Michael Polonsky

Michael Polonsky
Deakin University · Department of Marketing

PhD

About

336
Publications
199,110
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12,231
Citations
Additional affiliations
July 2008 - present
Deakin University
January 2006 - December 2007
Victoria University
January 1996 - December 2007
University of Newcastle

Publications

Publications (336)
Article
Transformative service systems (TSSs) are designed to uplift human well-being. Yet, paradoxically, by necessity and in design, TSSs can also generate unintended harms for system actors. Our conceptual paper builds on recent service literature, as well as that on unintended consequences from a range of fields, to advance an integrative framework of...
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Purpose This study evaluates how well Victorian local councils’ procurement policies align with the sustainable and circular economy (CE) approach that prioritises sustainable and regenerative practices. It proposes a set of criteria designed to effectively integrate environmental sustainability issues into purchasing policies. Design/methodology/...
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This research seeks to understand the challenges faced by settlement service providers (SSPs) in assisting humanitarian migrants to secure appropriate employment. In-depth interviews with 26 SSPs identified that current impediments to facilitating humanitarian migrants' employment related to employment support programmes; settlement service partner...
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Background Despite word-of-mouth (WOM) and electronic WOM (eWOM) influencing people’s willingness to donate blood, no research has explored this behavior among blood service employees who are also donors. This underexplored segment is highly important, as they are generally committed to both the organization and the cause and are likely more inform...
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a new service framework for managing nature and physical resources that balances the needs of people and planet. Design/methodology/approach The process used in this paper was a rapid literature review and content analysis of 202 articles in service journals and learned that there are limited papers...
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Purpose-Mindful consumption is a popular concept that is often associated with mindfulness and religious faith, but nonetheless, its empirical associations to these remain relatively underexplored. Clarifying the impact of mindfulness and religious faith on mindful consumption is important to delineate their effectiveness in influencing consumers t...
Article
This research has applied an integrated norms model using place attachment, anti-littering descriptive and injunctive norms, and anti-littering personal norms to assess anti-littering behavioral intentions in a developing country. The research uses place attachment as a moderating factor to understand the influence of social norms on anti-littering...
Article
Academics have long relied on technological tools to support their research, with these tools growing in sophistication over time. As these tools have advanced, they have allowed researchers to create knowledge more effectively than could have been undertaken by humans alone. However, this paper argues that some new technologies may be moving from...
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Migrants' access and effective utilisation of settlement services depend on their level of settlement service literacy (SSL). However, SSL is multi-dimensional in nature and has many facets that are influenced by demographic and migration-related factors. Identifying factors that drive various components of SSL, and thus allowing for more focused d...
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Purpose This paper aims to identify the corporate social responsibility (CSR) patterns of Indian manufacturing firms using a CSR index based on ISO26000 and India’s National Voluntary CSR Guidelines. Design/methodology/approach A total of 121 manufacturing enterprises in the national capital region (NCR) were surveyed. The questions related to the...
Article
Purpose Mindful consumption is a popular concept that is often associated with mindfulness and religious faith, but nonetheless, its empirical associations to these remain relatively underexplored. Clarifying the impact of mindfulness and religious faith on mindful consumption is important to delineate their effectiveness in influencing consumers t...
Chapter
This case study is based on a systematic review of literature which was part of a Ph.D. thesis. In this case, we discuss conducting a systematic review and show which analytical techniques provide an integrated discussion of the literature. The research undertook a systematic review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Met...
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Background Due to the diversity and range of services provided to humanitarian migrants during the settlement phase of migration, acquiring information across multiple service domains is intrinsic to the effective utilisation of settlement services. There are research gaps investigating how humanitarian migrants experience and navigate unfamiliar,...
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Firms around the world are seeking to demonstrate that they take their corporate social responsibility seriously. One way that they can do this is to have their activities verified or accredited by independent bodies, such as Fairtrade. Originally established in the agricultural and primary good sector, Fairtrade seeks to ensure firms treat supplie...
