ABSTRACT. Some firms show stronger profit persistence than others. We ask why profit persistence differs across firms and claim that competitive reaction volatility (CRV) is one of the missing drivers that make this difference. Our empirical results show if a firm change the types of competitive reaction (e.g., accommodation versus retaliation versus non-reaction) over time, its superior (subnormal) profit tends to converge more slowly (quickly) toward a long-term mean level than firms with consistent competitive reactions. CRV, may cause a delay in competitive response since rivals cannot promptly react to competitive attacks with the routine and familiar problem-solving mechanism. Our results suggest that firms should swing between the different CR types to prolong the superior profit and/or to make a speedy recovery from the subnormal profit.

ABSTRACT. Given the increasing attention to building customer-brand relationships within online brand communities (OBC) in social media, this study examines the link between customer engagement (CE) and customer sharing behavious across U.S. and China. While the relationship seems straightforward, we argue its impact is more nuanced across country markets. Our results indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between CE and sharing behaviours, indicating there is a limit to the beneficial effect of CE. However, we consider two moderators that may influence the nonlinear relationship between CE and sharing behaviors which show that these moderating effects vary across countries. Within the US context, the results show that perceived OBC innovativeness mitigates the U-shape effecct and becomes a linear relationship. Further, considering perceived OBC interactivity, there still exists an inverted U-shaped effect although the nonlinear effect becomes lessened. Within the China context, the moderators also impact the inverted U-shape effect, but when considering the increasing effect of perceived OBC innovativeness or perceived OBC interactivity, the inverted U-shape between CE and sharing behaviours becomes more pornounced. These results suggest that for social media brand managers in the U.S. can increase perceived OBC interactivity and perceived OBC innovativeness in order to reduce the negative impact of CE on sharing behaviours. Whereas in China, social media brand managers should be mindful of heightened perceived OBC interactivity and perceived OBC innovativeness levels strengthen the negative impact of CE on sharing behaviours. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This study explores what motivates consumers to participate in positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on the Airbnb community. Based on survey data collected from 393 American Airbnb users, this study confirms that the motivations for positive and negative eWOM are different in the hospitality context. While moral obligation and enjoyment of helping other users or service providers are found to positively influence both positive and negative eWOM intention, reputation is only found to influence positive eWOM but not negative eWOM. Venting negative feelings is the most significant motivator of negative eWOM, while reputation is the most significant determinant of positive eWOM. In addition, this study also finds that sense of belonging negatively influences positive eWOM but not negative eWOM, while reciprocity negatively affects positive eWOM but positively affects negative eWOM.

ABSTRACT. Within social media projections of identities can be deceiving and differ markedly from reality. Without realizing the impact of social media on their future career, students regularly project their current student identities on various social platforms. Despite the rapid increase, potential impact of social media and high tendency of younger people to use social media, this area lacks in empirical driven theory (Benson et al. 2014). This study therefore aims to address the research gap stated in the studies conducted by Casatander and Camacho (2012) and Jackson and Wilton (2016) by exploring the impact of social media on students’ digital identities in a higher education context. The author conducted 33 ‘talk and draw’ interviews which lasted 45 minutes on average with the final year students. This visual research technique provided the respondents with an alternative way to express and communicate their views around their digital identities which might be difficult to articulate in words (Theron et al. 2011). The author found major discrepancies between students’ digital identities and their career aspirations and social media was identified as an overwhelming tool which can give rise to various uncertainties in relation to students’ future careers.

ABSTRACT. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is an important statistical technique in the toolbox of methods that researchers in marketing and other social sciences disciplines frequently use in their empirical analyses. Even though widely appreciated, PLS-SEM has been in the center of a lively scholarly debate for several years, which accompanied and fostered the method’s continuous development and extension. As a result, “updated guidelines“ have emerged that have been positioned as the latest thinking in PLS-SEM. While the concept of “updated guidelines” sounds intuitively appealing, a careful consideration of recent research shows, that several of these updated guidelines are subject to severe controversies and that research is far from having achieved unambiguous agreement on how to deal with emerging topics. One of these emerging topics is the need to test a model’s goodness-of-fit, which has long been viewed as PLS-SEM’s Achilles heel. In this contribution, we offer a counterpoint to emerging calls to routinely use goodness-of-fit metrics such as the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), the root mean square residual covariance (RMStheta), or measures that quantify the distance between the empirical and model-implied correlation matrices. Specifically, we highlight several conceptual and statistical issues of current goodness-of-fit metrics that cast serious doubts on their usefulness in a PLS-SEM context. Instead, we argue that researchers using PLS-SEM should routinely engage in predictive model assessment, which is practically absent in current use of the method.

ABSTRACT. ABSTRACT. This research offers a dynamic perspective on the evolution and use of marketing models through a content analysis of articles published in the top five marketing journals from 1990 to 2017: Journal of Marketing (JM), Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), Journal of Consumer Research (JCR), Marketing Science (MS), and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Research (JAMS). Three independent researchers classified articles by their content (conceptual, quantitative, qualitative, mixed), type of data source (experiment, survey, and secondary), and type of model (e.g., choice, hazard, panel data, non-linear, game-theoretic, etc.). The results show that the proportion of modeling articles varies notably across the five marketing journals. For example, Journal of Consumer Research has the lowest percentage (less than 10%) and Marketing Science has the highest proportion (more than 90%). The remaining three journals are in the middle with the proportion varying from roughly 50% to 70%. In addition to the general trends, this study also looks at more subtle changes in the adoption of modeling methods. Our findings reveal that the top five frequently used modeling methods in marketing (by number of studies) include linear regression, structural equation modeling, choice models, game theory, and panel data models. We also find some journal-specific preferences for particular models. Our research sheds light onto the interplay of research methods and the trends in model types in the top five marketing journals as well as provides direction for future research.

ABSTRACT. I-poems are short, concise poems constructed from multiple readings of an interview transcript in order to identify the participants’ sense of self within the story being told. Although extensively used by psychologists and sociologists, only a very small number of marketers have adopted this feminist method. This paper seeks to examine the use of I-poems in a marketing context by exploring its value in analysing the results of one study conducted by the authors on girls’ attitudes towards money. At conference we will share our findings and reflect on the contribution and insights that the use of I-poems can make in marketing by comparing and contrasting the findings from a thematic analysis of our data with those from using I-poems. Our work contributes to theory and practice by advancing the use and understanding of a novel research method. Our paper is positioned as a call for action to other marketers to consider using I-poems as a means of providing not only greater insight into the complexities of the social world but also as a means to come to know the multiple voices that participants express when explaining that social world.

ABSTRACT. Consumers are using social media to interact online. This is developing a social climate and has developed e-commerce to social commerce. To have a better understanding of consumers using social media in e-commerce platforms, we develop a model for predicting purchase decisions of hyper-informed consumers in the social commerce era. The study focuses on those individuals using social media in their purchase decision-making process. Using PLS-SEM to analyse survey data from 310 users, the findings demonstrate that social commerce information sharing affects familiarity, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness in social commerce. Based on the findings, the research explains how social commerce information sharing affect east of use, perceive usefulness, familiarity of consumers using social media. We also introduce learning and training to our model to see how this can support intention to buy. Theoretical and practical implications of this research discuss the contribution of this study in the end of this paper.

ABSTRACT. This research on start-up enterprises (SUE) is aimed at exploring the effective organizational design and marketing strategies to improve their business performance. The motivation in designing this study is based on review of contemporary on SUEs in emerging markets. This study expects to deliver managerial implications that are economically viable and technologically feasible for SUEs to improve their business performance. This research would benefit the entrepreneurs of SUEs to identify and mitigate possible problems in the study region. This study is relevant and timely to support SUEs as ancillaries for large industries and to serve consumers as well.

ABSTRACT. Effects of Environmental and Social Sustainability Perceptions on Willingness to Co-Create from Consumer Perspective: An Abstract

Gözde Erdogan, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, gozde.erdogan@e-campus.uab.cat

ABSTRACT

In today’s business environment, companies face with more challenges and competitions since the consumers have a voice in this business environment. Hence, companies have to find out new ways to reach consumers, whereas, consumers, in the current environment, are collaborator, communicator or competitor according to their interests (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2009). Therefore, customer value co-creation concept occurs, because it is a path to collaborate with consumers as well as to meet companies’ economic benefits (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). In order to collaborate with customers, they listen to their brand communities and ask questions to customers in order to test their offerings (Füller et al., 2008; Gouillart, 2014; Kozinets, 2010; Kozinets et al., 2008). However, the customer’s willingness to co-create may have different reasons, such as social, hedonic and ethical reasons (Carù and Cova, 2015; Schau et al., 2009). In this connection, the co-creation process here is understood as a means to emphasize the social and ethical aspects with consumers embracing the need to fulfil a social and ethical function in society. It means that consumers are increasingly seeking solutions to their own concerns and they are interested in creating a better world, guided by their moral values when making buying decision processes (e.g., Hollenbeck and Zinkhan, 2010). However, there is a lack of study on ethical motives such as environmental and social sustainability. Hence, this paper aims to find out whether consumer’s willingness to co-create may be affected by companies’ social and environmental practices. In this study, the social and exchange theory was applied (Thibaut and Kelley, 1959). In order to measure cause-end-effect relationship between sustainability practices and willingness to co-create (Thomas, 2011), a survey was conducted (n=454) and respondents assessed environmental, social sustainability perceptions and their willingness to co-create. Findings show that, both environmental and social sustainability practices of companies have positive effects on consumers’ willingness to co-create.

Key words: Willingness to co-create; social sustainability; environmental sustainability; consumer behavior

References Available Upon Request

ABSTRACT. This special session is a panel workshop for junior faculty members and doctoral students only. The purpose of this session is to twofold. First is to fill the void left in our socialization and training processes for junior faculty members after doctoral training and consortium. We structure this session around the three pillars of research, teaching and service, but also include discussions of tenure clocks and logistics issues. Second is to create a safe and transparent environment for junior faculty (specifically without senior faculty members serving as the “experts” in the room, as is customary in parallel events like consortium) to ask the questions they have been too intimidated or embarrassed to ask in public, and to bring awareness to elements of the new faculty member's job and life that are never discussed in doctoral training programs or consortium events.

