ABSTRACT. Organizational engagement in politically divisive discourse is a new phenomenon relative to the extent to which it is occurring today. This engagement by organizations coincides with a historic rise in political divisiveness associated with United States politics while consumers increasingly are influenced by said engagement on the part of organizations. The literature does not yet offer significant guidance to better understand consumer responses in this context and whether said organizational engagement fits within the evolving conceptualization of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Accordingly, in a two-part study the authors seek to examine this phenomenon and consumer responses through the lens of CSR, an organizations implied “License to Operate,” and perceptions of courageousness due to the inherent risk for organizations engaged in politically divisive discourse. Outcomes of interest are intentions to boycott, intentions to engage in collective action, purchase intentions, customer perceived distinctiveness of the organization, customer identification with the organization, and customer satisfaction. Ethically minded consumer behavior and perceived consumer effectiveness will be measured prior to respondents viewing a commercial to assess the impact of each on responses. Study one will utilize commercials aired by organizations that exhibit engagement in politically divisive discourse for respondent assessment and reaction capturing. Study two will utilize both real and fictitious examples of organizations engaging in politically divisive discourse for respondent assessment and reaction capturing. This study seeks to provide novel insight in to consumer reactions to said phenomenon from an exploratory and theoretical perspective.

ABSTRACT. A study was conducted to determine whether subjects will infer that a non-Hispanic dentist is making a special effort to target Hispanic consumers (ITM) when the home page of the dentist’s website says, “Hablamos Español” Subjects did made this inference. In addition, subjects seeing this website rated the dentist less favorably and were less likely to intend to make an appointment with the dentist versus subjects seeing the same home page without “Hablamos Español.” Neither the perceived risk of the procedure (dental exam and x-rays costing $50 versus a root canal and crown costing $2000) nor ethnocentrism impacted responses.

ABSTRACT. Sport sponsorship is considered a strategic investment that helps in generating and enhancing brand awareness, brand image, brand reputation, brand credibility and customer goodwill for the sponsor brands. While traditional media remains the primary value driver for sponsors, when all media platforms are considered, social media accounts for 5-20% of total value generated for sponsors. Because it has redefined consumer–brand interaction, social media is considered an important customer activation tool by businesses across the globe. Social media has recently become an effective tool that can be utilized by marketers for tapping shared interests of their customers and stimulating engagement to create positive attitudinal and behavioural outcomes, especially in the sponsorship domain. This is because social media is extremely popular with sports fans and acts as a great outlet for discussions related to sport and sport-related issues, which sometimes spill over to conversations about associated brands. Though there is scholarly focus on consumer engagement in online platforms, there are scant studies on the use of social media by sponsors, and on how social media can act as a tool for achieving marketing objectives. This work offers two dimensions related to sponsor messages that enable effective communication by a brand about its association with an event on social media platform Twitter: articulation (focus of the message: product/event) and activation (trigger for user interaction with the message: promotional/interactive). Effect of these two dimensions are proposed to create positive user behavioural outcomes in form of positive sentiment (in related user tweets) and e-WOM respectively. The study makes four key theoretical contributions to extant literature. First, authors offer a novel way of defining and measuring message articulation on a social media platform. To date, extant literature discussed broadly commercial and non-commercial aspects of articulation, with little application to digital media. Second, this study empirically validates the usage of activation tactics, and provides insights into the individual effects of interactive and promotional messages on e-WOM, which has its contributions to the consumer engagement literature from the context of sponsorship in social media. Third, using incongruity and unexpectedness theories, analysis of functional and image fit as moderators highlights their important role for sponsors and explains how unexpectedness can act as a boon for low-fit sponsors on the social media platform. Finally, from a methodological perspective, this research suggests a unique way to capture Twitter data that can help sponsors to track the performance of their sponsorship-related messages. Authors used the Twitter-LDA algorithm, clubbed with topic modelling and NRC lexicon, to capture user sentiment.

ABSTRACT. In line with the rise of access-based and green consumption, existing research has revealed that there is a growing dominance of multimodality in urban areas. Multimodality is defined as the use of more than one transport mode in the space of a week. In connection with the current war of transport planners against motorized private transport, the concept can be considered as an answer to burdens associated to car transportation such as traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution. Given the negative impacts of work-related traffic growth in recent times, large traffic generators – including entities in the private and public sector – are pushed to the forefront of the debate. While the role of motorized private transport is decreasing in daily mobility in densely populated urban areas, monomodal travel patterns are still dominating work-related mobility. Companies play a particular role in the mobility field in view of the impact of their decisions on mobility behaviors far beyond corporate patterns of mobility alone. Nonetheless, there is a fundamental lack of research on consumers’ motivational patterns determining intentions to engage in work-related multimodal mobility and on factors influencing the employees’ willingness to alter their modal mix. On the basis of a qualitative means-end chain (MEC) analysis, we explore employees’ mobility behavior and its underlying motives. In a range of laddering interviews with employees of a large German financial institution, the underlying hierarchical motive structure is unveiled and implications to incentivize employees’ shift to new corporate mobility services are deduced.

ABSTRACT. Many brands now use emojis as a tool for communicating with customers through social media. Prior to 2015, human-like emojis were yellow or white in tone; however, many emojis are now available in a diverse set of skin tones ranging from pale white to dark brown. The current research examines the effects of differently toned emojis on behavioral intentions. Specifically, we posit that using a dark brown (vs. pale white) emoji increases behavioral intentions (e.g., likelihood of visiting a store, likelihood to purchase) and attitude for brands that are perceived to be conservative. We further propose that these emojis increase behavioral intentions and attitudes due to perceptions of inclusiveness. We also identify the moderating role of promoted (paid) social media communications, which reverses the effect.

ABSTRACT. Abstract The landscape of higher education continues to change as innovative education technology offers learning opportunities presented in various formats and mode, such as blended (hybrid) as well as online courses. However, studies have identified continually decreasing intrinsic motivation among student populations, hence increasing a need for interventions that facilitate and encourage student engagement to improve learning outcomes. This study explores the use of multimedia and technology assistant—VoiceThread as a tool to motivate students’ engagement in the context of a hybrid learning environment. More specifically we aim to implement VoiceThread in facilitating discussion, collaboration (feedback), and learning among students. Further, we will assess the effectiveness of this technology by comparing it with other traditional forms of discussions such as text-based (online discussion boards) and face-to-face discussions to indicate whether adoption of such technology is scalable to accommodate marketing or business students in particular, and CSUMB students in general.

ABSTRACT. The use of the Internet and mobile devices have had a positive impact on the relationship between stores and the consumer (Ko et al., 2009). Thanks to this technological disruption, current consumers not only have the store as a traditional channel but also have at their disposal electronic commerce (e-commerce) and mobile commerce (m-commerce) that facilitate the making of purchase decisions (Maity and Dass, 2014; Wagner et al., 2013). It is in this context that retail sales through e-commerce worldwide amounted to 2.3 trillion US dollars in 2017. It is expected that this amount will increase by 110% by 2021 (Statista, 2018). In the same way, the increase in the use of the Internet and the number of users of mobile devices have supported the explosive growth of mobile commerce (Lu and Su, 2009). Mobile commerce is the ability to buy products anywhere through an Internet-enabled wireless device that allows users to search for products online without the use of a laptop (Clarke III, 2001).

ABSTRACT. Smartphones have become globally famous and change since their introduction everyday life. The rapid rise in the use of smartphones has significantly influenced consumer behavior. The resulting increase of smartphone usage in purchase-related situations however, also yields negative consequences (e.g., decreasing attention, consumer distress). Hence, more still ever marketers are challenged to develop a deeper understanding of the emerging relationship between consumers and their smartphones. Extant consumer research provides inconclusive insights in this regard. On the backdrop of attachment theory, the current research hence introduces the concept of smartphone attachment and seeks to elucidate the origins of smartphone attachment. The results of an empirical survey study among 411 German smartphone users demonstrate that smartphone attachment has an emotional and a behavioral character while the emotional attachment represents a crucial predictor of attachment behavior. In addition, the findings support the assumption that consumers’ beliefs about themselves significantly shape smartphone attachment. While consumers’ sociability and materialism tendency positively influence smartphone attachment, consumers’ tendency for internal control has a negative impact on smartphone attachment. Self-concept clarity, by contrast, indirectly shapes smartphone attachment through related self-concept beliefs (e.g., materialism, sociability). Interestingly, a greater self-concept clarity is associated with a lower smartphone attachment. According to this study’s results, smartphone attachment also has its origins in consumers’ connection with the smartphones. In other words, self-brand connection has been found to significantly enhance smartphone attachment.

ABSTRACT. Based on terror management theory, this study explores the impact of experiential versus materialistic loyalty program for popular brands. Adopting a mixed method approach, we conduct a series of focus group in Study 1 and carry out an experiment in Study 2 in Lebanon. In Study 1, we find that Lebanese consumers tend to seek experiential, rather than materialistic consumption, when they think of their own death (i.e. mortality salience). In Study 2, the experiment with general consumers finds significant effects of both mortality salience and experiential consumption. However, the interaction effect between the two variables is not significant. In closing, we discuss some implications and recognize important limitations.

ABSTRACT. Using a conceptual framework based on the FCB Grids and consumer involvement, this study attempts to link salient brand/product characteristics to social media engagement using field data and a laboratory experiment. The results of a field study suggest that social media engagement is affected by involvement and consumer motives (Study 1). The results of a controlled experiment suggest that gender plays a role in consumer engagement intentions (Study 2). Additionally, results find that males’ engagement intentions were higher for low-involvement products while females’ engagement intentions were higher for high involvement products featured in social media posts and this effect is mediated by consumer involvement.

ABSTRACT. In this article, we investigate the effectiveness of scarcity appeals in cross-cultural settings for consumers having a higher need for uniqueness versus consumers having a higher susceptibility to normative influence. Further, we investigate whether the underlying interaction changes with the product type or not. So, we hypothesize that the effectiveness of supply generated scarcity appeals versus demand generated scarcity appeal are manipulated by culture (western vs. eastern) and product type (high vs. low visibility product). We also hypothesize that the demand generated scarcity appeal is more effective for eastern consumers due to higher susceptibility to normative influence whereas supply generated scarcity appeal is more effective for western consumers due to the higher need for uniqueness. we collected 417 respondents, 211 from France and 206 from Pakistan. Our results show that the demand generated scarcity appeals are more effective for eastern consumers because of having a higher susceptibility to normative influence. On the other hand, supply generated scarcity appeal are more effective for western consumers because of having a higher need for uniqueness. Interestingly, this conclusion is only valid for the high visibility product not for the low visibility product. These results significantly contribute to marketing literature on scarcity appeals.

ABSTRACT. Metaphors are pervasive in everyday life, not only in language but also in thought and action. In addition to increasing the effectiveness of communication, metaphors have also contributed toward theory development in social science. Specifically, in the marketing discipline, there is a rich tradition of research based on metaphors. However, a systematic review of advancements in research on metaphors and, correspondingly, research in marketing communication regarding and employing metaphors, reveals that the potential of metaphors and metaphoric transfer for marketing communication remains under-realized. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to (i) provide an up-to-date review of metaphors research in terms of conceptualization, types of metaphors, uses of metaphors, models of metaphor, and issues and pitfalls of metaphors; (ii) identify several communication and theoretical metaphors that are relevant to marketing communication; and (iii) develop a research agenda for the domain of marketing communications. Consequently, the contributions and implications of this research for marketing communication scholarship are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Marketing value assessment, the identification and measurement of marketing’s influence on firm performance, is a challenging, yet imperative undertaking as marketing managers are under increasing pressure to defend the value of their activities (Hanssens and Pauwels 2016; Morgan 2012). These activities necessitate financial resource allocations that trickle down from larger strategic marketing investment decisions (Hanssens and Pauwels 2016). However, these allocation efforts are often managed separately in functional “silos” within firms (Hanssens and Pauwels 2016; Keiningham, Aksoy, Perkins-Munn and Vavra 2005), potentially leading to ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of marketing resource allocations. Surprisingly, very little is known about the quantifiable issues associated with managing specific marketing assets and resource allocations within organizational silos and the implications for marketing managers (Keiningham et al. 2005). In this dissertation, I examine the effects of resource allocations, and specifically, the importance of cross-functional and strategic integration, on marketing performance indicators. In my first essay, I investigate marketing resource allocations through two fundamental processes, value creation and value appropriation, across two strategic dimensions, internally versus via inter-firm relationships. In my second essay, I investigate potential spillover benefits from marketing resource allocations to customer satisfaction and brand equity. Using a theoretical resource orchestration and a marketing capabilities framework, I promote the importance of breaking down organizational silos at different hierarchical levels to enhance marketing resource allocation effectiveness and efficiencies.

