ABSTRACT
As consumers become skeptical of green products, green brands may need to put trust-building on their business agenda. The study aims to use the rhetorical theory of Aristotle to examine the influence of a green brand story on perceived brand sincerity and brand trust. The study explores whether customer perceived value (CPV) mediates the effect between three means of persuasion used by a green brand story and perceived brand sincerity, and whether the need for cognition (NFC) plays a moderating role. A model is proposed and tested through three independent experiments in which participants were exposed to green brand stories and asked to complete a questionnaire. The results show that the green brand story with three means of persuasion has a more positive impact on perceived brand sincerity and brand trust than the green brand story without, and the impact is partially mediated by CPV. Besides, NFC moderates the effect: perceived brand sincerity of green brands improves with three means of the persuasion-laden story when NFC is relatively high. Specifically, the study reveals that pathos and ethos in a green brand story have positive effects on perceived brand sincerity through emotional value and social value, but the effect of logos is not identified. The findings contribute to the literature on brand storytelling, brand personality, and green marketing and have managerial implications for green brands to sustain a customer-brand relationship.
ABSTRACT
Speed climbing has become an Olympic event. However, there have been limited studies on the athletic performance of elite speed climbers under the current IFSC rule. Thus, this study aims to perform a statistical analysis of the performance of elite speed climbers and compare the different sex of the 2019 IFSC Speed Climbing World Cup. The 384 times climbing result in total climbing time, the time of four phases, and the start reaction time were calculated. In addition, the statistical data of men and women's total error rate in the final round, the error rate in each final round, as well as the body position and the phase when errors occurred were gathered. Several results were not found in previous studies. Firstly, there is no statistical significance between starting reaction and climbing time of male and female. Secondly, there was no significant correlation between phases of the route for male athletes. While there was a statistical correlation between adjacent stages for women, the time of women in each stage was significantly correlated with the previous stage (p < 0.05). The error rate of both men and women in the medal competition stage reached a high rate of ~50%. While the error rate of men in each phase of route has no significant difference, While the error rate of women in the fourth phase was significantly different from the first three parts (p < 0.05), gender-specific training procedures should be developed for elite athletes. Future research should test the psychological state and pressure of speed athletes in the competition.