ABSTRACT. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of interruptions in a decision making process on consumers’ subjective feelings and behaviors after the decision is made. We assume that unconscious thinking occurs during an interruption and helps consumers to better organize and integrate the given information. This should lead to a more correct weighting of information which in turn enhances decision satisfaction, willingness to pay for the chosen product and purchase intention for an add-on related to the product. We further hypothesize that an instruction to build an overall impression instead of focusing on details while comparing the alternatives would enhance this effect. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a 2 (instruction: “build an overall impression” vs. “focus on details”) x 3 (interruption: interruption, thinking, immediate decision) experiment using a between-subject design. Participants were presented with two package tours and had to choose one of them. They were either instructed to build overall impressions or to focus on details when comparing the alternatives. After they had seen all the given information about the alternatives, they were either instructed to solve anagrams, to think consciously about their decision, or to decide immediately. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the six conditions. After participants made their choice, they completed a questionnaire that consisted of standard scales for measuring the dependent variables, control variables and demographic data. Analysis of the data is currently on the way.

ABSTRACT. Counterfeit luxury goods consumption has been enjoying great popularity in global market in recent years (Dividson et al., 2017). The motive behind purchasing counterfeit luxury products has been explored by many scholars (Dividson et al., 2017; Wiedmann et al., 2011; Wilcox et al. , 2009). This article is the first to treat envy (benign envy vs. malicious envy), which is a psychological concept, as a social driver to affect counterfeit luxury product consumption behavior. Furthermore, we find that the type of envy can moderate the relationship between counterfeit luxury product consumption and personal well-being.

ABSTRACT. In fear of the online competition and increasingly demanding customers, retailers strive for their competitive edge through a great retail experience. Opposed to the consequent anonymity and interchangeability in retail stands the consumer need for individualization as an expression of personal appreciation and a unique self. While consumers are already familiar with a personalized shopping experience in online environments, personalization in brick-and-mortar retail is still nascent. However, technological innovations facilitate unprecedented opportunities for offline retailers by bringing disruptive technology-mediated personalization to their spheres. We investigate this phenomenon by taking a mixed-methods approach. Preliminary findings reveal that a technology-mediated personalization of the in-store experience evokes privacy concerns and subsequent negative consumer reactions. Hence, we address consumers’ concerns for privacy by identifying three restorative factors that mitigate those concerns. The (i) transparency about personalization practices, (ii) the option for control over privacy, and (iii) clearly stating the value of a personalized experience are expected to reduce privacy concerns. We plan on empirically testing the proposed relationships in a lab as well as a field experiment. Further, we intend to contribute to personalization and privacy literature by extending the field from online retail research to offline retail research. In particular, we aim at contributing to those literature streams by presenting and empirically testing factors that mitigate consumers’ concerns for privacy when shopping at a store.

ABSTRACT. The overarching objective of this special session is to examine how socially responsible orientation can benefit all consumers, employees, and companies. In this special session, the speakers examine social responsibility through the consumer, employee, and management lens. In so doing, we hope to extend our understanding of social responsibility with respect to its theoretical conceptualization and underpinnings as well as social and managerial implications. Moreover, we hope to address some of the unanswered questions in this field of research. In past research, consumer social responsibility and corporate social responsibility are suggested to have impacts on consumer’s and employee’s psychological well-being through enhancing some positive aspects of the self (i.e., improved self-concept and organizational identification). What remains unknown is rather acting in socially responsible ways may interact with negative affects in the consumption and work contexts (i.e., guilt and cynicism). Furthermore, extant research have conceptualized corporate socially responsibility as company’s orientation or action towards protecting and improving the welfare of society. But what would be the qualities or characteristics of a company that is viewed as socially responsible? The three papers in this special session attempt to provide some insights into these questions, respectively.

ABSTRACT. Many of our daily habits cause serious harm to the environment (e.g. overuse of disposable products). Even though consumers understand that such a lifestyle is wrong, very few will take the actions to correct it. We speculate that consumer decisions to correct their existing life habits depend on the emotions they experience in relation to such an irresponsible lifestyle. Guilt and shame are two emotions that are commonly experienced when people engage in behaviors that are in violation of societal standards. More recent research suggests that guilt and shame, although coexist in most situations, are distinct emotions. In particular, guilt involves a negative evaluation of the behavior committed while shame involves a negative evaluation of the self. This paper seeks to investigate the downstream consequences of this self-behavior distinction. We speculate that although both guilt and shame are known as moral emotions, they have divergent implications for future behaviors. Results of our experiment show that the feeling of guilt would lead consumers to be more likely to correct their existing lifestyle but shame did not. Further analyses shows that shame has altered consumers’ self-perceptions, leading them to perceive that improving the problem would be difficult (as it involves changing a defective self). As a result, the consumers became less likely to correct their existing lifestyle.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims to develop an alternative model based on traditional Chinese Confucius ideologies and normative ethics that is different from existing strategic orientations. The scale and model is based on in-depth interviews with experienced Chinese business managers along with a comprehensive review of the existing literature. Junzi orientation is defined as a multidimensional behavioral construct making up of five dimensions: 1) Ren – benevolence or humaneness; 2) Yi – appropriateness or righteousness; 3) Li – propriety or harmonious differentiation; 4) Zhi – wisdom or knowledge management; and 5) Xin – integrity or trustworthiness.

A 5-dimensional 30-item scale was developed based on the expert panel and a pilot study with MBA and MSc students in Hong Kong. The scale and other outcome measurements were mailed to 2,760 firms in different industries in Hong Kong. The sample frame was obtained from the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the oldest and largest nonprofit association representing all firms in Hong Kong. 423 questionnaires were collected (after two waves of mail and one wave of telephone reminder), representing a response rate of 15.3 percent. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and the scale was found to be reliable and valid. The data also support that Junzi orientation has a positive influence on company performance.

ABSTRACT. Recent marketing management research, such as internal marketing (e.g., Berry et al., 1976), the service-dominant logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2008), and the service-profit chain (e.g., Homburg et al., 2009), have acknowledged the value employees have to a company either as an operant resource (Constanin and Lusch, 1994) or even as an internal customer (Wieseke et al., 2009). This suggests that consumers are not the only target for company’s marketing efforts and that more attention should be paid to understanding employees in order to achieve desirable outcomes. The current study examines how CSR climate in the workplace may help alleviate employee cynicism and enhance work meaning for employees, and eventually, turn them into brand ambassadors manifested in increased brand citizenship behaviors.

ABSTRACT. Overview of best practices in Study Abroad programs.

ABSTRACT. Dealing with consumers different requests, such as for substitution of an ingredient in a dish or an element in a product, is a constant reality in the market. However, these requests might not only increase companies’ costs but also compromise the quality of the product offered. With that in mind, several managers have adopted a No-Substitution Policy, limiting consumers’ capacity to impose modification requests. Through three studies this research assesses the impact of this strategy (i.e., non-compliance to consumers requests) on consumers product evaluation and willingness to pay. We show that non-compliance can increase product evaluation and willingness to pay by highlighting the effort the producer dedicated to the product preparation. We also show that this effect is conditioned to consumers’ initial assumption of producer's expertise. When consumers do not recognize producer's expertise the No-Substitution Policy backfires, decreasing product evaluation and willingness to pay.

ABSTRACT. Alderson (1957) believed that marketing science could benefit from borrowing theories from other disciplines. This paper provides a critical review of marketing articles that draw on institutional theory as a theoretical lens and are published in top marketing journals. It assesses the state of the institutional theory in marketing to identify gaps and directions for future research. The findings indicate that many marketing articles apply institutional theory to understand behavior with a social dimension, which may be because legitimacy constitutes one of the main motivations to participate in such activities. The second biggest research stream is supply chain management, which may be due to supply chain being closer than other marketing areas to management sciences and institutional theory being a management theory. Consumer behavior researchers seem to be using institutional theory more, but the latter still remains an underexplored area. Institutional theory has been used several times to complement existing theories in marketing; however, the list of theories is not exhausted yet. Finally, little research has investigated deinstitutionalization and institutional change both in terms of companies and consumers, which have become important processes in the era of disruptive innovations and more turbulent markets.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates the mediating effects of positive emotions on the relationship between environmental friendliness and service loyalty. The positive emotions investigated include level of inspiration provided by the service, feelings of belonging instilled by the service, and the moral identity of a consumer. Repurchase intentions and word of mouth are investigated as the two primary behavioral manifestations of loyalty. The relationships are evaluated for three service industries.

The data for empirically addressing the research hypotheses were collected from a convenience sample of 183 respondents. Each participant was asked to report on the consumption behaviors related to an educational service, a coffee shop chain, and a large retail chain. Existing scales were used. The hypotheses were tested using mediated regression models. The results confirm inspiration and sense of belonging as mediator variables.

The findings of this study allow for two general conclusions. First, the results provide evidence for the existence of positive emotions as mediating variables affecting the relationship between environmental friendliness of a service and two service loyalty behaviors. Second, the findings suggest that the mediators are service specific.

The findings from this study imply that for green efforts to result in customer loyalty, they first must instill positive emotions. If green inspired loyalty is desired, service organizations may want to focus their green initiative on items most likely to evoke positive emotions.

ABSTRACT. The purchasing decision of Extended Service Plans (ESPs) is complex, considering the fact that multiple parties from the seller’s side are involved: the salesperson, Finance and Insurance (F&I) personnel, dealership, the manufacturer (auto brand), and sometimes a third-party underwriter. The purpose of this research is to better understand the dynamics of the decision (not) to buy ESPs, given the buyer characteristics and their interactions with the selling parties. The research was conducted by surveying 341 new car owners. Among several findings, our results indicated that the decision to buy an ESP shares no relationship to the degree to which the respondent felt positively toward the F&I person. In line with previous research, attitude and loyalty had significant effects: specifically, consumer’s dealership loyalty (but not automaker loyalty) and attitude toward ESPs.

