Currently, brands are trying to win consumer's heart but not all brands are able to make consumer repurchase their products or services, or to charge consumer a higher price. This issue has led to calls for the mechanism of supportive-brand behaviours. In this paper, I aim to understand the mechanism is what consumer construct to develop the supportive-brand behaviours. To understand this mechanism, I believe that the belief about the brands is the drivers for the brand-supportive behaviours and it stem from the hedonic and utilitarian belief about a brand. Psychological impact of hedonic and utilitarian is well established in the marketing and behavioural literature. Following the literature on both constructs, the variation of hedonic and utilitarian measurement is found. To examine hedonic and utilitarian motivation, scholars can use attribute-based approach. The diverse research focus of hedonic and utilitarian consumption can be found. For examples hedonic motivation is related to aesthetic of products (services), value expression, entertainment, fun, enjoyment, exploration, exciting, interest and so on. Utilitarian motivation is related to need, value, effective, helpful, functional, saving, quality, convenience and so on. To account for these measurement and its results, scholars and practitioners have to be aware of this distinction. To develop the thesis I elaborated the literature on hedonic and utilitarian motivation, consumer attitudes and consumer behaviours. This thesis aims to focus on discrete dimension of hedonic and utilitarian motivation. I use the attribute-based approach to identify dimension of hedonic and utilitarian motivation. Some of dimensions in the literature are presented, selected, renamed and used to develop two thesis frameworks. The thesis addresses two pieces of research. First, I explore the relationship between three brand benefits (brand functional benefit, brand self-identification, and brand aesthetic) and brand attitude strength, as well as the relationship between brand attitude strength and three behavioural intentions (WOM, repeat-purchase loyalty and willingness to pay price premium). The research also includes the mediating effects of brand attitude strength on three behavioural intentions. The research are conducted in two counties; UK, and Thailand. The results indicate that brand functional benefit and brand aesthetic have a positive impact on brand attitude strength in both countries. However, brand self-identification has no impact on brand attitude strength in the U.K. but it has a positive impact in Thailand. The mediating effects of brand attitude strength can be found in both countries. Second, I examine the transferability of attitude, which is based on a region to regions' products. This research includes the mediating effects of perceptions of value for money of the products and product top-of-mind on independent variable (quality benefit and pleasure benefit) and supportive-brand behaviours. The results indicate that the quality benefit and pleasure benefit of a region have a positive impact on perceived value for money of region's product. However, only pleasure benefit of region has a positive impact on top of mid. The perceived value for money of region's product also has a positive impact on top-of-mind choice. Lastly, the mediating effects of perceived value for money of region's product and top-of-mind choice are presented in this research except the indirect effect of quality benefit on supportive-brand behaviour though top of mind. Lastly, I discuss the research finding and provide managerial and theoretical contributions in the last section of this thesis.

This thesis presents eleven selected publications concerning trust and relationships in the online environment. The evolution of the research over ten years showcases the author’s dedication to the practical application of marketing for the benefit of organisations and individuals alongside contribution to academic knowledge. The advent of new technology by way of the internet has added a new dimension to the complexity of marketing strategy and, from a practical point of view, marketers need to incorporate cutting edge technology into their strategic thinking. Existing literature at the time that the author started this research was at the nascent stage and over the period of the research, it became obvious that technology could be used as a tool to help build relationships. Conversely, customers demonstrated varying degrees of trust in both the technologies and the organisations using online-based tools. It became essential, therefore, for organisations to appear trustworthy in order for customers to engage with online marketing platforms and subsequently entrust their purchasing activities to the online environment. The research appraised in this thesis makes a significant contribution to knowledge about marketing in the online environment and the implications of engendering consumer trust. Six key contributions to knowledge are claimed as a result of this work. Firstly, a framework for using online marketing strategically has been developed. Secondly, an analysis of how online marketing fits into the traditional marketing framework is provided. Thirdly, the author introduces the notion that trust in a brand influences online behaviour by reducing perceived risk, leading to consumers committing to online purchasing. Fourthly, online brand elements used to create credibility of a B2B brand are identified. Fifthly, the author presents an identification of how structural elements of websites can be utilized to differentiate online brands from competitors’ offerings. Finally, the author puts forward the proposition that marketers can learn from relationships between contributors to online social networks. The researcher has utilised a variety of deliberately chosen methodologies, most of which are qualitative. The thesis also contains three secondary contributions related to research design. These are the use of a bought-in, permission-based email list, the innovative use of netnography to elicit rich data from online discussion forums and, finally, content analysis of websites. The work concludes by offering eight recommendations for future research directions.

