Local and international celebrity endorsers ’ credibility and consumer purchase intentions

The use of celebrities to endorse products and brands in advertising began as early as the 18th century (Winterich, Gangwar & Grewal 2018). Since then, it has become a widely used advertising technique and has also been widely researched. A celebrity endorser is defined as ‘any individual who enjoys public recognition and uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement’ (McCracken 1989:310). Previous studies have shown that celebrity endorsement can be very beneficial to businesses, by increasing brand recognition, brand recall and brand awareness, as well as increasing sales, profits and even market share (Bergkvist & Zhou 2016; Knoll & Matthes 2017). Not surprisingly, celebrity endorsement has increased globally in recent years, especially in relation to the advancement of marketing in the digital environment and the emergence of social networking sites like Instagram. Instagram, in particular, has extended the idea of celebrity to include micro-celebrities who are ordinary people who become famous by appearing regularly on social media and endorse products and brands on those platforms (Jargalsaikhan & Korotina 2016; Moraes et al. 2019). Varying statistics from western countries show that, in general, up to 25% of advertisements use celebrities (Elberse & Verleun 2012), while in East Asian countries, this figure can be as high as 60% (Yang 2018). In the United Kingdom, research company Statista found that 75% of advertising agency respondents claimed to use celebrities for their social media advertising (‘What roles do celebrities currently play in your marketing strategies’ 2016). Statista also found that 98% of marketers believe that celebrities are highly effective or quite effective in promoting products and brands on social media (‘How effective are celebrities as part of the following marketing strategies?’ 2016).

Introduction
The use of celebrities to endorse products and brands in advertising began as early as the 18th century (Winterich, Gangwar & Grewal 2018). Since then, it has become a widely used advertising technique and has also been widely researched. A celebrity endorser is defined as 'any individual who enjoys public recognition and uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement' (McCracken 1989:310). Previous studies have shown that celebrity endorsement can be very beneficial to businesses, by increasing brand recognition, brand recall and brand awareness, as well as increasing sales, profits and even market share (Bergkvist & Zhou 2016;Knoll & Matthes 2017). Not surprisingly, celebrity endorsement has increased globally in recent years, especially in relation to the advancement of marketing in the digital environment and the emergence of social networking sites like Instagram. Instagram, in particular, has extended the idea of celebrity to include micro-celebrities who are ordinary people who become famous by appearing regularly on social media and endorse products and brands on those platforms (Jargalsaikhan & Korotina 2016;Moraes et al. 2019). Varying statistics from western countries show that, in general, up to 25% of advertisements use celebrities (Elberse & Verleun 2012), while in East Asian countries, this figure can be as high as 60% (Yang 2018). In the United Kingdom, research company Statista found that 75% of advertising agency respondents claimed to use celebrities for their social media advertising ('What roles do celebrities currently play in your marketing strategies' 2016). Statista also found that 98% of marketers believe that celebrities are highly effective or quite effective in promoting products and brands on social media ('How effective are celebrities as part of the following marketing strategies?' 2016).
The cosmetics industry in South Africa contributes an estimated R25.3 billion to the gross domestic product at a retail level (Department of Trade and Industry 2016). Despite economic uncertainties in 2015, there was strong growth in the industry because of the rise in disposable income amongst the black middle classes in South Africa (Department of Trade and Industry 2016). This trend has enhanced sales in many cosmetics products, such as skin care, beauty and facial makeup products, which encourages brand and pricing competition and drives marketers to explore marketing strategies to gain competitive advantage. Cosmetic firms are paying celebrities vast sums of money to endorse their products and gain this competitive advantage (Lord, Petrevu & Collins 2019). In most countries around the world, marketers tend to use a combination of both local and international celebrities to endorse their products, for example Revlon's most famous local brand ambassador in 2015 was Bonang Matheba, while international star Gwen Stefani has also been a Revlon brand ambassador (adage.com).

Local versus international celebrity endorsers
A local celebrity is someone who is well known within a particular community (Ndlela & Chuchu 2016). The local celebrity can either be a local drama actor, local football player or an artist (Wei & Lu 2013). An international celebrity, on the other hand, is a person who is well known worldwide and can either be a sports person, actor or music artist (Torn 2012). International celebrities, because of their widespread appeal, have been used far more as product endorsers and it has been shown that when popular international celebrities endorse a product, it has a positive impact, but is very costly (Sertoglu, Catli & Korkmaz 2014). This has potentially led to an underestimation of the impact that local celebrities can have on consumer behaviour (Nyarko et al. 2015). As people aspire to the lifestyle of well known international celebrities, they cannot as easily relate to them as they do with local celebrities (Fleck, Korchia & Le Roy 2012). Fleck et al. (2012) posited that local celebrities endorsing a local product are more likely to personify the cultural values that local consumers can relate to and there will thus be congruency between the product and the local celebrity that does not exist with international celebrities (Van Der Waldt, Van Loggerenberg & Wehmeyer 2009). It is also easier for local celebrities to be seen as familiar, similar and likeable, which is an important part of celebrity credibility (Fang & Jiang 2015).
It is clear therefore that both international and local celebrity endorsers can benefit marketers and help to achieve the longterm goals of profit making, brand recognition and customer loyalty (Fang & Jiang 2015). Knowing when to use local and when to use international celebrities would be key to a successful and cost-effective marketing campaign.

Problem statement
The majority of the celebrity endorsement research conducted to date looks at the credibility of the endorser in terms of their attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise (Jamil & Rameez ul Hassan 2014;Mikulas & Svetlik 2016;Ohanian 1990). While much of this research has focused on internationally recognised celebrities, there have also been studies conducted in different countries around the world using local celebrities, which have found similar positive effects on consumer behaviour (Abdurrahaman et al. 2018;Knoll & Matthes 2017;Ndlela & Chuchu 2016;Nyarko et al. 2015). Zhang and Zhang (2010) found differences in how Chinese consumers respond to local and international celebrities. So far, however, no studies have been conducted in South Africa to explore the question of whether international or local celebrities have a greater impact on consumer purchase intentions. Local celebrities generally cost far less than their international counterparts and it could be more cost-effective for firms to use local celebrities, but more research is needed to understand if they have a greater or lesser impact on consumers' purchase intentions than their international counterparts.

Objectives of the study
The primary objective of this study was to examine the influence of the credibility of local and international celebrity endorsement on generation Y and Z consumers' intention to purchase cosmetic products.
The secondary objectives were outlined as follows: • To determine the influence of each credibility dimension (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise) on the intention to purchase cosmetic products endorsed by local celebrities. • To determine the influence of each credibility dimension (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise) on the intention to purchase cosmetic products endorsed by international celebrities.

Contributions of the study
This article contributes on a number of levels. Firstly, on a theoretical level, it adds to the body of knowledge regarding celebrity credibility by comparing local and international celebrity endorsers' impact on purchase intentions. Secondly, the article contributes practically by providing guidelines for marketers about the effective allocation of marketing expenditure towards celebrity endorsement advertising. Furthermore, it provides context-specific knowledge relating to celebrity endorsement and young (generation Y and Z) South African consumers' purchase intentions, an area that has to date not been well explored (Ndlela & Chuchu 2016).

Conceptual framework: Models of celebrity endorsement
There are several models that form the basis of the research into celebrity endorsement and its effectiveness. The most well known of these are the source attractiveness, source credibility and endorser match-up models, which relate directly to this study.

Source attractiveness model
Attractiveness is a component of McGuire's source valence model (1985). The source valence model defines attractiveness as the outer appearance or rather the beauty that an individual possesses. The model argues that the physical appeal of a celebrity influences the impact an advertisement has on consumers. This, in turn, motivates consumers' intention to purchase the advertised brand (Fang & Jiang 2015). With this model, the effectiveness of an advertisement also depends on the endorser's similarity, familiarity and likability to the consumers. Similarity refers to some form of recognition or resemblance between the endorser and the consumer. Familiarity is as a result of the respondents or consumers' knowledge of the endorser through exposure. Lastly, likeability is the affection consumers have towards the endorser's physical appeal and behaviour (Sertlogu, Cartli & Korkmaz 2014). Attractiveness is well recognised as an essential of celebrity endorsement and is explored in more detail below.

