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This research examines customer engagement in social media (CESM) using a meta-analytic model of 814 effect sizes across 97 studies involving 161,059 respondents. Findings reveal that customer engagement is driven by satisfaction, positive emotions, and trust, but not by commitment. Satisfaction is a stronger predictor of customer engagement in high (vs. low) convenience, B2B (vs. B2C), and Twitter (vs. Facebook and Blogs). Twitter appears twice as likely as other social media platforms to improve customer engagement via satisfaction and positive emotions. Customer engagement is also found to have substantial value for companies, directly impacting firm performance, behavioral intention, and word-of-mouth. Moreover, hedonic consumption yields nearly three times stronger customer engagement to firm performance effects vis-à-vis utilitarian consumption. However, contrary to conventional managerial wisdom, wordof-mouth does not improve firm performance nor does it mediate customer engagement effects on firm performance. Contributions to customer engagement theory, including an embellishment of the customer engagement mechanics definition, and practical implications for managers are discussed.

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A platelet-aggregating enzyme, PA-BJ, was isolated from the venom of the snake Bothrops jararaca. PA-BJ in a concentration of 3.2 x 10(-8) M promoted 95% platelet aggregation in platelet-rich plasma. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions showed a single protein band with an M(r) of 30,000. PA-BJ catalyzed the hydrolysis of several p-nitroanilide peptide substrates containing Arg or Lys at the scissile bond; among these the most sensitive were the thrombin substrates D-Phe-Pip-Arg-pNA and Tos-Gly-Pro-Arg-pNA. Both the platelet-aggregating and amidolytic activities of PA-BJ were abolished by reaction with phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride. Several benzamidine derivatives, which are competitive inhibitors of trypsin-like serine proteinases, also inhibited the amidolytic activity of PA-BJ. Among the compounds tested, the thrombin inhibitor NAPAP [N alpha-[(2-naphthylsulfonyl)-glycyl]-4-amidinophenylalanine piperidide] showed the strongest inhibitor activity on PA-BJ. The complete amino acid sequence of PA-BJ, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first of a platelet-aggregating enzyme from snake venom, was deduced from the N-terminal sequencing of overlapping fragments cleaved from the reduced and S-pyridylethylated protein by chemical and enzymatic methods. PA-BJ is composed of 232 amino acid residues and contains one N- and one O-glycosidically linked carbohydrate moiety at residues Asn20 and Ser23. Sequence comparison to other venom serine proteinases revealed significant homology, mainly in regions around the catalytic triad and conserved cysteine residues.

Purpose By specifically focussing on the use of mobile banking apps, the purpose of this paper is to examine how perceived justice moderates the relationship between the benefits offered by mobile banking and the consequences of satisfaction with mobile banking. This research employs a model in which mobile banking offers comprehensive benefits, satisfaction and consequences that favour mobile banking; in addition, the model also tests the moderating role of perceived justice and uncertainty avoidance in this context. Design/methodology/approach This survey study was conducted among bank customers who suffered service failure with certain mobile banking apps. The surveys were collected in three different countries: Brazil, India and the USA. A total of 383 questionnaires were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were applied to analyse and test the hypotheses of this study. Findings The results indicate that the benefits offered by mobile banking are positively related to customer satisfaction. Additionally, three consequences of customer satisfaction were analysed: trust, loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. Regarding the context of service failure, the influence of offered benefits on customer satisfaction was significantly different between customers with high and low perceived justice. Uncertainty avoidance (Brazil, USA and India) was not a significant moderator in this study. Practical implications The model can be useful for banks to understand perceived justice. Additionally, managers can use the study’s results to develop strategies to better serve customers. Originality/value The main contribution is to extend previous research on the benefits offered by mobile banking and the consequences of satisfaction with mobile banking, which includes studies on service failure and perceived justice.

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A novel prothrombin activator enzyme, which we have named 'berythractivase', was isolated from Bothrops erythromelas (jararaca-da-seca) snake venom. Berythractivase was purified by a single cation-exchange-chromatography step on a Resource S (Amersham Biosciences) column. The overall purification (31-fold) indicates that berythractivase comprises about 5% of the crude venom. It is a single-chain protein with a molecular mass of 78 kDa. SDS/PAGE of prothrombin after activation by berythractivase showed fragment patterns similar to those generated by group A prothrombin activators, which convert prothrombin into meizothrombin, independent of the prothrombinase complex. Chelating agents, such as EDTA and o -phenanthroline, rapidly inhibited the enzymic activity of berythractivase, like a typical metalloproteinase. Human fibrinogen A alpha-chain was slowly digested only after longer incubation with berythractivase, and no effect on the beta- or gamma-chains was observed. Berythractivase was also capable of triggering endothelial proinflammatory and procoagulant cell responses. von Willebrand factor was released, and the surface expression of both intracellular adhesion molecule-1 and E-selectin was up-regulated by berythractivase in cultured human umbilical-vein endothelial cells. The complete berythractivase cDNA was cloned from a B. erythromelas venom-gland cDNA library. The cDNA sequence possesses 2330 bp and encodes a preproprotein with significant sequence similarity to many other mature metalloproteinases reported from snake venoms. Berythractivase contains metalloproteinase, desintegrin-like and cysteine-rich domains. However, berythractivase did not elicit any haemorrhagic response. These results show that, although the primary structure of berythractivase is related to that of snake-venom haemorrhagic metalloproteinases and functionally similar to group A prothrombin activators, it is a prothrombin activator devoid of haemorrhagic activity. This is a feature not observed for most of the snake venom metalloproteinases, including the group A prothrombin activators.