ABSTRACT. Crowdfunding is an emergent and growing practice all over the world. The main use of crowdfunding nowadays is to support cultural and social projects, and this paper has a special interest in understanding the support that social enterprises receive from crowdfunding platforms, namely through websites. There are several kinds of crowdfunding, but the donation-based orientation is the most popular model to support social projects and the focus of this study. Thus, the main objective of this study is to understand the impact of crowdfunding platforms impact into social enterprises support. We address this by looking at the co-creation of value and its impact on the decision to invest in a social project. A factorial experiment was conducted to test the traits’ behaviour. Our results show that use of crowdfunding platforms leads supporters to build more favourable values of social enterprises when compared with non-social enterprises on crowdfunding platforms and social projects with traditional funding practices.

ABSTRACT. This work in progress structured abstract describes an ongoing study in which the authors are collecting data to understand current industry practices in the use of mission-based metrics to evaluate nonprofit organization performance. This study is expected to be the first step in a series of efforts to understand and eventually recommend normative strategies to improve organizational performance. Coincidentally, the use of mission-based metrics can also provide useful guidelines for ongoing governmental review of tax exempt status.

ABSTRACT. This research proposes a framework of responsible consumption during crisis in an emerging market context. The responsible consumption during crisis consists of changing regular habits of consumers to a more rational way of buying, such as shifting from known for less known brands and becoming more do-it-yourself. The study was developed in two stages: a qualitative phase, with consumers and specialists’ in-depth interviews and a quantitative phase with 408 consumers during the Brazilian economic crisis period (2015-2018). The results, obtained through the modeling of structural equations PLS-SEM, indicate that the relationship between income and consumption behavior is processed by responsible consumption during crisis and that impulsiveness will vary according to this responsible behavior. In this sense, responsible consumption during crisis demonstrates that consumers are not only economically affected by recession, but it also triggers psychological effects on consumers by changing their level of impulsivity during purchasing.

ABSTRACT. As consumers’ interest in traditional marketing and the related platforms decreases, marketers need to find new ways to engage with consumers (Chen, 2015). This conceptual paper focuses on the use of storytelling and how this affects persuasiveness that leads to a change in purchase intention. This paper adopts the Narrative Believability (Yale 2013) construct from legal research to consumer research and looks at its role in in narrative processing.

ABSTRACT. Concerns about online privacy are being raised more frequently, especially regarding social networks, and perceptions slightly differ between users about the way brands use their big data. A quantitative study based on an online survey involving 380 participants has been conducted in order to examine the effects of privacy concerns displayed by social networks themselves on users’ attitudes and trust. Results show significant effects of social networks’ privacy concerns on users’ attitudes. These attitudes in turn have a positive influence on trust and a mediating effect on the link between privacy concerns and users’ trust. The results could help brands to manage their relationship with users in order to favor positive attitudes leading to the establishment of trust and, therefore, more engagement from users with the potential to become customers. This research shows the relevance of using the scale developed by Pelet & Taieb (2017) to measure the way users perceive the privacy concerns of social networks.

ABSTRACT. While there may be multitudes of social network sites in the US and abroad, some of these sites are notably more trusted than others. In most countries, sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have wielded domination in the social media realm. However, social media use in China is quite unique due to restrictions on foreign websites and social media. This paper explores the impact of Chinese user experience on trust in social network sites. We focused on trust because it is critical to a platform’s success. We investigated the influence of user’s experience in terms of social network membership, length of daily usage and perceived enjoyment since a large number of Chinese people have now become engaged with social media.

ABSTRACT. We explore whether fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers react to their rivals’ strategic competitive attacks – namely, brand introductions – on a routine imitation basis, proportionally based on consumer response, or only when a “demand shock” of sufficient size draws the competitors’ attention. We study this phenomenon using the speed and volume of competitive counter-actions, obtained from scanner data of consumer purchases in three FMCG categories (yogurt, milk, juice beverages) comprising information on 208 manufacturers in the Italian groceries market, including retailers, Italian SMEs and multinational firms, over a two year period. We identify 173 observations of competitive attacks, their respective consumer responses and the characteristics of competitors’ subsequent competitive counter-actions. Our study aims to contribute to the competitive dynamics literature, which has postulated competitive activity is driven by market commonalities, but surprisingly has not examined the role of consumer demand in driving competitive responses.

ABSTRACT. A firm’s competitive reaction is not pure, rather it is mixed as in other marketing decisions. Despite the significant findings of antecedents and conditions regarding static CR, researchers have yet to test them on dynamic CR. This study aims to capture which internal and external drivers influence competitive reaction volatility over time. We adopt a mixed strategy from game theory to explain why firms mix CRs for analyzing the underlying reasons. Information Resources, Incorporated (IRI) data includes national sales in the US across 30 consumer product categories over a seven year period and covers both price and promotion activities. The time-varying CRs derived from rolling window techniques provide estimates to determine the degree of CR movement. We confirm that firms indeed compete with each other, and even mix CRs from retaliation to accommodation. The main findings suggest that a firm’s CR volatility is significantly influenced by firm-specific factors such as power, power asymmetry, and attitude toward competitor; and industry factors such as concentration and industry growth. We conclude that CR swings over time in firms with high power, high power asymmetry, and aggressive competition-orientation, and in industries with low concentration and steady growth.

ABSTRACT. Organizations that aspire to achieve competitive advantage must be aware of rapid changes in their markets. The relationships between strategic organizational orientations and performance have been investigated. While marketing studies have tested the direct positive effect of customer orientation (CO) on firm performance, most of these studies have ignored the role of dynamic environments as a potential moderator of this effect. Against this background, we developed and tested a model, which examined the impact of CO on performance while accounting for the moderating role of environmental dynamism, captured as Market Turbulence (MT). Our major purpose is to examine and identify the role of MT as moderator between CO and performance

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ABSTRACT. Understanding the impact of consumer-to-consumer co-creation of value in an online support group on consumers’ well-being outcomes is critical from a services marketing perspective. This research used a netnographic approach to explore the value co-creation experiences of obese consumers in an online social support group for a weight management program to understand how they co-create value. Results revealed online support groups provide consumers with the opportunity to co-create valuable experiences with each other rather than just obtain information on weight management. Preliminary results reveal three sources of value were created by consumers including emotional, social and functional. This research has theoretical implications from a consumer dominant logic perspective and may provide a greater understanding of how value can be created by consumers or facilitated by service providers. The results of this study indicate online health and education services may have the hidden capacity to encourage wellbeing on a broader scale. This research has provided a foundation for future research into an important and emerging domain in services marketing research at the intersection of vulnerable consumers and digital health service providers.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the impact that customer-to-customer interaction has on how customers experience a group service encounter and what firms can do to encourage positive and prevent negative interaction. We focus on the tourism and leisure sectors and conduct three sets of interviews, with 8 managers, 12 customers, and 10 frontline employees of firms that organize services in which customers are batched together in the delivery of the service. Through our findings we identify four factors of customer-to-customer interaction that can impact the service experience: group size and composition, service design, employee prompting, and the behavior of the customer group.

ABSTRACT. The use of ambient scents has become an increasingly important trend in business practice. While marketing research has started exploring scent effects in a variety of settings, relatively little is known about the long-term olfactory effects of customers’ repeated exposure to ambient scents in a service environment. In this research, we present the results of two large-scale field experiments in which we exposed the customers of a major European railway company to a pleasurable ambient scent and measured their reactions. Results from a cross-sectional field study demonstrate ambient scent’s short-term effects on customer perceptions and their robustness to customers’ service use frequency. Results from a second large-scale field experiment, which was based on a longitudinal, repeated-measures design with treatment and control panels and run over a four-month period, provide support for ambient scent’s long-term effects. The use of ambient scent has an enduring, positive impact on customers’ situational service evaluations, whereas its impact on satisfaction with the service provider and brand attitude diminishes over time. In addition, aftereffects persist for a while, even when the scent stimulus has been removed.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of economic crisis on consumer perceptions of value in purchasing or renting a green building. For the purposes of this study, a survey was conducted with Greek consumers in 2012, amidst the recent severe economic crisis. The research questionnaire contained, among others, items to measure consumers’ perceived value (price/value for money, emotional value, social value and performance/quality) from living in a green residence, intentions to purchase or rent such a residence, perceived benefits and barriers of purchasing or renting a green house and level of green buildings knowledge. Major findings suggests that in times of recession green consumer’s behavior becomes a second priority, as consumers are preoccupied with a need to economize and to reduce uncertainty. In addition, the economic crisis does not affect the fundamental perceptions of value consumers have formed about green buildings, but moderates the perceived value’s effect of intentions of purchase. Such an effect is mainly temporal in nature and is believed to be lifted once the crisis is over.

ABSTRACT. Patriotism is a sense of loyalty and emotional attachment to one’s own country (Kosterman & Feschbach, 1989). Patriotism may influence many things, including purchasing behaviors and attitudes toward foreign made products (Akhter 2007). Moreover, patriotism extends to the environment in that the land a country encompasses is “the most important national identity” (Todd, 2013). Carafo (2010) argued that environmentalism is the most important manifestation of patriotism. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the relationships between attitudes toward patriotism, environmentalism and the purchase of organic clothing.The initial findings suggest that marketers should highlight "American Made" in their marketing messages along with further emphasizing how purchasing "American Made" goods also support the long run preservation of the environment.

ABSTRACT. Narcissism is on the rise and individualistic, self-oriented motives and behaviors are norms, rather than exceptions. Simultaneously, the planet’s natural resources may be in greater danger than ever before. Is there a relationship between the two? This work aims to answer this question by systematically examining the role that communal narcissism plays in consumers’ pro-environmental decisions. Two studies suggest that while communal narcissists claim that they are pro-environmental, when it comes to making purchase decisions, their behaviors do not support their claims. This research offers potential explanations for such discrepancies and provides managerial recommendations to encourage pro-environmental consumption among this group of consumers. This is a critical endeavor given the urgency of increasing sustainable behavior and given unprecedented levels of narcissism and similar self-oriented characteristics in society.

ABSTRACT. Carsharing could be one opportunity to counteract the problem of raising CO2 emissions. Despite its positive environmental effects, Carsharing still has potential for greater usage by the broad public. It can be assumed that advertisement plays an important role by improving Carsharing advantages. By combining an eye tracking analysis with standardized interviews of 39 German consumers, we evaluate if consumers who consider themselves as “sustainable people” perceive sustainable com-munication (slogans and icons) differently from those consumers without a “sustainable attitude”. Mann–Whitney U test for statistical analysis found no significant differences between the two groups of biospheric/altruistic and egoistic/hedonistic persons. Therefore, findings reject the use of adapted communication strategies for specific target groups regarding Carsharing. Furthermore, results indicate the importance of advertisement elements that symbolize biospheric values.

ABSTRACT. During the session, we will debate the latest changes in what customers, especially generation Y, now expect in terms of consumption experiences, due to their increased knowledge and increased quest for discovery and novelty. Moreover, we will discuss the most recent and best practices in the luxury industry in terms of providing meaningful and deep consumption experiences. We will take into account the new era of internet and social media as distinct factors that impact the sense of flow and engagement with the brand.

ABSTRACT. This research contributes to the limited literature on the effect of the 5-CNL on food decision making. We demonstrate that the 5-CNL can have a positive late impact, decreasing the calorie content of food purchases after its continued exposition. This finding has important implications to the literature on the impact of FOP nutritional labels on consumers’ food choices and shows that punctual exposition to food labeling systems might not capture the capacity of influence that these label can have on consumers.

ABSTRACT. Our research deals with the effectiveness of alcohol advertising regulation that is a health measure recommended to reduce alcohol consumption, especially among the youth population associated to health-threatening drinking patterns (e.g., binge drinking, frequent drunkenness episodes, etc.). Our research explores how alcohol advertising content restrictions (e.g., the French Evin law mandates ads to convey only factual information and objective qualities of alcohol products) versus non-regulated advertising affect attitude toward the ad, alcohol products’ perceptions, desire to consume and the noticeability of two different health warning’ formats displayed in ads and which aim is to inform about alcohol-related risks. A between-subject designed experiment manipulated two factors (ad content and warning format prominence) and was conducted on 174 individuals using verbal and non-verbal measurements (eye-tracking and questionnaire). Results show that regulated ads following advertising content restrictions compared to non-regulated ads reduce attitude toward the ad, products’ appeal and desire to consume alcohol. While prominence enhances warning’s attentional processing, none of the tested ad content types influenced however its noticeability.

