This article focuses on consumer–brand relationships in the social media environment and suggests a typology of the benefits and costs consumers perceive when interacting with social media brand pages. Employing an online questionnaire, quantitative data were collected from 881 followers of popular brand pages on both Facebook and Twitter. Study results indicate that followers of brand pages on Facebook and Twitter perceive “social,” “functional,” “enjoyment,” “special treatment,” “self-enhancement,” “advice,” and “status” benefits. “Privacy concern,” “information overload,” and “ad irritation” are consumers’ perceived costs. As the same seven factors of relational benefits and three factors of relational costs have been confirmed across all Facebook and Twitter brand pages, it is argued that the structure and dimensions of relational benefits and costs are medium and brand invariant, and are perceived in the same way by Facebook and Twitter followers. Considering the rapid development of social media and their penetration in business marketing actions, this research contributes to the digital marketing literature by providing a better understanding of relational benefits, relational costs, and consumer–brand relationships in a social media context. Finally, the article offers recommendations to brand managers, when designing appropriate social media content, that can enhance and strengthen a brand’s relationship with its customers.
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Simulation games (SG) offer great opportunities for students to learn and experience realworld business decisions in a risk-free learning environment. However, the impact of using SG on educational outcomes is not fully understood. Drawing on experiential learning theory, we develop a conceptual model to examine students' perceptions of the educational values generated from a SG adopted in a postgraduate program at a UK business school. The study gathered data from 120 students by using survey data and qualitative data from students' reflective reports. Results show that SG have positive impact on students' conceptual understanding, skills development and affective evaluation of their learning experience. The paper discusses the findings and its implications for educational practitioners and offers directions for future research.
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