Notre recherche s’inscrivant dans le domaine des Sciences de Gestion et plus précisément dans le champ disciplinaire du Marketing, nous avons choisi de transposer et d’adapter plusieurs concepts - notamment les concepts de marque et de capital-marque - issus de la littérature marketing à la sphère politique. Notre recherche vise d’abord et avant tout à contribuer à la conceptualisation du capital-marque de Keller (1993), à valider une méthode de mesure et à l’appliquer dans un autre domaine. L’objectif in fine est de tester notre conceptualisation d’un modèle de la relation à la marque politique fondée sur la mesure de son capital-marque. Portant sur le 1er tour de l’élection présidentielle de 2012 en France, cette recherche prouve la pertinence de la conceptualisation du capital-marque de Keller (1993) appliquée au domaine politique : de façon directe ou indirecte, le capital-marque politique représente bien l’effet différentiel de la connaissance de la marque politique sur la réponse de l’électeur au marketing de la marque politique. En outre, ce sont bien les associations fortes, positives et uniques qui sont source de valeur. Les études menées permettent également de valider une conceptualisation duale de la marque politique (Phipps, Brace-Govan et Jevons, 2010) tout en montrant l’effet modérateur de la congruence entre la marque personnelle du candidat et la marque « corporate » du parti. Le test du modèle permet enfin de mieux comprendre la relation entre la marque politique et l’électeur. Le concept de marque politique peut selon nous aider les hommes politiques et les partis à développer leur notoriété, construire, gérer, mesurer et contrôler leur capital-marque. Le développement d’une mesure du capital-marque politique offre ainsi la possibilité d’une réelle gestion de la marque politique. / We have chosen in this research to transpose and adapt several concepts used in the field of Management Sciences and more specifically Marketing – notably the concepts of brand and brand equity – to the political sphere. The main objectives of our research are to contribute to Keller’s conceptualization of brand equity (1993), to validate a measure method and to apply it to another field. The ultimate goal is to test our conceptualization of a model of the relationship to the political brand based on the measure of its brand equity. Based on the first ballot of the 2012 French presidential election, this research proves the relevance of Keller’s conceptualization of brand equity (1993) applied to the political field: directly or indirectly, political brand equity does stand for the differential effect of political brand knowledge on voter response to the marketing of the political brand. Furthermore, strong, favorable and unique associations are those which create value. Our studies also allow to validate a dual conceptualization of the political brand (Phipps, Brace-Govan and Jevons, 2010) while proving the moderating effect of the congruence between the candidate’s personal brand and the party’s corporate brand. At last, testing the model allows to better understand the relationship between the political brand and the voter. According to us, the concept of political brand can help politicians as well as parties to develop their awareness of, build, manage, measure and control their brand equity. Developing a measure of political brand equity thus allows the possibility of a real management of the political brand.

Cette thèse de doctorat étudie la réponse des consommateurs à la longévité brandée de la marque. En particulier, on explore l'effet de la longévité brandée de la marque sur la fluidité du traitement et la familiarité de la marque dans diverses conditions. Comment réagissent les consommateurs lorsqu'une marque indique sa date de création sur un emballage ou une publicité ? Comment leurs réactions diffèrent­elles en fonction de leur niveau d’implication avec le produit ou de la congruence entre la catégorie de produit et la longévité de la marque? Cette thèse identifie les processus psychologiques qui se produisent lors de l'exposition à la longévité brandée de la marque afin d'expliquer l'effet de la longévité de la marque sur le consommateur. La longévité brandée de la marque est censée susciter une réaction positive chez le consommateur, telle que la confiance dans la marque et la crédibilité de la marque. Cette thèse examine les mécanismes psychologiques qui expliquent ces effets. La fluidité du traitement est considérée comme le cadre théorique pouvant expliquer ces effets. Un modèle démontre que celle­ci est le médiateur entre l’effet de la longévité brandée de la marque et la familiarité de la marque. Ce modèle prend en compte des effets modérateurs tels que l’implication envers le produit et la congruence. / This doctoral dissertation examines consumer response to branded longevity. In particular, it explores the effect of branded longevity on processing fluency and brand familiarity under various conditions. How do consumers react when a brand indicates its founding date on a package or advertisement? How do their reactions differ according to their level of involvement with the product or the congruence between the product category and branded longevity? This thesis identifies the psychological processes that occur during exposure to branded longevity in order to explain the effect of the longevity of the brand on the consumer. Branded longevity is argued to positively influence marketing variables, such as brand confidence and brand credibility. This thesis examines the psychological mechanisms that explain these effects. Processing fluency is considered as the theoretical framework that can explain these effects. Our model shows that processing fluency mediates the effect of branded longevity on brand familiarity. This model takes into account moderating effects such as product involvement and congruence.