ABSTRACT. Expanding on the AMS special sessions “Unveiling the Magic of Storytelling in Marketing” (AMS 2016), and “The Values of Storytelling: From Tactics to Transformative Action” (AMS‚ 2017), we set out to investigate and to discuss potential future avenues for this research stream.

With three papers that address different facets of storytelling effects and effectiveness in marketing, we aim to set the stage for a discussion that engages the audience of the session. Based on this introduction, the sessions’s objective is manyfold and intended do engage the audience: we want to identify ongoing or past research activities that warrant future action, point out avenues for future projects, sound out possibilities for research co-operations, collect good examples from current projects, and hopefully contribute to shaping the future of storytelling research in marketing.

The three papers that start the session show potential mechanisms, measurements, and uses of storytelling in marketing. Different contexts are covered that range from consumers as recipients (and co-creators, Huber and Germelmann 2016) to B2B Applications and Sales. The look ad mechanisms of storytelling is mirrored by a proposed scale to measure storytelling activities by salespersons. This duality highlights the contention that storytelling is a co-creative activity (Huber and Germelmann 2016), and thus links the session to its predecessors.

ABSTRACT. Can the potential for storytelling be used to persuade Buying Center (BC) members to accept project offerings related to the implementation of high-tech systems or sophisticated business consulting projects? In such system and project business, it should be noted in particular that a high degree of “project alignment” must be built up among the convinced and positive-minded BC members. Ultimately, this project alignment needs to be so strong that there is a willingness to be strong in one's own company against the opposition of opponents to a provider and his offer.
Based on a literature review and extensive expert interviews, a frame of reference has been developed that accentuates the relevant conditions to which a storytelling approach must be directed. This framework will be presented and discussed in the special session.

ABSTRACT. Prior research has attempted to understand the way consumers are influenced by stories. However, our knowledge of individual differences in how consumer stories are interpreted and perceived is very limited. This research takes an information processing perspective; it first explores the narrative processing behaviour of different consumers, and then examines how they perceive textual and visual narratives. Results highlight the role of individual characteristics and story format in the way narratives are processed.

ABSTRACT. Notwithstanding scant past research (Gilliam and Flaherty 2015; Gilliam and Zablah 2013), it is likely that the notion of storytelling is a much more complex and multifaceted phenomenon than we currently understand. Furthermore, much remains to be known about how to empirically capture and operationalize storytelling. As such, further research is needed in order to identify and offer a way to empirically measure storytelling. Toward this end, this study takes a much needed step towards unveiling the nature of salesperson storytelling and provides a usable instrument that can be used to measure it.

ABSTRACT. Strategic alliances have been receiving attention in the international market since the beginning of the 20th century (Harrigan, 1986). The frequency of using strategic alliance has increased steadily over the past centuries. As a brand strategy used internationally, host country context (such as national cultural difference) could be a significant aspect that affect the way how MNE managers use it. This article proposes that MNEs co-branding alliances could significantly affect consumers’ purchase intention, and that this relationship is moderated by national culture difference.

ABSTRACT. A literature review was conducted surrounding model ethnicity in the context of international advertising. Related literature and research was additionally reviewed in order to understand the diverse views and evaluations of model ethnicity in the international context. Varying factors can affect a viewers’ interpretation of ethnic model image, such as the level and strength of consumer ethnic identification, perceived or real threats to identity motives, or an individual’s culturally influenced self-concept. The literature was divided into four predominant research topics and are as follows: ethnic minorities in a majority region; a Western vs. Eastern context; beauty ideals and roles; and model ethnicity effects on product evaluations. Each of the four main topics are divided into subtopics and a decision tree is presented in order to organize and categorize the extant research. Determining the effectiveness of model ethnicity in advertising practice is a complex problem as many factor contribute to the viewer’s perception and subsequent evaluation of the advertisement. Numerous research propositions are presented, implications for marketing managers are discussed, and suggestions for future research are presented.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this research is to conduct an exploratory study of product innovation determinants in French and Ukrainian exporting SMEs. Our main focus is on external determinants and more precisely on the role played by partners, such as importers and clients. The main findings of this study highlight the importance of foreign clients in fostering new product development. Institutional profile approach allowed us to explore the impact of domestic and foreign institutional environments on exporting and innovation activities.

ABSTRACT. In the last 15 years, marketing research has significantly advanced the definition, the measurement and the operationalization of brand heritage. The aim of this special session is to present the most recent advancements on the fabrication of brand heritage and its related tensions. Mario Burghausen focuses on a cultural institution as a corporate heritage brand, whose heritage is co-created by multiple stakeholders. He introduces the role of hybrid stakeholders to designate the membership department and its members as partners and value creators. Brad Hudson and George Wyner explore an in-depth case study of Lionel model trains, and the way the current management combines the brand’s heritage with cutting-edge innovations. Joshua Butcher and Fabien Pecot look at how Champagne brands and Champagne consumers make the brands’ heritage visible on Instagram. The three papers address a different kind of tension related to the fabrication or operationalization of brand heritage: the role of hybrid stakeholders, the articulation of brand heritage and innovation, and the visualization of brand heritage on social media. Altogether, this session will significantly advance research on the internal management of brand heritage, at both the corporate and product level.

ABSTRACT. Please see the attached PDF file for the special session proposal.

ABSTRACT. The rapid technological advancements have revolutionized service encounters (Huang and Rust, 2017) and provided an opportunity for companies to improve customer experiences through automatic service interactions (van Doorn et al., 2017). An increasing number of companies started to incorporate robotic assistants into their service designs, such as LoweBot adopted by Lowe’s as a shopping assistant (King, 2014) and Pepper adopted by Pizza Hut as a waiter (Santos, 2018). Unfortunately, some of these companies have observed unethical and abusive customer behavior directed towards robotic assistants. For example, the co-founder of Starship Technologies, Ahti Heinla, indicated that it is not uncommon to find its food-delivery robots being kicked by people (Hamilton, 2018). This type of unethical and abusive customer behavior may negatively influence not only organizations through the financial loss associated with the damage of robotic assistants, but also motivate other customers to engage in a similar abusive behaviour towards robotic assistants. Why and when would customers engage in unethical and abusive customer behavior directed towards robotic assistants? Do customers view robotic assistants as machines or entities with human characteristics? How companies prevent customers to engage in abusive behavior towards robotic assistants? Are customers less likely to engage in abusive behaviour towards humanoid robotic assistants than non-humanoid robotic assistants?

Drawing on moral disengagement theory (Bandura, 1986), we identify the dehumanization mechanism of moral disengagement to explain why customers engage in unethical and abusive behavior towards robotic assistants. Specifically, as customers dehumanize a robotic assistant, they are likely to view the assistant as a machine without human characteristics such that it is not deserved to be treated with respect. This dehumanization mentality may give customers the psychological freedom to treat the robotic assistant inappropriately and engage in abusive behaviour, including kicking the robotic assistant. In addition, we suggest that both personal factors (e.g., psychological obstructionism and animosity toward robotic assistants) and situational factors (e.g., frustration with technology and dissatisfaction with robotic assistants’ service performance) could enhance the dehumanization of robotic assistants. To avoid this dehumanization, we argue that service providers could control social contexts by maintaining high ethical climate and making human associates also available in a store. Finally, we discuss managerial and theoretical implications as well as future research directions.

ABSTRACT. The service sector has seen significant developments in recent decades, including the increasing use of automated or computerized interactivity through robotics in service delivery, customer relationship management, and back-end processing activities (Kumar et al. 2016; Huang and Rust 2018; Hollebeek et al. 2016). While automization has traditionally implied a degree of standardization of service process or offerings (Kurzweil 2005), automated service interactions today offer a growing opportunity for service personalization, while simultaneously capitalizing on the service automation’s more traditional benefits (e.g. reduced service variability; Van Doorn et al. 2017; Wirtz et al. 2018; Glas et al. 2017).

For example, the Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki, Japan is the world’s first hotel to be entirely staffed by humanoid robots, which take the physical likeness of humans and in some cases, animals in service delivery (Scassellati 2002). In addition, Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas’ Bionic Bar with robot bartenders, KLM’s Spencer that offers customer service at Schiphol Airport (Cabibihan et al. 2014; Murison 2016), McDonald’s automated kiosks, and IBM’s Watson or Apple’s Viv (acquired by Samsung; Kharpal 2016) offer further examples. Not surprisingly, observers acclaim the vast future potential for engaging customers through automated service interactions (e.g. Foster et al. 2017). To illustrate, IBM (2017) predicts that by 2020, 85% of customer-firm interactions will be conducted via computerized technologies, without human involvement. Customer engagement enabled through automated customer-to-machine interactions is thus forecast to grow and may even increasingly replace specific interactive forms, as also detailed in a current Journal of Service Research Special Section on this topic (Hollebeek, Andreassen and Sprott 2018).

However, given the recent burgeoning interest in robotic customer interactions, little remains known regarding their underlying theoretical foundations, as explored in this paper. Specifically, in this conceptual paper we outline important characteristics and hallmarks of robotic customer interactions in (service) marketing and discuss their key theoretical and practical implications.

ABSTRACT. The service economy is facing a turning point in its history similar to the industrial revolution in manufacturing that started in the 18th century. Rapidly improving technologies (including sensors, cameras, speech recognition, big data, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), biometrics, mobile and cloud technologies, geo-tagging, drones, autonomous vehicles and others) are about to transform virtually all service sectors. Especially, the advent of service robotics in combination with these technologies will bring opportunities for a wide range of service innovations that will dramatically impact the customer experience, service quality, and productivity all at the same time (e.g., hotel, restaurant and hair stylist services are likely to be robot-delivered in the future), lower cost will make high-end services available to the broad consumer base (e.g., personal concierge services, image consulting, and high-end personal tuition), while potentially offering new services we have not thought of yet (Wirtz and Lovelock 2016).

