ABSTRACT. The rise of social media has boosted marketers’ interest in using these platforms to build relationships with customers and as potential tools for spreading word of mouth While research has examined topics related to consumer-brand relationships on social media, the sustained use of social media platforms and their evolving nature merit additional inquiry. We extend the literature by investigating how the linguistic style of brands’ social media messages impacts consumer engagement. We look beyond the message content and investigate how the linguistic style of the message affects a consumer’s decision to interact with the brand, taking into account not only what is being said, but also how it is communicated.

This research examines how the semantic content of a brand’s social media communications affects consumer engagement activities at the message level (likes, comments, and shares). Our research builds upon previous studies that examine brand post popularity in two important ways. First, we look beyond the message content and investigate how the linguistic style of the message affects a consumer’s choice to interact with the brand. In essence, we take into account not only what is being said, but also how it is communicated. Second, we take into account that consumer social media interactions at various levels are interrelated. Our Multivariate Poisson Regression Analysis allows us to simultaneously compare message characteristics across our three levels of consumer engagement (likes, comments, and shares).

ABSTRACT. This qualitative study explores the drivers of consumer social media behaviors such as “liking” brands on Facebook, following companies on Twitter, and commenting on social media content. Specifically, engagement and source credibility are examined as potential drivers of consumer behaviors on social networking sites. An analysis of the data reveals that while social media engagement sometimes precedes the behaviors expressed on social networking sites, it is not always a precursor to these outcomes. Moreover, “liking” is viewed by consumers as an easy, low-involvement step, whereas commenting and sharing are considered high-involvement activities. Source credibility emerges as an important consideration when consumers are deciding whether to interact with content, especially when thinking about sharing the content with social media connections.

ABSTRACT. As social media continues to grow, the challenge for companies remains measurement. Few companies are able to concretely show the impact of social media on their business. Literature suggests this challenge is partly due to the lack of strategy and objectives, as well as a lack of understanding of the value of social media.

The purpose of this research is to develop a social media value chain that will provide companies with a conceptual framework to measure and evaluate social media.

The social media value chain framework developed from this study highlights the importance of three key areas: firm investments, community management, and return. The framework incorporates the integration of traditional and social media communications, and the drivers of success of social media campaigns.

The findings also highlight the shifting focus of social media programs from marketing communication efforts to relationship management and social business initiatives. The importance of formulating strategies and objectives is clear in order to measure word of mouth, trust, loyalty, and authentic business.

This research is of value to both academics who are seeking measurement theory methodologies to understand the intricacies of measuring the impact of social media, and to practitioners, who are striving to develop ROI measures of their investment in social media programs.

ABSTRACT. More and more customers search the mobile web or use smartphone applications to quickly gather external information (e.g., compare prices, gather detailed product information, or search for product reviews) at the point of sale. The intention of this research is to improve the knowledge of the impact of mobile devices as a communication channel in contrast to personal communication in a brick-and-mortar environment. Across two experiments the authors show contradictory effects of digital communication and reveal how mobile devices as communication channel increase perceived control of the communication process. Contrary to a large number of studies which investigate the influence of recommendations on customers’ behavior in isolation, this study provides an approach to examine the effects of the communication channels and the information source simultaneously, without consideration of the recommendation itself.

ABSTRACT. Crowdfunding, a process of generating monetary resources for a certain need through the power of the crowds’ collaboration, is becoming a popular practice among entrepreneurs. The popularity of crowdfunding has exponentially grown in the last few years, generating around $5.1B worldwide each year to support entrepreneurial and social ventures in the areas such as, arts, fashion, technology, and so on. Past studies have examined the role of important factors such as project characteristics, social information, and consumer motivation on the funding success. While these studies advance our understanding of what project characteristics lead to the ultimate funding success, we have limited understanding on how marketing factors such as branding and emotions of the rhetoric used to promote the projects affect the final outcome. In this paper, we use data from 701 technological gadget projects posted on a popular crowdfunding site called Kickstarter and examine (1) the effects of emotions of the project description on the funding success, and (2) whether brand affiliation/ compatibility have any effect on the final outcome of the crowdfunding initiative. Results show that both positive emotion and brand affiliation have significant positive effects on funding success. We also found partial moderating effects of emotions and brand affiliation on the relationship between project characteristics and funding success. We conclude the study by providing strategic recommendations for the project developers on how to write their descriptions, and what results in funding success.

ABSTRACT. We investigated how brand attributes, familiarity and consideration, residuals of prior marketing mix exposures on individuals, influence the intention to purchase? We employed a Bayesian view point to make probability statements about the parameters and express uncertainty in a probability or distribution statement. We used a behavioral data-set of U.S. auto industry. 9675 observations were used in the analysis. Prior literature neglected to take into account the customer-brand relationship variables which may explain unobserved customer heterogeneity. Our brand-choice model builds on a set of behavioral variables and focuses on the brand dimensions. Within a Bayesian framework, we proposed a new brand choice model which accounts for the customer-brand relationship. Our mixed model showed familiarity and brand loyalty vary by segment; brand loyalty is the most important predictor of purchase intention for each segment. Besides, our mixed model indicated fixed effect of the interaction between familiarity and attachment to be a significant predictor of purchase intention. We showed that consideration positively and brand attachment negatively are associated with purchase intention. Our results regarding negative effect of brand attachment on purchase intention suggest further investigation of possible moderating factors of the relationship between brand attachment and purchase intention.

ABSTRACT. Brands fail (e.g., Oldsmobile, Plymouth, and Woolworth Stores). Yet, some (e.g., John Deere) remain relevant across generations. What is the secret to staying relevant to consumers across generations of consumers (e.g., Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials)? Research shows that brands with the ability to emotionally connect with their consumers have innovative product offerings that create value with consumers. But, what impact does the behavior of leaders have on driving innovative products to influence the connection of brands and consumers?

To date, no literature addresses how the behaviors of leaders influence the emotional connections between brands and consumers. To address this gap, the authors conducted a qualitative inquiry, involving interviews with executives who are leading brands in business to consumer industries. We find that leaders who exhibit the behaviors of emotional intelligence, hope, and social identity build stronger emotional connections between their brands and consumers, which lead to sustainable brand growth. These are important findings for researchers and practitioners who seek to understand this phenomenon and position their brands for long-term sustainable growth.

ABSTRACT. Based on the main idea to put ones first name on a coke bottle, Coca-Cola's “Share a Coke”-campaign has since spread to currently more than 80 countries across the globe. And many other brands followed by also printing first names on their product packages (like Nutella or Langnese), although it is still unclear, what drives the success of Coca Cola’s campaign in particular. In order to examine Coca-Cola's campaign from a holistic consumer behavior perspective, the focus of the present study is on the assessment of (positive and negative) explicit and implicit consumer reactions. In this context, the following research questions are investigated: What is the impact of a personalized product packaging with regard to customer’s explicit and implicit brand-related associations? Are the explicit and implicit effects` of different brand assessments influenced by different degrees of brand consciousness? An experimental study was conducted to measure the product-related explicit and implicit brand assessments. In the study a self-report questionnaire and a reaction time measurement (SC-IAT) was used. In January 2015 over 228 consumers participated. In order to test the main hypotheses mean and group comparisons were applied. Our results reveal that for customers with a high brand consciousness Coca-Cola’s product personalization positively affects attitudinal brand assessment on an explicit and implicit level. The opposite effect was shown for customers with low levels of brand consciousness towards Coca Cola: Here the personalized product design evoked negative attitudinal associations on an automatic and impulsive information processing level.

ABSTRACT. The concept of shopper marketing is getting increasing attention from both academics and practitioners (Silveira and Marreiros 2014). Shankar (2011) defines shopper marketing as “the planning and execution of all marketing activities that influence a shopper along, and beyond, the entire path to purchase, from the point at which the motivation to shop first emerges through to purchase, consumption, repurchase, and recommendation.” As noted by Shankar et al. (2011) shopper marketing is a broad concept that is distinctly different from traditional marketing and it uses various triggers to influence customers. Among the various shopper marketing tools highlighted by Shankar et al. (2011), coupons continue to be popular among retailers and manufacturers.

ABSTRACT. Based on advertising and behavioral pricing research, we develop and empirically test a conceptual model of the effects of discount level and daily deal promotion on consumer perceptions of discount credibility, the extent of discounting of discounts, and change in purchase intentions for brands with average (study 1) and high (study 2) reputations. This research sheds light on the theoretical mechanism behind consumer discounting of discounts and extends it to the hyper-discounting online daily deals context. The findings offer important managerial recommendations for retailers and daily deal managers with respect to utilizing daily deal promotions across brands with different reputations.

ABSTRACT. Cross-selling of extended warranties has become the norm in many durable consumer goods categories. These warranties typically cover parts and labor repair costs for durables for a pre-specified period beyond the standard product warranty. Despite the prevalence and profitability of extended warranties, there is scant academic research in marketing on this topic. Nevertheless, the widespread and public availability of extended warranty offers provides an opportunity to examine extended warranty pricing practices. This study examines the drivers of extended warranty prices for 6 different consumer durable categories. Product price, extended warranty price, and other product descriptors are collected for 6,370 products using a web scraping program. We find that the annualized insurance premium for extended warranties varies significantly by product category, brand name, price level and format (odd or even price ending) of the insured product, and the duration of the policy.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this study is to analyze the proportion of their reference price (RP) consumers are willing to pay in a pay-what-you-want (PWYW) situation in specific conditions (involvement: moderate vs. high, salience of the external RP: yes vs. no, satisfaction level: low vs. high, consumers’ mood: neutral vs. positive). This study adds to existing research by considering effects other than just direct ones because no previous studies have simultaneously analyzed direct and interaction effects of such conditions. In addition, effects of involvement and mood have not been studied in a PWYW context yet. The results show that if consumers can determine the price to be paid, they set a price which is significantly lower than their RP related to the encountered situation. The results also provide the notion that neither involvement nor mood have effects on the proportion of their RP consumers are willing to pay. Furthermore, the results show that the proportion of their RP consumers are willing to pay is higher when consumers are highly satisfied compared to less satisfied and that the price paid is closer to consumers’ RP when they are faced with an external RP. Moreover, the analyses of interaction effects show that providing an external RP can increase the proportion of their RP consumers are willing to pay if they are not highly satisfied in a moderate involvement situation.

ABSTRACT. This research explores how different types of user reputation signals that vary in role clarity (low role clarity: points vs. high role clarity: labels) impact participation in an online community. Study 1 analyzes actual user behavior in a real online community before and after a change to its reputation signals and shows that labels drive participation behaviors (discussions and comments posted) to a greater degree than points. Study 2a demonstrates the effect in a controlled lab setting and investigates the mechanism. Feelings of connectedness to the community mediate the impact of reputation signal type on participation intentions. Presenting additional information with a low role clarity label can increase participation intentions (Study 2b). Study 3 finds that the user’s membership length moderates the preference for high role clarity signals, such that new users are motivated by high role clarity labels but long-term users are motivated by either signal type. Study 4 examines the degree of interactivity of the community (online vs. in-person), finding that face-to-face interaction mitigates the positive advantage of high role clarity reputation signals.

ABSTRACT. Charities sometimes use information about others’ participation to influence potential donors. Two streams of research on social norms and the bystander effect appear to predict opposite effects of others’ participation on charitable behavior. We reconcile these conflicting perspectives by identifying a broader theoretical framework based on agency-communion motives that accounts for both positive and negative effects of others’ participation on charitable behavior. Based on our theoretical framework, we show that others’ participation has a positive effect on charitable behavior when recipient resources are low but a negative effect on charitable behavior when recipient resources are high. Consistent with our theoretical framework, we show that these positive and negative effects of others’ participation are mediated respectively by perceived informativeness of social norm and perceived responsibility for achieving the campaign’s goals. Further consistent with our framework, we show that manipulating agentic-communion motives modifies the effects of others’ participation and recipient resources on charitable behavior. This research makes a contribution by identifying recipient resources as a new moderator and agency-communion motives as a new mechanism underlying the effect of others’ participation on charitable behavior.

ABSTRACT. One important challenge that managers of online communities face is to do with ensuring that members do not only benefit from contributions of others but that they also actively participate in providing support to those in need. This paper adopts the resource exchange theory to examine factors that influence reciprocity in online health communities. Data was gathered from 361 members of online health communities from Gauteng South Africa using a structured questionnaire. The findings show that willingness of online health community members to reciprocate favours depends on perceived level of social capital that individual members associate the online community with as well as their gratefulness towards the community and satisfaction with the community. Of the two emotional factors, satisfaction with online community was found to have stronger direct influence on willingness to reciprocate than gratefulness. The study helps isolate factors that managers of online health communities need to focus on in their efforts in stimulating reciprocity on their platforms.

ABSTRACT. We investigate a popular but under-researched concept, the feeling of missing out (FOMO) on desirable experiences in an individual’s social environment that one is aware of, but doesn’t partake in. We show that perceiving the unattended alternative experiences highly favorable and self-relevant lead to generation of FOMO, whereas the popularity of alternatives doesn’t have an influence on the occurence of FOMO. We also show that experiencing FOMO decreases one’s intentions to repeat a current experience (i.e., redo/revisit intentions) and may also decrease the valuation of the current experience. Importantly, through field studies, we depict several real-life contexts where FOMO occurs.

ABSTRACT. Industry reports indicate that more than half of consumed calories come in packaged goods and soft drinks with questionable nutritional properties. Considering expanding waistlines worldwide and the centrality of retailers and suppliers in food distribution, many hold these organizations at least part responsible for helping consumers to eat more healthily. Deploying stakeholder theory, we propose that marketers should undertake health promotion activities as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices, thus benefitting consumers, public health, corporate reputations, shareholder value, and alignment with public policy priorities. The work contributes to CSR literature by positioning healthy eating promotion in the CSR domain and exploring potential initiatives in the retailing context. Literature review in parallel with managerial group discussions helped to identify activities supporting healthy behaviors adoption, and translate these requirements into actionable CSR strategies. Open-ended questionnaires (n=176) explored in detail consumer expectations of identified CSR strategies. Content analysis confirmed expectations of retailer and supplier involvement in healthy eating promotion. Quantitative surveys in the USA (n=277) and the UK (n=223) validated the derived list of activities in terms of consumer expectations and approval.

ABSTRACT. The nexus between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm financial performance has been researched extensively but the findings have been inconclusive or even conflicting. However, the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and marketing performance is unexplored. This study examines the relationship between CSR and marketing performance, and uncovers a positive relationship. It also shows that the degree of commitment towards the customer relationship further enhances the positive relationship.

ABSTRACT. Organizational crisis can potentially result in negative publicity (Dean, 2004), which could be damaging for organizational reputation and image (Claeys, Cauberghe, & Vynck, 2011; Dean 2004). Additionally, organizations in crisis are bound to encounter negative external stakeholder emotions (e.g. anger), prompting external stakeholders to talk negatively about or to abandon the organization (Coombs, 2007). A 2 (institutional versus promotional CSR program) x 2 (diminish versus rebuild response strategy) x 2 (product-harm versus moral-harm crisis) between-subject experiment was implemented to test the effects of the manipulations on trust and purchase intention. analyses reveal that while a product-harm crisis results in low perceived ability and in purchase intention, a value-related crisis harms the perceived integrity of an organization even more. Additionally, an apology from the company, leads to less reduction in perceived benevolence and integrity of the company. Moreover, it is also revealed that an institutional CSR program leads to a higher perception of ability, integrity, and purchase intention. Finally, while a rebuilding response strategy results in higher perceived benevolence during a product-related crisis compared to a value-related crisis, a diminishing strategy is more appropriate during a value-related crisis compared to a product-related crisis.

ABSTRACT. Organizations exposed to a crisis situation have to decide whether or not to disclose the crisis to minimize harm to the organization’s reputation and to shape the public’s affective reactions. While a company in a crisis might benefit more from being proactive in its communication than opting to be reactive, it is highly likely that the impact of proactive (and reactive) crisis communication on customers’ trusting beliefs and purchase intention depend on the type of crisis and the company’s pre-crisis reputation. The current study, hence, has a two-fold objective: first, to compare the main effects of communication timing, pre-crisis reputation, and crisis type on trusting beliefs and purchase intention; and second, to test the moderating effects of crisis type and pre-crisis reputation on the relationship between crisis timing and the dependent variables mentioned. To test the research hypotheses, a 2x2x2 between-respondents experiment was implemented with Dutch participants.

ABSTRACT. Market-oriented behaviors are positive drivers of business performance (Narver & Slater, 1990; Jaworski & Kohli, 1993; Morgan, Vorhies & Mason, 2009). Rather than examining such behaviors, this study uses Kor & Mesko's (2013) investigation outlining the drivers and consequences to the firm's dominant logic. This study infers that the firm's dominant logic has similarities with a market-oriented dominant logic (Cadogan, 2003) and is driven by dynamic managerial capabilities (Kor & Mesko, 2013). The firm's dominant logic is “the way in which managers conceptualize the business and make critical resource allocation decisions - be it in technologies, product development, distribution, advertising, or in human resource management” (Kor & Mesko, 2013, p. 235). Dynamic managerial capabilities (managerial human capital, managerial cognition and managerial social capital) are “the capabilities with which managers create, extend, and modify the ways in which firms make a living — to help explain the relationship between managerial decisions and actions, strategic change, and corporate performance under conditions of change” (Helfat & Martin, 2015, p. 1282). No studies have examined the drivers and consequences of a market-oriented dominant logic which needs to be done so managers can appreciate how firms can manage their market-oriented activities and shape their performance accordingly through the correct level of investments across its various departmental functions (Buono & Bowditch, 2003). The presentation ends by discussing further stages of this doctoral study’s lifecycle specific to the empirical testing of the conceptual findings.

References are available upon request

ABSTRACT. Acknowledging* the fact that consumers are subject to complex and often conflicting psychological influences, it is easy to accept the composition of forces which define their final behavior. As a result of the above, emotion is likely to drive the consumer to a strategic position of one’s purchasing experience which is likely to depend both on the attachment and the attitude toward the brand. On one hand, the theory of attachment has attracted a considerable interest of research from both the field of psychology which was then emerging as well as that of the marketing in the last years because it affects not only the information process but also the choices of the products. On the other hand, the attitude could be divided in cognitive and affective, since it is based on choices according to the measurable functional features of the product contrary to the choices based on personal emotions. The above study will take place in the context of a retail environment, where causality of emotions from the surrounding of the stores will be studied.

*The publication of this paper has been partly supported by the University of Piraeus Research Center.

ABSTRACT. This paper presents a comparative study conducted in the U.S. and China to investigate how negative celebrity news affects the celebrity’s source credibility, thus influencing customers’ attitude towards brand (ATTB). Two hypothetical incidents, an extramarital affair and a drug addiction that occurred with a domestic celebrity and a foreign celebrity, were developed and investigated using a sample of more than 1000 responses from China and the U.S. The study found that culture moderates the direct effects but does not moderate the indirect effect on ATTB.

ABSTRACT. Events rely on word-of-mouth to attract local community members and faraway fans alike. The intended contribution of this field study (n=3,760) is a fan identification based model explaining how the distance traveled to attend an event combines with sponsor and event factors to impact sponsored-event linked marketing outcomes. Based on field studies in seven host communities, we conceptualize and test a model that ultimately explains how psychological identification as a fan contributes to positive Event word-of-mouth (WOM). The model shows relationships among:  activeness in the sport, knowledge of the sport, fan identification, event community involvement, personal liking of the event, purchase intent for the sponsors, and ultimately Event WOM. Marketing scholars and practitioners can rely on this model to explain or predict fans’ positive word-of-mouth for a sponsored event.

ABSTRACT. Product reviews are an essential pre-purchase proxy for customers to evaluate anticipated consumption experience (Chatterjee 2001; Herr et al. 1991). Academic research has investigated the influence of product reviews on perceived quality and purchase intentions (Liu 2006); however, research offers little guidance as to the effects of product reviews on purchase intentions in the context of bundles. Bundling has developed into a common practice for firms (Brough and Chernev 2012; Harris and Blair 2006), and customers of Amazon.com encounter bundled products nearly every time they shop. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how product reviews influence bundle purchase intentions. These findings provide evidence that there are times when including a highly-rated product in a bundle might actually lead to lower bundle purchase intentions than if a moderately-rated product was included in a bundle instead.

ABSTRACT. Today’s e-generation is on the move, traveling and visiting destination in ever-growing numbers. Having grown up with the Internet, they are well-versed in the use of multiple social media, from which they both obtain information before their trip and share it during and after for others to use. This electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) provides a plethora of information to both tourists and tourist companies alike. This research provides some preliminary results from an expansive, cross-cultural study of young people from three distinct cultures, namely Sweden, the United Kingdom, and India. Results indicate that while the European e-generation have a lot in common, their counterparts in India have some rather distinct habits when it comes to seeking information before they take their trip, as well as sharing information during and after the trip. This “West vs. East” perspective provides some new insights for practitioners and future research directions.

ABSTRACT. Some consumers purchase more of their shopping needs online while others prefer conventional in-store shopping. Consumer’s purchase intention is influenced by different values of utilitarian and hedonic motivations. Due to the surprising recent shutdown of Target and Future Shop in Canada, it is necessary to investigate how customers choose their preferred shopping channel. Suggesting a comprehensive conceptual framework, this research is going to contribute to the existing literature by illustrating motivation values’ associated with shopping channel preferences and purchase intentions. Furthermore, the effects of moderating role of product involvement (high vs. low) on each value of shopping motivations and shopping channel preference will be proposed. The research contributed to the literature in terms of its comprehensive perspective regarding both motivation values and shopping channels. Moreover, given to the ever-increasing enthusiasm of retailers for trying multi-channel distribution system, the research provides managerial implications to address successful or unsuccessful efforts both in online and in-store contexts.

ABSTRACT. This research demonstrates how ambient scent can influence perceived ambient temperature, which in turn can influence consumption volume and choice. Specifically, when an ambient scent (e.g., eucalyptus vs. cedarwood) leads to cooler (vs. warmer) perceived temperature, overall consumption volume of food items (such as chocolates) is higher. However, this effect reverses for beverages (such as flavored water). Further, the effect is extended to choice of unhealthy (vs. healthy) foods and gets attenuated when consumers focus on the presence of the ambient scent. The findings of this research have implications for crossmodal sensory influences and its effects on food/beverage consumption behavior.

ABSTRACT. This research aims to examine smiley faces as visual primes that induce healthier food choices in children. Prior research in emolabeling, i.e. labeling food items using emoticons, found evidence that children opt for healthier choices that are labeled with happy faces. Therefore, visual cues such as images and icons are simple measures to influence children’s food choices. Instead of directly categorizing healthy and unhealthy food items with happy and sad faces, we focus our research on the mere presence of a smiley face in the decision-making process. In a preliminary study conducted with middle school children, we find that including a smiley face in a binary choice problem results in a higher percentage of children opting for the healthier food item. As childhood obesity is a serious public health concern in the US and internationally, findings from this research can have an impact on the design of school cafeterias or kids’ menus.

ABSTRACT. Research shows that obesity is linked to individual’s social networks. Much of this research focuses on leveraging motivation and fails to address the underlying cognitive mechanisms that may make some individuals more susceptible to environmental overeating cues. This study uses a laboratory experiment to show that individual differences in context dependence have an effect on susceptibility to environmental eating cues. These findings suggest that an individual’s propensity for overconsumption may not lie only in their susceptibility to social network cues but also in their differing ability to dissect non-social environmental overconsumption cues based on their context dependence.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the effects of scented advertising on perceived psychological distance and evaluation of the advertised product. The results suggest that scented advertisements make the product more attractive and increase purchase intentions. This is due to decreased psychological distance towards the products. The effect holds regardless of how central scent is for the product or whether attention is drawn to the fact that the advertisement is scented.

ABSTRACT. More than 60 years ago Walt Disney recognized that “entertainment spaces such as amusement parks could be used not only to sell popcorn and candy floss, but toys, collectibles, and motion pictures, as well as – and, we would argue, most importantly – a corporate brand image” (Kozinets et al. 2002, p. 18): He opened the first, original Disneyland in Anaheim on July 17th 1955. As of today, next to Disneyland Resort at the original site, there are similar Disney parks and resorts in Orlando, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai, which provide visitors with a unique Disney experience and undoubtedly contribute to the image of the Walt Disney Company that we have today. Walt Disney is said to be one of the pioneers of brandscaping, the act of transforming a brand itself into a physical location. These brand worlds, like flagship stores or brand museums, are evident in B2C on many occasions nowadays and also academic research has been carried out, even if on a small level. In industrial marketing in contrast, brand worlds with their more emotional and experiential approach to customers also exist, but have not been subject to academic research so far. This paper lays the foundation for future research on the topic of brand worlds in industrial marketing by reviewing the existing literature in B2C and suggesting a set of variables and categories, to give a first overview on which forms of brand worlds already exist and how they could be distinguished.

ABSTRACT. In 1931, Roy Disney, Sr., noted that “The sale of a doll to any member of a household is a daily advertisement in that household for our cartoons and keeps them all ‘Mickey Mouse-Minded’.” That the Disney Company was aware of the significance of merchandising at such an early point in its history demonstrates just how crucial its branding was in the creation of a strong, inimitable corporate culture – one that stretches outside the company itself to embrace its fans. The methods by which the company very successfully achieved this through merchandizing and people management will be addressed throughout this paper.

The authors of this paper are two Disney scholars: one a Disney film historian researching (amongst other things) the storytelling nature of Disney merchandizing, and one an ex-Walt Disney World cast member (Disney employee) researching the corporate cultural control of the Disney brand through its people management techniques. These two perspectives and their associated research seek to uncover the extent to which Disney has the ability to offer a “branded storytelling” experience to all who encounter the company and its people through the “sprinkling of pixie dust”.

ABSTRACT. A large number of studies on counterfeiting explore consumer’s behavior in the consumption of counterfeit articles. But few of them consider luxury brand consumers and counterfeiting. Our study attempts to contribute to this field by studying the reaction of luxury brand consumers in a Moroccan setting.

Concerning the methodological facet, we first suggest the measure of consumer’s reaction toward counterfeiting, namely “resistance to counterfeiting”. Then, we perform a PLS model that includes some antecedents of counterfeiting resistance (need for uniqueness, integrity and price-quality linkage), attitude toward counterfeiting, word-of-mouth and purchase intention.

More precisely, this research demonstrates that counterfeiting resistance has a positive impact on purchase intention of legitimate product. There are also mediating effects of attitude toward counterfeiting and word-of-mouth.

In a managerial perspective, we suggest to counter counterfeiting by focusing on the luxury brand itself. A favorable word-to-mouth seems to be an effective tool to stimulate consumer’s purchase intention, despite the presence of counterfeiting.   

ABSTRACT. Prior literature has shown that counterfeits may decrease consumers' perceptions of genuine brands. However, whether cultural difference exists in this effect has not been examined. Through two experiments, our research finds that brand satisfaction is decreased by exposure to counterfeits only in independent cultures, but not in dependent cultures. This is because perceived quality of genuine luxury brand is decreased by exposure to counterfeits only for consumers from independent rather than interdependent cultures. By studying consumers’ different reactions toward counterfeits, our research adds to existing findings on cultural theory and luxury product consumption. Practically, our findings suggest that counterfeiting might be more detrimental to independent culture consumers’ perception of luxury brands than those in interdependent cultures. When advertising luxury brands to consumers from independent cultures, marketers should emphasize luxury brands’ superior quality and their value expressive function.

ABSTRACT. For retailers who are concerned about an unfavorable price image, a reasonable strategy would be to lower actual prices. However, previous research shows that consumers do not necessarily base store-level price perceptions, or a store price image, on a careful analysis of available price information. This study adds to the limited research on how consumers update store price perceptions by investigating asymmetric effects of price increases compared to price decreases on overall store price perceptions. It also assesses to what extent such an effect might be influenced by whether the store has a discount or premium positioning, and whether consumers’ price search behavior will lead to an increased accuracy in estimating the magnitude of a price change. The experimental study showed that price changes have an asymmetric effect on store price perceptions but these are not moderated by store type. Contrary to expectations, consumers who engage in price search behaviors are less likely to accurately estimate a change in price levels.

ABSTRACT. The current research introduces the concept of perceived point of sale experience (the experience gained at the location in a retail store where the transaction takes place between a customer and the business). It also investigates its role on shopper’s attitude towards a retail store along its hedonic/ utilitarian dimensions and its subsequent influence on the shopper’s re-patronage intentions (intentions of a repeat visit to the store). Furthermore, the role of perceived retail crowding (consumer sensitivity to space scarcity in a retail store) and interactional justice as antecedents to perceived point of sale experience is assessed.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the interaction effects of product return policy and perceived product price and quality on purchase risk, store image and store patronage. Using Warranty theory, this study argues that a consumer’s perception of product price and quality interacts with return policy in driving down the risk of purchase, thereby increasing image of the store and patronage intention. Using an experiment design, this study finds significant support for the prediction that lenient return policy and quality perception interact with each other to influence store image and patronage intention. In addition, results show support for the prediction that the interacting effect of return policy and product quality on patronage intention is mediated by risk perception. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are also provided.

ABSTRACT. B2B marketers allot significant resources to trade show activities, but are challenged to assess their financial value. Responding to calls to justify such investments, this research examines trade show performance at the firm-level. It reveals that trade shows impact firm value, a hitherto unidentified effect of trade show participation. Furthermore, it conceptualizes top management as key in determining the effect of trade shows on firm value because of the influence of top management orientation on the motivation, opportunity and ability (MOA) of firm employees to perform non-selling trade show activities. Results of an event study analysis provide strong support for the moderating role of multiple aspects of top management orientation (i.e., action, temporal and social) in determining the financial contribution of trade shows. The findings expand the types of financial outcomes associated with trade shows while addressing the absence of top management from the trade show research. The research also provides marketers with new insights and guidance related to optimizing trade show performance.

ABSTRACT. Depending on a company’s complaint handling, customers may decide whether they want to stay loyal or terminate their relationship with the company. This study seeks to contribute to the research field on customer complaint management by testing in what sense monetary and non-monetary failure compensations serve to explain customer complaint satisfaction and loyalty after the complaint within the scope of an experimental approach. The authors conducted an online experiment and investigated boundary conditions of failure compensation types by adding different magnitudes of failure. The results show that in case of a low magnitude of failure caused by the company and a resulting customer complaint, the better option is to offer monetary compensation to ensure or increase both: complaint satisfaction and customer loyalty. Furthermore, the authors can explain the effect of type of compensation on customer loyalty via customer complaint satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. In order to achieve expected financial performance, buyers and suppliers need to invest in their relationship. Prior research has corroborated the importance of relationship investments in relationship marketing. However, previous studies investigate impacts of relationship investments on financial performance in a static fashion, without considering relationship life cycle. Now, recent literature suggests that researchers study relationship marketing from a dynamic perspective. To meet the suggestion, the present search attempts to examine how different kinds of relationship investments (structural and social) affect financial performance (profits) during relationship life cycle, and investigate conditions under which the two kinds of relationship investments are able to produce optimal profits. After applying conceptual models, the current research reveals an interesting finding that when structural and social relationship investments have equal effects on profits, the profits will reach two extreme points: minimum and maximum. Based on practical perspective, this study argues that the maximum point follows the minimum one. The following effort for this research is to find out at which stages of relationship life cycle the minimum and maximum levels occur.

ABSTRACT. The Service-Dominant Logic provides multiple propositions to address the A2A complexity but, in practice, the operationalization and application of the value co-creation logic prove to be challenging. In the Social Network and the Social Exchange Theories, the A2A is a micro view of a complex network often associated with B2B relationships and the understanding that reciprocity between parties will lead to trust and commitment which, in turn, provide valuable outcomes for the actors. This study measures reciprocity for three actor-beneficiaries: a customer, an organization and society. The organizational reciprocity directed at the customer and society is assessed in terms of its impact on customer loyalty (organization as the reciprocity beneficiary). This research embraces the Customer Engagement definition to select a customer sample and three real organizations to test the conceptualized multidimensionality of overall reciprocity in an A2A framework. The Structural Equation Model results give support to the actor-beneficiary approach to overall reciprocity. The reciprocity directed at the customer is the most significant in predicting customer loyalty. Reciprocity directed at society effect on customer loyalty is fully mediated by reciprocity directed at the customer. The results presented in this paper are part of a larger study on customer-organization relationships in the A2A context

ABSTRACT. By using both survey and actual purchase data from a total of 3,300 shoppers of a Korean fast fashion brand, this study investigated: 1) the influence of various variables, that is, store environment, price, and consumer demographics on actual purchase vs. satisfaction at the point of purchase and 2) the different formations of planned vs. unplanned purchase. The results of the multivariate regression analysis and two separate logistic regression analyses were compared to respond to the research questions. The results of this study have implications for retailers, especially those selling fast fashion brands in South Korea. As common factors for both actual purchase and satisfaction, value for money and design are the first things that practitioners have to keep in mind when developing a strategy for fast fashion stores. However, unplanned shoppers, who are over half of buyers, are negatively influenced by reasonable or cheap prices in their buying decisions.

ABSTRACT. This paper demonstrates how categorization mindsets influence the altruistic behavior of consumers in decisions that have consequences to others besides oneself. Categorization mindsets can be uni-dimensional (being focused on a single, salient dimension) or multi-dimensional (processing both salient and non-salient dimensions). The results of this paper showed that a multidimensional mindset (vs. unidimensional mindset) enhances the preference for other-oriented options among highly altruistic individuals, but enhances the preference toward self-oriented options among less altruistic individuals. This is because multi-dimensional mindsets activates a comparative mode since both salient (self-outcome) and non-salient (other-outcome) dimensions are processed simultaneously, while unidimensional mindsets activate a non-comparative mode given that only the salient dimension of self-outcome is processed.

ABSTRACT. In reviewing the literature some theoretical gaps were detected. The first one was the lack of empirical evidence about conspicuous consumption when it is perceived positively. The second gap, regarding the influence of reference groups, is that the social identity theory does not explain the observer’s perspective when he is in front of certain reference group members involved in conspicuous behavior. The third theoretical gap is related to the study of pro-environmental behavior determinants that does not consider the specificities of social influences, like reference groups in particular situations (e.g., conspicuous consumption). Then, the objective of this research was to analyze: i) if conspicuous consumption could be perceived in a positive way and; ii) the influence of reference groups, engaging in conspicuous consumption of an environmental cause, on the observer’s attitude. In a first experiment two variables were manipulated: "conspicuous consumption perception" (positive / negative) and "reference groups" (association / dissociation / neutral). It was found that conspicuous consumption could be perceived positively. There is evidence showing that the environmental cause evaluation of the observer is more positive if the observed individual belongs to a dissociation group.

ABSTRACT. The increase in the amount of environmental studies being undertaken today suggests the popularity of such studies among academic researchers, businesses and policy makers. Existing studies have mostly concentrated on studying the determinants of environmental behaviors and/or profiling green consumers. Such studies are confined to studying only limited environmental behaviors and mostly in the context of developed economies. This study concentrates on understanding environmentally responsible consumption (ERC) behaviors in the context of an emerging economy i.e., India. Specifically, we investigate how different levels of green consumption value (GCV) and frugality (FG), impacts an individual’s participation in various ERC behaviors. Data collection in major Indian cities led to a total of 348 usable responses. Correlational analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were done to tests the hypothesis. It was found that green consumption value and frugalness of an individual was positively associated with almost all ERC behaviors. ANOVA results suggest that groups having different levels of GCV and FG and vice versa differ in their participation of various ERC behaviors. Results of this study can provide interesting implications for marketers in order to position their green offering effectively to their target segment.

ABSTRACT. We investigate the long-term growth and directionality of the global marketing field. After what appears to be a joint inception of the field in Europe and the United States, global marketing has taken on substantially new dimensions with each generational time span. With this paper, we initiate and welcome a scholarly discussion on a new paradigm that reflects on past shortcomings of the marketing approach, dubbed Curative International Marketing. We then develop suggestions to rectify previous damaging actions. Attending to this ‘wake up call’ will be a promising step in strengthening and revitalizing the field of international marketing. A conceptual and practical “Restitution,” or redress of the balance, undertaken by marketers will enable academics, executives and policy makers alike to improve lives based on the philosophical discussion and multidisciplinary framework provided.

ABSTRACT. Advantageous network positions provide advantages for those who occupy them, a certain form of capital that can be converted into benefits such as access to unique information, information control, influence, and social status (e.g. Ahearne, Lam, Hayati, and Kraus 2013; Bolander, Satornino, Ferris, and Hughes 2015; Borgatti and Foster 2003; Burt 2000; Mehra, Kilduff, and Brass 2001; Sparrowe, Linden, Wayne, and Kramer 2001). While a significant amount of scholarly activity has focused on the benefits and results of occupying these advantageous positions, little is understood about what factors drive the acquisition of these positions (Klein, Lim, Saltz, and Mayer 2004). Moreover, a comprehensive framework for uncovering and classifying antecedents has remained elusive. In this work, we propose a framework guided by the triadic theory of influence (TTI; Flay, Snyder, and Petraitis 2009) to guide the selection and specification of proposed antecedents to global network capital that results from these advantageous positions.

ABSTRACT. A meta-analysis is a strategic tool to be used in developing new models based on existing ones found in the literature. The implementation of the meta-analysis on the current models of subsidiary exit among fifty-one academic papers, revealed that there are six important constructs i.e., parent firm factors, target country factors, type of experience, organizational characteristics, experience, investment strategy and subsidiary exit. At least twenty-one independent variables should be considered in future attempts of measuring or assessing subsidiary exit. USA firms compared to Japanese and Korean firms have stronger relationships of the antecedent factors with subsidiary exit indicating their higher sensitivity to changes to factors influencing divestments. Finally, the study reveals eleven significant relationships which are formulated to a relational model which can be exploited in future studies on subsidiary exit/ divestitures.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to assess the state of RI research and offer directions for future research in the area. After an extensive review of existing retail internationalization (RI) research, we identified three key RI areas that have attracted scholarly interest: (1) RI process, (2) Small to Medium-sized retail internationalization (SME RI), and (3) RI and retail structure. A review of the RI literature reveals the following key trends in RI research over the past four decades: (1) there has been a lack of strong theoretical background, (2) case study findings have not been integrated into a single conceptual framework, (3) there have been relatively few empirical studies examining RI issues, (4) no studies to date have examined how RI drivers and impediments change during an economic downturn, (5) further research on the performance outcomes of RI is needed, (6) only one study has investigated factors affecting international retail market selection, (7) entry mode implications for retail strategy have not been examined, (8) the issues of when international retailers should standardize their entire retail strategy versus just the store format and/or store image as well as what store format and store image standardization entail have not been addressed, and (9) more research is needed on the internationalization of small retailers and retailers from emerging markets as well as on the relationship between RI and retail structure.

ABSTRACT. There are an increasing number of reports on termination of customer relationships initiated by major banks in the media. While there are some benefits associated with termination of customer relationships, our understanding of its negative consequences (such as negative WoM, compliant, retaliatory behaviours, etc.) and ways to address them is still very limited. This study looks at two distinct termination strategies (firm-oriented vs. customer-oriented) to compare their impact on customers fairness perceptions using a three dimensional perceived justice lens. The study will also look at different types of compensation (both tangible and psychological) to find out if using these tools can help to improve customers’ post recovery evaluations.

This will be a multi-method quantitative study with a sequential design; an experiment followed by a survey. Phase one will be a scenario-based experiment with a mixed design: a 2 (termination strategy: firm-oriented vs. customer-oriented) * 2 (apology: present vs. absent) * 2 (explanation: present vs. absent) between-groups * 3 (monetary compensation: none vs. moderate vs. high) within-subjects design. In phase two, a survey will be conducted with those adult consumers who have experienced service termination to enhance external validity of the study. Participants for both experiment and survey will be recruited from members of an online market research firm based on quota for age and gender.

ABSTRACT. Patient satisfaction is a component of healthcare quality and a growing issue. Word of mouth communication is of particular importance in the service industry and has been found to be a powerful tool in the healthcare field. The objective of this paper is to examine patient centered aspects of satisfaction- empathy, responsiveness and physical environment and their impact on word of mouth communication. This is a conceptual paper that provides a literature review and builds propositions. Findings suggest that a high level of patient satisfaction is positively related to positive word of mouth communication. In particular, higher levels of empathy, responsiveness and favorable physical environment are positively correlated with word of mouth communication. Higher levels of patient satisfaction are also positively related with word of mouth intensity. Attributes of satisfaction (empathy, responsiveness and favorable physical environment) also positively impact word of mouth intensity.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the empirical support for Robert Parkers professional wine ratings relation to price percentage change in domestic wines produced in 2011. Utilizing the hedonic price function and signal theory, Robert Parkers wine rating, wine category, and wine appellation are regressed on price percentage change representing the percentage change in price from release to September 2015. Only 2011, domestically produced wines are included in the analysis. Using OLS regression, the relationship between Robert Parker’s wine rating and the price percentage change is positive and significant.

ABSTRACT. With the prevalence of Internet and social media, there are a lot more opportunities for consumers to offer their opinions to firms, other consumers with similar interests, and the general public. Generally such opinions are reviews of products, services and firms, and could be positive or negative. However, some consumers publicly post their negative reviews with an intention to hurt the firm that they perceive has treated them badly (Tripp and Grégoire 2011). Thus, while negative reviews are often posted in good faith and with the intentions to aid users and consumers or offer feedback to the firm, revenge behaviors are motivated by the intention to cause harm to the firm’s reputation and/or business. Thus revenge behaviors are spurred by different consumer perceptions, intentions, attributions of blame and the type of publicity sought for the review (Grégoire, Tripp and Legoux 2009; Grégoire, Laufer and Tripp 2010; Haj-Salem and Chebat 2014; Joireman, Grégoire, Devezer and Tripp 2013; Zourrig, Chebat and Toffoli 2009). Such behaviors are often exhibited through public posting on various social media sites (e.g., Twitter, Facebook and YouTube), third-party complaint sites (e.g., consumeraffairs.org) or specific anti-corporation websites.

ABSTRACT. The development of technology and transport reduced increasingly borders perceptions between countries. In addition, the current economy encourages and even requires individuals to move and change culture. In this context, we studied consumer behavior changes for expatriate individuals. This study investigated different consumer behavior changes when French expatriate in China. The results showed that acculturation is sometimes obligatory, others not. When required, the consumer is forced to change its consumption behavior despite the desire of maintaining one of its origin. In opposition, we noted a strong desire for integration among expatriates, living this culture change as an exciting experience because they know that they will come back to their country and so they seek to better understand the cultures in which they work or study.

ABSTRACT. ‘Double-Eleven’ Day (aka 11.11 [November 11th], Singles Day, and Bachelors Day) is an e-commerce shopping spree celebrated by millions of Chinese e-shoppers. Since 2013, Chinese e-tailers have experienced record one-day sales on that date. Qualitative secondary data about ‘Double-Eleven’ Day e-shoppers suggests they are short-term oriented and individualistic, anti-hierarchical in buyer-seller relationships, focused on immediate consumption and hedonic pleasure, and prone to spontaneous trust and superficial interactions when online. In contrast, traditional Chinese shoppers conform to long-established Chinese personal selling strategies by being long-term oriented, collectivistic, and seekers of long-term mutual trust in hierarchical buyer-seller relationships. Hence, Chinese e-tailers should adapt their selling practices to Chinese e-shoppers’ attitudes and behaviors.