ABSTRACT. This paper studies the consumer preferences for different fish species and attributes, using a labelled choice experiment (LCE). The LCE technique was applied to investigate consumer demand and choice behaviour for fresh fish in a retail market hypothetical situation in five European countries: Italy, France, Spain, UK and Germany. The LCE was conducted for seven fish species (cod, herring, seabass, seabream, salmon, trout and pangasius). Data for this study were collected in June 2017 through a nationwide online survey (n=500) administered in the five countries by a third-party contractor using its consumer panel database. The survey questionnaire was based on input from a previous qualitative study based on face-to-face interviews to fish consumers. This study shows that wild-caught was more appreciated than farm-raised fish, with consumers willing to pay premiums up to 39% for cod, 57% for salmon, 51% seabass and 34% seabream. Fillets are generally preferred than ready-to-cook fishes, whereas ready-to-cook products are preferred than whole fish. Sustainable label preferences varied among species (higher for herring, salmon and seabream) and countries (higher in Germany). Health claim also varied among species (higher for salmon, seabream) and countries (higher in Spain, Germany and Italy).

ABSTRACT. Consumers often pay for consumption events up front. For example, consumers may pay an entrance fee for a food festival or a VIP pass to skip the line at a club. However, research has yet to investigate how this prepayment affects consumers’ subsequent consumption decisions. This paper investigates the effect of prepayment on escalation of commitment and the unexpected effects in subsequent consumption decisions. Specifically, we investigate consumers’ inclination to indulge and spend once they have made a prepayment in the form of money or time. Our findings from a field study and two experiments suggest that under certain conditions, prepayment results in increased spending and indulgent consumption.

ABSTRACT. This study aims at gaining a deeper understanding of customer profiling and behaviour in Iberian marketing and cross-border tourism destinations, in specific the case of Galicia-North of Portugal Euroregion. The study is developed under a niche marketing perspective. It is our view that niche marketing is not confined to the limits of national markets. Previous studies suggest that cross-border regions are an attractive an attractive notion, yet they require further theoretical and empirical research. There is still a gap in the understanding of destination management in cross-border regions and the customer profile and motivations. Overall this research attempts to produce a deeper understanding of the profile and behavior of consumers in tourism settings, addressing the predisposition for the destination in specific contexts (i.e. Galicia-North of Portugal Euroregion). The study proposes influencers of customer behaviour and attitudes (e.g., involvement, place attachment and tourist satisfaction) in the context of cross-border tourism destinations. Under an interdisciplinary perspective, this research brings together inputs from marketing, tourism and local economics. A theoretical model is developed specifying antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty in cross-border tourism regions. Implications for future research are also presented.

ABSTRACT. Merck KGaA is a global Science and Technology company, focusing on the Healthcare Industry, Life Science and Performance Materials. Merck in Portugal is a relatively small subsidiary with a midsized office employing approximately 114 employees. Merck S.A. Portugal focuses mainly on the Healthcare Market. As the company went through a major transformation in 2016, it created a need to communicate on a low cost basis and in an efficient way, using digital as its main channel. The current paper shows the implementation of an employee advocacy strategic plan as a solution to digital communication. Employee Advocacy is a new communications concept derived from employee social media usage and employee word of mouth. It has been noted that employee networks are wider than company’s own, and employee word of mouth is more trustworthy. Before the tool could be implemented a research on what motivates employees to commit to Brand Citizenship Behavior was performed. Findings revealed that in the case of Merck S.A. Portugal employees individual internal drive and brand knowledge are factors affecting willingness to share on social media. Based on the results a series of internal strategies were applied on- and offline.

ABSTRACT. Who has never replaced a printer because it was not reparable or bought a new vacuum cleaner because our current model broke down just after the guarantee expired? Obsolescence practices have become a central topic of policy debates in relation to sustainable development. Within the marketing field, the question of obsolescence primarily focuses on the relative loss of product value, and on what consumers do with a product perceived as obsolete (e.g., replace, repair, discard, recycle). The question of obsolescence from the perspective of consumer choice for more durable, longer lasting or reparable products has been less investigated. In this work-in-progress, we use a between-subject experimental design to analyze whether consumers are willing to opt for product based on reparability information in addition to traditional choice determinants such as price, brand, and technology. We mobilize the literature on perceived risk to understand consumers’ reactions when confronted to reparability information. Our findings show that the display of reparability information decreases consumers’ perceived financial risk, especially for future-oriented consumer, but does not influence willingness to buy. Further research should be carried out to confirm our exploratory results.

ABSTRACT. Sustainability has become a movement with tremendous influence in the way organizations and policy makers design their strategies (Griskevicius et al. 2010). Despite the wide availability of pro-environmental options, barriers to adopting pro-environmental behaviors are still common (Dietz et al. 2003) and past strategies undertaken by government and non-profit organizations to encourage such behavior have achieved only limited success. This research aims to better understand what motivates consumers to express sustainable intentions and what factors interfere in their decisions. This research evaluates under which conditions diverse factors (perceived support H1a, green attitude H1b, self-identity H1c and perceived control H1d) may have a more significant effect on green behavior. In addition, this paper explores how the impact of these four factors will vary depending on the perceived degree of difficulty of the behavior (H2). Indeed, the more difficult is the behavior, the more we expect factors other than attitude to influence individuals’ behaviors.

ABSTRACT. This research focuses on the importance of digital marketing as a skillset for professional marketers in Australasia. The dearth of relevant training in digital marketing skills is evidenced by a growing skills gap and value gap between marketers with established knowledge and experience in digital marketing and those who have not had the opportunity or inclination to incorporate digital marketing into their skills base (Royle & Laing, 2014). This increasing skills gap begs the question as to the relevance of digital marketing as a necessary skills set for marketers and what can be done by training institutions to close the skills gap presented. To answer this research question two studies were completed: firstly, a multi-method approach was employed to establish what skills were deemed necessary by marketers, their employers and their clients. From here a second study established the exact manner in which marketers looking to upskill would like to learn new skills and practices. Implications for marketing organisations and managers wishing to benefit their client base with digital marketing solutions are provided as well as contributions to our understanding of how best to enable digital marketing skills to be taught to a varied population base looking to upskill.

ABSTRACT. Nowadays, firms have realized the importance of using the Internet-based technology for supporting services to their customers and suppliers. For achieving a higher value in operating activities, firms must emphasis on R&D and technological development to fit with customer needs and develop the capabilities for searching and acquiring information via e-Business tools. Thus, it is important for firms to know how to acquire market information to satisfy customers’ needs. In this vein, electronic marketing (e-Marketing) is regarded as a strategic weapon for firms to accomplish it. It not only includes the deployment of marketing activities in the Internet, but also includes using technology to support services for customers. Drawing on the concept of fit, this present research tries to explore the effect of fit between market orientation and IT adoption strategy on e-Marketing orientation (the antecedents of e-Marketing orientation). Empirical data for hypothesis testing are collected from top-ranked companies in Taiwan, yielding 140 valid samples. Performance implications of fit are examined using fit as covariation approach. The findings indicated that the fit of market orientation and IT adoption strategy plays an important role in explaining e-Marketing orientation.

ABSTRACT. Whether and when to move from a free to a paid service model and whether to offer free services during high demand periods are important questions for online publishers. We provide insights on these questions by examining the effects of U.S. newspapers’ paywall rollout on their web traffic. In doing so, we propose a novel approach to quantify daily news significance and local news coverage, which allows us to offer important theoretical and managerial implications. We find that most newspapers lose web traffic after a paywall introduction, but that the amount of loss varies greatly by newspaper characteristics (e.g., circulation volume, locally customized content, and political slant); and paywall timing and price. Finally, we find that temporary, short-term paywall removal increases web traffic only for highly important news events, suggesting that a countercyclical offering is not practically recommendable for moderately important news events. Based on our findings, we provide implications for online content providers considering a free-to-paid transition.

ABSTRACT. The increasing popularity of online communities and social media has revolutionized the way companies and customers interact. Members of online community are no longer just participants who simply share information with peers or post comments in threads. They often actively contribute to managerial activities and co-create value with companies. In that respect, customers engaged toward a community tend to live a better experience and reveal higher intention to further contribute to the community they are part of. Generating engagement toward the community is therefore considered as a key challenge for practitioners willing to co-create value with their customers. Despite the growing body of research on customer engagement, little is known about mechanisms, practices or tools that could be used to create and boost customer engagement. To address this gap, our research based on a field experiment, examines the impact of gamification, a widely used managerial practice, on customers engagement in online communities. By contrast to present literature reporting the benefits of gamification mechanics, this research emphasizes the extent to which such mechanics may backfire customer engagement in the community.

ABSTRACT. The rapid global expansion of marketers from one emerging market to another such as countries in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, and the Middle East is dramatically changing the landscape of international business relationships. A leading example is Chinese firms in African countries. The element of trust is highlighted in such emerging market relationships that involve large investments from multiple constituents with diverging and sometimes conflicting objectives. Our study develops the inter-firm trust concept in the context of Chinese businesses in Africa on the bases of extant trust literature and field interviews and observations focused mainly on three African countries (Ghana, Kenya and South Africa). We apply institutional theory to discuss inter-firm trust that relates particularly to emerging markets and highlight how institutional factors impact inter-firm trust between emerging markets. Our study reveals that both trustor and trustee factors influence the trust perceptions of Chinese businesses in Africa. Our findings contrast and compliment the extant trust literature and contribute to the understanding of international business relationships between emerging market countries. Practical implications for building and managing inter-firm trust between emerging markets are also discussed.

ABSTRACT. Whereas several studies have investigated cultural values and entrepreneurship in terms of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions from a Western-world “lens,” we take a slightly different approach in that three of our six Ghanaian cultural values intersect with three of Hofstede’s dimensions (i.e., power distance, collectivism, and masculinity-femininity). Thus, six traditional Ghanaian cultural values (i.e., godliness, belief in paranormal activities, character or moral value, respect for the elderly, a sense of community, and the sanctity of man) are juxtaposed with entrepreneurial features allowing us to put forward potential relationship between culture and entrepreneurial behavior. Thus, godliness, character or moral values, a sense of community, and sanctity of man are likely to have a positive or a negative relationship with entrepreneurship. Beliefs in the paranormal and respect for the elderly are likely to have a negative influence on entrepreneurial behavior. From these inferences and deductions, Ghanaian culture, and by extension, African culture, largely, influences entrepreneurship. In light of the fact that Ghanaians live in a multidimensional social arenas comprising of their traditional society and immediate community, entrepreneurs are compelled to redefine their position and their roles as they confront different situations by exploiting social ties and social settings.

ABSTRACT. The aim of the zou chuqu policy implemented by the Chinese government has been to provide the legal and financial means as well as clear objectives to Chinese companies so that they internationalized their activities rapidly. In this context, Chinese companies have rapidly deployed their business abroad over the past fifteen years but must now resolve the issue of the definition of the most appropriate brand policies to reach their goals in a more complex international business context.

In this chapter, we rely on a recent paradigm of international business model to link the Chinese historical and cultural environment to various possible brand strategies.

An explanatory model was created which leads to three branding strategy options which may be implemented by Chinese companies in the zou chuqu context. Each of these brand policies illustrates a historical adage characteristic of Chinese culture and defines an attitude to adopt in certain circumstances and power relations. The analysis thus highlights the originality of the Chinese dynamic of brand development in an international context.

ABSTRACT. Built on the resource-based view, this study examined the differences between SMEs internationalizing with brands and those without brands in terms of SME commitment to marketing and technology, internationalization activities (speed, scale, and scope), and concomitant performance in international markets (export volume and sales in Asia). The proposed hypotheses were empirically tested by examining SMEs in South Korea due to the ample existence of internationalizing SMEs among Korean firms as a result of the country’s export-led global growth. The total of 395 usual questionnaires were collected and a hierarchical binary regression was adopted to test all hypotheses. After controlling firm size, firm age, and product type, commitment to marketing and technology, scale, and sales in Asia were found to influence SMEs internationalizing with their brand names (i.e., OBM). This study provides some insights into SMEs internationalizing with brand and identifies suggestions for future research.

ABSTRACT. The research aims to examine the role of perceived brand localness in a local brand’s extension strategy in a globalized market. Two categories, foreign and local category, and their advantages were conceptualized in the research. Then an experimental study was conducted to evidence the existence of foreign-local category effects. Finally, a proposed model of how perceived brand localness influences the extension evaluation of a local brand when it extends to a foreign-category product was tested using a SEM method. The result showed that local brands enjoys an advantage of category localness and perceived brand localness is an asset, rather than a liability, when the brand wants to increase its share in the local market by entering a product categroy that is dominated by foreign brands. The research contributes to the literature by proposing a new concept of “category advantage” in a market where local and foreign brands compete. Moreover, it explained the route of perceived brand localness impacting the consumer’s evaluation of foreign category extension. Therefore, the results provide theoretical and managerial implications for local brands to draw strategies against foreign brands.

ABSTRACT. This paper empirically investigates the mediating role of brand credibility and brand identification on the relationship between global brand localness (i.e., perceived cultural alignment with the target market for global brands) and consumer-based brand equity. Findings from three studies in Austria, France, and Germany show that global brand localness adds to brand equity through a positive relationship with brand credibility and brand identification. These effects are conditioned by (a) category involvement and (b) category risk. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are considered.

ABSTRACT. The goal of the current research is to explore the influence of negative engagement on committing participants in hate online brand communities. To reach this aim, three brands are used to assess this phenomenon (Starbucks, Apple, and McDonald’s), and three related hate online brand communities of such brands are involved. An online questionnaire is developed based on previously validated scales and fulfilled by 300 online members of mentioned communities. Findings reveal the importance of Brand influence, Helping, and Self-expression dimensions on participants to be committed to hating brand communities.

ABSTRACT. In the wake of Web 2.0 and social media, however, consumers are able to participate in the reputation creation process by writing reviews on online reputation systems. The vast majority of extant studies focusses on customer reviews of products and services. This study explores how negative employee reviews on a company affect the perceptions and coping responses of (other) employees of the same company. We propose a research model studying the impact of negative company reviews on employees’ coping strategies and turnover intentions. We combine the transactional model of stress and coping with moral disengagement theory to explain individuals’ coping responses. The research is based on a survey of 74 software developers. The results revealed that negative company reviews affect employees’ moral disengagement and turnover intentions. For practitioners, we show how companies can constructively handle negative reviews by employees and thus reduce turnover intentions.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the circumstances under which a brand’s online service recovery actions (i.e., webcare) are able to influence complainants’ perceptions of failure attributions. Results show that complainants who have experienced no or only a few service failures with the same brand in the past are receptive to different forms of webcare, which nevertheless vary considerably in their effectiveness of mitigating unfavorable attributions of locus, controllability and stability. These attributions affect post-webcare customer satisfaction and NWOM. In contrast, complainants who have experienced multiple failures are less receptive. This research further shows that brand advocates who respond to online complaints by defending it against public criticism can benefit the brand if their response complements the brand’s recovery strategy. However, contradicting responses can stimulate an unfavorable attributions and, consequently, dissatisfaction and NWOM.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines how rural small businesses in Ghana enact market orientations within the context of government policy initiatives on small business growth. The findings, which are consistent with other research on small businesses, support customer orientation as instrumental in market orientation strategies. The results yield rare examples of how small business owners nurture customer loyalty by developing friendship with their customers. Additionally, competitor orientation is accomplished through customer-initiated intelligence-gathering efforts. Inter-functional coordination does occur, though on an informal level, ad hoc. Furthermore, owner-managers attribute their business performance to their innovative strategies in surviving a competitive environment. While government policy initiatives are in place, these are not allied to the aspirations of rural small business owners. The study concludes by identifying additional avenues government can take to alleviate poverty in rural areas, such as improving infrastructure.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the effects of export market orientation (EMO) and marketing capabilities (MC) on export performance. Using survey data of 393 export manufacturing firms based in Turkey, we tested the direct relationship of MC and EMO on export performance as well as the interrelationship between MC and EMO. Through structural equation modeling, we found that both EMO and MC positively influenced Turkish firms’ export performance. These results are consistent with the extant literature. Additionally, we also found that Turkish export firms’ MC positively impacted their EMO.

ABSTRACT. Shimizu and Hitt (2004, p. 46) noted that “over time managers develop a particular mindset along with a set of decision rules and heuristics based on their experiences”. This, in turn, leads to maladies (e.g., inertia and bounded rationality) whereby managers find it difficult to depart from current trajectories and therefore “In highly uncertain environment, firms need the capacity to enact major strategic changes to resolve problems in a timely fashion” (p. 44). To stimulate decision-making (SDM) behavior they recommended to adopt structural practices such as recruiting outside managers and board directors, evaluating a wide range of alternatives, and encouraging a devil’s advocate approach. Surprisingly, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no prior research has empirically examined Shimizu and Hitt’s (2004) prescriptions nor measure their impact on international performance. This is an important gap because managerial decision-making capacity is extremely important for MNEs (Aharoni, Tihnayi and Connelly 2011). Accordingly, we developed an SDM scale and tested its role as an infuser of fresh perspectives on new markets and new products development capabilities, which then lead to new product advantage and international market performance.

ABSTRACT. Givers of luxury gifts face recipients with different levels of expertise and have choices of gifts that can range from experiential to enduring in nature. Inspired by a study undertaken by Belk (1982), the current research seeks to develop a framework that allows the classification of different levels of involvement of the gift-giver, based on their conjectures about the expertise of the recipients and the enduring nature of the gift. Modifying Berthon et al.’s (2009) Aesthetics and Ontology framework classifying luxury brands, we develop four specific recipient categories (Classic Collector, Skillful User, Neophyte Consumer, Paying Magpie) and assign different levels of product and task involvement to each category. In doing this, we add detail to the perspective taken in Belk’s original study on the separate aspects of involvement. We also present numerous implications to practice, and provide insights into modifications to the marketing mix that luxury goods marketers may consider. We conclude with several suggestions for further validation of the framework and related research that may arise out of this work.

ABSTRACT. Luxury industry and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activates are generally considered as incompatible concepts by consumers. This because luxury is generally related to hedonism, excess, and ostentation, while CSR is generally based on sobriety, moderation and ethics. However, nowadays more and more luxury companies seem highly committed toward sustainability. For example, Tiffany started certifying its diamonds as “conflict free”, Chanel incorporated “earthy materials” in its 2016 collection, and Bulgari has recently funded restoration of Rome's Spanish Steps. Therefore, it seems plausible the presence of a certain compatibility degree between luxury and CSR activities. However, this issue has received very limited empirical investigation from marketing literature. As a consequence, the present research aims to empirically test whether and under what conditions consumers react to different kinds of luxury companies’ CSR initiatives. Using the Carroll’s four dimensions model of internal vs. external CSR, we argue and demonstrated that luxury companies’ internal (versus external) CSR initiatives increase willingness to buy luxury products, but mainly for those customers who buy luxury for internal motivations and not for status ostentation, as for example individual style and personal taste.

ABSTRACT. Better understanding of motivations and specific social media (SM) behaviors of luxury consumers that have a potential to introduce changes into brand meaning will contribute to our knowledge in the emergent field of SM engagement and its role in brand meaning co-creation. The analysis and categorization of luxury consumers’ engagement motivations and behaviors with brands in SM will assist managers who are developing social media marketing brand content and planning customer engagement activities. The current study undertakes a qualitative exploratory investigation with the goal to uncover specific types of luxury consumers’ SM engagement behaviors, their respective motivations, and their potential for brand meaning co-creation. We analyze and report the results of a content analysis of in-person interviews with 30 luxury consumers conducted inside major designer and luxury stores in Paris. The specific objectives of the study are as follows: 1) to identify categories of specific SM engagement behaviors with luxury brands, 2) to identify motivations of luxury consumers to engage in these behaviors with luxury brands in SM, and 3) to evaluate the potential role of various SM engagement behaviors in luxury brand meaning co-creation. The findings suggest several implications for practice.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward counterfeit fashion goods and their ‘face-saving,’ materialistic, and ethical values. Since entering the global marketplace and joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has rapidly become the world’s largest fashion producer, exporter, and marketplace for fashion and luxury goods. However, in the Chinese marketplace, a majority of fashion and luxury goods are counterfeited. A total of 1,199 Chinese consumers participated in the study. Findings revealed a significant positive relationship between participants' 'face-saving' values, materialistic values, and attitudes toward counterfeit fashion goods. A significant inverse relationship was found between participants’ ethics and attitudes toward counterfeits. These findings suggest that luxury fashion brand owners should create and market new product lines offered at lower price points but consistent with product quality. This approach could result in a win-win solution for both Chinese consumers and luxury brands owners, as it could open a new market for luxury brand producers in targeting middle-income Chinese consumers while curtailing Chinese consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of fashion counterfeit products. At the same time, Chinese consumers’ ‘face-saving’ and materialistic values are met.

ABSTRACT. The present study explores the role of the Mexican executive women in using their erotic capital as brand association to build personal branding in the workplace. Using a qualitative method by means of the Delphi technique and consenting participants, the authors conducted the study in three stages with subsequent questionnaires. During the first stage, 50 in-depth interviews were submitted to women in executive positions. This approach assists in examining the phenomenon in its natural setting, providing considerable flexibility during interviews and observations. Four variables from erotic capital were considered: beauty, sexual attractiveness, social skills and social presentation. The second stage provides to each expert their colleagues’ opinions and opens an interdisciplinary discussion to reach a consensus about the results and the conception of knowledge on the subject. The intention of the third consultation was to obtain a closer approximation to a consensus. Results confirm that beauty and social presentation components influencing erotic capital as part of the personal branding. Women executives can not undervalue the weight of the erotic capital. From a theoretical perspective, the study provided further understanding of the value to create secondary personal brand associations as an element of power and success for women in the workplace.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates how brand personality can be associated with consumers’ self-concept to create stronger self-brand connections and under what conditions congruence matters most. Specifically, this research examines how brand personality can be associated with consumers’ actual and ideal self in order to create stronger self-brand connections. It argues that consumers communicate diverse parts of their identities through different brand personality traits and that this matching mechanism can stimulate self-brand connections. Using a series of four studies, the authors address the hypotheses related to the importance of congruence between actual and ideal self and brand personality. Results demonstrate the importance of identity-related brand personality in the creation of stronger emotional connections. This paper reveals the importance of congruence between self-concept and brand personality in the creation of self-brand connections and how this congruity influences consumers’ response to identity threats. The findings allow brands to build more effective strategies to attract new consumers and strengthen the connections with their current ones.

ABSTRACT. The myth of “The Underdog” has over centuries inspired the imagination of people across cultures and geographical boundaries. An underdog has been defined as someone with an external disadvantage but passion and determination. The effect that many of us emotionally support the outsider is commonly called the underdog effect. In the context of brand management, the underdog effect can be interpreted as the consumers’ reaction to a brand’s activities and consists of emotional feelings, a positive attitude, compassion and attachment towards the underdog brand. Derived from the results of a structured literature analysis, a new definition of the term underdog brand and a conceptual model of the corresponding effect were developed. The framework was then validated and improved by the results of three different case studies from three different continents. We argue that the underdog effect, cleverly applied, can be of use especially for start-ups and newer companies to build up brand image and reputation.

ABSTRACT. Recent Marketing studies highlight the increasing cultural diversity around the world, whether in terms of consumer demography, brandscapes and product flows, transnational imagined communities, or lived realities in given places (Cayla & Eckhardt 2008; Demangeot, Broderick, & Craig 2015). The unprecedented cultural heterogeneity and interconnectedness of global markets point to a need to understand what occurs when cultures meet, sometimes aligning and in other instances colliding with one another. More specifically, how consumers and marketers culturally identify and adapt to or resist cultural "others" and the resulting impacts on meanings, perceptions, choices, and strategies form critical knowledge gaps (Izberk-Bilgin, 2012).

ABSTRACT. In this research, a failed relationship denotes an existing or ongoing consumer-brand relationship where the emotional valence shifted from positive to negative. Based on this framing of emotional dynamism, it is posited that a shift in the emotional valence of consumer-brand relationships is different from the emotional responses experienced in discrete marketing transaction or encounters.

