ICAM-2017

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ANTECEDENTS OF FACEBOOK FAN PAGE LOYALTY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SRI LANKAN FACEBOOK USERS
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Fernando, W.K.B.F.N.S.; Rathnayake, D.T.
Since the birth of Web 2.0 technologies to the world, the Social media & Social networking sites have reportedly been playing a significant role. As a result of this, Facebook, today, has become the most visited website in the world and has topped the rankings in the Sri Lankan contexts as well. Given that Facebook provides a wider opportunity for business users in order to promote their businesses among the target market by means of custom pages, Facebook Fan Pages could now be identified as one of the major promotional tools, proven to be effective locally, as well as internationally. Thus, Facebook page loyalty could be identified as a significant factor for the survival and growth of any brand.Therefore, this study focuses on investigating the antecedents of Facebook Fan Page Loyalty with special reference to Sri Lankan Facebook Users. As per the extensive literature reffered, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Brand Love, Attitude, Trust and Privacy Risk were chosen as antecedents of Fan Page Loyalty. The study was quantitative in nature whereas thecross-sectional survey design was chosen as the overall research design. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) method. Findings of the study revealed that there is a significant impact of all variables in concern on the Facebook page loyalty. However, it was also explored that out of them, the factor ‘Attitude’ is the most influential to Facebook page loyalty in Sri Lanka. Thus, it can be concluded, based on the research, that positive attitude towards the Facebook Fan page is a powerful predictor of satisfaction with the fan page, and vice versa as well.
ASSESSING SUSTAINABILITY IN FAMILY BUSINESSES IN SRI LANKA THROUGH AN EFFECTIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS LIFECYCLE.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Hespen, C.; Neelawala, P.
In the current dynamic and highly unpredictable market entrepreneurship is a highly sort after subject in the industry. As entrepreneurs are responsible for job creation it is vital to understand the involvement of family and kinship in the organizations development. To do this the many factors that influence the entrepreneurial process must be identified and a relationship must be identified in the entrepreneurial lifecycle. This research was conducted in order to identify the involvement of family during the entrepreneurial lifecycle and how this creates sustainability of the organization. This study is done in order to bridge the knowledge gap in Sri Lanka regarding entrepreneurship and provides an understanding of family oriented entrepreneurial firms to further generations. In order to carry out this research the author uses the qualitative method and an induction approach. This will be done through interviews that are conducted on open ended questions from different family oriented entrepreneurs.
AN ASSESSMENT OF RETAIL SERVICE QUALITY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE RSQS IN SRI LANKAN SUPERMARKETS
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Nihas, R.R.
eterminants of customer satisfaction. It has also become the key to sustainable competitive advantage for mainly service dominant organizations as well as for the grocery retail sector. This study attempts to measure the consumers‟ perception on retail service quality and its impact on customers‟ satisfaction in supermarkets in Sri Lanka. In order to collect primary data,168 retail shoppers from major supermarket outlets in Colombo district were contacted. The Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS), which comprised of 27 retail service quality items under five dimensions namely, physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving and policy has been used as the data collection instrument. The results of the study were shown that the retail service quality has a positive correlation with customer satisfaction. Further, 80 percent of the variation has been found which is also in the significant level. It means that, customer satisfaction in the retail supermarket is determined or influenced by the retail service quality. Therefore, service quality is viewed as strategic formula in the marketing practices among retail outlets to enhance the customer satisfaction in both developed and developing countries. Before we come to the general conclusions in the Sri Lankan context, studies among retail service quality should be taken in the various service industries. Further, the concept like retail service quality should be connected with customer loyalty, customer retention and brand equity to get the more insights in the marketing practices of the retail supermarkets. Additionally, we suggested to the future researchers or scholars to carry the research on the factor analysis in order to find out the applicability of RSQS in the Sri Lankan perspective
AN ASSESSMENT OF VIRAL MARKETING EFFECT ON THE SELECTION OF TRAVEL DESTINATION BY TRAVELLERS.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Thennakoon, W.D.N.S.M.; Herat, U.L.
