Sucherly

For the last decade, the Korean beauty market has skyrocketed in terms of sales. Despite differences in usage steps, culture, and geography, Korean beauty products are the fastest-growing market segment in Indonesia. In addition, they are aimed primarily at millennial consumers. Therefore, this study looked at the effect of the brand-consumer relationship on the experience of Korean beauty products in Indonesia. The research sample consisted of millennial female users. As a result, 255 valid responses were obtained. Using SEM Lisrel, the study revealed that all study hypotheses were accepted. All the variables had a significant influence on each other. Notably, brand commitment had the strongest impact, and it was significantly related to and contributed more to brand love. The contribution of this brand-consumer relationship stems from the fact that brand commitment is more consistent in achieving brand love than brand experience. Furthermore, it was found that brand experience is more subjective, resulting in irrational consumer behavior toward brand love.

Understanding Gen Z’s purchase behavior in online travel agents is essential to effectively engage and meet the unique preferences of this generation, fostering long-term loyalty and satisfaction. Utilizing the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as the theoretical foundation, this study aims to analyze the impact of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition, and trust on purchase decision of flight tickets through online travel agent platforms. The data were collected through an online survey of 253 Gen Z users of online travel agent applications in Indonesia, such as Traveloka, Tiket.com, Pegipegi.com, Agoda, and Booking.com. The study employed PLS-SEM to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions influence trust (t-value 1.645, p-value < 0.05). Further, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions influence purchase decisions (t-value 1.645, p-value < 0.05). However, social influence does not significantly affect purchase decisions (t-value 1.041, p-value > 0.05). The analysis also shows that trust fully mediates the relationship between social influence and purchase decisions, while no mediating effect is identified in the relationship between effort expectancy and purchase decisions. By investigating the key factors contributing to Gen Z’s buying behavior in online travel agent platforms, this paper provides valuable insights for online travel businesses to effectively engage and cater to Gen Z’s unique needs and preferences.

Umrah is one of the Muslim pilgrimage journeys to the holy city of Makkah. Many Umrah agents provide good services to attract customers. One of the crucial aspects for Umrah agents is service operation quality. The study aims to investigate the influence of service operations on the value, trust, and commitment of Umrah pilgrims in Jakarta, Indonesia. This paper uses a quantitative approach and employs SEM-PLS to analyze the data. Data were collected through an online questionnaire from 425 respondents. The respondents are Umrah pilgrims who performed their pilgrimage before 2019 through agents registered in Jakarta. However, only 370 responses qualified. The results show a strong relationship between service operations and customer value, trust, and commitment. There is also a relationship between customer value and customer commitment and between customer trust and customer commitment. Service operations also have an influence on commitment with trust as a mediator. However, service operations do not influence commitment when mediated by customer value. The practical implication of this study is that Umrah agents should increase their service operation, particularly information technology-based services, add Islamic and social values, and increase the cognitive commitment among customers.

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have a strategic position as architects of public services, balancing large private powers, helping to foster small businesses or cooperatives, and a considerable basis of state revenue in numerous forms of taxes and dividends. For Indonesia to compete in the global market, its economic actors (private sector, SOEs, and cooperatives) must amplify their performance. This paper aims to explore the factors affecting performance excellence in Indonesian SOEs, namely business environment and innovation capability through business strategy. Data were obtained from questionnaires distributed to 100 directors/managers representing SOEs in 12 clusters. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) procedures were operated to evaluate the path coefficients and identify the pivotal factors of each construct using SmartPLS. The results exhibited that the business environment (β = 0.357, p < 0.05) and innovation capability (β = 0.518, p < 0.05) positively and significantly affected Indonesian SOEs’ business strategy. Meanwhile, business environment (β = 0.263, p < 0.05), innovation capability (β = 0.273, p < 0.05), and business strategy (β = 0.459, p < 0.05) positively and significantly affected SOEs performance excellence. Moreover, business strategies can partially mediate the effect of the business environment (β = 0.164, p < 0.05) and innovation capability (β = 0.238, p < 0.05) on performance excellence. An important implication of this study is that to maintain and improve performance excellence, SOEs must first focus on the capability of innovation to initiate the implementation of business strategies by constantly addressing the business environment.

Postgraduate education plays a key role in developing skilled human resources and advancing knowledge. With increasing competition among universities in Indonesian cities such as Bandung, understanding the factors that influence students’ choices of master’s programs is crucial. This study aims to critically examine the role of student experience and perceived quality of higher education in shaping students’ decision-making processes regarding the selection of postgraduate institutions. This study was conducted at 14 private universities in Bandung, Indonesia. The study population consisted of 70,284 students, with 400 respondents selected across 29 study programs that offered master’s degrees. A proportional random sampling method was used. The research hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS. The findings indicate that student experience significantly impacts perceived quality (ß = 0.662, p = 0.000). Perceived quality also has a positive and significant effect on college preferences (ß = 0.366, p = 0.000). In addition, student experience significantly influences college preferences (ß = 0.148, p = 0.006). Furthermore, student experience indirectly affects college preference through perceived quality (ß = 0.242, p = 0.000). These results highlight that perceived quality is a major factor influencing college preferences. This study underscores the importance of student experience and perceived quality in shaping students’ preferences for postgraduate institutions. By enhancing positive student experiences and ensuring high educational quality, universities can strengthen their appeal and support students in making informed decisions about their postgraduate education.

Acknowledgment
To support the seamless operation of this PhD study, the author would like to thank STIE Ekuitas Bandung-Indonesia for providing tuition aid for 3.5 years.