The Internet has emerged as one of the most important distribution channels for financial services firms. However, there is still a need to more fully understand the antecedents to customer use of banking via the Internet. The purpose of this article is to study technology acceptance of Internet banking in Estonia, an emerging east European economy. The present paper modifies the technology acceptance model and applies it to bank customers in Estonia, because Estonia, a country with a developing economy, has focused on Internet banking as an important distribution channel. The findings suggest that Internet bank use increases insofar as customers perceive it as useful. The perceived usefulness is central because it determines whether the perceived ease of Internet bank use will lead to increased use of the internet bank.Put differently, a well-designed and easy to use internet bank may not be used if it is not perceived as useful. We thus conclude that the perceived usefulness of Internet banking is, for banks, a key construct for promoting customer use. We also suggest that models of technology acceptance should be re-formulated to focus more on the key role of the perceived usefulness of the service embedded in the technology. Implications for banks are that they need to put much effort not only into making a user-friendly internet bank, but also into explaining to their customers how the internet bank is useful to them.

Purpose -Businesses developed in Western markets may be so new to emerging and developing markets that they can be considered innovations.Knowledge of innovation adoption is therefore essential for western firms that expand into these markets. 3 Originality/value -This study suggests modifications to Rogers's original model in order to apply it to the fast-growing new CEE economies, thus reaffirming the importance of his model. Methodology

This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

Existing literature is polarized and primarily conceptual on the topic of student-customer orientation. Research into this phenomenon has failed to realize that higher education as such consists of several different educational experiences and has therefore addressed and studied the issue at too general a level, i.e. at the level of the higher education institution (HEI) as a whole, not at the level of educational experiences that an HEI provides. Based on a validated model of educational experiences, validated student-customer orientation questionnaire [Koris, R., & Nokelainen, P. (in press). The student-customer orientation questionnaire (SCOQ): Application of customer metaphor to higher education. International Journal of Educational Management] and a survey conducted among business students (N ¼ 405) in Estonia, the aim of this article is to identify whether in which categories of educational experience and to what extent students expect an HEI to be student-customer oriented. The results of the study show that students expect to be treated as customers in some, but not all categories of educational experience that an HEI offers.

The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for understanding the antecedents and components of athlete brand. Based on a set of 21 interviews conducted in three different countries, a detailed framework is proposed including five antecedents and two components of athlete brand. The antecedents are media (social media, mass media, video games and major sport events), oral communications (word of mouth, and rumors and narratives), impression management, social agents (parents, family members, friends and community), and teams and sport (sport interest, team interest and team geographical location). In turn, the components of athlete brand are related with on-field attributes (behavior, team, achievements, style of play and skills) and off-field attributes (physical attraction, lifestyle, personal appeal, ethnicity and entertainment). Complementarily, these components of athlete brand are proposed to have an impact on fans' loyalty towards the athlete. Implications of these findings for building and managing athlete brand are discussed, and directions for future studies are provided.

Athlete branding is growing topic in academics. This article seeks to investigate athlete branding by focusing antecedents, attributes and its implication among developing south Asian country, Pakistani female fans to help the efforts of an athlete to become an international brand. The final data sample is comprised of 15 semi-structured interviews with female fans of certain athletes. Participant's responses indicated that five major antecedent media, oral communication, social agents, team & sports and impression management are basic source of brand awareness among fans. While selecting their favourite athlete two attributes associated to athletes emerged (on field athlete brand attributes and off field athlete brand attributes). Furthermore, Fan's indicated that athlete brand have positive impact on athlete itself, athlete's teams and on athlete's sponsors as well. These implications further discussed in the article. The result of the study can help to establish athlete brand among conservative societies (i.e. south Asian, Muslim) and second stream sports (i.e., Cricket).

Purpose -The aim of this paper is to enhance the understanding of the consumer attitudes and behaviour towards a new currency, euro, before the process of the changeover. The approach of the current study differs from most past research on the same topic as consumer attitudes are surveyed before the currency changeover, not retrospectively based on consumer recall. The research attempts to achieve the following set of objectives: to identify the general consumer attitudes towards euro and pinpoint sources of tension, resistance and uncertainty before the currency changeover process; to identify the pre-adoption assessment of euro value scales and inflation expectations; and to identify various emotional factors related to the national and European identity in the euro adoption process. Design/methodology/approach -The data analysis of the current research adopts a qualitative methodology. To gather a full insight into the pre-changeover attitudes, opinions, fears and hopes, a total of 29 qualitative interviews were conducted. Findings -The results suggest that consumer attitudes and opinions towards the changeover process are multifaceted and concerns and uncertainties rise from various sources -from rational economic aspects to emotional aspects related to national identity. This research points also to the underestimated role of national pride in the process of transfer from the national currency to euro. Research limitations/implications -The study is one of the first attempts to research consumers before a forthcoming changeover; thus it is exploratory in its nature and has the traditional limitations of an exploratory research. Based on the initial findings, it would be possible to design a quantitative research for the subsequent countries adopting euro. Practical implications -The research identifies the attitudes of consumers before the changeover, outlining their doubts, fears and prejudices. The results can be used by subsequent countries adopting euro while planning their changeover strategies. The efforts of the strategy developers should be directed towards addressing the real challenges people face before the changeover. Originality/value -A distinctive contribution of this study lies in the addressing of the pre-changeover attitudes and opinions before the currency change took place. Although there have been surveys asking respondents to recall their pre-changeover opinions, the accuracy of the respondents' memory over time has decreased, which is why such surveys may not give a valid picture. This paper contributes to the understanding of the pre-adoption phase in a currency changeover process as seen from the point of view of consumers.

This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.