ABSTRACT. Internet has facilitated the development of online stores, allowing consumers to shop for their favourite items by just a simple click. Gradually, all brands are establishing an online presence, regardless of what industry they belong to. From apparel to food, all brands have now resorted to providing their customers with utmost convenience through their online stores especially in developed countries. However online shopping in developing countries like Pakistan has not picked up pace. Internet users in Pakistan are increasing each year, but adoption of online shopping seems slower. Focus of this study is to identify factors that influence willingness to transact in developing economies, specifically in Pakistan. Factors identified in this study are based on focus groups and related academic literature on e-commerce. Foodpanda is a pioneer online ordering services associated with more than one thousand local and international restaurants. Based on insights from focus groups and academic literature, this study examines influence of perceived risk and familiarity on willingness to transact. The data was collected from those consumers who have been involved in online shopping (n=221). Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Results show that perceived risk has negative (β= -.64 p < .001) and familiarity has positive influence (β=.76 p < .001) on willingness to transact. The model fit indices show data fits model well.

ABSTRACT. In view of the need for reliable and valid measures of Confucian ethics, we developed a measurement scale based on the results of literature review and a qualitative study, and further purified and validated the scale using survey data collected in China. This study resulted in a measurement scale consisting of four-dimensions: benevolence, work ethic, business ethics, and righteousness. The multidimensional scale demonstrated acceptable convergent and discriminant validity of the dimensions, as well as acceptable nomological validity and reliability of the scale. The predictive validity was assessed by looking into the relationship between Confucian ethics and social traditionalism. Consistent with existent literature, the results of this study showed negative effects of Confucian ethics on a narrow view of corporate social responsibility or social traditionalism. The implications of this research and limited are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Approximately one in every nine jobs in the United States involves selling. As a result, significant research has focused on identifying determinants of salesperson performance ranging from adaptive selling, customer orientation, emotional intelligence, motivation, to job fit. Our research draws from decision-making literature to introduce and test a new determinant of salesperson performance, skilled intuition. We define skilled intuition as a heightened ability to make accurate, intuitive judgments about customers. This paper reviews prior research on naturalistic decision-making to suggest that top performing salespeople possess skilled intuition. Through analysis of 700+ salespeople, their managers, customers and objective sales performance, we (a) highlight the importance of intuition ability to both theory and practice and (b) integrate prior research on determinants of salesperson performance.

ABSTRACT. This paper contributes to current knowledge on the link between sales leadership and its outcomes by developing a conceptual framework of the mechanism by which salespeople are likely to be influenced by sales manager’s ethical leadership and engage in positive job-related behaviors. Specifically, the framework proposes that sales managers’ ethical leadership encourages salespeople's ethical behavior and sales performance by inducing work engagement among salespeople. In addition, the framework contends that the ethical climate prevailing in the organization, sales manager’s charisma, and salespeople’s attribution of organizational performance to the sales manager as moderators of the ethical leadership-work engagement relationship.

ABSTRACT. The boom of internet and network technology promotes the emergence of a new type of advertising model- affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is different from other online marketing mix in many ways, but hasn’t got enough attention from academic till now. The current compensation methods applied in affiliate marketing are turned out to be insufficient, and a systematic and comprehensive affiliate control system is necessary. Drawing primarily on agency theory in salesforce management literature, and also considering the characteristics of affiliate marketing, this paper has defined the concept of affiliate control system (ACS), and also investigated the antecedents to adopt outcome-based or behavior-based affiliate control system.

ABSTRACT. Service-dominant logic emphasizes that the organization cannot deliver goods or services embedded with value, but that it can only provide customers with resources that have value potential. We propose that this concept should not only apply to the organization, but to their customers as well. This notion of reciprocal value propositions requires exploration, as we do not know whether customers deliberately intend to create value themselves during exchanges. We address these issues through a qualitative study of value propositions between customers and salespeople within a service environment. It was found that the customer do consciously offer value propositions and that they are generally in line with the seller’s desired value, and they cover both episodic and relational exchanges. However, there is a marked discrepancy in the reverse case. Considering how much emphasis the customers placed on obtaining relationship value from the co-creative interaction, it is surprising that the sellers’ value proposition only communicated episode values such as transparency, knowledge, high auction prices or prestige. Although these were certainly appreciated by the customers, their focus on relationship value, such as advice on forthcoming items in the auction or gaining access to a network of potential customers, was clear making the absence of this dimension from the salesperson’s value proposition all the more remarkable.

ABSTRACT. We investigate how visual presentation of food on a plate influences consumers’ portion size perceptions and consumption volume. Four studies show that presenting food vertically (i.e., stacking the food) versus horizontally (i.e., spreading the food across the plate) leads to smaller portion size perceptions and larger consumption volumes.

ABSTRACT. Both the diffusion of innovations and the factors influencing consumers’ decision to adopt have been widely discussed. However empirical studies addressing the resistance against radical innovations with a focus on employees in the retailing industry as counterpart are scarce. Thus, with this study, we aim to identify barriers that prevent managers in retailing from adopting and promoting new products. As a research field, we focused on radical innovations in the baby nutrition market. We conducted 14 in-depth interviews with food-retailing experts. Results indicate that barriers can occur (1) individual-related and (2) company-related. Our findings help managers foresee potential sources of resistance and deploy preventive measures.

ABSTRACT. Ambient scents used by retailers should be pleasant and appropriate (e.g., Spangenberg, Grohmann & Sprott, 2005; Spangenberg, Sprott, Grohmann & Tracy, 2006). This paper proposes that an ambient scent should also be crossmodally congruent with the store environment. Crossmodal congruency refers to the crossmodal correspondences (i.e., the tendency of one sensory attribute to be associated with an attribute in another sense) that are shared between the ambient scent and the store environment. In this study, a scent crossmodally congruent with the store, a scent crossmodally incongruent with the store and a no scent condition were compared. In order to determine the crossmodal congruency, an index of 11 bi-polar items (e.g., loud versus quiet) was applied to the perception of the store and of the ambient scent. The degree in which they differed resulted in either congruency or incongruency. Results revealed that crossmodal congruency between store and ambient scent leads to higher approach behavior. Furthermore, positive effects were found when comparing the congruent scent with the no scent condition on pleasure, store (environment) evaluation, and word-of-mouth. It is therefore proposed to include the crossmodal congruency between the ambient scent and the store environment as a criteria when selecting an ambient scent.

ABSTRACT. This research examines how the lateral (left vs. right) positions of healthy and unhealthy items influence choice and consumption. The results of four studies demonstrate that displaying healthy items to the left and unhealthy items to the right enhances preference for the healthy options. In addition, consumption volume of a healthy item (vis-à-vis an unhealthy item) is higher when it is placed to the left (vs. right) of the unhealthy item.

ABSTRACT. To encourage participation of underrepresented groups in stereotyped domains (e.g., women in STEM), marketing managers frequently utilize ads that include members of the underrepresented group (e.g., a female engineering student as the spokesperson). Extant literature on role models suggests that such counter-stereotypical advertisements inoculate the consumers against the stereotype and enhances interest in the domain. Alternatively, stereotype threat research suggests that these ads may backfire by activating stereotype-consistent cognitions, thus reducing interest. When might counter-stereotypical advertisements help or hurt? In answering this research question, the present research contributes to theory by resolving this conflict in the literature with the introduction of a new moderating variable in stereotype literature: contingency information. This in turn will help increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns intended to increase diversity.In sum, the present research supports the notion that whether counter-stereotypical advertisements help or hurt depends on consumers’ ability to positively link a second group-related concept (i.e., contingency information) to the domain (e.g., beauty and engineering). This builds on stereotype literature by integrating theories of information processing with important implications for practitioners.

ABSTRACT. This research examines three Sharing Economy/ collaborative consumption businesses; Airbnb, Uber, and Sunfleet and how they need to navigate the regulatory environment in Sweden. To operate, they need to rely on their consumer partners to break laws and regulations while participating in the supply side of the businesses. Using a case analysis approach, the authors discuss the opportunities and challenges that these businesses face in the Swedish market place.

ABSTRACT. Most developed economies are characterized by a strong orientation towards consumerism and individuals often draw on possessions to construct their self-identities. However, this orientation is largely unsustainable and a change in these consumption patterns is imperative to relieve global resource pressure. The nascent economy of sharing might provide a resort to this orientation, as it is commonly associated with a more efficient resource usage. To explore possible major developments in the context of the sharing economy, and to better understand its implications for a sustainable development, the current research presents the first findings of a Policy Delphi study among a global sample of experts in academia, business and policy. Findings show that besides its inherent environmental sustainability, sharing is considered to be a promising avenue to social sustainability as it can fulfill important integration functions and open the marketplace to previously excluded individuals. While expectations regarding the proliferation of sharing vary across the sample, business leaders are most optimistic and equate the sharing economy with the rise of the Internet in its ability to disrupt current market systems. The business sector's strong focus on sharing ventures is viewed critically by some experts, who believe that the capitalist orientation is in contrast to, and might undermine, the collectivist spirit of sharing systems. To this end, public policy makers are called upon to more actively engage with the sharing economy, to develop a stable legislative framework and to support community based sharing systems aimed at socially inclusive and environmentally friendly exchange.

ABSTRACT. In 2011, retailers spent $6.7 billion on television advertising. Yet, despite this, the academic literature has focused on brands/product categories when conducting television advertising research and retailers have received little attention. The current study is an extension of Resnik and Sterns (1977) content analysis of TV advertising to retailers. Their work has been replicated and extended but not with a sample which investigated retailers. Ailawadi et al (2009) identified major differences in the goals, tools and outcome measures used by retailers and manufacturers (brands). Thus, advertising strategies used by manufacturers should not be generalized to retailers and this research is needed to fill the gap. Whereas Resnik and Stern (1977) found just less than half (49.2%) of ads to contain at least one informational cue, in the current sample of 179 ads, only one ad would be considered non-informative since it was the only one without any informational cues.

ABSTRACT. Grounded in Approach-Avoidance Theory and Emotional Contagion Theory, this experiment focuses on particular characteristics of a salesperson present near the entrance of a retail store, or hailer, and manipulates the salesperson’s demeanor and their level of activity. Each of the stimuli consists of a photograph and scenario combination. The results show that when a hailer must be present near the entrance of the retail store, a salesperson’s positive demeanor has a positive influence on feelings of pleasure. In turn, pleasure has a positive relationship with approach attitudes and store patronage intentions. An unexpected interaction between salesperson demeanor and level of activity has a disordinal relationship with dominance. Further, dominance has a positive influence on store patronage intentions.

ABSTRACT. Despite the abundance of previous research on online product reviews and ratings, the formation of purchase decisions in presence of online customer ratings remains still unexplored. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to improve our knowledge of how the relative decision weights of a product’s core characteristics (i.e., brand, functional aspects, and price) change due to the presence of customer product ratings as an additional information source for purchase decisions. This paper contributes to previous research on customer product ratings by generating a better understanding of their impact on the relative decision weights of other product characteristics within purchase decisions. In sum, the findings of three studies reveal that the presence of customer ratings curtails the relevance of product characteristics significantly. Further analysis reveals that customer ratings seem to serve predominantly as a substitute for brand and functional aspects of a product. In addition, the fact that online ratings are incorporated into decision making to reduce the risks associated with purchase decisions can be held responsible for the changes in decision weights of a product’s core characteristics which serve to alleviate risk perceptions when online ratings are absent.

ABSTRACT. Growing reliance on customer reviews has led firms to develop strategies to attract customers to review their products online. The act of sharing personal opinions through these reviews is a rewarding experience as it makes people feel socially connected. However, reverse alliesthesia theory suggests that such rewarding experiences may drive online reviewers to behave impulsively that may lead to negative consequences for the consumer. Through five experimental designs and across multiple measures of impulsivity, we demonstrate a passionate review-reward effect where sharing emotional information within the public realm of customer reviews, as opposed to expressing information in private, leads participants to make impulsive decisions. This finding is further supported with a field study of Amazon.com reviewers. Because social approval provides reviewers with rewards, a firm can mitigate these impulsive behaviors by praising reviewers immediately after their writing tasks. However, not all individuals are equally affected; those more sensitive to social cues seem particularly susceptible. These studies provide insight into the unintended negative consequences that emerge from sharing information via social media, and highlight the need for guidelines to protect vulnerable reviewers.

ABSTRACT. The global population is aging and almost half of 60+ age group lives on their own. The presence of seniors on online commerce is rapidly expanding because it can enhance social interaction and be a source of additional income. In this context, online second-hand markets represent one of the fastest growing markets. What is the impact of sellers’ age on product perception in a second-hand market? Drawing on the literature on stereotyping and consumer contagion, our findings show that senior sellers add a warmth dimension to the products they sell. Specifically, consumers consistently show higher purchase intentions toward products such as an arm-chair that was pre-owned by a senior (vs. young) seller. This effect is mediated by perceived interpersonal warmth.

ABSTRACT. The current study explores consumer reaction to marketer provided information regarding secondhand products. Contamination fears and repugnance have not been addressed at length in consumer research. This study seeks to understand why consumers react negatively to used goods from a perspective of the Accessibility and Diagnosticity of information, addressing the issue of consumer reaction elicited by information about contamination of those goods by others. Specifically, it looks at information processing in consumer reaction to marketer provided information, assurances that secondhand goods are as good as new. Two studies were done to determine differences in consumer reaction to information about a pair of pants between three conditions: used pants, used pants with assurance that they are as good as new and new pants.

Results find that marketer-provided information can lead consumers to react negatively to positive marketer-provided information, even if they believe it. Even though marketer provided information can persuade consumers to believe that a secondhand product is as good as new, consumer reaction is more negative than if consumers saw no such information. Negative emotions revolving around perceived contamination are elicited by this information that influences consumer reaction seemingly independently of beliefs about used goods. These results have implications for understanding the impact of information processing in marketing communications and on how secondhand goods are marketed.

ABSTRACT. The file of my structured abstract of the above-titled paper is uploaded separately in the following section because this section does not allow more than 250 words.

ABSTRACT. It was a good choice for disposing the old-goods in a global economic growth slowdown years. Therefore, this study picked the pre-positive factors that affect disposal of old-goods out and then discussed the relationship between the factors and mental price premium. Besides, this study adopted SPSS18.0 and AMOS 18.0 to analyze the sample. The results showed that depreciation, scarcity, and transaction frequency would affect transaction cost, transaction reference price, and in turn mental price premium. Finally this study advised that sellers should make a disposition classification based on these factors in the future.

ABSTRACT. Service failure if often investigated from the perspective of the firm, however its physical and psychological consequences on consumers deserve attention. Service failures range from mild to severe. Consumers suffer a broad range of negative emotions and engage in both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies following service failure. Furthermore, the severity of service failure can dampen the effects of successful post-failure recovery, meaning consumers remain more dissatisfied. Expressive disclosure has been shown to improve health behaviors and reduce the negative consequences of a variety of traumatic life events including death, divorce, job loss, and leaving home for the first time. Disclosure differs from complaining behavior because there is no expectation of social feedback. These studies outline the potentially traumatic nature of severe service failures. Additionally, physiological and self-report measures are used to investigate the effects of severe service failure on well-being and health outcomes.

ABSTRACT. Recent research is beginning to place particular emphasis on investigating how receivers of word-of-mouth (WOM) make use of it in their decision making. However, conflicting results abound as to whether positive or negative WOM information has a greater impact on receivers. This research aims to shed new light on the effects of WOM valence on receivers in two ways. First, the impact of valence on multiple elements of a framework of receivers’ use of WOM in their decision making processes is examined. Second, actual WOM incidents are investigated via the use of the critical incident technique, unlike the scenario-based experiments commonly used. The results suggest that positive WOM is more apt to be used by receivers in their decision making. One of the sources of this positivity bias appears to be the higher levels of trustworthiness attributed to senders of positive WOM compared to negative WOM. Further, the senders who cite utilitarian products are viewed no differently by receivers than those whose WOM pertains to hedonic products.

ABSTRACT. Leaning on experiential consumption theory and magical thinking, a survey-based study of consumers’ superstitious beliefs is conducted and a path model based on U.S. respondents is tested. From these beliefs, astrometry factors (i.e., self-assessed zodiac sign expertise, intention to read horoscopes, and attitude toward zodiac signs) are modeled to influence suspension of disbelief for fictional works and virtual reality, which in turn both affect risk-seeking tendencies. Whereas previous research suggests superstition’s direct effect on risk-seeking, this study exposes indirect effects.

ABSTRACT. This case study demonstrates the managerial conflicts and decision-making scenarios that can be associated with corporate social responsibility and cause-related marketing. Using the Cincinnati Bengals and their affiliation with NFL player Devon Still, we describe a series of events that led to an unplanned nation-wide cause campaign that resulted in the sales of more than 10,000 Devon Still jerseys benefitting pediatric cancer. We discuss the benefits and consequences of the fundraising program in the context of sport administration, CSR strategy, and corporate image. This case should be used to teach concepts and decision-making in business including those in sports marketing, public relations, business ethics, and strategic management.

ABSTRACT. Managers face increasing pressure to engage their firms in socially responsible behaviors such as cause marketing. As they seek to become more socially responsible for both philanthropic and economic reasons, their efforts are affecting not only consumers and society, but the employees who work for them and the potential employees they may attract. The majority of research on cause marketing, a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a for-profit business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit, has focused on the impact on consumers; therefore, little is known about the effects of social initiatives on employees. Drawing on signaling theory and the halo effect, this research demonstrates how an organization’s strategic cause-marketing initiatives signal job seekers and impacts anticipated job meaningfulness, organizational commitment and organizational attractiveness and increase perceptions of ethical culture and collectivism.

ABSTRACT. While it would be logical to predict that geographic target of cause marketing (CM) donations (i.e., a local charity vs. a global charity) may influence consumer responses in a CM campaign, previous research has shown mixed findings regarding the effects of spatial distance. Thus, there is some confusion in the CM literature as to whether or not spatial distance impacts consumers’ campaign responses and a lack of explanations in regards to why the spatial effect does not influence campaign attitudes in certain situations. This study fills extant gaps in the CM literature by further examining the joint effects of spatial distance and social distance on consumers’ CM responses. When does spatial distance provide a more meaningful cue and when does it not? Are there additional conditions that may alter the effects of spatial distance? The current research argues that the effects of spatial distance in a CM context need to be reconsidered. In particular, based on construal level theory, social identity theory, and team identification, this study aims at (1) reconsidering the effects of spatial distance on consumers’ CM campaign responses, (2) considering the effects of social distance on consumers’ CM responses, and (3) how these two different dimensions influence consumers’ CM responses. By doing so, the current study contributes to novel insights in understanding additional features that may lead to a successful CM campaign.

ABSTRACT. More than ever, consumers care about corporate social responsibility. A total of 89% indicated they would switch to another brand associated with a good cause if the price and quality were similar. Since the donation to the NPO takes place only once the consumer takes action (buys the product), appealing to the consumer is crucial for a CM campaign’s success. Various factors associated with the donation and with the cause impact the way the CM campaign is perceived. The Millennial cohort is an important cohort, with a greater awareness of environmental issues and a willingness to play their role in changing the world. One way is through supporting cause-related marketing campaigns. But how does this cohort perceive these campaigns? This was the purpose of the study. A qualitative method was used to discover these perceptions, with in-depth interviews being conducted, using a fictitious advertisement to probe these perceptions. A total of 12 interviews were conducted. The findings show that a precise description of an absolute amount of money is more positively perceived while the use of a recent event and those causes that are local, receive a more positive view from participants. The company-cause fit also requires consideration by the organisation as this reflects on the expertise of the organisation in this area.

ABSTRACT. “Man is the storytelling animal”, as Salman Rushdie has recently stated it in his book Luka and the Fire of Life. Marketing has long followed the tracks of the storytelling animal. At a broad level, storytelling is based on narratives that are narratives as representations of an event or series of events (Prince 2003; Abbott 2008). Although the body of research in the field is growing, many questions are still to be answered to gain a fuller understanding of what makes stories so magical in a marketing context. With five papers that present different angles of storytelling, we aim at highlighting potential future research avenues in the field. The papers show potential applications of the art of storytelling in different fields, for instance sales, marketing communication, social media marketing, and qualitative marketing research.

ABSTRACT. The workshop is intended to 1) explore techniques for bibliometric analysis in marketing science, and 2) demonstrate the benefit of using bibliometric studies to publish. Section 1: Presentation of papers using bibliometric analysis Three papers will be briefly presented that use descriptive statistics and bibliometric analysis. The presentations will focus on the techniques and tools utilized, as well as the findings of the studies. Potential techniques to cover include descriptive statistical analysis topics, citation analysis, contemporary h-index, screen-scraping, key word and subject analysis and reducing manual coding errors. Potential tools to cover include Harzing’s Publish or Perish, Natural Language Toolkit, TextBlob and Leximancer. Section 2: Panel discussing the magic of publishing this style of paper A facilitated discussion of the experiences with publishing bibliometric studies will be presented. This will include real feedback from editors and reviewers.

ABSTRACT. This article examines how power influences tip amounts. We propose that people tip differently depending on the level of power that they feel at a specific moment. The first experiment shows that when tipping is visible, low-power individuals tip more than do those high in power. The second experiment shows that the quality of service does not significantly affect the tip amount for low-power individuals but it does for high-power individuals. This research provides insight as to why there is a lack of consensus in the literature regarding the relationship between service quality and tip size.

ABSTRACT. The smartphone is a permanent companion for shopping trips and also crucial for product research at POS or at home. Necessarily, either online or traditional store retailers have to reconsider their mobile appearance and adjust it to their consumers’ new shopping behavior. The use of game-like elements is called gamification and has the aim to raise emotions such as fun and happiness, which lead to a positive app experience and therefore consumers are more willing to accept and use the app. Normative beliefs encourage social value of an app and consumers want to compete in the games with friends. Through positive app experience, the attitude towards the retailer improves, recommendations are forwarded to social networks like Twitter or Facebook, and loyalty towards the retailer is built. Our aim is to analyze emotional and social values in retailing apps which use gamified elements to show the effect of emotional and social values on app loyalty and brand loyalty. Our contribution is to give retailers and marketers more insights about the possible brand loyalty enhancement or decline to which gamification in mobile apps can lead.

ABSTRACT. An increasing number of businesses are encouraging their salespeople to negotiate with customers while making a deal. The deal is where product specifications and the logistical aspects of the exchange are discussed and negotiated. This research examines the “crafting of a deal” from the perspective of value co-creation, where important negotiation outcomes are theorized to be determined by the interactions between salespeople’s negotiation strategies (SNSs) and customers’ persuasion knowledge (CPK). Using a unique dyadic dataset that combines multisource (salesperson and customer) survey data with objective purchase price information, we find that neither SNS nor CPK directly impact either outcome. Instead, all outcomes depend on the interaction of SNS and CPK. The compelling results provide evidence for varying levels of value co-creation on both the selling firm and the customer sides of the sales interaction based on the negotiation strategy employed by the salesperson.

ABSTRACT. The participants (athletes, spectators, organizers, etc.) of a sport event co-create the overall experience for each other and for themselves. Participants also have expectations in regards to their experiences prior to the event. As the personal characteristics and motivational factors to attend the event also differ amongst participants, the marketing strategy of an event should be able to communicate with those who co-create the event experience. Expectations are often affected by the nature and image of the event, and the personal values and preferences of the participants reflect the motivation to attend the event. Sport events attract firstly the competing athletes and secondly the spectating audience. This paper studies the personal value structures of the spectators and competing team members in World Rally Championship (WRC) Neste Oil Rally Finland event.

The theoretical framework consists of sport value framework and theory on personal values affecting consumer behavior. The method is based on the questionnaire used for the examination of human values and is designed by Norman Schwartz. This Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) includes 57 portraits. Each portrait describes goals or aspirations which are linked to one of the ten basic values.

A total of 916 survey respondents, both spectators and rally team members were obtained. When comparing the value structures of both groups, a lot of similarities can be found. The main differences found concern values achievement, hedonism and stimulation. The differences can be explained in part by the different cultural backgrounds and motivations of participation.

ABSTRACT. Volunteers are vital to many organizations and thus retaining them becomes a key concern for management. This study advances the understanding of volunteer intention to reengage with the organization in the future. In this research, a sport event volunteer’s evaluation of their assigned tasks (i.e., skill variety and task significance) and their evaluation of the sport organization itself (i.e., community relations and organizational reputation) are proposed to influence the volunteer’s likelihood to return and the total hours they will commit to volunteering for the organization in the future. Importantly, pride defined as an individual’s impressions about the status of the group they are a member of is proposed to mediate these relationships. Using survey data from a prominent golf tournament, structural equation modeling suggests that volunteer evaluations of the organization’s reputation and a volunteer’s perceived task significance affect their decision to return. Additionally, our results suggest that pride acts as a mediator. Although volunteers ultimately make the decision about returning, organizations can proactively market the chance for a volunteer to be associated with and make an impact on such a large and prestigious event.

ABSTRACT. Brand experience has been noted as a key attribute affecting buying behaviour. Although research into the determinants of brand loyalty in sport context has grown in recent years, the focus has predominantly been on brand experience, brand personality and satisfaction, not on social media variables. In addition, we lack empirically verified evidence of the brand experience and brand loyalty relationship mediated through brand identification. In this research the authors address the role of four different social media platforms and how they drive brand loyalty through different types of brand experiences, brand identification and satisfaction to the brand experience. Structural equation modelling is used to test the model based on data from a survey of 815 ice hockey fans of a particular ice hockey team. The results show that brand experience is positively affected by brand engagement in social media and the relationship is strengthened when more different social media platforms are used for following the brand. Brand experience affects brand loyalty mainly indirectly through brand identification and satisfaction constructs.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the role of league-cause fit, perceived sincerity, and intentions to support league-wide cause-related sports marketing efforts (CRSM). Applying the tenets of attribution theory and social identity theory, we demonstrate the potential backlash effect of using “hometown” team imagery in league-wide CRSM advertising campaigns. The results suggest that fans exposed to a CRSM advertising campaign that portrays their hometown team perceive such efforts as less sincere, which results in lower support of league-wide efforts when compared to fans exposed to the same campaign but featuring a rival team or no specific team.

ABSTRACT. Logistics and supply chain management is achieving greater prominence in business and scholarship due to improved impact awareness. This research presents and tests hypotheses that explain how distribution logistics and supply chain operations decisions might impact the effect of retail price discounts on the cash conversion cycle and working capital management. We examine store-SKU-week level retail scanner data for small appliance SKUs in approximately 2500 retail stores of a leading retail chain operating supercenters and general merchandise stores that is known for its logistics efficiencies. We find that the effect of price discounts on changing the cash conversion cycle varies significantly according to (1) the pre discount cash conversion cycle level itself, (2) the number of hours it takes logistically to ship the SKU from the assigned warehouse to the retail store, and (3) the total retail store size—while controlling for the SKU’s discount percentage and inventory level as well as store local population and several store-level demand related variables. The results support the view that decision makers should consider the importance of logistics when strategizing on credit term buyer-seller negotiations as a foundation for utilizing combinations of marketing activities and accounting practices to achieve increased provisional working capital.

ABSTRACT. Despite the promising growth opportunities associated with selling to base of the pyramid markets, reaching these customers presents major challenges. First and foremost, the purchasing power of these markets is dramatically lower than consumer markets in developed country contexts. Dramatic differences exist as well in terms of consumer characteristics, market infrastructure and institutions. These differences necessitate entirely new sales strategies if multinational companies are to succeed in reaching BoP markets. Based on qualitative research conducted across several firms, including depth interviews and observation, this study yields insights into the main features of alternative channels of distribution developed to reach the BoP market in South Africa. Our research identifies the following main themes: (1) rural versus urban; (2) the nexus of cash and crime; (3) community participation and involvement; (4) the role of gender; (5) infrastructure; and (6) technology.

ABSTRACT. Retailing industry has undergone constant evolution and transformation in the past two decades, with the Internet being one of the main catalysts. Retailers capitalize on their owned online channel; whereas new channels in form of online intermediaries are emerging. This macro-level study investigates how consumers use the online platform to interact with retailers. Actual behaviour of consumers using retailers’ online channel and online intermediaries is examined, across multiple websites. Data from an Internet panel data provider, comScore, is analyzed. Consumers’ behaviour within one channel, in terms of adoption and usage intensity, as well as their cross-channel behaviour is measured. Results indicate that cross-channel behaviour of consumers influences their activities on retailers’ website. Retailers that have a higher cross-visiting rate with intermediaries benefit from a more intense evaluation of their offerings. This suggests online intermediaries direct consumer evaluation effort rather than simplifying it. This research builds a foundation for future research in the realm of multi-channel behaviour by analysing channel usage across retailers’ owned channel and online intermediaries.

ABSTRACT. Public policy in the United States strives to provide greater opportunity for women and minorities to participate in the economic mainstream. In the present paper, we examine the role that franchising plays in meeting these inclusive policy goals. Franchising serves as a natural private sector means for providing self-employment opportunities to individuals unable to acquire the skills or resources to operate an independent business independently (Hunt 1972: Williams 1999). Moreover, because franchisees gain access to established brands and publicly recognized service concepts, franchising may help overcome consumer reluctance to patronize women and minority-run businesses and become an attractive vehicle for incentivizing this segment to start their own businesses. The data in the present study reveal that (1) women and minorities are indeed represented in franchising in disproportionately higher numbers than men and non-minorities, and (2) that this representation is sector specific.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to establish a conceptual framework of xenocentrism in the context of consumer behavior and subsequently to develop a scale assessing its dimensionality, reliability, and validity. A mixed methodology approached was used in this study during an 18-month period. The data was collected in Mexico using a multi-stage research process. The final stage included a total sample of 356 consumers. For validation purposes, the ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism scales were compared and tested against xenocentrism. The findings demonstrated that xenocentrism has to do with individuals’ positive attitudes towards foreign cultures and negative attitudes towards one’s own culture in terms of social behaviors and consumer preferences. The proposed scale to measure xenocentrism (XSCALE) which includes two factors; social xenocentrism and consumer xenocentrism, shows high levels of reliability and validity. The development of XSCALE is groundbreaking research in consumer behavior and international business, and should be used to segment consumers and identify potential markets for business expansion at a global level.

ABSTRACT. Brand tribes, big and small, are ever-present in society; therefore, marketers’ strategies must be influenced accordingly. The smartphone market is not immune to such a tribal-laden following. Yet, quantitative examination of smartphone tribe members’ consumptive processes is incomplete. To help fill this research lacuna, this study examines a sequential choice model of brand tribalism, brand love, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intention on motivational needs. Using a sample 190 smartphone users, partial support is offered for the proposed model, indicating among others, that defense of the tribe antecedes brand love and, purchase intent positively influences both need for variety and need for achievement. Implications and future research directions are offered.

ABSTRACT. The global luxury market has grown exponentially,along with the elite classes,clocking a growth rate of 17%. This growth signaled the emerging nations such as China and India’sentry as contenders to Western countries.India’s growth in the luxury market is a testament to a growing upper middle class and young consumer segment, which focus on apparels and accessories. This focus translates into purchases from premiere Indian fashions designers’ showrooms in India’s leading cities. This domain and its larger implications for marketers required detailed studies. Unfortunately, there are no research papers in this area.Therefore, this study aims to understand how Indian consumers perceive Indian luxury brands. As with any unexplored area, our approach required qualitative methods. Thus, two studies were conducted; study 1 had 17 focus group discussions (FGD) with 170 consumers followed by an FGD of industry experts, which doubled as verification to the former. Following suit, study 2 had structured observations of 110 consumers, 55 interviews with consumers,further verified by 30 industry professionals. Thus, these two studies contribute significantly to the areas of luxury branding, country of origin and purchase behavior. Further, the studies identified a cyclical conceptual framework by integrating the concepts from these areas and respondents’ insights. The novel findings from these processes were; peer centric, value based and unique; pre-purchase, joyful; past history based purchase and desire centric; post purchase with extensive use of social media in all stages of purchase.

ABSTRACT. The proposed special session is a workshop to present and discuss the development of a three-year Bachelor’s program in Marketing at a small New England university. The foundation of this curriculum model is the delivery, reinforcement, and application of knowledge to address and solve global business challenges. This is a model for innovating business higher education, and this session is designed to share the model and the development of a three-year program for a marketing bachelor’s degree.

The session will include presentations and discussion on the curriculum development process, the process of collaboration across departments and programs, the assessment of student learning imbedded in the program and business accreditation requirements. Presenters will share examples of curriculum, class pedagogy & design, assessment, assignments and examples of student work. Additionally, examples of successes and failures across the process will be discussed and both the faculty and administrative perspectives will be shared.