Source credibility model
Early researchers examined celebrity credibility using several dimensions, including trustworthiness, sociability, expertness, authoritativeness, competence and believability. Critics of this early research noted inconsistencies in terms of the constructs and the methodologies used for investigation (Ohanian 1990). Ohanian noted that previous research into both source credibility and source attractiveness used different dimensions to measure overall source credibility. Inasmuch as all these studies were intended to measure one solid construct, there was lack of consistency amongst the researchers as to the characteristics that made up source credibility. Furthermore, while developing construct scales, many of the early researchers did not analyse the reliability and validity of the scales within their models. This resulted in disparities in the literature surrounding source credibility and led to Ohanian developing a reliable credibility scale in 1990 (Pornpitakpan 2003 Attractiveness refers to the endorser's physical appearance, personality, his or her likeability and similarity to respondents in a target market (Moraes et al. 2019). Ohanian operationalised attractiveness as the components of attractive or unattractive, classy or not classy, beautiful or ugly, elegant or plain and sexy or not sexy. Research into source attractiveness has been mixed. Some studies show that attractive endorsers have a positive effect on consumers' attitudes and beliefs towards a product (Abdurrahaman et al. 2018;Lord & Putrevu 2009;Wang & Scheinbaum 2017). This is attributed to the halo effect, which states that if an individual or product is rated highly in one dimension, they are also rated highly in other dimensions (Eisend & Langner 2010). However, there are also studies where this positive effect was not shown to be significant (Bergkvist & Zhou 2016;Erdogan 1999).

Hypothesis 1 -Celebrity attractiveness:
H 1A : Celebrity attractiveness has a significantly positive influence on intention to purchase cosmetic products advertised by local celebrities.
H 1B : Celebrity attractiveness has a significantly positive influence on intention to purchase cosmetic products advertised by international celebrities.
Trustworthiness is the extent to which consumers perceive the celebrity to be believable and honest, which has an effect on how the brand or product is viewed (Yang 2018). This means that the endorser must be well versed with a product or brand before they persuade consumers to purchase the product. Terms such as 'favourable disposition, acceptance, psychological safety and perceived supportive climate' are referred to as favourable effects of trust (Ohanian 1990). In line with Ohanian's model, the study operationally defines trustworthiness as the measured constructs of dependable or undependable, honest or dishonest, reliable or unreliable, sincere or insincere and trustworthy or untrustworthy. As with the finding on attractiveness, the extant literature on trustworthiness shows mixed findings. Several studies have found that if a consumer trusts an endorser, he or she is more likely to value the products promoted by that endorser (Abdurrahaman et al. 2018;Amos, Holmes & Strutton 2008;Choi & Rifon 2012;Dwivedi et al. 2015). However, studies by Ohanian (1990) and Rossiter and Smidts (2012) showed no significant effect of trustworthiness on brand evaluations. Deshpande and Stayman (1994), on the other hand, found that consumers are more likely to trust celebrities who they perceive as culturally or ethnically similar to themselves. Studies have also shown that celebrity trustworthiness is more influential than non-celebrity trustworthiness (Fang & Jiang 2015), while Speck, Schumann and Thompson (1988) found no significant difference in consumers' evaluation of a product endorsed by non-celebrities versus celebrities. Interestingly, trustworthiness is the one aspect where products or brands are exposed to the risk of damage to their reputations if the celebrity being endorsed engages in socially unacceptable behaviours. Kang et al. (2019) found a significant negative relationship between trustworthiness and brand evaluations where the celebrity involved (Tiger Woods) had been involved in a scandal.
Hypothesis 2 -Celebrity trustworthiness: H 2A : Celebrity trustworthiness has a significantly positive influence on intention to purchase cosmetic products advertised by local celebrities.
H 2B : Celebrity trustworthiness has a significantly positive influence on intention to purchase cosmetic products advertised by international celebrities.
Expertise in this context refers to an endorser having the right skills and sufficient knowledge to market a product or brand http://www.actacommercii.co.za Open Access (Radha & Jija 2013). It also relates to the extent to which a celebrity is seen as an authority figure in a product category (Kang et al. 2019). Ohanian (1990) operationally defined expertise as an endorser's ability to be an expert or nonexpert, experienced or inexperienced, knowledgeable or unknowledgeable, qualified or unqualified and skilled or unskilled. It is believed that the more skilled a celebrity is, the more useful and attractive a celebrity is perceived to be, and so is the brand or product the celebrity is advertising (Choi & Berger 2010). Rossiter and Smidts (2012) argued that if consumers perceive a celebrity endorser as an expert on a product, he or she will have a positive attitude towards the product and be more likely to buy it. Studies have shown that an endorser's expertise about a product is not important as long as consumers see the endorser as an expert in what they are popularly known for (Keel & Nataraajan 2012). However, the findings regarding expertise are also mixed, as studies have also been conducted where no significant relationships were found between celebrity endorser expertise and consumer behaviour (Abdurrahaman et al. 2018;Wang & Scheinbaum 2017).
Hypothesis 3 -Celebrity expertise: H 3A : Celebrity expertise has a significantly positive influence on intention to purchase cosmetic products advertised by local celebrities.
H 3B : Celebrity expertise has a significantly positive influence on intention to purchase cosmetic products advertised by international celebrities.

Research methodology
A quantitative research approach was adopted for this study because it aimed to quantify the impact of local and international celebrity credibility on generation Y and Z consumers' intention to purchase cosmetics products. Many studies have used quantitative methods with an attempt to gain insights into the concept of celebrity endorsement and its resultant effects (Bergkvist, Hjalmarson & Magi 2016;Sertlogu et al. 2014).
Data were collected from 237 respondents using convenience sampling, which is a non-probability sampling technique. A survey questionnaire was distributed to female generation Y (born between 1981 and 1996) and generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) consumers who were first asked to complete an informed consent form. The use of generation Y and Z consumers has been well documented in previous studies because they are the generations who are most likely to follow celebrity trends (Xu & Pratt 2018). This study delimited the sample to women, as previous research has shown that they make up the majority of the consumers of cosmetics products (Caiola et al. 2018;Fernandes & Panda 2018).

Questionnaire development
A questionnaire was designed using print advertisements of both local and international celebrity endorsers of cosmetics products. To identify and select appropriate endorsers for the questionnaire, 40 female generation Y and Z consumers were randomly selected and instructed to list all local and international female celebrities they know in 3 min. This pretest survey is similar to that used in other studies on celebrity endorsement such as Ohanian (1990) and Sertlogu et al. (2014). The list of celebrities was then filtered to include only those who endorse cosmetic products or brands and ranked based on the frequency of mention. The top two ranking local celebrities were Connie Ferguson and Bonang Matheba, while Beyonce Knowles and Nicki Minaj were the top ranking international celebrities.
The questionnaire was split into two different sectionsone for local celebrities and the second for international celebrities. An advertisement depicting each of these two celebrities was then placed in the relevant section (two advertisements for the local celebrity section and two advertisements for the international celebrity section). Beneath both sets of advertisements was a set of questions and respondents were instructed to look at the advertisements and answer the questions rating the credibility of the celebrities depicted.
The questionnaire adapted the intention to purchase scale and Ohanian's credibility scale, both of which have been shown to be reliable and valid in previous studies (Abdurrahaman et al. 2018;Dwivedi et al. 2015;Hung et al. 2011;Jamil & Rameez ul Hassan 2014;Mikulas & Svetlik 2016;Sertlogu et al. 2014). The credibility scale used a fiveitem seven-point semantic differential scale for each construct in the scale. That included attractiveness (attractive or unattractive, classy or not classy, beautiful or ugly, elegant or plain and sexy or not sexy), trustworthiness (dependable or undependable, honest or dishonest, reliable or unreliable, sincere or insincere and trustworthy or untrustworthy) and expertise (expert or not expert, experienced or inexperienced, knowledgeable or unknowledgeable, qualified or unqualified and skilled or unskilled). A five-item seven-point Likert scale was also included for each set of celebrity advertisements to measure purchase intention.

Pilot study
Whenever a self-administered questionnaire is used, it is recommended to run a pilot study before beginning data collection. This is performed to check that the questions work well together, and to see if respondents understand the questions and the instructions (Bryman & Bell 2015). A pilot study was therefore conducted to ensure that the respondents understood the semantic differential scale as adapted from Ohanian (1990). The pilot study consisted of 30 respondents and showed that the questionnaire was well received. The scales used in the pilot study were tested for reliability by using Cronbach's alpha. Face validity was assessed to determine whether the scales appeared to measure what they intended to measure (Nunnally & Bernstein 1994). This preliminary analyses did not indicate any problems regarding the reliability and face validity of the measurement instrument.