ABSTRACT. The study of fear appeals efficacy in public health communication has been ongoing for more than half a century and fear appeals remain a persuasive tactic frequently used in prevention such as tobacco control. Recently researchers have been interested in studying emotion combinations on health message effectiveness. To go into the study of the influence of emotion combinations in prevention in depth, this research focuses on the effect of the combination of anger and fear on anti-smoking messages effectiveness. Through one study, we compared the effect of a “fear and anger” message with a “fear” message (without anger) on the intention to reduce cigarette consumption. The first result of the experiment showed that exposure to the fearful and angry message led to a stronger intention to reduce cigarette consumption than exposure to the fearful message. Besides, additional results highlighted that the fearful message did not elicit fear only. These results are especially discussed regarding their interest in the study of the influence of emotion combinations on the effectiveness of fear appeals and, more broadly, of health messages.

ABSTRACT. This research evaluates the influence of entertainment and social interaction with salespeople on shoppers’ satisfaction directly, and indirectly by considering the role of shoppers’ emotional states. A study based on a survey of a sample of 318 mall shoppers was used to test the proposed model. The results suggest that unlike the social factor, entertainment directly influence satisfaction. However, indirectly, social interaction with salespeople influence satisfaction through the emotional states.

ABSTRACT. Fear of crime is the emotional and physiological response to perceived real or imagined crime threats and may drastically affect daily lives and behavior. Fear of crime is increasing worldwide despite falling crime rates but little is known about its effects on consumption. Drawing from literature across various disciplines, we postulate a framework to understand influence of fear of crime on consumption and test it using data from two countries with different cultural orientation. Findings indicate consumers’ behavior is negatively affected by fear of crime but this effect is greater in cultures with high individualism and low power distance, such as the USA. Results, managerial implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a conceptual development of Destination Branding (DB) through the development of an integrative conceptual model. A self-administered survey of tourists from Porto and Norte (Portugal) was undertaken and resulted in a sample of 467 respondents. Multivariate statistics were analysed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences – Analysis of Moments Structures (SPSS-AMOS) software. We observed that brand associations influence significantly the brand image. We also discovered a positive relationship between perceived quality and brand image and a positive impact of perceived quality on satisfaction. Among other things, the model predicts that the effects of brand image and satisfaction explain tourist loyalty.

ABSTRACT. Using the push and pull framework, this study examines the relationship between tourist activities in New Zealand and behaviours such as tourist spending, travel style (group vs. independent travel), and length of stay. Data from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) were analysed for a 19-year period (1997-2015). The findings, based on 62,288 respondents, identified nine typologies of international visitors over this period. For example, type one visitors are primarily pulled by the nature based activities offered in New Zealand while type two is pulled by adventure activities. Some of the typologies have activities that overlap reflecting the needs of international visitors. Significant relationships were found between the nine typologies, tourist spending, travel style and length of stay. Implications for destination marketing purposes are highlighted.

ABSTRACT. The benefits of any tourist destination may be overshadowed when it is perceived to be unsafe. The question is whether communicating safety as part of destination branding impact tourist travel intentions. In our study, we draw on categorization and omissions bias theories to explore how the incorporation of safety messages into destination advertising may influence tourist willingness to travel to a place. Using an experimental design, we found that the effectiveness of safety messages depends on tourist’s risk propensity. Low-risk propensity respondents find a place more attractive when safety messages are not mentioned, while the opposite is true for high-risk propensity respondents. We conclude that travelers’ risk propensity needs to be considered when communicating destination safety.

ABSTRACT. Country of Origin Ecological Image: Dimensions of the Construct and their Impacts on Consumers’ Evaluation of Eco-Products.

ABSTRACT. This research is interested in identifying barriers that exist for most consumers to eat plate leftovers from strangers in canteen environments, and how these barriers can be influenced. Therefore, we investigate the relation between consumer contamination of plate leftovers and the probability of choosing these leftovers. We assume this relation to be mediated by disgust. To reduce the barriers of choosing plate leftovers, we consider the moderating effect of attractiveness of the first eater on the relation of consumer contamination and perceived disgust. This way, we want to gain a better understanding of food waste in general, and plate leftovers in particular. We tested our hypotheses with data from an online experiment. In line with similar work, our results show that consumer contamination leads to higher perceived disgust, which lowers the probability of choosing plate leftovers. Even though, we did not find a moderating effect of the attractiveness of the first eater, we found indications of a direct effect of attractiveness of the first eater on the probability of choosing plate leftovers, which could be investigated in further research.

ABSTRACT. Future time perspective refers to the perception of remaining lifetime and the possibilities left to achieve oftentimes conflicting goals. Variations in future time perspective have an important bearing on the perception of advertisements: under a limited future time perspective emotions become more important. In contrast, an extended future time perspective is related to the acquisition of knowledge. Our paper examines how different states of future time perspective translate into changes in purchase behavior based on hedonic and utilitarian product attributes. We hypothesize that predominantly hedonic goods likely cater to the emotion focus and hence demand for products offering the highest hedonic value within a choice set. Contrary to this, utilitarian products do not profit from an emotion focus, in consequence the option that offers the least of an undesirable, that is, utilitarian attribute is chosen. In both cases a non-normative choice behavior would be the consequence. Our results offer partial support for our hypotheses. Compared to a control group, participants with an experimentally manipulated lower future time perspective display extremeness seeking for high value hedonic products, while individuals with a regular future time perspective show an opposite preference in that product category. Effects for utilitarian products were non-significant.

ABSTRACT. In the last years there are growing numbers of troops with machine guns serving around main Western tourist landmarks. These troops are not hidden in the cars or buildings but standing on visible places to attract public attention. As the main purpose of armed soldier’s presence authorities declare the prevention of terrorist attacks and psychological support for tourists as well as domestic population. The main objective of the following study is to find out whether the deployment of armed soldiers has a calming and reassuring effect on tourists and their presence work as an illusion of control or if the presence of armed soldiers because of priming functions rather as a stress factor. This paper is based on a quantitative public survey, which was carried out in the form of electronic questioning among 667 Czech respondents, who were randomly split into two treatments and asked about their fear. The result of this paper is that the look at armed soldiers have a statistically significant positive effect on male tourists and the presence of armed soldiers in tourist destinations can therefore work as a good marketing tool for providing feeling of safety.

ABSTRACT. CSR-oriented strategies are more and more required by consumers, whatever the sector of activity. However, authenticity in its management and its communication is part of its credibility in the eyes of consumers .One sector of activity that faces such issues in a very important way is the hospitality sector, as it belongs to the so-called experience goods . Besides, the brand-image management of such companies is specific . In the present study, we aim at identifying the various strategies used by luxury hotels to communicate about their CSR actions, focusing on the common patterns. To achieve these goals, we use a triangulation of methods in three separate studies. Study 1 consists of a structural semiotic reading of CSR online communication made by luxury hotels. Study 2 gathers interviews with main stakeholders of the offer-side (excluding consumers) to get an emic perspective on the topic and understand the relationship between brand-identity management and CSR strategy. Study 3 is a qualitative content analysis of the press around CSR strategic actions conducted by luxury hotels.

ABSTRACT. Service employees are often expected to engage in emotional labor as part of their job requirements. Prior studies have focused on the two emotional labor dimensions of surface acting and deep acting and their employee and customer outcomes. However, scarce attention has been given to the third emotional labor dimension—naturally felt emotions. The present research focuses on naturally felt emotions and investigates two important employee outcomes of naturally felt emotions—commitment to organizational display rules and burnout. Using two-wave data from service employees, we investigate relationships between this neglected emotional labor dimension and the two employee outcomes. Moreover, we investigate which of the three emotional labor dimensions predicts the outcomes most strongly. Theoretically, this study complements previous emotion regulation research in the services field. Managerially, the findings improve service managers’ understanding of the role of naturally felt emotions in terms of driving key employee outcomes.

ABSTRACT. This research analyzes how unrelated corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions influence brand symbolism. This research contributes to previous studies showing that CSR actions unrelated to the company’s core business (i.e. with a community focus) have a greater appeal than actions with a focus on company’s core competences (i.e. focus on the consumer). Results from four studies show that CSR actions unrelated to the company’s core business, counterintuitively, increase brand symbolism, which, in turn, influences consumers’ behavioral intentions. We propose that unrelated CSR actions can positively influence consumer perception of brand social responsibility and increase brand symbolism, generating positive behavioral outcomes. The findings have important implications for brands that wish to invest in corporate responsibility.

ABSTRACT. Consumer value co-creation behavior is considered a benefit to organizational innovation. Within domain of organizational innovation, employee innovative behavior is an imperative resource that enables an organization to succeed in dynamic business environment. Theoretically, employee innovative behavior can be driven by an organization’s intellectual capital. Yet, hinged upon the view of service-dominant logic, this study argues that the presence of consumer value co-creation behavior may enhance the aforementioned effect. Moreover, this effect may be particularly found in the service encounter because frontline employees often have more direct interactions with consumers compared to their back-stage colleagues. Consequently, this paper aims to examine the effect of consumer value co-creation behavior on the dimensions of organizational intellectual capital to frontline employee innovative behavior. A preliminary study is conducted to ascertain the proposed research model and the hypotheses. A total of 282 valid frontline employee responses are collected from a travel agent. The results show that two dimensions—human and customer of intellectual capital have positive effect on frontline service employee innovative behavior. Moreover, the interactions between consumer value co-creation behavior and human capital, and between consumer value co-creation behavior and organizational capital have significant moderation effect on frontline service employee innovative behavior.

ABSTRACT. Rooted in the relationship marketing studies (i.e. Dwyer et al. 1987, Crosby et al. 1990), relationship quality concept has received much attention in marketing literature. Relationship quality provides the best assessment of the relationship strength (Crosby, Evans and Cowles, 1990) and shed light into the exchange performance between the buyer and seller (Kumar, Scheer and Steenkamp, 1995; De Wulf, Odekerken-Schröder and Iacobucci, 2001). This research aims to contribute to the literature by examining the interpersonal factors, namely similarity and gender identity which may influence B2B relationship quality. The existing literature has considered these relationships mainly in the business to consumer environments. Thus, by exploring these mechanisms, the results of this study provide applicable managerial implications for practitioners as well as for the academia. After examining the literature in the field, the research model and method are presented. Finally, the results of the study are presented and discussed.

ABSTRACT. Innovation is considered one of the most important sources of sustainable competitive advantage in a dynamic environment (Atalay, Anafarta, and Sarvan 2013). While innovation capability is widely viewed as a competitive advantage, extant literature has also recognized the existence of hurdles in the successful practice and implementation of innovation (Millson 2013, Karlson and Bjork 2017, Von Treur and McMurray 2012, Anning-Dorson 2017, Winsor 2012, Pagell, Krumwiede and Sheu 2007, Porter 1990, 2000, Brennan and Camm 2007)). In an uncertain and intensely competitive business environment, it is not uncommon for organizations to pass on innovation tasks to supply chain partners (Liu 2014). OEMs often delegate innovation introduction activities to their suppliers. This research seeks to determine whether such “Pressure to Innovate” is conducive to good Supplier- OEM relationships and to also explore the nature of the relationships.

ABSTRACT. The study focuses on supplier-customer dyads in a market structure of imbalanced power and investigates how three elements of customer trustworthiness, including interactional courtesy, procedural fairness, and honesty work together to impact supplier long-term orientation in the relationship. The study applies an inductive theory-building approach and examines the data from 205 supplier-customer dyads in the food supply industry. The findings through a series of hierarchical linear regression models show that customer procedural fairness enhances long-term orientation of suppliers. Interestingly, findings also show that both customer interactional courtesy and honesty have S-shaped relationships with long-term orientation of vulnerable suppliers. Specifically, supplier long-term orientation is highest when customer interactional courtesy and honesty are at a medium level. Both a high-level and a low-level of interactional courtesy and honesty dampen supplier long-term orientation. The findings provide important insights on understanding how trustworthiness shapes long-term channel relationships in a market structure of imbalanced power.

