = 4747.922; p < 0.05). Finally, salesperson persuasive ability was found to have a significant positive effect on salesperson performance (r = 0.960; t = 64.812; F = 4200.634; p < 0.05). Hence, company managers can use the findings of this paper to understand that employing highly educated, experienced, and persuasive salespersons will lead to improved salesperson performance.

Acknowledgment
We wish to appreciate the good work done by some of the researchers who contributed immensely to the development of the study’s framework and methodology. Among them: Professor Gerald Nebo, Associate Professor Chinedum Obikeze, Dr. John Anetoh and Dr. Wali Kemkamma. We also commend the effort of Mrs. Okolo Jennifer for typing and editing the work. In a similar tone, we wish to thank our respondents for equipping us with the required information that made this study a success.

Korean cosmetics have become a favorite product in the Indonesian market. Therefore, it is essential to understand what stimulates Indonesian consumers to buy Korean beauty products. This study aims to examine the structural model of the determinants of purchasing behavior for cosmetic products made in Korea, applying a quantitative design. Data were collected using a questionnaire targeting a random sample of respondents (n = 250) who are social media followers of cosmetic products made in Korea. The collected data were then analyzed using a partial least square approach using Smart-PLS 4.0 software. The results indicate that consumer attitude significantly influences consumer behavior. Moreover, the findings imply that a positive attitude can build consumer behavior (make consumers proud and idolize a particular product). Furthermore, the positive image of the place of origin and the quality of the product can influence consumer attitude. Management practice can alter how individuals view a product by using brand ambassadors and the rich culture of the place the product comes from.

Digital media has allowed restaurants to maintain their sales, positioning, and better relationships with consumers in adverse situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study seeks to determine the relationship between social networks as an inbound marketing tool and the generation of digital experiences in consumers of fast-food restaurants. This is a quantitative, correlational, and non-experimental analysis. The sample includes the most popular fast-food restaurants in Peru (Norky’s, Roky’s, and Kentucky Fried Chicken) that demonstrate significant presence in social networks and possess potential characteristics to provide customers with a positive experience. One hundred one respondents between 18 and 35 years of age, residents of Lima (Peru), and frequent consumers of fast food establishments were surveyed via Google Forms. The results were tabulated in MS Excel and the quantitative data analysis was performed with the IBM SPSS tool; descriptive and inferential statistics were applied and the correlation was obtained through Spearman’s coefficient. The findings highlighted that 61.39% of the respondents agree that the social network experiences of the restaurants influence their expectations; 47.5% react with likes and comments to the publications, and 63.4% recommend the restaurants thanks to the constant dissemination of their content. Finally, a significance level of less than 0.05 was obtained between the variables, demonstrating that one variable has a relationship with the other. The study concludes a moderate direct relationship between social networks as an inbound marketing strategy and the generation of digital experiences in the study group.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the belief that businesses must consider ethical, social, and environmental issues when making decisions. Several studies have found that CSR improves corporate performance. Moreover, CSR is thought to increase consumer trust and purchase intention. This study investigates the effect of CSR activities on customers’ purchase intentions and the mediating role of trust. It draws linkages and establishes that businesses can improve their bottom lines while positively affecting society by acting responsibly.
The present study selected two independent variables (ethical corporate social responsibility and legal corporate social responsibility) alongside one dependent variable (purchase intention) and one intervening variable (trust). The sample comprises two hundred and thirty respondents from India’s National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi, and nearby regions. The data were examined using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that CSR activities significantly positively affected customers’ purchase intention. Furthermore, trust mediated the linkages between CSR activities and customers’ purchase intention. The findings suggest that CSR activities can increase customers’ purchase intention by fostering trust. In other words, when customers trust a firm, they are more likely to intend to purchase its products or services. CSR managers should therefore focus on creating and maintaining trust with their customers. In addition, findings suggest that firms should be conscious of their social image. This study offers significant insights because they show that any business can be successful and socially responsible.

Acknowledgment
This study is supported via funding from Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University project number (PSAU/2023/R/1444).

