Credibility

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the e-commerce credibility factors affecting the perception of
users in Saudi Arabia and, moreover, to investigate whether the variation of credibility factors in Saudi
Arabian e-commerce websites influence users' performance. Website credibility, which refers to the
believability of the website and its content, plays an important role in consumers’ successful online
shopping experience and satisfaction. This investigation is conducted by employing two credibility
evaluation methods: heuristic evaluation and performance measurement. This study adopts Fogg's 10
Stanford credibility guidelines as a starting point for the heuristic evaluation. In the performance
measurement method, two measurements are used: the amount of time needed to finish the task and the
total number of clicks taken to finish the task. A frequency analysis of the comments and a one-way ANOVA
test are used to establish the results. Three e-commerce websites in Saudi Arabia are selected. The findings
show that Fogg’s 10 Stanford credibility guidelines can be implemented in the Saudi Arabian e-commerce
context with minor modifications and expansions by adding reputation, endorsement, security, and service
diversity guidelines. Another important finding is that professional website design plays a vital role in
users' first impression of websites, while usability is the most important credibility factor investigated used
to evaluate the credulity of an e-commerce website. Lastly, the results of this study indicate a relationship
between the e-commerce credibility level and users’ performance. This paper contributes to the literature
by providing a set of credibility guidelines associated with specific criteria, which can be assessed to
improve the future of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia.

Web usability is a significant factor in increasing user satisfaction, performance, trust, and loyalty. Web usability is particularly important for people who mostly depend on the website and for one reason or other cannot visit an institution, such as online distance education students. Accordingly, universities and educational websites need to determine the types of usability problems they have on their websites. However, far too little attention has been paid to providing detailed information regarding the types of specific usability problems that could be found on e-learning websites in general, and specifically, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The aim of this paper is to study and analyse the usability of university websites that offer distance education courses in the KSA. A total of 12 universities in Saudi Arabia were considered, which include 11 affiliated and one private university. The analysis of the data represents the level of usability of distance education websites. Results reveal that in Saudi Arabia, distance education websites are reliable, but violate basic usability guidelines.

This paper explores the challenges facing the policy mix in Central Europe (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic) since the beginning of the 2000s. In a context of disinflation via direct inflation targeting and of preparation for EMU entry, clashes were observed between independent central banks and governments, leading to several conflicts on the policy mix and on the status of the central bank. We first outline the institutional and economic framework of monetary and fiscal policies in Central Europe, then expose the conflicts observed. Then we try to explain them first in terms of lack of monetary policy credibility, which is not very convincing, then in terms of the imperfections of the institutional framework governing macro policies, which seems more adequate. We also try to explain how these conflicts were more or less resolved since 2007.

Anonymity affords whistleblowers the best protection against retaliation. Yet, prior theory has suggested that anonymous whistleblowers are perceived by investigators to be less credible than identified sources. To address this issue, we propose and assess the use of self-sovereign identity (SSI) in whistleblowing reporting systems. SSI would allow whistleblowers to include a verifiable claim regarding employment without revealing any additional identifying information. Therefore, investigators could receive anonymous reports submitted through publicly accessible reporting systems without sacrificing the ability to verify that the whistleblower was employed by the organization. First, we review relevant whistleblowing research, paying particular attention to anonymity and credibility issues. Second, we introduce SSI and discuss how it can be used to enhance credibility for anonymous whistleblowers. Third, we outline our formal hypotheses. Fourth, we explain our planned methodology. Lastly, we discuss the implications of our study.

Un narrador en quien no se puede confiar (preso de la locura, lleno de mentiras…) es una de las armas más poderosas que puede usar un autor. Como veremos, los efectos se multiplican cuando ese escritor es Edgar Allan Poe. Por otro lado, o además, si hay algo que pueda deleitar más que leer a Poe, eso es enseñar a Poe. Sus narradores, los que aparecen en historias como "The TellTale Heart" o "The Black Cat", ofrecen un ejemplo magnífico para nuestro proyecto. Mentalmente inestables, a pesar de sus (¿)pretendidas(?) intenciones de credibilidad, dichos narradores suelen alejarse subjetivamente de los hechos. Es por ello que estas historias formarán parte del corpus de narraciones que aquí presentamos.