The internet applications of viral marketing (Word-Of-Mouth marketing) is becoming increasingly popular among online community. In tourism industry, the owners of the tourist destinations, travel agents, rating organizations, and travel sites…etc. are extremely concern of the “reviews” that they are getting from the travellers. Conversely the travellers also pay much attention than ever in writing and viewing the reviews beforehand they plan their travel. Hence, the effect of viral marketing places a significant role in the selection of tourist destination by contemporary travellers. Hence, the main focus of this study is to assess the effect of online viral marketing on the travellers’ decision to select a tourist destination from travellers’ perspective. The study utilizes a quantitative approach. An online survey was conducted among the group of travellers from different countries. The respondents were selected based on convenient sampling method. A self-administrated instrument of 35 items was used with 0.806 reliability score. The results of correlation analysis indicated a strong positive relationship between travellers’ decision and the viral marketing attributes of usefulness of the content, brand recalling ability, and questioning/answering option. The relationship proven to be positive yet moderate for the attributes such as information credibility, brand recognition ability, frequency, relevance of information and rewards associated with viral marketing efforts. A model for viral marketing is proposed with the aim of aiding the predictive ability of viral marketing attempts. Implications suggest developing viral marketing campaigns giving high priority for commanding attributes to best reap the investments over such campaigns.
THE BEGINNING OF MARKETING TO INDIVIDUALS WILL NOT THE END OF MASS MARKETING
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Ekanayake, E.A.
Mass marketing (MM) is an attempt to attract whole market with one basic marketing strategy utilizing mass distribution and mass media. With marketers increasingly adopting exceeding refined market segmentation schemes fueled by the internet and other customization efforts some claim MM is dead. But we are surrounded by mass market firms, multinationals aiming to maximize profits, market share and economies of scale by producing and selling huge quantities. There is marketing myth as targeted marketing is the smart, modern way to market. Consumers can split in to nonbuyers, light, medium, and heavy buyers and most consumers are light buyers while diminutive percentage is heavy buyers. Companies should MM to non- and light buyers. Companies like Ford, Microsoft, Macdonald and Coca-Cola achieve market saturation by using developing product width and depth from ranges of products aimed at targeting large proportion of the market. The success of MM is contingent on the probability within the huge audience exposed to the marketing strategy. Heavy advertising, development and market research costs, Establish and keep brands in public eye and fierce Competition are disadvantages of MM while Maximizes income, Decline of one sector likely to compensated by growth in other sectors, Reduction in average costs through economies of scale, Allows Brands to use their full value are overtaken advantages. MM is more effective than targeted marketing. Light buyers heavily dominate brands’ consumer bases, so targeting them will provide the greatest penetration and Brand growth lies in increasing market penetration.
BRAND ADVOCACY: THE NEW SUCCESS MANTRA
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Tiwari, V.; Sushil, S.
Brand influencers are the new PR gimmick for celebrity endorsements. Influencers are people who promote the brand on social media ie Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, google plus etc. They unfortunately are not able to drive the behavior beyond a social chatter. The impact is short lived and the goal is to create a buzz. Influencers are rewarded by the company. True advocates are available on social media but are driven by passions. They have audience and advocacy. They are less committed to the company and products and more committed to helping people. Advocates in fact are nothing but highly satisfied customers. They do not need any incentives and are widely accepted over blogs and other online forums. The paper establishes the influences of both on a chosen demographic segment, and tries to differentiate between brand ambassadors and influencers. It tries to ascertain the supremacy of brand advocates over brand influencers.
BUILDING BRAND AWARENESS: THE ROLE OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT IN ADVERTISEMENTS.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Rahman, R.
Advertisers believe celebrity endorsement is an effective marketing tool for building brand recall and recognition most importantly, brandawareness. The article aims at identifying how celebrity endorsement in advertisement creates brand awareness. A qualitative in-depth interview is conducted among 30 respondents (15 from London, UK and 15 from Chittagong, Bangladesh) aged 18- 35 years or more on 4 selected TV advertisements (2 advertisements from UK, 2 advertisements from Bangladesh) to judge consumers’ responses towards celebrity endorsement in advertisement and how it stimulates brand awareness. Thematic analysis has been used for analysing data. Findings indicate though respondents can recall the advertisement which uses attractive, trustworthy, high profile celebrity, it will not be an effective marketing tool in the mature and saturated market like UK. The in-depth interview shown celebrity endorsement within the advertisement is a highly influential emotional driver in Bangladesh whereas UK respondents are indifferent to celebrity endorsement. To increase brand awareness, advertisers in Bangladesh should engage high-profile celebrity with positive image, credibility, trustworthiness who matches appropriately with the brand endorsed. Contrarily, advertisers in UK should combine information with other emotional appeal and drivers in advertisement to provide unique selling proposition and enhance brand awareness. It is expected that this cross-country research will solve existing literature gap and provide a comparative review on consumers’ responses towards celebrity endorsement used in advertising to stimulate brand awareness in developed and developing country perspective
CAB SERVICE QUALITY IN SRI LANKA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Heruppage, K. S.; Aththanayake, A.M.A.S.; Samarasekara, P.G.S.T.
