PurposeThe purpose of this research study is to empirically investigate a hypothesized theoretical framework that captures the impact of brand personality congruence, brand love and brand attachment on brand loyalty in the luxury branding sector.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were gathered from 416 millennial shoppers with incomes from US$100,000 and above (High-Earners-Not–Rich-Yet). Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses of the framework developed for the study. Dubai is chosen as the context of the study based on the fact that the luxury brands sector is one of the leading industries in the country, and has a sizeable population of HENRY's.FindingsThe findings of this study revealed that brand personality congruence is a critical determinant of brand love and brand loyalty, suggesting congruence between the consumer's personality and the brand is essential to the luxury branding sector. The study also establishes a relationship between brand attachment and brand loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers new empirical support for the proposition that consumers' emotional aspects like brand personality congruence and brand love are critical for enhancing brand loyalty toward luxury. The findings from this study can provide brand managers with a guide to managing their branding strategies and understand the strategic role of these variables on communication strategies for a new emerging segment of the HENRY's customer segment.Originality/valueThis study contributes to luxury branding and a new segment of millennials by examining the relationship between brand personality congruence, brand love, brand attachment and its effect on brand loyalty in the luxury branding context.

The quality of education provided in management institutions is a matter of debate in every country. With a rapid growth in the economy, the quality of management education provided in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also been a topic in the forefront. The burgeoning growth in this sector, with mushrooming "branch campuses" from around the world in the UAE, has led policy makers to reflect on the importance of quality of management education being imparted. The main purpose of this article is to explore the quality of management education in the UAE, and the study draws on the SERVQUAL model for the same. The study investigates the five dimensions (responsiveness, assurance, tangibility, empathy, and reliability) of service quality and identifies the gap between the perception and expectation, examining service standards across seven branch campus universities for management education providers in the UAE. A questionnaire survey with 300 university students from seven different branch campus universities in the UAE was conducted. The key findings of the study revealed a significant difference between the student's expectations from management education and their perception in all five dimensions of service quality. The gaps were compared across the five dimensions, and the highest and the lowest service quality gaps were given to assurance and responsiveness, respectively.

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate how investment choice gets affected by the demographics and perceptions of the investor. Investor's behavior is influenced by many factors at the time of investment decision making. Demographic profile and perceptions play an important role to select a particular choice of investment. This paper helps to enhance the knowledge on different investment avenues like bank deposits, life insurance policies, mutual funds and equity which in turn will be highly useful to the financial advisors as it will help them advise their clients regarding these avenues with respect to their demographic profiles. The study also highlights the evidences that the investment choice depends on and is affected by the demographic variables and perceptions. However, the results of this research shows that the most investors have little knowledge on the investment avenues for their investments. Mann Whiteny 'U' test, Kruskal-Wallis has been conducted to test the hypotheses with the help of SPSS. Logistic regression results of this study proves that investors' age, gender, education and occupation significantly influences the selection of investment avenues. Wealth Management professionals emphasizes that customer behavior and psychology play a vital role in successfully building and sustaining a wealth management relationship. Behavioral finance is new emerging science which focuses on understanding the psychology effects on investment decision.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to utilize social cognitive theory to investigate how social comparison orientations, individual cognitive, and environmental factors influence females' decisions to pursue self-employment in the United Arab Emirates In doing so, the authors explore how the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of Emirati women also influences individuals towards entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachUsing a survey instrument administered in both English and Arabic, data were collected from one hundred and three (103) employed Emirati women and eighty-four (84) self-employed Emirati women who were taking part in workshops conducted by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.FindingsThe results from the study suggest that the social environment is a contributing factor toward self-employment, with higher levels of social comparison orientation increasing the likelihood of Emirati women being self-employed. Consistent with prior research, the authors also find that internal cognitive factors also play a significant role, with Emirati women possessing higher levels of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and having a higher likelihood of being self-employed.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies aimed at exploring the role of social comparison orientation as a factor in motivating females towards entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.

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