Avec le développement rapide du commerce électronique, la vente multi-canaux, du type « brick-and-mortar » et vente en ligne est le standard pour les vendeurs en 2016. Cependant, cette stratégie ne garantit pas toujours le succès des détaillants dans les campagnes commerciales. La plupart du temps les difficultés proviennent d’un manque de coordination efficace entre la boutique en ligne et son homologue hors ligne selon leurs attributs respectifs. Sur la base du concept de congruence perçu, cette thèse étudie l'évaluation par les sujets des attributs des magasins entre les différents canaux du marché multicanaux chinois. Les résultats d’études du type « Depth Interview » (étude 1), montrent que les consommateurs chinois préfèrent le comportement commercial multicanaux. Ils aiment la congruence entre les canaux, mais espèrent aussi profiter des situations non-congruentes, ce qui indique leur propension à comparer les prix et l'assortiment entre canaux. Les deux études quantitatives ont identifié la congruence perçue comme un facteur déterminant pour l'évaluation des détaillants par les sujets. Plus précisément, plus les sujets perçoivent de la congruence dans la politique de prix entre les canaux, plus les sujets jugent les prix justes. des prix équitables, se traduisent par une attitude plus favorable envers le vendeur (étude 2). En revanche, lorsque les sujets perçoivent plus d’incongruité dans l'assortiment cross-canaux, ils considèrent que le choix est plus important (étude 3). Mais cette conséquence ne se produit que lorsque le processus cognitif n’est pas contraint. En outre, quand un prix équitable est perçu et qu’une variété est perçue les deux sont identifiés comme médiateurs de l'effet de la perception de congruence sur l'attitude des sujets envers les détaillants. En outre, l’implication des sujets dans l’expérimentation ne supporte pas statistiquement l'effet de modération en interaction avec la congruence perception sur des sujets de l'évaluation en ce qui concerne les attributs du canal de distribution, mais l'effet marginal dans la visualisation indique que les chercheurs doivent, dans les études futures, continuer l'étude des influences pertinentes entre l’implioation et la congruence perçue. / Along with the globally rapid development of e-commerce, multichannel retail including both brick-and-mortar and online stores is in 2016 the standard for the sellers. However, such justified strategy not always guarantee retailers’ success in commercial campaigns. Most of the time the difficulties arised from the lack of efficient coordination between the online store and its offline counterpart based upon their respective attributes. On the basis of the percieved congruence concept, this dissertation investigates subjects’ evaluation on store attributes between the different channels of the Chinese multichannel retail market. Through the Depth Interview (Study 1), it was found that Chinese multichannel consumers prefer the multichannel shopping behavior. They like the between-channel congruence but also expect to enjoy the incongruent situation which indicates their propensity to compare the between-channel prices and assortment. The two quantitative studies identified the perceived congruence as a determinant to the subjects’ evaluation towards the retailer. More precisely, the more congruence subjects perceive from the cross-channel price policy, the more price fairness subjects judge, turns in more favorable attitude toward the retailer (Study 2). In contrast, when the subjects perceive more schema incongruity, from the cross-channel assortment, they evaluate more variety (Study 3). But this consequence only occurs when the cognitive process is not constrained. In addition, both price fairness perception and variety perception are identified to mediate the effect of congruence perception on subjects’ attitude toward retailers. Besides, subjects’ experimental involvement, does not statistically support the moderation effect interacting with congruence perception on subjects’ evaluation regarding channel store attributes, but the marginal effect in visualization indicates that researchers must, in future study, keep investigating the relevant influences between involvement and congruence perception.