The trend over several decades towards the creation of global brand alliances in the highly competitive airline industry is likely to persist. However, few academic studies consider how such horizontal brand alliances have been achieved and even fewer analyse their creation and maintenance from an individual company’s perspective. Furthermore, current studies are largely derived from a western management perspective: little work has been done in the Arab world or the Arabian airlines apart from recent studies of Gulf carriers. This thesis adds to this small body of work by examining Royal Jordanian Airlines’ role within the Oneworld Alliance. In particular, it analyses how the entry of a small airline into a large, well-established global organization affected the airline’s branding practices. The thesis also explores in lesser detail the branding and marketing strategies within the global alliances. A qualitative approach was used; purposive and snowball-sampling techniques were adopted to analyse 61 semi-structured interviews with senior managers and other actors within the airline industry. Two main themes have emerged: the first theme, the Airlines Industry’s Attitude towards Brand Alliances, examines the major challenges in the airlines industry, demonstrates the main motivations behind forming strategic airline alliances and explores the relationship between globalisation and the initiatives to formulate more strategic airline alliances. The second theme, the key branding and marketing strategies, investigates the alliances’ brand practices and marketing strategies and explains how a small national airline company has responded to this trend and offers a set of potential choices for future. Also this study provides compelling evidences of how the Oneworld Alliance creates branding value for the small airlines member and contributes toward understanding the case of the Arab world and the interplay between global alliance brands and national airlines companies. Finally, it demonstrates a number of issues that the alliance members need to address in order to avoid any brand dilution or negative spillover effect.

This research aims to elaborate existing literature by investigating the impact of the organizational factors that affect the export sales effectiveness within sales force control systems; behaviour- and outcome-based sales control, reward and compensation schemes for salespeople, territory design satisfaction, firm size, export orientation of sales strategy and sales management experience in exports. A theoretical framework is proposed and tested on a sample of 160 Greek exporting SMEs. Research results provide supportive evidence of the positive contribution of (1) behaviour-based sales control; (2) outcome-based sales control; (3) reward and compensation schemes for salespeople; (4) territory design satisfaction, and (5) firm size in export performance. On the contrary, export orientation of sales strategy was found to have no significant correlation with export effectiveness. It appears that high-performing export sales units seem to make higher use of outcome-based sales control attributes compared to low performing ones. A positive association between reward and compensation schemes and (1) behaviour-based and (2) outcome-based sales control for high performing export sales units is identified. The effect of reward and compensation schemes for salespeople on export sales effectiveness is significantly higher when the intensity of export performance is lower. The influence of sales territory design satisfaction with export sales effectiveness is significantly higher when the intensity of export performance is lower. The findings suggest a significant positive relationship between sales territory design satisfaction and outcome-based control. They also indicate that the effect of firm size is stronger when the intensity of export performance is higher. Furthermore, a strong positive correlation between firm size and (1) behaviour-based, and (2) outcomebased sales control seems to appear.

One of the major advantages of store-based retail formats is the availability of products. The unavailability of products is a major threat for store-based retail formats as out of stock (OOS) situations are considered to be some of the most displeasing occurrences for consumers, resulting in dissatisfaction. As avoiding or recovering from OOS situations are matters of allocating limited resources (e.g. staff, money) wherever they are most effective, this work recommends actions that retailers can take to manage OOS occurrences at store-based retail formats to increase consumer satisfaction. The literature review identifies that OOS research only rarely considers the importance of a product to a consumer. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of the importance of products on consumers’ satisfaction, which, as mentioned above, is the central driver for consumer’s evaluative and behavioural consequences with respect to retailers. Experimental fieldwork was conducted in the German grocery sector, comprising 24 different research scenarios, two products (hedonic/utilitarian), three importance drivers (basic importance [need]/brand loyalty/promotion) and four different retail settings (on-shelf availability [OSA]/OOS with no recovery measure/OOS with basic recovery measure/OOS with recovery-plus measure). By comparing the results of these 24 different research scenarios, this work provides that consumer satisfaction levels correlate significantly with the importance of a product to consumers and that consumer satisfaction levels correlate significantly with consumer reactions to retailers. This study finds that the outcomes to no recovery measures and to applied recovery measures in reaction to OOS occurrences varied between the hedonic and utilitarian settings and by the level of importance of the product to consumers.