Article
This study investigated the perceived impediments that prevent remote agritourism operators in the Northern Territory (NT) Australia from expanding and accessing support from governmental and industry organisations. Five primary themes emerged from 11 in-depth interviews with remote agritourism operators across the NT. These included distance from...
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Purpose – To achieve the UN’s 2030 agenda, consumers will need to behave more responsibly and make less environmentally harmful purchases. This study investigates the antecedents of consumers’ pro-environmental purchase intentions based on a range of motivating (i.e., attitudes, locus of control) and inhibiting factors (i.e., apathy and myopia), fo...
Chapter
This chapter examines Australian response systems to the COVID-19 global pandemic and how these responses impact on community outcomes, such as flourishing and distress. Most notably, this analysis focuses on the complex interrelations between policy, community, and individuals both prior to and during a major external shock or crisis. In particula...
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Background Effective migration often requires supports for new arrivals, referred to as settlement services. Settlement services literacy (SSL) is key to ensuring new migrants have the capability to access and utilise the information and services designed to support the resettlement process and achieve positive settlement outcomes. To date, however...
Article
The public sector is a major purchaser for infrastructure materials and therefore is a critical potential buyer of products with recycled material or recovered content, diverting these from landfill, enhancing markets, and supporting recycling and recovery. Understanding barriers and drivers for the public sector is therefore critical, for enhancin...
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Purpose This study aims to test the efficacy of the awareness of a transformative health service communication intervention targeted to African refugees in Australia, designed to increase their intentions to participate in blood donation and reduce any identified barriers. Design/methodology/approach Following the intervention launch, a survey was...
Article
Over the past 40 years, successive Australian Governments have developed a comprehensive programme of settlement services (SS) designed to improve settlement outcomes for humanitarian migrants. Many humanitarian migrants do not arrive with the appropriate skills and abilities to fully benefit from available SS. “Settlement services literacy” (SSL)...
Article
Purpose -This study aims to integrate social capital theory and the knowledge-based view of firms to develop and test a theoretical framework of the mechanisms that explain the influence of relational governance (RG) on lead-time performance (LTP) of developing-country suppliers in global value chains (GVCs). The authors distinguish between the rel...
Article
Purpose This study aims to integrate social capital theory and the knowledge-based view of firms to develop and test a theoretical framework of the mechanisms that explain the influence of relational governance (RG) on lead-time performance (LTP) of developing-country suppliers in global value chains (GVCs). The authors distinguish between the rela...
Article
Purpose Frontline employees (FLEs) are a key source of competitive advantage for organizations and have a significant impact on the quality of customer–firm interactions. This study aims to use the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model as a theoretical lens to examine whether internal communication (IC) (stimulus) evokes FLEs’ organizational ide...
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Successful settlement and integration are key objectives of migration policy in most host countries, yet ‘immigrant settlement services literacy’ (ISSL) and settlement service utilisation are poorly understood. This review investigates ISSL, a conceptual framework where new migrants develop abilities to know, understand, access, critically navigate...
Article
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the factors driving and mitigating the experienced vulnerabilities of women undergoing the transformative service of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), and how this influences women’s evaluations and intentions. Design/methodology/approach The conceptual framework was tested using quantitative...
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Purpose This study examines the role of market orientation in the relationship between internal marketing and entrepreneurial orientation within private sports clubs. Design/methodology/approach The research is a descriptive-correlational study based on private sports clubs employees within Iran (Sanandaj). A theoretical model was developed based...
Article
The study examined whether there was an influence of region of origin, area, or residence prior to migration, religion, and perceived discrimination on the acculturation strategies of sub-Saharan African migrants in Australia. These factors have been found to affect acculturation, given the multi-dimensionality of identify formation. Data were obta...
Article
Purpose This study aims to examine the effects of three green information quality dimensions – persuasiveness, completeness and credibility – on green brand evaluation and whether this is mediated by green brand credibility. It also examines the moderating effects of eco-label credibility and consumer knowledge on green information quality dimensio...
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Littering is a widespread problem that has negative consequences for the wellbeing of society and has been discussed in a wide range of subject areas. However, the lack of a unified understanding of the literature on littering presents an opportunity for a synthesis of the literature. This systematic review integrated the findings from 70 journal a...
Article
Purpose This study aims to explore how the co-created value arising from integrated solutions results in both, intended and spill-over effects. Design/methodology/approach The research uses a qualitative multi-level field study, with data from 12 respondents in 1 supplier firm and 29 respondents from 10 buying firms. Findings The resulting propos...
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jats:p>Background: Settlement service literacy refers to the ability of migrants to access, understand and critically navigate settlement services. In Australia, increasing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse migrants require settlement services to assist their transition. However, there are barriers to migrant’s ability to utilise set...
Article
Economic upgrading in global value chains is critical for developing economies, as upgrading enhances supplier firms’ performance, employment and economic growth. However, to date there is no valid measure of firm-level upgrading, making it hard to systematically measure and address deficiencies within firms to enhance firms’ performance and nation...
Article
This study examines the subjective quality of life of globally expanding senior citizens post-retirement, from a volunteering perspective. Formal volunteering is one way to engage retired seniors, providing social connectedness and enhanced well-being while potentially reducing their support service needs. It also provides a valuable resource to no...
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Ethnic/racial minorities are under-represented in blood donor populations in most developed countries. This is of particular concern where minorities differ from a country's majority population in terms of blood or tissue typing, especially where type matching is required for effective management of rare disorders such as sickle-cell disease that r...
Article
Organic and green food is a growing sector globally, including in emerging economies such as India and China. Developing the organic food retail sector in emerging markets requires extensive investment in the credibility of organics and organic retailers. The paper examines the role of Indian consumers’ perceptions of green retailers’ environmental...
Article
The purpose of the study was to develop and test culturally appropriate health promotion materials that were seen to be socially inclusive in regard to blood donation within the Australian-African community. Materials were produced in multiple languages (English, Arabic, Swahili and Kirundi) and were initially developed based on previous pilot data...
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The use of ‘eco‐labels’ by businesses, both as communication and positioning strategies, is increasing. For these eco‐labels to be effective, however, it requires consumers to understand and value what eco‐labels are communicating. Research suggests that there are many factors impeding consumers’ understanding of eco‐labels. Most of these studies h...
Article
Developed countries that accept refugees are obligated, under the UN Convention for Refugees, to integrate refugees into host communities, with inclusion in the health system being pivotal. Integration programs can be difficult though, because many refugees’ home countries have different health systems, lower health literacy, and different expectat...
Article
There is extensive research on service recovery from the customer’s perspective, but not the service professional’s viewpoint. This is surprising, as service professionals are responsible for service recovery that is co-created with the customer in the joint sphere. Thus, this study empirically tested a framework of the antecedents of frontline hea...
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Despite the availability of numerous obesity prevention initiatives in developed countries including Australia, rising childhood obesity levels have been found among migrant communities which contribute to widening obesity-related disparities in these countries. We sought to understand the factors influencing the participation of migrant communitie...
Article
The purpose is to investigate the generalizability of an innovation prowess framework, developed for firms in developed countries, for firms in emerging economies facing tight regulatory regimes. Using a qualitative approach we investigate key informants in six firms, supported by secondary documents and the business press, as well as in-depth orga...
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Research suggests that African migrants are often positively predisposed towards blood donation, but are under-represented in participation. A culturally-tailored intervention targeting the African migrant community in Australia was developed and implemented, to enhance knowledge about blood donation, improve attitudes towards donating, increase in...
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The reported failure of organisations to successfully implement social media (SM) within marketing communications is likely to result in competitive disadvantage. An exploratory methodology was undertaken to understand implementation challenges of SM. The methodology drew on grounded theory with the in-depth interviews with senior marketers in the...
Article
Consumers are increasingly concerned about the negative environmental implications of purchasing goods, which in turn shape their behaviour. Yet, there are indications that consumers do not always act on these concerns, causing an attitude–behaviour gap. For consumers to make ecologically responsible purchases, they need relevant product environmen...
Article
This study extends the theory of value co-creation by investigating how collaborative orientation advances value co-creation drivers that benefit both buyers and sellers in competitive markets. With direct field research, conducted in a real-life context, the authors interviewed (using a mirrored, semi-structured protocol) buyer–seller respondents...
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Purpose To discuss the potential role of corporate social marketing and identify instances where corporate involvement in social marketing is appropriate. This argument is based on the rationale that there should be a focus on the social outcomes of initiatives rather than which organisations are delivering the message. Design/methodology/approac...
Article
Low-involvement consumption includes the majority of regular purchases by individuals and the community, and collectively these have a substantial negative environmental impact. It is, therefore, an important environmental domain to examine. This research surveys 340 Turkish consumers and examines whether apathy, locus of control and myopia influen...
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Sustainability requires that consumers and organisations consider how their activities impact on the natural environment. The initial marketing discussion of ‘sustainability’ as we now define it was into green consumer behaviour and within the literature in this area has continued to grow. This paper analyses 677 journal articles with a green consu...
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Objective: Childhood obesity is rising among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups who show poor engagement in obesity prevention initiatives. We examined the barriers and facilitators to the engagement of CALD communities in obesity prevention initiatives. Methods: We used the nominal group technique to collect data from 39 partic...
Article
Nonprofit volunteer motivations have been widely researched and discussed as the sector is volunteer-dependent. For nonprofit, community-based events, volunteers frequently fulfill multiple roles, yet motivations across roles are infrequently studied. This study explores managers’ views of volunteers across roles for Open Gardens Australia and whet...
Chapter
Frontline employees (FLEs) are one of the key sources of competitive advantage (CA) for firms, as consumer experiences and perceptions of firms are influenced by how effectively FLEs deliver services. Firms have adopted internal market orientation (IMO) to ensure FLEs needs and wants are well understood and appropriate ’job products’ are delivered....
Article
Consumer boycotts are triggered by egregious events, but the literature has not distinguished the level of egregiousness from consumers’ preferences or disutility associated with a given level of egregiousness, nor has the literature studied how these two components of egregiousness affect boycott intensity. We provide a model of market-level boyco...
Chapter
Frontline Service employees (FLSEs) are responsible for the effective delivery of services and thus are critical in determining how customers evaluate organizations. Given their focal role in the exchange process it is essential that marketing strategies and programs targeting FLSEs, ensure they (the FLSEs) deliver on organization’s marketing progr...
Article
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the efficacy of disclosing unit pricing and increasing the type size of complex terms and conditions in advertising. This is in line with recommendations made by global telecommunications regulators, including in Australia, to protect consumers in selecting mobile plans. Design/methodology/approach The...
Article
Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the enviropreneurial marketing approach used by firms in China and its impact on the success of green marketing actions, with the aim of drawing useful lessons from the literature and successful green firms. Design/methodology/approach This study follows the inductive case study approach, and the qua...
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Objective. Disadvantaged communities bear a disproportionate burden of childhood obesity and show low participation in childhood obesity prevention initiatives. This study aims to examine the level of readiness of disadvantaged communities to engage with childhood obesity prevention initiatives. Methods. Using the community readiness model, 95 sem...
Article
In the high contact restaurant context, customers frequently “overstay”, which negatively influences focal customers waiting for tables. We examine service recovery of this failure, otherwise termed an “other customer caused failure” (OCCF), by restaurants, and its influence on focal customer complaint intentions to the organization, namely vent an...
Article
Background: Migrants constitute 26 % of the total Australian population and although disproportionately affected by chronic diseases, they are underrepresented in health research. Objectives: To describe trends in Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)’s funded initiatives from 2002 to 2011 wit...
Article
Purpose – Acknowledgement of the social impact created by organisations has become an increasingly frequent discussion among practitioners. The importance of such value creation cannot be understated, yet in an increasingly competitive funding environment, the need to articulate “true” value is paramount. The purpose of this paper is to examine how...
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This chapter presents the fundamentals of “green” marketing by drawing on traditional marketing theory as well as researchfocused on green marketing context. It discusses five critical areas in green marketing. The first critical area stems from green marketingtheory and practice that examines the logic for reducing the environmental impact of valu...
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Some environmental degradation can be linked back to excesses in human consumption, which is one reason that marketing is frequently criticised for exacerbating the current environmental situation. Enlightened marketers are increasingly seeking to become agents of positive change, ensuring that value for consumers, the firm, society and the environ...
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Marketing academics are attempting to provide their students with more "real world" learning experiences. One method used to provide this real world experience is the assignment of a student project. These projects usually are designed such that students apply the theory to a real or hypothetical marketing problem. In some universities students are...
Chapter
The paper examines US and Australia/New Zealand marketing academics' perceptions of the most pressing issues for theory, practice, and academia. The analysis suggests there are regional differences relating to marketing practice and thus the globalisation of marketing education might not be possible, if these regional business differences are signi...
Chapter
This chapter presents the fundamentals of "green" marketing by drawing on traditional marketing theory as well as research focused on green marketing context. It discusses five critical areas in green marketing. The first critical area stems from green marketing theory and practice that examines the logic for reducing the environmental impact of va...
Chapter
Full-text available
Based on the findings of the nine focus group discussions with 88 participants from the African migrant and refugee community in Australia the chapter overall will examine how African migrants and refuges experiences in both home and host country shape their expectations of blood donation service encounters in Australia. The chapter then proposes a...
Chapter
The relationship life cycle has been central to relationship development literature and has largely assumed that relationship development is an evolutionary linear process. There has generally been limited discussion of the fact that over a relationship’s lifespan it may in fact strengthen, weaken, and even become inactive, which is not the same as...
Chapter
Using content analysis this paper examines entry requirements, degree structure and research opportunities within Australian marketing masters degrees. The study identifies that there is wide variation in offerings, with different degrees striving to achieve varying objectives: training for PhD, advanced studies in marketing, conversion courses for...
Chapter
This paper examines the potential of using service blueprinting to assist non-profit organizations in better managing their donation efficiency by identifying the complexities of the donation process from a customer perspective, which in turn should allow them to better meet the needs of those they seek to assist. A disregard of donors’ expectation...
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Purpose – The aim of this study was to assess whether the removal of blood donation “barriers” facilitates blood donation intentions, using a sample of African migrants, and to identify the implications for social marketing. African migrants are currently under-represented as blood donors in Australia. Some members of the African community have uni...
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The authors evaluate the potential of green marketing and its limitations in solving society’s environmental problems. The streams of research in the green marketing area are reviewed and their assumptions and efficacies are discussed. While green marketing has some positive societal outcomes, on its own it is an insufficient solution to societal e...
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Purpose – This paper aims to investigate business managers’ assessment of stakeholders’ influence on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The key stakeholders included “employees” and “unions” as internal and “public”, the “media” and the “government” as external stakeholders. The purpose was to estimate the influence of stakeholders...
Article
Purpose: African migrants are currently under represented as blood donors in Australia. Some members of the African community have unique donation needs that can only be served by this community. The aim of the study was to assess whether the removal of blood donation ‘barriers’, facilitates blood donation intentions using a sample of African migr...
Article
Changing population demographics have important implications for the ability of transfusion services to meet the transfusion requirements of minority groups. In Western countries, differences in red-blood-cell (RBC) antigens between predominantly Caucasian blood donors and recipients from different demographic backgrounds may result in higher RBC a...
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the differences between managing domestic corporate brands (DCBs) and multinational corporate brands (MCBs), and presents a framework highlighting six types of complexity associated with managing both forms of corporate brands in an international business context. Design/methodology/approach – Thi...
Article
Marketers use various types of deals to positively influence consumers' product evaluations. Across two experiments, we manipulated print advertisements to examine whether the commonly used deal content of both bundling and time-limited promotions affect consumers' perceived confusion, risk and value. In study 1, the influence of this content was t...

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