In the first part of the presentation, we explore how consumers perceive and respond to service robots. Specifically, we propose an integrated framework, the service robot acceptance model (sRAM) and present a future research agenda (Wirtz et al. 2018). In the second part, we highlight that as service robotics are likely to impact all strata of society, important ethical and societal implications have to be considered. The purpose of ethics is the improvement of the general wellbeing of all participants in society. It especially focuses on protecting and improving personal integrity and human dignity, makes sure that the rights of the weakest in society are protected and aims at limiting possible inequalities caused by the advancement of service robotics. Therefore, our presentation will also discuss crucial challenges at the micro (customers), meso (markets & organisations) and macro (society) level of analysis. Seeing the pervasiveness of service robots for the future, we also draw a number of potential approaches for these challenges from the literature and transfer them to the service robotics context to provide several thought-provoking recommendations for the way forward.

ABSTRACT. Imagine an intelligent robot with social skills that made it fun to work with. A robot that could help you achieve tasks more efficiently. A social robot is a robot with social skills. They can understand human emotion and demonstrate emotional and social intelligence. Social robots are a disruptive technology, poised to have a profound impact on transform the retail customer experience. They are designed to work closely with people safely able to add value by helping, caring, teaching and entertaining.  In this talk I will describe how social robots have been used in retail in Australia, in shopping centres, airports, hospitals and workplaces.

ABSTRACT. Multi-tier private brands (PBs) have emerged as one of the hottest trends in retailing and thus understanding consumers’ responses to them is crucial. In multi-tier private brands, aesthetic properties are differentially implemented, a difference which can affect consumers’ evaluations and purchase decision making. However, this effect has been neglected in the prior work. The current research investigates the role packaging design in consumers’ cognitive and behavioral responses and related boundary conditions. Through web-based experiments with US consumers, Study 1 provides empirical evidence that aesthetics of PB packaging design differentially impact consumers’ evaluations of quality and brand equity. Study 2 further demonstrates a boundary condition regarding consumer characteristics pertinent to the visual cues we used (i.e., sensitivity to visual cues). We find significant moderating roles of sensitivity to visual cues and main effects of ethical consumerism on the proposed relationships. Additionally, quality perception appears to play a more important role than brand equity in consumers’ choice of private brands over national brands. The findings of this research offer important implications to both researchers and practitioners.

ABSTRACT. In this research, we examine, in a non-food context, the role of product color and texture on online consumers’ attitude toward the product and purchase intention through an experimental design. To date, little research has explored this combination in online environments. Most research considers either the online visualized product color or texture (Deng, Hui, & Hutchinson, 2010; Nitse, Parker, Krumwiede, & Ottaway, 2004; Wacker & Keckeisen, 2005). Results indicate respective significant effects of color and texture on consumers’ attitude toward the product and purchase intention.

ABSTRACT. Televised drug injury ads, sponsored by law firms or legal referral networks, identify injured consumers for lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. Because the drugs discussed in the ads remain available on the market drug, injury ads have the potential to influence the prospective medical decisions of viewers. This research considers how differences in the content of drug injury ads affect consumer perceptions and intentions towards the featured medications. We report the results of two experiments using modified versions of actual drug injury ads. Our results indicate that both differences in how the sponsor of the ad is identified, and in the vividness with which side effects are presented, affect consumer evaluations and intentions toward the drugs featured in the ads. The results have meaningful implications for the regulation of attorney advertising.

ABSTRACT. One’s identity, who they are and how they view themselves in relation to others, plays a key role in whether or not they donate to charitable appeals. Practically, however, this decision is just the first of many a consumer must make when faced with a donation appeal. After consumers make the decision to donate, they often have to decide how their money should be spent and consequently how to make the tradeoffs among competing needs. When donating to nonprofit health organizations, a common question consumers face when they make a donation is whether care or cure is a better use of their money. We examine this issue in the current research, which is the first to study the care versus cure tradeoff in donations. In four studies, we show that such tradeoffs are influenced by the social distance between the donor and the patient of a disease, such that closer social distance increases the propensity to donate to cure. We further suggest that this effect is driven by the need for hope.

ABSTRACT. This study is designed to validate the Roux et al. (2017)'s luxury values scale with drivers for those values in different cultural settings: testing for cross-cultural metric and scalar invariances with introduction of consumer’s need for authenticity as driver for brand heritage. The developed scale has not been studied outside France and needed measurement invariance in different cultural setting western (France) Vs eastern (UAE). Sample of 512 consumers of luxury brands completed face to face surveys to asses luxury brand perceptions, specifically values and drivers attached to it. Data went through phases of invariance testing from configural, full metric, full scalar to partial scalar invariance and was found to be partially scalar invariant across groups. Together luxury values and their drivers can serve as important factor in determining luxury perceptions among consumers from various cultural backgrounds on various facets of marketing and consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. An increasing number of retailers offer automated customer-to-machine interactions in an effort to increase service effectiveness and efficacy. However, little academic research has yet to uncover ways to encourage customers to choose automated customer-to-machine over traditional customer-to-employee service interactions, not to mention an understanding of its potential impact on favorable customer related outcomes. Drawing from prior research and using self-determination theory, this paper explores how promoting customer’s voluntary use of automated service interactions as opposed to involuntary use enhances customer service experiences.

ABSTRACT. Marketing analytics has become an important tool for business practice, enabling companies to improve their marketing decisions and, thereby, business performance. While marketers are actively using structured data (SD) to support their decisions, usage of unstructured data (UD) remains overlooked by most organizations. This study analyzes key challenges associated with usage of UD, which may prevent companies from using such data in marketing decision making. The study relies on interviews with representatives of the FMCG industry operating in the Nordic region. The paper develops a categorization of challenges related to the usage of UD, which are primary causes of hesitance towards usage of such data in marketing decision making. For managers, the present study points to diverse challenges related to the use of UD, both within and outside the power of their influence. The study analyses common challenges related to data and tools; to managerial skills; and to aspects of organizational culture hindering the adoption of analytics. Furthermore, it highlights the need to simplify sharing of data between different parties that need it and to introduce centralized data management functions supporting this process.

ABSTRACT. By the aid to two experiments, we investigate whether displaying an online display ad at the early of late stages of decision-making alters the effects of price information in the ad on consumers' willingness-to-pay. On the basis of construal level theory, Experiment 1 examines whether the price information in the ads has a more profound effect on consumers' willingness-to-pay for a distant purchase than a near purchase. Experiment 2 examines whether the advertised product exerts any influence on the effect of price information in the ad on consumers' willingness-t-pay. Particularly, we contend that when consumers are considering a product at the late stages of decision-making, there is a direct relationship between the effect of the price of the advertised product on consumers' willingness-to-pay and the extent to which the feature of the advertised product and consumers' construed preferences overlap.

ABSTRACT. This research examines how persuasive design of destination websites affects users’ intention to travel, while building upon Herzberg's Two Factor Theory and Technology Acceptance Model. Experiment sessions were conducted to evaluate eight real-existing tourism destination websites. Using structural equation modeling analysis, this study examined the relationships between hygiene design features, motivation design features, attitudes toward the website, intention to search for information, and intention to travel. The findings confirm that Herzberg's Two Factor Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model are valid in explaining the effect of web design on web users’ behavior. The results also provided evidence and support to extend the model and its fitness in predicting the intention to travel. This study contributes to previous Technology Acceptance Model research by introducing the hygiene and motivation design features and empirically validates the model with regard to destination websites. Finally, this paper provides implications for destination marketers to increase the effectiveness of destination websites as a promotional channel.

ABSTRACT. Destination marketing organizations spend millions of dollars annually enticing consumers to visit the destination represented. Concurrently, increased competition and market globalization drive destination marketers to adopt innovative branding strategies to emphasize unique qualities of a destination. Consequently, destination marketers are challenged with allocating their budget to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency for the destination represented. One such innovative branding strategy is the use of virtual reality as a marketing medium. Scholars and marketing managers have yet to examine the role of this marketing medium, despite destination leaders believing virtual reality is impacting "all aspects of the destination organization". Consequently, the purpose of this research is to examine the simultaneous impact of virtual reality content on (1) destination image (2) destination personality, (3) attitude toward the destination, and (4) visit intention through a structural equation model. The results provide initial evidence supporting the use of virtual reality content in branding in general and destination branding in particular.

ABSTRACT. This study adopts an overarching perspective that considers a variety of theories and behaviors with a comparative approach in the sustainable consumption domain. Mainly, the study examines the explanatory power of the three theories, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Value-Belief-Norm (VBN), and Theory on Affect (TA), which focus on gain motives, moral concerns, and hedonic motives, respectively, and compares with each other for three different stages of consumption, namely, purchase, usage, and post-use behaviors. The analysis of primary data collected through the online survey (781 participants) using Structural Equation Modeling indicate that, while gain-motive based theories (TPB) are better in predicting purchase and transportation behaviors, hedonistic based theories (TA) are superior for household energy use, and normative related theories (VBN) are better in predicting recycling behaviors of consumers. Results obtained from this study are important in developing better intervention strategies in order to alter the relevant environmentally harmful consumer behaviors. Such information will be critical to the development of necessary strategies and expansion of environmentally significant purchase, usage, and post-use behaviors.

ABSTRACT. It is unfortunate to realize that in spite of the growing interest in Ghana’s peaceful political and economic transition (see Whitfield 2005), to our best knowledge, not a single documented study has examined voters’ (i.e., the general public) consumption of general elections despite the call for such research by Lupia and McCubbins (1998), Ninsin (2006), and Mensah (2011). To fill this gap in the literature, the aim of this study is to untangle the factors underpinning Ghanaian voters’ voting habits in general, thereby identifying voters’ consumption of general elections. More specifically, this paper develops and then validates a scale delineating the key factors explaining why people in transitioning economies such as Ghana vote in general elections the way they do. Pursuant to this study’s aim, the main objective of the study is to develop and validate a scale designed to identify key factors reflecting voting habits/patterns in general elections. We use Ghana as an illustration of a transitioning economy.