Cette recherche se concentre sur un modèle causal de certains antécédents et les conséquences des dimensions des relations BRQ (chaud vs froid): un test empirique dans un contexte Vietnamien. L'enquête repose sur les théories de la personnalité de la marque, des antécédents (l'auto-congruence et qualité des partenaires), les conséquences (WTP – volonté à payer, la taille de l'ensemble de considération et WOM – le bouche-à-oreille), le BRQ (chaud vs froid) et l'intention de la marque.Les objectifs de cette recherche sont: premièrement, déterminer les effets de la personnalité de la marque sur les antécédents de deux composantes de la BRQ dans le contexte Vietnamien. Deuxièmement, étudier l’impact des antécédents et les conséquences des deux composantes de BRQ sur l'intention d’achat de la marque dans le contexte Vietnamien. Un modèle structurel a été développé illustrant la relation entre la personnalité de la marque (antidépresseur) et les conséquences d'une relation de qualité de marque (BRQ). Cela a entraîné le développement de vingt hypothèses. Pour répondre aux objectifs de cette recherche, des données ont été recueillies, axées sur six classes de produits et, au final, 634 questionnaires ont été recueillis. En ce qui concerne le développement théorique actuel. On a fait recours aux équations structurelles pour analyser les données.Les principaux résultats soutiennent nos attentes. Tout d'abord, les résultats de cette étude révèlent que la personnalité de la marque a une influence positive sur les deux variables de l'auto-congruence et de la qualité des partenaires, mais on voit clairement qu'il existe une différence entre le niveau d'influence et d'importance. Deuxièmement, étant donné que l'auto-congruence a un effet plus important sur le chaud que froid BRQ, d'autre part, la qualité des partenaires a un effet plus important sur le froid que chaud BRQ. Cependant, en fonction du coefficient de chemin de l'auto-congruence et de la qualité des partenaires, les résultats révèlent que l’auto-congruence a un effet positif sur les chauds et froids BRQ par rapport à la qualité des partenaires. Ensuite, pour voir les effets du chaud et froid BRQ sur les conséquences de celui-ci, les résultats révèlent que les chaud et froid BRQ ont des conséquences positives sur la volonté à payer, la taille de l'ensemble de considération et le bouche-à-oreille, qui sont pris en charge par nos hypothèses. En ce qui concerne les résultats de la condamnation des deux composantes de BRQ, nous avons constaté que la taille de l'ensemble de considération et le bouche-à-oreille n'ont aucune relation avec l'intention de la marque, alors que WTP a un effet positif sur la marque.Les principales contributions de cette recherche permettent de mieux comprendre le comportement des consommateurs sur le marché Vietnamien. Les résultats de notre étude montrent que les chauds BRQ ont une influence plus forte et plus significative sur la volonté à payer du consommateur. Cependant, le froid BRQ a considérablement influencé le bouche-à-oreille du consommateur. Par conséquent, le chaud BRQ, qui est la qualité de la relation émotionnelle, augmente principalement le comportement de fidélité des clients. En revanche, le froid BRQ aide à attirer de nouveaux clients’ grâce à une communication positive de bouche-à-oreille des clients. Le maintien des clients actuels et l'attrait des clients potentiels sont des moteurs essentiels pour la survie d'une marque ou d'un produit. Les gestionnaires ont besoin, par conséquent, d'avoir une incidence positive sur le chaud et froid BRQ de leurs clients. En outre, en fonction des résultats de la recherche, ils devraient se concentrer sur une volonté de payer un prix haut de gamme afin d'augmenter leur intention d'achat de marque. / The understanding of Vietnamese consumer behaviors toward brands is crucial for not only local but also foreign marketers to be prepared for the competition in the Vietnamese market. In addition, marketers are increasingly trying to build and to understand the relationship between their brands and consumers. So, this research focuses on a causal model of some antecedents and consequences of hot and cold brand relationship quality (BRQ) dimensions: an empirical test in a Vietnamese context. The investigation is based on the theories of brand personality, antecedents (self-congruence and partner quality), consequences (WTP, consideration set size, and WOM), hot and cold BRQ, and brand purchase intention.The aim behind of this research can be summed up in the following objective: firstly, to determine the effects of brand personality on antecedents of two components of BRQ in the context of Vietnam; secondly, to investigate the impacts of antecedents and consequences of two components of BRQ on brand purchase intention in the context of Vietnam. A structure model was developed illustrating the relationships (assumed) between brand personality on antecedents and consequences of brand relationship quality (BRQ). This resulted in the developed of twenty hypotheses. To address the research aims, data were collected which focused on six product classes and 634 questionnaires were collected in final. Regarding the current of theoretical development, PLS path modeling was used to analyze the data.The key findings emerged from the findings of the current research, which supports our expectation. First, the results of our findings reveal that brand personality has a positive influence on two variables self-congruence and partner quality, but it is clearly seen that there is a different level of influence and importance. Secondly, given that self-congruence is a more significant effect on hot than cold BRQ, on the other hand, partner quality is a more significant effect on cold than hot BRQ. However, based on the path coefficient of self-congruence and partner quality, the results reveal that self-congruence has a positive significant effect on both hot and cold BRQ compared to partner quality. Next, to see how the effects of hot and cold BRQ on the consequences of its, the findings reveal that hot and cold BRQ have positive on consequences with WTP, consideration set size, WOM, which are supported to our proposal hypotheses. Regarding the results of consequences of two components of BRQ on brand purchase intention. We found that consideration set size and WOM have no relationship with brand purchase intention, while WTP has a positive significant effect on brand purchase intention.The key contributions of this research provide a better understanding consumer behavior in the Vietnamese market. The findings of our study show that hot BRQ has been shown to have a stronger and significant influence on consumer’s WTP. Cold BRQ, however, was found to strongly impact the consumer’s WOM. Therefore, hot BRQ, which is the emotional relationship quality, mainly increases the loyalty behavior of customers; in contrast, cold BRQ helps to attract new customers by positively word-of-mouth communication of customers. Both the retention of current customers and the attraction of news customers are crucial drivers for the sustainable future of a brand or a product. Managers need, therefore, try to positively impact both hot and cold BRQ of their customers. Furthermore, based on the research results, they should focus on a willingness to pay price premium in order to increase their brand purchasing intention.

Sponsorship is an essential part of marketing communications within sports (Biscaia et al., 2014). Congruence, or the degree to which a sponsor and an event mesh, is one of the main factors influencing sponsorship memory accuracy (Evans, 2019). It is found that, within women’s sports, demand for research on how to maximize the efficiency of sponsorships exists.The research aims to find if sponsors and sponsees could look towards sponsorships with more external congruence to increase the value of the sponsorship to both the sponsor and sponsee. The study uses a survey to find correlations between the amount of external congruence and the degree to which sponsorship objectives are reached. The External Sponsorship Congruence Scale (ESCS), developed by Evans (2019), is used as a basis for measurement of external congruence. The key finding is that the perceived quality of a brand seems to correlate with having a sponsorship that is high in external congruence. Furthermore, both areas of brand awareness and brand image could possibly see some correlation to external congruence. However, those areas were not found to be statistically significant in this study. These findings are important to develop the concept of external congruence and find possible ways of measuring external congruence. For instance, it is found that the ESCS and its constructs seem to be useable in the field of women’s and niche sports. On a theoretical level, changes to the ESCS’s geographical congruence are proposed and a revised ESCS is presented. Moreover, managers within women’s and niche sports, as well as sponsors of those, can use the findings of this study to improve the chances of finding successful sponsorships.