ABSTRACT. In my dissertation, I examine the implication of idealistic versus pragmatic mindsets — the tradeoff between placing values and principles above practical concerns versus being practical-oriented in the context of charitable behavior. I hypothesize that consumers with an idealistic (vs. pragmatic) mindset are more (vs. less) likely to engage in charitable behaviors and this effect is driven by greater intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) motivation underlying their charitable decision-making. Furthermore, consistent with the mediating role of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, I hypothesize that charitable appeals that emphasize the external benefits of charitable giving increase charitable behavior among pragmatic consumers but not among idealistic consumers. In contrast, charitable appeals that emphasize the internal meaning of charitable giving increase charitable behavior among idealistic consumers but not among pragmatic consumers.

ABSTRACT. Although academic research on loyalty programs has examined the extent to which consumers succeed or fail in reward-goal pursuit, insufficient attention has been paid to the consequences of such successes or failures. Addressing this gap, we draw upon research on goal pursuit and counterfactual thinking to examine the effect of goal completion magnitude on individuals’ effort toward achieving subsequent goals, and how maintenance versus attainment goal types moderate this relationship. Analyzing flight activities from 5,719 members of a major airline’s frequent flyer program, we found that (1) individuals who failed (vs. succeeded) at achieving an attainment goal will put more (vs. less) effort into subsequent goal pursuit than individuals who failed (vs. succeeded) at fulfilling a maintenance goal, (2) a linear effect of goal achievement magnitude on future goal pursuit effort under the maintenance goal, and (3) a reverse U-shaped effect of goal achievement magnitude under the attainment goal, such that substantial goal achievement in the previous goal cycle creates a surprising hampering effect (i.e., close-but-no-cigar effect) on subsequent goal pursuit. These results and the proposed underlying processes are further explored in two lab experiments. Our research provides new insights for marketing scholars and managers with regard to goal pursuit and loyalty programs.

ABSTRACT. See extended abstract.

ABSTRACT. The value of internet-enabled markets in generating a firm’s revenue is increasing, and the alignment of customer perceived value (i.e., value to customers) and firm value (i.e., value from customers) is of extreme importance in creating consumer value, consumer satisfaction, loyalty, and a firm’s profitability. This paper investigates the interplay among consumer self-construal level, consumer involvement, and firm resources in the context of internet-enabled markets with the aim to provide initial strategic implications to sellers. This paper attempts to fill the gap in the extant literature where few studies have previously examined the interaction between two important topics in contemporary consumer research -- consumer construal level and consumer involvement -- in the internet-enabled market context. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This study develops a scale based on the concept of “consumer normalcy” which is composed of four dimensions: (1) ability to participate in the marketplace, (2) demonstrating competence and control, (3) achieving distinction, and (4) being perceived as an equal. This important new construct can be used as a tool to more fully understand the experience of an individual who feels he or she has been discriminated against in the marketplace based on demographic characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation/preference, or disability. The scale is tested in two large random samples using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, where one sample shows how Consumer Normalcy is directly connected to avoidance of the offending retailer and how this effect along with the scale’s measurement capabilities are stronger in the demographic-based service failure condition.

ABSTRACT. Understanding how to address consumers through advertising is one of the most important aspects when promoting a product. The primary goal of this study is to identify the impact of certain advertising appeals on consumers perception of the ad and the presented product. Message appeal, endorser type, and endorser age are examined in terms of their impact on message credibility, ad attitude, product attitude, purchase intention, and word-of-mouth intention. To test the hypotheses for the study, a 2x2x2 full factorial between-subjects design was implemented with German consumers. Results show that only the appeal of an endorsement matters in influencing the dependent variables. Endorser type and endorser age have no main effects at all.

ABSTRACT. Consumers want companies and brands to adopt an ethical approach and offer goods and services that respect moral values and improve collective well-being without harming anybody. However, advertising that claims companies engage in social responsibility activities may appear suspicious to consumers. Literature shows that some consumers have ambivalent attitudes toward ethical consumption. On the one hand, ethical products consumption provides them with a positive feeling (expression of their values and convictions, contribution to a better world, individual and collective well-being) (Ozcaglar-Toulouse, 2009). On the other hand, it causes several inconvenients to them (François-Lecompte, 2009), such as information seeking, critical thinking, depriving themselves of certain brands, decision-making processes much more complex because of the consideration of unusual parameters. The aim of this research is two-fold. First, it attempts to explore the role of ambivalence, skepticism and ethical sensitivity in the adoption of ethical consumption behaviour. Second, it purposes to understand consumers’ evaluation of corporate’s behavior based on these three personal variables.

ABSTRACT. Service dominant logic (SDL; e.g. Vargo and Lusch, 2004; 2008) and customer engagement research (e.g. Hollebeek, Srivastava and Chen, 2016) over the past two decades have led to an increased focus on the customer experience journey and its subsequent challenges (e.g. Lemon & Verhoef). Given the increasingly connected world, organizations must now try to manage multiple touchpoints in the customer experience journey; one of these touchpoints being customers interactions with other customers. While customer-to-customer interactions can present a challenge to organizations, this research seeks to find the opportunity in these connections. Specifically, this research will examine how both online and face-to-face customer-to-customer interactions impact customer engagement behaviors, as well as objective organizational outcomes (e.g. actual purchases in a retail establishment).

ABSTRACT. The 2016 United States’ presidential election has been deemed “An Election like No Other” and could be characterized as the ultimate insider, Clinton, versus the ultimate outsider, Trump. This research, utilizing data collected one week prior to the election, found that voters’ levels of nostalgia, belief in equal rights for immigrants, free-trade resentment, and concerns over their financial future impacted their view of the political system. While voters’ trust in government and political cynicism impacted their evaluation of the candidates, voter opinion of immigration proved to be a significant and direct factor in evaluating the candidates.

ABSTRACT. Recent years have seen an unpreceded development in ethnic marketing communications, with global and local brands attempting to reach the ethnic consumer segments with tailored messages. This approach may enhance individuals’ positive feelings towards the brand (Appiah and Liu 2009) or, on the contrary, may trigger feelings of exclusion and exoticization (Schroeder and Borgerson 2005). The current study addresses this inconsistency in the extant literature by investigating the impact of ethnic advertising on targeted ethnic consumers’ felt social inclusion in the broader society. This abstract presents the results of a 2x2 experiment which examines the effect of mono- and multi-ethnic advertisements with ethnically congruent or neutral products on targeted ethnic consumers’ ad-triggered social inclusion, attitudes towards the ad and purchase intentions. Drawing on the common in-group identity model (Gaertner et al. 1993) and the intergroup contact hypothesis (Allport 1954), results show that multi-ethnic advertising is more inclusive than mono-ethnic advertising. Ad-triggered social inclusion, in turn, positively predicts ethnic consumers’ attitudes towards the ad and their respective intentions to purchase the advertised product. The type of product (ethnically congruent vs. neutral) does not trigger a significant change in ethnic consumers’ response to the ad. Overall, this research contributes to a richer understanding of how targeted ethnic consumers react to ethnically congruent models and products in advertising and proposes a framework of inclusive ethnic advertising with implications to extant theory and practice.

ABSTRACT. This paper furthers out theoretical and practical understanding of customer brand engagement via retailers' augmented reality mobile applications. Due to The ubiquitous smartphone, augmented reality has emerged as a new technology available to retailers to engage with customers in a novel, vivid and interactive way with the possibility of enhancing the customer experience. Through an online survey, the research outlines the variables influencing AR brand engagement within retailers’ mobile apps and the subsequent outcomes of AR brand engagement. The results indicate that AR attributes of novelty, interactivity and vividness influence Technology Adoption attributes of perceived ease of use, usefulness and enjoyment Positive perceptions of the AR attributes and Technology Adoption attributes positively influence AR brand engagement within the retailer’s mobile application. The findings also indicate that AR brand engagement results in increased satisfaction with the app experience and future brand usage intent

ABSTRACT. Waterpipe smoking has become a global epidemic. However, many smokers consider that the potential harm from waterpipe smoking is low. Compared with a single cigarette, one waterpipe session can expose smokers to significantly greater amounts of toxicants. This article provides evidence that consumers hold a lay belief that waterpipe smoking is less harmful than cigarette smoking. Studies 1 and 2 show that waterpipe smoking is indeed perceived as less harmful than cigarette smoking. Study 3 demonstrates that when consumers are exposed to specific anti-waterpipe messages, this lay belief can be reversed. This research extends previous literature by showing that cigarette anti-smoking campaigns may have a boomerang effect on waterpipe smoking, suggesting also alternative ways to deal with this public health issue.

ABSTRACT. Advances in communications technology such as the Internet led to the development of the electronic business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces, where different sides of the market are matched together for exchange. Nonetheless, despite the technological innovation electronic markets still suffer from the age-old problems related to trust development, opportunism, quality shirking, as well as the prolonged and costly payment settlement process. The article addresses whether blockchains, smart contracts, and cryptocurrencies – recent digital inventions supplied by cryptography – are able to overcome some of the problems inherent in the current online platforms. The author explores the potential benefits of these transformational technologies and argues that their adoption for the exchange in B2B electronic markets will have positive impact on the global shape of the B2B commerce, market share, and value.

ABSTRACT. Prior research has shown that attributional judgments about the cause of a service failure are linked to post-consumption activities and intentions. Specifically, these judgments are related to opinions about redress. Consumers feel more deserving of compensation when a failure is attributed to an external (versus internal) cause. This phenomena has been fairly well established in the literature, yet several unanswered questions remain. First, what happens when a firm steps up and corrects a service failure that was caused by the customer? Does doing so change the mindset of the consumer? Can goodwill and future value be obtained by the organization if it amends an issue it did not cause? Ample research has been conducted regarding service recovery strategies for firm-based failures (external attributions), but little has been done to answer questions relating to customer’s self-failures (internal attributions). We find that consumers hold higher justice perceptions and repatronage intentions when a self-failure occurs compared to a firm-based failure. However, we show that these perceptions can be further amplified if the organization chooses to address the issue rather than ignore it. We also find that effort is an important moderator when an accommodation cannot be reached, which is a key takeaway for industry professionals.

ABSTRACT. This research suggests testing a model which allows understanding links between materialism (centrality, happiness and success), self-gift and luxury consumption through a quantitative study conducted among 303 French volunteers. Mean age of the respondents was 43 years old. The results suggest that: (1) Success related to materialistic goods is a determinant of luxury purchase, (2) The more materialistic goods are central for an individual; the more luxury purchase intention is high. (3) Happiness is a determinant of luxury purchase intention only when it arouses a self-gift motivation oriented toward the enhancement of positive emotions.