People may utilize various sources when searching for health information, including blogs. This study sought to describe the nature of non–personal journal health and medical blog posts and the frequency of interactive blog feature use within these blogs, as well as to understand the quality of content found within health and medical blogs as determined by blogger expertise and blog host. A quantitative content analysis was performed on 398 blog posts from a constructed 1-week sample of posts in WebMD, Yahoo!Health Expert Blogs, and independently hosted blogs. Results show most health and medical blog posts highlighted and provided commentary pertaining to medical issues found in external media such as books, television, Web sites, magazines, and newspapers, whereas only 16% contained actual health or medical information. In addition, distinct differences in patterns of content were evident between credentialed and noncredentialed bloggers, as well as different blog hosts.

Social media has an influence on tourism industry. This conceptual model research wants to investigate the impact of Social Media (SM) on user's travel purchase intention and attitude. Data will be gathered from Social Media users to be gauge the relationships between the factors of SM and the user attitude in travel purchase intention through structural equation modeling (SEM). Main purpose of the research is to be found if there is a positive relationship among the following factors: source credibility in SM and user attitude in travel purchase intention, information reliability in SM and user attitude in travel purchase intention, user enjoyment while searching for travel information, perceived value in travel services information from SM and user attitude in travel purchase intention. This study presents a theoretical conceptual model based on the theory of credibility, information, enjoyment, and perceived value in SM and the potential relations of those factors with the customer attitude and purchase intention in travel services.

Scholars and policymakers currently lack systematic criteria for determining the credibility of China's foreign policy signals, which has produced widely divergent conclusions about its likely intentions. "China optimists" view China's cooperative signals as credible, while dismissing its non-cooperative behaviors as unrepresentative of its broader preferences. Conversely, "China pessimists" see China's cooperative signals as non-credible misrepresentation, and focus on China's recent "assertive" behavior. Drawing on theoretical scholarship on signaling and credibility in IR, this paper introduces general deductive criteria for assigning credibility to a rising state's foreign policy signals. It then applies these criteria to evaluate the specific Chinese signals that optimists and pessimists have cited in support of their respective positions. The analysis finds that both optimists and pessimists have overlooked multiple conditions that have reduced the credibility of China's cooperative and non-cooperative foreign policy signals alike. This implies that far more uncertainty about China's intentions is warranted than has been acknowledged on either side of the current debate.

Functional foods are experiencing a growing demand worldwide as consumers seek ways to take control of their health. Despite this growing demand, the lack of a standard definition for functional food for formal categorization and regulation results in many functional food products run into hurdles for consumer acceptance, as many people are not familiar with the concept, and scientific evidence that could increase legitimacy of these products is not widely available. Of the 15 steps the Functional Food Center has outlined for development of functional food products, marketing a product to educate people is closely related to consumer acceptance and is therefore an important step to study to increase success of functional food products. This review article will focus on recent studies that examine carrier/ingredient combinations, information channels, credibility, and consumer targeting and how they can impact consumer intent to purchase or accept functional foods. These studies buil...

Web 2.0 technologies have seen a big evolution recently leading to the existence of a huge amount of unreliable and misleading content due to the openness and low publishing barrier nature of the content generated through social media platforms. As a fact, the User-Generated Content (UGC) on social media platforms suffers from a lack of professional gatekeepers to monitor this content. Consequently, most online users fall into the trap of being misled through fake information that spreads rapidly. They usually rely on this information without any verification and this prevents them from making accurate decisions concerning their social lives, politics, or business events. Because online users face difficulty in finding which piece of information is credible or not, the researchers found that assessing User-Generated Content (UGC) of social media is very important in resolving the issue of credibility. This paper adapted some of the existing literature and concluded that many previous approaches have investigated information credibility on Twitter and a limited number of Facebook for proposing a new approach for measuring posts credibility. The proposed model used to measure the credibility of Facebook posts through a formula combined from the page profile rank and the post-analysis score. The model was tested and achieved 87.45 % accuracy.