Data analysis
The data were cleaned, prepared and coded in an Excel spreadsheet and then transferred for analysis into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise and categorise the data and included measures of mean, median and mode, as well as skewness and kurtosis. Inferential statistics were used to give an in-depth understanding of the data by examining the relationships between variables under analysis. The data were examined to ensure that the assumptions of reliability of measurement, homoscedasticity, linearity and normality were met. The Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to ensure that the variables were significantly correlated (Babbie 2016).
The data were then analysed using multiple regression analysis, which calculates the causal effect between independent variables and a dependent variable (Babbie 2016). In the current study, (r) was used to calculate the extent to which the independent variables (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise) predicted the intention to purchase cosmetic products advertised by either local or international celebrity endorsers. If a strong relationship was observed between the indicators, it meant that there was a clear positive relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. R 2 is regarded as the coefficient of determination and showed how much of the variance in the dependent variable was explained by each independent variable (Hanneman & Riddle 2011). In the current study, R 2 was used to calculate the extent to which attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise explained the variance in consumer's intention to purchase.

Ethical considerations
The research was conducted following ethical guidelines and participants were asked to sign informed consent forms. These forms highlighted that participation was voluntary and that those who chose not to participate would not be negatively affected in any way. Additionally, participants were made aware that they could stop answering the questions at any point without being penalised. Confidentiality was observed and the participants' identity was not revealed in this research. Ethical clearance was obtained from the University of Fort Hare Research and Ethics Committee (REC-270710-028-RA Level 1, Ethical Clearance Number: VIL141SNYA01, 2017).

Results
Analysis of the biographical data showed that the majority of the respondents (82.8%) were aged 26 years and younger, and 84% received R5000 or less as a monthly income. These results were to be expected, given that it was a sample of generation Y and Z consumers. The majority of the respondents (96%) were black African women, reflecting the demographic make-up of the province in which the study was conducted. The analysis also showed a high variance in the data distribution, which was indicated in all of the items as they had a standard deviation above 1. The skewness and kurtosis results for both local and international celebrity credibility displayed values between -2 and +2 which indicates normality in the distribution of data (George & Mallery 2010).
Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the validity of the data, and all sub-constructs were tested separately (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise) because of the unidimensionality of the scale. The items on each scale were shown to be valid, and no items were removed. The factor loadings were found to be between the range of 0.539 and 0.918, which are deemed acceptable (Bryman & Bell 2015). The Cronbach's alpha was used to test the reliability of the data, and all scales in the study were shown to be reliable and valid, with Cronbach's scores ranging from 0.783 to 0.928 which was above the accepted level of 0.7 (Wiid & Diggines 2014) (see Table 1).
The Pearson correlation coefficient is a standardised measure that explains the strength of the relationship amongst variables (Malhotra 2015). Pearson correlation was used to explain the relationships between the credibility dimensions for local and international celebrities (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise) and intention to purchase. Table 2 summarises the correlation scores.
As shown in Table 2, all of the independent variables have statistically significant correlation coefficients with the dependent variable at the 0.005 level of significance.

Multiple regression analysis
The current study used multiple regression to explain the relationship between purchase intention (dependent variable) and celebrity attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise (independent variables) for both local and international celebrities.

Predictors: (Constant), Total Local Expertise, Total Local Trustworthiness and Total Local Attractiveness
As summarised in Table 3, the value of the coefficient of determination indicated by the adjusted R 2 shows that the independent variables (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise) in local celebrities explain 21% of variance in consumer purchase intention (dependant variable). As indicated by p < 0.00 at 95% confidence interval and supported by a correlation coefficient of 0.470, the model can be regarded as significant. Table 4 shows a positive relationship between local celebrity attractiveness (r = 3.371; p ≤ 0.01) and trustworthiness (r = 3.453; p ≤ 0.01) (at a satisfactory 99% confidence level), while expertise (r = 1.731; p ≤ 0.1) (at a lower 90% confidence level) also showed a positive relationship towards the dependent variable 'consumer's purchase intention towards cosmetic products'.

Predictors: (Constant), Total International Expertise, Total International Trustworthiness and Total International Attractiveness
As presented in Table 5, the value of the adjusted R 2 was 0.238, an indication that there was a variation of 23.85% on consumer purchasing decision which is a result of international celebrities' attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. In other words, 23.85% changes in consumer purchasing decision of cosmetic products are as a result of international celebrity's credibility dimensions. The correlation coefficient of 0.497 posited that there is an adequate overall positive relationship between international celebrity credibility dimensions (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise) and intention to purchase.
The results show positive relationships between the independent variables (attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise) and the dependent variable (intention to purchase), but only international celebrity expertise was reported as having a significant impact on intention to purchase as the p-value was less than 0.05 (see Table 6).

Discussion
This study was conducted to examine the impact of local and international celebrity credibility on generation Y and Z consumers' intention to purchase cosmetics. Results of the multiple regression show the following about the hypotheses (see Table 7).

Hypothesis 1: Attractiveness
About Hypotheses 1A and 1B, the results of the multiple regression show that local celebrity attractiveness has a significant impact on intention to purchase cosmetic products, but international celebrity attractiveness does not. Both the significant and the non-significant effects are supported in the literature, as previous studies have shown mixed findings. While many studies have demonstrated the significant positive effect of celebrity attractiveness on consumer behaviour (e.g. Abdurrahaman et al. 2018;Eisend & Langner 2010;Lord & Putrevu 2009;Wang & Scheinbaum 2017), there were also studies where no relationship was found (e.g. Bergkvist & Zhou 2016;Kamins 1990;Ohanian 1990). The positive effect for local celebrities may be as result of the fact that respondents might find them more likeable than international celebrities. This would be in line with the findings of Fang and Jiang     (2015) who posited that local celebrities are seen as familiar, similar and likeable, which is an important part of celebrity credibility (Fang & Jiang 2015).

Hypothesis 2: Trustworthiness
About Hypotheses 2A and 2B, the results of the multiple regression show that local celebrity trustworthiness has a significant impact on intention to purchase cosmetic products, but international celebrity trustworthiness does not. Once again, these mixed findings are supported in the literature, as several studies have found significant relationships between celebrity trustworthiness and brand evaluations (Amos et al. 2008;Bahram, Zahra & Zahra 2010;Fleck et al. 2012), while other studies have found no significant effect (Rossiter & Smidts 2012;Ohanian 1990).
In terms of trustworthiness, it is notable that in the cosmetic industry, many facial and skin products can have side effects when used incorrectly. Therefore, consumers require an endorser that they can trust. As noted with celebrity attractiveness, it may be that local celebrities represent local standards consumers are familiar with and this may mean that consumers more easily trust local celebrities (Bahram et al. 2010). Ad hoc comments noted during the pilot study revealed that consumers found it more difficult to rate the honesty and trustworthiness of international celebrities than local celebrities, as they are unfamiliar and different.

Hypothesis 3: Expertise
About Hypotheses 3A and 3B, the results of the multiple regression show that international celebrity expertise has a significant impact on intention to purchase cosmetic products, but local celebrity expertise does not. International celebrities are globally perceived as experts in what they do; therefore, whenever they endorse a product, even if they have no relevant expertise, their expertise in everything else adds to a general perceived level of expertise (Eisend & Langner 2010). It may also be relevant that the South African cosmetics industry is dominated by Revlon which is an international company (Department of Trade and Industry report 2016), and this may lead consumers to attribute more weight to the expertise of international celebrities.

Discussion regarding the primary objective
The primary objective of the study was to examine the influence of the credibility of local and international celebrity endorsement on generation Y and Z consumers' intention to purchase cosmetic products. The results showed that, overall, these young consumers perceive local and international celebrities differently. Local celebrities who are seen as trustworthy and attractive may have more impact than international celebrities with similar traits, while international celebrities with expertise may have more impact than local celebrities with expertise. The study has shown that local South African celebrities have a greater overall impact on South African generation Y and Z consumers in terms of their intentions to purchase cosmetics products. This may be as a result of the 'pertinent effect' whereby physical and psychological nearness, as well as relevance to a local celebrity, makes consumers relate to them and develop an interest in what they do (Bahram et al. 2010). South African celebrities, more so than international celebrities, are seen as real people, and they influence local consumers' purchase behaviour. It is also possible that because of the impact of social media, generation Y and Z are more likely to have local role models that they can more easily relate to and emulate (Ndlela & Chuchu 2016).
The mixed findings presented here and in previous studies highlight the complex nature of this relationship and suggest that there may be moderating variables, which have not been previously identified (Bergkvist & Zhou 2016). Given the nature of these findings, it is possible that celebrity nationality may be a moderating variable.