Number of cab services has been organized to serve the travelling needs of individual and companies to gain smoothly driven day to day activities. Competitive and competent rivals are being attracted by the growing fleet management industry in Sri Lanka. Similarly doing research in this field is providing an great insight for the fleet management companies that how to organize their mobile services cape in efficient manner related to service quality dimensions. Even though it is an emergent industry, it’s reflects the less number of research data regarding the expected service quality and the perceived service quality of their customers. The objective of this research was to compare the customer satisfaction between the corporate and individual’s needs. The research has been carried out through a questionnaire survey among the 187 individual customers and 176 corporate clients. Quantitative types of data gathering and analysis tools drives to reveal the results from selected sample. The results have revealed that there has a significant difference of gap between the performance and expectation between individual and corporate clients. in relation to all dimensions of SERVQUAL model, which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Finally, there was a significant difference only for the dimensions of reliability, tangibility and assurance.
CAN THE TRANS CASPIAN INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION ROUTE (TITR) REALLY LINK ASIA TO EUROPE? AN ASSESSMENT OF PORT SERVICE QUALITY (PSQ) IN SEAPORTS WITH ROPMIS MODEL
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Jeyhun, H.; Chang, C.T.
Ports play a crucial role in the economy of many countries and regions. Failure or unreliability of port services can significantly influence port customers—shipping lines and cargo owners—and result in their dissatisfaction. TITR is an emerging trend competing to be the most effective, secure, and time-efficient transportation route, which runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Ukraine and goes to Europe. It reduces time of shipments almost twice and promises high-level security. TITR is believed to highly contribute to the growth of the economies located on the route and neighborhood. However, no any prior academic study has been published assessing service quality of the seaports by comparing 5 countries, which can help to evaluate how competitive TITR will be in international transportation. The primary aim of the study is to utilize ROPMIS model proposed by Thai (2008) and employed by very few studies, particularly in Southeast Asia region. By using 257 logistics professionals with purposive sampling technique, the SEM results revealed that PSQ is five-factor construct, and resources, management, image and social responsibility, and outcomes significantly and positively affect customer satisfaction. In addition, it was found that PSQ’s indirect effect on attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of logistics firms on seaport service providers is more significant than direct effect. The major theoretical contribution of the study is that it validated ROPMIS model in broader geographical context rather than in one country, by further incorporating attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. The results would also be equally significant for countries and policy-makers to enhance the service quality in their sea-ports.
CHANNEL MANAGEMENT AND DISTRIBUTION IN PRINT MEDIA WITH REFERENCE TO NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY IN TAMILNADU, INDIA.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) VIyswarya, P.; Rajaram, S.; Inayath Ahamed, S.B.; Kundhavai, S.; Sriram, V.P.
Channel management is a term used to describe how companies gain control of multi-step, complex distribution channels to maximize revenues and reduce costs. Channel-management activities have historically been a challenge for the manufacturer. The purpose of this paper to assesses the impact of channels of distribution and channel management in print media whilst taking cognizance of the mediating effect of supply chain management. The study was undertaken in India with the sample of 450 respondents who are in Newspaper industry, Tamilnadu, India. Data has been collected through questionnaire which was evaluated using AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structure) to validate the conceptual framework. The findings reveal that channels of distribution and channel management have significant impact on the processes of newspaper production and distribution. Hence, the model structure adopted in this study fits well and confirms that attention should be given regarding the need for global coordination of products, production and distribution. This paper’s contribution is not as much in offering a schema as it is in suggesting an analytical plan/process that helps in visualizing structures and associated strategies de novo.
CIRCUMVENTING CHOICE OVERLOAD: DE- ESCALATION STRATEGIES, ANTICIPATED REGRET AND CONSIDERATION SETS!!
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Mathew, S.
