The Influence of the Congruence Between Brand and Consumer Personality on the Loyalty to Print and Online Issues of Magazine Brands

An important development in the theory of brands has been the concept of a brand personality as part of the brand image. The construct of congruence relates the personality of brands to the self-concept of consumers. It is assumed that congruence between the recipient's perception of his or her own personality and his or her perception of the brand personality leads to a higher degree of loyalty. The congruence construct has been proven to be a loyalty-promoting factor in various studies for consumer good brands. Whether the influence of congruence also exists with regard to media brands has, however, not yet been examined. As a step to close the gap, this research explores the effects of congruence on consumer loyalty in the media, taking the leading German news magazine brands— Focus, Spiegel, and Stern—which are published in print and online, as a case. The study uses a structural equation model, which is estimated by the partial least squares method, based on a questionnaire answered by 736 respondents. The model was tested for all respondents and those with print and online preference separately. As a result, the influence of congruence on loyalty could also be detected in our media case. Differences of the impact within the models for print and online give rise to the assumption that a differentiated approach to brand management in these two fields has to be taken into consideration.     

The Dynamic Library

The Dynamic Library: Organizing Knowledge at the Sitterwerk – Precedents and Possibilities, Soberscove Press, 2015, is a compilation of essays on a symposium about new systems of knowledge organization. The symposium, Archives of the Future: New Orders of Knowledge at the Sitterwerk was held at the Sitterwerk art library, material archive, and exhibition space in St. Gallen Switzerland, November 2011. It brought together professionals from libraries, academia, and technology to brainstorm and share current work on future systems of organization. The Dynamic Library is a book that offers inspiration and opportunities for lively discussions within academic libraries.     

Reincarnation of the One Room Schoolhouse - The American Middle School

Too often, teachers encountering difficulties with classroom management focus only on the students rather than critically examining the influence of their own approaches on student behavior. Given the particular challenges that middle school students present, certain practices and expectations exacerbate management issues, and a lack of awareness of these can position a teacher for failure. In this article, five problematic approaches to middle school classroom management are described, along with recommendations for alternatives and how to prepare for effectively managing the classroom.     

Technology: Education and Training Needs of Older Adults

The impact of the global aging of the population on social, economic, political, and health care institutions is unequaled. Parallel to this, evolving developments in technology promise opportunities for sales and product development to support positive aging. Older adults are excited to utilize technologies that they perceive as practical. However, age, education, technical knowledge, and technological anxiety affect interest in new technologies, creating a technology divide. Providing more accessible and relevant technologies for today's older adults may make the technology more universally accessible. This article reports the results of a survey on technology and education among a sample of 77 adults between the ages of 52 and 92 who attended a week-long lifelong-learning event at Indiana University. Familiarity with technology, age, education, and gender were found to be correlated with familiarity with new technologies as well as operating and shopping for new electronic devices.     

Measuring teaching quality: some key issues

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability -     

Trust in results

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability -