The impact of perceived trustworthiness on love for news media brands needs further understanding, given that brand love brings significant business benefits. This article argues that perceived trustworthiness influences brand love for news media brands. More specifically, we explored the following: how much of the variance in brand love can be explained by the factors of perceived trustworthiness of a brand (integrity, benevolence, and ability), whether perceived trustworthiness relates differently to brand love in countries with different levels of trust in the media, and what is the relationship between political leaning and the perception of specific news media brands’ trustworthiness. The data were collected through an online survey in the Netherlands (N = 292) and Brazil (N = 239). Among the main findings, data indicated that brand love is influenced by perceived trustworthiness, and integrity is its best predictor. This study provides evidence of the importance of each factor of perceived trustworthiness for brand love, confirms the relation between political leaning and trust, and reveals the differences between these two countries.
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This study investigated the influence of personality traits and the differential effect of product categories on brand love. Carroll and Ahuvia (2006) claim that it is relatively easier for hedonic and self-enhancing products to obtain brand love. Nevertheless, in relation to the field of consumer-brand relationships, contradictory findings exist regarding the effects of product category on relationship quality. Christy et al. (1996), Veloutsou (2007), and Wilson (2011) point to a positive effect for the influence of high product category involvement on the brand relationship quality, whereas Valta (2013) finds no support at all. Current empirical studies on brand love, however, focus on a single product category from rather high-involvement categories like consumer electronics or apparel (Batra et al., 2012; Rauschnabel et al., 2013). This raises the question whether brand love can only be obtained in those product categories. An application of the Rossiter–Percy grid is thus carried out to measure the direct influence of product category on brand love. Furthermore, we explore whether product category offers an additional explanation for the varying results of personality traits on relationships. We propose that product category acts as a moderator between personality and brand love. Therefore, the research questions this study will seek to answer are the following: RQ1: To what extent does personality influence brand love? RQ2: To what extent does the product category influence brand love? RQ3: To what extent does the product category moderate the relationship between personality and brand love?
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In the psychological field, a lot of progress has been made in values theory. In marketing theory, however, the use of values has been undervalued. Despite the widespread managerial use of brand values, attention has remained focused on the brand personality concept. This book intends to provide a new perspective to marketing science, by proposing a system of brand values that takes into account the developments in values theory. Values were tested in a number of rounds among a total of more than 3,000 respondents in the Netherlands and several other countries including Germany, Italy, and China.In this study, values that motivate consumer behavior were demonstrated to relate to each other as a consistent value system, labelled here as the Value Compass. We showed that the values with which brands profile themselves can be organized according to a similar structure as the human value system, which opens additional insights into the use of values to position brands, or to predict brand choice. The cross-cultural validation included in this book showed a high degree of equivalence of the Value Compass. This validation provided insight in the cross-cultural similarities in the structure of the value system, but it also emphasized the cross-cultural differences in priorities that individuals attach to certain values.
Denim Democracy from the Alliance for Responsible Denim (ARD) is an interactive exhibition that celebrates the journey and learning of ARD members, educates visitors about sustainable denim and highlights how companies collaborate together to achieve results. Through sight, sound and tactile sensations, the visitor experiences and fully engages sustainable denim production. The exhibition launches in October 2018 in Amsterdam and travels to key venues and locations in the Netherlands until April 2019. As consumers, we love denim but the denim industry, like other sub-sectors in the textile, apparel and footwear industries, faces many complex sustainability challenges and has been criticized for its polluting and hazardous production practices. The Alliance for Responsible Denim project brought leading denim brands, suppliers and stakeholders together to collectively address these issues and take initial steps towards improving the ecological sustainability impact of denim production. Sustainability challenges are considered very complex and economically undesirable for individual companies to address alone. In denim, small and medium sized denim firms face specific challenges, such as lower economies of scale and lower buying power to affect change in practices. There is great benefit in combining denim companies' resources and knowledge so that collective experimentation and learning can lift the sustainability standards of the industry and lead to the development of common standards and benchmarks on a scale that matters. If meaningful, transformative industrial change is to be made, then it calls for collaboration between denim industry stakeholders that goes beyond supplier-buyer relations and includes horizontal value chain collaboration of competing large and small denim brands. However collaboration between organizations, and especially between competitors, is highly complex and prone to failure. The research behind the Alliance for Responsible Denim project asked a central research question: how do competitors effectively collaborate together to create common, industry standards on resource use and benchmarks for improved ecological sustainability? To answer this question, we used a mixed-method, action research approach. The Alliance for Responsible Denim project mobilized and facilitated denim brands to collectively identify ways to reduce the use of water and chemicals in denim production and then aided them to implement these practices individually in their respective firms.