Research on choice proliferation and its negative effects, popularly referred to as the ‘Choice Overload phenomenon’ or ‘Over-choice’ has increased exponentially over the past decade. Extant research has built on insights from the seminal ‘Jam Study’ by Iyengar and Lepper (2000) which highlighted the paradoxical finding that variety can be detrimental to choice. However, despite the disproportionate amount of interest generated by the topic, the studies have failed to come up with a comprehensive model explaining the negative consequences of choosing from large assortments. Recent meta‐analyses of choice overload studies (Chernev, Böckenholt and Goodman, 2015) suggest that the lack of cohesive understanding of whether large assortments are beneficial or detrimental to choice, can be resultant of the narrow focus on just the antecedents and boundary conditions in extant research. Extant studies on Choice Overload pays scant attention to the role of phased decision strategies (pre-choice screening and evaluation of short listed options) and anticipated negative emotions leading to it. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that consumers often overcome the problem of choosing from large assortments by pre‐screening assortments and choosing from the shortlisted options. This is often driven by anticipation of regret about making a wrong choice while trying to avoid spending too much time making the choice. These de‐escalation strategies like short‐listing options in anticipation of the overload, help consumer avoid the Choice Overload trap. Analysis of these anticipation strategies can, perhaps, help reconcile the contradictory results from existing studies and can help retailers frame the ecosystems better.
CLIMATE PREDICTION: MODELING AND DETECTION OF PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE BASED ON GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Arya Dr, R.
“Climate change comprising of global cooling and warming processes operates in nature to assist geological phenomenon of erosion of rocks of the mountains into sediments their transportation and final deposition in the oceans. Precipitation (snow and rain), floods, cyclones and tides assist in completing the process of transportation of sediments which is at times aggravated by earthquake or Tsunami” Ritesh Arya. Present paper deals with finding of these geological evidences in the form of extinct and receding glaciers coupled with finding evidences of paleoglaciated lakes outburst in the past and most important discovery of very well preserved geomorphological structures resembling ALPHBET C in the batholiths of Ladakh. The alphabet C is carved due to action of cooling warming and again cooling very well preserved in the batholiths of Ladakh. Discovery in uniformity of 10 such cycles clearly show the natural cycles are independent of Manmade or other tectonic volcanic emissions. In fact climate change has nothing to do with GHGs and is just a physical process to balance the nature through its various agents. Mathematical model by the author has shown 1338.4 years for this complete cycle. After every 4 years we have a half cycle and we are in warming phase of half cycle of 669.2 years. Climate change in nut shell is journey of the rock in the mountains which after its death is broken, grinded churned to finer sediments so that it can be transported to plains by floods through streams and rivers. Further transportation is done by tides, cyclones which engulf and carries those sediments into the wombs of the oceans from where it is further reincarnated into mountain building process giving rebirth to new mountains. Based on all the geological evidences and borewell samples author concludes very firmly that Global warming is the BEST part to be on this planet earth, imagine living in Arctic or Antarctic that is what it is to be living in global cooling times . Enjoy Warming !! Its 100% Natural.
THE CONCEPT OF CORPORATE RESULTANT INNOVATIVENESS ASSESSMENT BASED ON FUZZY LOGIC.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Nawrocki, T.L.
Generally in the literature innovativeness is widely recognized as one of the main drivers of organization’s development and its value creation. Nowadays it is very trendy to be perceived as innovative, but at the same time many companies abuses this image. That is why on importance is gaining the need for objective evaluation of corporate innovativeness, which would enable ordering of companies in terms of their actual, and not pretended, innovativeness, as well as managing innovative image of each company. Thus, the paper presents a proposal for corporate resultant innovativeness assessment model, which is a next step in Author’s research on corporate innovativeness. In the proposed concept two aspects have been considered: quantitative and qualitative results of company’s innovation activity (i) and impact of this results on financial performance of company and its efficiency (ii). Due to the fact, that access to information on innovative activities results of companies is highly diversified, proposed model was developed in two versions: based on public sources of information (I) and based on information which should be collected through survey research (II). It was also assumed, that as the calculation engine, capable to obtain a synthetic final assessment, a fuzzy logic will be used. The main reason for developing this model was to fulfil the gap in the scope of synthetic/aggregate measure of corporate innovativeness in terms of company’s results in this area and their impact on its performance.
CONSUMER ATTITUDE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: A CHALLENGE OR AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GREEN MARKETING.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Karunarathne, M.S.