Managerial implications
The study suggests that South African marketers should continue using celebrities to endorse products aimed at the generation Y and Z target markets, because celebrity endorsement does indeed have a significant effect on the purchase intention of these consumers.
Overall, local celebrities showed a bigger impact on generation Y and Z consumers' purchase intentions than international celebrities, suggesting that marketers of cosmetics should give preference to local celebrities when endorsing products. This would, in turn, have a positive impact on the company's advertising budget and return on investment as local celebrities are usually cheaper.
Marketers who are targeting these consumers should focus on local celebrities who are attractive and trustworthy and should avoid celebrities with a damaged reputation.
Marketers of cosmetics could consider limiting the use of international celebrities to products which require a level of expertise and knowledge. It may be useful to consider using international celebrities at very strategic points in the product life cycle. For example, at the introductory phase when it is important to convey specific information about the product, it may be more beneficial to use international celebrities. When considering expertise, marketers should engage international celebrities who can be seen as authorities in the field, as this will have the biggest impact.

Limitations of the study
This study was conducted with a sample of generation Y and Z consumers in one region and focused specifically on celebrity endorsement in the cosmetics industry. The findings are therefore not easily generalisable to celebrity endorsement of other products or services. The study was http://www.actacommercii.co.za Open Access conducted with female consumers only, so findings cannot be generalised to male consumers.

Future research
Future research would be needed to see if these results would be relevant to the endorsement of other products and to see if older consumers respond in the same way. Further research should be conducted to directly examine the nationality of the celebrity as a moderating variable. Other studies could also look at whether men respond in the same way to local and international celebrities.

Conclusion
The impact of local and international celebrity credibility on generation Y and Z consumers' purchase intentions was investigated, and the relationships between the various constructs were analysed. Mixed findings pointed to the complex nature of the relationships, suggesting that young consumers do indeed respond differently to local and international celebrities, and the celebrity's nationality may be a moderating variable in the relationship, although further research would be needed to confirm this. Marketers should consider using local and international celebrities for different purposes when advertising and endorsing their brands.


Organisational communications in the enterprise management system

In the context of dynamically developing market relations, a modern industrial enterprise should take into account economic, technical and political factors that affect its activities in close connection with the external environment. The problem of improving the efficiency of resource use by enterprises is inextricably linked to the use of timely, detailed, transparent and reliable information in real time. In this regard, communication of the enterprise becomes one of the most important elements of activity and significantly affects the competitiveness. The article analyses the key tasks of organisational communications. According to the results of the analysis, the main problems of communication in enterprises are identified and recommendations for optimising the management of the system of organisational communications are proposed.

Introduction
Various components can be an obstacle (or barriers) to communication: noise, distorting the process of information transmission, linguistic and semantic errors arising at any stage of information exchange, which cannot be avoided completely. Among the barriers to communication, the most significant ones are individual and organisational barriers. Individual barriers appear as a result of differences in the system of values of employees; discrepancy between the level of education and competence, income level, age and other social and demographic indicators. Organisational communication barriers are associated with a contradictory system of values and mission of the organisation, different needs of structural units, disproportionality of power distribution, etc. [4].
To prevent these organisational barriers to communication, it is necessary to create an atmosphere of trust and openness in the enterprise, special importance should be given to the effectiveness of feedback and the development of corporate culture. Effective use of communications is also associated with such factors as the professionalism of managers, the structure and characteristics of the organisation, the presence of stable interpersonal relations between its members, the culture of subordinates, the position of the organisation in the external environment, the competence of employees.
Our own study of the industry market on the example of enterprises of the Southern Federal District allowed us to identify the main factors of success and problems existing in the communicative sphere of these industries.
These activities are part of the food industry. The food industry is one of the largest and most important sectors of the economy of the Southern Federal District. In 2018, the authors conducted a survey of production managers, press services, departments of communication policy, personnel management, marketing structures and managers, specialists engaged in PR. In total, the study involved 42 people, representatives of 13 medium and 5 large enterprises.
The analysis of communicative activity of such enterprises shows that the communication system at the enterprises studied by us is quite effective. This was noted by 86% of respondents. It should be noted that the enterprises have structural units or specialists responsible for the development of communications and communication policy, as well as actively involved employees responsible for personnel management.
Each company has its own website, the information on which is updated at least twice a week, there is an electronic document management system, active interaction with the regional media is conducted (the example of Krasnodar is especially notable here), the distribution of powers at different levels of management.
At six enterprises there are corporate publications that reflect information about activities, news, achievements of employees, management decisions. The same information can be found on the website. Within companies, information stands, meetings and planning meetings, meetings with staff etc. are held. But paradoxically, the study pointed to the lack of information in the field. This problem is largely due to the fact that employees prefer oral transmission of information, and not always interested in such stands. The main channels of communication, as noted by 76% of respondents, are hierarchical communication on the principle of "management -subordination" and informal communication between employees.
In order to study the opinion of employees on the activities of the organisation, management decisions, regular sociological research is conducted at seven enterprises (questionnaires, interviews of employees, online surveys). All enterprises have a system of "feedback" between management and employees, which is expressed in the fact that any employee can ask questions to management during direct meetings or on the website. Also, the wishes of enterprise managers, communications specialists in terms of improving the existing system are always taken into account.
Specialists of five enterprises noted that previously all requests and wishes are discussed with their chiefs on the basis of which ascending vertical communications are organised. The chief arranges a monthly meeting where for every item of the reports instructions for further work are given, as well as manages and transmits information, received from the external environment. Thus, the company has established a vertical descending communication system.

Conclusion
The need to manage organisational communications at the strategic level is now recognised by most scientists and practitioners, but the nature and content of strategic decisions regarding organisational communications have some uncertainty.
To solve the identified problems, the following measures can be proposed: regular and timely informing employees about the real situation in the organisation at the moment, increasing the degree of involvement of employees in the activities of the company, the introduction of the fundamental values of corporate culture; conducting collective and individual conversations with employees, general meetings, professional trainings, etc.
Optimisation of the management system of organisational communications will allow to organise the process of communication in a more constructive way, to increase the effectiveness of feedback, to minimise the barriers of communication, to strengthen organisational values, to form, maintain and develop a corporate culture, which will positively affect the effectiveness of the company's management, will allow to form a more positive image of the organisation for different categories of information consumers. Thus, the effectiveness of organisational communications affects the efficiency of the enterprise management system, so management should be interested in the development of communication policy, which affects the quality of management decisions.


Updates to the Spectrum/AIM model for estimating key HIV indicators at national and subnational levels

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text

Introduction
The Spectrum software (Avenir Health, Glastonbury, Connecticut, USA) is used to prepare estimates of key HIV indicators by national programs, UNAIDS and other international organizations. The model uses estimated incidence trends developed by fitting to HIV prevalence data [1,2] and then tracks the newly infected population by age, sex, CD4 þ count category and antiretroviral therapy (ART) status. The model relies on countryspecific service statistics, survey and surveillance data, and uses epidemiological parameters derived from scientific studies to inform patterns of incidence, progression, mortality, and fertility. Updates to some of these parameters are described in this article, others have been described previously. Table 1 provides a list of the key parameters used.