Plastic products are currently been critically reviewed due to the growing awareness on the related problems, such as the “plastic soup”. EU has introduced a ban for a number of single-use consumer products and fossil-based polymers coming in force in 2021. The list of banned products are expected to be extended, for example for single-use, non-compostable plastics in horticulture and agriculture. Therefore, it is crucial to develop sustainable, biodegradable alternatives. A significant amount of research has been performed on biobased polymers. However, plastics are made from a polymer mixed with other materials, additives, which are essential for the plastics production and performance. Development of biodegradable solutions for these additives is lacking, but is urgently needed. Biocarbon (Biochar), is a high-carbon, fine-grained residue that is produced through pyrolysis processes. This natural product is currently used to produce energy, but the recent research indicate that it has a great potential in enhancing biopolymer properties. The biocarbon-biopolymer composite could provide a much needed fully biodegradable solution. This would be especially interesting in agricultural and horticultural applications, since biocarbon has been found to be effective at retaining water and water-soluble nutrients and to increase micro-organism activity in soil. Biocarbon-biocomposite may also be used for other markets, where biodegradability is essential, including packaging and disposable consumer articles. The BioADD consortium consists of 9 industrial partners, a branch organization and 3 research partners. The partner companies form a complementary team, including biomass providers, pyrolysis technology manufacturers and companies producing products to the relevant markets of horticulture, agriculture and packaging. For each of the companies the successful result from the project will lead to concrete business opportunities. The support of Avans, University of Groningen and Eindhoven University of Technology is essential in developing the know-how and the first product development making the innovation possible.
Klimaatverandering heeft aanzienlijke gevolgen voor de leefomgeving, volksgezondheid en economie. Om de impact hiervan te beperken/verminderen is reductie van emissies essentieel. In de bouwsector, waar veel beton en staal worden gebruikt is nog veel winst te behalen. Deze materialen hebben een hoge CO2-uitstoot bij de productie, terwijl hout als biobased bouwmateriaal een duurzamer alternatief biedt. Hout heeft echter beperkingen door de gevoeligheid voor vocht, degradatie door micro-organismen, UV-straling, insecten en brand. Behandelingen met houtbescherming methodes en coatings worden toegepast, maar veel hiervan zijn toxisch en milieubelastend. Een veelbelovende alternatieve behandelingsmethode zou kunnen worden gerealiseerd door het gebruik van ijzeroxiden in combinatie met een bindmiddel voor de hechting van ijzeroxiden aan hout. Sol-silicaat lijkt hiervoor een veelbelovend middel dat ook andere gunstige eigenschappen bevat. Het wordt al voornamelijk toegepast op mineraalrijke ondergronden zoals beton en baksteen. Sol-silicaat is damp-open maar waterafstotend, UV-bestendig, schimmelwerend, is niet brandbaar en kan de levensduur van houten elementen verlengen. Hoewel hout in vergelijking met beton en kalksteen een mineraalarm is, kan door gebruik te maken van de eerste stap in het silicificatieproces (verstening), waarbij silica zich bindt aan cellulose, in potentie een geschikte basis worden gecreëerd voor de hechting van sol-silicaat aan hout. Dit kan resulteren in een verkiezelend effect, waardoor de levensduur en brandveiligheid van hout worden verbeterd. IJzeroxiden dat wordt beschouwd als een mineraal zou een geschikt additief zijn dat samen met het sol-silicaat kan verkiezelen aan het hout. Via deze route kan de hechting van ijzeroxiden aan hout worden gerealiseerd. De combinatie van ijzeroxiden en sol-silicaat kan de brandwerendheid verder verhogen en esthetische voordelen bieden. Sol-silicaat biedt daarom niet alleen een milieuvriendelijke maar ook een niet-toxische oplossing om de prestaties van het gebruik van hout te vergoten. Het gecreëerde eindproduct sluit hierbij aan bij de behoefte aan duurzame en circulaire producten.
