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Purpose The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to study the influence of self-brand image congruity and value congruity on consumer engagement in online brand communities (OBCs); second to test whether gender moderates this effect; and third, it also examines the role of consumer engagement as a driver of brand loyalty. Design/methodology/approach Using an online questionnaire, 443 responses were collected from consumers who are members of at least one OBC on Facebook. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings The results revealed that both self-brand image congruity and value congruity significantly affect consumer engagement. A positive effect of consumer engagement on brand loyalty was also attained. Third, the results revealed that gender did not moderate the examined relationships. Practical implications This research integrates and broadens existing explanations of different congruity effects on consumer engagement. This study thus suggests the value of developing their OBCs to exhibit congruence with customers’ self-image and value, which in turn, will contribute to the development of brand loyalty. Originality/value This research applies congruity theory to examine the impact of self-brand image- and value congruity on consumer engagement in OBCs. Through the establishment of this novel theoretical link, this study furthers insight into the domain of social media marketing.

Purpose -The aim of this paper is to present a taxonomy of available literature on the relation of sustainability performance and firm performance, and to provide a path for future research for this field of study. Design/methodology/approach -Research papers were collected on sustainability performance assessment from various journals available at different online databases. The unit of evaluation was a full paper published in one of the relevant journals. Papers were classified in different categories and tabulated under various classes. A total of 101 research paper sources were studied and assessed in terms of nature of research, level of analysis, and application. Findings -The review reveals that most of the research in the field of sustainability performance and firm performance association, analyzed this relationship in developed countries. The result differs in various cultural and economic contexts and there is no universally accepted direction of this relationship. Contribution of research has also revealed a pattern of growth in recent years. Financial performance is used in most of the research as a proxy to firm performance. As discussed, the different research gaps may be exploited for further research. It also argues that further empirical research in relation of corporate sustainability performance and firm performance is required in developing countries.Research limitations/implications -The findings of this paper can be generalized only to the specific population of online databases selected for this research for a given period of time and not for the entire universe of the sustainability performance literature. There may be various unexploited areas for future research in terms of different variables. Originality/value -This paper fulfils the need of a comprehensive review of corporate sustainability performance assessment literature. It provides a literature review and bibliography for the period between January 1992 and March 2011 for the use of both academicians and practitioners.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and quality performance in Indian service companies.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data was collected using a self‐administered instrument that was distributed to 600 Indian service companies. Of the 600 instrument e‐mailed, 172 usable instrument were returned, yielding a response rate of 28.6 per cent. A stratified sampling procedure was utilized to obtain the minimum sample size of 600 from the four chosen service industries (i.e. Healthcare, Banking, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and Hospitality). The data was analyzed using factor, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analyses.FindingsThe findings revealed that TQM practices were found to be partially correlated with quality performance of the Indian service companies. It was also found that quality culture was perceived as the dominant TQM practice in quality performance. The other practices such as quality systems, training and education, teamwork, and benchmarking showed a positive relationship with quality performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe research paper was limited by including only four industries in the selection of service companies in India, making this a possibly biased selection and it may not be adequate to generalize the results for the entire Indian service companies.Originality/valueThe study has contributed to the TQM literature with a better understanding of the 17 TQM practices and their association with a company's quality performance that will provide valuable knowledge to top‐management of service companies, to refine their current TQM practices and subsequently improve quality performance.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived social media marketing activities (SMMAs) on customer loyalty via customer equity drivers (CEDs) in an e-commerce context. Design/methodology/approach The study surveyed 371 students from a large university in India. The data were analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis and the research hypotheses were examined using SEM. Findings The study revealed three key findings. First, perceived SMMAs of e-commerce comprise five dimensions, namely, interactivity, informativeness, word-of-mouth, personalization and trendiness. Second, perceived SMMAs of e-commerce have significantly and positively influenced all the drivers of customer equity (CEDs). Third, the CEDs of e-commerce exhibit a significant and positive influence on customer loyalty toward the e-commerce sites. Practical implications This study will help e-commerce managers to boost customer loyalty toward the e-commerce sites through perceived SMMA. Originality/value The study is the first to identify five dimensions of e-commerce perceived SMMA. The current study also introduces the stimulus–organism–response model as a theoretical support to connect perceived SMMAs of e-commerce to customers’ loyalty via CEDs. This is supposed to be the first study to examine the impact of perceived SMMA on customer loyalty toward the e-commerce sites via CEDs in the e-commerce industry.

PurposePrevious research showed that there are some barriers which hinder the implementation of total quality management (TQM) in organizations. But no study has been undertaken to understand the interaction among these barriers and to develop a hierarchy of TQM barriers model. There is an urgent need to analyze the behavior of these barriers so that TQM may be successfully implemented. This paper therefore, aims to understand the mutual interaction of these barriers and identify the “driving barriers” (i.e. which influence the other barriers) and the “dependent barriers” (i.e. which are influenced by others).Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) based approach has been utilized to understand the mutual influences among the barriers of TQM.FindingsIn the present research work, 12 TQM barriers are identified through the literature review and expert opinion. The research shows that there exist two groups of barriers, one having high driving power and low dependency requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance (such as lack of top‐management commitment, lack of coordination between departments) and the other having high dependence and low driving power and are resultant effects (such as high turnover at management level, lack of continuous improvement culture, employees' resistance to change).Practical implicationsThe adoption of such an ISM‐based model on TQM barriers in service organizations would help managers, decision makers, and practitioners of TQM in better understanding of these barriers and to focus on major barriers while implementing TQM in their organizations.Originality/valuePresentation of TQM barriers in the form of an ISM‐based model and the categorization into driver and dependent clusters is a new effort in the area of TQM.