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Influencing the influencers: the case of retailers' social shopping platforms
... Sifat interaktif (interactivity) dari e-commerce mendorong hubungan dinamis antara konsumen dan pengecer, memungkinkan umpan balik dan komunikasi secara real-time yang secara signifikan meningkatkan keterlibatan dan kepuasan pelanggan, seperti yang terlihat pada platform yang memanfaatkan fungsi obrolan langsung dan rekomendasi yang dipersonalisasi untuk memenuhi preferensi dan perilaku pengguna (Kim et al., 2023;Wibowo & Lisnawati, 2021;Nichifor et al., 2021;Costa et al., 2020;Ramadan & Farah, 2020;Mishra, 2020;Adam et al., 2020;Feng et al., 2019;Mero, 2018;Karunakaran & Raveendran, 2018;Roy et al., 2017;Kazmi et al., 2016;Kang et al., 2014;Enginkaya & Yılmaz, 2014;Xiling & Zhang, 2013;Oh & Teo, 2010;Xu et al., 2008;Shankar & Malthouse, 2007). ...
... Selain itu, fitur personalisasi dan kustomisasi (personalization and customization) yang disediakan oleh platform e-commerce memungkinkan konsumen untuk mengatur pengalaman belanja mereka, membuat mereka merasa lebih dihargai dan dipahami, yang pada akhirnya mendorong loyalitas pelanggan dan pembelian berulang saat bisnis memanfaatkan algoritma untuk menyarankan produk yang sesuai dengan selera dan perilaku masa lalu mereka. (Pande et al., 2023;Challande et al., 2022;Kaushik & Gokhale, 2022;Liaukonytė, 2021;Ramadan & Farah, 2020;Tsagkias et al., 2020;Jiang et al., 2019;Chu et al., 2019;Mathur et al., 2019;Kalaignanam et al., 2018;Colombi et al., 2018;Li et al., 2018;Nikolov et al., 2015;Hannák et al., 2014;Blázquez, 2014;Grewal et al., 2003). ...
... Munculnya teknologi sosial (social technology) dan konten yang dihasilkan pengguna dalam lanskap e-commerce semakin memperkuat sifat interaktif dan personal dari belanja online, karena konsumen semakin bergantung pada ulasan dari sesama, rekomendasi dari influencer media sosial, dan diskusi produk yang didorong oleh komunitas untuk menginformasikan keputusan pembelian mereka. Akibatnya, integrasi jejaring sosial dalam e-commerce tidak hanya memperkuat hubungan pelanggan tetapi juga meningkatkan visibilitas dan kepercayaan merek, karena konsumen cenderung lebih terlibat dengan merek yang dipersepsikan sebagai otentik dan terhubung dengan komunitas mereka, sehingga mengubah dinamika perdagangan digital dengan cara yang memberdayakan konsumen untuk memainkan peran yang lebih aktif dalam membentuk pasar (Sahu & Bhamboo, 2023;Harizi et al., 2022;Caliandro & Anselmi, 2021;Choi et al., 2021;Nunes et al., 2021;Ayob, 2021;Khan & Kulshreshtha, 2020;Ramadan & Farah, 2020;Begum et al., 2020;Trần et al., 2020;Ndasi & Akçay, 2020;Hsu, 2019;Davis et al., 2019;Colicev et al., 2018;Liu et al., 2015;Habibi et al., 2014;Enginkaya & Yılmaz, 2014;Sciarrino, 2014;Ryan et al., 2013;Xiling & Zhang, 2013;Dholakia & Vianello, 2009;Mutz, 2009). ...
Dalam konteks global, e-commerce telah menjadi fenomena yang merajalela dalam lanskap digital modern, dengan dampaknya yang luas terhadap perilaku konsumen, model bisnis, dan ekonomi global. Sifat pervasif dari perdagangan online ini memungkinkan konsumen untuk melakukan transaksi kapan saja dan dari hampir di mana saja (ubiquity), mengubah pengalaman berbelanja tradisional dan menciptakan permintaan akan infrastruktur digital yang kuat serta strategi pemasaran inovatif yang memanfaatkan aksesibilitas ini (Schultz & Block, 2023; Gao, 2022; Mayo et al., 2022; Poon & Tung, 2022; Kang et al., 2021; O & Е.Н., 2021; Mishra, 2020; Dastane, 2020; Goyal et al., 2019; Dolfen et al., 2019; Grubor & Jakša, 2017; Katta & Patro, 2016; Ellis‐Chadwick, 2008; Lefebvre & Lefebvre, 2002; Javalgi & Ramsey, 2001; Hamilton, 1997). Pergeseran ini tidak hanya meningkatkan kenyamanan bagi konsumen, tetapi juga memaksa bisnis untuk cepat beradaptasi agar tetap kompetitif dalam ekosistem pasar yang semakin terhubung, di mana potensi untuk menjangkau pelanggan lintas batas terus berkembang (Herrieth & Rahim, 2023).
... The flow of goods and services across international borders, known as trade dynamics, is a vital component of the global economy. Various subjects are covered in the literature on trade dynamics, including the factors that influence trade patterns, the goals of trade agreements, and the effects of protectionist policies on international trade(Nyga-łukaszewska, 2024; Ramadan & Farah, 2020). ...
The main topic of this study is how the economies of the world and the Middle East are connected and impact each other. We use old data to look at how changes in world events, trade patterns, and foreign economic policy affect the economy here. If countries in the Middle East want to grow and expand their businesses, they need to pay attention to outside forces that have an impact on their money. This article's author carefully looks at statistics from the past, the present, and the future to show how money problems in the Middle East are linked to changes in the world economy. Recent events in geopolitics have an effect on investor trust, the security of the regional economy, and the long-term financial health of the area. This part will compare events from the past and the present to find trends that show how the area has affected the world over time. If you want to learn more about how trade trends affect countries in the Middle East, read this in-depth study. We use secondary sources to look at how customer tastes, new markets, and trade deals have changed the economies of the Middle East. Because trade around the world is always changing, these countries respect variety and being able to change. We want to know how money moves made in other countries have affected the Middle East's funds. That's what this study is all about. This research is mostly about how global banks, changes in the government, and group projects impact the US economy. Other sources can help us understand how governments in the Middle East have changed their economic policies, rules, and laws in response to outside forces and changes in global economic trends. This kind of research shows how changes in foreign banking affect the Middle East's ability to keep its money in the bank. Many outside sources are used in the study to see how well the area can handle and adjust to changes from outside. It's a great way for people who care about the Middle East's business, economists, and leaders to find out how things are going
... The study highlights the importance of social media marketing for companies to survive in the twenty-first century of online consumption and consumer-oriented social media. Ramadan and Farah [35] explores the influencer's impact on social shopping, highlighting the shift towards co-creation and co-selling in companies, involving 15 experts and suggesting strategies for brands and retailers. Mishra and Ashfaq [26] examines the influencer marketing's impact on consumer behavior and purchasing decisions, focusing on message value, influencer characteristics, and content accuracy (Othman et al. 2019). ...
This study explores into the intricate relationship between social media influencers and consumer purchasing behavior within the growing landscape of social commerce platforms in India. Amidst the rise of social commerce, the research aims to elucidate the specific impact of influencer attributes, including niche expertise, authenticity, credibility, trust, and perceived value, on consumers’ impulsive buying behavior. The study employs a robust research design, utilizing a sample of respondents from Bangalore City through snowball sampling. Data is collected via a questionnaire featuring Likert scale statements, and subsequent analyses reveal noteworthy insights. A sample of 454 participants was collected through a questionnaire and filtered to obtain a refined dataset of 429 responses. The majority spend between Rs. 10,001 and Rs. 25,000 on social commerce platforms monthly. Factor loadings and correlation coefficients suggest robust relationships between indicators and constructs. The study supports all five hypotheses, indicating niche expertise, authenticity, credibility, trust, and perceived value as significant factors influencing impulsive buying behavior. This research contributes valuable knowledge to the evolving field of influencer marketing and consumer behavior, offering practical implications for stakeholders seeking to optimize their strategies in the realm of social commerce platforms.
... Additionally, the alignment of influencer content with brand values enhances consumer commitment and purchase likelihood (Bu et al., 2022). As a result, consumers often rely on influencers for product recommendations, leading to increased sales and brand loyalty (Ramadan & Farah, 2020). The emotional resonance created through influencer interactions is a key driver for purchase intentions (Chen & Yang, 2023). ...
Social media platforms in the digital age have revolutionized how brands engage with consumers, with YouTube standing out as a potent tool for influencer marketing. Influencers on YouTube engage audiences through diverse content formats, including vlogs, reviews, tutorials, and sponsored advertisements, making it an ideal platform for promoting products. Influencers play a pivotal role in modern marketing strategies due to their ability to build genuine relationships with their target audiences. The paper investigates the impact of YouTube influencers on consumers' buying intentions. Primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire to achieve the above goal. The study considered Tamil YouTube Influencers and their impact on Tamil audiences. This study considered the role of Homophily, Sponsored Advertisements, and the Likability of influencers on purchase intentions. The researcher used purposive sampling to collect the data from 201 Tamil audiences who follow Tamil YouTube influencers. The statistical tools used to attain the objectives of this study are frequency analysis, one-way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The study results revealed that both Homophily and Sponsored Advertisements significantly impact purchase intentions. Moreover, the likability of an influencer varies across different occupational backgrounds, suggesting that the professions of the influencers influence consumer perceptions. The study also highlights how customer perceptions are shaped by the frequency and types of content influencers share. The researcher suggests to marketers the necessity for personalized marketing strategies that cater to diverse consumer preferences for successful campaigns. Ultimately, the study encourages marketers to effectively utilise YouTube influencers to capture consumer engagement to drive maximum impact on revenue within the Tamil audience segment.
... Past clients are often most likely to be future customers and good referrals. When clients share their experience about their insurance companies through the different stages of the buying process, SNSs can have major influences (Ramadan & Farah, 2020). This allotment can reflect on the buying process, product portfolio, price and customer service. ...
Consumers are increasingly joining social networking sites (SNS) where they build online relationships with friends and brands they engage with. While SNS related studies are growing, the Middle East region still lacks a proper understanding relating to SNS effects on customer retention within a service environment. This study aims to develop the understanding pertaining to SNS relational factors and the ensuing consequence of such bonding on the social platform’s advertising value, consumers’ proneness in comparing insurance premiums and the effect on retention. An internet-based survey was filled by 297 respondents on Facebook, targeting individuals who already use an insurance company’s services. The model measured the overall experience on Facebook while integrating socialization with friends, relationship with the social network itself, SNS ad value, premium comparison, and retention and customer service. This study is amongst the first to examine the effects of relational aspects, from a peer-to-peer and peer-to-SNS perspectives, on the social ad value and the ensuing influence on price comparison propensity and the effects on customer retention in the region.KeywordsFacebookSocial networking sitesInsuranceRetentionSocial advertising
... The mobility of social media has facilitated the interactions between interconnected people as they are engaging in online debates and conversations, sharing their experiences and exchanging information (Sashi 2012;Dabbous and Tarhini 2019;Itani et al. 2020;). This can give brands, through the power of Web 2.0, the opportunity to build a community where they can connect with their consumers, build bonds, motivate them to engage and thus influence their experience (Ramadan and Farah 2020). For example, firms are using social networks site such as Facebook as the major platform to interact with their customers that will translate their engagement behaviors and build relationships that will thus enhance their perceived brand value (Gummerus et al. 2012;Chaker et al. 2022). ...
The development pace of digital socialization has accelerated drastically in the past decade, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. Through that continuing digital shift, the idea of the metaverse, a virtual parallel world that can digitally replicate people’s lives, is developing fast through Meta’s (previously known as Facebook) announcement in October 2021 that it will dedicate sizeable investments in it. While the metaverse provides immense opportunities to brands, the primary concern will be on how integrate it with current media and retail channels, whether they are offline or online. Accordingly, using an exploratory qualitative approach, this study examined the potential strategic channel-based marketing routes that companies would face in the presence of the metaverse. The findings show that the route to market will become much more complex given the metaverse’s own platform setup. Strategic multichannel and omnichannel routes are examined through a proposed framework that takes into consideration the expected evolution of the metaverse platform.
... This is due to the fact that internet sites have been providing a user-friendly medium for travelers to share their experiences, thus changing the patterns tourists use to look for information regarding their upcoming destinations (Sigala et al., 2012). Moreover, marketers have acknowledged that for them to "acquire, retain or grow clients, they should allow customers to take a more active role in the service creation" (Ramadan and Farah, 2020). This has been further catalyzed by the everevolving technology sector, which has allowed for the rapid growth and advancement of various useful platforms. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the adoption of social media platforms by tourists in Pakistan. Based on an adaptation of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study assesses the factors that lead users to adopt these platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to a convenience sample of 399 travelers who use social media in Pakistan. A Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using AMOS to evaluate convergent and discriminant validity as well as composite reliability. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the causal relationship among all proposed constructs.
Findings
The findings reveal that the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEoU) of a social media platform positively impact the behavioral intention of its users. The proposed constructs of compatibility, enjoyment, user expertise and e-trust all demonstrated their crucial roles in the adoption of a social media platform for tourism-related activities by enhancing the platform's PEoU and usefulness.
Originality/value
This research validates the relationship between PEoU and PU of a social media platform in the hospitality industry. Interestingly, this study has expanded TAM by validating the addition of four more constructs, (1) compatibility, (2) enjoyment, (3) e-trust, and (4) expertise, to add worth to this model regarding the understanding of social media usage in this specific industry. The findings are valuable both for managers and policymakers in the tourism sector in Pakistan, as the latter can utilize the results to entice a larger segment of social media users to the tourism industry.
... The main digital touchpoints that start-ups need to prioritize accordingly would be blogs, social posts, specialized forums and Instagram-based influencers as this will help luxury Start-up brands' digital strategies fashion brands connect with consumers on a more personal level. Indeed, the brand value added by celebrities/influencers is immediate and palpable (Ramadan and Farah, 2020). When a celebrity/influencer signs an endorsement deal with a product, an element of legitimacy is suddenly present in the company simply because of the power of the name backing it up. ...
Purpose
With US$ 320 bn spent on luxury fashion in the Middle East and a growing digital consumer presence, local start-ups must form an integrated online relationship with millennials in order to recruit and retain a viable customer base. Nonetheless, these elements are yet to be extensively and properly researched as the literature is still scarce vis-à-vis this area.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed qualitative approach was adopted using both in-depth interviews and focus groups. Two qualitative studies were conducted, with a total of 13 elite respondents and 28 consumer respondents from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using semi-structured interviews. Four focus groups were also conducted in both countries with six participants each group for triangulation of the findings.
Findings
The findings enhance current understanding pertaining to Gen Ys' motivations when selecting and engaging online with a luxury fashion start-up brand. The study suggests a detailed strategic framework that can be used in an integrated omni-channel approach. It also discusses the different touchpoints that play a role in influencing luxury consumption across different motivation stages.
Originality/value
The literature relating to digital strategies for luxury fashion start-up brands in the Middle East is still nascent. This study fills a considerable gap in the literature related to such brands that are aiming to stay relevant amidst the growing impact of the digital landscape on luxury fashion brand shoppers in the Middle East.
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the evolving landscape of marketing in the metaverse era. Metaverse applications of marketing activities from various industries are examined with cases from an emerging country. Beginning with an evaluation of marketing practices leading up to the metaverse, the chapter examines the transition from traditional methods to digital, social media, and mobile marketing strategies. It then delves into the myriad uses of the metaverse for marketing practices, highlighting immersive experiences, gamification, virtual commerce, and personalized engagement. Recent examples showcase how brands are leveraging virtual environments to connect with consumers in innovative ways. Last, expected challenges for companies are discussed. Concluding remarks offer recommendations for marketing practitioners, particularly in emerging countries, emphasizing the importance of embracing emerging technologies and adapting strategies to leverage the opportunities presented by the metaverse for effective brand engagement and consumer interaction.
Online Social Networks (OSNs) have become ubiquitous platforms for individuals to express their thoughts and emotions, making them valuable sources for studying mental health. This paper presents a novel Deep Learning-based approach for stress measurement in OSNs. We leverage a comprehensive dataset collected from Kaggle, specifically curated for stress analysis in social media. The proposed model demonstrates remarkable accuracy in identifying stress levels, paving the way for proactive mental health interventions and more targeted support systems in the digital age. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge addressing mental health challenges in the online world, emphasizing the potential of AI and deep learning techniques in this critical domain.
Multimodal hateful social media meme detection is an important and challenging problem in the vision-language domain. Recent studies show high accuracy for such multimodal tasks due to datasets that provide better joint multimodal embedding to narrow the semantic gap. Religiously hateful meme detection is not extensively explored among published datasets. While there is a need for higher accuracy on religiously hateful memes, deep learning-based models often suffer from inductive bias. This issue is addressed in this work with the following contributions. First, a religiously hateful memes dataset is created and published publicly to advance hateful religious memes detection research. Over 2000 meme images are collected with their corresponding text. The proposed approach compares and fine-tunes VisualBERT pre-trained on the Conceptual Caption (CC) dataset for the downstream classification task. We also extend the dataset with the Facebook hateful memes dataset. We extract visual features using ResNeXT-152 Aggregated Residual Transformations based Masked Regions with Convolutional Neural Networks (R-CNN) and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) uncased for textual encoding for the early fusion model. We use the primary evaluation metric of an Area Under the Operator Characters Curve (AUROC) to measure model separability. Results show that the proposed approach has a higher AUCROC score of , proving the model’s higher separability performance and an accuracy of . It shows comparatively superior performance considering dataset size and against ensemble-based machine learning approaches.
This paper examines how journal-, article-, and author-related factors influence citation counts in the business field using 236 journal articles collected from an AACSB medium research output business school in the Middle East between 2017 and 2021. Results from association tests demonstrated that journal rank and format, the subfield of the article, and author prestige are significantly related to the number of citations. Results from CHAID further demonstrated the presence of an interaction/joint effect among variables; in particular: (1) articles published in Q1 WoS journals that are also authored/co-authored by prestige authors resulted in the highest number of citations; (2) articles published in Q2–Q3 WoS journals that also belonged to the business and management domain resulted in an average number of citations, and (3) articles published in Q4 or unranked journals in WoS also ranked Q3–Q4 or unranked in Scimago resulted in the lowest number of citations. These results provide theoretical implications and practical recommendations for faculty and business schools interested in enhancing their scholarly impact and rankings.
The trend of incorporating assistive conversational agents into people's lives has followed the unprecedented expansion in the usage of artificial intelligence (AI). Amazon, in particular, has been a key trendsetter in this area through its Alexa‐powered devices. Alexa is an intelligent personal assistant (IPA) that performs tasks, such as playing music, providing news and information, and controlling smart home appliances. While this IPA is widely utilized, it is especially gaining attention and growing usage by people with special needs. Even though the importance of the utilization of AI by people with special needs has been widely acknowledged in the extant literature, a sizeable gap exists in the marketing literature in relation to the assessment of the managerial and societal implications of IPAs when used by people with special needs. Accordingly, this study aims to examine (a) the stages of relationship development between Alexa and consumers with special needs, and (b) the potential opportunity of this relationship for Amazon in relation to their corporate image. The findings indicate that a relationship between Alexa and consumers with special needs is established as it helps them regain their independence and freedom. This relationship provides an opportunity for Amazon in enhancing its overall image for providing solutions to facilitate the lives of people with special needs.
Despite its importance in sales, listening is an overlooked concept in research with limited empirical studies examining the construct since the work conducted by Castleberry and Shepherd (1993) and Ramsey and Sohi (1997). Knowledge of the role listening plays in sales and the processes involved in explaining listening in relationship performance is limited with many discrepancies identified between studies. Using meta-analytical techniques, this study summarizes approximately 20 years of research on salesperson listening. The study developed a meta-analytical model based on the marketing and psychology literature to build an underlying framework for listening theory, advance research in listening, and provide theoretical and managerial implications. The obtained results show that customer-oriented salespeople express their care toward customers through listening, which helps them adapt their selling behaviors to fit customers’ demands. Salesperson relational and sales outcomes are driven by listening through direct and mediated mechanisms.
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Z7gDXj-jRlrf
In today's market, firms expect customers to not only consume their offerings, but also to market these offerings indirectly through different engagement behaviors. This study is conducted to examine factors that may drive customers to engage with restaurants. The research builds on the theory of engagement and relationship marketing literature to propose that customer perceived value (CPV) and relationship quality (RQ) are antecedents of CE. In addition, a mediated relationship between CPV and CE through RQ is examined to better understand the effects of CPV on CE. Customer value consciousness (CVC) is incorporated into the model as a boundary condition of the hypothesized positive impacts of CPV on CE and RQ. Findings demonstrate support to the relationships hypothesized. Further, the study develops the 'value get, value' framework to extend research on customer relationship and engagement. Findings are discussed in detail with implications for theory and practice.
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1YUSX_6LA-ZlRz
Hybrid products, as exemplified by Apple or Fitbit wearables, claim features of different product categories (i.e., a technology and a fashion item). As these products develop, marketers find it challenging to position and market them because they transcend traditional categories. Using wearables as exemplars and utilizing the product design literature, we propose a typology of these hybrids using the dimensions of (1) mono-versus multi-functionality and (2) mass-versus luxury fashion. Apart from being a fashion product, mono-functional wear-ables support one main technology-enabled function (e.g., an activity tracker), whereas multi-functional wearables support multiple functions (e.g., being a watch, activity tracker and an organizer). To illustrate the optimal positioning strategies for wearables, we show how various permutations of these products impact a consumer's self-image and product desirability.
Purpose
This paper aims to propose user experience sharing (UES) as a customer-based initiation of value co-creation pertaining to service provision, which represents customers’ level of effort made for the direct benefit of others in their service network. The authors propose and empirically examine a user experience sharing model (UESM) that explicates customer-to-customer (C2C) UES and its impacts on firm-desired customer-based outcomes in online communities.
Design/methodology/Approach
Based on an extensive review, the authors conceptualize UES and UESM. By using online survey data collected from mobile app users in organic online communities, the authors performed structural equation modeling analyses by using AMOS 24.
Findings
The results support the proposed UESM, showing that C2C UES acts as a key driver of both firm-desired customer efforts and customer insights. The results also confirmed that service-dominant (S-D) logic-informed motivational drivers exert a significant impact on C2C UES. Importantly, C2C UES mediates the relationship between S-D logic-informed motivational drivers and firm-desired customer-based outcomes.
Originality/value
This study offers a pioneering attempt to develop an overarching concept, UES, which reflects customers’ initiation of value co-creation, and to empirically examine C2C UES. The empirical evidence supports the key contention that firms should proactively facilitate C2C UES.
This paper examines the use of social media by business-to-business (B2B) salespeople to assist in their job functions. The authors propose that a salesperson's attitude toward social media usefulness, as well as a salesperson's learning orientation, will influence how much a salesperson uses social media to assist in day-to-day job tasks. Additionally, the impact that the use of social media has on collecting knowledge about competitors, adapting to customers, and sales performance is considered. Accordingly, a broad literature review is provided to introduce extant theory contributing to the proposed model. The practical uses of social media by salespeople will be described, and then the theoretical foundation is built, encompassing social media use, goal orientations, and adaptive selling theory. Results of an empirical model are provided, followed by a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that underpin consumer switching intention in the smartphone industry. Most of the literature on brand switching uses conventional models that lack the ability to explain this behavior for high-technology products. Such products have unique characteristics that make the switching process more challenging from the consumer perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed model is built based on the related theories that consider the distinctive aspects of high-technology products. Furthermore, two variables “relative advantage of product features” and “company innovativeness” are introduced for the first time to evaluate consumer attitude to switch a high-technology product. The smartphone industry was selected to test the proposed model, where an online survey was sent to Apple and Samsung users.
Findings
The results confirm the expectation that perceived product usefulness, perceived ease of use and relative advantage of product features are the major factors driving the intention of users to switch, whereas subjective norms have limited impact. The financial cost of switching is the main barrier to consumers’ decision to switch to a new technology. The pleasure consumers feel toward their brand and the other brand is positively associated with their attitude toward switching.
Research limitations/implications
This research contributes to the literature on brand switching by introducing a comprehensive model that explains consumer switching behavior of high-technology products. Research findings would allow managers to draft better marketing strategies to improve consumer brand awareness.
Originality/value
The majority of literature on brand switching uses simple models to explain consumer behavior. This study is the first attempt to build a comprehensive model that considers the characteristics of high-technology products and how they shape consumer behavior during the decision-making process.
Web 2.0 and social media have changed the ways in which brands interact with consumers. As organizations attempt to join the conversations in the online world, brand managers need to measure their firm’s visibility in social media, just as they would with traditional media. This study proposes a tool for collecting and analyzing data on social media brand visibility information. This tool is tested by looking at the visibility of various South African university brands from a social media perspective and using correspondence analysis to compare the brands in a multi-dimensional space. Findings indicate that South African university brands are not distinctly positioned in social media and that no single brand appears to have a specific social media strategy in place. Analysis highlights opportunities for those who manage these brands, as well as threats for organizations taking a laissez fair attitude to engaging in this new sphere.
As a backlash against capitalism, there is a growing resistance to transnational brands and corporate globalization. To cite a few trends, consumers are opposing global brands and expressing concerns about corporate practices related to environmental issues and human rights. The purpose of this study is to investigate the current anti-brand social movement by examining consumer activist groups on the Internet. We identified three anti-brand websites for in-depth analysis: anti-Wal-Mart, anti-McDonald's, and anti-Starbuck's. Based on 36 interviews and a two-year examination of anti-brand communities, we provide an understanding of why online anti-brand communities form, we explore the behavioral manifestations of such movements, and we discuss technological influences. The concluding section discusses our findings in terms of implications for theory.
In this research, we conceptualized brand anthropomorphism as a property of branded products in regards to the extent to which these objects are perceived as if they were actual human beings. Then, we developed a scale of brand anthropomorphism that captures the multidimensional nature of the construct. The proposed scale is composed of three dimensions, two of which assess the extent to which the external appearance of a branded product resembles the lineaments of a human body and the physiognomy of a human face, and a third dimension, which assesses the extent to which such a product reflects how consumers perceive themselves. Results across two empirical studies showed that the scale is robust, as it passed several validity tests, and demonstrated its predictive power over brand personality and brand loyalty. Our scale is the first proposed in brand anthropomorphism research to receive empirical validation, thus offering theoretical and operational implications.
This case study reports results from three research studies conducted over 12 weeks as
part of a product seeding campaign. Partnering with a word-of-mouth marketing
(WOMM) agency for this research, studies 1 and 2 report agency-conducted surveys of
campaign participants’ online and offline word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors. Study 3
deployed an innovative web-based methodology to map and visualize WOM
communication patterns, to reveal how campaign-related conversations spread within
and across offline friendship networks and the role played by tie strength in that
process. We find that agency reports of WOMM campaign results overstate reach and
understate frequency. Our results have implications for the measurement of reach and
frequency of WOMM campaigns.
On-line consumer reviews, functioning both as informants and as recommenders, are important in making purchase decisions and for product sales. Their persuasive impact depends on both their quality and their quantity. This paper uses the elaboration likelihood model to explain how level of involvement with a product moderates these relationships. The study produces three major findings: (1) the quality of on-line reviews has a positive effect on consumers' purchasing intention, (2) purchasing intention increases as the number of reviews increases, and (3) low-involvement consumers are affected by the quantity rather than the quality of reviews, but high-involvement consumers are affected by review quantity mainly when the review quality is high. These findings have implications for on-line sellers in terms of how to manage on-line consumer reviews.
Virtual reality (VR), as a multi-sensory experience, plays a prominent role in the contemporary business landscape. This paper investigates the effects of the accelerating adoption of head-mounted devices by brands and consumers on retailers’ in-store traffic and discusses how VR could complement the consumer experience across the shopping journey. A qualitative research design interviewing both experts and consumers was adopted. The findings show that there is an expectations’ gap buildup through the usage of VR versus what could be the actual generic in-store experience. Risks and potentials of VR within the shopping journey vis-à-vis brands and retailers are discussed.
Salespeople involved in the marketing of complex services often perform the role of “relationship manager.” It is, in part, the quality of the relationship between the salesperson and the customer that determines the probability of continued interchange between those parties in the future. A relationship quality model is advanced and tested that examines the nature, consequences, and antecedents of relationship quality, as perceived by the customer. The findings suggest that future sales opportunities depend mostly on relationship quality (i.e., trust and satisfaction), whereas the ability to convert those opportunities into sales hinges more on conventional source characteristics of similarity and expertise. Relational selling behaviors such as cooperative intentions, mutual disclosure, and intensive followup contact generally produce a strong buyer-seller bond.
The Amazon Dash button is a technological innovation that allows consumers to re-order products at the press of a button. This study aims to test (a) the effects of the relational attributes of retailer's trust and love on the continued interaction with the Dash button, and (b) the effects of continued interaction on shoppers’ purchase decision involvement. The findings of this study indicate that the Dash button is a hard to replicate strategic tool as it entails consumers to have established a strong emotional and trustworthy relationship with the retailer beforehand.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to test such effects on brands’ relationships and the perceived value of advertising. Social advertising featuring endorsed brands has significantly grown in the past few years. Companies and social networking sites (SNSs) are hailing such types of advertising as being more credible to users as they feature their friends’ indirect endorsements; however, the issue of friends’ likability alongside the users’ relationships with the actual SNS is seldom considered with regard to any potential negative/positive effects they might have on brands’ relationships and the perceived value of advertising within SNSs.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a customer-centric approach and based on the social information processing theory, this study investigates the influence of friends’ likability and similarity and users’ relationships with the SNS (Facebook, FB) on brands’ relationships and advertising value by using a Web-based survey. The total number of responses included in the analysis is 305. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and LISREL 8.8.
Findings
The findings show that the overall user experience on FB is based on three key areas: socializing with friends, the relationship with the social network itself and the relationship with the advertised brands. These contribute to the perceived value of customer endorsed FB advertising.
Research limitations/implications
The study discusses various significant implications for online platforms, brands and the success of online advertising within SNSs.
Practical implications
The study provides managers with discussion on what they need to consider in relation to managing their brand relationship within SNSs and the importance of considering the role FB plays in such relationships.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by making the link between users’ experiences/friendships within SNSs, their relationships with the SNS (FB) itself and their relationships with the advertised brand and examines how these three combined relationships impact the perceived value of the ads by users of FB.
Brand addiction is one of the most important ways that consumers engage with brands. Other types of consumer-brand relationships include brand attachment, brand love, brand loyalty, brand passion and brand trust. This study provides an experientially grounded conceptualization and definition of brand addiction that distinguishes it clearly from other forms of consumer-brand relationships; and also from compulsive buying and acquisitive desire. Qualitative data from focus groups and projective-technique-based interviews were used to identify eleven salient properties which, in combination, characterize brand addiction: acquisitiveness; anxiety-irritability, bonding, brand exclusivity, collecting, compulsive urges, financial management versus debt tolerance, dependence, gratification, mental and behavioral preoccupation, and word of mouth. We compare brand addiction with the features of other consumer-brand relationships. The findings suggest that brand addiction is different from other consumer-brand-relationship concepts, and does not necessarily lead to harmful consequences for all brand addicts (unlike many other types of addiction).
Purpose
Luxury brands tend to be hesitant in adopting social media. This matter has created an imminent need to understand the different types of online luxury followers so as to help luxury brands communicate effectively with their consumers, while maintaining the “luxe” image and experience. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to provide luxury brands with a deeper understanding of their online audience and the strategies needed to engage with them through the different social media platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was utilized in which 24 in-depth interviews were conducted with Lebanese followers of an online luxury brand’s social media pages.
Findings
The study identifies the presence of six main categories of online luxury followers: pragmatists, bystanders, trend hunters, image seekers, passionate owners, and prime consumers. Each group has a specific engagement and propensity to buy levels.
Research limitations/implications
Understanding the different segments of luxury brand followers provides a framework for marketing managers that allows them to correctly target their marketing and communication strategies in order to maximize consumer engagement and purchasing behaviors.
Originality/value
A significant gap exists in the extant literature which offers no understanding of the different luxury brand followers and their different characteristics. This study is the first to offer an exploratory typology of the various luxury brand followers on social media platforms.
Information and communication technologies (ICT)-based innovations and applications have become major drivers of enhanced organizational performance, economic growth, and social change. However, although the body of research that is pertinent to this area has substantially grown, the importance of complementary factors such as corporate entrepreneurship in enhancing the impact of technological innovation on organizational performance has yet to be addressed. This paper develops and tests a framework that depicts and examines the nature of the relationship between ICT-adoption/use and organizational performance in the Lebanese market, taking into consideration the impact that corporate entrepreneurship may have on this relationship. PLS is used to test the proposed relationships along with the significance of the mediation effect of corporate entrepreneurship. A multigroup analysis is also deployed to examine the impact of ICT-use level on the model. The proposed model is proven to be fit, the hypotheses are supported, and the implications are discussed.
Purpose
Although the emerging literature has discussed different consumer-brand relationships and addictive behavior constructs, to date it has not explored the brand addiction phenomenon. This study aims to undertake a conceptual inspection to better understand the nature of the brand addiction phenomenon, thereby providing a clear and concise conceptual definition.
Design/methodology/approach
To develop a concise definition of brand addiction, the researcher applies a conceptual development procedure which identifies potential attributes of brand addiction by assembling a descriptive set of definitions, collecting the construct’s key attributes, generating a preliminary definition of brand addiction, identifying unique and shared attributes of brand addiction with other constructs in related areas and, finally, refining the conceptual definition based on a set of guidelines.
Findings
This study defines brand addiction as a psychological state that entails an emotional attachment to a particular brand, driven by compulsive urges that generally provide pleasure. This involves dependence, habit formation, loss of control, failure to withstand impulses and tension before starting the behavior related to the addicted brand. In addition, some of the following attributes might also characterize brand addiction: social, mental and behavioral preoccupation with the brand, tolerance development, frequent engagement in activities related to the brand, restlessness or irritability when unable to engage in activities/behaviors related to the addicting brand, repeated efforts to stop the behavior, and dismissal of occupational, social and recreational activities to engage in activities related to the addicting brand.
Originality/value
Given that researchers have not yet empirically tested the phenomenon of brand addiction, this paper has the potential to append a compulsory conceptual understanding of the concept of brand addiction by developing an accurate definition that serves in discriminating the focal concept from other constructs in related areas and helps advance subsequent work for theory development.
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a definition of brand addiction and a valid brand addiction scale (BASCALE).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used focus-group results to define brand addiction and generate items for the BASCALE and validated the BASCALE with survey data collected in the UK.
Findings
Based on the 11 brand-addiction features found from the focus groups, the authors define brand addition as an individual consumer’s psychological state that pertains to a self-brand relationship manifested in daily life and involving positive affectivity and gratification with a particular brand and constant urges for possessing the brand’s products/services. Based on the survey study, the authors have established a valid ten-item BASCALE.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the survey’s setting in the fashion context in the UK, the authors do not intend to generalize the results to other product types and countries. Future research should replicate the BASCALE in different product categories and different countries.
Practical implications
The BASCALE can serve marketers in the behavioral segmentation and assist brand managers to identify brand addict consumers and maintain long-term relationships with them.
Originality/value
The authors have developed a definition of brand addiction and a valid BASCALE, which one can use for a wide range of theoretical and empirical research in the marketing and psychology fields. The definition and BASCALE also serve to differentiate brand addiction from other consumer–brand relationships and addiction constructs (e.g. compulsive buying, brand love and brand trust).
Online product recommendation (OPR) provided by product recommender systems as well as consumers is a crucial service in social shopping communities (SSCs) for improving consumers’ shopping experience and fostering long-term relationships. However, little is understood about how these two sources of recommendations influence consumers' decision-making and their implications for customer loyalty. This study develops a model to examine how the positive (enablers) and negative (inhibitors) factors of OPR’s quality influence consumer decision process, and how the decision process ultimately influences customer loyalty. The results indicate that consumer product screening cost and decision-making quality significantly influence customer loyalty. Consumer product screening cost is negatively associated with self reference and positively associated with deceptiveness and information overload. Product evaluation cost is positively affected by self reference, deceptiveness and information overload and negatively affected by vividness. And consumer decision-making quality is positively associated with self reference and negatively associated with deceptiveness and information overload. Consumer product screening cost and product evaluation cost are comparatively more negatively influenced by inhibitors than enablers. Moreover, UGC level plays a negative moderating role on the relationships between product screening cost and customer loyalty, and between product evaluation cost and customer loyalty.
Technology, particularly Self-Service Technology (SST), has reshaped the way an individual interacts with a certain brand or retailer. In 2015, Amazon, known for its progressive usage of technology, launched the Dash Button, allowing customers to remotely reorder products by the mere press of a button. This study aims at understanding the implications of such a tech disruption on the consumer journey from the customer, the retailer and the brand perspectives. In order to investigate the usage of the button and its impact on the overall consumer journey, an Internet survey was devised and completed by 630 U.S. prime users of the Amazon Dash Button. Using structural equation modeling, the findings show that the perceived value of the button positively affects the feeling towards the retailer, hereby Amazon, as well as the level of the shopper's impulsiveness. The findings also show that consumer spending self-control affects negatively the impulsiveness in using the Dash button.
Deceptive advertising denotes a producer's usage of mystifying, deceiving, or blatantly untrue statementswhen endorsing a product. There are several illegal methods for attempting to deceive consumers. Thiscan be done through concealed fees or the usage of surcharges. Deceptive advertising can also takeplace when "going out of business sales" charge consumers more for products that had already beenmarked down. Advertising law identifies the manipulation of standards as dishonesty under customerlaw. Undefined terminology is also considered a violation under consumer law. Marketing deceit is apractice that can equate to a crime. Thus, a marketer should not get involved in deceiving their potentialcustomers for this manipulation would lead to various harms: it erodes one's self-confidence and hindersthe development of responsible advertising. Big companies make big mistakes, this is to say that trustassociated with big companies holds severe uncertainties. This chapter explores advertising deceit.
Purpose
Brands have been progressively using social networking sites, namely Facebook, as part of their strategy to engage their consumers, and ultimately build long-term relationships with them. Nonetheless, with the overuse of ‘engagement ads’ by brands, saturation related to information overload is expected to be reached leading to the dilution of the consumer-brand relationship. The purpose of this study is to fill a gap in the literature which has predominantly focused on the positive side of social networking sites, and hence still lacks a thorough understanding of the potential risks brands face when using Facebook. Accordingly, this research examines the different risks brands would be facing from saturated consumers on social networking sites such as Facebook.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was conducted, with a total of 40 respondents using face-to-face semi-structured interviews over two stages. While the first stage of the study focused on examining the saturation risk and its potential negative effects, the second one explored these risks specifically on the consumer-brand relationship on Facebook. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, then coded for analysis using NVivo 8.
Findings
Brands are overloading their followers with passively-endorsed brand messages, which are negatively affecting consumers’ experience on Facebook, as well as the relationship with these brands. This overall dilution of the consumer-brand relationship on Facebook was hence found to be affecting interaction, similarity with friends, the system quality of the social networking site, as well as information quality. Furthermore, this dilution was found to be affecting brand likability, brand trust and brand association.
Originality/value
The negative implications are still scarcely examined in the literature where social media engagement is predominantly discussed through a positive lens. Hence, this study has the peculiarity of discussing the risks that companies would face with Facebook’s engagement model along with their implications on the consumer-brand relationship.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze consumer switching behavior, which in the retail banking sector is of outmost importance, particularly during financial crises and in their ensuing consolidation pressures. Moreover, research indicates that cultural values play a critical role in determining a customer’s likelihood to switch the service provider. The theory of planned behavior offers a comprehensive theoretical framework for an understanding of this behavior. Its application implies that switching is influenced not only by one’s attitudes toward changing banking service providers, but also by the merger situation at hand, the influence of significant others, and whether the switching decision is under one’s behavioral control.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper scrutinizes the merger between Lloyds TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland in the Spanish market, with a focus on the differences between British and Spanish consumers. In all, 30 face-to-face exploratory interviews were conducted with a sample of customers from both nationalities selected through a purposive sampling technique.
Findings
The results indicate that the switching behavior within the banking sector is largely determined by one’s cultural background. While individualistic consumers are more prone to switch banks, collectivist consumers are highly risk averse and are unwilling to lose the established relations with a bank’s personnel. These particular characteristics make them unlikely to switch banks irrespective of a merger and its related consequences.
Originality/value
This paper examines the impact of cross-cultural differences on consumer switching motivations and intentions in the particular case of a real-life banks’ merger.
The gamification of retail, helped essentially by the development of augmented reality, is hailed today as being the reverser of declining retail sales trends. With the rapid expansion and adoption of the Pokémon Go augmented reality game, there is a dire need to understand the true implications of this game app on brands and retailers alike. Given that studies on the risks attributed to the actual gamification of augmented reality are still scarce, this paper establishes an early understanding on this subject and expands the discussion on the potential negative implications of the commoditisation of augmented reality. Based on an exploratory qualitative design whereby 24 experts in the marketing field were interviewed, this study develops the currently narrow theoretical and practical understanding of how these apps could affect retailers. In sum, the study proposes a pioneering direction on the likely negative implications that gaming platforms such as Pokémon Go could
have on the first moment of truth.
Purpose
Consumers’ underlying motives to co-create value are important when determining their willingness to engage in co-creation activities. However, the importance of their motives may vary according to different service contexts. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the value co-creation research by investigating how the service contexts shape consumers’ motives to co-create.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a survey of 284 consumers. By focusing on professional vs generic services (context), based on differences in knowledge intensity and workforce professionalism, the paper pinpoints the contextual nature of consumer motives to co-create.
Findings
The results show that in professional services consumers are positively influenced to co-create by developmental motives, whereas empowerment motives have a negative impact. In turn, the positive effects of individualizing and relating motives are predominant in generic services. Willingness to co-create is a strong determinant of intended co-creation behaviors, regardless of the service type.
Research limitations/implications
This study clearly shows the contextual nature of motives to co-create value, thereby questioning the generalizability of single-context studies.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to compare consumer motives to co-create across different service contexts.
Relationship marketing (RM) has emerged as one of the dominant mantras in business strategy circles, though RM investigations often yield mixed results. To help managers and researchers improve the effectiveness of their efforts, the authors synthesize RM empirical research in a meta-analytic framework. Although the fundamental premise that RM positively affects performance is well supported, many of the authors’ findings have significant implications for research and practice. Relationship investment has a large, direct effect on seller objective performance, which implies that additional meditated pathways may explain the impact of RM on performance. Objective performance is influenced most by relationship quality (a composite measure of relationship strength) and least by commitment. The results also suggest that RM is more effective when relationships are more critical to customers (e.g., service offerings, channel exchanges, business markets) and when relationships are built with an individual person rather than a selling firm (which partially explains the mixed effects between RM and performance reported in previous studies).
Purpose
Research has shown that information and communication technologies (ICT) are crucial for economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that would depict and examine the nature of the relationship between ICT use and organizational performance in the Lebanese market, taking into consideration the impact that innovation and corporate entrepreneurship may have on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate the proposed model a survey targeting employees, and managers who adopted ICT applications in SMEs located in Lebanon was conducted.