AIDS mortality for people not receiving antiretroviral therapy
Spectrum tracks adults living with HIV by CD4 þ count category (>500, 350-500, 250-349, 200-249, 100-199, 50-99, and <50 cells/ml). For those not on ART, the rates of mortality by CD4 þ count and progression to lower CD4 þ categories were determined by fitting a progression model to survival curves from the ALPHA Network cohort data from the pre-ART period [2,12,13] The estimated annual mortality rates are shown in Table  2. Note that these rates imply that even at high CD4 þ counts, some people still die from HIV-related causes. Today, with a large portion of the HIV population on ART, the mortality rates for those not on treatment could be different if the chance of starting treatment is related to the likelihood of death (i.e. those most likely to die are also most likely to start treatment). Data from Western Europe and North America indicate that in 2017 there were 13 000 (9900-18 000) AIDS-related deaths out of an estimated population of people living with HIV (PLHIV) of 2.2 (1.9-2.4) million [14], an annual mortality rate of just 0.6%. ART coverage in these settings is high, at 78% (60%-90%), but about 20% of PLHIV are still without treatment. Even if all mortality occurred in those not on ART, the mortality rate would be only 2.7%/year. A likely explanation is that people who would have died without treatment, regardless of CD4 þ count, are more likely to start treatment than those who are less likely to die. As a result, the people who are not on ART are the least likely to die. In that case, mortality rates from the pre-ART era will overestimate mortality rates today. We have accounted for this relationship in Spectrum by reducing the mortality rate for adults not on ART in each CD4 þ category as the ART coverage rate in that CD4 þ category increases.
where m is the annual pre-ART mortality rate of PLHIV not on ART in CD4 þ category 'c' and m 0 is the adjusted mortality rate.
The effect of this adjustment on mortality rates is small when ART coverage is low and large when ART coverage is high. The Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey of 2012 [15] reported ART coverage among all HIVinfected adults of about 35%, and that 31% of HIVinfected adults not on ART had CD4 þ counts below 350 cells/ml, 15% had CD4 þ counts 350-500 cells/ml, and 55% CD4 þ counts above 500 cells/ml. With no adjustment, the overall annual mortality rate would be about 13% among those not on ART and about 2.3% for those on ART, yielding a combined annual mortality rate of 9%. With the mortality adjustment described here, the average annual mortality rate for those not on ARTwould

Incidence by age
In 2016, 10% of Spectrum files estimated antiretroviral coverage for prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) at over 100%, which may indicate that Spectrum calculations underestimated PMTCT need. PMTCT need depends directly on HIV prevalence among reproductive-age women, and so on HIV incidence patterns by age. Spectrum uses incidence rate ratios (IRRs) to disaggregate adult (ages 15-49 or 15þ) HIV incidence by age and sex [16]. Analysis of files with high PMTCT coverage revealed that Spectrum's default IRRs for generalized epidemics often underestimated HIV prevalence among young women relative to HIV prevalence in national surveys. For the 2017 HIV estimates, we developed a tool in Spectrum that adjusts IRRs to better fit HIV prevalence patterns in these surveys.
Spectrum utilizes age-specific and sex-specific IRR patterns. Sex-specific IRRs (sIRRs) quantify the femaleto-male incidence ratio over time. Users may choose a default sIRR trend for generalized or concentrated epidemics or estimate it externally and input it manually [17]. The IRR fitting tool multiplies this input trend by a fitted scale factor w.
Fitted aIRRs may be either fixed or varying over time. Fixed aIRRs use the same age pattern of incidence over time. Time-varying aIRRs use one age pattern at the time of each survey; we linearly interpolate these patterns between surveys, and extrapolate by keeping the age pattern constant before the earliest survey and after the latest survey.
We fit IRRs within a Bayesian framework. We used the Nelder-Mead simplex method [19] to maximize the product of (a) a likelihood based on HIV prevalence survey data and (b) a prior distribution informed by incidence patterns from cohort studies. HIV prevalence survey data used for fitting consists of the number of respondents who tested HIV positive out of the total number tested by sex and 5-year age group. We derived the likelihood by assuming the number who tested positive was binomially distributed given the number tested and the model's HIV prevalence estimate in that age/sex group. We fitted IRR patterns to all surveys simultaneously. We accounted for complex survey design by dividing numbers of respondents by the survey design effect.
Bayesian parameter estimation requires placing prior probability distributions on model parameters based on external data or domain knowledge, so that parameter estimates incorporate this information alongside survey data. Our prior distribution only requires that w is positive. We developed a data-driven prior probability distribution on aIRRs. We first used Incremental Mixture Importance Sampling [20] to sample aIRRs consistent with HIV incidence patterns at six ALPHA network sites in Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe [21]. The IRR fitting tool uses a mixture model of these site-specific incidence patterns as its prior distribution on incidence by age. We specify this prior as a mixture of multivariate lognormal distributions on a, m, and s for each sex, with one component of the mixture model corresponding to each ALPHA network site. This prior ensures that Spectrum produces realistic incidence patterns for settings similar to those observed at ALPHA network sites, whenever survey data are weak.
We fitted IRRs separately for men and women for 27 countries with national HIV prevalence surveys. We fitted both fixed and time-varying IRRs in countries with multiple surveys, and selected the IRR model with lower Akaike information criterion (AIC). Figure 1 shows the resulting fitted aIRRs. Time-varying IRRs had lower AIC in four countries, whereas fixed IRRs had lower AIC in 23 countries. Whereas Spectrum's default generalized epidemic pattern suggests HIV incidence peaks at ages 25-34 for men and 25-29 for women, newly fitted incidence patterns usually peaked at younger ages. The better fits to the survey age pattern of prevalence improves the estimates of the number of women needing PMTCT services as fertility is concentrated in the younger ages.
The resulting IRRs are applied on the incidence trends estimated by EPP (which can be for adults 15-49 or 15þ) to distribute incidence by age and sex while leaving incidence 15-49 (or 15þ) unchanged.

Mother-to-child transmission rates
In 2015, a review of existing literature identified 48 new studies (in addition to 32 from the original 2012 review) to determine the probability of mother-to-child transmission for women receiving no antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and those receiving different ARV regimens to update transmission probabilities for the 2016 Spectrum model [9,22]. In 2018, an additional 24 publications and 3 abstracts were added to the 2016 analysis (see Annex for full listing of studies used for this analysis and a further explanation of regimen categories). The largest number of new studies were related to peripartum transmission rates from women starting ART during pregnancy (11 studies in formula-feeding, 7 in breastfeeding populations) and from women starting ART before pregnancy  The review did not identify major changes from prior estimates, with differences between 2015 and 2018 in the decimal-point range. The greatest difference was for the estimate of postpartum transmission with ART started before pregnancy (0.013%/month in 2015 based on a small number ofstudies, withadditional dataincreasedto 0.023%/month in 2018). Additionally, estimated peripartum transmission rates in women on ART (started during pregnancy or preconception) were slightly higher in breastfeeding than formulafeeding populations, likely secondary to the contribution of early postpartum transmission to peripartum transmission in breastfeeding populations.  pregnancy and the postpartum period among women on lifelong ART. Of women registering for antenatal HIV care, we derived the proportion retained in care at delivery. Of women in care at delivery, we derived the proportion retained in care at 6-10 weeks, and 6, 12, 18, and 24 months postpartum, irrespective of breastfeeding practices. From 24-month retention data, we derived a constant rate of postpartum loss to follow-up (LTFU) and translated this rate to a monthly risk.

Maternal retention in care
We identified 39 unique references (supplementary appendix, http://links.lww.com/QAD/B528) describing 62 351 women from 13 low-income and middle-income countries. One study lacked data from any timepoints of interest [23]. Prior Spectrum values for maternal retention at delivery were stratified by timing of ART initiation (preconception: 75%; during pregnancy: 80%). In the updated literature review, we found limited evidence to support different retention for these two groups (supplementary appendix, http://links.lww.com/QAD/B528). The pooled proportion of women retained in care at delivery was 80%. Pooled postpartum retention among women in care at delivery was 67, 77, 74, 66, and 68% at 6-10 weeks, and 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, yielding a postpartum LTFU probability of 1.6% per month.
Definitions of retention in care varied substantially between studies, potentially influencing these pooled estimates [24]. Silent clinic transfers are frequent among pregnant and postpartum women [25,26]. Most studies did not report on clinic transfers, or classified transferred patients as nonretained, potentially underestimating retention in care. Consistent definitions of retention and more complete ascertainment of silent transfers and postpartum maternal mortality are needed to better refine estimates of retention in care throughout the PMTCT continuum.

