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The authors are grateful to the Journal of Global Fashion Marketing for awarding this “JGFM Achievement Certificate for High Scholarly Impact” to their 2011 “Fashion Store Personality” article. The present paper first provides a retrospective review that examines how subsequent research extended the 2011 findings. In particular, the retrospect focuses on the one hand on advancements on brand personality conceptualization and measurement. On the other hand, the review sheds light on how knowledge on self-congruity theory has increased over the past years. After looking back, this paper provides a comprehensive outlook suggesting specific directions for further research, both with respect to brand personality measurement from a methodological point-of-view, as well as concerning the advancement of brand personality and self-congruity theory building and further conceptualization.

Universities, and higher education institutions in general, are ever more influenced by output-driven performance indicators and models that originally stem from the profit-organisational context. As a result, universities are increasingly considering management tools that support them in the (decision) process for attaining their strategic goals. The growth-share matrix is one of these tools that has proven its value in diverse business and competitive contexts in the past few decades. The present study’s contribution is twofold. First, we apply and interpret the growth-share matrix as part of a strategic positioning analysis in a strategic university context. Second, we extend this tool by incorporating social inclusion as a third dimension in the analysis. In recent years, discussions on the rising social disparity among adolescents in higher education have increased and different types of actors have raised the motivation to create more equal opportunities for prospective students who rank among the group of socially disadvantaged adolescents. The findings of an empirical case of the proposed model for a particular Belgian academic programme show that increased social inclusion and higher performance parameters, such as growth in student enrolments and diplomas, can be reached simultaneously.

This study examines whether consumer perceptions of store personality (SP) differ according to the store's format (hard-discount versus soft-discount and value retailing). A consumer survey (n = 306) is conducted in which respondents are asked to rate these retail formats on five SP dimensions and in terms of self-congruity (SC). The findings of both repeated measures ANOVA and hypothesis testing of proportion difference indicate that the three formats differ significantly in terms of all five SP dimensions. Moreover, consumers perceive a greater match between their self-concept and the value retailer's personality than the discounter's. A PLS model is estimated linking SP and SC to store loyalty and word-of-mouth intentions (WOM). The SP measurement model is only partially confirmed by the data. The effect of SC is found to dominate in explaining loyalty and WOM. These results provide valuable insights for optimising retail positioning strategies.