This paper investigates whether shopping apps that use Augmented Reality influences purchase intentions among millennials. Respondents were selected using a purposive sampling method whereby the respondents have to be users of shopping apps with Augmented Reality features and also snowball sampling where the respondents who used Augmented reality apps for shopping refer others whom they know have also used the same apps or different Augmented reality apps for shopping. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit responses from these respondents. Data gathered from 384 respondents primarily from India included age, gender as well as the augmented reality app or site used for shopping. Some results are expected, variables being highly correlated. The findings indicate that Credibility of the Augmented Reality marketing is shown to significantly affect purchase intention. In general Augmented Reality has an effect on customers purchase intentions.

With the rise of Corporate Social Reporting (CSR) reporting, questions have emerged regarding its true utility; CSR reports may more closely resemble marketing materials than financial statements as much of the data companies provide can be cherry picked. For example in 2011, only 20% of S&P 500 companies published CSR reports vs 85% in 2017 and 90% in 2019. Why is this relevant for communicators? Because the responsibility of producing and promoting CSR reports very often falls under the responsibility of the corporate communications team. How to avoid "CSR-washing" and all the other "washing" incidents-green-washing, blue-washing, rainbow-washing, vegan-washing,...? How to focus on portraying the organization as a truly and authentic dedicated corporate citizen? In-depth interviews with 15 senior communication practitioners in Canada helped identify what are "authentic" and "responsible" communications in the CSR space: using facts and testimonials, being transparent, showing authenticity as well as demonstrate the clear alignment with the organization's purpose.

Due to cluttering in advertisements, firms are unable to communicate effectively with potential customers forcing them to use the celebrity endorsement strategy. This paper aims to examine the effect of celebrity endorsement (i.e. attractiveness, credibility and product match-up), perceived quality and brand loyalty on consumer purchase intentions. This study also examines the mediating role of perceived quality in brand loyalty and purchase intentions. A total of 800 questionnaires were distributed to young adult consumers out of which 560 useable responses were received. After preliminary statistical analysis, the Smart PLS software was used for estimating the measurement and structural models. The results suggest that three aspects of celebrity endorsement (i.e. celebrity attractiveness, credibility and product match-up) promote purchase intentions. Brand loyalty and perceived quality also promote purchase intentions. Moreover, perceived quality affects brand loyalty, while brand loyalty mediates the perceived quality and purchase intentions relationship. It is important for marketing managers to select the right celebrity for endorsement. Various celebrities may not be effective for several product categories and target audience. Therefore, it is recommended that marketing managers while selecting a celebrity must carefully consider product attributes, celebrity personality and the characteristics of the target audience. Moreover, the selected celebrity should not have endorsed too many products or competing brands. Ignoring these aspects may confuse consumers and adversely affect brand image. Firms should also not ignore brand quality and loyalty as both are important determinants of purchase intentions and brand image.

The #MeToo movement has drawn attention to the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence. But more importantly, it has exposed how society discounts the testimony of women. This Article unfolds how this credibility discounting is reinforced in our evidentiary system through the use of character for untruthfulness evidence to impeach victims. Specifically, through defense attorneys’ practice of impeaching sexual and gender-based violence victims’ character for truthfulness as a way to introduce functional evidence of credibility biases regarding the trustworthiness of sexual and gender-based violence victims and the plausibility of their testimonies. The Article further shows a correlation between the poor performance of our legal system in redressing the harms associated with sexual and gender-based violence and our evidentiary rules. Accordingly, the Article advocates reforming the use of character for untruthfulness evidence and proposes a rule that attempts to temper the prejudicial effects caused by long-held credibility biases against sexual and gender-based violence victims with a well-established impeachment tradition, constitutional protections, and judicial efficiency. It does so in hopes that the #MeToo movement becomes a catalyst in the judicial response against sexual and gender-based violence.