ABSTRACT. In an intensely competitive environment, consumers may be challenged and confused when there is a high level of price uncertainty. This paper focuses on an important phenomenon resulting from frequent deep price changes, consumer procrastination which is defined as the decision to wait rather than make actual purchase when one recognizes a need for purchase. Consumer procrastination has received little attention among marketing scholars, resulting in a lack of understanding of the antecedents and consequences of procrastination. Through two empirical studies, we extend findings from psychology and decision-making to examine the market versus personality-related factors that lead to consumer procrastination; and post-decision cognitions, emotions and behaviors that result from consumer procrastination. The results of Study 1 showed that time limit, price uncertainty, price consciousness, sale proneness and prestige seeking positively influence consumer delay in making purchase decisions; and the positive impact of uncertainty is only salient when people have short time limits rather than long ones. Study 2 extends and challenges past research regarding the emotional outcomes of action versus inaction. Although past research has found the negative outcomes resulting from actions are stronger than the outcomes resulting from inactions we found the opposite for the effects on regret and found no significant difference for anger. Managerial implications including recommendations for planning of effective procrastination termination strategies and possible post-decision remedies or interventions are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Globalization, technological advances and transport development have largely contributed to the increase in the flow of people (Appadurai 1990). When people of different cultures come into contact, we observe the phenomenon of “acculturation”. When acculturation affects the consumption of a migrant, this is called “consumer acculturation”. The aim of this study is to explore the food acculturation, which occurs among expatriates and their family under a cross-cultural approach and a dynamic lens. We used a qualitative approach based on the life-story method. We interviewed in-depth 25 American, British and German professional expatriates settled in France. Our results show transnational cultures’ influence competing in the food acculturation process of expatriates and how previous cultural contacts and past acculturations shape over time the eating habits of expatriates. Finally, five different and nonlinear stages of food acculturation of expatriates were identified: the “honeymoon”, the “crisis”, the “resistance”, the “gradual adaptation” and the “in-depth-adaptation” stages. Those stages vary from one cultural group to the other based on the cultural distance and the length of stay in the host country.

ABSTRACT. Wine perception and consumption are drastically changing in France, before considered “as a food”, wine is now considered “as a pleasure». This alteration linked to a severe decreasing in consumption. A wine choice is strongly driven by the perception of its terroir of origin. Terroir has the ability to carry symbolic meaning, expertise, authenticity, etc. that will infer on the wine’s perception. Nevertheless, to market a product with its terroir of origin; practitioners have to stay close to the image a customer has of this place. Otherwise, it could lead to cognitive dissonance and strongly distort the way their product is perceived. As wine consumption and consideration are evolving, it became important to investigate how customers perceive a wine’s terroir of origin? To answer this question, an innovative projective qualitative methodology, the album online, was used. This research highlights the dimensions of wine’s terroir of origin perception, particularly, an enchantment dimension. It also confirms and details the structure of wine terroir of origin image.

ABSTRACT. Social media has become a popular platform for conversations about, and with, companies and their brands. Increasingly, customers are using social media platforms to express their experiences and emotions with an organization’s products or services. Recently there has been interest in the role that social media sentiment can play in predicting stock returns.

Social media sentiment data can, for example, reveal customer preferences, customer satisfaction, and customer feedback on product ratings. Literature has demonstrated that in some cases customer satisfaction can lead to increased investor returns. Added to this, strong links can be found between customer satisfaction levels and subsequent stock price returns. Therefore, our study explores the predictive power of social media sentiment on stock returns, using a logic where social media sentiment acts as an early indicator of customer satisfaction.

We find that global social media sentiment is positively associated with stock returns. While financial sentiment performs even better than global sentiment in predicting returns, customer sentiment does not predict returns. Further, we find no relationship between social media sentiment and customer satisfaction. Finally, we find no relationship between customer satisfaction and stock returns.

We conclude that, while social media sentiment does indeed predict stock returns, this effect occurs wholly through financial, rather than consumer, channels.

ABSTRACT. As young adult consumers have driven much of the growth in the luxury goods market, they become an important target group for luxury brand managers. As more young adult consumers gain access to luxury, it is imperative to understand key determinants that impact their luxury brand purchases. This study examines the impact of young adult consumers’ need for uniqueness and bandwagon effect of luxury brands on their functional attitudes and purchase intentions toward luxury brands. A total of 711 college students at a Mid-western and a Southern university in the US participated in the online survey. Respondents who had purchased at least one luxury good (n = 540) were used for this study. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), this study finds that both young adult consumers’ need for uniqueness and bandwagon effect of luxury brands positively influenced their functions of attitudes and purchase intentions toward luxury brands. Interestingly, compared to the direct effect of need for uniqueness, bandwagon effect had much stronger impact on both attitudes and purchase intentions toward luxury brands. These findings offer marketing insights that highlight the greater importance of bandwagon effect in the luxury brand consumption when focusing on young adult segment of luxury consumers.

ABSTRACT. This study is particularly relevant in understating consumer’s evaluation of multi-ingredient sustainable food products. Firms are in a constant demand to introduce sustainable products; thus, the authors consider product type (Vice/Virtue) implications on the perceived performance of the product. In examining this relationship, they draw from theories of attribute centrality (the degree to which the ingredients is integral in defining the food product), the authors argue that the perceived performance inferiority of product can be avoided by linking sustainability from central to peripheral ingredients of the food product. They present two studies that support the hypotheses and explore the effect of ingredient centrality on product type-perceived performance relationship of the sustainable product. The authors conclude the paper with managerial implications. It provides guidance for firms to effectively link sustainable efforts to improve consumer’s perceived performance of the product.

ABSTRACT. Sonic logos have been around since the original NBC chimes and now can be recognized in the computer’s we use, phones we carry around and even in the brand identities we see on TV or online. In a pretest we tested the theoretical propositions that different sonic characteristics can impact consumers’ perceptions and identified which sonic characteristics were higher in perceptions of happiness or strength. We plan on using these stimuli to build on further research that explores two moderators: brand logo shape and construal level in the aim to change consumers’ perceptions and mindset.

ABSTRACT. Gift giving is prevalent in most cultures as it is a symbolistic ritual of love, care, and often help build social relations. Consumers vary in their gift shopping habits, gifting experience, and even gift related obligations and expectations. The aim of this research is to examine factors that determine the differences in gifting practices among U.S. consumers. Data analysis reveals that Gen Z and Millennials factor in closeness of the recipient much more than older generations. They are also more involved with the process of gifting and feel more obligated to gift. Female participants also indicate higher consideration of closeness of recipient, higher involvement, and higher enjoyment than men in their gifting experiences. Genders did not vary in feeling obligated to give gifts. We find an interaction effect of deal proneness and age on enjoyment of gift giving and involvement with gifting. Overall, our research has both valuable theoretical and practical contributions to research on consumer gift giving behavior.

ABSTRACT. There has been much discussion within the marketing literature about marketing’s influence both within the firm and within the family of academic business disciplines (e.g. Clark Key, Hodis, and Rajaratnam, 2014; Eisend, 2015; Homburg et al. 2015). This begs the question of whether or not marketing provides the relevant answers and knowledge base needed in areas of theoretical and conceptual innovations that reflects the changing social, technological, and global-growth oriented realities of the 21st century (Webster and Lusch, 2013; Ferrell and Ferrell, 2016). These issues signal significant change to business models, growth strategies, marketing channels, customer relationship management, as well as the domain of mainstream marketing research, its methodology and relevance. Inquiries into the adequacies of marketing’s extant knowledge base for continued development may uncover intellectual, methodological, and conceptual ruts that further distance marketing scholarship from its proper place in knowledge creation at every level of the firm and academic scholarship.

The purpose of this Special Session is to stimulate critical, forward-looking conversation on the nature of marketing insight, its place in the firm, and in the family of business disciplines. Questions of marketing’s ability to create relevant understanding within various contexts: in the marketplace; in the lives of consumers, in society, will be taken up, with a view to addressing marketing’s ability to answer, “how does marketing fit in today’s world?”

ABSTRACT. Customers has increased their power towards the seller in B2B sales. One reason is that the buyer has access to more information. Moreover, it has been argued that customer collects, and makes decisions based on, information before contacting a salesperson. The traditional listening model relying on a physical meeting between the seller and the buyer does not offer a solution in this new buying situation.

The objective of this research is to present a theoretical framework of “Digital Sales Listening and Learning” (DSLL) and related research propositions. DSLL proceeds the traditional sales listening model. Based on listening- and Connectivism learning theories, the model argues that sales listening can be used to collect information about prospects before the initial contact, making it possible for the salesperson to more fully understand the needs of the customers and thereby offer additional value propositions when in contact with prospects. It also makes it possible for salespeople, in an early phase, to detect prospects that are looking for information regarding possible solutions offered by the seller.

Our main contribution is a proposed extension of salesperson listening, by including how salespeople listen to their customers online, including proposed antecedents, consequences and moderators of the DSLL model.

ABSTRACT. The organic movement has gained a lot of momentum in the last two decades, and currently underlies a huge global market. Hand-in-hand with the growth in consumption of organic food around the world, academic research on organics has also made great strides. However, there seems to be a dearth of studies focusing on organic food consumption in developing or emerging economies (Hughner et al., 2007). Emerging economies have undergone a significant shift in their patterns and behaviors of food buying and consumption due to higher disposable incomes, greater global interaction, and changes in lifestyle, among other things (Jabir et al., 2010). The current global trend of increased consumption of organic food and products originated in North America and Europe, and has expanded to emerging economies like India and China. USA and India have been identified as two of the top five countries in the organic foods and beverages market (WiseGuyReports.com, 2017). Considering the substantial cultural differences between the US and India, along with the buzz surrounding the Organic movement, and the growth of the organic food industry globally, there is a real need for more academic research in this area. This paper attempts to understand how consumers from disparate cultural contexts representing two of the world’s leading organic markets perceive organic products, along with the different consumer behavioral processes surrounding them.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims to understand the impact of female-empowering songs on the female audience. Female power is defined as having the ability to change the behavior/thoughts of self or others. There are multiple songs in pop culture that promote such message (e.g. “I will survive by Gloria Gaynor” (1978) or “Sit still look pretty” by Daya (2016). Current research propose that listening to such songs lead to feeling of power in female receivers which is likely to lead to increased self-efficacy, self-esteem, and hope. In addition, if these songs are incorporated in ads it might lead to enhanced positive attitudes towards ad and brand depending on the product category.

ABSTRACT. Brands choose to sponsor a sportsperson as a way to reach out to their consumers. Sports personalities are considered as vehicles for advertisements or product endorsements, and athletes who carry symbolic messages can attract companies seeking effective endorsers. This study acknowledges the role of brand managers and qualitatively explores their business decision with regards to selecting sportswomen as their brand ambassadors. It aims to understand their role in limiting and promoting sportswomen’s prospects. Five key themes that shape the working relationship between the brand managers and sportswomen emerged from the thematic analysis of the qualitative semi-structured interview data. The study offers implications for theory and practice; challenging brand managers to take more creative risks; Brands can do more by breaking the mould and engage with something that is unique and different, which sportswomen can offer. Even if such risks do not make commercial sense, brand managers should see them as a part of their corporate social responsibility, particularly in the area of diversity and inclusion. Sportswomen do have a unique fan base, and they are seldom seen to cause any scandal which could be an advantage the brand.

ABSTRACT. Investigating political candidates as brands is a relatively new field in the area of political marketing research (French and Smith 2010; Phipps et al. 2010; Schneider 2004; Smith 2009). As such, there are few, if any, empirical studies demonstrating that candidates do function as brands (e.g. Guzmán and Sierra 2009; Guzmán et al. 2015), and none relating to elections in the United States. To initiate research to fill this void, the following study was completed over two election cycles for U.S. president. Results show that not only did candidates function as brands in both the 2012 and 2016 elections, the experiential brand of a candidate is a significant predictor of voting intention. However, it was the candidate that ended up losing the election whose experiential brand proved to be the most significant. Therefore, political marketers must be aware of the crucial effects their candidate’s brands have on voters, and should act accordingly when developing campaign strategy.

