In a constant developing digital era, marked by hyperconnectivity and informational abundance, the ability of Gen Z to concentrate and engage seems to be decreasing. However, TikTok, through its algorithms and social rewarding, remains the main favourite platform where individuals can consume and produce digital content. Based on validation, entertainment and its participatory nature, TikTok creates an ideal environment for Gen Z to reach the flow state, by receiving instant feedback, balancing trends and bonuses and interacting with others. This study aims to identify the latent variables that describe the flow state while scrolling on TikTok by Gen Z users and how these dimensions relate with concepts as Online Impulse buying (OIB), Sense of Belonging (SB) and Electronic Word-of-Mouth (EWOM). The methodology implies quantitative research, using a questionnaire which consists of 21 items outlining the multidimensionality of flow state. Data were collected from a number of 2589 Gen Z TikTok users and analysed in SPSS software. The findings show that the identified flow dimensions like perceived control, has a strong correlation with variable online impulse buying, while telepresence and enjoyment have a moderate correlation with other two variables – sense of belonging and electronic word-of-mouth. The results of the study highlight that Gen Zs’ flow on TikTok appears as a multidimensional construct, representing an outcome of perceived control, telepresence and social enjoyment.
This study examines the relationship between marketing intensity and financial performance of listed insurance companies in Nigeria over a twelve-year period (2010–2021). Anchored on the resource-based view (RBV) theory, the market orientation theory, and Tobin’s q theory, the study employs an ex post facto research design with secondary data drawn from the annual reports and accounts of seventeen (17) listed insurance firms on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). Marketing intensity is operationalised through three dimensions: advertising intensity (ADI), selling and distribution intensity (SDI), and total marketing expenditure ratio (TMER). Financial performance is measured by return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), Tobin’s q (TQ), and net profit margin (NPM). Panel data regression techniques, including pooled OLS, fixed effects, and random effects models, are applied, with the Hausman specification test used to select the preferred estimator. The Driscoll-Kraay standard errors and the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) are also employed to address heteroscedasticity, cross-sectional dependence, and endogeneity concerns. The findings reveal that advertising intensity exerts a statistically significant positive effect on ROA (β = 0.142, p < 0.01), ROE (β = 0.207, p < 0.05), and Tobin’s q (β = 0.318, p < 0.01), but an insignificant effect on NPM. Selling and distribution intensity demonstrates mixed results across performance indicators, while TMER is consistently positive and significant across all four performance proxies. The results are robust to alternative estimation strategies and survive a battery of diagnostic tests. The study concludes that marketing investment is a value-generating resource for Nigerian insurance companies and recommends that management prioritise strategic, data-driven marketing expenditure to sustain competitive advantage in an increasingly deregulated financial services environment.
This paper preseents findings of a study to identify challenges facing a nursing deputy director, recorded in a personal reflective diary during the 12-Day Israel-Iran War in 2025, during which nursing administration staff has played a critical role in managing this crisis. A deputy director of nursing describes these experiences in her diary. The study is conducted according to qualitative methods, documenting data in a reflective diary and content analyzing them. The findings have yielded five core themes: interpersonal staff communication, management fears, feelings of guilt in management, home support resources, and decision-making at the nursing deputy director level during wartime. The conclusions illustrate that nursing administrators play an essential role in managing challenges during wartime, and it is essential to invest in management training programs for various crises. The paper recommends a continued research of the challenges and decisions-making nursing administrators face in crises, particularly those related to war.
This study examines how brands remain visible and discoverable as consumers shift toward AI-powered search tools, with a focus on the strategic implications of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) for brand management. The growing adoption of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity as everyday information sources is fundamentally changing how consumers find and evaluate brands, in ways that traditional search engine optimization (SEO) frameworks fail to address. The study employed a conceptual research design, combining purposive literature synthesis with secondary data analysis of industry behavioural analytics encompassing over 1.96 million LLM-mediated consumer sessions. The analysis reveals that LLM citation is driven by a distinct set of content and authority signals that diverge substantially from classical SEO ranking factors, including content evidentiality, earned media breadth, and semantic entity consistency. Key findings indicate that LLM-referred visitors convert at rates up to nine times higher than organic search visitors, yet only 16% of brands systematically monitor their AI search presence. Based on the synthesised evidence, this study proposes a five-dimension GEO Readiness Audit framework and discusses implications for brand strategy, content governance, and marketing channel allocation.
This article analyzes the perception of brand equity of the Institución Universitaria de Envigado (IUE) from the perspective of its stakeholders in the Valle de Aburrá, using the Brand Equity Audit (BEA) model proposed by Aaker. Employing a qualitative, descriptive, data was collected through workshops, interviews, focus groups, and gamified sessions with 270 participants, including students, alumni, faculty, administrative staff, government entities, and external audiences. The study identifies how the BEA dimensions of brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand associations shape the institutional image of the IUE within the regional academic context. The findings highlight that teaching quality, economic accessibility, and geographical proximity are positively valued as distinctive elements. However, the study also reveals challenges related to brand visibility, strategic communication, infrastructure, second-language development, and inter-institutional coordination. It concludes that the IUE holds a strong symbolic value among its internal stakeholders, grounded in a sense of gratitude, but requires greater external projection and a more cohesive brand narrative to improve its regional and national positioning. This article offers significant insights for strategic brand management in the higher education sector, suggesting that the BEA model is a valuable tool for evaluating university brands from a multidimensional perspective.
The paper aims to examine and map the global literature about financial marketing. This analysis presents an overview of the key features of publications on financial marketing by using bibliometric analysis and science mapping. In addition to identifying the most productive authors, journals, and institutions in the field of financial marketing, we propose to carry out co-authorship, co-citation and co-occurrence analyses in the field. The sample consists of 141 articles indexed in Web of Science in the period 1975 - 2024 and involves the contributions of 309 authors, 211 institutions, 122 journals from 41 countries. The biggest contributors to financial marketing research are Hoque M.E. as author, Journal of Financial Services Marketing as publication and the USA as country, and University of New York as leader institution. Future research in financial marketing may include topics such as digital financial services, artificial intelligence in financial marketing, virtual currencies’ marketing. The selection approach employed in this paper should be taken into consideration when interpreting the major findings.
The aim of this research is to strengthen the findings of relationship model between job involvement (JI), intrinsic job satisfaction (IJS), extrinsic job satisfaction (EJS), and turnover intention (TI). This study uses research setting in the tourism industry in Indonesia, with tour guides as respondents. The study used a survey with primary data obtained from questionnaires completed by 620 tour guides in Indonesia. After testing the validity using factor analysis and reliability of the questionnaire using α, a series of data tests were conducted as a requirement for testing the relationship model using structural equation modeling (SEM) with Smart PLS. The results further strengthen that the four constructs tested in this study are interrelated. However, IJS does not correlate with TI. IJS partially mediates the effect of JI on TI, but EJS does not mediate the effect of JI on TI. JI fully mediates the effect of EJS and IJS on TI.
The overriding aim of this study is to explore the patterns of thematic evolution, research gap, and the intellectual structure of employer branding using bibliometric techniques. The study utilises journal articles indexed in the Scopus database. The study employs publication metadata and analyses it using keyword co-occurrence and network analysis to determine the dominant themes in the employer branding literature and the various knowledge clusters. The results show that employer branding has emerged as a significant, central cross-field concept for integrating human resource management, marketing, organisational behaviour, and strategic management. However, it further illustrates persistent theoretical fragmentation and excessive focus on the recruitment and attraction outcomes. The four main thematic clusters are: employer branding and organisational attractiveness; HRM and talent management; employee-centric outcomes and organisational profile; and digital platforms and co-creation of the employer brand. The research also shows a plethora of underdeveloped areas in sustainability, employee experience, ethics, and contextual diversity. This study shows that there is a need for multi-level theoretical integration and longitudinal, contextual research. The rediscovery of employer branding as a dynamic, multi-level, and holistically relevant concept in the study of sustainable and meaningful employment relationships is the value-add to the current literature on the human resource management employer branding phenomenon.
Digital marketing agencies have gained a specific role in today's marketing communications landscape. They offer complex services, especially for other business clients. Customer education is an important part of the marketing strategy for knowledge-intensive business services such as those offered by digital marketing agencies. We conducted a survey among digital marketing agencies to analyse the perception of managers regarding customer education. The results of the study demonstrate that digital marketing agencies frequently practice customer education and perceive customer education as having a decisive role in creating and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with customers in the long term. The benefices of customer education, both for providers and customers are discussed.
Ethical leadership is crucial to an organization’s success, influencing its performance through specific mechanisms such as trust and commitment. These mechanisms can be cultivated through professional development programs and initiatives designed to promote the organizational culture, as well as through the example a leader sets for his team. However, the effectiveness of these mechanisms may encounter certain limits, such as the human resource exhaustion, the cultural complexity in the current contexts and managerial pressures that generate excessive demands in order to cope with increasingly tough competition.