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In this study the social worker-in-work context relationship in a welfare organization is described within an ecological epistemology so as to construct an alternative view on employee mental health. A literature study shows how descriptions of the interconnectedness between a sense of individuation and a sense ofbelonging creates a double view ofboth levels to form a more holistic view of an ecological relationship system. Organizational interrelationships are described within this framework as being congruent or incongruent and thereby promote or detract from social work practitioner mental health. Conclusions and recommendations discuss the usefulness of such a perspective for social work management practice and suggest a framework for managers to view organizational mental health and to evolve ideas for co-creating a greater sense of coherence in disrupted organizations. / Social Work / M.A. (Mental Health)

This thesis is a study of the subgroup structure of some remarkable groups of automorphisms of rooted trees. It is divided into two parts. The main result of the first part is seemingly of an algorithmic nature, establishing that the Gupta--Sidki 3-group G has solvable membership problem. This follows the approach of Grigorchuk and Wilson who showed the same result for the Grigorchuk group. The proof, however, is not algorithmic, and it moreover shows a striking subgroup property of G: that all its infinite finitely generated subgroups are abstractly commensurable with either G or G × G. This is then used to show that G is subgroup separable which, together with some nice presentability properties of G, implies that the membership problem is solvable. The proof of the main theorem is also used to show that G satisfies a "strong fractal" property, in that every infinite finitely generated subgroup acts like G on some rooted subtree. The second part concerns the subgroup structure of branch and weakly branch groups in general. Motivated by a natural question raised in the first part, a necessary condition for direct products of branch groups to be abstractly commensurable is obtained. From this condition it follows that the Gupta--Sidki 3-group is not abstractly commensurable with its direct square. The first main result in the second part states that any (weakly) branch action of a group on a rooted tree is determined by the subgroup structure of the group. This is then applied to answer a question of Bartholdi, Siegenthaler and Zalesskii, showing that the congruence subgroup property for branch and weakly branch groups is independent of the actions on a tree. Finally, the information obtained on subgroups of branch groups is used to examine which groups have an essentially unique branch action and why this holds.

Are there vestiges or elements of African traditional cultural beliefs and practices that affect the psychological and spiritual well-being of African Christian students in Tangaza University College (TUC)? If there are, how best can pastoral carers work with the affected students to help them deal with the issues and regain congruence? These questions, arising out of our practice in the Student Life Ministry in TUC, are the puzzles I set out this study to try to resolve. Our experience was that some of the students were presenting issues in counselling and spiritual direction emanating from unresolved conflict between their African backgrounds and the Christian faith. Observation was that the issues did not surface easily and when they did the carers were not sure how best to help the clients. I thus felt a need to find out what cultural issues affect the students, how the issues manifest in their lives and how best the pastoral care team could work with those affected to help the issues surface and be resolved. This is an original research designed as an inductive case study and to collect data, a multi-dimensional approach including focus discussion groups with students and members of the SLM, depth interviews with SLM members, selection of some vignettes of counselling and spiritual direction and practitioner observation - were used. The main finding is that there indeed are elements of African beliefs and practices that impinge on the psychological and spiritual wellbeing of some of the African Christian students in TUC. However, not all the students experience such dissonance as some have developed a synthesis between their two world views. Those who have not are embarrassed about and reticent in disclosing the issues thus the need for the pastoral carers to help them to integrate their traditional culture with their Christian faith. Clinical experience has shown that by combining two counselling models – the Rogerian Person-centred and Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, underpinned in a dialogical, theological paradigm, counsellors and spiritual guides can help the affected students not only to talk about the issues but also to work through them to re-gain equilibrium and enjoy greater fullness of life.

This thesis investigates federalism and civil conflict. Past work linking federalism and civil conflict has investigated the factors that pacify or aggravate conflict, but most such studies have examined the effect of decentralization on conflict onset, as opposed to the form federalism takes (such as congruent vs incongruent forms, for example). I collect data on civil conflict, the institutional characteristics of federalist states and fiscal decentralization. My theoretical expectations are that federations who treat federal subjects differently than others, most commonly in an ethnically based manner, are likely to experience greater levels of conflict incidence and more severe conflict. I find support for these expectations, suggesting more ethnically based federations are a detriment to peace preservation. I close with case studies that outline three different paths federations have taken with regards to their federal subunits.