ABSTRACT. Increasing awareness about the best practice concerning how a firm should handle customer data, security and privacy, and the risks of too much time spent on social media are increasingly showing up in the popular press (e.g., Johnson, 2018; Ward, 2018). Companies are beginning to realize that consumers are more informed about the data economy and the tacit transactions we have all entered into that involve the exchange of our data for free services. There is also an increased realization that companies must do more to protect consumer data and oblige explicit permissions for transmission, use, and sharing of consumer data. There is also notable work within scholarship exploring the landscape of consumer data, privacy, and platform issues (e.g., Martin, 2016; Ferrell, 2017; Baccarella et al. 2018). However, these conversations are just now being explored in various streams of research and application. There is sense in which the marketing academy needs to have more timely and relevant discussions on these issues and how they are and will impact our discipline.

The purpose of this special session is to explore the impact of this quickly changing environment and how marketing scholars can and should address these changes in the context of research streams, classroom and pedagogy, and interaction and impact with business partners.

ABSTRACT. The growing recognition of the phenomenon termed as reverse innovation and its significance among both industry and academia had led authors to examine the antecedents of reverse innovation. Earlier research has mainly focused on the flow of innovation and defining the term with market orientation. Less attention was paid to the pre-conditions required to create reverse innovations. In this paper authors aim to fill this gap by providing an in-depth understanding of what antecedents can promote clean slate innovations making them potential candidates of reverse innovation. The study is based on case study research with embedded units and adopts inductive theory building approach to draw consistent patterns from the case units using replication logic. The study develops propositions about the antecedent to clean slate innovations and broadly classify them into three categories, customer related factors, firm specific factors and technology related factors. The study also identifies moderating factors that can transform these clean slate innovations into reverse innovations. The study discusses the possible consequences of reverse innovation strategy and concludes by discussing the practical and theoretical implications of the conceptual framework proposed in the study.

ABSTRACT. This study attempts to classify British Instagram users according to a series of psychographic characteristics. Psychographic variables include the Instagram usage frequencies and patterns, as well as the levels of narcissism, technostress, compulsive use, and compulsive buying. Cluster analysis finds five clusters that can be labeled as Influencer, Narcissist, Muted, Social, and Pragmatist. The study describes the major characteristics of each cluster.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims to draw up profiles of consumers having hate feelings toward brand, by specifying the consumption situations, the hate motives, as well as the emotional and behavioral reactions that are associated with each profile. With this aim in view, we conduct a series of qualitative and quantitative studies. Through the Online Multi-image Elicitation (OMIE) protocol, we identify five types of brand hate motives, called physical threats, mental threats, conventional motives, emotional motives, and ideological motives; and three categories of brand hate reactions, which are behavioral reactions, passive reactions, and aggressive reactions. In a third quantitative study, we identify three groups of brand haters, i.e. rational haters, threatened haters, and hostile haters. By combining the results of the OMIE with the classification of brand haters, issued from a Correspondence Factor Analysis (CFA), we demonstrate that “threatened haters” link their feelings of rage and anger to perceptions of physical and mental threats, which might result in a boycott of the brand, while “hostile haters” have emotional and ideological motives, engendering aggressive behavioral reactions (i.e. revenge). However, “rational haters” report conventional reasons for brand hate such as price/quality ratio, which make them feel sad and disappointed and might prevent them from repurchasing the brand.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this work is to discuss how to develop, refine, and improve team-based role-playing competitions that could be used as a pedagogical tool in undergraduate selling courses. Specifically, we explore how to improve upon know best-practices in developing this pedagogical tool. In addition, we explore and test how external competition rewards, student role-play and feedback involvement, and utilizing cases written by industry professionals increase competitiveness among undergraduate students, and consequently how those factors influence role-play performance and post-graduate job placement. We explain our ongoing methodology for how these goals are being assessed and end with a discussion of how our findings can be applied and implemented in undergraduate courses related to selling.

ABSTRACT. Direct selling is a vibrant component of the economic fabric of the United States as well as globally. As such, it merits serious research attention from both from a macro perspective (i.e., a channel of distribution) and a micro perspective (i.e., individual entrepreneurship). Moreover, the personal nature of direct selling (e.g., person-to-person interactions) enables a variety of research endeavors utilizing direct selling as a vehicle or venue for data collection and testing hypotheses. Indeed, more than 150 peer-reviewed article have been published on direct selling topics or using direct selling data in research.

ABSTRACT. As noted by Coldplay: “Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be this hard.” Few academics would disagree that these words mirror the vast array of challenges doctoral students and young academics face, especially during the early years of their career. However, international scholars experience even more difficulties beyond academic challenges, such as cultural ambiguities and uncertainties. Even if international students completed previous degrees in the USA, some components of a doctoral program differ from bachelor and/or master degrees, including work relationships between student and advisor, cohort dynamics among students, and work environments. A common behavior expressed by these students is seeking company from other students or young scholars from the same home country to gain cultural comfort. However, staying within this social and cultural zone of comfort could diminish integration efforts and job market performance due to limited awareness of American cultural and academic norms. This special session aims to assist international doctoral students and young academics in their acclimation efforts in the USA by addressing the following three questions to further explore the difficulties and challenges accompanying their journey: 1) What are the difficulties and challenges international doctoral students face in American doctoral programs? 2) How can international doctoral candidates successfully position themselves on the job market? 3) What added responsibilities and demands do international scholars face when teaching in the USA?

ABSTRACT. Foundational work on mental accounting and budgeting predicts that budgeting will influence spending when consumers notice expenses and are able to assign them to the correct budget category. The present research is the first to test this prediction using real world budgeting and spending data from a popular financial aggregation app, yielding measurements with scope, accuracy, and ecological validity that is unprecedented in the consumer budgeting literature. The data reveal that, typically speaking, budget compliance is weak: the median consumer in our sample spends 22.44% to 32.14% more than they budget. However, budgeting does exert significant influence on spending in the target month: post-budget spending for the median consumer is 8.27% to 27.06% lower than pre-budget spending. Moreover, this influence is “sticky”: six months after setting a budget spending is still significantly lower than pre-budget levels. Expense tracking, as measured by login frequency, amplifies the influence of budget setting. We also find that users spend less on high-interest debt products such as payday loans after budget creation, implying potential welfare benefits from tracking expenses using a budgeting app.

ABSTRACT. According to Anderson et al. (2013), transformative services aim to create uplifting changes aimed at improving the well-being of individuals. Financial education has been recognised as a transformative service. It aims to increase individuals’ capability as financial consumers, thereby improving their financial well-being. Many countries have developed financial education programmes for schools, but the impact of such interventions is mixed (Hoffmann and Otteby, 2018). A parliamentary report on financial education in schools in the UK (APPG 2016) concludes that much more support is needed to strengthen the delivery of financial education in schools, in particular through improving teacher confidence and skillset, noting that only 17% of secondary school teachers in the UK have received training in teaching financial education. To address this, we explore whether training teachers to teach financial education has a transformative impact on both the confidence and skillset of teachers and the financial wellbeing of the students they teach. The study focuses on high-school students aged 16-18 years and their teachers.

ABSTRACT. Logos are an integral part of sport teams’ corporate identity and serve as the visual “face” of teams. Because of their importance, virtually all teams and firms have a logo, and logos have received extensive attention from researchers in marketing and related disciplines (e.g., Management, Graphic Design, Psychology, and Art). Logo-related research has been conducted on such topics as logo selection and modification (Henderson and Cote 1993), the influence of logo design on logo visual processing fluency (Janiszewski and Meyvis 2001), and which of the many components utilized in logo design are most likely to increase brand strength (Henderson et al., 2003). A significant shortcoming of these approaches is that they have utilized individual team and firm logos at a single point in time; this research addresses this shortcoming by examining logo life cycles. We begin with descriptive research identifying logo life cycle metrics, and then evaluate the degree to which the visual fluency of logos influences the logo life cycle. The managerial implications and limitations of the research are addressed, and suggestions for future research are presented.

ABSTRACT. The service industries are gradually acknowledging the significance of producing “wow” aspect in customer experience evaluation. There are key questions to be answered in future studies related to belatedly recognized association of customer experience with its antecedents and consequences. Among several gaps to fill, this research aims to examine the drivers (servicescape and food quality) of customer service experience and emotional value and its outcomes (customer citizenship behavior, experience intensification and experience extension) in cross-cultural settings. A highly-structured and self-administered questionnaire is used to collect the data conveniently from 723 Pakistani and 631 Italian consumers who have experienced a one specific food chain. The configural, metric, and factor variance invariance tests are performed for cross-cultural equivalence, followed by structural equation modeling to test hypotheses. The results revealed unexpected and interesting findings among Italian and Pakistani consumers.

ABSTRACT. Marketing academics and practitioners have traditionally associated a product’s hedonic value with experiential consumption. However, there is a growing stream of research in the area of positive psychology that suggests that the scope of experiential consumption goes beyond merely hedonic value. The objective of this study is to expand the conceptualization of brand value to not only include hedonic (enjoyment) benefits but also to incorporate the key dimension of eudaimonic (meaningfulness) brand value. Furthermore, this study also aims to examine the dual role of both hedonic and eudaimonic brand benefits in developing key consumer-brand relationship constructs such as brand love and brand trust through the creation of positive brand experience. Results of a structural equation model provided support to all hypothesized relationships.