Industries navigating from anthropocentric to eco-centric approach accentuate the contribution of Green Marketing towards sustainable development. The concept of Green Marketing is more towards altruism, since it comprises a pool of activities including product modification, packaging changes, modifying advertising and changes to the production process intended to satisfy human needs and wants, causing minimal detriment to the natural environment (Polonsky, 1994). However in the past many researchers identified consumer attitude in developing countries as a key challenge for effective Green Marketing strategy implementation. Since nowadays geographical boundaries do not have a pivotal influence on varying human perceptions as a result of globalization and its resultant interconnections, through this conceptual paper the author pinpoints consumer attitude in developing countries as an evolving opportunity to pursue Green Marketing within a company. Moreover, The Sustainability Imperative 2015, by Nielsen Company clearly depicts that 66% of consumers are now willing to pay more for sustainable brands and when compared to developed countries, consumers in developing countries pay more attention to sustainability due to the everyday challenges they face. Having identifying this drastic attitude change, the author indicates that the attitude of customers in developing countries is rather a dire opportunity, not a challenge for marketers. Thus, the paper finds that the companies in developing countries should establish solid Green Marketing strategies to ensure their long term survival. The research is based on text books and journal articles written on Green Marketing, Consumer Attitudes and Sustainability. Where necessary, reference will be made to research publications by leading corporate research firms.
CONSUMER DECISION MAKING STYLE: AN ASSESSMENT OF RESEARCH.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Choudhary, P.; Gangotia, A.
The consumer behaviour is one of the highly researched areas in marketing and still it’s one of the most important and needed area to be researched. Keeping in mind the difference in individual choices and decisions, the present study will review the previous literature and identify the decision making styles highlighted in the related studies. This paper will bring together the review 25 empirical articles and highlight the decision making style found in their respective area of studies. The result of this study will provide significant contribution to the literature discussing decision making style in more detail.
COOPERATION NETWORK CLIENT- FOURNISEUR AND PERFORMANCE OF PARTICIPATING COMPANIES: INTEGRATION OF CULTURAL CONTEXT.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Djamen, R.
The network is a polysemous notion which, whether it is the object of a plentiful literature, remains complex to understand. We can define this concept, also known under the appelation of " virtual company " (Byrne, on 1993), " reticular organization " (Paché and Paraponaris, on 1993), " modular company " (Brilman, on 1995), or still " begun transactional " (Frery, on 1997), " as an implicit or explicit association of agents, industrial companies and services(departments), institutions evolving in domains often complementariness and having for object to move closer to varied resources, to develop relationships of trust between the members of these groups and to reduce the costs of obtaining of these resources, decreasing in this fact the short and long-term uncertainty on the market " (OECD, on 1993, in Joffre, on 1998). The cultural context is indeed at the heart of the shares of cooperation, although this dimension is untold, as if it was obvious, as if the common objectives transcend these differences of conception and management of the collective action, as if the willingness was enough, or as if the common professional culture (entrepreneur, jurist, etc.) allowed a natural dialogue between the peers. This research aims at encircling the ins and outs of the normative impact of the theories of the cooperation. She results in the perspectives in commercial transactions of B to B even in international transactions (deals), in particular by proposing a railing of reflection for the adaptation to the specific contexts. She results naturally in tracks of deepening of the interrogation on the cultural context in the interbegun ways of cooperation.
CORPORATE REPUTATION EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS ON THE EXAMPLE OF POLISH BANKS LISTED ON THE WARSAW STOCK EXCHANGE.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Tomasz, L. Nawrocki.; Szwajca, D.
Nowadays in the literature more and more often the growing importance of reputation in building enterprise value and achieving long-term competitive advantage is emphasized, and corporate reputation itself is considered as the most valuable intangible asset of strategic character. In turn, it creates the need for its measurement and evaluation both for management and stakeholders purposes. The paper presents practical application of originally-developed corporate reputation assessment model from the viewpoint of stock market investors. Corporate reputation evaluation and in-depth analysis possibilities were performed on the example of Polish banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In proposed solution there were three aspects of corporate reputation considered (informational, financial and development, as well as social ones). It was also assumed, that the individual sub-criteria are based on public sources of information, and as the calculation apparatus fuzzy logic is used. Results obtained on the basis of proposed method give possibilities of various internal as well as inter-branch comparisons and analysis of corporate reputation impact. Proposed method can be also used in the process of reputation management and inspire further research in this area.
CREATING AND OPTIMIZING PERSONAS FROM DATABASES' INTERACTION: A FRAMEWORK PROPOSAL
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka., 2017) Teixeira, J.M.
