RESUMEN
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented time in history. Surrounding this pandemic are many enormous uncertainties across the globe. Severe consequences have assessed for the incomes of almost 84% of employers and 68% of self-employed who are working and living in countries that are or have went through a phase of closing workplaces. Similarly, the global rate of unemployment is also expected to be increased in the coming years as 54% of employers worldwide are running their businesses in the hardest-hit sectors. All of these clearly show the uneven impact of the Coronavirus crisis (COVID-19) which will remarkably compound already present inequalities, difficulties, and vulnerabilities. The economic ramifications for 186 countries under the crunch of the COVID-19 pandemic is also considered tremendous for Pakistan. The core aim of this research was to test a new conceptual framework depicting the ramifications of restructuring processes carried out by management for their organizations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic on an Institute's reputation as an employer brand. It also investigates the impact of perceived restructuring on a corporate brand promise made by the university or institute from the viewpoints of other key stakeholders and potential job seekers. The current study had proposed four hypotheses and according to the results of Structural Equation Modeling, the direct hypothesis based upon the relationship between restructuring and employer branding has been rejected. This study shows that restructuring and employer branding has a negative and insignificant effect on each other. The second direct hypothesis of the study that measures the effect of restructuring on corporate branding has been accepted. A corporate brand is a kind of a hub and it considers how an institute treats and deals with all of its stakeholders. It is different from employer brand as the perceptions of employees were the main focus. So, according to the results restructuring did not cause massive damage to the overall outlook of the institute. Furthermore, for the purpose of mediation analysis, the maximum likelihood method by bootstrapping was adopted to test the indirect hypotheses of the study. Crowdsourcing was introduced as a mediator in this study with restructuring, employer, and corporate brand all together in one framework, which is the novel aspect of this study. There are two indirect hypotheses and according to the results both of them did not show any insignificant results. Firstly, the study analyzed mediation among crowdsourcing, restructuring, and employer branding which was fully accepted as the results showed full mediation between these constructs. Secondly, the study analyzed mediation among crowdsourcing, restructuring, and corporate branding which was partially accepted as results showed partial mediation between these constructs.
RESUMEN
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine how much celebrity endorsement stimulates skin color racism in the cosmetics industry. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The data were collected from Google Scholar and Web of Science published articles, and researchers had chosen 45 research articles. Some of the research articles used a quantitative research approach while others had used qualitative research approach. And for the current study, content analysis has been used. FINDINGS: The study finds that celebrity endorsement does influence and promote racism, implying that when celebrities promote fairness products, people perceive themselves inferior due to darker skin tone that gives birth to the notion of racism. Brand Image intervenes in the relationship between Celebrity Endorsement and Racism, and also, intervenes in the relationship between Celebrity Endorsement and Purchase Intention. LIMITATIONS: This study is only limited to Google Scholar and Web of Science directory. Only forty-five articles were taken from 2001 to 2021 year. Real examples were taken from all over the world, but especially from the Less Developed countries like Pakistan and India due to the huge population, rising income, and surging cosmetics industry. Hence, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to the Technologically Advanced Countries. IMPLICATIONS: It is obvious that firms design advertisement campaigns that can get consumers' attention. For this purpose, they engage celebrities to evoke more interest and awareness as well as perception. The study will help the management of different brands to understand that how they can improve their advertisements in a way that does not promote racism. And the celebrities, signing contracts with brands that promote racism, will keep in mind the negative influence these endorsements have on society while companies will make sure that they are also not promoting racism by making such promotional campaigns.