ABSTRACT. While marketing researchers agree that brand authenticity contains various meanings, little consensus exists concerning the number of meanings and what those meanings entail, with nearly 50 diverse descriptions of brand authenticity or its types proposed. This paper addresses this lack of clarity in the literature by introducing the Entity-Referent Correspondence (ERC) Framework of Authenticity. The ERC Framework provides an overarching definition of authenticity—the degree to which a proposed authentic entity corresponds with or is true to something else. The ERC Framework also suggests three types of authenticity—true-to-ideal, true-to-fact, and true-to-self—that are consistent with the general definition yet are distinct. A systematic literature search identifies 49 distinct brand authenticity meanings; all but two of these meanings were classified as one of the three types, validating the conceptual robustness of the Framework. This classification also illustrates a brand’s authenticity may exist at different levels of abstraction of each of the three types, which we suggest is a major factor for the lack of clarity in the literature.

ABSTRACT. Is there a bright side to the dark triad? Authors assert that there is, and suggest that the mechanism for capturing the advantages dark triad traits present can be found examining social network evolution. Partnering with two companies to conduct a field study measuring changes in social network structures, the authors hypothesize that, beyond the impact directly on customer interaction outcomes, the interpersonal traits lead to more or less volatility in internal social network size, which lead to changes in their advantageous social network positions. Results of the structural model support this assertion, but suggest that there is a temporal dimension to the relationship between dark triad traits and sales performance. The authors conduct a post-hoc longitudinal study, the results of which illustrate the dynamic nature of the dark triad-sales performance relationship.

ABSTRACT. The present study investigates the novel question of whether or not a spokesperson would be effective in (business to business) B2B advertising. In particular, the study addresses the question: whether having a spokesperson would be a better advertising strategy than a generic ad? If so, would it be better to have a celebrity spokesperson or a company employee? In addition, the present study also explores the conditions that may govern the choice of the spokesperson. To this end, we conduct three controlled experiments using fictitious advertisements (with a combined sample size of around 500) with industry executives in charge of purchases. We use MANOVA and ANOVA for data analysis. Major findings indicate that a spokesperson would be a better choice than a generic ad. However, the choice between a celebrity and an employee as the spokesperson would depend on the buying involvement level, the skepticism and the perceived empowerment of the buyer. The findings emphasize on the role of the spokesperson in B2B advertising and add a novel contribution to theory.

ABSTRACT. With increasing priority being given to customer relationships and effective complaint management, it follows that more attention should be given to understanding how complaint management departments can demonstrate value and return on investment to an organization, that ultimately contributes to profitability. In this paper, we bring together multidisciplinary literature drawing on marketing, law, consumer policy, economics and management to provide an overview and synthesis of existing and emerging research on defining good complaint management and how return on investment can be calculated for organisations. In doing so, drawing upon these diverse literature sources, this paper concludes with an outline of a research agenda to stimulate and direct future research and how effective complaint management can demonstrate its value and performance to the organisation.

ABSTRACT. Increasing evidence indicates that the position of the product image can affect how consumers perceive and process an ad. We examine how the spatial distance between the human model and the product affects consumers’ perceptions of a premium-priced product. Using conceptual metaphor theory, we propose the “distance is worth” metaphor and suggest that this metaphorical link may influence consumers’ perceptions regarding the product price: a greater distance between the model and the product in an ad will make it easy for consumers to attribute a greater sense of power to the product, which leads to a price premium (e.g., willingness to pay more). We further examine whether the product’s brand power (high vs. low) and consumers’ individual differences in power distance belief (high vs. low) serve as boundary conditions for the effects of the spatial distance between model and product. The findings have important implications for brand managers and advertisers.

ABSTRACT. The current literature theorizes that workplace deviance permeates companies, cultures, and organizational norms. The staggering impact of workplace deviance reaches 95 percent of all companies who reported some deviance-related activities within their company (Henle et al., 2005). Furthermore, out of the 33.6 million people working in the United States in sales related roles (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015), 75 percent [of employees surveyed] have admitted to engaging in one or more forms of deviant behavior themselves (Robinson and Bennett, 1995). The costs of Negative Organizational Behavior (NOD) in U.S. workplaces is estimated around $200 billion annually (Robinson, 1995). This cost is not limited to one specific industry (Strout, 2002), and encompasses all deviant behavior as previously mentioned.

Our study aims to reveal the causes for workplace deviance through empirical evidence. We believe that outside factors such as burnout, emotional labor (EL), and family workplace conflict (FWC) contribute to the underlying deviant factor of depression. We utilize the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory (Hobfull, 2001) to predict loss of resources due to salesperson stressors. Put simply, when a salesperson encounters stressors (e.g., burnout, emotional labor, and family-work conflict), that individual may cope by diminishing his/her sales/work performance (i.e., conserving work-based resources). Also, stressors may create negative emotions (e.g., dissatisfaction and depression). As a result of experiencing negative emotions, the individual may ultimately reduce work related outcomes (e.g., sales performance) and employ negative coping techniques such as workplace deviance.

ABSTRACT. This paper studies how narcissistic consumers develop preference for luxury brand originals vs. high-quality counterfeit products of those brands (CFs). It focuses on a consumer disposition, consumer narcissism, that is growing in East and West and that is closely linked to luxury brand consumption. Drawing on recent psychological research on narcissism and pride, the paper proposes a model testing 1) how narcissism affects intentions to purchase originals vs. high-quality CFs and 2) how authentic and hubristic pride mediate those relationships. Using cross-sectional survey data from Chinese luxury consumers, the study finds that narcissism affects intentions to buy luxury brand originals via authentic pride but not intentions to buy high-quality CFs. These managerially relevant findings suggest that by endowing luxury brands with associations of pride, luxury brand producers do not run the risk of increasing purchases of high-quality CF alternatives of their products.

ABSTRACT. Price differentiation across time can be an extremely profitable promotional strategy for firms. However, this raises regret-related concerns for consumers who miss out on good deals causing the phenomena known as the Post Promotion Dip (PPD). Although foregone options that cannot be recouped should not influence consumers’ decisions, oftentimes consumers cannot get past the fact that they failed to act on a better deal previously. Such negative comparison can lead consumers to reject somewhat less attractive deals that would otherwise not have been declined had they not known about the foregone deals. This phenomenon is known as inaction inertia. In this paper, we demonstrate an innovative solution to this widespread problem of the Post Promotion Dip. Instead of offering conventional price-based discounts, equivalent time-based deals could be offered (e.g. lower wait times, faster shipping). Across three controlled experiments, we demonstrate that such non-monetary deals elicit lower "pain-of-payment" thereby causing reduced inaction inertia.

ABSTRACT. This, qualitative research has provided new insight into consumers’ decision-making mechanism in a food-related context. Data was collected through in-depth interviewing and photo elicitation technique, whereas scrutinized with the help of thematic analysis. Our findings suggest that consumers have a narrow-sighted approach towards food, whom we call as Food Myopia. In this condition, consumers, process fewer cues less well and take into consideration the most immediate gains of their food choices while ignoring the consequences resulting from those choices. Hence, product attributes such as price, quantity, and taste become more salient whereas the resulting consumption consequences such as health, well-being, and food waste become least prominent. This paper also discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of Food Myopia along with Future research directions.

ABSTRACT. New products resulting from consumer empowerment strategies (CES) are increasingly endorsed by their winner in advertising, like in Oreo and Lay’s recent campaigns for new, consumer-ideated flavors. But literature remains scarce to explain persuasion effects of ordinary consumer endorsement. This research outlines audiences’ skepticism arousal toward CES and identifies two factors underlying it, i.e. too high levels of attractiveness and of congruence. These suggest that classical celebrity endorsement theories may not prevail. Second, drawing from the attribution theory and from relevant innovation literature, two between-subject experiments show that skepticism may attenuate (1) when the brand additionally cues process transparency and (2) when the winner’ “lead-userness” is highlighted. Third, we show that this skepticism effect lowers purchase intentions. This research sheds initial light on underlying mechanisms of non-celebrity persuasion which differs from celebrity endorsement theories. It also provides practitioners with guidance as to how anticipate and attenuate audiences’ skepticism.

ABSTRACT. The manipulation of the rightmost digits in prices has been an effective tactic utilized by retailers for decades. A long stream of research studies how the manipulation of price endings plays a role in influencing consumer behavior intentions and perceived value of a certain item. While a lot of research focuses on the effectiveness of those tactics or the different form of them, very little research is available on what might moderate those effects, specifically, whether factors like subjective relative income will moderate the effect of this price frame on offer attractiveness or even behavioral intentions. This paper explores that very question. We begin by reviewing literature on the effectiveness of 99 ending pricing strategies and then explore the variances in those tactics’ effectiveness in low vs. high subjective relative income conditions.Next, we conduct an experiment to test our propositions.Finally, we are n the process of collecting data for a second study and exploring more process measures for our model.

ABSTRACT. As volume, velocity and variety of big data increase (Wedel and Kannan, 2016), organisations must explore new ways of extracting valuable insights to improve efficiency and efficacy of decision-making processes (Sivarajah et al., 2017) while reducing noise and abnormalities in the data. Within the area of product development, big data analytics can represent an important source for new product ideas. In highly competitive markets which require a continuous degree of product newness, big data analytics can potentially increase the speed of idea generation or “creative intensity” (Erevelles, Fukawa and Swayne, 2016), by providing real-time assessments of multiple product variations and predictions of their potential market success (Lehrer et al., 2018). Although several studies show that various organisational processes can be optimised and automated to some degree through big data analytics (Bradlow et al., 2017), relatively little is understood about the value that big data analytics brings to the decision-making process at individual, cognitive, level, in particular when choices and judgments of product creativity or innovativeness are involved. Within the conceptual domain of duality models, this study attempts to establish a connection between big data analytics and marketing decision-making processes involved in generating and selecting new product ideas. This study seeks to contribute to the field of marketing decision-making by providing an assessment of how big data analytics affects the cognitive processes involved in generating and selecting new product ideas. It also contributes to the growing multidisciplinary literature on big data analytics by assessing its value from a behavioural decision-making perspective.