Age at antiretroviral therapy initiation among pediatric patients
As in previous Spectrum AIM model estimates, the age distribution of children initiating ART was adjusted to match the age distributions among children living with HIV (CLHIV) at ART start in the International Epidemiological Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) Consortium (www.iedea.org). We included data from 85 924 ART-naïve children aged less than 15 years at ART initiation, with a recorded birth date and sex, who  Table 3.
Likely explanations for these patterns include: overall reduced numbers of new infant infections in recent calendar years because of increased coverage of effective PMTCT interventions; scale-up of early infant diagnosis and WHO guidelines recommending universal ART for all children aged less than 2 years in 2010 and 5 years in 2013; and backlog of undiagnosed HIV in long-term slow progressors aged at least 10 years who make up a relatively larger proportion of CLHIV in the context of fewer new infant infections, as well as adolescents with nonperinatally acquired HIV.
As previously described, the IeDEA data were transformed into age-specific probabilities of initiating ART among HIV-positive children not on ART [27].

District estimates
Most countries apply the Spectrum model at the national level, but in 2018, 12  This tool provides detailed district-level estimates of key HIV indicators for HIV planning. It is designed to be useful for PEPFAR planning by providing key inputs into the develop of country operational plans. The main advantages of the tool are that it uses the official Spectrum estimates, ensures that all district estimates add up to the official provincial and national estimates, and provides a range of key indicators and sex/age groups. The main limitation is that it applies the same proportion distribution by district to each indicator. The distribution probably is different by indicator, but little information is available on which to base estimates.

Conclusion
The updates to the Spectrum/AIM model use newly available data from surveys and epidemiological studies and are intended to improve the estimation of HIV epidemics. The updates described in this article, along with those described in other articles in this supplement, make better use of available research and survey information to improve the estimation of HIV-related mortality, incidence, and mother-to-child transmission and provide for national and subnational estimates. The most important effects are expected to be improved estimates of the coverage of PMTCT services (through more precise estimates of the number of HIV-infected pregnant women) and the burden of pediatric HIV and adult mortality.
Updates to the Spectrum/AIM model Stover et al. S233


CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCY AMONG MANAGERS: A STUDY ON ORGANIZATIONS IN MALAYSIA

Purpose: This study aims to highlight the necessary competencies among the middle level managers, especially the crosscultural communication competency. This study was designed to investigate the cross-cultural communication competencies in organizations through the focus group conducted among the senior management levels. Methodology: This study applied the beauty of qualitative research by conducting a focus group of ten participants, where all of them were from various industries in Malaysia. They are well mixed of women and men Senior Managers level and above, where the minimum level of them was the Director, General Manager, and Vice President of private enterprises. Data from the focus group discussion was analyzed and presented in the findings in this article. Results: The findings of this paper proven the need of cross-cultural communication competency currently in Malaysia through the ten (10) participants involved in the focus group research and ten (10) cases were presented in this article. Different participant provided different findings however, the data summarization was presented in the table in results. Majority concluded that employees nowadays are conscious competence and agreed that cross-cultural communication is the most crucial competency needed by all organization today. Implications: This should provide several ideas to the senior management levels in incorporating this aspect into their management training programmes or other activities in all organizations. Further studies could be expanded through the methodology used. Novelty of Study: As past research concentrated more on the leadership and other management competencies, this study was looking at the specific issue of cross-cultural communication competencies among these employees in organizations. With the peculiar scenario in Malaysia, this paper contributed to the management field as a reference for the higher and middle level managers.

INTRODUCTION The Concept of Culture
The word culture comes from the Greek word Kultura which means to act upon nature. It is expected for people to cope with the problems they encounter in the nature which necessarily requires problem solving strategies. Culture is the sum total of beliefs, rules, institutions, and artifacts which characterize human populations. It is the set of beliefs, values, and norms that have been shaped up as a result of the prevailing environment. It is the people who accept or adopt to different natural environment. Culture is the collective programming of the mind. It has various components as communication, language, dress and appearance, food habits, time, reward and recognition, and value and norms. The scope of culture also was categorized in both explicit and implicit concepts where different cultural background influence employees and organizations differently. The companies go for scanning, selecting, interpreting, and validating information and take strategies for effective acculturation of employees. Hofstede (1991) defined culture as the 'collective programming' of the mind which distinguishes members of one group from another. Diversity and culture do give impact to culture and job performance. Scholars suggested that diversity is able to enhance performance by broadening the group's perspectives. There is a strong empirical confirmation that successful diversity management and a resulting improvement in organizational performance are positively correlated. However, there is a consistency finding that differences should be sought in moderation. Group members' ability to elaborate diverse information may also develop over time as members become more familiar with each other perspectives and develop transitive memory. For diverse work group, this shows how important for this group to reach more extended tenure, and they are also allowed more extended start-up phase than more homogenous groups. In multidisciplinary teams like in the oil and gas industry, expertise levels of performance diversity were most strongly associated with team performance at moderate levels of diversity.
The globalization and technology changes requires high adaptation among the recent generation group of employees. Diverse culture not just to increase job performance, but also to create and maintain positive work environment where the similarities and differences of individuals are valued, so that all can reach their potential and maximize their contributions to organization's strategic goals and objectives. Diversity management ensure that all employees will have the opportunity to maximize their potential and enhance their self-development and contribution to the organization. It recognizes that people from different background or at least skills to adapt and communicate with people from different backgrounds, would be able to bring fresh ideas and perceptions which will make the way work is done more efficient and produce in better products and services. Success in working with or managing these diverse group of employees also will assist their organizations to nurture creativity and innovation thus to tap hidden capacity for growth and improved competitiveness.
Comparative analysis presented table or organizational strategies about management of culture diversity. The 'parochial' approach and 'ethnocentric' are the one ignoring or trying to minimize cultural diversity, and instead focus on the dominant culture. Culture diversity in the 'synergistic' approach is seen as superior and termination or its probable problems is emphasized. Potential negative and positive impacts.

Manage differences
Benefits of the diversity if recognized and problems that arise out of it are managed

Less common
The impact of cultural diversity at workplace can be both favorable and unfavorable, depending on the employees' crosscultural skills and their skills in managing or specifically communication with their peers and subordinates. Among the prospective negative effects include dysfunctional conflicts, losing productivity, and difficulties in achieving harmony in group settings. While the positive effects would be strong knowledge base created by variety of cultural experiences, an in-house resource of cultural trainers and informers, and tendency to expand the business in foreign cultures as this is crucial for organizations to go global nowadays. Due to this, for the most part of the effects will be how well employees are being managed by the senior level managers or in another word, the organization leaders themselves. With suitable strategic planning, top managements like these senior level managers would be able to enhance the positive effects and reduce the negative ones on multicultural setting in the workplace like what we have in Malaysia and furthermore, to be able to expand their organizations abroad easily.

Communication Competency
Miscommunication can create misunderstanding, lead to conflicts, and thus pose barriers to cooperation (Tung, 1993). By having employees with strong communication skills, organizational performance can automatically be improved and excel due to this. Miscommunication can arise when the message intended by the sender fails to resemble the message perceived by the receiver. This gap between intention and perception can stem from different fields of experience of the sender and the receiver, including the meanings/interpretation assigned to specific words and the encoding/decoding of messages on either side (Howell, 1982;Ronen, 1986)  These Five-Stages Model progresses from one of incompetence in cross-national or international context to level characterized by great proficiency in handling such differences. Differences in employee's background could lead to misunderstanding and result in organization failure. It is crucial to make sure the competencies level of employees are up to the organization's standard or requirement by probably using these five-stage model. This terms of definition are very broad, but one that is culture-general and goes straight to the point is cross-cultural is the result of behavioral adaptation that individuals undertake in order to interact effectively with people from different background or culture, whether that interaction takes place in individual's home culture or, more often in multinational or international organizational if there are the employees in the working environment.
Abbe, Gulick, and Herman in 2007 has drew a table of conclusion of the three components of cross-cultural competent as below. They touched on although theories of cross-cultural adjustment, acculturation, and learning are relevant to training (which they proposed in the same research), the development of research on cross-cultural training has infrequently drawn on those theories. This is because the cross-cultural training which were recommended to improve and expand the employees competencies in cross-cultural does not explicitly target the competencies identified as contributing to cross-cultural effectiveness. Although the dynamic nature of many competencies described as researched in the past, the degree to which each is developmental or directly trainable may vary substantially. In addition, research regarding some of the competencies is suggestive rather than conclusive in linking to cross-cultural outcomes.

