Celebrities have been involved in endorsing various activities since the eighteenth century. This article focuses on five aspects: to examine the present status of literature available on the effect of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying behaviour; to identify whether there is any association between the three groups of consumers (supporters/neutral/opposers of celebrity endorsement); applying multi-logit analysis to identify the probability of a consumer in becoming a supporter/neutral/opposer of the celebrity endorsement based on demographic profiles of consumers; to examine the celebrity attributes likely to influence consumer purchase intentions; and, finally, to examine the perception of the Goan consumers about celebrity endorsements. Literature review revealed that no major studies have been carried out on the impact of celebrity endorsement on Goan consumers’ buying behaviour. Hence, a survey using structured questionnaire was administered among 200 consumers during June 2015 to April 2016, with a response rate of 86 per cent (received responses were 171). It was found that a significant association exists between celebrity supporters/neutral/opposers with respect to age, gender, occupation and income level, except in case of education and location. Consumers also find celebrity endorsements more attractive and influential as compared to non-celebrity endorsements. Moreover, the tested attributes show positive relationship with purchase intention, except in case of expertise and trustworthiness of celebrity. In general, it can be concluded that celebrity attributes do impact the purchase intention of consumers.

To strategically utilize resources to minimize the negative impacts of tourism and increasing the social support for tourism development, the present study examined the residents of the State of Goa by using the model developed by Perdue et al. (1990), later extended by Mc Gehee, et al. (2002), and also based on social exchange theory, tried to determine whether personal characteristics and personal benefits from tourism influence perception of tourism as well as support for tourism development, and what factors influence support for tourism development and management. The result indicated that personal characteristics were not good predictors of residents attitude tourism impacts with an exception of age, education, and birthplace. Personal benefits from tourism predicted positive impacts of tourism, negative impacts of tourism and also support for additional tourism, which was consistent with Perdue et al. (1990) and Mc Gehee et al. (2002). The research supported social exchange theory as personal benefit and support for additional tourism were significant predictors of tourism planning. However, while support for additional tourism did predict tourism planning, it showed a positive relationship as reported by Mc Gehee et al. (2002) and not a negative one as reported by Perdue et al. (1990). The overall findings support previous assertions that educating local residents about the potential benefits of tourism is critical in obtaining their support for tourism, enhancing their involvement in the industry, and achieving sustainable community development.

This study developed a sustainability policy evaluation for medical tourism supply chain (MTSC) that is validated using the Delphi method and the analytical network process (ANP). This study assessed the criteria through expert survey method by five experts from the government, the academe, and the industry. Results showed that the financial perspective is the heaviest among the criteria, indicating unanimous agreement of the experts and scholars that a healthy financial situation is necessary to integrate the MTSC. This study can provide criteria and correct the overall performance for MTSC entrepreneurs and scholars. Lastly, the conclusion provided MTSC-related insights and suggestions.

This study proposed the use of the benchmarking framework to evaluate the performance of vocational education and training centers (VETC) in using the Taiwan Training Quality System (TTQS) to ensure the advantages and disadvantages of each factor and to confirm the priority of the weights of the criteria and alternative solutions. This study used the Delphi method, Analytic Hierarchy Process Theory (AHP), and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) as the base method and divided the whole process into three stages. In the first stage, the Delphi method identified and integrated the criteria, sub-criteria, and alternatives. In the second stage, AHP was used to ensure that VETC underwent performance evaluation against their competitors through TTQS to observe the relationships of every criteria and sub-criteria, as well as the overall performance indicators. In the third stage, the TOPSIS is used as the basis to evaluate the VETC performance.