This research is a qualitative exploration of first and second year university students' experiences of feedback, specifically focused on their expectations and feelings. The data (n = 46) were collected from internal and distance-learning students in their first or second year, who are of lower socio-economic status and first in family to attend. The results suggest that students expect feedback to inform future assessments and provide sufficient explanation to help them improve. Moreover, students are also sophisticated in their use of feedback as some become more self-reflective learners using feedback rubrics to compare their assessment with the academic comments. The conclusions of this research are that students appreciate feedback when it is clear and instructive, they value the critical opinion of academics, but there are still issues of power imbalance as students may still be unwilling to contact academics if the feedback requires clarification.

The purpose of this article is to examine how students are incorporating online resources into their self-regulated learning strategies. The process of developing these learning strategies and the importance of these strategies has been widely researched, but there has been little empirical research into how the students are affected by online environments. This preliminary study focused on the relationship between the use of online resources and the students’ overall outcome in the subject. The data were collected from first year on-campus (n = 105) and distance education (n = 258) students after completing their introductory marketing subject. The data were analyzed using correlations, simple regression, and Tobit regression to assess online activity and student outcomes. The results indicate that the use of these online resources has a significant and positive effect on the students’ grade. This finding suggests students are incorporating online environments into their learning strategies, which results in higher grades. Moreover, in practical terms, the results imply that teachers can help facilitate student self-learning strategies by creating encouraging and resource-rich online environments.

The demand for luxury goods is growing in new emerging markets. However, there is still minimal research on the influence of culture and materialism on consumers' purchasing behaviour for luxury goods in these markets. Data were collected using an online survey from 532 luxury customers in Jordan. This research provides empirical evidence that adds to brand luxury studies by investigating the relationship between cultural orientations (vertical-horizontal), dimensions of individualism and collectivism with materialism and other interpersonal factors influencing materialism and luxury purchase intentions. The findings show that materialism is highly correlated with vertical orientations. Moreover, the relationship between materialism and purchase intentions is not significant but mediated by the bandwagon effect and status consumption. This suggests that Jordanian consumers buy luxury products to help support their social status and keep up with trends within their social groups. For marketing management strategy, to encourage purchases, communication strategies should emphasise the social value of the purchase.

Purpose People living with a disability (PWD) are often a marginalized vulnerable group who are economically and socially disadvantaged. This paper aims to explore the implementation of new social and financial policy reforms aimed at transforming the disability sector. Using the capabilities approach, the authors explore the experience of carers and evaluate how this sector may have become more exposed and vulnerable as a consequence of the new policy. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative study with two rounds of semi-structured interviews; at initial-phase (n = 18) and post-phase (n = 14). Thematic analysis was applied to the capabilities and vulnerabilities framework to categorize and analyze the interview data. Findings The findings show that there are many ways PWD and carers are experiencing increased levels of vulnerability because of their capabilities. There is evidence of increased vulnerability in the intersections between PWD/carers’ inherent nature, the disruption to vital social relationships and conflicting values and interests of stakeholders and the complexity of situational policy changes. Practical implications Practical implications developed from the findings include identifying ways the government can improve its social marketing communication strategies. They also highlight the importance of building effective social support networks and provide guidelines for measuring capacity building to address some of the underlying factors leading to vulnerability. Originality/value This paper introduces into social marketing, the three-factor vulnerability framework, which conceptualizes the nature of vulnerability, and examines and evaluates the intersections of these factors in relation to the capabilities approach.

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