ABSTRACT. We identify, synthesize, and evaluate the antecedents and outcomes of exercised power in buyer-seller relationships, based on a meta-analysis of extant empirical research. Based on information extracted from 74 studies found in 67 articles and published in 37 journals, we propose and test an integrative conceptual model comprising antecedents (i.e., dependence) and relationship quality outcomes (i.e., trust, satisfaction, commitment, and cooperation) of various forms of exercised power (i.e., referent, expert, legalistic, reward, and coercive). Using structural equation modeling, we confirm the more than half of the hypothesized associations between dependence and variants of exercised power, as well as between exercised power and relationship quality dimensions. Important directions for future research are derived from this meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT. Gray Marketing is the importation and distribution of genuine products without the permission of the authorized distributors and manufacturers. The objective of the study is to reveal which personal (price consciousness, price-quality inferences, risk averseness, ethical judgment, consumer innovativeness and involvement) and social (informative and normative susceptibility) factors affect consumers’ attitude towards gray market goods and intention. In addition, a comparative study (Turkey vs. the U.S.) was applied to find out whether the effects of these personal and social factors differ across countries. The model was tested through multi-group structural equation modeling. The results indicated that price consciousness, risk averseness, price-quality ethical judgment of the Turkish consumers affects their attitudes towards gray market goods. It can be stated that, only the ethical judgment of gray market activities affects the U.S. consumers’ attitude towards gray market goods. In addition, the effect of ethical judgment on attitude is stronger for the U.S. consumers than the Turkish consumers. Furthermore, attitude has a positive effect on intention both in Turkey and in the U.S. This study provides valuable information to the gray marketing literature.

ABSTRACT. The goal of the current paper is to investigate the effect of institutional distance on market expansion. We specifically focus on two dependent variables, export and foreign direct investments (FDIs) from the U.S. The research uses a cross-sectional time-series analysis to test the influence of institutional factors on exports and FDIs. Our results suggest that the institutional environment strongly affects trade activities between two countries. The regulative, normative, and cultural dimensions of the institutional environment are important depending on the mode of entry. Our framework allows companies investigate international expansion opportunities.

ABSTRACT. Drawing mainly on the institutional theory and resource-based view, the principal objective of this study is to examine the influence of institutional and resource-based antecedents on export performance. On the basis of a sample of 221 exporting firms operating in an emerging country, Turkey, the conceptual model was tested through PLS path modeling. The empirical evidence suggests that regulatory environment of home country contributes to the improvement of production and R&D resources, knowledge-based resources, and managerial resources. Additionally, it has been found that all firm resources included in the study give rise to the enhancement of export market orientation. The results also reveal that both production and R&D resources and export market orientation are conducive to superior export performance. The findings of this study offer considerable implications for theory, practice, and public policy makers, which are expected to add value to the existing knowledge on export performance.

ABSTRACT. Please see structured abstract

ABSTRACT. Emerging research into the concept of FOMO (fear of missing out) suggests that higher levels of social media usage increase users’ feelings of anxiety about missing out on opportunities for socialization or novel experiences. Empirical support for this notion is scarce, so further reinforcement is provided. Furthermore, previous studies indicate a strong influence of negative emotions such as envy in motivating social media users to engage in the conspicuous consumption of positional goods and services. Based upon this foundation, it is proposed that FOMO will motivate social media users to engage in conspicuous consumption of goods and experiences (i.e. posting photos on social media of themselves with prestigious brands and products, as well as engaging in status-enhancing activities such as luxury vacations or exclusive experiences). A conceptual model is proposed and tested via a pilot survey as part of an exploratory study. Initial results suggest that seeing others’ experiences on social media may indeed elicit higher levels of FOMO, and these feelings in turn motivate social media users to engage in the conspicuous consumption of both products and experiences.

ABSTRACT. Millennials are often at the centre of debates in academic and practitioner fora due to their work-related attitudes and behaviours, including their social media dependency. Though employers often assume millennials, as digital natives, to be competent regarding social media usage, infamous recent examples of employees’ inappropriate social media usage prove otherwise. Hence, the influence of social media in millennials’ work-related lives, needs better understanding from the perspective of multiple management disciplines. In this context, based on a survey of 238 service employees, the present study illustrates that employees’ company reputation-related social media competence leads to the development of both Bonding and Bridging social capitals online. This effect is partially mediated by the employees’ level of online community participation. Moreover, both types of online social capitals in turn serve to mitigate feelings of violation towards the employer, partly by reducing employees’ perceptions of psychological contract breach. Authors conclude by reemphasising the responsibility of employers in providing appropriate social media training, especially for millennials (notwithstanding pre-conceived notions of digital-nativity). Such training may help millennials prevent reputational damage for their employers as well as personal loss of livelihood, but also cultivate mutually beneficial work-ties online, which create a conducive environment for their wellbeing.

ABSTRACT. A large body of literature exists on understanding various consumer resistance movements. However, the question of why everyday consumers engage in consumption restraint has received little attention in the scholarly discourse to date. In this study, we investigate the motivations of people who participate in ‘Buy Nothing Day’, the annual day of consumption restraint that corresponds with Black Friday. To do this, we examine 1,813 consumer tweets referring to this event. Consumer motivations were categorized as relating to consumerism, spiritual welfare, wastefulness, environment, inequality, anti-capitalism, financial responsibility, and financial necessity. Of these, consumerism and spiritual welfare are the most common motivators. In addition, most consumers conveyed positive sentiments towards this event. Our findings shed light on motivations that average consumers may have to restrain their consumption and provide insight for firms wishing to better understand and respond to this type of individual.

ABSTRACT. This study ascertains to what extent does High- and Low-Context communication influence advertisement perception through the variables of Visual Recognition, Interpretation, Perceived Complexity, Liking, Believability, Irritation, Attitude Towards the Ad and Purchase Intention. Through a questionnaire, Portuguese and German respondents, representing a high-context culture and a low-context culture respectively, weaved judgement on two different advertisements that contained different appeals (hard-sell and soft-sell). The context was empirically assessed through an individual context score. The results showed that the advertisement with a hard-sell approach was, as expected, higher for Portuguese respondents than for Germans.

ABSTRACT. Hispanics, a highly diverse population in terms of geographical origin, education level and language usage, are the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. As a result, their buying power is increasing. U.S. Hispanics over-index in digital media usage, yet are largely underserved and ineffectively targeted. Utilizing both secondary data and interviews with Hispanic advertising/marketing industry experts, in this paper, we present an application of a strategic marketing process that takes into account the multiplicity of cultural factors that impact the success of a targeted marketing campaign.

ABSTRACT. Value (co)destruction results from the ‘misuse’ (intentional or accidental) of one system’s resources by another system, leading to losses in system wellbeing. This paper presents the first-stage findings of a study which aims to assess how service customers from different cultures experience value (co)destruction. The research question addresses the extent to which value (co)destruction, as experienced by service consumers, is a cross cultural phenomenon. The study adopts an interpretive approach and thematic analysis to explore how consumers from the China and the United Kingdom (UK) experience resource loss as a result of interaction with service organizations. Findings from 200 negative critical incidents suggest four clusters: ‘rejected’, ‘cheated’, ‘burdened’ and ‘defeated.’ The clusters differ in the nature of resource loss, goal denial and impact on subjective wellbeing.

ABSTRACT. This paper proposes an integrative conceptual framework to analyze the role and impact of protectionist rhetorical discourse as well as social identification variables on buying patterns of domestic and foreign products on both countries (Mexico and USA). The framework draws on three well established theories: Attribution Theory (variables: Protectionist rhetorical discourse influences domestic/foreign product judgments), Social Identity Theory (country of origin, consumer ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism influence domestic/foreign product judgments), and Theory of Reasoned Action (product judgments influence willingness to buy domestic/foreign products). First, Attribution Theory allows the individual to find explanations for unsatisfactory or negative outcomes: We normally ask ‘Why the flight got delayed?’ but we seldom ask ‘Why the flight arrived on time?’. Second, Social Identification Theory maintains that individuals develop a sense of belonging to different social groups. Third, Theory of Reasoned Action maintains that individuals develop favorable or unfavorable intentions to behave in specific manners based on polar attitudes.Prospects to test the conceptual model and managerial implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This paper intends to analyze the importance of the perception of the value of luxury in the three dimensions - social, personal and functional - in the probability of buying a luxury brand. For this, a set of constructs is considered by its nature to have these three dimensions: the brand prestige (social value), the brand distinctiveness and the brand attractiveness (social and individual values) and the brand coherence (functional value). The present study follows a quantitative methodology with data collected through an online survey on perceptions of consumers on Chanel brand. The proposed model was estimated using a logistic regression of the probability of buying Chanel considering a set of variables: socio-demographic variables and brand coherence, brand prestige, brand distinctiveness and brand attractiveness. From the results obtained it was found that the brand prestige and the brand attractiveness which increases the likelihood of purchase Chanel. From the socio-demographic variables considered only the income influences the probability of buying the brand. Was demonstrated the importance of the subject, since consumers respond by a buying behavior if there is a strong attachment to the brand and recognized her prestige and attractiveness.

ABSTRACT. On 2004, H&M, a fast fashion brand, launched their first cobranding collection with Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel). Since then, collaborations between fast fashion and luxury brands have been more frequent. The present study aims to fill a gap in the literature and examine the way in which consumers evaluate their attitude toward these type of co-branding products. The selected fast fashion brand was H&M. The luxury brands that will be tested are the last two collaborations (with Balmain and Alexander Wang), and also Versace, which was thought to be more widely recognisable instead of Isabel Marant A online questionnaire was replied by 85 Portuguese women aging between 18 and 53 (average of 25 years old), where the majority is single (87,1 per cent). Therefore, the dependent measures (attitude towards brand, purchase intention, willingness to pay and word-of-mouth) present significant Spearman correlations amongst themselves, relative to each brand. The average amount consumers are willing to spend in a luxury item is superior (approximately double) to the amount they are willing to spend in a cobranding item. WOM achieved superior results in H&M and cobranding with Balmain and Alexander Wang. The response toward luxury brands had inferior results after the collaborations.

ABSTRACT. Online mass customization is one of the topics, which has been extremely popular since the turn of the 21st century due to the rise of electronic commerce (Fiore, Lee, & Kunz, 2004) and consumer confidence in co-designing products (Franke, Schreier, & Kaiser, 2010). Consequently, multiple researchers have focused their attention on the topic of mass-customization in a bid to understand antecedents and precedents of consumer behavior, given that consumers are the critics and creators of the products they customize. Based on the consumption value (Sheth, Newman, & Gross, 1991) and integrated framework of SOR by Fiore and Kim (2007), researchers examined possible perceptual discrepancies between mass-customized product (MCP) purchasers and non-purchasers to understand their personal traits and their value perception regarding MCP to better strategize the business directions for the MCP industry. Based on analysis of 231 Generation Z consumers’ responses, we compared MCP purchasers’ and non-purchasers’ perceptions on value of MCFP. Purchasers exhibited that they perceived great monetary value in mass customized products compared to non-purchasers. Both perceived that mass customized product offers greater quality value as well as greater hedonic values, compared to the off-the-rack product. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

ABSTRACT. After a few decades of laying off, downsizing, and pushing employees to their limits, the light at the end of the tunnel is coming from smart employers that have realized the need to hang on to good employees and attract new ones. Employer Branding is a new management idea that has been gaining a growing number of followers, from hi-tech start-up companies to more traditional sectors of activity.

Employer brand love originates from two different constructs – employer brand and brand love. When performing a quick search in several databases from mainstream to scientific literature some attempts to present these two constructs mixed together can be seen but mainly from a relationship standpoint and not as a new concept altogether.

The authors’ research purpose is to develop a conceptual model build upon an extensive and systematic literature review. Further research includes testing the model using a qualitative approach based upon interviews and focus groups and the development of a measurement scale for validating the construct.

ABSTRACT. There is a need to conceptually link findings from specific experience areas, and to generalize from them to overarching principles of experiences. Building on recent syntheses and conceptualizations, we contribute to this discussion and synthesis by proposing a framework that we think answers questions regarding the role of the brand in the customer journey and the customer experience, and the measurement of overall brand experiences. Regarding the role of the brand in the customer experience and the customer journey, we follow the conceptualization that brands reflect all customer experiences with a brand along the customer journey. Thus, the experiences that brands evoke within the customer (sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual) represent these overall experiences that customers have with a brand along the customer journey. By linking the brand experience concept to two recent frameworks on static and dynamic experiences and the customer journey and experience, we propose that static experiences, i.e. single touchpoints, reflect the brand related stimuli that compose the overall, i.e. dynamic, brand experience. This conceptualization allows for the measurement of the overall brand experience across multiple touchpoints and multiple stages, which is an important issue for both marketing theory and practice.