ABSTRACT. Prior research indicates that customers may step out of their expected role behavior and engage in citizenship behaviors with the intention of directly benefiting service employees. Customers perform such actions voluntarily, resulting in emotional and instrumental benefits for service employees, and by extension, in enhancing the outcome of the service encounter. Despite the desirable organizational outcomes associated with such customer behaviours, it is still speculative why customers may decide to engage in these helpful actions. More importantly, it is argued that the absence of a reciprocal response from service employees following customer voluntary behavior can be commonly interpreted as a form of rejection, a fact that may lead to customer dissatisfaction. This is the scenario explored through this research. Through the theoretical angle of role theory, equity theory, and social exchange theory, this paper aims at fulfilling the so far lacking investigation of customer discretionary behaviors towards service employees by presenting a qualitative study on the underlying motivations and expectations of customers for engaging in voluntary actions. In this vein, this study represents an initial empirical investigation to develop a framework that describes the phenomenon of customer beneficial behaviors towards service employees.

ABSTRACT. The current study examines the conditions under which fixed and growth mindsets affect managers’ decisions regarding the level of adaptation and involvement in cross-border strategies. Grounded in the implicit theory from psychology, we develop a model that includes psychic distance as the boundary condition and construal level mindset as the underlying mechanism of this effect. A scenario-based experiment, with randomly selected managers from Greece, is expected to yield results showing the effect of mindset on marketing adaptation and entry mode decisions. The study will offer insights in the international marketing and consumer psychology literatures by introducing the mindset as a new antecedent of adaptation and entry mode decisions and showing under which conditions managers take internationalization decisions.

ABSTRACT. Despite the often-implied relationship between globalizing consumer habits and materialism, a review of the literature suggests that there is relatively little empirical research that supports (or refutes) such assertions. This is especially the case in multicultural global markets where consumers are embracing globalization and markets are opening to global corporate powers and international brands. Despite a large number of country-specific studies focusing on materialism, few studies shed light on these values as consumers become more accepting of global consumption habits. This study represents an early attempt to understand the consequences of the GCC on materialism tendencies in Dubai. Indeed, we ask a simple question: Are globalizing consumers in multicultural markets actually more materialistic? Studying levels of materialistic values in global cities like Dubai is essential, as it involves a context where Western values are often an implied result of increased globalization and openness. As the world becomes more commercially integrated, investigating materialism in global, multicultural cities is a prerequisite to genuinely understanding the development of a GCC, a culture growing in importance and relevance to marketers worldwide.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates the relationship between distribution and market share for consumer packaged goods (CPGs) by replicating a well-established statistical model Reibstein-Farris [RF] model) across seven CPG categories in the United States (US) market. It specifically examines the influence of individual stock-keeping units'(SKUs) product- and distribution-related characteristics on deviations from expected market share performance.

This research analysed weekly store scanner sales data of 9,321 SKUs in 7 CPG categories from 8,117 stores representing 49 different retail chains in the US.

The findings have implications for academics, suppliers and retailers. Practical implications are specifically related to product and portfolio management, supply chain management and retailer category management.

ABSTRACT. Review valence refers to consumers’ positive or negative evaluations of products (Mudambi and Schuff 2010). It can be reflected by star ratings or dichotomous choices such as recommendation rates and thumbs up or down rates. The effects of valence reported in previous studies have been equivocal (King et al. 2014). Therefore, this dissertation aims to identify factors that help reconcile these inconclusive findings through two essays. Specifically, the first essay investigates the role of numerical framing with five experiments, including an eye tracking study. It shows that the dominant effect of volume over valence on purchase likelihood will be lower when valence is presented as absolute numbers (160 of 200 customers recommend) than when it is in percentages (80% of 200 customers recommend). In addition, the ability of an absolute number framing to weaken the impact of volume on purchase likelihood will be lower when valence and volume are shown in two different colors than when they are in the same color. Through two lab experiments and one field study, the second essay examines the moderating effect of emotional arousal on review valence (star ratings) and consumer decisions. It shows that consumers consider extreme reviews with high emotional arousal less informative about product performance. However, whereas consumers discount these reviews during their search stage, negativity bias causes them to rely more on those negative reviews accompanied by high emotional arousal.

ABSTRACT. As part of their global growth strategy, multinational corporations headquartered in developed markets (DMs) are increasingly entering emerging markets (EMs) such as India and China by forming international marketing joint ventures (IMJVs) with firms headquartered in emerging markets. However, about one half of these IMJVs are dissolved or terminated after a period of time. This paper examines the impact of IMJV dissolution announcements on the short-term abnormal returns to the EM firm. Guided by the real options approach, the analysis of a uniquely compiled multisource dataset on IMJV dissolutions in India during 2001 to 2016 shows that counterintuitively, dissolution announcements create positive abnormal returns for the EM firm. Moreover, the author finds that EM firms experience negative abnormal returns when they decide to acquire the IMJV after dissolution, but this relationship is positively moderated by the IMJV’s pre-dissolution financial performance, EM firm’s alliance experience, and EM firm’s equity control over the IMJV. The author discusses the managerial implications of these results.

ABSTRACT. In order to find ways to reduce wastage of food leftovers, it is fundamental to better understand which factors influence the wastage of these leftovers. Using the more extreme example of a reuse of food leftovers from unknown consumers, we would like to focus on the effects that are relevant for a better understanding of the behavior towards food leftovers from a consumer’s perspective. In this paper, we address the question to what extent does contamination of food leftovers influence the probability of choosing these leftovers through the emotion disgust. Addi-tionally, we would like to investigate how the level of attractiveness of the consumer that left the food over influences this relationship. Due to observed gender differences with regard to disgust sensitivity and the impact of attractiveness in existing literature, a gender-differentiated analysis takes place. We tested our hypotheses with data from two online experiments. In line with exist-ing research we found that consumer contamination impacts disgust, which decreases the proba-bility of choosing food leftovers. This mediation is gender-independent. Although we did not find a cross-gender moderated mediation for the level of attractiveness, we found a direct effect of the level of attractiveness of a female consumer that left food over for male participants and an indirect effect of the level of attractiveness of a male consumer that left food over also for male participants. Further research is on the way to better understand the gender effect and to gain more insights into food leftovers itself.

ABSTRACT. A well-established influence of salesperson job performance that has not received as much attention over the years is job insecurity. Given the technological revolution that has been occurring in the field of Professional Selling for at least the past two decades, forcing salespeople to become more technologically knowledgeable and capable than any prior generation of sellers, job insecurity regarding this specific aspect of professional selling is exceedingly overdue for academic inquiry. This study will investigate if technological self-efficacy creates a less-insecure salesperson among newer salespeople compared to more experienced and established salespeople who learned how to sell without digital supplementation. This research is expected to provide constructive guidance and direction for sales managers challenged by opposing capabilities among sales force members.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this special session is to explore the intersections among marketing, consumer wellbeing, and digital environment. The proposed research presentations will address a wide range of cutting-edge topics—digital unengagement, access economy, smart interactive services, social media spokesperson character, influencer, and compulsive media use. These topics are timely, novel, and important, thus are expected to stimulate active discussions at the AMS conference.

ABSTRACT. The global marketplace is changing, especially within the retail sphere, and practitioners and theorists have identified the significance of mobile devices in the future challenges and opportunities within the industry. Although mobile shopping interest is growing within practice and theory, understanding into its role within online retailing remains in its infancy. To provide guidance on how retailers can utilise mobile within the online shopping environment, this research aims to establish a theoretical model, based on UTAUT2 and more service-related variables, to predict consumer’s mobile shopping adoption intention. Based on a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, using a 435 dataset, the mUTAUT model is proposed. The research findings provide theoretical and practical implications and provides suggestions for further research trajectories.

ABSTRACT. A key question facing firms today is should they integrate customers into their innovation processes and co-create new products. This research examines how strategic change (e.g. closed to open innovation) impacts the attitudes of the periphery of customers and how a firm's current innovation reputation impacts strategic change. The results show that firms will benefit by moving from closed to open innovation. This relationship is contingent on a firm's current innovation reputation. When a firm has a high reputation for building innovative products, it should continue with its current strategy for innovation (i.e. regardless of open or closed). Conversely, having a low innovation reputation suggests that any change of strategy is good in order to overcome previous negative perceptions of the firm's reputation.

ABSTRACT. Multiple channels research has indicated the significance of channel integration, the design of the service experience across multi interface services, customer satisfaction/behavioural intent and service/integration quality. It has also revealed instances of misalignment between customer expectations of a seamless experience and an experience of service failures. Multichannel services are concerned with the creation of value where customers and firms strive to co-create value through the application of resources but less research on understanding how value might be destroyed. In the challenging area of multichannel services, it is critical to understand how value may be destroyed as well as how it might be created. The purpose of this investigation is therefore to empirically explore how value might be destroyed in multichannel services.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the role of gender and its influence on the relationship between trust and organizational performance as well as on the perception of women as managers. We argue that the more positive the perception of women as managers, the stronger the relationship between trust and organizational performance, and that this relationship is mediated by gender. Utilizing a sample of 321 business managers and executives from Mexico and Peru, results indicate that organizational trust does lead to stronger perceived performance, and this relationship is mediated by the employee’s perception of women as mangers. Interestingly, this mediation only holds for male employees, with female employees having a direct relationship between trust and performance. The results of this study offer valuable insight for managers in both emerging markets and developed countries, as they work towards increasing and utilizing firm-level trust, expanding on the role of women as leaders, and the overall performance of their firm to create a sound and ethical environment for all employees to contribute and prosper.

ABSTRACT. Since the last decade, consumer research has provided a detailed view of anti-consumption which is defined as the study of reasons against consumption (Chatzidakis and Lee, 2013). Empirical work on anti-consumption looks at progressive groups and individuals, but very few papers mention anti-consumption behaviors driven by conservative ideas (Castello and Mihelj, 2017). Even if some papers discuss the role of nationalism (Varman and Belk, 2009), religion (Izberg-Bilgin, 2008) or ethnocentrism (Russel et al., 2011) in relation to anti-consumption, these phenomena are usually limited to emergent countries resisting global brands, or the authors do not discuss the centrality of the ideology. Instead of opposing progressive to reactionary reasons against consumption, we focus on distinguishing different groups of rightist reasons against, based on the literature in politics (Kitschelt, 1998): traditional conservatives, radical right and extreme right-wing/fascists. The first group is very unlikely to hold strong reasons against consumption in general, it could act against selected targets when it conflicts with their sociocultural concerns. The second and the third are likely to be at odds with consumption in general as they could engage in anti-consumption towards certain market actors or consumption practices that challenge traditions or religious principles. Our research suggests to focus on political ideology that presents a challenge to the existing research looking at anti-consumption inspired by religion or ethnocentrism: it encourages a focus on political ideology rather than the manifestations of this ideology (e.g. reactionary religious beliefs). It also suggests to consider ideology as a dimension of anti-consumption.

ABSTRACT. When consumers shop online, it is primarily their visual sense that is being triggered. With technology under development to also provide an experience in the olfactory, taste and haptic sense, this paper investigates the added value of background music in the online store environment. In particular, a study is conducted with three conditions: a no music condition, a condition with music which is crossmodally incongruent with the online store environment and a condition with music crossmodally congruent with the online store environment. Crossmodal congruency refers to the crossmodal correspondences (i.e., the tendency of one sensory attribute to be associated with an attribute in another sense) that are shared between the music and the online store environment. Although both musical pieces used were considered as pleasant, consumer reactions were not more positive when compared to the no music condition. Interesting, the value of the money spent in the no music condition was significantly higher than in both musical conditions. The incongruent music condition, however, did lead to significantly lower consumer reactions for the other variables measured (i.e., pleasure, arousal and store environment evaluation) when compared to the no music and congruent music condition.