Findings
The results indicate that ICT and innovation are strategic resources. However, their contribution to sustainable competitive advantage vitally depends on the implicitness and entrepreneurial behaviors of those involved. It is through this capability that ICT and ICT-based innovations could make a difference in organization’s performance – both present and future.
Research limitations/implications
First, the respondents were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Second, the data were collected through self-report questionnaires. Finally, the use of perceptual data related to performance may have a bias effect on the study results.
Practical/implications
At the practical level, the study results have repercussions for managers, technology suppliers, and innovation adopters and managers, as this may contribute to better understanding of the factors that could influence the adoption, management, and use of ICT resources for enhancing the competitiveness level of the firm.
Originality/value
The results of this study have implications for ICT adoption in Lebanese SMEs. More importantly, they suggest a framework which depicts the relationship between ICT and the organization’s innovation level on one hand, and a company’s performance on the other, taking entrepreneurship as a mediator in this relationship.
Social networking sites’ current domination as a relationship-building platform with consumers is causing brand owners to lose power. Concurrently, retailers have significantly increased their social presence to influence shoppers’ buying decisions. Surprisingly, this area is still largely under-examined in the literature despite its growing relevance. Indeed, a dire need exists to examine the opportunities and risks arising from the instance during which the shopper makes a specific brand purchase based on a set of determining factors on the retailer’s social page. This paper coins that instance as the “Social Moment of Truth,” an original concept introduced to expand brands’ ability to build upon retailers’ engagement efforts to consolidate consumers’ experience. By proposing a conceptual framework built around an exploratory qualitative design using 12 expert interviews based on the data saturation principle, this study expands the current limited theoretical and practical understanding of the online retailer–consumer relationship and suggests a number of social trade marketing strategies.
This paper aims to reveal the influence of peer-member characteristics and technical features of a social shopping website (SSW) on consumers’ purchase intentions. Following the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this study operationalizes “stimulus” as website features and peers’ qualities, “organism” as experiential shopping values, and “response” as the purchase intention of users. The research model is empirically tested with survey data from 313 real SSW consumers. The results suggest that similarity, benevolence and expertise of peer members in the community and the website’s support for recommendations positively impact shoppers’ perceived utilitarian value of the SSW. Moreover, users’ perception of peers’ similarity and benevolence positively affect their sense of social value of using the platform. Finally, both perceived utilitarian and social value predict individuals’ consumption intentions.
Purpose
– At present no frameworks exist for services marketers to incorporate social media (SM) within marketing communications planning. The majority of integrated marketing communications (IMC) frameworks were developed prior to the development of the widespread use of digital and SM for information seeking, sales and service. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this issue for services marketers specifically as they differ from FMCG, industrial and durable marketers in terms of marketing messages, branding, media and channels. Furthermore, as they are less reliant on outsourced sale channels they have more potential than other industries to integrate social and digital media to build awareness, brands and sales.
Design/methodology/approach
– Depth interviews were conducted with eight senior services marketing executives to identify the impact of SM on marketing communications planning, implementation and measurement.
Findings
– The findings revealed that the unique characteristics of SM (such as interactivity and individualisation, integration of communication and distribution channels, immediacy and information collection) impact traditional marketing communications frameworks. These impacts manifested in 12 modifications specific to services and SM to traditional generic IMC frameworks encompassed by the themes of reach, service channel, word-of-mouth advocacy, consumer generated messages, listening and behavioural measurement.
Practical implications
– The rapidly evolving nature of SM means senior services marketers need to educate organisational stakeholders regarding implementation issues, which may be a barrier to effective integration of SM within marketing communications.
Originality/value
– With digital marketing communications budgets reaching 30 per cent within some organisations, it is timely to put forward a marketing communication decision-making framework that first incorporates SM and second is suitable for services marketers.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is an approach generally taken by Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) technology companies in offering new product to the market. The SaaS Environment approach is simple to expand internationally but the existing research into this area is incomplete as it tends to focus on the networks that companies use. This paper seeks to extend this area of research by looking specifically at the approaches to marketing planning that SMEs adopt and the impact that this has on their internationalization.
Purpose
– This study aims to examine current practices of social media marketing among major global brands across five product categories (namely, convenience, shopping, specialty, industrial and service). Assessing the frequency, media type and content orientations of corporate Facebook pages, this study aims to isolate the qualitative factors of a brand’s social media message that are most likely to facilitate a consumer response.
Design/methodology/approach
– A content analysis of 1,086 social media posts was conducted from the corporate Facebook pages of 92 global brands during a one-month (snapshot) time horizon in July 2013. The data collected from each individual post include its media type (i.e. text, photo or video), its content orientation (i.e. task, interaction and self-oriented) and the number and type of consumer response it generated (i.e. likes, comments and shares).
Findings
– Research findings reveal that global brands actively utilize social media, posting on average three messages per week and generally use photos (as a media type) and interaction-focused content (as a content orientation) to secure consumer responses. However, differences in consumer responses exist along various product categories, message media type and message content orientation.
Practical implications
– Findings imply that marketers should not only carefully consider the media type they use to message consumers on social media but should also try to consider the individual consumer’s motive for interaction.
Originality/value
– This article suggests a new way to study social media content by applying pre-existing communication frameworks from salesmanship literature as a way to define message content orientation.
Because effective influencers in an online social network (OSN) can significantly affect consumers’ purchasing decisions via trust among users in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) marketing, identifying these influencers with respect to user trust relationships has become increasingly important. However, many existing studies overlook the domain attribute of trust and the time-varying nature of social networks and only analyze a static snapshot of a user trust network (UTN). To address these issues and investigate this topic in the e-commerce context, this study proposes a research framework that takes into account the dimensions of trust, domain, and time. A time-varying hypergraph is developed to model the OSN using the time-varying features of multi-type relationships, and an algorithm is developed to extract a domain-aware UTN based on the time-varying hypergraph and user trust relationships. Reinforced by the dimensions of trust, domain, and time, a novel product review domain-aware (PRDA) approach is conceived that identifies effective influencers and categorizes them into three types, i.e., emerging influencers, holding influencers, and vanishing influencers, based on their popularity status across the life cycle. The experimental results from the Epinions dataset show that the PRDA approach outperforms both the social network-based influence-evaluating approach and the “popular author” approach.
1. Defining a Perspective on Nonverbal Behavior.- Patterns of Nonverbal Behaviors.- Nonverbal Involvement.- Functional Analysis.- Summary.- 2. Developing a Sequential Functional Model.- Theoretical Background.- Empirical Research on the Arousal Model.- Comprehensiveness of Existing Theories.- Antecedent Factors.- Mediating Mechanisms.- Exchange Outcome.- A Sequential Functional Model.- Summary.- 3. The Informational Function.- Perspectives on Communication.- Determinants of Communication.- Expressive Indication.- Implications of the Communication-Indication Contrast.- Summary.- 4. Regulating Interaction.- Focused Interactions.- Unfocused Interactions-Passing Encounters.- Summary.- 5. Intimacy.- The Construct of Intimacy.- Social Penetration Theory.- Relationship Intimacy and Nonverbal Involvement.- Developed Relationships.- Assessing the Intimacy Function.- Summary.- 6. Social Control.- Power and Dominance.- Persuasion.- Feedback and Reinforcement.- Deception.- Impression Management.- Comparing Intimacy and Social Control Functions.- Conclusions.- Summary.- 7. The Service-Task Function.- Service Relationships in Focused Interaction.- Evaluating the Service Component.- Task Constraints in Unfocused Interactions.- Significance of the Service-Task Function.- Summary.- 8. Antecedent Influences.- Personal Factors.- Experiential Factors.- Relational-Situational Factors.- The Mediation of Antecedent Influences.- An Overview of Antecedent Influences.- Summary.- 9. An Overview: Problems and Prospects.- Evaluating the Functional Perspective.- Directions for Research.- Personal Observations.- Summary.- Reference Notes.- References.- Author Index.