This thesis explores the generative mechanisms in a retail manager’s learning, when studying for a Foundation Degree Award in Retailing (FdA in Retailing) within a large multi-channel retail organisation. The researcher, a senior lecturer with the university responsible for piloting the programme was the lead tutor on one of the core first-year units. The low student completion rates during the pilot stages of the programme raised profound questions about the effectiveness of company-based foundation degrees across the interrelated macro politico-economic, meso organisational and micro individual learner levels. In order to identify generative mechanisms present in junior management learning, a critical realist, longitudinal case study spanning four years was undertaken. The principal participants were the junior managers, studying for the award and those with responsibility for managing, administering and teaching the degree programme. The methods used for data collection were semi-structured interviews, participant observation and documentary evidence, including student learning logs and portfolios. Data was analysed using template analysis. The findings reveal that the experiences of managers studying for the FdA in Retailing were extremely variable. For some, the programme provided expansive learning opportunities that proved valuable to the organisation and the individual. Although, the lack of demand for higher level skills and qualifications for those in junior management roles resulted in the FdA being undervalued and misunderstood in the organisational setting. This had serious consequences for the majority of managers studying for the award, as the necessary senior and store management support and required infrastructure to maintain and expand the programme were lacking, thereby restricting learning opportunities. This research underpins the development of a more complex and nuanced understanding of management learning in the retail sector, which builds on previous research (Fuller and Unwin, 2003; 2004; Felstead et al, 2009) that sought to promote management learning, which is economically viable yet rewarding for the learner and beneficial to the organisation.

Impulsive behaviour accounts for a significant percentage of retail sales, yet it may contribute to consumer debt and affect psychological wellbeing. Existing research indicates that impulsive buying presents as trait behaviour that influences the likelihood of experiencing impulsive urges and making purchases. Many studies have also examined the interaction of different variables with the impulsive buying tendency and the effects on behaviour during shopping. However, there is a lack of research into how social and emotional factors interact with or moderate the impulsive buying process. Accordingly, this thesis focuses on the role of social influence and emotion in impulsive buying. A mixed-methods approach is used, comprising a three stage data collection process involving interviews, scale development and a quasi-experiment. The data collection process leads to the development of two scales measuring social and non-social impulsive buying tendencies. These new tendencies are initially identified through semi-structured interviews with impulsive buyers, which suggest that there may be social and non-social aspects to the impulsive buying tendency. A two phase process of scale development is then used to develop psychometric measures of the social and non-social aspects. The scale development results in two internally valid and reliable scales which correlate as expected with the existing impulsive buying tendency. The scales are tested using a quasi-experimental study, the results of which indicate that the social impulsive buying tendency exhibits stronger correlations with hypothesised behaviour in social situations than the existing buying impulsiveness scale (Rook & Fisher, 1995). These findings suggest that the social scale could be used alongside an existing impulsive buying tendency scale to record consumers' social and non-social impulsivity. Among the implications of these findings is that researchers who study impulsive buying should consider recording the social context of shopping to test for the moderating influence of social factors.

This thesis examines British fashion company Burberry, and how it moved from its semi-rural craft-based origins in the mid-19th Century, to become a successful, global luxury fashion brand in the 21st Century. The thesis uses different methodological approaches including interviews with factory workers, archive materials, historical government documents, images from branding campaigns, and Internet responses in order to build a rich narrative starting from Burberry’s beginning in 1856. Changes to shifting retail and production landscapes, marketing, consumer demographics, and management structures are traced over a period of 150 years, and show how a company re-brand in 1997 generated structural contradictions within each of those areas, shaping its future both inside the company and externally. Burberry’s use of new technologies and social media in tandem with ‘heritage’ images and products shows how harnessing them together created new and lucrative global markets for the brand. Similarly, its long history is used to create an idealised ‘old England’ for the export market, particularly for consumers with a purely online relationship with the brand, though analysis of international and national markets reveals how contradictions in campaigns created outcomes that could not be predicted. The company re-brand is used as a focus to examine how Burberry attracted young, British working-class consumers, and how that caused sections of the UK media and the general public to protest against those seen as ‘bad’ consumers, capable of damaging brand value. Equally, issues of class and ethnicity cut across the company, primarily in terms of ‘whiteness’, showing how the brand has been used to further devalue the cultural capital of working class consumers and a single so-called ‘celebrity chav’. The thesis shows how although Burberry positions itself within the luxury market, its meaning remains mobile, which is simultaneously precarious, contradictory and paradoxical.

