Geography of Italian student mobility: A network analysis approach

Understanding the phenomenon of intra- and international student mobility has become increasingly relevant to the organization of tertiary education systems. Using microdata information provided by the Italian National Student Archive on the cohorts of students enrolled at university in the academic years 2011–12 and 2014–15, we consider a network analysis approach to investigate the incoming and outgoing student flows between territories and universities. More specifically, the paper aims to shed light on the dynamics of Italian student mobility networks at both the bachelor's and master's degree levels by considering attractiveness indicators combined with network centrality measures, clustering techniques for network data and explanatory models. We analyze the partition of the global network structure by means of blockmodeling analysis and we explain the determinants of the differences among universities in attracting students adopting a quantile regression analysis.     

论英语广告语篇翻译的"三性"原则

广告语篇翻译是一种跨语言、跨文化、目的性极强的交际活动。由于广告语篇是以文谋钱为创作目的,因此,指导英语广告语篇翻译的原则自然地与普通英语翻译的原则有所不同。从英语广告语篇翻译的性质和目的来看,它应当遵循三性原则:信息内容上的忠实性;语言形式上的吸引性;文化上的可接受性。以上三性原则是评价英语广告语篇翻译质量高低的重要标准。     

Persuasive cues and reciprocal behaviors in influencer-follower relationships: The mediating role of influencer defense

In today's internet ecosystem, social media influencers serve a central purpose in the creation of a compelling online presence that engages their followers. This study examines the impact of social attractiveness, physical attractiveness, attitude homophily, actual self-congruity, and parasocial interactivity on influencer defense and purchase intention in the context of beauty influencers. A total of 689 respondents were recruited using Sina Weibo, one of the largest social media platforms in China. The results demonstrate that physical attractiveness, attitude homophily, actual self-congruity, and parasocial interactivity are crucial in affecting influencer defense. However, only attitude homophily, actual self-congruity, and parasocial interactivity emerged as significant predictors of purchase intention. The findings afford insights that can further understanding of the influencer-follower relationship in the social media environment.     

Is Beauty in the Aisles of the Retailer? Package Processing in Visually Complex Contexts

Visual appeal is an important consideration in the design of brand packages because attractiveness guides behavior. The visual complexity of a context (i.e., the quantity, irregularity, detail, and dissimilarity of objects) in which a retailer displays a package may impact its attractiveness by influencing attention and processing fluency. Employing consumer samples, and stimuli ranging from the abstract to the realistic, three studies provide evidence that people process a package more fluently, thus increasing its attractiveness, when it is presented in a low rather than high complexity context. This effect is more pronounced with inherently appealing packages, and with people who are more field-dependent or pursuing utilitarian shopping goals. Study 1 establishes effects by employing psychometric measures and abstract stimuli; study 2 corroborates findings with another product category and realistic stimuli; and study 3 complements psychometric measures with eye tracking data to demonstrate that visually more complex contexts divert viewer attention, hereby lowering processing fluency and target attractiveness. The authors discuss the theoretical contribution and strategic insights the research provides for retailers, brand managers, and designers.     

Understanding the impact of host facial characteristics on Airbnb pricing: Integrating facial image analytics into tourism research

People rapidly and subconsciously process information from facial images. On sharing economy platforms, facial cues can provide a useful supplement to other information provided by reputation systems. Previous small-scale, rater-informed studies examining trust and attractiveness based on facial features on Airbnb found mixed support for impacts on pricing. We re-examine their impact using deep learning to classify host faces for an extensive data set of Airbnb accommodation in 10 US cities (n = 78,215). Together, trust and attractiveness contribute to almost a 5% increase in prices for Airbnb accommodation. We also test Gray's theory of motivation via the examination of pricing for different types of accommodation, finding that trust is more important in situations of smaller accommodation shared with strangers. The paper concludes with limitations and implications for research and practice.     

Effects of shopping centre re-investments and improvements on sales and visit growth

PurposeEstablished shopping centres have in recent years experienced increasing competition due to a steady increase in newer and bigger centres as well as online shopping. How could existing centres compete on such terms?Design/methodology/approachThis analysis is based on interviews with 96 shopping centre managers in charge of malls that existed in 2008 and 2014, about their improvements during a three-year period and the effects on sales and number of visitors from one year before and one year after that period. The investments and improvements are structured and analysed mainly along seven common categories of shopping centre attributes recognised as determinants of customer satisfaction and/or patronage behaviour in existing research.FindingsThe results show significant positive relationships between shopping centres' improvements and the growth in sales as well as visit rates. The effects are, however, more significant for sales than visit growth. The forms of investment that yielded the greatest positive effect are improvements in physical dimensions such as access, atmosphere the retail mix. Increased investments in less physical dimensions such as promotions, entertainment, refreshments and service had little or no effect.Originality/valuePresent studies on centre renovations and improvements are merely case studies or studies of single cases, but this study deals with larger number of cases and long-term effects. In contrast to previous research on shopping centres and the role of satisfaction and patronage, with recommend balance between physical and non-physical aspects, this study highlights the importance of physical capital dimensions.     

Estimating attractiveness,hierarchy and catchment area extents for a national set of retail centre agglomerations

There is a legacy of research aiming to conceptualise and empirically estimate retail store catchment areas, however, a dearth that frames such considerations within the context of retail agglomerations and their position within regional or national networks. As a result, this paper provides an extension to single store or shopping centre retail catchment estimation techniques, and presents an empirically specified and tested production constrained model for a national network of retail centres in the UK. Our model takes into account the spatial interactions between potential customers and a hierarchical network of retail centres to estimate patronage probabilities and catchment extents. The model is tested for a large metropolitan area vis-à-vis real world shopping flows recorded through a survey of shoppers. Finally, we present an open source software tool for custom model fitting, and discuss a range of theoretical and empirical challenges that such a model presents.     

The relative importance of facial attractiveness and gender in Hong Kong selection decisions

This field experiment found that Hong Kong human resources management specialists were influenced by the attractiveness bias in evaluating short-listed candidates for an entry-level trainee position. Zero order, stepwise and hierarchical regressions showed that perceived attractiveness of the candidates was more related to their work experience and work-related skills than to grade-point average and public examination results. Women candidates were generally preferred over male candidates. Further research is suggested to determine if the influence of attractiveness extends over a wider range of jobs and to measure more precisely the influence of attractiveness in different cultures and for men and women.     

Election systems,the “beauty premium” in politics,and the beauty of dissent

We ask three questions. First, do election systems differ in how they translate physical attractiveness of candidates into electoral success? Second, do political parties strategically exploit the “beauty premium” when deciding on which candidates to nominate, and, third, do elected MPs use their beauty premium to reap some independence from their party? Using the German election system that combines first-past-the-post election with party-list proportional representation, our results show that plurality elections provide more scope for translating physical attractiveness into electoral success than proportional representation. Whether political parties strategically use the beauty premium to optimize their electoral objectives is less clear. Physically attractive MPs, however, allow themselves to dissent more often, i.e. they vote more often against the party line than their less attractive peers.