ABSTRACT. Trust is a fundamental concept in relationships, between humans and organizations alike. It has been noted that trust is essential to almost all business transactions, and that trust is essential to internal organizational aspects as well. However, despite its importance, trust has not been clearly defined, particularly under conditions of risk or uncertainty. Thus, we provide a clearer definition of the concept of trust by distinguishing two different types; “trust under risk” and “trust under uncertainty.” To lend support to our contentions, we seek evidence from salespeople and customer relationships, a complex business relational context reflecting the two aspects of trust (e.g., “salesperson A trusts customer B to close the deal” versus “salesperson A trusts customer B”). Moreover, we model trust by relying on insight from experimental economics and decision theory in order to enhance our understanding of when and how trust is generated, and how it can be maintained, lost or regained when prior beliefs cannot be postulated. Further, we will attempt to link the different types of trust with salespeople’s utility outcomes, such as job satisfaction, job embeddedness and ultimately, individual (subjective and objective) performance.

ABSTRACT. Talk or classroom discussion between faculty and students is central to teaching strategies, both conventional strategies like the case method and emerging strategies like the flipped classroom. Critical to the effectiveness of such talk is the faculty’s domain knowledge, together with their discourse moves skills (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). While students rarely encounter faculty lacking in their domain knowledge, they frequently encounter faculty lacking in discourse move skills.

Addressing the challenge of gaining discourse move skills, skills complex to self-train in, is of immediate relevance globally to marketing and marketing analytics. Given that marketing is inherently qualitative and “messy” owing to the nature of consumer and market behavior (Steenkamp, 2017), and given that marketing analytics is inherently quantitative owing to the mathematical reasoning involved, the two areas require nuance in teaching strategy that is not distinguished currently in literature.

The current conceptual paper proposes a framework of Observe-Hypothesize-Challenge-Resolve (OHCR) discourse moves that produce knowledge construction of a concept. The proposed conceptual framework builds on the current body of education research and offers four major contributions: the presence of an observation guided by a knowledge problem, the presence of hypothesize-challenge cycles that end in a resolve, a thumb rule of four factors to be improvised on for learner engagement in class, a variation in application across both qualitative and quantitative concepts.

ABSTRACT. As companies launch newer versions of smart technologies (e.g., Apple Watch 4), managers realise that adoption of these devices is weaker than they anticipated. Regardless of the initial misfortunes, they still perceive such devices as a way to build competitive advantage for their brands. Traditionally, the way to encourage adoption of innovations was to target innovators. Innovators use novelty first, then share their experiences with others. Understanding how innovators experience and learn about smart technologies can help managers understand how to design and market those devices for best adoption. We propose and test a model for smart technology adoption where user experiences are affected by (technology and fashion) innovativeness and product type (a mass fashion or luxury wearable). We show how both intention to use and replace a wearable emerge through how innovators perceive ease of use, usefulness, hedonic value and social self congruence of those products.

ABSTRACT. As packaging provides direct value for consumers, it is surprising that there is a scarcity of studies on the role of package design in academia. We propose that packaging functionality can have two roles: First, packaging functionality can be passive, meaning that the benefits stemming from the packaging are not directly linked to the goals associated with the actual consumption of the product. Second, package functionality can be active, implying that the packaging itself holds a functionality that actively supports users in achieving their consumption goals. The aim of this paper is to introduce the concept of active packaging functionality (APF) and to provide first empirical evidence on how it influences consumers’ product and firm evaluations. In order to achieve our research goals, we present two experimental studies. The first study tests the influence of APF (vs. passive packaging functionality) in an online setting. In our second study, we use a point-of-sale experimental setting to validate and further explore the role of APF. Our results show that APF leads to more positive product perceptions and to increased purchase intention. Moreover, our findings show that APF was associated with a perceived higher innovation ability of the offering firm.

ABSTRACT. Sound symbolism or phonetic symbolism is a theoretical framework based on linguistic research and a well-known topic in marketing research since the impact of sounds in brand names on product information, consumer behavior, and pricing is clearly evident. As peer-to-peer markets offer a hybrid market structure that combines online and offline market characteristics, (brand) names play an important role that may increase consumer awareness, because they are the first item consumers’ see or hear and thus may convey information, meaning, trust and reputation. Following the theory of sound symbolism, the aim of this study is twofold: First, we study consumer preferences for vowels in (brand) names by focusing on consumer behavior and online consumer ratings in a leading peer-to-peer platform. Second, our study is the first empirical attempt in the context of the ride-sharing market; a fast growing market that has acquired deep roots in United States ($11,790 million in 2017). Using a data sample of 130,253 enlisted drivers on the car-sharing platform BlaBlaCar, that have been registered between 2004 and 2015, we differ into front, central and back vowels to model their effect on consumer ratings. Our results show that consumer brand names offer different sound patterns that are worth considering for marketing practice and brand naming strategy. More precisely, marketers should consider the vowels [i] and [a] for brand names as they represent potentially positive sounds as well as consider names that are easy to pronounce and show an adequate name length of not more than eight characters.

ABSTRACT. The emergence of mobile technologies and applications are providing an opportunity for marketing educators to create, curate and publish digital magazines that can be accessed through different platforms. During the curation process, educators can select business articles aimed to expand the knowledge acquired in the classroom or clarify important class topics. This research examines the adoption of a popular mobile app for the development and use of curated digital magazines in marketing courses, and evaluates its impact on the learning experience of students. Study 1 focuses on understanding students’ attitudes, perceptions and evaluations during the implementation of the tool. Study 2 evaluates the effect of curated digital magazines on students’ engagement, enjoyment and learning, relative to the use of traditional (paper-based) class materials. Study 3 (currently in progress) proposes and evaluates a model of the impact of instructional media on student learning. The results of studies 1 and 2 reveal (a) a positive response to the use of curated digital magazines in marketing classes, and (b) an increase in students’ engagement, enjoyment and learning of marketing content presented in the digital magazine, relative to content presented in traditional (paper-based) format.

ABSTRACT. After completing a doctoral program, many researchers find that they need to find new research collaborators. Their former professors will have new students to mentor and at small institutions, they may not find colleagues with similar research interests. Conferences can provide networking opportunities to assist with solving this problem. Yet, sometimes, conditions may make it difficult for these connections to occur. The purpose of this special session is to provide an opportunity for researchers, and specifically those who are new to the field, to connect with other researchers who share an interest in specific areas. Researchers will select two topics of interest as they arrive. The session will be composed of three rounds in which all will participate in "research circles" with other interested researchers. Groups will be formed for E-commerce, Social Media, Advertising and IMC, Consumer Behavior, Ethics and Sustainability, Nonprofit and Public Policy, Services and Retailing, and Branding. The goal of this session is to facilitate the making of new research related connections.

ABSTRACT. While scholars and managers have assumed a positive relationship between salesperson customer orientation and performance, extant research does not provide evidence for a consistent relationship. To date, research cannot explain why. Drawing on a qualitative approach, this study expands current conceptualizations of a salesperson’s customer orientation by outlining the range of customer-oriented behaviors throughout the sales process. We show how customer-oriented behaviors influence performance by reducing the customer’s perceived level of risk and increasing customer trust. Furthermore, we illustrate the influence of situational factors (i.e., product characteristics) on the customer orientation-performance link. The study thereby integrates past research, and provides guidelines for future research on the relationship between a salesperson’s customer-oriented behaviors and performance outcomes.

ABSTRACT. Most companies believe that offering a compelling customer experience would give them a difficult-to-copy competitive advantage. However, it is not always clear what makes an experience compelling for customers. We posit that perceived value and customer happiness are the key constructs in customer experience management (CEM). We test how customer experience influences desired CEM outcomes (e.g., customer recommendation) through perceived value and customer happiness. We also investigate relationship length as a moderator. The model includes two types of customer experiences (brand and service experience), six types of perceived value (functional, escapist , fantasy, intellectual, self-image, and status-signalling) and two types of customer happiness (hedonic—experiencing pleasure— and eudaimonic – reaching meaningful goals). Data comes from one campus gym (contractual setting) and four airlines (non-contractual setting). Structural equation modelling is the main analytical method. Our results indicate that the different experiences create different values for customers, which subsequently make customers happy and influence customer recommendation in different ways. Some results are consistent across industries and the others are not. For example, hedonic happiness, rather than eudaimonic happiness, increases customer recommendation. To increase hedonic happiness, we consistently find that gyms and airlines could benefit from service experience because of functional value. However, brand experience is effective for gyms to increase hedonic happiness because of self-image value, but not effective for airlines. Finally, brand (service) experience is more effective for customers with a shorter (longer) relationship length. In sum, the study provides managers guidance of how to effectively implement CEM in different service settings.

ABSTRACT. The growth of self-service technologies (SST) has continued to change the nature of services. Many service providers have adopted a wide range of technologies to allow customers to participate in the service production. Some examples of self-service technologies (SSTs) include applications such as ATMs, Internet shopping, self-check-out at airports, and self-pumping at gas stations (Meuter et al., 2000). The SSTs enable both customers and service providers to get and provide better and efficient services. Despite increasing popularity of this trend, very little seems to be known about consumers’ perceived challenges when they are involved in this process. The current research addresses an important question: Do SSTs always produce better outcomes to customers?

One key element of service satisfaction for customers is the perception that they feel they have power to make an impact on the service production process. In this study, we suggest that the feeling of powerlessness is an aversive state that will generate undesirable consequences with the result being a denigration of value or net negative value for the service experience. Power is one of the most omnipresent forces in customers’ lives. Rucker and Galinsky (2008) show that a state of low power might signal to customers that they have fewer resources and such feelings reduce the amount the customers are willing to spend on products and services. This research focuses on the impact of SST on the feeling of powerlessness while consumer perceived control and consumer expertise about the technologies are included to further examine these relationships.

ABSTRACT. Engaging Gen Y consumers through social media online brand communities (OBCs) has become a strategic imperative for brands to grow market share. Despite researchers recent contributions in advancing customer engagement (CE) frameworks in this setting, room for theoretical and empirical elaboration remains. Drawing on branding literature, this study advances a theoretical framework of the antecedents and consequences of CE with OBCs in the eastern context of China. Data from 634 Generation Y Chinese customers of OBCs on Weibo confirm most aspects of the framework on an aggregate data basis. The results revealed that brand-relationship variables self-brand image-congruity, brand involvement and brand knowledge dimensions significantly affects CE assessments, and that a positive effect of CE assessments on brand-based customer behaviors was also attained. Interestingly, findings also indicate some (unobserved) heterogeneity in the path model that identifies sub-segments of consumers that share unique characteristics, highlighting the importance of CE archetypes and the optimisation of target marketing efforts to Generation Y consumers in China. Through the establishment of these insights, this study moves the knowledge base on CE forward in the domain of social media marketing.

ABSTRACT. While research on product sounds has typically analyzed how product sounds influence product evaluations, less is known about how products sounds influence product users’ impressions in the eyes of others. By investigating dress-shoe sounds, this research demonstrates a condition under which product sounds can influence product users’ status in the eyes of others. Two studies indicate that observers attribute higher status to the wearer who produces dress-shoe sounds relative to the one who does not produce dress-shoe sounds. These positive inferences from dress-shoe sounds are mediated by the wearer’s perceived self-assurance and moderated by the wearer’s attire type.

ABSTRACT. Sport and specifically football can be viewed as a significant economic activity. One of the components used to brand the team is the football manager. The role of the manager is not only achieve on the pitch by harnessing the talents of players and other employees, but also to act as the face of the club. Various examples of personal or human brands have been studied such as academics and CEOs. As a personal brand, the football manager has not received a great deal of attention in academic research. Based on theories in CEO and Corporate branding, this exploratory, qualitative study focuses on the English Premier League, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger as a case. Media articles covering the last 3 seasons Wenger was the manager at Arsenal were analysed in Nvivo to explore the development of his brand identity. The findings show that three components make up his brand identity. Firstly, the person (his personality, emotions and communication style) as this is who undertakes the task and is the brand owner. Secondly, the performance (mission, objectives for the team and tactics) which is linked to the activities on the pitch and thirdly, the context (fans and other stakeholders) in which the team is managed. The study contributes to the understanding of the identity of football managers as personal brands and how they are developed. The focus on one manager as a case serves as a limitation of the study.