ABSTRACT. This research examines the impact of emotions on brand attachment by studying the mediating role of perceived brand authenticity. In-store emotions and consumption emotions have been taken into consideration. A multifaceted conceptualization of perceived brand authenticity has been considered with continuity, credibility, integrity and symbolism dimensions. A study was conducted on 349 consumers of a chocolate brand. Empirical results show the existence of a total mediating effect of perceived brand authenticity in the relationship between consumption emotions and brand attachment. The effect is reached through the mediation of credibility, integrity and continuity dimensions. For in-store emotions only the symbolic dimension have a partial mediating effect. The implications of this research for marketing theory and for managers are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the cognitive outcomes of brand heritage in the theoretical framework of signaling theory. Two quantitative studies show the added value of making corporate heritage available to consumers in different situations of uncertainty. Results show that brand heritage enhances brand perceived quality and commands a price premium for established companies as well as for new companies. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Do negative emotions always have negative outcomes for brands? May feeling of being cheated turn into a sympathy toward the brand? This study aims to investigate the relationship between consumers’ feelings of being cheated and their tendency to get revenge by cheating the brand (dishonest consumer behavior). It further argues that in order to compensate for the negative emotional consequence (feeling of guilt) of their own wrong act, consumers tend to form stronger relationships with the brands that were initially wrong to them. It also examines how situational ambiguity regulates the relationship between feeling cheated and behaving dishonestly.

ABSTRACT. Previous research has focused on place attachment in regular structural contexts and conditions. However, little attention has been paid to exploring place attachment and post-disaster scenarios. In particular, whether place attachment is maintained in the aftermath of an environmental jolt which destroys or damages the built and natural environment that individuals might have developed an attachment to, is an understudied area. The city of Christchurch in New Zealand suffered two major earthquakes in September 2010 and February 2011 causing significant damage to large parts of the city’s retail, commercial and residential precincts as well as to residents’ dwellings. This post-earthquake scenario provides a suitable environment for study. Analysis of a random sample of post-earthquake video interviews from the years 2011 and 2012 with citizen-consumers was undertaken. Preliminary results indicate that despite the fact that the impact of the earthquakes is at the forefront of citizen-consumers’ narrative, interwoven with this an attachment to place is visible in respondents’ stories. Relating to six place attachment dimensions put forward in literature, citizen-consumers’ stories resonate with all six of them. The findings have implications for city councils, city managers and business owners in regard to (re-)creating and maintaining attraction to the city.

ABSTRACT. When one thinks of office attire, words like appropriate, sharp, and professional come to mind; but is that what matters to consumers? Clothing brands often market the appropriateness of their clothing with the fashionableness being secondary. The goal of this study is to discover what matters most to consumers in regard to their work clothing and how it makes them feel. Working professionals were surveyed to determine if the fashion or style of clothing impacts the wearer’s self-perceptions of emotion and work competency. The results of this study showed that for all elements of emotion and work competency both fashion and style significantly influenced the participants’ self-perceptions, but fashion had the greatest impact. While business clothing positively affected feelings of work competency, it negatively impacted the subjects’ feelings of being in a good mood and at ease. The findings of this study suggest that clothing brands may want to consider marketing the fashionableness of their work clothing first, and focus less on the appropriateness, or style.

ABSTRACT. Music, as marketing strategy, has played a key role for several companies. Related to this situation and given the constant evolution of preferences by increasingly demanding consumers, we intend to study the relationship between ambient music and live music on consumer behaviors. More specifically, our study aims to understand the influence of live music consumer behavior in relation to ambient music, as well as the aspects that consumers consider to be most relevant to their use in night spaces.

ABSTRACT. Consumer surveys show that generally speaking the made in is gaining importance in their consumption journey, with people displaying stronger and stronger positive feelings towards the locally-produced goods. If the CoO effect has been extensively studied since the 60’s (Maman Larraufie, 2013), most studies focus on the consumer side and few deal with how companies and/or official bodies do communicate on their Made In or ‘terroir’. It is the objective of the present study to decipher the mechanism and strategies used to do so, in the specific case of France. The CoO effect being articulated around four types of effects (cognitive, affective, normative and identity-forming) (Bolliger, 2011), we expect seeing communication strategies focusing on the four, with probably different target audience and communication objectives. To test our hypotheses, we collected data from 13 organisms in charge of promoting ‘terroir’ and ‘made in’. An inductive approach of content analysis was used to code the data, since few studies have already been made on the topic (Lauri and Kyngas, 2005). Results show that the communication strategies for promoting a Made in France culture and a French ‘terroir’ use cognitive and identity-building values while affective and normative values are not that much used.

ABSTRACT. The competitive advantage of a tourist product or service, in the global market, is based on the seller’s ability to offer a successful experiential offering system. Accordingly, an evaluation of the type of tourism experiences is critical for the success of hospitality and tourism products and services. The paper starts with an analysis of the literature on general experiential marketing and experiential marketing in the tourism sector. We then describe in detail our proposed methodology as applied to a specific new tourism service format and analyse the results. Finally, in the discussion section, the findings are combined in order to appraise the experiential positioning of this new particular tourism product format.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of product knowledge, both subjective and objective, on the relative importance of four extrinsic product attributes of wine, namely price, age, brand and region of origin. The relative importance of four product attributes is evaluated comparative to consumers’ knowledge of wine, using the conjoint analysis technique. The results suggest that product knowledge does influence the relative importance of extrinsic wine attributes in product evaluation, with the price of wine shown to be the dominant attribute regardless of the level of product knowledge expertise. Brand, age and region of origin received differing rankings of importance. Across all four levels of product knowledge, consumers navigate their evaluative product decisions according to the midpoint between most and least expensive wines in their consideration set. Price sensitivity appears to heavily impact consumer evaluation strategies, which serves to inform wine pricing strategies.

ABSTRACT. The question of how to design service environments to attract customers and to sell products has been of long interest to managers and scholars alike. This interest spilled over to virtual servicescapes when technological advances facilitated designing carefully staged sets of physical cues in online environments. Building on the theoretical framework of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion, we propose and test the notion that people react to informational variables present in a virtual reality servicescape in divergent ways. Specifically, we propose a dual process model of effects in which components of the online environment (coherence, complexity, legibility and mystery, as per Kaplan (1989)) work in distinct ways with consumers.

ABSTRACT. Fit is widely regarded as a relevant factor for the success of cause-related marketing (CRM). However, literature shows that understanding of fit is still limited. The present research develops a unifying model of fit for cause-related marketing (CRM). A comprehensive review of CRM fit literature is undertaken to identify key fit classifications. As a result of this analysis it is proposed that fit can be understood in terms of the general valence categories positive, neutral, and negative fit. Additionally, within these categories, nine sub-types of fit differing in commonality are identified. The form of the model is presented, and propositions for future research are put forward.

ABSTRACT. In three experiments we show the impact of firm size on Cause-Marketing (CM) effectiveness and the importance of feelings of gratitude that consumers experience towards firms for providing the donation opportunity. Smaller firms enjoy higher morality perceptions than big firms as small firms are perceived as doing a bigger effort. The bigger effort perceptions induce stronger feelings of gratitude in the consumer and hence lead to greater CM effectiveness for small compared to big firms.

ABSTRACT. Cause-Related marketing is a popular marketing tool that incentivizes consumer purchases by tying sales to charitable donations. The duration of a CRM campaign is an important tactical consideration for marketing managers. A wide spectrum of promotional periods can be found in the marketplace. However, there is not a clear understanding of how CRM duration contributes to campaign success in terms of company image and consumer participation. A conceptual framework is developed to identify the underlying mechanism and also account for variations in the company’s CSR record. Findings reveal that the effect of campaign duration on purchase intentions is transmitted through the consumer’s perception about the company’s social responsibility. Additional findings and implications for structuring campaigns and leveraging company history are discussed.

ABSTRACT. In hi-tech industries such as Pharma-Biotech firms are becoming more and more specialized in their innovation capabilities such that it is becoming less and less likely that any one firm is able to independently develop a truly innovative new product. Under such conditions a network of path dependent developmental partnerships often precedes new product introductions. The current research will employ qualitative research methods to investigate two questions: (a) Is the path for the development of radically innovative qualitative different from the development of incrementally innovative products in industries with high technological turbulence such as the Pharma-Biotech industry, and (b) Are there any systematic differences in the governance structures employed in the management of interfirm relationships in the development of radical innovations and incremental innovations. We historical development histories of 139 radical innovations and 113 incremental innovations to explore these questions.

ABSTRACT. We investigate how individuals with growth or fixed mindsets react to the experiences of malicious and benign envy, and what kind of influence these interactions have on consumers’ unique product choice behaviors. Results of the first study showed that people tend to choose a unique product in the malicious envy condition, while a person primed with benign envy is more likely to choose a standard product. The results of a second study indicated that implicit self-theories moderate that process. When a person experiences malicious envy and has an entity mindset, his or her desire for a unique product or distinction from the envied person increases. The final study sheds light on multiple serial mediation roles of entity mindset and desire for uniqueness for the effect of malicious envy on unique product choice (i.e., selection of a product that the envied other does not have), and incremental mindset and desire for self-improvement for the effect of benign envy on standard or similar product choice (i.e., selection of a product that the envied other has).

ABSTRACT. This study examines a key construct, Lean Innovation Capability, in the process of resource-limited innovation. Drawing on Resource Advantage Theory, we argue that firms that manage resource limitation situations as an enabler rather than as an inhibitor have a distinct capability called ‘Lean Innovation Capability.’ Therefore, we conceptualize Lean Innovation Capability as a source of competitive advantage for companies that suffer from resource limitations and, therefore, as an important driver of performance growth.

The current study aims to develop a new scale to measure Lean Innovation Capability and test its moderating role in a resource limited innovation model involving a multi-industry context. Drawing on an extensive literature review, case studies with startup companies, and an expert panel on lean innovation, the authors define Lean Innovation Capability and its dimensions. This study is in its early stages. Therefore, in this extended abstract, we will discuss the conceptualization of Lean Innovation Capability and its moderating role in a resource-limited innovation model. Conceptualization refers to both the theoretical meaning of Lean Innovation Capability in terms of its definition and the specification of the construct and its dimensions. The conceptualization of Lean Innovation Capability provides the basis for its operationalization.

ABSTRACT. The sample selected for this study is composed of 600 small and medium Spanish enterprises (SMEs) across various industrial sectors. Two hundred fifty-nine usable questionnaires were returned, generating a response rate of 43.2%. The results show that selfish conduct seeking to achieve one's own goals regardless of the impact of such conduct on other parties (e.g., opportunism), or to impeding the achievement of the goals of the other part involved in the relationship (e.g., conflict), should be keenly avoided to improve the relationship quality in terms of non-economic satisfaction and, in turn, economic satisfaction. The results of this study broaden the understanding and insights into the complexity and dynamics of key aspects of satisfaction including its principal contribution that non-economic satisfaction is a mediator between opportunism and conflict on the one side and economic satisfaction on the other.

ABSTRACT. Trade fairs, trade shows or exhibitions are planned events where “manufacturers, distributors and other vendors display their products or describe their services to invited persons including current and prospective customers, suppliers, other business associates and the press” (Bonoma, 1983, p.76). Despite the relevance of trade fairs for business, the literature depicts a body of knowledge formed by topical studies conducted from specific backgrounds and contexts. The research focus tends to be fragmented and centered in the individual perspective of each stakeholder with a view to maximize trade fair investments. Yet, recent developments in the literature have enlarged the scope of the field, by bringing comprehensive insights. There has been research in approaching trade fairs from more holistic perspectives, such as relational, learning and economic geography. Research approaching exhibitor/visitor interaction and business relationships has the underlying idea that trade fairs represent a relevant context for relationship building (e.g., Sarmento et al., 2015). The line of inquiry reporting the trade fair as a context for learning, emphasizes the information gathering at trade fairs as part of learning processes for firms (e.g. Bettis-Outland et al., 2012; Tanner et al., 2001). The most over-arching inquiry for trade fair studies lies in the dynamic perspective building on economic geography (Power & Jansson, 2008), highlighting the trade fair role as collective marketing platforms that industrial agglomerations or geographical clusters can use to sustain their presence internationally (e.g., Rinallo et al., 2016).

ABSTRACT. In industrial settings, product-centric companies increasingly use services to complement the overall offering they market to their customers. However, despite the increase of literature concerning service-led growth, that is, the increasing use by manufacturing companies to complement technological products with associated services, we still know little about how to orchestrate and offer these value bundles successfully. In response to this lack of research on how to sell hybrid offerings, this research aims at investigating the structure of a Hybrid Offering Sales Capability (HOSC) for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with a two-step approach involving qualitative and quantitative techniques.

ABSTRACT. As firms continue to invest in IT and collaborate with key suppliers, many fail to benefit from these activities. Drawing on resource orchestration and social exchange theories, we examine the relationship among IT resources, key supplier involvement, and firm performance and find that supplier involvement mediates the positive effect of IT resources on firm performance only when there is high mutual trust between the focal firm and its key supplier and when competitive intensity is low in the focal firm’s environment. In a highly competitive environment, mutual trust dampens the positive effect of supplier involvement on firm performance. The direct positive effect of IT resources on focal firm performance is amplified by mutual trust when competitive intensity is high, suggesting that the focal firm will fare better without supplier involvement. Thus, the effect of supplier involvement in the focal firm’s IT-enabled operations is contingent on relational and environmental variables.

ABSTRACT. This study utilized ideal age variables that have been internally validated among college-educated Japanese seniors for the purpose of segmentation. The results of a cluster analysis revealed that there are cluster differences based on health, economic comfort, gender and a host of cultural influences. Thus, the study’s intent of demonstrating the utility of ideal age scales within an emic segmentation framework was fulfilled. Implications and future ideal age research directions are suggested.

ABSTRACT. Globalization, technological advances and transport development have largely contributed to the increase in the flow of goods and services, but also of people (Appadurai, 1990). This leads to the inevitable consequence for millions of consumers to be exposed to multiple cultural environments and contacts (Klugman, 2009)

The aim of our study is to explore the different modes of food acculturation which are developing among professional expatriates. More precisely we propose on the one hand to explore within expatriation experiences how the (sub)culture(s) of origin of consumers and the host subculture(s) influence the food consumption behavior of professional expatriates and their family, and on the other hand how the accumulative effects of previous acculturation’ experiences and diverse cultural contacts influence the food consumption behavior of professional expatriates settled in Alsace (France).

Our study shows a positive influence of the French host culture on the food habits of expatriates. The main local Alsatian host subculture’s influence seems to be minimized in the food habits of expatriates by other host subcultures and also a wide range of other international food available in the host country. Finally, as expatriates being exposed to different cultures and international foods, expatriates want to eat diverse abroad.

ABSTRACT. Collaborative consumption continues to increase in both support and use by consumers in various countries, yet reasons for these are currently unknown. The purpose of this research was to investigate the intention to use Uber, requiring the use of both TAM and TPB. A three-country quantitative study was conducted among a convenience sample using items having established empirical value. A total of 920 usable responses were analysed. The findings indicate the relevance of these models in both the various country contexts as well as their applicability in collaborative consumption. The study also found the impact of trust within the context of the subjective norm, the importance of which can be understood in online context and associated with the nature of the service offered by Uber. The importance of the app and its design within the context of collaborative consumption is illustrated.

ABSTRACT. The researchers first establish that the quality (i.e. accuracy) of the information accessed through a digital app has a direct effect on purchase behavior. Next, the research investigates whether control of the information search process moderates the relationship between the information quality and a consumer’s purchase behavior. The study employs a 2 (accurate/inaccurate) x 2 (control/no control) factorial between-subjects design using 217 respondents. The results suggest that consumers have reduced intentions to repurchase from a retailer when the shopping app provided inaccurate information than when the consumer perceived the information to be accurate. However, the interaction between information control and repurchase intentions was insignificant. ANOVA results also indicate the interaction between information accuracy and information control has a significant effect on repurchase intentions. The results provide evidence that information control is important. As access to information increases due to the continued evolution of the Internet and personal mobile devises, consumers have greater access to information. The study also provides insight for further research. Specifically, it would be of great benefit to academic and practitioners alike to further examine the relationships between information control and the mode of information decimation.

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ABSTRACT. Social Networking Sites (SNS) have become an ideal tool to develop Customer Engagement (CE) with brands, leading companies to invest increasingly on virtual communities and CE, using the number of likes and comments as a proxy to measure it. Yet, organizations do not fully understand whether members are really engaged with and loyal to the brand. Moreover, previous studies are not clear on the motivations underlying CE behaviours, and on its role in shaping brand loyalty. As such, the aim of this research is to understand what drives customers to engage with SNS brand communities, to relate it with different CE behaviours, and to study its impact on brand loyalty. The study concludes that the drivers for passive (lurking) and active (posting) behaviours differ and that these were, mainly and respectively, Information and Economic motivations. Moreover, Facebook users tend to exhibit more lurking than posting behaviours, with the latter contributing more to brand loyalty than the former. Theoretically, this study contributes to bridge a gap in the literature, since research on CE, its drivers and outcomes is still lacking and is largely conceptual. Managerially, this study presents insights to brands holding virtual communities, helping them to define customer-oriented strategies.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the impact of female sex hormones on women’s consumption behaviors on fashion products. These hormones reach peak level when women are near ovulation, and this research examines how these hormones, when at peak level, influence women’s attitudes and purchase intention towards sexy and revealing fashion products. The research is based on two theoretical frameworks: Ovulatory Shift Hypothesis (OSH) and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). A within-subject survey design was used to examine the proposed phenomenon. Vietnamese women were recruited for this specific study. In line with OSH, the findings suggest that when near ovulation, women show more favorable attitudes and stronger purchase intentions toward sexy and revealing fashion products. Further, as predicted by TRA, attitudes towards sexy and revealing fashion products mediate the relationship between ovulation and purchase intentions. The results of this study add to related streams of research which suggest that hormonal fluctuations influence consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions. For managers, the results provide suggestions on how to target female consumers for sexy fashion products more effectively.

ABSTRACT. The aesthetic property of typicality has received much attention in the literature. Yet, despite the academic and managerial interest in typicality, there is little research on the topic as it relates to apparel products. Furthermore, in order to examine typicality relative to apparel products, the question of what a typical apparel product is must first be addressed. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of how consumers perceive the property of typicality when applied to apparel products. Based on a multi-level measure of typicality (Tyagi & Whitfield, 2014), the focus of the investigation was on the silhouette, which includes the basic parts or elements of the apparel product. To this end, this research is grounded in categorization (Rosch, et al., 1976) and preference-for-prototype theory (Whitfield & Slatter, 1979), in order to explore and identify the prototypes that consumers have in their minds regarding three categories of apparel products: pants, jackets, and shirts. This study contributes to the literature in a general sense by expanding understanding of the aesthetic property of typicality, while offering specific implications for understanding the property relative to apparel products.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to investigate how self-evaluative and motivational schema in appearance influenced attitude toward brand and purchase intention, and how thin-idealized versus non-idealized model images in ads influenced the impact of self-evaluative and motivational schemas on attitude toward brand and purchase intention. A total of 321 female college students at a large Midwestern university in the United States responded to a Web-based survey. Findings of this study identified a significant main effect of motivational self-schema on attitude toward brand and significant interaction effects of model type and motivational self-schema on attitude toward brand and purchase intention. Participants with higher motivational schema in appearance showed more positive attitudes toward brand and greater purchase intention when exposed to thin models rather than average-sized models. These results supported individual differences in responses to thin-idealized model images in ads. Thin models in ads may not be the most effective image for brand or advertising strategies for all female consumers who are different in appearance self-schema. Using realistic or non-idealized models inclusively in ads is suggested as a healthier and more effective advertising strategy toward female consumers who shape their self-identity or self-concept using their appearance self-schema.

ABSTRACT. Drawing upon the 3M model of motivation and personality, this study examines a hierarchical model of fashion consumption. The role of fashion sensitivity is also proposed and examined. The results show that openness to experience positively affects public self-consciousness and need for uniqueness, that in turn to influence fashion anxiety and fashion self-efficacy positively. Both facets of fashion sensitivity affect fashion purchase intention positively. Implications for research and practice are also discussed in this study.

ABSTRACT. Researchers prescribe that the combined influence of personal characteristics and work conditions should be examined to provide a clearer understanding of performance at work. Here we explore the combined impact of ethical climate and salespeople’s external work locus of control on job meaningfulness, and intensity of effort to learn new skills. This study suggests that when salespeople perceive that their sales organization has a strong ethical climate, the negative impact of external work locus of control is mitigated on key predictors of sales performance and turnover intentions. Study hypotheses were tested with a sample of 143 business-to-business salespeople from a sales organization based in the Southeastern United States. This study’s results find that salespeople’s perceptions of their firm’s ethical climate diminishes the influence of external work locus of control on salespeople’s intensity of effort to learn new skills but not for job meaningfulness. Discussion, conclusions, and study limitations are provided.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the link from workplace isolation to salesperson performance, and focuses upon the processes underlying this relationship. Specifically, the mediating influences of knowledge, communication, and commitment are empirically analyzed and found to be critical aspects of the relationship from isolation to performance.

ABSTRACT. Given the increased importance of relationship portfolios and social selling to salespeople, we identify and explore an area directly related to how relationships thrive and/or fail, the concept of interpersonal jealousy, which has been largely unexamined in a sales setting. Our research focuses on: 1) what is the nature of jealousy in sales; 2) what leads to jealousy in sales; 3) what are the consequences of jealousy in sales? Given that the jealousy in sales has not been previously explored in the literature, we adopt a qualitative approach to obtain a first-hand perspective from sales professionals in order to enhance our understanding. Our findings indicate that jealousy is a double-edged sword (e.g., healthy, unhealthy) that behaves as a source of motivation, a catalyst of goals, and a benchmark for success. Furthermore, the data reveals that both internal and external drivers contribute to salesperson jealousy. Finally, the effects of jealousy are found to have an impact on the individual salesperson, the team, the manager, and the customer. Our research indicates that, while jealousy might have negative repercussions, if channeled properly, jealousy can actually drive salespeople to push themselves to excel in their tasks in order to succeed in their roles.

ABSTRACT. Performance is especially relevant among sales staff. However, knowledge of the variables that encourage salespeople’s performance is still limited.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to partially fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), salespeople´s organizational commitment, organizational pride and salespeople´s performance. This study’s empirical analysis is based on the information provided by 176 supervisor-salesperson dyads from 96 companies. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the psychometric proprieties of the measurement scales and to test the proposed direct hypotheses, while conditional process analysis was used to test the proposed mediation and moderation hypothesis. The results confirm that CSR perception is positively related to the salespeople´s performance indirectly, through organizational pride and commitment. Furthermore, the findings show that the relation between organizational pride and commitment improves when there is a responsible leader on the organization. In addition, the paper identifies the main implications of these results for the management and it makes some suggestions for future studies.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this research is to understand how tourist uses his smartphone to discover a tourist destination and what consequences of theses uses are on his tourist experience. A qualitative study identifies three categories of mobile services uses. A structural equation modeling is used to examine effects of smartphone uses on tourist experience dimensions and satisfaction with mobile services.

ABSTRACT. The Customer-Based Online Reputation is an invaluable asset for the success of firms online. This paper investigates the effects of customer-based online reputation on two important customer behavior outcomes that are word-of-mouth and willingness to pay a premium in a French context. The authors show that these relationships are mediated by hot and cold brand relationship quality. They demonstrate that online reputation has a significant impact on WOM via cold and hot BRQ whereas Hot BRQ only mediates its effect on WPP. They argue that the relationship between cold BRQ and WPP is not significant. Study findings also reveal that customer-based online reputation has higher impact on cold than hot BRQ.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of children's word-of-mouth communication: how it is processed, its dimensions, and its relation to other sources of information and to young consumers' use of the Internet. Theoretical contributions from consumer socialization, new media and word-of-mouth communication studies are assembled, and an exploratory qualitative analysis in the form of focus group interviews with 7-11 year old children is reported. We provide empirical evidence for word-of-mouth communication being a common activity among children. Observation and marketing exposure both complement and trigger word-of-mouth activity. Electronic word-of-mouth communication is less frequent, but the internet is a relevant source of information and marketing exposure; it assists children's learning about products and brands, and furthers their purchase decision processes. This study suggests that word-of-mouth communication received by children is more complex and dynamic as compared to extant literature, suggesting that future research further explores its sought and unsought components, as well as its relationship with nonverbal peer influence that results from observation.