ABSTRACT. Prior research has demonstrated that fans respond positively to sponsors of their favorite sports properties and negatively to sponsors of their rival/disliked sports properties, even in presence of objective information illustrating product quality. However, there has been limited research on understanding response to joint sponsorships where a brand sponsors both a favored and a rival team. The current research is exploratory in nature and incorporates prior research on argument strength, ambivalence, and identification in the context of sponsorship. A 3 (Team Sponsorship: home vs. rival vs. joint) × 2 (Argument Strength: weak vs. strong) between-subjects design was conducted with 352 students affiliated with an NCAA-Division-1 Institution known for its longstanding rivalry with another university in the state. Results confirmed prior research and provided some interesting insights. Joint sponsorships result in feelings of conflict or ambivalence and argument strength can be effective in reducing ambivalence for joint sponsorships (vs. favored or rival team sponsorships). Perhaps as a result of the ability of a strong argument to reduce ambivalence, purchase intentions were influenced by identification (and not ambivalence) with a strong argument in the context of a joint sponsorship. While more attention is needed on understanding how fans respond to sponsors of multiple teams that include both favored and rival teams, this study offers a helpful first step in suggesting there may be opportunities for brands to reduce fans’ ambivalence of sponsoring both their favored and rival team by focusing on presenting strong arguments about product quality in messages communicating the sponsorships.

ABSTRACT. One of the key challenges for sales executives is how to effectively combine salesperson intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to improve their performance. Historically, sales managers and researchers emphasized extrinsic over intrinsic motivation assuming that in combination they cannot co-exist. However, research in psychology suggests that certain types of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can be used in combination to enhance work outcomes. This study investigates how the combinations of cognitive and affective orientations of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation affect salesperson performance and work engagement. Data was collected from a cross-sectional sample of industrial salespeople. Using the advanced technique of polynomial regression with response surface analysis. The study findings reveal that salesperson intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations have a positive combined effect on output performance and work engagement. Congruence was shown to be important in most combinations of IM and EM as they relate to output performance and work engagement. Finally, results indicate that the combinations of intrinsic with extrinsic motivational orientations lead to higher levels of output performance and work engagement as opposed to the combinations of only intrinsic or only extrinsic motivational orientations.

ABSTRACT. Less than 10% of the eligible donors actually donate blood on an annual basis. Our study investigates the role of fear of donating blood as a moderating variable in the mediated model of altruism - attitude towards donating blood - intent to donate.

We find that there is no direct link between altruism and intent to donate blood. Instead, altruism leads to a positive attitude towards donating blood, building self esteem and a feeling of doing something important. However, fears such as needles, the sight of blood, and pain mitigate this relationship.

ABSTRACT. A service provider may manage its service personnel through service regulations and policies. Alternatively, a service provider may empower them and delegate more authority by relying on morals of service personnel. The latter approach may enable service providers to accommodate flexibility in its service specifications and to be better prepared in an event of unexpected service failure. This flexibility within reason in service encounters, is called “reasonableness.” In this study, first, we investigate how the moral identity non-consciously affects perceived reasonableness in service encounters and how this effect is moderated by work experience in service encounters. Second, we investigate how affect (vs. cognition) mediates the effect of perceived reasonableness on customer satisfaction and how this mediation is affected by cognitive load. Third, through in-depth interviews, we further investigate the role of working experience in service encounters and affective responses in relation to perceived reasonableness. Our study reveals the effect of moral identity priming on perceived reasonableness among those without working experience at a restaurant under high cognitive load. Additionally, our study shows the effect of perceived reasonableness on customer satisfaction is mediated through affect regardless of the cognitive load.

ABSTRACT. Salespeople are key revenue producers within organizations, yet, even with billions spent on sales training, many salespeople fail to reach their annual quotas leaving managers searching for methods to improve performance. These issues lead to several questions. Why do salespeople miss their performance targets, what can managers do to help their salespeople, and what traits and activities should managers value most during the hiring process? The present research answers these questions by identifying where in the sales process should the greatest amount of effort be applied to increase sales performance and drive firm revenue. We look at the following stages: prospecting, new customer acquisition, cross-selling current customers on new products and services, and the retention activity of post-sales service. Subsequently, we identify salesperson traits that inherently produce effort in the most beneficial selling stages. Finally, we identify manager behaviors that can be implemented to increase the impact of salesperson traits on effort in those particular sales processes. In doing so, we make contributions to the body of research on salespeople and provide hiring and sales managers with useful insights for implementation.

ABSTRACT. An employee advocacy strategy whereby employees voluntarily endorse their employers on social media platforms is an emerging strategy that is being increasingly pursued or considered by firms. However, the motivation behind such behaviour remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this research is to generate insights on digital employee advocacy that ultimately can help industrial organisations to influence employees to become digital advocates. Data is collected from among employees of an industrial organization in Sweden and PLS-SEM analysis is conducted. Results are reported and implications for management are drawn.

ABSTRACT. Despite the recent research finding that connected consumers’ reactions to brand transgression are more negative when brand’s wrongdoings are of an ethical nature, little research has examined the mechanism underlying the negative effect of consumer-brand relationships on consumer brand evaluations. This research examines the role of brand ownership in consumers’ reactions to brand failures. In two studies, we show that consumers who have a strong brand ownership develop more negative brand evaluations towards brand moral failures, but not towards product failures. We find that consumers' feelings of shame mediate this relationship. In addition, this research demonstrates that interdependent (vs. independent) consumers are more prone to experience feelings of shame towards a brand's moral transgression.

ABSTRACT. Although scholars and practitioners have stressed the importance of engaging international customers in the design stage of the new product development, there are contrasting views regarding the performance outcomes of doing so. Existing studies lack a conceptual and empirical integration indicating when such arrangements are beneficial. Relying on the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) theory of behavior, this study presents and tests a theoretical model that examines factors influencing the performance outcome of customer engagement. Specifically, we suggest that the effect of customer engagement on supplier performance depends on: mutual trust, which acts as motivation, cultural similarity which is considered as opportunity, and relationship learning as the ability factor. Using 219 data points from Chinese manufacturing firms evaluating their international customers, we show that engaging cross-border customers in the design stage of new product development has a positive influence on supplier performance, and that relationship learning and cultural similarity strengthen the customer engagement-supplier performance link. Our results also indicate that firms do not benefit as much from customer engagement when there is too much inter-firm mutual trust.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, communicating marketing messages through social media influencers has become increasingly popular. The basic idea underlying this novel marketing technique is that influencers build a relationship with those who follow their social media pages and, thereby, gain their trust and confidence. This relationship is deemed to be the most powerful factor of success of influencer marketing activities making them superior to other, more traditional, marketing communication forms. In this paper, we develop and empirically test a life-cycle model of such influencer-follower relationships. Our results reveal that several properties of influencer-follower relationships reflecting relevance-related aspects and follower engagement, as well as relationship and consumption-related variables display an inverted u-shaped pattern over four consecutive relationship stages; namely, analysis, affection, attenuation, and alienation. By establishing a model that describes the dynamic evolution of influencer-follower relationships, this research contributes to a better understanding of the development of the relationship between influencers and their followers and provides important implications for influencer marketing activities in business practices.

ABSTRACT. Firms now rely increasingly on sales team as opposed to individual sales performance, and an important aspect of the sales team is the composition of the team itself. Unfortunately, with the scarcity of research in the team selling literature, research fails to identify whether or not sales teams should have a diverse composition in terms of capabilities (functionally diversity - that is, divergent capabilities within a single sales team); nor does research identify the link between sales team functional diversity and team effectiveness. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between functional diversity and team effectiveness.

ABSTRACT. China is the biggest e-commerce market and a trend leader in the global marketplace. This study examined how different types of online consumer reviews and types of romantic gift-giving might affect Chinese consumers’ online purchase intention. Through an experiment design, the study suggested that informational consumer reviews lead to more product involvement than transformational reviews; and consumers shopping romantic gifts for others are more likely to involve in the product than those shopping joint gifts. The study also found that product involvement serves as a full mediator, leading to consumers’ purchase intention. In addition, consumers with higher need for uniqueness are more likely to use informational reviews for romantic gift shopping. And women showed more product interests when they are exposed to informational reviews, while men had more interests in transformational reviews. This exploratory study addressed a growing but under-researched consumer behavior issue. It not only provided insights for global marketing managers to enter China market, but also reflected the new global trends of consumers’ romantic gift-giving in the increasingly connected digital market.

ABSTRACT. Grounded in Morgan and Hunt’s Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing, the current research examines the effects of corporate dialogic communication of CSR through digital media on brand loyalty mediated by customers’ online brand community engagement (OBCE) and brand trust. To test the proposed mediation model, we conducted a national survey with a representative sample randomly drawn from Qualtrics’ U.S. panel. After ensuring the validity, reliability and model fit of the measurement model, we tested the postulated model using structural equation modeling procedures. All proposed hypotheses were supported showing (1) the direct effects of dialogic communication on CSR authenticity and OBCE; (2) the direct effects of OBCE on brand trust and brand loyalty; (3) indirect effects of dialogic communication on brand loyalty through OBCE and brand trust; and the indirect effects of CSR authenticity on brand loyalty through OBCE and brand trust. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Numerous studies focus on customer empowerment in the digital age, and its conceptualization ranges from information sharing opportunities among customers to participation in production. Broadly, empowerment requires a personally meaningful increase in control and power for the individual, and today's digital landscape provides a multitude of ways for the customers to take control of their consumption practices. Thus, digital customer empowerment (DCE) tools are described as digital products, services, and practices that expand the freedom of and control over the choice and action to shape consumption experiences. Accounting for a wide spectrum of such digital tools, this structured abstract presents a typology of DCE (Informative, Productive, and Experiential) and our future goal for this conceptual work is to explore how the use of such tools results in enhanced customer engagement with illustrative examples. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating how empowerment differentiates across different digital tools as this differentiation may make it easier to compare findings across papers and help identify novel insights.