Bruno Maggioni ed Ezio Prato sono due docenti di alta caratura, insegnanti di teologia fondamentale che hanno lavorato insieme alla stesura di questo volume con un lavoro redazionale a quattro mani. «Il Dio capovolto» è un testo in cui vengono trattate le tematiche della teologia fondamentale: la rivelazione, la credibilità e la fede. Un contributo per lo studio, un "manuale" per affrontare lo studio della Teologia fondamentale, ma anche uno strumento utile per tutti coloro che vogliono approcciarsi alle tematiche della materia, con un taglio didattico ed espositivo e un linguaggio semplice, non eccessivamente specialistico. Tutto ruota attorno ad un concetto di teologia fondamentale ben espresso in maniera sintetica e lapidaria nel titolo stesso: il Dio capovolto. Questa novità cristiana delinea un percorso di teologia fondamentale ben preciso, con un taglio prettamente cristologico. L'idea di Dio è completamente capovolta dall'avvento e la storia di Gesù. Scrivono gli autori: La storia di Gesù capovolge l'idea di Dio, ovvia, che domina la storia degli uomini: non più l'uomo che deve sacrificarsi per Dio, ma un Dio che muore per l'uomo; non più la distanza quale punto d'arrivo della nostra esperienza del divino, ma l'impensabile vicinanza di un Dio che si fa uomo. Un Dio nuovo. Un Dio diverso.

– This study aimed to determine the level of job performance of engineering graduates from one private institution in the Philippines based in the assessment of their respective employers. Descriptive type of research method was utilized in the study. Results revealed that employers considered electronics and mechanical engineering with very good job performance compared to Industrial engineering in terms of competence. Engineering graduates are considered highly committed on providing necessary support, service and assistance for the welfare of the organization. They have very high level of credibility in performing their duties and responsibilities. They have strong sense of dependability when job requires being responsible and reliable in fulfilling certain duty and obligations. Critical thinking skill is necessary for engineering graduates to possess in order to analyze and solve problems based on scientific approaches to arrive in the right and sound decision. Practical applications of their knowledge in testing hypothesis through conducting experimental researches should also be given importance.

La investigación sobre credibilidad algorítmica se enmarca en el campo de la «interacción persona-ordenador» y la «experiencia de usuario». La  credibilidad algorítmica sería la percibida en aquellos entornos digitales donde los algoritmos deciden en la sombra qué es relevante para el usuario.

El congreso internacional se celebró los días 9 y 10 de noviembre de 2020 de manera telemática desde la Universidad del País Vasco, en Bilbao. A partir de la página 364 está mi ponencia sobre 'Credibilidad algorítmica: la atracción oculta de la tecnología'.

This International PhD thesis is in Spanish and with the Intro and Conclusions of each chapter and final conclusions in English.
[ESPAÑOL MÁS ABAJO]


"In this so-called "storytelling society" or exacerbated narrativity we are interested in the analysis of culture and its products, as we understand that it’s there where the most persuasive narratives of neo-liberalism are produced. After all, we are of the opinion that culture is that grand narrative that subsumes today’s politics, economy, religion and philosophy. In lieu of the discredit of the so-called grand narratives and its structures—family, church, parliament, school, university—this cultural capitalism or “corporativist culturalism” has generated a cosmopolitan, multicultural and pragmatic narrative. A narrative that is attractive and persuasive while it pretends to be, above all, credible.

From the field of the visual arts and its capacity to generate critical discourses with relation to the society it takes part in, we are interested in analyzing today’s hyper-narrative society by means of its narratives and cultural products.

This hyper-narrativity has degenerated into what has recently been termed as “infodemic” or informative pandemic. We suggest thus, as filter or counterpower, the concept of “credibility” departing from the research of history painting as a traditional machine for manufacturing stories, as well as from other intra-artistic and extra-artistic media—e.g. photography, television or social media—in order to apprehend in a critical manner the narratives of contemporary society."