The paper analyzes the long-term dynamics and short-term forecasts of agricultural raw material imports in Central and Eastern European countries, with an emphasis on structural trends, regional convergence and the performance of ARIMA-type econometric models. The study employs annual data for the period 1995–2024 and focuses on seven economies in the region: Romania, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Croatia. The research methodology combines inferential statistical analysis, Spearman’s correlation coefficients, time-series stationarity testing through the Augmented Dickey–Fuller test and univariate ARIMA modeling following the Box–Jenkins methodology. The results highlight a clear downward trend in the share of agricultural raw material imports in total merchandise imports for all analyzed countries, reflecting processes of structural transformation, agricultural modernization and integration into the European single market. The correlation analysis indicates a high degree of synchronization and regional convergence, particularly among Central European economies, while Romania exhibits a relatively distinct profile characterized by higher volatility. Stationarity tests reveal differing degrees of series integration and the estimated ARIMA models provide high-quality short-term forecasts. Projections for the 2025–2027 period suggest stabilization or a slight decline in agricultural raw material imports, with no significant structural shifts, which are useful in managerial policies at the level of the analyzed countries.
This study explores how sports clubs manage their public image during periods of declining performance by introducing the concept of historical narrative “beautification.” The research combines a conceptual framework with empirical data collected from 120 football fans to examine how this strategy is perceived by supporters. The findings show that fans are not passive recipients of club communication, but active interpreters who recognize and evaluate the use of nostalgic and selective historical narratives. While such strategies can reinforce emotional attachment and sustain engagement in the short term, their effectiveness depends on credibility and balance. Supporters demonstrate a clear preference for transparency and authenticity, even when performance is poor. The study contributes to sport management literature by highlighting the tension between symbolic communication and organizational reality and suggests that sustainable image management requires integrating storytelling with honest and consistent practices.
Today’s environment determines companies to use scanning activities in order to seize the opportunities and to avoid the threats. Individual factors and organizational factors influence the scanning behavior. The examination of the environment can be presented in a model based on environment analyzability and organizational intrusiveness.
Sous la pression des parties prenantes, le nombre de rapports dedéveloppement durable ne cesse d'augmenter. Jusqu'ici les méthodesd'analyse des informations qu'ils contiennent sont essentiellementcomptables. L'enjeu de ces rapports va au-delà des indicateurs chiffrésfournis par exemple par la GRI, Global Reporting Initiative. Il s'agit pour uneentreprise de légitimer son action et les conséquences de son action dansles domaines sociaux, environnementaux et societaux. La place tenue par lediscours dans ces rapports est essentielle et la méthode proposée dans cetarticle est ainsi celle de "l'analyse des discours" notamment en s'appuyantsur les caractéristiques de l'énonciation et sur celles des procédésrhétoriques. Ainsi apparaît que les entreprises ne se contentent pas de "faireun rapport" mais qu'elles essaient de construire un monde, un monde danslequel elles se présentent en héros positif, un monde dont elles définissentles règles.
This study examines the integration of green marketing strategies and product innovation within the Nigerian insurance sector. Through a quantitative survey of 247 insurance professionals, the research explores how environmental sustainability initiatives influence product development, market positioning, and organizational performance. The findings reveal a moderate but uneven adoption of green marketing, with insurers prioritizing operational efficiencies like digitalization over market-facing product innovations. Statistical analysis demonstrates a significant positive relationship between green marketing practices and product innovation, which in turn correlates with enhanced market and environmental performance, particularly in brand reputation and operational efficiency. However, the study identifies substantial barriers to broader implementation, including low customer awareness, limited willingness to pay for green products, resource constraints, and an underdeveloped regulatory framework. This research contributes to the literature on green marketing in developing economies by providing empirical evidence of its strategic value and identifying the critical constraints hindering the sustainability transition in Nigeria's insurance industry.
The increasing demand for sustainable products presents a challenge for businesses. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of green marketing practices on consumer buying behaviour with a study of small and medium enterprises in Abuja, Nigeria. The study utilized a survey research method to collect data from SME managers engaged in promoting eco-friendly products. The total population of SMEs in Abuja was 613,492, with a sample size of 400 determined using Slovin's formula (1960). Additionally, using the purposive sampling technique, 150 questionnaires were administered to respondents. Data collected was analyzed using multiple regression analysis and correlation techniques. The results revealed that green product development is statistically significant and has a positive relationship with consumer buying behaviour. More also, green pricing has positive and statistically significant relationship with consumer behaviour. Findings also shows that green distribution has positive and significant impact on consumer buying behaviour. The study finally concluded on the premise that green marketing practices has significant effect on consumer buying behaviour. It is recommended that businesses invest in sustainable product innovation, adopt competitive pricing strategies, and prioritize eco-friendly distribution channels to enhance consumer engagement with green products.
This study examines the rapid rise and influence of short-form video management marketing for Tik Tok in the contemporary digital economy, focusing specifically on the unique role of micro-video content in reshaping marketing and brand building. The evolution of internet technologies and mobile devices has significantly transformed content creation, shifting from text and images to dynamic video formats. This transformation has accelerated with the advent of faster internet connectivity, enabling seamless video uploads and widespread content consumption. Short-form video platforms, which prioritize brevity and interactivity, have emerged as dominant players in this new landscape, catering to the evolving preferences of digital audiences for quick, engaging, and personalized experiences. These platforms have not only redefined entertainment but also become vital tools for marketing and branding, allowing creators to experiment with innovative forms of storytelling. The combination of sophisticated algorithms, personalized content curation, and highly engaging formats has led to the widespread adoption of these platforms. Their ability to reach and influence vast global audiences has redefined traditional marketing strategies, offering new opportunities for brands to connect with consumers. This paper explores how these platforms, by leveraging short, creative videos, have become central to the evolution of digital marketing, emphasizing the role of authenticity, relatability, and creativity in building brand awareness and driving consumer engagement.
The objective of this article is to analyze the impact of social media marketing on consumer purchase intention with the evaluation of five variables: entertainment, engagement, trend, personalization and word-of-mouth (WOM). In fact, word of mouth is the biggest trust factor and has a direct impact on brand perception. Marketing plans that are executed in digital channels tend to yield the best results in terms of return on investment when they deliver engaging and interactive content and leverage consumer voice to establish credibility. Entertainment attracts consumers, engagement keeps them, trends inspire companies, and personalization creates an emotional connection between consumers and enterprise. Word-of-mouth seems to be one of the important external elements impacting purchase intention, as friend recommendations or similar experiences strengthen consumer trust in products. It offers marketers wisdom on what social media tactics they can use to improve outcome from personalization and engagement.
In an era dominated by digital connectivity, Instagram has become an important platform for shaping consumer behavior and influencing purchase intentions. This systematic literature review (SLR) synthesizes findings from 112 peer-reviewed studies, published between 2015 and 2025, to identify the primary antecedents that influence purchase intentions on Instagram. Using the PRISMA framework, the review categorizes key drivers such as electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), trust, value, credibility, content quality, user engagement, and parasocial interactions. Methodological trends indicate a predominance of quantitative research, particularly online surveys and experimental designs, while the Parasocial Interaction Theory (PSI) stands out as the most frequently applied theoretical lens. The review also explores the differential impact of influencer marketing and paid advertisements, emphasizing authenticity, content relevance, and interactivity as critical determinants of effectiveness. Practical implications for marketers include strategic content customization, leveraging influencer relationships, and optimizing ad formats to enhance user experience and drive conversions. Finally, the study highlights current research gaps and suggests future directions, particularly the need to examine other social media platforms, content types, and cross-generational responses. This SLR contributes to both academic research and practical implications in digital marketing by offering a comprehensive, evidence-based understanding of how consumers’ purchase intentions can be influenced on Instagram.
The research examined millennial women's online apparel shopping behaviour from KwaZulu-Natal. It utilised a quantitative and exploratory research approach. A total of 255 millennial women from KwaZulu-Natal were selected using non-probability sampling, with purposive sampling employed. The data collected was analysed using SPSS, incorporating both descriptive and inferential statistics and the results were presented using charts and frequency tables. The study suggests that addressing factors such as body representation, product quality visibility, safety concerns, logistical challenges, cultural representation, inclusive fashion ranges, and community engagement can significantly enhance the online shopping experience for South African millennial women. These findings have significant implications for marketing, fashion, and textiles, as they provide insights into the preferences and behaviours of a key consumer demographic. Implementing these recommendations could lead to a more inclusive and sustainable online shopping sector, thereby improving the online shopping experience for millennial women. The findings of this research underscore the need for future research to explore specific dimensions of the online shopping behaviour of young women and to investigate the perceptions of individuals without internet access, highlighting the potential for further exploration and the importance of the topic