LITERATURE REVIEWS
This paper has brought deep understanding to the researcher before and along the way it is being conducted. This qualitative method was a great option to differentiate between the social science research and pure science which both have their systematic ways for doing things.
Often, when full understanding is required or the bigger picture is of interest, measuring quantitative aspects will not be enough; researchers have to study the qualitative aspects too. This is essential in order to answer the whys arising from studying subjects of interest. This suggests that for the purpose of this study and in order to meet the aim given for this research, to second the requirement for qualitative approach. This research design involved the utilization of qualitative research methodology in answering the research questions. The primary reason this method was chosen is because the research problem emphasis on understanding. This study aims to understand a phenomenon about which little the topic is known, and that is when qualitative methods are used. Qualitative data are attractive for many reasons: They are rich, earthly, holistic, and real; their face validity seems unimpeachable, they preserve

METHODOLOGY
The methodology is applied in this research striving to achieve its target. Methods or techniques are not 'better' or more 'scientific', only because they are qualitative or quantitative. The main research instrument adopted for this study is a Focus Group interview between a moderator and ten (10) participants in two hours duration. The empirical data was gained through this approach, where the qualitative method is chosen. The positive advantage of personally conduct the session is the possibility to raise more questions and further discussion from all the participants based on the answers received. Researcher also should be able to clarify doubts, demand further explanations, create connectivity questions, and motivate respondents to deliver honest answers. The disadvantage however is the limited number of time these participants had to be interviewed during the period.
The ten (10) participants involved in the focus group come from various industries. They are well mixed of women and men Senior Managers level and above, where the minimum level of them was the Director, General Manager, and Vice President of private enterprises. The group which was a combination of 4 women and 6 men (due to some absentees) can be divided into the following details: 1. A professor who is a celebrity Chef with more than 30 years of culinary experiences and an entrepreneur who owns a culinary school. 2. A former trade expert with more than 30 years experiences in various industries, and now a General Manager with an international enterprise. 3. A General Manager of one private organization who served one of the state government in Malaysia, who has more than 35 years of experiences working from bottom to top. 4. A high ranking Navy officer in Malaysia with more than 25 years of Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) experiences in various departments. 5. A Senior Manager from a private university who has 25 years of experience in education industry as well as others. 6. A lawyer by practice who owns 3 insurances and investment linked companies, with more than 25 years of financial, investment, and insurance industries. 7. A General Manager in retail section of a multinational company, with more than 25 years experiences from bottom to top in retail and entrepreneurships. 8. Senior Manager from financial background and more than 30 experiences in the same field. 9. Senior Manager in financial department but with more than 30 years of experiences in various sectors including marketing and education industry. 10. A celebrity who lead an NGO organization now with more than 20 years of experiences in broadcasting and entertainment industry.
The participants were asked by the moderator on the following questions in the durations of two (2) hours and trigger wider scope in terms of answers, but still based on the same topic.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A goal in one culture may not be so in another. This applies obviously to different culture locally or abroad. As for Managers, to succeed in today's global environment is extremely critical. In order to do so, Managers are expected to become proficient in cross-cultural communication, especially when they are dealing with international relations or businesses.
From the Focus Group Discussions done for this research, it was a clear cut that this Cross-Cultural Communication is one of the most crucial competencies mentioned by the participants. A group of ten (10) Senior Manager level personnel's and above being gathered for this purpose. Four (4) basic questions were asked and all ten came out with the same agreement on this issue. Besides cross-cultural communications, other competencies mentioned according to sequence are; organization, analytical, experience, problem solving, leadership, delegates, motivator, accountability, and PODC (planning, organizing, directing, and controlling) skills.
Internationalization logically in one way or another is about cross-cultural communication globally. The clashes within crosscultural itself besides communication style is also literature, management styles, customs, and value orientations. It is very unfortunate that most of the time, such encounters are commonly analyzed without consideration on their processual character. Due to these, cross-cultural communication should be viewed and analyzed as a complex process, but not entirely as an encounter. This was clearly mentioned in the data findings from the focus group discussions whereby majority of the participants came out with this idea that when we want to talk about the communication competency, we should first highlight and understand the concept of cross-cultural. This is due to Malaysia as a multicultural society, and by mastering these skills, the employees are expected to have sufficient knowledge and experiences to be sent abroad for promotional activities and so on. The majority of the participants mentioned that nowadays, since most enterprises are aiming to go global, this is one important skill they are expecting from their Middle Level Managers and have placed this skills above all other competencies.
The ten participants in this research reveals that one of the differences between the Gen-Y and Baby Boomers in the past is, the new generation are naturally born with excellent skills, but not listening though. This is because they came from highly educated parents who are concerns on their children academic achievement and soft skills. However, this group is lack of other skills for example, not as independent as their parents and depends too much on the technology to survive. As the focus of this research is only on the cross-cultural communication competencies which all respondents agreed on, the following results were presented in the case study forms for each participant who represented their current organization, based on their experiences as explained earlier.
The below are findings of the focus group interview discussion results which were closely related to the Five Levels of Communication Competency which arrives from Howell (1982) and Ting-Toomey (1992) who had suggested that this version can be applied to the process of cross-cultural communication.

Case 1
A professor who is a celebrity Chef with more than 30 years of culinary experiences and an entrepreneur who owns a culinary school concluded that the new generations are excellent in cross-cultural communication but different competencies are more needed for them like discipline and entrepreneurial skills as they are lack of these. For example, this group often treated the organization like they have no sense of belonging and therefore are not interested to take care of the organization like their own. However, he agreed on how the employees required cross-cultural competency to work together especially if the organization wish to expand their businesses abroad. Unlike his cooking school, there is no need for the time being for this purpose, except the requirement to blend well as multicultural entity. He concluded that this new generation of employees in cross-cultural communication are conscious competence.

Case 2
A former trade expert with more than 30 years experiences in various industries, and now a General Manager with an international enterprise feels that the cross-cultural communication competency comes together with one skill the books does not teach, which is the office politics. This competency which basically derives from the communication skills itself is the key technique to the close networking relationship with the higher level managers. He claimed that the basic communication competency would only requires the cross-cultural aspects when the employees work at multinational organization, or international companies local or abroad. He concluded that this new generation of employees in cross-cultural communication are conscious competence.
A celebrity who leads an NGO organization now with more than 20 years of experiences in broadcasting and entertainment industry feels that the new generation are definitely lack of this cross-cultural communication competency. She experienced several scenarios that she shared including those employees she has now under her owned organization whereby the employees were too pampered by their parents and this is due to also the way they were brought up by them. This lack of independent skills and discipline have made them into one group of people with lack of confidence to face daily task during the absence of their parents. They depend too much on their senior level managers, their organizations, and peers including on the listening skills required in their daily communication. She agreed with the rest participants that due to this lack of listening which is part of the communication skills, they have problem to understand instructions from their upper level managers, thus incompetent in executing the organizations plans and so on. She claimed that they also refused to try to think critically in interpreting their upper level manager's instructions besides lack of interpersonal skills. She concluded that this new generation of employees in cross-cultural communication are conscious incompetence.

CONCLUSION
With all the data findings through the focus group interview and discussions, we can conclude that there is a need of crosscultural communication competency in today's globalization environment, despite the background of the employees nor the nature of business of the organizations they are working at. The ten participants findings result in the following table where the categories below are based on the Cross-Cultural Communication Five Levels. Results above shown majority of the participants which is five (5) of them concluded that the employees nowadays are conscious competence and agreed that cross-cultural communication is the most crucial competency needed by all organization today. Four (4) participants however agreed on this competency needed but, strongly feel that the employees nowadays are unconscious incompetence. Only one (1) participants concluded that they are unconscious competence.


s2fieldsofstudy: Business Economics

text:
Toward Sustainable and Low Carbon Road Transportation: Policies, Tools, and Planning Methods

The road sector is the dominant transport mode in terms of demand for both passengers and goods [...]

Introduction
The road sector is the dominant transport mode in terms of demand for both passengers and goods. But at the same time, it is responsible for almost 72% of total greenhouse gas emissions from transport (including international aviation and international shipping) [1]. The Special Issue on Sustainable Road Transportation Planning was inspired to investigate how to face the challenges on emissions reduction and to look ahead for advanced solutions from the planning and operational side.
During the last decade, road transportation has faced overwhelming changes: New travel modes have emerged, advanced information and communication technologies (ICT) have aided mobility service provision, and new regulations and economic standards appeared. No matter whether transportation services are new or traditional, road planning should consider sustainability targets to improve social, environmental, and economic requirements, meaning low carbon and more efficient transport networks.
Under this consideration, 14 papers by authors coming from 11 countries contributed to construct a picture of recent findings and techniques on the road transportation sector toward sustainable planning.