This paper aims to quantify the impact of selected demographic, financial, and economic factors on the propensity to do business in the taxi sector of the sharing economy. The sample comprised 375 taxi drivers from the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Data were collected using the query method via a questionnaire in April 2022. The structure of the respondents is divided into shared taxi service providers (N = 294) and traditional taxi service providers (N = 69). The study selected 14 factors: demographic (4), financial (7), and economic (3). The SEM approach was applied to evaluate the hypotheses. Shared taxi providers have a stronger propensity to do business than traditional taxi drivers. Demographic characteristics of a traditional taxi driver are the most significant factors with a strong influence on the propensity to do business (βS = 0.525 > βT = 0.425). On the other hand, the financial and economic characteristics of shared taxi drivers strongly influence the propensity to do business (βT = 0.565 > βS = 0.212). The characteristics of the enterprise are on the verge of significance in relation to the tendency to do business with shared taxi drivers, as opposed to traditional taxi drivers. For traditional taxi drivers, there is a strong influence of the characteristics of the enterprise on the propensity to do business (βT = 0.476 > βS = 0.026). This study contributes to understanding how participating in sharing economy may stimulate the propensity to do business.

This study aims to build a framework for the variables affecting interest in sharia e-commerce, such as attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and religiosity. Using a convenience sampling method, this analysis involved 212 young people, who represent the most significant proportion of e-commerce clients. The survey measurements and hypotheses testing used the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. The results of the study show that attitude (ß = 0.261, p = 0.000), subjective norm (ß = 0.264, p = 0.000), perceived usefulness (ß = 0.241, p = 0.013), and perceived ease of use (ß = 0.185, p = 0.032) have a positive relationship with intention to use sharia e-commerce for youths. In addition, perceived ease of use (ß = 0.759, p = 0.000) also significantly affects perceived usefulness as a moderator to intention. In comparison, perceived behavior control (ß = –0.042, p = 0.505) was an insignificant factor in using sharia e-commerce. This study also shows that religiosity (ß = 0.648, p = 0.000) is essential in a person’s attitude toward intending to use sharia e-commerce. The insignificant relationship between perceived behavior control and intention to use sharia e-commerce is believed to be because both conventional and sharia e-commerce are easily operated. Thus, youth people have not noticed many differences in using sharia e-commerce.

The purpose of this study is to explore how internal marketing practices affect the commitment of organizations’ “green” intellectual capital. It examines the relationship between internal marketing practices and the commitment to its “green” intellectual capital’s components: human, relational, and structural. Moreover, it investigates to what extent internal marketing practices are applied to strategic, operational, and implementation levels, affecting “green” intellectual capital commitment. A 27-item questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data. Six hundred nine employees from large companies operating in various business sectors in Greece participated in a survey from July to November 2020. The findings documented a strong impact of internal marketing practices (90.5%) on the commitment to “green” intellectual capital. Internal marketing practices applied at operational levels have the most substantial effect on the commitment of “green” intellectual capital (t = 17.387), while practices at implementation levels are not significant (t = 3.668). The results also indicated that internal marketing practices applied at strategic levels significantly influence the commitment to “green” intellectual capital (t = 15.747). Finally, the study discusses the theoretical and managerial contributions.

Acknowledgment
This study has been funded by the University of West Attica / Special Account for Research Grants.

Customer loyalty and trust are key elements for the success of retail banking. For this reason, it is crucial to investigate the predictors of these elements. This study aims to model service quality, customer satisfaction, and commitment influencing customer loyalty and trust in South African retail banking. The target population is a growing banking customer segment – Generation Y. A sample of 271 Generation Y customers participated in the survey. Their responses were analyzed using AMOS, whereby a structural equation model was developed. Although the structural model suggests that service quality (β = 0.097; p = 0.175) is an insignificant predictor of customer loyalty in retail banking, the influence remains positive. Moreover, the model infers that customer satisfaction (β = 0.793; p = 0.001) predicts customer loyalty in retail banking and that customer satisfaction (β = 0.715; p = 0.001) and commitment (β = 0.257; p = 0.001) influence trust in retail banking. All the model fit indices (NFI = 0.95; RFI = 0.92; IFI = 0.97; TLI = 0.96; CFI = 0.97; RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR = 0.03) infer that the model is reliable, valid, and ultimately good fitting measurement tool of customer loyalty and trust in retail banking. The results provide insights into the most critical factors in building customer loyalty and trust among Generation Y customers in South African retail banking. Moreover, they can help to develop marketing and customer service strategies to improve these outcomes.