ABSTRACT. This research focuses on brand oldness associations from an anthropomorphic perspective. The literature on the perception of elderly individuals and stereotypes shows their multidimensionality and ambivalence (positive and negative). Similarly, research on brand age indicates a variety of interpretations of perceived brand oldness. This work presents the identification of the dimensions and a measuring tool of brand oldness association. Five studies were conducted in this research: an exploratory qualitative study (Study 1) to identify the dimensions of brand oldness associations and four quantitative studies (Studies 2, 3, 4 and 5) to develop a reliable and valid measurement scale. The scale consists of 18 items and six dimensions: Expertise, Decline, Timelessness, Maintenance, Tradition, and Reminiscence.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of the study is to highlight past assessment, present trends and to direct future research agenda within virtual trade show (VTS) domain. The approach is taken as a literature review format. Three categories of antecedents are identified, namely, website factors, market-orientation factors, firms motives. Also, direct as well as indirect consequences through relevant mediators and moderators are identified. All these are presented as an integrated framework. The compendium of the antecedents and consequences of VTS can be utilized by trade show attending firms for their better performance in the future.

ABSTRACT. This study addresses a critical question concerning the sustainability of key account management strategies and the factors that influence the consistency of results. Although key account strategies have received increasing attention in recent years, a critical boundary condition and associated vulnerabilities remain unstudied. Key account strategies frequently rely on a sales leader identified as a key account manager (KAM) who is designated by the provider firm as a central contact point and internal advocate for the client. When KAMs leave the firm, this departure can lead to disruptions for clients and raise questions about the continuity of key relationships built on trust and customer knowledge accumulated over time. Our study employs an inductive approach to understand how firms that rely on deep personal relationships between salespeople and customers manage the succession process. Interviews with 41 managers in the financial services sector and 12 industry experts reveal a customer-engagement paradox where an element often considered essential to sales success – a high level of salesperson-customer affinity developed through successful customer engagement – becomes the proximate cause of impediments in sustaining the relationship. Our findings offer specific insights gleaned from managers and industry experts who have engineered effective KAM succession processes.

ABSTRACT. The value and success of a creative crowdsourcing initiative requires to attracting sufficient numbers of participants (Hopkins, 2011), which remains a persistent issue (Faullant et al., 2016): the majority of the crowd does not participate. As the crowd is heterogenous, containing professionals/experts in the creative tasks and others, rather ordinary/amateurs (Brabham, 2008, 2012), we examine the meaning that consumers, whether they are creative professionals or ordinary consumers, assign to their non-participation. In this aim, we found relevant to mobilize the theoretical framework of the meaning of work (Rosso et al., 2010) borrowed from human resources literature.Our research contributes to extant literature in two main ways. First, unlike previous studies on crowdsourcing and customer participation focusing on participants’ motivations (e.g.Kaufmann et al., 2011), we shed light on the reasons for consumers’ non-participation. Such factors are at least as important as understanding motivation for participation, and the resulting can contribute to efforts to address the insufficient attractiveness of crowdsourcing practices (Faullant et al., 2016). Second, our study enriches previous research on the meaning of work as it relates to new type of worker: the working consumer. Crowdsourcing represents a new way to employ non-employees (Ford et al., 2015), so the meaning of work in this context is critical in any effort to address the deeper needs of these new types of employees (Cartwright and Holmes, 2006).

ABSTRACT. What are subtle luxuries and why do some people consume them? These are luxuries used for some inner personal satisfaction and not conspicuously broadcasting their worth. This qualitative exploration suggested an underlying motivation: controlling to some extent contacts with other people.

ABSTRACT. In a series of lab and field studies, we investigate how the physical proximity between salespeople and customers impact store loyalty, salesperson evaluations, and actual purchase behavior. An initial survey among a representative sample of retail salespeople reveals that they strongly associate close physical proximity between employees and customers with positive consumer outcomes. Contrary to this belief and previous research documenting the positive effect of proximity on purchase intentions, three subsequent studies, in which proximity is both measured and manipulated, demonstrate that store loyalty, salespeople attitudes, and actual purchase behavior are negatively influenced when consumers encounter a salesperson standing close by (vs. farther away). Physical discomfort mediates this effect, with consumers experiencing greater discomfort when a salesperson is standing close by, which results in lower spending for expressive products. Furthermore, the extent to which consumers’ persuasion knowledge is activated moderates the effect, such that the negative influence of salesperson-consumer proximity is especially pronounced among consumers whose persuasion knowledge has (vs. has not) been activated. Given the substantial real-world financial consequences, these findings carry important implications for both theory and practice.

ABSTRACT. Because of the benefits of programmatic advertising, it has become an indispensable element in the ad buying strategy for marketing managers. However, despite its popularity in practice, there is still limited scientific research focusing on programmatic advertising and particularly on its impacts on marketing management. Hence, this study aims to investigate the issues and impacts of the use of programmatic advertising, with a specific focus in the financial sector. Our findings show that transparency, fraud, uniform measurement indicators, knowledge of the programmatic ecosystem, expertise, and data are the main issues of programmatic advertising. The findings also show that programmatic advertising brings more efficiency and flexibility to marketing management, and its personalization aspect can provide added value for the brand. However, programmatic advertising can also raise concerns about cost transparency and concerns about lack of control. The results of this study should not only contribute to the literature on digital advertising and digital marketing but also be useful for managers in other sectors to understand better the issues and impacts of programmatic advertising.

ABSTRACT. Initial Public Offering (IPO) share overhang refers to the share retention in an IPO by pre-IPO shareholders, who are predominantly insiders. We evaluate the link between overhang and the strategic value of post-IPO marketing activity. IPO overhang is positively related to post-IPO marketing spendings. On average, a one-standard deviation increase in overhang leads to an additional $4.6 million spent on marketing during the three years after an IPO. Furthermore, in these three years, high overhang firms that spend more on marketing significantly outperform their counterparts. Finally, while greater marketing spendings are associated with enhanced equity liquidity, insiders do not derive an economically significant benefit. Overall, our results suggest that the positive link between overhang and marketing is more a reflection of insiders’ interest alignment than a self-serving desire to boost short-term stock performance or stock liquidity prior to cashing out. This positive effect is moderated by the existence of financial stakeholders such as venture capitalists, and non-financial stakeholders such as key customers. Despite the capital infusion and the rapid growth they realize from an IPO, newly public firms should not consider aggressive marketing a universal choice, as it is value-enhancing only when pre-IPO shareholders’ interests are aligned.

ABSTRACT. This research pioneers brand categorizations with the perceived entitativity theory from social cognition. Extant research in group perception has identified eight antecedents (or properties) of group entitativity, including interaction, importance, outcomes, goals, similarity, duration, size, and permeability. The eight properties of perceived entitativity were utilized to measure 40 prestigious consumer brands selected from the Top 100 Global Brands of Interbrand. The results indicated that several of these variables were strongly correlated with entitativity and accounted for a substantial portion of the variation of entitativity. Based on the characteristic patterns of the clusters in the eight properties, six types of family brands were captured, including intimate, resemblance, performance, loose association, task, and conscious brands The results indicated that, as with social groups, properties of perceived entitativity are effective antecedents clustering family brands into groups, which may subsequently elaborate different cognitive processes (i.e., online and memory-based information processing) for family brand evaluations.

ABSTRACT. Research on consumer-brand relationships (CBR) has examined the CBR - brand loyalty link, but surprisingly little is known about the cultural and institutional settings that differentially impact this link. To advance understanding of how and why particular CBR constructs (e.g. love, identification) promote loyalty better in some contexts than others, we meta-analyze 304 effects from 143 studies reported in 127 publications over 21 years (n=179,395 across 35 countries) while integrating secondary data on cultural and institutional moderators.

ABSTRACT. Research on brand transgressions and service failure-recovery appear to study a similar phenomenon, yet both streams developed surprisingly independently and with limited reference to each other. In response, we synthesize the growing brand transgression and service failure-recovery literatures by systematically reviewing 203 articles across 21 years using a 10-dimension integrative conceptual framework. Along the way, we explicate complementary insights, future research avenues, and best practices to encourage consumer psychologists to contribute to the interface between these two managerially and theoretically important fields.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates psychological factors that influence consumers to engage in bandwagon consumption when purchasing luxury motor vehicles. The South African Black middle class has been receiving attention in consumer markets, especially from luxury brand houses looking at emerging markets for growth. This study was designed to measure the impact of the self-concept, susceptibility to normative influence, propensity to seek status and the need for uniqueness on the propensity to engage in bandwagon consumption behaviour. An online survey of 184 respondents provided the data which was analysed using the PLS Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique. Findings noted that cultural and individual orientation dynamics play a pivotal part when examining the role of the self-concept in influencing bandwagon consumption behaviour through the susceptibility to normative influence trait. The results confirmed the presence of bandwagon consumption and found that the behaviour occurs in spite of the self-concept and need for uniqueness.

ABSTRACT. Volunteer Tourism (or voluntourism) remains the most popular choice among alternative forms of tourism such as ecotourism, responsible tourism, and sustainable tourism which have recently proliferated. The existing literature surrounding voluntourism tends to focus on the motives of those who participate in these programmes or the positive, neutral or even negative impact of voluntourism on the communities they are aiming to help. To date, very few studies that have asked participants to reflect on the possible positive or negative outcomes of their experience for themselves. To this end, this paper has two main research aims: a) to contribute to our understanding of the reasons why alternative tourism is gaining popularity among younger generations in the expense of mainstream tourism and b) to develop and empirically test a conceptual framework that incorporates the influence of two variables related to voluntourists’ experience (authenticity of experience, immersiveness of experience) on the degree to which this experience transformed them as individuals, as well as the moderating role of their initial motives. Across two studies, we conclude that individuals’ motives influence not only the way voluntourists perceive their experience, but also the degree to which this experience transforms their attitudes, values and behaviours. Moreover, the present paper suggests that the authenticity and immersiveness of voluntourists’ experience also determines the aforementioned transformation.

ABSTRACT. Macromarketing focuses on the interplay between marketing and society. Macromarketers go beyond the dyad of buyer and seller in markets to study marketing systems and the context of markets. The panelists in this special session bring a diverse set of research interests to the topic of macromarketing issues for marketers. The panel will bring expertise in 1) citizen-consumer-oriented practices research, 2) sustainable development goals and firms in developing countries, 3) social entrepreneurship, 4) macromarketing over the years, as well as 5) sustainability.

ABSTRACT. Transaction costs make significant impact on determining the logistics and inventory costs in a consumer wholesale products companies. Effective management of transaction cost help companies ensure competitive prices and induce loyalty among the consumers. This paper aims at analyzing the transactions costs and its relationship with wholesale prices. This study critically examines the previous studies on transaction cost approach of wholesaler firms in reference to the cost incurred in their brands using direct-to-customer strategy than having it provided through the retailers. Data in this study has been conducted in reference to two large wholesale outlets in Mexico City. It is argued that wholesaler brands can effectively reduce uncertainty of supplies and increase satisfaction level the pricing expectation. Large wholesaling firms reduce their transaction costs by lowering the margin spread among the suppliers and obtaining supplies nationwide from a limited number of suppliers.