Keywords:
Narrativity – Credibility –Art History – Cultural Studies – Visual Studies – History Painting –Post-Truth –Fake News –Anti-History Painting – Charisma – Max Weber –Trust and Confidence – Niklas Luhmann – Media Confidence – Video – Video Games – Film

ESPAÑOL

En esta sociedad del denominado "storytelling" o narratividad exacerbada nos interesa analizar la cultura y sus productos dado que entendemos que es ahí donde se manifiestan los relatos más persuasivos del neo-liberalismo. Al fin y al cabo, pensamos que la cultura es ese gran relato que ha subsumido a la política, la economía, la religión o la filosofía. Ante la disfunción de las denominadas grandes narrativas y sus estructuras –familia, iglesia, parlamento, escuela, universidad– este capitalismo cultural o  “corporativismo culturalista” ha generado un relato cultural cosmopolita, multicultural y pragmático. Un relato atractivo y persuasivo que pretende ser, sobre todo, creíble. Desde nuestro campo de las artes visuales y su capacidad de generar discursos críticos con respecto a las sociedades en las que se hallan incardinados, nos interesa analizar la hiper-narratividad de la sociedad actual a través de sus relatos y productos culturales.

Esta hiper-narratividad ha degenerado en lo que recientemente se ha denominado “infodemia” o pandemia informativa. Proponemos entonces el concepto de “credibilidad”, apoyándonos tanto en el estudio de la pintura de historia como máquina tradicional de manufacturar relatos como en otros medios intra-artísticos y extra-artísticos, como la fotografía, la televisión o los medios sociales, para aprehender de manera crítica los relatos de la sociedad contemporánea.

Palabras clave
Narratividad – Credibilidad – Historia del Arte – Estudios Culturales – Estudios Visuales–Pintura de Historia –Posverdad – Fake News – Anti-pintura de historia – Max Weber – Confianza – Niklas Luhmann – Confianza Mediática – Video – Videojuegos – Cine

We analyze the information credibility of news propagated through Twitter, a popular microblogging service. Previous research has shown that most of the messages posted on Twitter are truthful, but the service is also used to spread misinformation and false rumors, often unintentionally. Specifically, we analyze microblog postings related to " trending " topics, and classify them as credible or not credible, based on features extracted from them. We use features from users' posting and re-posting (" re-tweeting ") behavior, from the text of the posts, and from citations to external sources. Our results show that there are measurable differences in the way messages propagate, that can be used to classify them automatically as credible or not credible.

Social media has contributed to a new marketing strategy where brands forge alliances with social media influencers to generate
advertising content. This strategy is known as influencer marketing, finding itself growing and gaining substantial interest in
the literature. However, the current understanding of the perception of social media influencers regarding the transparency of
the content they advertise is still limited, where practically all studies focus on the perception of the follower and in developed
countries where there is more regulation regarding advertising transparency. To address this issue, this research used the source
credibility theory and the institutional theory with the aim of exploring the perceptions of social media influencers regarding
the transparency of the content they advertise. Based on a qualitative study that incorporated semi-structured interviews with
eight social media influencers from Chile. The results of this study show that social media influencers consider reliability, experience,
online self-presentation and the normative aspects relevant in their credibility of advertising transparency. These findings
contribute to the influencer marketing literature and have important practical implications for the broad and growing field of
advertising, such as marketing professionals, brands and regulators responsible for protecting the consumer.

Consumer behavior and buying people has always been the focus of marketers and managers, and many factors that can affect this have been examined. Celebrities have been used in advertising because of their place among the people. The present study examines the impact of celebrities on different parts of the brand, advertising, corporate, as well as on social status. Collected data from questionnaires were analyzed with SPSS and Smart PLS software and correlation coefficient and path coefficients were used to confirm or reject the hypotheses. The results showed that celebrity endorsement has a positive and significant relationship with brand credibility, advertising credibility, corporate credibility and purchase intention. It was also shown that brand credibility and advertising credibility have no significant relationship with the intention to buy, but the credibility of the organization and gaining social status have a positive and significant relationship with buy intention. Brand credibility has a significant and positive relationship with social status as well as advertising credibility with the credibility of the corporation.