The use of personas as a methodological tool was quite widespread in the last decade in the areas related to digital marketing and UX (User Experience). Despite that, the number of scientific publications is still not very significant. The paper’s aim is to present a framework that helps the process of creating and optimizing personas by a case study. The methodological procedures were: framework conceptual building and its application as a digital marketing case study. The application involved: dataset preparation; spreadsheets analysis and clusters analysis. For the last one, two types of process analysis were used: discoverer and organizer (by Vortx Software). As a result the research presents a framework with six steps: 1Idealization; 2 Interaction; 3 Analysis; 4 Adjustments; 5 Predilection and 6 Prescription. The framework was applied through a case study and the results emphasize steps 3 and 4, demonstrating their relevance to the full process that involves 06 steps. From the spreadsheets analysis it was possible to notice that the most representative profile (25% of database) had not been idealized, revealing the necessity to create a new persona. The cluster analysis tool identified nine groups of individuals with similar behaviors, showing a better way to communicate using a different digital marketing strategy for each persona.
CRITICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ ACCEPTANCE OF ONLINE LEARNING OVER TRADITIONAL METHOD: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN SRI LANKAN HIGHER EDUCATION
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Wijewardene, U. P.; Khatibi, A.
The study focuses on the conceptual development of beliefs based measures in technology acceptance of online learning over traditional method, with respect to Sri Lankan higher education. This research provides valuable insights on managerial interventions, investments and controls for better organizational e-learning management that can lead to greater acceptance and effective utilization. Unlike much preceding studies that has focused on only a limited aspect of beliefs based measures, this research provides a more comprehensive conceptual structure that emphasizes the effects of various unconventional exogenous elements such as innovativeness and eco-friendliness. The research assesses the nomological validity of the conceptualization by integrating the theories, technology acceptance model (TAM), theory of planned behaviour (TPB), unified theory of acceptance (UTAUT) and diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) in a voluntary environment. To produce more sturdy and innovative results, the research first confirms the influence of conventional variables on online learning acceptance. Secondly, it emphasizes the influence of newly added constructs. PhD university students in Colombo District, Sri Lanka being considered as the target population and the model of this study will be tested with a field sample of 150 students (Population is around 200). The population is stratified into 3 distinct categories (1. University of Colombo, 2. Open University, Sri Lanka 3. MSU, Sri Lanka); thereafter subjects are drawn disproportionate to their original numbers in the population. An instrument with 7-point likert scale measures, is used to obtain responses. The structural equation model is applied to analyse the relationships demarcated in the theoretical model of the study. Subsequently, the hypotheses linked with ‘‘factors associated with technology acceptance of online learning, among the PhD university students in Colombo, Sri Lanka’’ will be substantiated, by emphasising the relationship among prior factors, antecedent factors and consequent factors. The factors which are highly influential to enhance the level of technology acceptance of online learning will be filtered out at the end to allocate necessary investments.
CROWDFUNDING AS AN INTERNET TOOL USED FOR ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS WITH A CUSTOMER.
(Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya,Sri Lanka, 2017) Wiścicka, M.
The article will present the concept of crowdfunding, which does not only constitute a modern tool of fund raising, but is also an interesting form of establishing relationships with the business environment. The aim of the article is to depict the role of crowdfunding in the process of creating relationships with customers. The article has been divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the definition of crowdfunding as a form of raising funds and provides examples of selected campaigns. The second part presents the model of relationships established during crowdfunding campaigns. The article is based on the analysis of crowdfunding campaigns, which have been derived from online databases. Establishing relationships with customers is currently one of the most important factors determining the company’s success as strengthening long-term and mutual relations allows for reinforcing the client’s loyalty. The factor conducive to the development and maintenance of relationships is the advancement of information and communication tools (ICT), including the Internet, and especially the social media. The above is confirmed by surveyed managers of companies, 65% of whom believe that social media are the source of companies’ profit (IBM Global Business Services Executive Report, 2011). One of such state-of-the-art tools, the popularity of which was enhanced due to the development of social media, is crowdfunding. The main aim of crowdfunding is raising funds for a definite goal; however, during the social campaign, a unique relationship is being established between the donors (customer) and the donee (the company). This is the activity of the beneficiary that determines the scale of donor involvement. In fact, involvement in a campaign may be decisive in building a relationship with the company.