AbstractAchieving the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the UN for 2030 implies designing strategies that promote socially responsible consumption. The effectiveness of these strategies will depend on understanding the variables that influence socially responsible behaviour. We must also bear in mind that these variables and this behaviour are of a dynamic, multidimensional and non‐universal nature. The objective of this work is to identify how three attitudinal variables (emotional engagement, perceived consumer effectiveness and perception of personal gain) influence socially responsible consumption, through a model of structural equations. To do this, a survey was conducted of 415 Spanish consumers. The results reflect that socially responsible consumption is mainly explained by emotional engagement and to a lesser extent by perceived consumer effectiveness. In contrast, it is not influenced by perception of personal gain.
AbstractEthical and charity financial products can be considered as a tool that drives the corporate social responsibility of the financial institutions and, indirectly, that of the companies that try to capture financial resources through them. The objective of this study is to identify the structure of preferences of savers to identify the relative importance of those attributes linked to socially responsible investment. The results allow for an estimation of the market potential of a socially responsible savings deposit and ethical banking.A survey was conducted on 415 Spanish savers, and the analysis has been carried out using conjoint analysis technique.Taking into account the characteristics of their preferences, four groups of savers have been identified: "potential socially responsible savers," "charitable savers," "savers focused on financial return," and "conventional savers based on availability." Some socio‐demographic variables are relevant when describing segments of savers: age, educational level, and income level.
Summary The financial crisis that started in the USA in 2007 has obliged many small financial entities in southern Europe to undertake mergers in order to comply with the stability and solvency policies established by the European Central Bank. In Spain, this situation has led to a profound restructuring of the financial system, obliging many of these institutions to decide whether or not to maintain their regional brand identity after such a merger. The purpose of this study was twofold: on the one hand, to analyze the importance customers attach to the origin of their usual financial institution and the relative utility they give to the three levels of brand origin presented: regional, national and foreign, and, on the other, to assess whether consumers' level of ethnocentrism modifies their preference structure and, if so, to identify the profile of the individuals composing each segment. The technique of Conjoint Analysis was applied to a survey of 427 customers. The results showed the bank's to be the attribute with the greater importance in forming customers' preferences than other characteristics of the institution such as the treatment by employees, the location of offices, the electronic banking services, and the number of social activities the entity carries out in the region. In addition, the respondents prefer regional brand origin over national and foreign. Both the importance and the utility attached to the regional brand origin increase with higher levels of consumer ethnocentrism. The findings of this study will serve to these entities as a guide for their decision-making regarding brand management."
In: International journal of virtual communities and social networking: IJVCSN ; an official publication of the Information Resources Management Association, Band 6, Heft 4, S. 14-28
Social networks are one of the more notable sociological phenomena of the last years. Moreover, its apparition and acceptance by majority of the citizens also suppose an important challenge for the firms. Social networks are a new and relevant channel of communication and interaction with their consumers. For this, firms have to create their own place in the social network and actively manage the content that shares and the dialogue that is supported by their followers. In the first part of this paper, the authors explain the creation of an index to evaluate the presence of the companies in the social network more used to international level, Facebook. The Facebook Assessment Index (FAI) is formed by several indicators grouped in three dimensions: popularity, interactivity, and content. In the second part, the authors applied this index to the 150 largest firms according to Fortune 2011 ranking. At present, only 44% of these firms tested had an international official Facebook page. The results showed that the larger firms are those that in general terms best manage their presence on Facebook, have the greatest number of followers and a high degree of interactivity with them. However, the most interesting contribution of this work lies not in identifying firms that achieve higher scores on the FAI, but in comparing the pages with each other and making suggestions of ideas and practices that may improve a firm's Facebook presence as a marketing tool.
In: International journal of virtual communities and social networking: IJVCSN ; an official publication of the Information Resources Management Association, Band 6, Heft 3, S. 1-15
5684 ; This work is aimed at analyzing potential links between reverse logistics and urban logistics and describing opportunities for collaboration between both areas of research. A description of the current state-of-the-art is provided in order to highlight the main challenges faced by both disciplines. For example, regarding reverse logistics, new recovery options, marketing strategies for recovered products, and legislation issues on the return of products in specific contexts; in regards to urban logistics, long-term planning, stakeholders' engagement, information management, efficiency, reliability and safety, and new business models are some of such key challenges. Despite the growing interest shown in both logistics areas and their relevance for companies and consumers, reverse logistics and urban logistics are two concepts that are still somewhat unknown and, above all, treated as being relatively separated. However, there exist some aspectswhere the two disciplines converge and thatmay represent opportunities for collaboration, for example, the proper treatment and management of urban waste, and the efficient management of commercial refunds and returns. In addition, other key issues, such as land use, city typology, infrastructures, and stakeholders' engagement should be further analyzed in order to keep advancing in the description of links between both areas. ; SI
Purpose The purpose of this study is firstly to analyze whether the determining factors of the entrepreneurial intention of academics are the same for men and women and test whether their degree of importance varies depending on gender, and secondly to test whether the lesser entrepreneurial intention of women detected in previous studies is because of the lesser presence of the determining factors of entrepreneurial intention among women or, on the contrary, is determined by the existence of implicit barriers that do not depend on these factors.