ABSTRACT. This structured abstract aims to explore the role authentic assessments can play in the learning, engagement and skill development of students who wish to pursue a marketing career. Set within the context of an undergraduate business module, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), the research serves to provide interesting insight into the role of formative authentic assessments in generating and nurturing learning, engagement and key skills of students, while creating solutions for organizations in response to specific marketing problems that mimic the real world projects. Three authentic assessment practices were undertaken by marketing students within the IMC module over a 12 week period. These assessments were based upon information of key skills required by graduate employers in Ireland in 2018. A two stage research approach was adopted using survey and focus groups to gather rich insight into student's perceptions of the authentic assessment practices on their learning, engagement and skill development. Through the authentic assessment practices, students reported enhanced skills sets as well as feeling better prepared to undertake a marketing career. It is evident that this type of formative assessment practices are beneficial for future marketers and employers, demonstrating a marrying of the academia / practice divide as well as providing students with future skills as marketing practitioners.

ABSTRACT. In the era of social media, many users generate contents and share opinions on brands with many other consumers. Some have managed to develop a strong influence on their followers and become ‘social media influencers’ (SMI). Recommending many products from many different brands, often in the same product categories, these ‘serial influencers’ differ from traditional endorsers. This paper studies followers’ responses to SMIs’ subsequent recommendations of unrelated brands, although they experienced dissatisfaction with a first recommended product. A first experiment conducted among 85 respondents shows that dissatisfaction leads to lower purchase intentions of subsequent unrelated brands. Interestingly, engagement in the SMI is not negatively impacted. To investigate further engagement, an iterative and dynamic concept, a second experiment was conducted among 159 respondents. Although duration of the relationship seems to prevent SMI’s influence to decrease after a single dissatisfaction, repeated dissatisfaction negatively impacts subsequent purchase intentions of unrelated brands. Engagement is only impacted to some extent. Above theoretical contributions, this study offers counterintuitive implications for SMIs and brands, questioning the value of numbers of followers as cue to influence strength.

ABSTRACT. Humans have a Love/Hate relationship with variety. On the one hand, we all seek variety to some extent because “Variety is the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor” (Cowpers, 1785). The definitions of variety fall into two broad categories. The first category includes definitions that focus on patterns of behavior such as sequences of purchases (processes). The second broad category includes definitions that focus on the variability within a group of purchases (outcomes). Our preliminary analysis employed an outcomes approach. The retail grocery industry is the context for this research. We started with data from one category in one store (approximately 120,000 purchase observations, 10,600 rewards card numbers, 660 brands of wine, 297 umbrella brands). We removed buyers with fewer than three purchases in the category from the data (approximately 4,500 buyers and 90,000 transactions). We measured several characteristics of buyers, brands, and brand attributes. Our measures included 1. Category Variety Score, 2. Among Brands Variety Score, 3. Within Brand Variety Score, and 4. Brand Umbrella Width. The preliminary analyses found positive and significant relationships between brand Umbrella-Width and brand sales and negatively correlated with buyer’s Category Variety Score. Category Variety Score is also correlated with Within Brand Variety Score. The implications of this research are intended to enhance our knowledge of this relationship and to provide insights that are useful to brand and retail category managers

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we propose that consumers anthropomorphize brands on these two distinct dimensions: think or feel. Think brands are perceived to have the capacity to think, plan, remember, and intend. Feel brands are considered to be able to feel and to experience hunger, pain, and pleasure. This Brand Anthropomorphism Questionnaire (BAQ) is applied to show that (1) Think dimension predicts how much blame and anger anthropomorphized brands get from consumers, and how much punishment consumer think the brand shall receive when brands are perpetrators of transgressions. (2) Feel dimension predicts how much sympathy and support anthropomorphized brands get from consumers when brands are victims; and (3) when anthropomorphized brands are engaged in CSR activities.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates consumers’ responses to production delocalization in the luxury industry, based on brand origin matching consumers’ origin, or not. Two experiments were conducted. Study 1 exposes luxury clients (French, Italian and other European) to a message of delocalization of either a French or Italian brand supposed to delocalize production to China. Study 2 assesses, among French women, the implicit preference (IAT) toward French luxury brands and consumer ethnocentrism. Although brand origin is not salient when consumers evaluate brands (no explicit preference for French over Italian brands across studies), it is nonetheless present below awareness (Implicit preference for home brands), as part of the brand heritage and the brand identity. It manifests in context of brands delocalizing out of the home country. Consumers’ responses are affected negatively post-exposure to a message of delocalization.

ABSTRACT. Phrases such as “sharing economy” and “collaborative consumption” are in their nascent stages of development of the lexicon to represent some new and emerging business models. The exact definition and meaning of these terminologies require refinement as more and more enterprises come under this “sharing economy” umbrella. Zipcar, Bikeshare, Uber, Turo all call themselves sharing economies while there are inherent differences in what is being delivered and how it is being delivered. This diversity of examples necessitate a more precise conceptualization of the definition and domain of sharing economy, and a unifying typology to capture its nuances. This article aims to address these research needs and increase the conceptual clarity of sharing economy by (1) providing a definition of sharing, clarifying its conceptual domain, and differentiating it from other related constructs such as renting, leasing, etc. and (2) developing a comprehensive typology of sharing to classify various sharing activities into three categories. We then discuss the theoretical connections of the typology to other constructs and research streams, managerial implications of the research, and future research directions emanating from the typology.

ABSTRACT. Social networking sites that make extensive use of the co-presence of their members in real and virtual spaces are growing faster than others. Under the umbrella of location-based services, these sites offer people a connection between the real and the virtual world. Despite their popularity, little research exists on how these sites impact the digital and real-world perception of public urban spaces. Using the social networking site Yelp as a research context, our case study investigates the mediating role that social networking sites play in the digital and real-world perception of public urban spaces. Our article discusses the underlying social and behavioral norms and the implications that the emerging third spaces play for the convergence of online and digital worlds.

ABSTRACT. The importance of social influencer marketing as a means of brand communication is consistently growing. Certain social influencers can even attract a larger audience than an average television production. Thus, it is crucial to know the success factors of an influencer marketing campaign. Until now, research has mainly focused on global measures of success such as number of followers or pagerank. However, practitioners sometimes state that these measures are too superficial. They speculate that it would be relevant to consider the triad of (a) social influencer personality, (b) brand personality and (c) consumer personality. An exemplary follow-up question may be whether it is important that the personality of the social influencer matches the one of the brand. The work at hand picks up on this chain of thoughts: It investigates whether the interplay of (1) personality congruence between influencer and brand, the (2) identification of the consumer with the influencer and (3) the level of product involvement have effects on constructs of brand perception (brand attitude, brand trust) and brand behavior (purchase intention). For this purpose, structural equation modeling is employed. The results indicate that (1) personality congruence between influencer and brand is the most important success factor, followed by (2) identification. (3) The level of product involvement is nearly insignificant. Based on these findings, implications for management and further research are developed.

ABSTRACT. This research aims to investigate the impact of leadership and avenues of strategic decision making on the firm’s brand, customers and performance. The context is the entrepreneurial firm environment, especially focusing on decision making related to marketing strategy. The underlying research question is: What avenues may be available for different types of entrepreneurial firms to optimize strategic leadership decision making aimed at driving firm performance and market success? The basis for this research is an understanding of the strategic alignment of marketing orientation and entrepreneurial orientation. This inquiry is founded on resource based theory and upper echelons theory in the context of strategic decision making to drive firm performance. It proposes a framework to be tested in an entrepreneurial context, focusing on decision making related to different aspects of marketing strategy.

ABSTRACT. Advances in technology have facilitated an increased emphasis on targeted price promotion to consumers. Although marketing researchers have examined the impact of targeted price promotion on firm outcomes, targeted price promotion research remains highly fragmented. In addition, mixed results from existing research and the growing use of the targeted price promotion by firms, demands a systematic approach to bring clarity, specificity, and comprehensiveness to targeted price promotion strategy. To address this research gap, we first frame our research question as the impact of targeted price promotion on the creation of value for firms. Accordingly, we review and summarize research findings on how targeted price promotion impacts key firm value indicators such as increased marketing effectiveness, customer loyalty, and revenue, while it presents challenges such as sub-optimal returns and customer switching. Finally, we offer a research agenda to expand research in the area.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this research is to examine the vocabulary of marketing management as it has changed over the last thirty years and report any practical and theoretical insights from this analysis with the goal of suggesting an updated managerial framework of marketing. Hunt (1983) has suggested that a fundamental theory of marketing would encompass both the behavior of the buyer and seller as well as the organizational practices of marketing and the societal consequences of these activities. While prior research has examined the changing nature of marketing research topics, this study focuses on organizational practices and on the managerial aspect of marketing, what managers do on a daily basis and how they communicate to their customers and to each other. Using evolutionary theory as an inspiration, this study examined the vocabulary of marketing in Marketing News,™ over thirty years. These data suggest that the marketer’s job has shifted in a meaningful way from a more strategic and planning emphasis to a more tactical and technological emphasis, fueled by the introduction of the internet and all its capabilities into the scene. There are more marketing tactics than ever, facilitated by the internet, such as email, search and social media and marketers are increasingly focused on technology and tactics. The resulting strategy, tactics and technology (S-T-T) framework provides insight in to both marketing practice and the education of future marketers.

ABSTRACT. Using Friestad and Wright’s (1994) Persuasion Knowledge Model as a framework, this research sought to focus on consumer entitlement, product knowledge, and persuasion knowledge as antecedents to consumer perceptions of sales pressure. Particularly in focus was the moderating role of product knowledge on the relationships of consumer entitlement and persuasion knowledge on perceptions of sales pressure. Product knowledge was found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between a consumer's persuasion knowledge and their perceptions of aggressive sales pressure, such that persuasion knowledge's mitigating effect on perceptions of sales pressure was enhanced at higher levels of product knowledge. These results underscore the transformative effect enhanced product knowledge and its resultant educated consumer base can have on the sales interaction.

ABSTRACT. We investigate consumer behavior in situations of interracial sales contact and explore how prejudice influences prosocial purchase decisions towards vendors from an in- and out-group by applying the theory of overcorrection. In general, out-group interactions are widely associated with negative behavior; however, the opposite can also occur by showing overly friendly and controlled behavior (so-called overcorrection). Overcorrection is an under-researched phenomenon in the domains of consumer behavior and sales management. We argue that overcorrection has potentially important marketing implications and aim to shed light on this issue by focusing on the role of prejudice, as well as on the motivation to appear unprejudiced. In a laboratory experiment, the race of street vendors (Whites vs. Blacks) was manipulated between subjects and a prosocial purchase decision was measured. Implicit and explicit prejudice, as well as the motivation to act without prejudice,  moderated the relationship between the vendor's race and the likelihood of a prosocial purchasing decision (willingness to purchase). Overcorrection is observable at a low level of prejudice (implicit and explicit) and disappears at moderate and high levels of prejudice. Where prejudice towards Black vendors is low, participants indicate a higher willingness to purchase from Black than from White vendors. We argue that participants with low prejudice showed the highest overcorrection because they are not experiencing cognitive depletion and can regulate their behaviors. A higher motivation to act without prejudice (regardless of the level of prejudice) leads to overcorrected behavior. The insights of these findings have substantial implications for sales and charity managers.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the effects of person-team fit and how trait cooperativeness and trait competitiveness affect salespersons’ learning goal orientation and sales performance. The person-team fit implies that individuals and teams have compatible personality traits (e.g., trait cooperativeness or trait competitiveness), while misfit implies that team members have different personality traits from their team (e.g., cooperative oriented persons in the competitive oriented team). This paper proposes that (1) cooperative salespersons in cooperative teams exhibit more learning goal orientation than those in competitive teams, and (2) competitive salespersons in competitive teams will exhibit less learning goal orientation than those in cooperative teams. Moreover, salespersons’ learning goal orientation will result in their own sales’ performance. Therefore, person-team fit strengthens the positive effect of the two traits studied on learning goal orientation only when individuals and teams are fit on trait cooperativeness. However, in contrast with the traditional view that misfit is always inferior to fit, individual-team misfit (e.g., competitive-oriented individuals in cooperative-oriented teams) can lead to high levels of learning goal orientation and salespeople’s performance.

