Editorial

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Volume 26, Issue 4

This current issue of the APJML presents a set of seven papers highlighting different perspectives in the marketing of hospitality and financial services, television advertising towards children and some key lessons in corporate rebranding. With this, we hope the APJML continues to serve as a quality outlet for practitioners and fellow researchers to review the latest developments in research in the Asia-Pacific.

Opening this issue, we present two papers on services marketing and management in the casino gaming industry. Liu, Wong, Chu, Shi, Brock and Tseng, investigate the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives (external societal and internal stakeholder initiatives) by casinos on internal customers’ (employees) preference towards the casino brand, and their turnover intentions. Their research introduces a branding concept into employee management, and suggests that CSR initiatives have a profound influence on employees’ preferences towards the business and, in turn, attrition rates. This is followed by a paper by Wu, which discusses the influence of customer satisfaction, perceived value, corporate image and service quality on consumers’ behavioural intentions towards gaming at casinos. Surveying attendees of a casino in Macau, the study identified three primary dimensions and ten sub-dimensions of service quality in the gaming industry. Further, findings from this study provide a framework for the evaluation of consumer perceptions of casino service quality in the gaming industry.

Moving onto the context of financial and banking services, Fatima extends the literature on trust by examining the roles of competence, contractual and goodwill trust on developing rapport and satisfaction with customers. Conducted in the context of banking services in Bangladesh, her findings broaden the scope of the three-factor model of trust, and revealed that competence and goodwill trust influence rapport more so than contractual trust. This in turn has a strong influence on customer satisfaction. Next, Jebarajakirthy, Lobo and Hegewe present a study conducted in the context of post-conflict Sri Lanka. They investigate the determining factors influencing the intentions of youths, affected by this conflict, to seek out microcredit financing to alleviate their financial situation. Their findings showed that the youths are best encouraged to engage in microcredit loans through emotional appeals, their social networks, and their entrepreneurial desires. This is of particular importance to policy makers and microcredit institutions.

Branding is a key aspect of any business’ operations, and Le, Cheng, Kuntjara and Lin examine how brand name attitude and product expertise moderate the effect of corporate rebranding on consumer brand preference. Conducted in Taiwan in the context of mobile phones, their study showed that when consumers have a positive attitude towards a firm's original brand, evolutionary rebranding strategies ought to be employed. Conversely, revolutionary rebranding strategies should be employed when consumer attitudes towards the original brand are not as positive. Also in the area of mobile phones, Sahi and Mahajan use an integrated model to examine the impact of organisational commitment and telecom work characteristics on employee intentions to dissolve their employment relationships with the organisation. Their findings showed that affective, continuance and normative commitment types played significant roles in influencing employee behaviour. The paper also provides insights for policy makers to develop mechanisms alleviate employee attrition.

This issue concludes with a research note by Kashif, Ayyaz and Basharat. Their qualitative study examines Pakistani father's attitudes and concerns towards television food advertisements. Their findings echo prior studies conducted with mothers, indicating that fathers are also highly concerned and knowledgeable about the impact of television advertising on their children.

We hope this fourth issue has provided interesting insights to stimulate future research. We would like to acknowledge the reviewers and EAB for their timely reviews and contribution to the APJML. We also thank the authors who have chosen the APJML as an outlet for their high-calibre research.

Ian Phau