Design/methodology/approach After conducting a survey on a sample of 1,178 academics, the results of a linear regression model confirm the hypothesis that female academics have less of an entrepreneurial intention.
Findings Moreover, through the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition, it is observed that this lesser female entrepreneurial behavior is not because of the absence of any of the factors considered as determinants of entrepreneurial intention, but instead is related to the existence of implicit barriers for women that influence their entrepreneurial intention.
Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that a study of this nature has been conducted internationally. Unlike other studies on academic entrepreneurship, the authors do not restrict the sample to one or two universities but rather aim the study at all universities in Spain and, therefore, at all academics from all branches of knowledge.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the importance that customers give to social investment activities in their region when selecting a financial entity compared to other features directly related to the service that these institutions provide, namely the origin, the treatment by employees, office location and electronic banking services.
Design/methodology/approach – The technique of conjoint analysis is applied via a survey of 427 customers to determine customers' preference structure when choosing a financial entity.
Findings – The results show the importance that customers give to the financial entities' social activities carried out in the region. Moreover, a buyer segment representing 35 per cent of the sample was identified that assigns greater value to these social activities than to the average customer.
Originality/value – The development of corporate social responsibility policies has been a common practice in Spain's financial sector. However, there is a lack of studies focused on analysing the impact of these policies on customers' decisions. The authors test this idea by proposing that social initiatives carried out by financial entities strongly influence the preferences of consumers towards these banks compared to other attributes.
Este trabajo tiene por objeto analizar los posibles vínculos entre la logística inversa y la logística urbana y describir las oportunidades de colaboración entre ambas áreas de investigación. Se ofrece una descripción del estado actual de la técnica con el fin de destacar los principales retos a los que se enfrentan ambas disciplinas. Por ejemplo, en lo que respecta a la logística inversa, las nuevas opciones de recuperación, las estrategias de comercialización de los productos recuperados y las cuestiones de legislación sobre la devolución de productos en contextos específicos; en lo que respecta a la logística urbana, la planificación a largo plazo, la participación de los interesados, la gestión de la información, la eficiencia, la fiabilidad y la seguridad, y los nuevos modelos comerciales son algunos de esos retos fundamentales. A pesar del creciente interés mostrado tanto en las áreas de logística como en su relevancia para las empresas y los consumidores, la logística inversa y la logística urbana son dos conceptos que todavía son algo desconocidos y, sobre todo, tratados como relativamente separados. Sin embargo, existen algunos aspectos en los que ambas disciplinas convergen y que pueden representar oportunidades de colaboración, por ejemplo, el tratamiento y la gestión adecuados de los desechos urbanos y la gestión eficiente de los reembolsos y devoluciones comerciales. Además, otras cuestiones fundamentales, como la utilización de la tierra, la tipología de las ciudades, las infraestructuras y la participación de los interesados deberían analizarse más a fondo para seguir avanzando en la descripción de los vínculos entre ambas áreas. ; This work is aimed at analyzing potential links between reverse logistics and urban logistics and describing opportunities for collaboration between both areas of research. A description of the current state-of-the-art is provided in order to highlight the main challenges faced by both disciplines. For example, regarding reverse logistics, new recovery options, marketing strategies for recovered products, and legislation issues on the return of products in specific contexts; in regards to urban logistics, long-term planning, stakeholders' engagement, information management, efficiency, reliability and safety, and new business models are some of such key challenges. Despite the growing interest shown in both logistics areas and their relevance for companies and consumers, reverse logistics and urban logistics are two concepts that are still somewhat unknown and, above all, treated as being relatively separated. However, there exist some aspectswhere the two disciplines converge and thatmay represent opportunities for collaboration, for example, the proper treatment and management of urban waste, and the efficient management of commercial refunds and returns. In addition, other key issues, such as land use, city typology, infrastructures, and stakeholders' engagement should be further analyzed in order to keep advancing in the description of links between both areas. ; • H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016 program, grant number 734909: project "Promoting Sustainable Freight Transport in Urban Contexts: Policy and Decision-Making Approaches (ProSFeT)" • Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and FEDER: grant numbers DPI2015-67740-P and ECO2015-63880-R ; peerReviewed