It is becoming increasingly important for firms to know when to take steps to reduce buyers' uncertainty about products and services. This paper focuses on investments that firms can make to reduce buyers' uncertainty about taste-related product attributes. Using an analytical model, we show that firms should disclose more taste-related information when the customer segment they directly target represents a larger share of the overall market. We further show that there are practical ways by which managers can decide if such disclosure investments are financially beneficial to their firms. Specifically, we show that the variance of consumer reviews can guide such decisions. The paper's main contribution to the extant literature is to show that firms must consider the variance, but not the mean, of buyer reviews, to determine the need to invest in reducing consumer uncertainty about taste-related attributes. The papers's findings are managerially important due to the ubiquity of consumer reviews. They are novel because most of the previous literature views the mean of the review as the key indicator. Finally, they are general in their applicability since they are independent of any assumptions about heuristics that buyers may use to ascertain product quality from the reviews of previous buyers.
A decade after the dot-com implosion, traditional retailers are lagging in their embrace of digital technologies. To survive, they must pursue a strategy of omnichannel retailing—an integrated sales experience that melds the advantages of physical stores with the information-rich experience of online shopping. Retailers face challenges in reaching this goal. Many traditional retailers arenʼt technology-savvy. Few are adept at test-and-learn methodologies. They will need to recruit new kinds of talent. And theyʼll need to move away from analog metrics like same-store sales and focus on measures such as return on invested capital. Traditional retailers must also transform the one big feature internet retailers lack—stores—from a liability into an asset. They must turn shopping into an entertaining, exciting, and emotionally engaging experience. Companies like Disney, Apple, and Jordanʼs Furniture are leading the way. Artwork: Rachel Perry Welty, Lost in My Life (wrapped books), 2010, pigment print Photography: Rachel Perry Welty and Yancey Richardson Gallery, NY Itʼs a snowy Saturday in Chicago, but Amy, age 28, needs resort wear for a Caribbean vacation. Five years ago, in 2011, she would have headed straight for the mall. Today she starts shopping from her couch by launching a videoconference with her personal concierge at Danella, the retailer where she bought two outfits the previous month. The concierge recommends several items, superimposing photos of them onto Amyʼs avatar. Amy rejects a couple of items immediately, toggles to another browser tab to research customer reviews and prices, finds better deals on several items at another retailer, and orders them. She buys one item from Danella online and then drives to the Danella store near her for the in-stock items she wants to try on. As Amy enters Danella, a sales associate greets her by name and walks her to a dressing room stocked with her online selections—plus some matching shoes and a cocktail dress. She likes the shoes, so she scans the bar code into her smartphone and finds the same pair for 73), and checks out with her smartphone.
Consumer participation (CP) has become an important topic in marketing literature with the emergence of service-dominant logic (SD logic), where consumers are viewed as co-creators or coproducers of value. However, most studies of CP have largely focused on its economic implications for the supplying firm and thus not much attention has been paid to the factors explaining this phenomenon. This study explains the CP process in the context of home meal preparation by proposing and testing a model of how convenience orientation and knowledge influence both a motivational (involvement) and a behavioral component (time use) of a CP process. The results show that high involvement is a main driver of CP behavior. Convenience-oriented people are less involved and spend less time on CP activities. Knowledge is suggested to have a positive influence on involvement with CP, but it may not necessarily positively impact the time people use in CP because skills may bring about efficient performance.
Co-creation is a rapidly emerging area of research. However, there is a lack of understanding as to how organizations use co-creation to build relationships and generate value. How does participation emerge and what outcomes does it deliver? To generate insight into the co-creation process, we created an online brand community. Our findings show that people participate in a community because it offers them the chance to find fulfillment, to express their creativity, and to socialize. The findings have significant implications for marketing, branding, and research professionals because the research shows that managers have to see participants as integral to the brand.
The dynamic, ubiquitous, and often real-time interaction enabled by social media significantly changes the landscape for brand management. A deep understanding of this change is critical since it may affect a brand's performance substantially. Literature about social media's impact on brands is evolving, but lacks a systematic identification of key challenges related to managing brands in this new environment. This paper reviews existing research and introduces a framework of social media's impact on brand management. It argues that consumers are becoming pivotal authors of brand stories due to new dynamic networks of consumers and brands formed through social media and the easy sharing of brand experiences in such networks. Firms need to pay attention to such consumer-generated brand stories to ensure a brand's success in the marketplace. The authors identify key research questions related to the phenomenon and the challenges in coordinating consumer- and firm-generated brand stories.
Social shopping communities (SSCs) evolve from a linkage of social networking and online shopping. Apart from direct shopping features in shopbots (e.g., search fields), SSCs additionally offer user-generated social shopping features. These include recommendation lists, ratings, styles (i.e., assortments arranged by users), tags, and user profiles. Purchases can be made by following a link to a participating online shop ("click-out"). SSCs are experiencing high growth rates in consumer popularity (e.g., Polyvore attracts more than 6 million unique visitors per month). Thus, this business model has received considerable venture capital in recent years. By analyzing clickstream data, we investigate which factors, especially social shopping features, are significant for predicting purchasing behavior within SSCs. Our logit model includes about 2.73 million visiting sessions and shows that social shopping features exert a significant impact, both positive and negative. Tags and high ratings have a positive impact on a click-out. In contrast, the more lists and styles used, the less likely the user is to make a click-out. Yet, lists and styles seem to enhance site stickiness and browsing. Moreover, the more direct shopping features that are used, the less likely the user is to conduct a click-out. Increasing transaction costs and information overload could be potential reasons. We also found that community members are more likely to make a click-out than ordinary users. This implies that community members are more profitable.
Purpose
– Based on message source theory, the purpose of this paper is to use positive electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) settings to examine the influence of message source credibility on brand attitude (brand trust, brand affection, and purchase intention). The current study also uses the elaboration likelihood model to examine the moderating effect of product involvement on the relationships between message appeals (rational vs emotional) and brand attitude, as well as between message source credibility and brand attitude.
Design/methodology/approach
– Data were collected via internet questionnaires. Based on the internet investigation and pretest, this study chose the stimuli for research products, virtual brands, eWOM, and message source credibility. Via a 2 (notebooks vs shampoo) *2 (appeal: rational vs emotional) experimental design, 211 effective samples were collected to verify the hypotheses of this study.
Findings
– The results, for both notebooks and shampoo, are: the positive eWOM message with higher message source credibility indicates a better brand attitude than the eWOM message with lower message source credibility, and this effect is not moderated by the degree of product involvement, indicating its robustness. Second, with a high degree of product involvement, the rational appeal indicates a better brand attitude than the emotional appeal; no significant difference is found when product involvement drops to a low level.
Originality/value
– Previous research investigating the moderating effect of involvement on the effects of message‐appeal types and the message source credibility of eWOM is rare. The main contribution of this study is to fill this gap.