ABSTRACT. Sport organizations are attempting to reduce their environmental impact but have difficulty in managing stakeholders’ behaviors. To combat this challenge, sport organizations have increased the sophistication of their environmental sustainability initiatives to include stakeholder engagement campaigns. Until recently, no guidelines have been provided to sport organizations on how to properly engage stakeholders to improve attitudes towards sustainability, nor how to evaluate the effectiveness of current communication strategies to convey the organization’s prioritization on sustainability initiatives. This research extends and evaluates the Sport Sustainability Campaign Evaluation Model (SSCEM), longitudinally, using a sport organization’s (the Games’) comprehensive sustainability initiative across multiple campaigns (waste diversion, transportation, energy conservation, and water conservation). Data was gathered (both pre- and post-Games) from caregivers (N=182) of intellectually disabled athletes who attended the Games. The structural model fit adequately well (RMSEA = .071; 2/df =1.79). Personal needs and values, along with internal constraints (lack of knowledge and lack of worth) explained 51% of the variance in pre-Games attitudes toward sustainability, which in turn explained 48% of the variance in intentions to act sustainably during the games. Intentions, combined with external constraints during the games, predicted 38% of actual behaviors. Behaviors and constraints predicted 48% of post-Games’ satisfaction with communications from the organization. Behaviors and constraints also predicted post-Games’ satisfaction with the campaigns. Satisfaction with communications and with the campaigns explained 48% of the variance in improved sustainability attitudes, which in turn explained 53% of advocacy behavior and 97% of intentions to improve sustainable behaviors in their hometown.

ABSTRACT. Advertising is strongly based on the culture of the country (unicultural dimension Ozdemir and Hewett, 2010), on tradition and on a specific mode of communication (Newman 2004; Tungate, 2007). It can register strongly in this context which will impact the understanding and perception of the message it wants to convey and influence consumer behavior and purchasing decisions. (Palmatier et al., 2006). Considering this, some campaigns would be totally impossible to export (De Wulf, Odekerken-Schroder and Iacobucci 2001) while others might require some adaptation to suit different cultural contexts (Alden et al 1993). Over the last 50 years, the question of standardization and adaptation of advertising campaigns on the international scale has been the subject of extensive research (Schmid & Kotulla, 2011). However, reviews of existing literature show serious doubt on the results of the previous research (Birnik & Bowman, 2007). In the case of humorous ads, companies are advised to “standardize” in their international communication (Alden et al., 1993) and at the same time to “adapt” their strategies even locally on their national markets (Rutigliano, 1986). The objective of this research cross-cultural study is to explore humor in ads’ variations across cultures in, France, US and China, understand the role of culture in the process of persuasive communication and redefine the question of standardization of humorous advertising.

ABSTRACT. Purpose: To examine the RELQUAL-determinants on satisfaction in buyer-supplier relationships.

Design/Methodology/approach: A survey based on a sampling frame consisting of a convenience sample of 500 small and medium-sized companies in Puerto Rico.

Findings: RELQUAL-determinants on satisfaction in buyer-supplier relationships has been identified, while some expected ones turned out to not be significant, though relevant in another business setting.

Practice Implications: RELQUAL-determinants provide guidance to companies in managing supplier-buyer relationships.

Research limitations/implications: Provide reasons to why core RELQUAL-determinants turned out to be non-relevant in this study as well as suggestions for the future.

Originality/Value: Contributes to stress the relevance and importance to consider contextual characteristics of RELQUAL-determinants on satisfaction in buyer-suppler relationships.

ABSTRACT. This study provides an alternative view on the study of customer experience of value linking to the customer satisfaction-loyalty link, and with customer loyalty retention. Past studies suggest an arguable cause-and-effect relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Subsequent related studies suggest the significance of exploring customer experience from the aspect of value to better understand the relation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Nevertheless, most studies focus on customer experience of value for achieving customer loyalty. It is unknown about customer experience of value for retaining customer loyalty once satisfied customers become loyal customers. As an organization’s long-term business success relies significantly on a large base of loyal customers, the ultimate challenge to managers is how to manage customer loyalty. In addition to build the loyalty of satisfied customers, it is thus also critical for managers to know how to retain the loyalty of loyal customers. This research focuses on exploring how customer experience of value can facilitate the conversion of customer satisfaction into loyalty, and the retention of customer loyalty. Moreover, this study identified factors that are likely to influence the efficacy of customer experience of value for building and retaining customer loyalty. In addition to research implications for service researchers, this study provides practical implications for managers in the service outlets and frontline service employees.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this research was to examine the role of status motivation on sustainable behaviors, both ecologically consciousness and socially responsible consumer behaviors. The study also looks at whether the desire for unique products mediates the relationship between status motivation and sustainable behaviors. If so, does sustainable behaviors differ by culture. This study compares the differences between consumers in a more western individualistic culture (U.S.) and a more eastern collectivist (Vietnam) culture. The results of the study reveal that status motivation has a significant impact on the desire for unique products in both western and eastern cultures. In looking at the direct relationship between status and sustainable behaviors, this study found that sustainable behaviors differed by culture. While there was a significant direct relationship between status motivation and sustainable behaviors for the Vietnamese sample, there was not a significant link for the American sample. The desire for unique products did though mediate the relationship between status motivation and sustainable behaviors for U.S. consumers, whereas it did not for the Vietnamese consumers. Thus, the means by which status motivations impacted sustainability varied by culture as Vietnamese consumers’ motivation for status directly impacted their sustainable behaviors while for U.S. consumers it only occurred through the desire for unique products.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to better understand how brand heritage can be effectively framed in advertising using a construal-level theory approach. Four experiments examine in detail how brand heritage is processed and what is the most appropriate frame for brand heritage in an advertisement (abstractly vs. concretely). More precisely, we demonstrate that the manipulation of brand heritage impacts perceived past temporal distance with the brand (Study 1a and 1b). We also try to demonstrate that brand heritage influences consumers’ construal level (study 2). We also suggest that this effect is mediated by perceived past temporal distance with the brand (study 2). Furthermore, we examine the best way (abstractly or concretely) to frame brand heritage (studied 3 & 4). This research contributes to the literature on brand heritage, retro and nostalgia in advertising by showing that brand heritage should be framed abstractly because it induces a perception of past temporal distance, which subsequently impacts the consumers’ construal level. As the different experiments engage with practically relevant manipulations (the use of colors/black and white for visual cues, concrete or abstract words in the body copy), the results should have direct managerial implications to the advertising industry.

ABSTRACT. Mobile technology is on the rise, nonetheless, mobile marketing is still an under-investigated terrain. Shankar et al. (2016) point out the importance to further investigate how to design apps that would deliver rich customer experiences. One of the limits that mobile commerce faces is the extent to which the consumer can evaluate and experience the product before the purchase. A new technology that can resolve this issue is virtual reality (VR). While companies invest in costly VR applications, it is still unclear to what extent these apps are effective. In this research, we want to understand the effectiveness of the VR shopping mobile applications. To do so, we carry out a series of empirical studies on consumer shopping experience by manipulating the presence of the VR features and the type of the applications. We find that virtual reality apps allowing 3D visualization represent both a higher utilitarian and hedonic value to the consumers than a 2D representation of the products. As a result, consumers have a better attitude toward the app and are more willing to use it for their shopping activities. On the other hand, virtual try-ons were not proved as more effective and attractive for consumers. Our study makes several contributions to the literature and managerial suggestions.

ABSTRACT. The online rating system has been an essential channel for enterprises to sell products, compete with rivals and acquire customers. From the perspective of an online review component, this study focuses on online review information bias and develops a consumer belief enhancement model. The research will be implemented in two aspects: (1) an online review component-level conceptual model for purchase behavior in the Web 2.0 context is developed. Website analysis, meta-analysis and semi-structured in-depth interviews will be used for improving our theoretical model. (2) We hope to provide a valuable supplement to traditional research methods that struggle to correctly and effectively identify the degree of information bias of online review contents by applying the topic model, which is an emerging data mining technology for large-scale text data. Topics and review valence will be automatically extracted based online review. Our research findings not only help companies to understand the relative importance of each online review component profoundly and to know how to design and develop an effective online review system. As a result, companies will benefit from facilitating successful transactions, inhibiting false comments and increasing reputation. References Available Upon Request

ABSTRACT. Social media users respond to brand advertising on social media platforms differently. Past research has not considered such potential variation in responses across social media platforms, despite their importance in informing marketing strategy. In view of this gap, this study examines specific motivational drivers across two major social media sites (i.e., Facebook and YouTube), and investigates the mechanisms through which these motives drive consumer responses to brand advertising. The results show that exchange and search motives differentially dominate usage across the two social media platforms, and indirectly influence individuals’ advertising responses via perceptions of informativeness and interestingness. The results offer important theoretical and practical insights with regard to brand advertising on social media.

ABSTRACT. The rapid acceptance of social media across consumers of all age groups has prompted researchers to examine the social and psychological effects that social media usage may have on its users. Empirical research concerning the effects of social media usage remains relatively exploratory in nature and lacks the solid foundation of longitudinal research. Users of social networking sites often feel inadequate about their own life or achievements. These feelings of social inadequacy often stem from a constant evaluation of oneself relative to others in their online social network. Humans possess a fundamental drive to compare themselves with others and social media creates a readily accessible platform for comparison. In light of the constant social comparisons taking place on social media, the content that social media users choose to post is often selectively chosen in order to project a certain image of themselves. As such, all user-generated content is often self-evaluated based on the ‘performance’ of the content. Individuals often evaluate the performance of their online content based on the presence or lack thereof of an immediate reaction from their online community. The performance of social media content has been shown to have an effect on its users. This paper is the first attempt to conceptually delineate the parameters of “Social Media Performance” and formalize this evaluation. In particular, this paper argues that Social Media Performance is able to influence a social media users’ attitude towards a particular brand when the performance of their brand-related content does not meet initial expectations.