Das Internet hat sich in der Schweiz als mediale Vielzweckinfrastruktur mit digitalen Bruchlinien etabliert. Die Kennzahlen punkto Internetverbreitung oder Nutzung sozialer Online-Netzwerke sind gut, wenngleich nicht top. Im internationalen Vergleich hervorstechend ist aber die hohe Bedeutung, die in der Schweiz der Zeitung als Informationsquelle beigemessen wird. Zu diesen Ergebnissen kommt das World Internet Project - Switzerland (WIP-CH), das von der Abteilung Medienwandel & Innovation des IPMZ der Universität Zürich durchgeführt wird. Der Beitrag für Flashextra greift ausgewählte Ergebnisse zur Internet-Nutzung in der Schweiz heraus, die mit der ersten Befragung erzielt wurden.

Previous studies on micro- and macro-influencers demonstrated that micro-influencers are more effective to endorse and promote a product or brand on Instagram. They tend to easily influence brand attitude and purchase intention of their followers. Since advertisers within the travel industry found their way to influencer marketing on Instagram, it is interesting to find out what type of influencer they can work with to target the right people. Further, regulation prescribes that an influencer post should be disclosed when it is sponsored. Since previous findings showed that a sponsorship disclosure had an impact on purchase intention and brand attitude, this was viewed as a moderator in a moderated mediation analysis in this research. This study contributes to the research in effectiveness of travel influencers and sponsorship disclosure by examining how the impact of a sponsorship disclosure in an influencer post can affect brand attitude and visit intention of a destination on Instagram. To achieve the objectives, this study used a 2 (micro vs macro influencer) x 2 (sponsored disclosure vs no sponsored disclosure) between-subjects design. Four conditions were created and randomly distributed among 591 participants. First, the results reveal that macro-influencers have a significant positive effect on the visit intention of a destination. Second, there is a proven indirect effect of credibility as a mediator, meaning a higher credibility of a micro-influencer increases brand attitude. Further, there was so significant effect of sponsorship disclosures on visit intention and brand attitude. By contract a post without sponsorship disclosure negatively affects the relationship between the influencer and brand attitude. To conclude this study shows a higher persuasion knowledge affects brand attitude positively, although it was not moderated by sponsorship disclosure.

The concept of epistemic injustice has recently arisen as a major topic in the field of epistemology, connected to testimony and credibility around discussions of social power dynamics (Grasswick 2018). In Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (2007), Miranda Fricker presented the notion of testimonial injustice (henceforth, T.I.). Roughly, T.I. is an epistemic wrong that occurs when a hearer is not afforded enough credibility by a speaker as a result of an identity prejudice, where the hearer suffers what Fricker dubs a credibility deficit. However, Federico Luzzi (2016) suggested that there could be cases of T.I. where the hearer is given the right level of credibility and that, as a result, the original definition of T.I. may prove too narrow. In this paper, I advance Luzzi’s proposal by contending that there are cases where T.I. obtains in virtue of due credibility.

Due to cluttering in advertisements, firms are unable to communicate effectively with potential customers forcing them to use the celebrity endorsement strategy. This paper aims to examine the effect of celebrity endorsement (i.e. attractiveness, credibility and product match-up), perceived quality and brand loyalty on consumer purchase intentions. This study also examines the mediating role of perceived quality in brand loyalty and purchase intentions. A total of 800 questionnaires were distributed to young adult consumers out of which 560 useable responses were received. After preliminary statistical analysis, the Smart PLS software was used for estimating the measurement and structural models. The results suggest that three aspects of celebrity endorsement (i.e. celebrity attractiveness, credibility and product match-up) promote purchase intentions. Brand loyalty and perceived quality also promote purchase intentions. Moreover, perceived quality affects brand loyalty, while brand...

This article introduces grounded theory and places this method in its historical context when 1960s quantitative researchers wielded harsh criticisms of qualitative research. The originators of grounded theory, sociologists Glaser and Strauss, sought to defend the quality of qualitative research and argued that grounded theory increased its quality by providing a method of theory construction. Our major foci include: (1) introducing the logic of grounded theory, with emphasis on how researchers can use it to construct theory, (2) detailing criteria for quality in the major forms of grounded theory advocated by Glaser and Strauss and augmented by Glaser, Strauss and Corbin and refined by Corbin, and Charmaz and (3) providing an analysis of how constructivist grounded theorists Thornberg, Halldin, Bolmsjö and Petersson attended to the interviewing process, coding, and developing their theoretical concept of double victimizing. Students and researchers new to the method can use our concluding guidelines as a checklist to assess the quality of their constructivist grounded theory research.