Contents and Contributions of Collections
The current Special Issue involves planning methodologies, actions, and techniques toward sustainable road transportation planning. It addresses a range of topics such as decarbonization, environmental quality, ICT and changing behavior, optimal traffic assignment, and prioritization of sustainable modes. It consists of one review paper and thirteen specific research papers that can be categorized in the following four topics.

Transport Planning for Reducing Emissions
The first three papers (contribution 1-3) address issues about general transport planning methods both for public and private modes. More specifically, Zeng et al., (contribution 1) proposed an equilibrium bus-boarding model to obtain optimal pricing and service, with the aim of eliminating the congestion and improve bus-boarding efficiency during peak periods. Through their findings, they recommend that transit authorities should reduce to a minimum the deadweight loss on the boarding queuing congestion during the peak period using optimal pricing and service and adopting the optimal bus headway for improving service performance.
The work of Osorio-Tejada et al., (contribution 2) proposed a method for estimating energy consumption and emissions based on vehicle operating conditions in regions with different topology, such as Colombia, Malaysia, and Spain. It considered the load factor, gradients, and speed for the different slopes to estimate energy consumption and emissions, unlike the previous similar studies. The results show the heterogeneity of energy consumption by driving conditions, which helps to facilitate and to reduce uncertainty in the environmental accounting of freight companies in different geographies.
Sobrino and Monzon (contribution 3) describe a comprehensive methodological tool (called HERA: Highway EnerRgy Assessment) for identifying hot-spots in road segments and corridors in terms of GHG (GreenHouse Gas) emissions. It was applied to the Spanish highway network to identify priority low-carbon actions. The results coincide with (contribution 2), which states that high rates of heavy vehicles, high speeds, and steep gradients increase fuel consumption and emission rate. Speed control appears as the most effective strategy, producing 3.5% emissions reduction by reducing speed by 10 km/h.

Changing Travel Behavior toward Sustainable Road Modes
As many new mobility modes have emerged over the last decade, it has contributed to the reduction of private vehicle trips and emissions in cities. Based on the findings of previous papers (contribution [4][5][6], key factors are identified to attract travelers towards innovative new sustainable modes. Three groups of researchers from different countries (China, Germany, and Israel) studied the adoption of new transport solutions (electric vehicle sharing, electric bike sharing, and ridepooling), identifying key factors through distinct survey methods.
Zhang et al., (contribution 4) present a deep understanding of the acceptance of electric vehicle (EV) sharing and the strategy for promoting it in cities. Through a survey on eV users, they showed the factors with positive contributions to EV-sharing acceptance. Polices of more accessible resources, improving social pressure, and strengthening policy support are recommended to promote EV sharing acceptance.
Elias and Gitelman (contribution 5) conducted an opinion survey on young electric bicycle (EB) riders. Its aim was to record and analyze the characteristics and general perception of teen e-B users and to explore their behaviors. The results show that EBs would increase the frequency and the distance of daily teens' commuter trips. But, at the same time, it improves mobility independence, allowing less reliance on parents and an increase of potential destinations. It also suggests that a combination of road safety education and training with an improvement of existing infrastructure are the best way to tackle this new and widespread phenomenon.
The aim of the work of König et al., (contribution 6) is similar to contribution 4, aiming at identifying the characteristics of ride-poolers and their preferences, but these authors (contribution 6) used choice-based Conjoint Analysis based on a literature review and a focus group. The findings show the high relevance of fare and walking distance to the pick-up point also plays a key role for elders.

Advanced Methods for Sustainable Transport Planning
Four papers (contribution 7-10) present diverse methods for improving traditional transport planning models by considering environmental factors. First, contribution 7 presents the method to obtain an origin-destination matrix by smart card data for a large area. Contribution 8 and contribution 9 consider extra factors, either with less emission or less road maintenance fees, to assign traffic in optimized way. The last work of this group presents a new concept of resource science to identify inefficient transport in urban areas.
Pronello et al., (contribution 7) defined an algorithm capable of building the origin-destination matrix from smart card data collected in Torino, Italy. The work has findings on AFC (automated fare collection systems) systems and origin-destination estimation in large areas to assist public transport operators and local authorities on the design, the supply, and the characteristics of mobility services.
Tu et al., (contribution 8) considered environmental costs into the advanced traveler information system (ATIS) to obtain "eco-routing" for two classes of travelers who were assigned based on stochastic network user equilibrium (SUE) model. The corresponding algorithm was also proposed. Both the model and algorithm were tested by numerical examples. The developed algorithm can provide new ideas for traffic planners and managers to reduce environmental costs caused by traffic.
Mao et al., (contribution 9) present a new an optimized traffic assignment model considering not only minimum travel time but also minimum pavement damage by establishing a multi-objective DTA (Dynamic Traffic Assignment) model. The teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO) algorithm was utilized to solve the proposed model. A case study was used to confirm its effectiveness. The findings include identifying vehicle types that have higher pavement damage and validating the new model to save the total maintenance expenditures and extend pavement service life-span, even though a little increase in travel time is expected.
The work of Cao et al., (contribution 10) is the fourth paper that innovatively adopted the concept of "wasteful transport" from the perspective of resource science to identify the boundary between normal and inefficient transport in urban traffic flow. It constructed the flow-density relationship model of road traffic and validates the model via an empirical study on the traffic conditions in Shanghai.

Assessment of Sustainable Road Transport Policies and Technologies
The last group of papers (contribution 11-14) focus on analyzing potential benefits or limitations of technological progresses, travel behavior changes, and transport investment. They attempt to draw the relationship of policies/technologies application and its impacts towards sustainability.
Martínez-Díaz et al., (contribution 11) present the only review paper in the Special Issue. It demonstrates that the random introduction of technology does not imply benefits to society through literature review. The authors performed a comprehensive multi-criteria analysis based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and evidential reasoning to appraise seven emerging technologies in road traffic. Their findings evidence that the potential improvement in personal mobility will not become a reality if it exclusively relies on the latest technological devices, in line with consumers' fantasies or economic interests.
Li et al., (contribution 12) investigated the factors that link driving with vehicle fuel consumption efficiency based on the long-term Controller Area Network (CAN) data collected in Toyota City, Japan. They explored the relationships between drivers' fuel consumption efficiencies and factors including drivers' characteristics, car attributes, date-specific environmental attributes, and travel behavior. Furthermore, a multi-level model was applied to explicitly incorporate the effects of individual-specific, date-specific, and observation-specific unobserved factors. The results are that, on working days, model fit was significantly enhanced by incorporating all three error terms. Several findings regarding the relationships between observed factors and drivers' fuel consumption efficiencies were also obtained.
Wang and Boggio Marzet (contribution 13) assessed the impact of an eco-driving training program on fuel savings and reduction of CO 2 emissions in a well-designed field trial in Madrid, Spain, focusing on the specific impacts according to road type. The final results show a general fuel saving after eco-driving training of up to an average of 6.3%, regardless of fuel and road type. The highest fuel savings were achieved on major arterial road sections with a certain number of roundabouts and pedestrian crossings.
The research of Guzman et al., (contribution 14) used a cross-sectional analysis of accessibility changes between 2011 and 2015 after 74% of the new bus routes were implemented in Bogotá. Results show that the location of low-income settlements implies a disadvantage as a consequence of spatial segregation that increases distances to job opportunities. By comparing the changes, it finds public transport in Bogotá still fails to improve accessibility, reinforcing gaps between rich and poor groups instead of closing them. Solving these accessibility differences are key for increasing public transport patronage to assure more sustainable urban mobility.

Conclusions
Road transportation is vital for the economy and society because it carries the vast majority of both passengers and goods, but also it is an access mode to other transport modes in multimodal trips. New trends on digitalization, sharing economy, automation, and environmental values open new opportunities to improve transport planning methods and road operation efficiency. This Special Issue presents a broad range of studies on road transportation planning and its applications throughout the world. The collected papers barely represent all advanced processes in the sector, but they open a window to point out new directions to face challenges on energy and climate with new and traditional planning methods. New public policies toward a more sustainable road transportation system will be based on the main outputs of the research works included in this special issue of Sustainability.