ABSTRACT. Early adopters (EAs) represent a small, but very important group of consumers in the diffusion of innovations. They are not only the first to adopt new products and technology, but also the ones who accelerate the diffusion process through word-of-mouth communication. Surprisingly, little is known about this group and their specific Internet usage behavior. Consequently, marketing researchers and practitioners are highly interested in the marketing channels they should choose to reach and satisfy their needs. Therefore, our study empirically examines the Internet usage of EAs in comparison to most of the population and gives a general overview of 15 different Internet channels. We analyze a data set containing 119,829 test persons provided by a renowned German institute. The results demonstrate that the Internet usage differs significantly between EAs and the majority. The EAs use the Internet more frequently as an information channel, for communication purposes and for applying special services, such as online banking or shopping. They additionally own a greater variety of digital devices and use their smartphones more frequently for mobile Internet access. These findings offer marketers new insights into EAs’ Internet usage behavior and allow to reach customers in more powerful ways.

ABSTRACT. Literature shows that consumers interpret price information as either an indicator of quality or as indicator of monetary sacrifice. However, despite extensive pricing research focusing on price information processing, it is not clear how the “signaling” and “sacrifice” effects differ among hedonic versus utilitarian product purchases. We conduct a field experiment to investigate the informational and sacrifice effects of price for two products (wine versus laptop cases). Our results indicate that price effects vary depending on the product category. Specifically, the influence of price increases for hedonic products is opposite to utilitarian products. The signaling effect for wine (hedonic product) is strongly positive, whereas the sacrifice effect is stronger for laptop cases (utilitarian product). Managerial implications and future research suggestions will be discussed.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates the relationship between price and demand of multi-attribute products positioned for different market segments and applies its findings to explore the nature of value-based pricing. In light of the Third Law of Demand theory and Lancaster's approach to consumer theory based on a product's multiple characteristics, we propose a new approach that can evaluate product positioning and pricing strategies, one that integrates both economic and marketing theoretical underpinnings. Specifically, we posit that the change in relative price of a multi-attribute product in comparison to another similar product positioned as a lower-end equivalent will play a vital role in determining the overall demand of that product among its appropriate market segments. Based on hedonic pricing analyses using price data collected from Taiwan, we find that despite an increase in overall prices of high-end glasses relative to low-end glasses products, effective lens and framing pairing combinations may lead to a decrease in relative prices of the high-end glasses. Consequently, the overall demand of high-end glasses among high-end consumers can increase significantly. The findings support our proposition regarding the role of relative price in relation to consumer demand for multi-attribute products. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. The price of products and services is a critical aspect of marketing communications and can affect consumer inferences regarding product quality, as well as seller motives and credibility (Cheema, 2008; Xu and Wyer, 2010; Zhang and Schwarz, 2012). The price of product or service, however, is often just a starting point or “anchor” for the eventual cost of acquiring a product or service. From this initial anchor price factors such as discounts and shipping costs often affect the final cost to consumers. Building on previous research on anchor adjustment theory (e.g., Janiszewski and Uy, 2008), the present research investigates how both positive and negative adjustments from an initial anchor price affect consumer perception. In the marketplace, a positive adjustment from an anchor price is a gain to the consumer, whereas a negative adjustment is loss. An example of such a gain to the consumer could be a price discount, whereas an example of such a loss to the consumer could be shipping and handling fees. The present research argues that the extent that consumer perceptions of a product shift in relation to such gains and losses is dependent on the precision and the range of the gain or loss. Previous research finds that anchor adjustment is less when the initial monetary amount is presented as a precise amount rather than a rounded amount. Janiszewski and Uy (2008) suggest this is the result of a precise anchor eliciting a more granular adjustment scale that, in turn, results in less adjustment from the initial anchor. The present research, however, suggests another explanation involving seller credibility. Previous research finds that anchor adjustment is less when the anchor is provided by a credible source as they infer that the anchor is a more accurate indication of the product’s value (Zhang and Schwartz, 2012; Wegener, Petty, Blankenship and Detweiler-Bedell, 2010).

We argue that the extent that consumer perceptions of a product shift in relation to such gains and losses depends on the precision and the range of the gain or loss. When confronted with a possible gain, as in the case of price discounts, precise amounts result in less favorable buyer perceptions than do rounded amounts. On the other hand, when confronted with a possible loss, as in the case of shipping and handling fees, precise amounts result in more favorable buyer perceptions than do rounded amounts. Initial studies supports some of our hypotheses.

ABSTRACT. Based on a paper-and-pencil survey of 432 consumers, we analyze how three dimensions of individualism influence fairness perception of three socially-related price increase justifications (better payment of suppliers, better payment of employees, environmental friendliness of production). Signaling theory is the basic of the research framework. The results show that the dimensions of individualism influence fairness perception of socially justified price increases differently. Independence has a neutral effect, competition reduces price fairness perception for all social price increase justifications and uniqueness does at least increase fairness perception for environmental justifications. We provide suggestions for marketing management and marketing theory.

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ABSTRACT. The moral responsibility theory of corporate sustainability (MRCS) argues that a corporation has moral responsibilities toward society and the environment, which can determine its commitment level toward meeting its sustainability goals based on perfect and imperfect duty. To understand cross-cultural consumers’ perceptions toward corporate moral responsibility for sustainability from perfect to imperfect duty, we collected 1,508 usable responses (303 Norwegians, 299 Canadians, 302 Americans, 298 Hong Kong Chinese, and 206 Mainland Chinese). Due to nonequivalence between Hong Kong and China samples, they were not analyzed, and Norway, Canada and USA responses were further tested. The findings suggested that the moral spectrum from perfect to imperfect duty of corporate sustainability in consumers’ minds was consistent across three countries; working condition support is considered a perfect duty, while transparency support was considered relatively an imperfect duty. We also found that overall consumers’ expectations of MRCS were not influenced by country, but social norms, consumer knowledge and consumer belief were related to different level of expectations. With empirical support, this study can help corporations better set their sustainability goals and implement strategies based on greater understanding of cross-cultural consumers.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the path that follow sustainability initiatives in public and private organizations. The logic and differentiators of organizational positioning and planning of sustainability initiatives between public and private sector are examined. The research methodology has used in-depth interviews of executives of public and private hospitals in Spain. The logic of determining the positioning and planning of the sustainability initiatives is mainly about satisfying organizational needs and societal demands. The main outcome consist of positioning and planning of sustainability initiatives differs between private and public hospitals. Nowadays, organizations tend to engage in sustainability initiatives, so it is essential to understand the logic of how organizations position and plan such efforts.This study differs from previous ones in terms of exploring the positioning and planning of the sustainability initiatives, which focus on the organizational logic of such sustainability initiatives. There are both common denominators and differentiators between private and public hospitals

ABSTRACT. Trust is an essential dimension in transactions that involve performance ambiguity, important consequences and great interdependence between partners, i.e. there is some kind of risk involved. In personal sales, building lasting relationships should be encouraged, especially in insurance market, in which trust and commitment between broker and insured are put to the test year after year. The present research intends to investigate the importance of trustworthiness of front-line employees and managerial policies and practices of insurance companies on customer satisfaction and loyalty. To the model testing data were collected with Brazilian insurance brokers. PLS was used for the data analysis. The results indicate the influence of trustworthiness of employees on satisfaction and loyalty, the influence of managerial policies and practices on satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. Are consumers likely to forgive a brand during crises, such as Toyota almost a decade ago and recently Wells Fargo? Does nostalgia associated with the brand help alleviate the negativity? What is the role of the consumer’s moral makeup? This research addresses the role of managerial response and time in post-crisis recovery. Looking at brand responses to a crisis, it posits that brand nostalgia enhances consumers’ forgiveness, assuaging the negative effects of the crises. We argue that brand nostalgia primes long term orientation and empathy, therefore encouraging consumers to evaluate the crisis from a more distant perspective. We also argue that consumer’s moral identity facilitates this process. A review of the related literature is presented along with a conceptual model and the results of an empirical study.

ABSTRACT. The expertise companies have at leveraging capabilities toward a competitive advantage does not always extend to their philanthropic endeavors. As such, there is a need for a deeper understanding of the factors and processes through which consumers evaluate corporate giving. This paper examines the role of perceived effort in the formation of consumers’ motive attributions. Guided by attribution theory and the augmentation principle, three studies are put forth to demonstrate how the type, nature and source of giving influences consumers’ perception of effort and ultimately, their evaluation of the firm. The results show that the type of donation, time versus money, differentially influence consumers’ attitude toward the firm via serial mediation. Specifically, corporate donations of time (compared to money) lead to higher levels of perceived effort, which then induce more altruistic motive attributions. We also find that the effect of donation type on perceived effort is moderated by consumers’ perception of the relative cost of the donation to the firm. Donations of equivalent value from a firm with fewer resources are perceived to be more effortful, however this influence is less pronounced when companies donate time instead of money.

ABSTRACT. This study explores customer engagement (CE) from the perspective of a Facebook Fan community, where members engage with a brand. This engagement is initiated by the initial ‘liking’ of a Facebook page. Instead of merely relying on engagement from a ‘like’ perspective, this study also includes a multi-item measure to operationalise CE and to understand the construct better. Our study found a similar Fan classification as the study by Wallace, Buil, De Chernatony, and Hogan (2014) namely, Fan-atics, Self-expressives, Utilitarians and Authentics. A two-factor solution for CE labelled captivation, gratification was found, and we further explored if these clusters differ concerning CE and if so, how they differed. The results shed light for marketers within a community setting by proposing preliminary recommendations for effectively engaging with individuals through a Facebook Fan page as well as how these groups differ in terms of CE.

ABSTRACT. Brand pages on social networking sites (SNS) enable companies to communicate and interact with their target groups and to build substantial bonds with actual and potential customers. Therefore, brand managers are interested in the motivational antecedents and brand-related consequences of consumers’ online brand-related activities (COBRAs) on SNS brand pages. Based on the level of brand-related activeness, COBRAs can be categorized into consuming behavior (e.g., reading posts and comments, watching videos), contributing behavior (e.g., liking, commenting, and sharing), and creating behavior (e.g., actively producing and publishing content). Unfortunately, previous research mainly focuses on contributing behavior. Therefore, this study investigates motivational antecedents (i.e. social interaction, remuneration, entertainment, and information) and a brand-related consequence (i.e. word-of-mouth) of COBRAs. Using a sample of 359 German Facebook users, the results of structural equation modeling reveal that consuming behavior positively affects word-of-mouth, while contributing and creating behavior have no significant effect. Regarding the motivational antecedents, social interaction positively affects all COBRAs. Remuneration motivations are positively related to contributing and creating behavior. Entertainment motivations only have a positive effect on consuming behavior. Finally, information motivations do not significantly affect any COBRA type. This article concludes with theoretical and practical implications, limitations and suggestions for further research.

ABSTRACT. Social networking site (SNS) group provides a new cyber-space for users to share knowledge. As competition intensifies and recruiting new members becomes more difficult, SNS groups need to devote their strategic efforts to encouraging members’ contributions. However, prior research have seldom touched the issue from online-switching-barrier perspective. We develop and test a structural equation model incorporating pull-in (group-member and member-member relationship quality), push-back (alternative unattractiveness), and mooring (switching cost) effects, which subsequently affect members’ knowledge contribution behaviors (knowledge sharing and knowledge co-creating) through the mediating role of self-development and pro-social motivation for engagement. Results show that pull-in and push-back factors can facilitate members’ contributing motivations, which in turn lead to positive contribution behaviors. The differences between a high versus low switching costs moderate the effects of pull-in/push-back effects on self-development and pro-social motivation. These results provide important implications for researchers and practitioners to leverage the lock-in effect in SNS groups.