This study examined the impact of social commerce on the purchase intentions of Millennials who use Facebook by exploring how social commerce constructs influence consumer trust. A quantitative research approach was used and data were collected via an ‘online’ survey. The target population was 386 young adults aged 25 to 34 residing in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, referred to as Millennials, and comprises the largest group of users on Facebook. Convenience sampling, namely snowball sampling, was used to target participants. It was found that social commerce constructs significantly influence trust, which positively influences consumer purchasing decisions. The results of the study showed that trust explained 68% of the variance in purchasing intentions. Since trust is an integral and vital component of social commerce, the role of social commerce constructs and social support is to build trust in the ‘online’ context and consumers’ intention to buy. This suggests that businesses should monitor the quality and content of the engagements around their brands on social media, as information sharing in social commerce has a significant impact on consumer decisions, i.e., purchase intentions.

The study aims to explore how consumer satisfaction influences consumer trust and, ultimately, builds strong consumer loyalty in the dynamic world of Indonesian e-commerce. The relevance of this study is determined by how e-commerce businesses can improve customer loyalty by enhancing consumer trust and satisfaction. The study used a quantitative research design and surveyed 230 consumers from Jakarta, Indonesia. The data analysis involved utilizing validation and descriptive statistics in MS Excel and inferential statistics through SmartPLS to draw meaningful conclusions. The results showed a positive, significant, and direct relationship between consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty. The R2 for consumer loyalty indicates that consumer satisfaction and consumer trust explain 56.6% of the variances in consumer loyalty, whereas consumer satisfaction explains 37.4% of the variances in consumer trust. Furthermore, the findings showed that this relationship is strengthened when consumer trust is included as a mediator, demonstrating a complementary partial mediation indicating that trust enhances consumer loyalty. Thus, the study concludes that consumers are more likely to feel loyal to e-commerce websites when their satisfaction is combined with trust. It provides considerable insights into the determinants of consumer loyalty and emphasizes the importance of establishing trust in e-commerce websites as a critical strategy to enhance customer loyalty. This paper also contributes to the broader literature on consumer behavior and loyalty in the context of digital business, providing new insights and perspectives that can help shape future research in this area.

Companies have been increasingly conveying activist advertising messages to international audiences in response to persisting social ills and unsustainable business practices. Given the ambiguity surrounding the effects of international advertising, this study aims to compare the response of local consumers to a multinational brand’s standardized activist advertising strategy with creative executions adapted to the national contexts of Greece and the USA. The selected brand originates from the USA. The paper used a systematic qualitative approach and sentiment analysis using Microsoft Excel and Azure Machine Learning add-in. Analysis conducted on 1,051 user comments in January 2023 regarding two publicly accessible social media posts of a multinational haircare brand showed both similarities and differences in consumer responses. 662 comments were in English and 389 comments were in Greek. The study’s dataset was anonymized entirely and de-identified. The results indicate that consumer sentiment was largely negative in both countries. Although the relative share of negative comments was significantly higher in the USA (96.7%) than in Greece (59.4%), both groups of consumers placed their emphasis on the same themes (e.g., children and products). Therefore, they have perceived the main message similarly, irrespective of the execution differences. Overall, the findings can be attributed to strategic and tactical issues of the activist advertising campaign, as well as to sociocultural particularities of the national context. In the case of international advertising, attempts to incorporate the brand’s stance on a controversial sociopolitical issue into its advertising strategy pose significant risks to business organizations.

This study aims to analyze digital marketing adoption among micro and small enterprises (MSEs) operating in Lagos State, Nigeria. This state was chosen because it was the worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the reported number of infections and it has a large concentration of MSEs. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic brought changes to how businesses operate. It succeeded in pushing business owners into adopting new business strategies, all in the bid to adapt to the reality of the pandemic and the associated changes. The cross-sectional survey design was adopted; data were collected through an online survey of 240 MSEs operating in Lagos State. The results show no substantial increase in digital marketing adoption during the pandemic relative to the pre-pandemic era. The findings, however, reveal that digital marketing use differed significantly according to sector and size before and during the pandemic. No changes were found in digital marketing adoption in the information technology and finance sectors, while a decline in digital marketing adoption was reported in the hospitality sector. On the other hand, there was a rise in the use of digital marketing during the pandemic in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. These findings provide an empirical managerial perspective establishing the link between reality and theoretical business underpinnings.