The two presentations/workshops within this session will be designed to examine two elements of the three-year bachelor’s program in marketing; the Integrated Business Core (IBC) program model and the marketing major and the design of a three-year integrated marketing program. This model is the tip of the spear for innovating business higher education and this session is designed to share the model and the development of a three-year program for a marketing bachelor’s degree.

ABSTRACT. The emergence of neuromarketing as a field of study has generated debate about its uses and misuses in marketing research. To explore how consumers perceive neuromarketing, the present study developed a content analysis of neuromarketing blogs and social media. Three aspects were examined: the most common topics discussed by consumers in social media, their opinions about the role of the different story tellers of neuromarketing, and their sentiment of neuromarketing as a discipline and research tool. The main purpose of this research was to identify consumers’ opinions about neuromarketing, its potential benefits and risks, and the ethical concerns and implications for those involved in the use of the method. Four different themes and eight story tellers emerged from the text analysis. A sentiment analysis revealed a positive trend to accept neuromarketing as an effective tool for marketing research. The study concludes with a discussion of implications for future research.

ABSTRACT. Corporate unethical behavior is nothing new. We are constantly bombarded with stories of managers engaging in illegal or unethical behavior. What is unknown are the reasons behind such behavior. Building upon Tenbrunsel and Messick’s (1999) work on ethical framing we investigate the boundary conditions on how we look at ethical decisions. Through a qualitative and quantitative study, we propose that when managers are put into a business frame, they are more likely to solve problems without an ethical view and thus engage in unethical behavior. More importantly, when we extend the business frame from a short-term to a long-term focus, we expect that business decisions would be more ethical. Further, how ethical the corporate culture is would moderate our decisions. Results indicate that ethical framing of problems do result in ethical outcomes, and that a corporate culture helps. However, the role of a strategic short-term and long-term frame is less understood, with managers using short-term business frames exhibiting more unethical behaviors, while long-term business frames are inconsistent in relation to short-term or ethical frames.

ABSTRACT. From the seclusion of monastic life to the sibilation of Silicon Valley, the ancient practice of mindfulness has, as it were, ‘come out of the cloister.’ As an antidote to mindless cognition and behavior, the practice of mindfulness, with its principle of grounding attention in the present moment, has been shown to have powerful and positive effects in fields as wide ranging as medicine, schooling, prison programs, law and negotiation, business and even the army (Ie, Ngnoumen & Langer, 2014). However, in the field of marketing, mindfulness research is very sparse (Ndubisi, 2014). To fill this research gap and close the gap between marketers’ ethical aspirations and ordinary unethical behaviors, this paper introduces mindfulness as a promising device to foster ethical marketing. We start by reviewing two main conceptualizations of individual mindfulness and exploring the similarities between the two. We then use S-D logic of marketing (Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2008) and moral development model (Narvaez and Rest, 1995) as theoretical lens to sort out essential virtues and abilities in ethical marketing. We further discuss the positive effect of mindfulness on these virtues and their harmonious interaction. We argue that greater mindfulness may enable marketers to curb unethical behaviors, and mindful marketers are more able to be sensitive to potential moral issues, make right moral judgments, adhere to high ethical standards and behave morally in their practices.

ABSTRACT. In an effort to begin closing this disconnect gap, the primary objective underlying this special session is one of generating meaningful discussions between journal editorial board reviewers, acknowledged as outstanding reviewers, and the audience on difficulties, critical issues, and pitfalls leading to rejection of manuscripts submitted to high-ranking journal review processes. One of the unique elements of the session is the interactive framework of using the “question and answer” format between panel members and the audience to create a meaningful dialogue and opportunities of exchanging invaluable writing, organizing, and publishing insights toward improving the journal quality factor of manuscripts submitted to journal review processes. In addition, the interactive dialogue provides invaluable insights to main as well as specific components of a manuscript that editorial reviewers use in evaluating a manuscript’s value and contribution to the body of marketing knowledge (or the literature).

Current doctorate students, young scholars, and older authors who are finding difficulties in getting their research successfully through journal review processes and a positive publication outcome in high-ranking marketing journal outlets can gain better understanding of the role, responsibilities, and expectations of editorial reviewers. The expert reviewers will discuss a variety of issues refer to as “fixable manuscript problems”.

ABSTRACT. As seekers of reactive and/or proactive innovations in search of competitive advantage, firms often, prematurely, adopt technological and/or administrative innovations. The adoption of such innovations can be premature in two ways: the innovation itself is in its infancy or the firm is not ready for adoption. While the adoption of technological as well as administrative innovations is important, in this research, the focus is on the adoption of administrative innovations. In this research, we systematically explore and synthesize research on adoption of administrative innovations to develop a framework to explicate premature adoption of administrative innovations. Next, we review specific administrative innovations such as market orientation strategy, and customer lifetime value framework to explore premature adoption of administrative innovations in marketing. Finally, we discuss the implications of this research for theory and practice. Given the paucity of research on this issue in the marketing discipline, we hope that our work sparks productive inquiry into premature adoption of administrative innovations in marketing.

ABSTRACT. Increasingly, marketers rely on advances in technology to maintain competitive parity or to gain competitive advantage. Yet, often the adoption of transformational technology is met with suboptimal results or outright failure. Qualitative field research, based on depth interviews with business managers responsible for technology adoption decisions within their respective firms, is used to develop a theoretical framework. This framework explains the technology adoption process within firms and the role of firm micro-politics in shaping firm-level technology adoption decisions. Drawing on insights garnered from the depth interviews and extant literature on the diffusion of innovations, dynamic capabilities and organizational politics, the framework illustrates how a firm’s dynamic capabilities and knowledge-based resources inform perceptions of a transformational technology’s attributes. However, these perceptions are influenced by internal micro-political strategies employed during the adoption decision process and can ultimately affect expectations and the subsequent success or failure of the technology adoption decision. The research provides insights into the processes involved in firm-level adoption of technology and provides managers a framework for evaluating their decision-making capabilities and how the perceived success of adoption decisions is influenced by the firm’s dynamic capabilities and micro-political environment.

ABSTRACT. Mobile technology (MT) penetrated all the aspects of social and business existence. Studies around MT mostly address the use and adoption process of mobile marketing or mobile commerce from a consumer perspective rather than from a business perspective. Another concern of majority of studies on the use of MT is a focus on the technical nature of mobile devices despite the fact that true magic of MT resides in its mobilisation and usage – the deployment of MT. This paper aims to explore how the UK SMEs (which deliver marketing, advertising, digital architecture and digital design services) deploy MT for operational and strategic purposes by conceptually defining and mapping mobile technology capabilities (MTC). Grounded theory approach was applied to collect and analyse in-depth interviews from 28 SMEs. This study finds that MTC represent a set of five substantive capabilities, 1) leveraging mobile technology resources; (2) transforming capability; (3) learning capability; (4) solving problems capability; and (5) leading capability, - a set of five practices which can be employed to orchestrate successfully MT resources. Through the transformation of existing processes and MT resources MTC not only contribute to operational efficiency and effectiveness but also drive strategic change within business.

ABSTRACT. Today, marketing departments face with a deluge of data that leads to trouble to organizations to comprehend and use. Additionally, technology-empowered customers stand on much more different place and there are a lot of sophisticated ways to reach them. To survive in the market place as leader and live more than other competitors, organizations must either change static methods or upgrade capabilities with adaptive ones. More recent attention has focused on the adaptability for a different business functions such as management, supply chain, and manufacturing etc. However, few attempts have been made to examine adaptability in the context of marketing and much of the research up to now has been theoretical, and they have not investigate and operationalize marketing capabilities from an adaptive perspective. Thus, the new research agenda must explore the role of adaptive marketing capabilities as they relate to innovative firm behavior.

ABSTRACT. The growth rate of Instagram is extraordinary with nearly double the number of unique visitors in 2013 (Nielsen, 2014), reaching 200 million monthly active users (Gibbs, 2014) and 100 million active users in 2013 (Silva, Vaz de Melo, Almeida, Salles, & Loureiro, 2013). This social media platform allows people to post mostly photos with the option to use a variety of filters (Lup, Trub, & Rosenthal, 2015), and is expected to yield almost $600 million in mobile revenue in 2015 (Perlberg, 2015). However, research has only recently begun to examine consumer behavior in the arena of selfies. Understanding the type of consumers who post selfies and engage in photo sharing social media platforms will benefit marketers who want to cater their brands and products to these consumers. Thus, there is a need to understand the types of consumers who are on these types of social media platforms. The purpose of this exploratory study is to shed light on consumers’ selfie behavior on Instagram through the lens of narcissism (Emmons, 1987; Raskin & Terry, 1988).

ABSTRACT. Although researchers have recently advocated that brand communities should be customer centered rather than brand centered, literature on community identification focuses heavily on customer–brand relationships. Adopting the neglected customer–customer relationship perspective, this study instead reclaims the importance of (impersonal) peer identities and (personal) peer relationships in shaping brand–community identification. Peer identity comprises three determinants: similarity, distinctiveness, and prestige. Peer relationships are affected by traits such as communal leader enthusiasm. Adopting a structural equation modeling approach, this study empirically examines, in an online setting, how a brand community’s identity attractiveness and peer relational identification jointly influence brand community identification, which subsequently leads to members’ value co-creation behavior (manifested by co-consumption and co-production). A sample of Taiwanese camera fan club members validates the proposed model. The findings have important theoretical and managerial implications; communal leader enthusiasm might negatively influence peer relational identification.

ABSTRACT. A growing number of people is interacting on the web to share their views of products and brands through social networks. For consumers, some social networks’ profiles serve as a reference in their purchasing decision process. The fitness industry has been heavily influenced by the growth of social media. Within this scenario, this research aims to investigate interactions at Instagram, identifying how followers consume content from the fitness profiles on this social network – focused on body cult and physical beauty – and how this content may influence them. This study is based on the view of consumption as a social activity, capable of producing meanings and identities, and uses the contributions of sociologist Bourdieu as a theoretical framework for the interpretation of the results. Netnography was chosen as the research method, and 80 posts of the five Instagram profiles were analyzed, as well as the comments they generated, totaling about 750 read and analyzed comments. Results show that the influence of Instagram profiles arises from trust and admiration that followers have for influencers, to whom they assign not only symbolic capital, but also a kind of capital that we called “body capital”, which gives power and prestige to whom has won it. These are consistent with Bourdieu's view that society is a network of relationships, where the distinctive logic prevails. Within this context, the perfect body carries not only the physical beauty – so valued – but also the symbolism of being conquered with effort by someone special.

ABSTRACT. This empirical study attempts to understand how augmented reality (AR) empowers the users to express themselves by using it. This study developed and tested a conceptual model that explained how augmented reality influences user satisfaction through identification. To test the hypotheses, a lab experiment of 99 college students was used. The results demonstrated that augmented reality significantly influenced identification, which in turn impact on user satisfaction and purchase intention.