Analyzing the case of France, this article aims to explain how the development of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques over the last decade contributed to politicizing the subsurface-that is, putting underground resources at the center of social unrest and political debates. France faced a decline of its oil and gas activity in the 1990s, followed by a renewal with subsurface activity in the late 2000s using EOR techniques. An industrial demonstrator for carbon capture and storage was developed between 2010 and 2013, while projects targeting unconventional oil and gas were pushed forward between 2008 and 2011 before eventually being canceled. We analyze how the credibility, legitimacy and governance of those techniques were developed and how conflicts made the role of the subsurface for energy transition the target of political choices. The level of political and industrial support and social protest played a key role in building project legitimacy, while the types of narratives and their credibility determined the distinct trajectories of hydraulic fracturing (HF) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) in France. The conflicts over EOR techniques are also explained through the critical assessment of the governance framework that tends to exclude civil society stakeholders. We suggest that these conflicts illustrated a new type of politicization of the subsurface by merging geostrategic concerns with social claims about governance, ecological demands about pollution and linking local preoccupations to global climate change.

This paper deals with rape adjudication in the American and Indian contexts, and analyses anomalies while unpacking consent, and understanding credibility of the victim.

The first three chapters deal with American adjudication, and the final chapters draws parallels and lessons from the Indian setting. In the first chapter, I lay the groundwork with a case study of Emma Sulkowicz's rape at Stanford University which I will continue to revisit throughout the first three chapters. I also establish that sexual assault is ubiquitous in American college campuses, and how a whole generation of young, American women are being denied access to justice. The second chapter lays, and weighs the different options available for recourse to a sexual assault victim in the American system, and why the criminal justice system may not be the best answer. The third chapter seeks to understand the genealogy of treatment of consent. It also establishes the legal system’s inordinate reliance on forensic evidence that only reveals physiological violence, and thus, erases psychological harm from the narrative. I question whether admissibility of Rape Trauma Syndrome is the answer to this marginalisation by the biomedical system. In the final chapter, I discuss how and why corroboration of the victim’s testimony in the Indian context holds minimal importance in a rape trial. I explain how honour and chastity come to be central tenets in, and are unique to the Indian context. I touch upon the Nirbhaya rape case, and why it catapulted into popular imagination, and discuss why the demands sought by protestors were of a legal nature.

I have drawn heavily from feminist jurisprudence, sociology of law, access to justice literature, feminist criminology, health anthropology, to an extent, post-colonialism, and social theory on gender, nationalism and Hindutva. This paper came about as an investigation into why law remains so resistant to feminist critique, and how legal knowledge, especially in post-colonial societies where it is the only legitimising discourse, disqualifies and marginalises other epistemologies.

Alberto MONTANER, «Historicidad medieval y protomoderna: lo auténtico sobre lo verídico», e-Spania: Revue interdisciplinaire d’études hispaniques médiévales et modernes [ISSN 1951-6169], vol. 19 (octobre 2014), accesible en línea en <http://e-spania.revues.org/24054>; DOI: 10.4000/e-spania.24054.

Due to cluttering in advertisements, firms are unable to communicate effectively with potential customers forcing them to use the celebrity endorsement strategy. This paper aims to examine the effect of celebrity endorsement (i.e. attractiveness, credibility and product match-up), perceived quality and brand loyalty on consumer purchase intentions. This study also examines the mediating role of perceived quality in brand loyalty and purchase intentions. A total of 800 questionnaires were distributed to young adult consumers out of which 560 usable responses were received. After preliminary statistical analysis, the Smart PLS software was used for estimating the measurement and structural models. The results suggest that three aspects of celebrity endorsement (i.e. celebrity attractiveness, credibility and product match-up) promote purchase intentions. Brand loyalty and perceived quality also promote purchase intentions. Moreover, perceived quality affects brand loyalty, while brand ...