The modern world is characterised by socio-economic disruptions, civil unrests, and weakening of many societal institutions, amongst many other challenges to our social fabric. Therefore, scholars are increasingly scouring a wide variety of conceptual prisms to seek explanations and possible solutions to those problems contemporaneously manifesting themselves. The pervading force of corruption, across the globe, remains a major concern among nations, multilateral agencies, such as Transparency International, and more profoundly in major business and public policy discourses. For many developing countries, especially those with weak institutions, high levels of corruption are causatively associated with high levels of poverty, poor economic performance and under-development. Against this background, using the Kingdom of Morocco as a contextual base, this thesis explores the growing incidence of corruption, which has stunted the nation’s positive development, as well as its triggers, antecedents and consequences. Whilst the literature is replete with treatments of corruption across time and space, such treatments have focused on social and macroeconomic underpinnings but largely lack rigorous marketing-framed explorations. Following on from this lacuna, this thesis situates the treatment of corruption in Morocco within the conceptual frame of social marketing — a demonstrably robust platform for analysing societal issues and, indeed, a validated behavioural intervention model. A two-pronged data collection method was applied, based on the positivistic paradigm and involving a total of 1,000 respondents. Data analysis was accomplished through the use of logistic regression and propensity score matching techniques to remove socio-demographics biases. Findings based on micro-level data revealed salient socio-demographic and societal factors of corruption, such as gender-gap, in justifiability of corruption and corruption intention. Over twice as many men (20.5 per cent) stated that they could be tempted by corruption, whereas the rate for women was 8.4 per cent. In terms of social marketing campaigns, the evaluation shows that the campaign did manage to raise awareness among the public by about 60 per cent, it also changed perceptions about corruption with a modest but significant 8.2 per cent increase among population perceiving corruption as immoral. Similarly, respondents exposed to the campaign had a 20.8 per cent higher intention to change their proclivity towards corruption compared with the population not exposed to the campaign — with family influence reported as the main predictor of intention to change. The uniqueness of this thesis lies in its pioneering and boundary spanning role, contextspecific statistical treatment of data to achieve empirical substantiation and, at the same time, this thesis puts the markers in place for future studies. In this regard, the thesis is a significant contribution to the empirical literature whilst simultaneously opening up a number of policy trajectories for formulating and evaluating anti-corruption campaigns.

Context & Objective This research examines three distinct phases of consumption linked to the experiential advertising of three leading brands in the running shoe industry. Novel application of reversal theory is used to aid understanding of running experiences presented in three adverts, consumer responses to them, and the lived experiences of runners. Design & Method A mixed methods approach was applied across three studies. In study 1, reversal theory was used to identify the metamotivational profiles of each advert. In study 2, a questionnaire comprising the Reversal Theory State Measure and the Positive And Negative Affect Schedule was administered in a within-subjects design to assess advert effects. In study 3, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten ultra-runners to triangulate the findings of study 1 and examine the phenomenology of ultra-running. Results Findings from study 1 demonstrate the utility of reversal theory as an effective framework for auditing experiential advertising; the adverts studied shared narrow metamotivational profiles dominated by autic-mastery but differing across the telic and paratelic states. Findings from study 2 revealed similar effects in viewers across the three adverts, and provided strong empirical support of the concept of metamotivational reversals. In study 3, reversal theory provided an effective framework for unpacking ultra-running experiences, with the concept of psychodiversity proving to be key. Conclusions & Implications Findings of the research suggest that running brands should develop more diverse representations of running in their experiential advertising to better reflect the lived experiences of runners and appeal to a wider range of consumers.