ABSTRACT. Social media created new channels of communication between the companies and their consumers. Users of such channels can utilize them to interact directly with the company for various reasons, including asking questions, making requests, and complaining. Previous research examining such behaviors on official company accounts on Twitter showed that consumers who post their complaints and negative reviews on these accounts expect to receive answers from the companies. This study aims to contribute to the literature in this area by examining the influence of social media complaint-handling strategies on consumer attitudes. The present study employed an experimental paradigm where the independent variables, i.e. the timeliness of the online complaint and whether it contained an apology or redress, were manipulated via different scenarios in a between-subjects design. The dependent variable that was expected to change as a function of the experimental manipulations was how forgiving the consumers would be of the company in the online complaint-handling situation. It also investigated consumers’ perceived effort and empathy as potential moderators of this causal relationship.

ABSTRACT. Crowdsourcing is defined as the way “to publicly invite a large group of people to take a task that was traditionally performed by an employee or contractor in the form of an open call” (Howe, 2008, p.1). Seen as a promising method to gather ideas (Poetz and Schreier, 2012), crowdsourcing has achieved great popularity among practitioners. Although a large body of literature highlights the benefits of these initiatives (both for brands and participants), innovation in collaboration with communities can “create frustration and evoke angry reactions” due to disappointing experiences (Gebauer et al., 2013). Indeed, while the literature reveals that users engage in virtual co-creation activities as they expect the participation to be rewarded by the nodal brands (Füller, 2010; von Hippel, 2005), only a very small fraction of crowd proposals is selected and rewarded by the brand contest committee. This research, carried out in two studies, investigates the impact of rejection of participants’ submissions on the brands running a crowdsourcing project. In the first study, a longitudinal survey dealing with repeated measures before and after the announcement of the non-selection (ideation stage) was conducted. Subsequently, a second quantitative study was realized to compare brand evaluation (same variable as study 1) at two different rejection stages: ideation (pre-selection round) versus expansion stage (development and deepening phase leading to the finale). The findings reveal that losing a crowdsourcing contest does not have a negative effect on relationships between the contributors’ participants and the brand and can even have significant positive effects.

ABSTRACT. The authors explore consumers’ reactions towards co-created products regarding (1) the type of users who are involved during the innovation process – ordinary consumers vs. fans – and (2) the perceived complexity of the product category. We develop a set of hypotheses to build a model that aims to explain consumer perception of the co-created product and word-of-mouth intention regarding (1) if the manufacturer co-creates with its fans or ordinary consumers and 2) whether such effects differ according to the product complexity. This research also empirically tests three antecedents including product-class involvement, domain-specific knowledge and similarity with fans that influence on the dependent variables. An online survey was conducted with a representative sample of Japanese consumers (N = 240). The results show that 1) in all cases (complex and non-complex products), if consumers are highly involved in the product class, it is very likely that they will perceive the co-created product as higher than those producers develop alone regardless the users who are involved in the co-creation process (fans or ordinary consumers), and 2) if consumers are highly knowledgeable about the product category, it is very likely that they will engage in word-of-mouth but not necessarily appreciate the values of the co-created product, with fans or ordinary consumers. These results are insightful as it reflects the collectivistic culture which has not been studied actively in the past.

ABSTRACT. The fast development of B2B electronic marketplaces has enabled customers to coordinate their customized product development (CPD) projects in these marketplaces. However, customers are sometimes reluctant to participate in these projects due to potential risks about losing business information and knowledge, opportunistic behaviours, divergent goals and a lack of trust. Recent research has found that formal control can facilitate customer participation, thereby enhancing CPD performance. However, formal control hinders manufacturers’ autonomy of customization and undermines mutual trust, while informal control enables control over manufacturers but ensures their autonomy. Limited research has been focused on informal control mechanisms based on networks, i.e. network governance, and their impacts on customer participation, especially in the online context. Drawing on network governance theory, this paper puts forward propositions on how network governance mechanisms influence customer participation in CPD, thereby affecting CPD performance. It also proposes that mechanisms’ impacts are moderated by different network structures of competitive networks and cooperative networks. This paper contributes to the new product development literature by proposing network governance’s impacts on customer participation in CPD. It also contributes the network governance theory by examining the mechanisms’ application in the new product development context and their network conditions.

ABSTRACT. While frugal products play an increasingly important role in satisfying consumer needs in both emerging and developed markets, product frugality as a construct remains largely underexplored. In this multi-method study, the authors develop a comprehensive conceptualization and operationalization of product frugality using a literature analysis, expert interviews, consumer interviews, and multi-country consumer surveys. Established procedures of index construction and scale development are applied to diverse sets of consumer data from U.S., U.K., Germany, India, and South Africa to develop and test a broadly applicable measurement instrument for product frugality. The results depict product frugality as a formative construct with four dimensions: cost of consumption, sustainability, simplicity, and basic quality. The findings are consistent across various country backgrounds and product categories. Nomological examination shows that product frugality increases consumers’ willingness to generate word of mouth. This is especially true for consumers who are restrained and conscious in acquiring and using resources.

ABSTRACT. Policymakers have long suggested a need to overhaul supplemental nutrition assistance programs in the U.S. to save taxpayer money. However, these efforts are often met with resistance because cutting costs is often paired with reducing the quality of diet which can result in even greater costs in government-provided healthcare. This research takes a consumer-driven perspective and explores the cost factors driving food purchases for low-income, urban consumers in order to better understand the ways that the current food marketing system is failing to provide this population with value. The samples include a 32-person sample from a low-income urban area in North Carolina as well as a 52-person general sample taken from Amazon mTurk. This exploratory research shows that low-income consumers tend to rely more heavily on well-known food and are most concerned about the cognitive burden and time required to prepare meals at home. These findings can be used to better understand the shopping decisions of low-income consumers and for policy makers to design higher value supplemental nutrition programs to address these concerns.

ABSTRACT. Panhandling can be described as a public solicitation of food, money, or other goods in exchange for little-to-nothing of value to a donor (Lankenau 1999; Lee and Farrell 2003). However, a literature search of panhandling in the marketing and consumer behavior domains finds no prior research on the subject. Whereas traditional notions of pain-of-payment theorize frictionless payments lead to more consumer spending (Prelec and Loewenstein 1998; Thomas, Desai, and Seenivasan 2010), the charitable donation context is different, as it is entirely voluntary and typically in response to negative affect-moderated empathy (Andreoni 1990; 1991). We propose the relationship between payment mechanism in an impulsive donation context and consumer donations is mediated by pain of payment. To test our assertion, we conduct a study that yields evidence payment mechanisms influence dampen consumers’ charitable behaviors and that cash (versus non-cash) donations differ in both number of donations and donation amounts. Not only does payment mechanism affect pain of payment, which affects charitable donations, but it also moderates this mediated effect. While consumers are less willing to donate using noncash mechanisms, those who do so are willing to donate significantly larger amounts than those using cash. We expect to extend our findings beyond the panhandling context and into the nonprofit donation context, where organizations that use street solicitation would benefit from a deeper understanding how their donations might be increased in the face of fewer people carrying cash.

ABSTRACT. Even though there is a noticeable market value in the mobile gaming apps industry, there has been limited research examining experiential value of gamers in respect to in-game ads in gaming apps. This study addresses this gap in the literature by examining factors associated with “Experiential Value of Gamers through Ads in Gaming Apps (EVGAGA)” as well as investigating its antecedents (in terms of cognitive and affective involvement) and consequences (positive word of mouth and continuance intention to play gaming apps). A total of 600 valid responses from gamers was used to test the model fit, measurement and structural models, conditional probabilistic queries, and nonlinearity. This study found that EVGAGA is a second-order factor of four constructs: escapism, enjoyment, social affiliation and entertainment. The structural paths between cognitive/affective involvement and dimensions of EVGAGA are supported. Surprisingly, only social affiliation and entertainment values predict positive word of mouth and continuance intention to play gaming apps. Furthermore, the results of multi-group analysis indicate that the relationship between Enjoyment and Continuance intention to play gaming apps is stronger for those having high level of attachment to games. The findings have important implications for companies that could help develop brand and communication strategies. For instance, by understanding factors associated with experiential value of gamers, companies could leverage specific advertisement formats and present their ads to the right audience in the right gaming apps and at the right time.

ABSTRACT. This study offers a content analysis of selected advertising creative scholarly outputs over the period 2012 to 2018. The aim is to deliver readers and researchers a comprehensive view of the likely future direction of the area. The review suggests that research will likely be dominated by further studies of the effects of creativity on brands and consumer behavior. Investigations of the role and practice of creativity within advertising agencies are expected to continue apace along with some work on their relationships with clients via creative work. Probably growth areas of interest will include creativity and digital and social media and of creativity and wider perspectives on role portrayal.

ABSTRACT. Mobile devices possess the great ability to enable consumers to use and interact with in-store based technology, thus amplifying the opportunity for retailers to influence consumer decisions and behaviors at the point of sale. Despite the increasing interest in this topic, relevant both for academics and practitioners, to date very few studies have explored the applications of mobile advertising in retail setting and their effects on consumers’ decisions. By focusing on Location Based Advertising (LBA), this study investigates how the platform used in the mobile promotion (Facebook - WhatsApp) and the level of congruity of the promotion (shopping goal congruent – shopping goal non-congruent) influence consumers’ willingness to redeem the promotion. Specifically, the results of two experiments demonstrate that WhatsApp in-store mobile promotion is more effective in driving purchase intentions, especially for goal congruent promotion. Moreover, the research shows that the level of social presence triggered by the platform mediates this relationship. The article ends with a discussion of the study's implications for academic research, along with its limitations and future research directions.

ABSTRACT. Despite the ubiquity and importance of print advertisements in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, academic research on the content of current B2B ads is limited. To spur further investigation on this topic, this exploratory inquiry compares the use of influential language, imagery and claims in B2B print advertising with that of business-to-consumer (B2C) firms. The results of a content analysis of 270 print ads showed that B2B ads lag behind B2C ads in employing persuasive elements and that advertisers in general fail to employ many of the elements.

ABSTRACT. Most consumers look favorably on companies that promise to do good (Kelleher 2007), that is companies with an explicit statement of supporting a social cause, for example engaging in charitable donations or environmental stewardship. In 2000, Carroll predicted that businesses would focus on aligning their philanthropic interests with their economic mandates, allowing both to be achieved at the same time. Carroll (2000, p. 37) referred to these efforts as “strategic philanthropy.” While Carroll did not go so far as to predict the development of a new business model based on philanthropy, his description of strategic philanthropy seems to have been a harbinger of this movement. The purpose of this research is to conduct an investigation into the long-term sustainability of one of the newest classes of business models, one that integrates social enterprise into traditional for-profit business. An analysis of externally communicated messages by varied sources for four exemplar companies (TOMS, Warby Parker, tentree, and Patagonia) is presented. The results and implications for businesses are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Customers are frequently asked to make charitable donations at the cash register when making purchases. This is a form of cause marketing which allows companies to demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility. This growing trend of point of sale donations (POSD) has received little research attention. Research relating to the managerial perspective on POSD is particularly sparse, even though the retail manager is responsible for both customer and employee experiences. Through a series of interviews his research examines managerial perceptions of POSD. Specifically, we examine retail managers’ attitudes toward these programs, through interviews with 13 retail managers. These semi-structured interviews revealed managerial attitudes toward POSD, their perceptions of customers’ attitudes toward POSD, and their perceptions of employees’ attitudes toward POSD. Results suggest that managers’ positive POSD attitudes may lead them to underestimate negative responses from customers and employees. As such, managers may be reducing the potential value of these programs and missing an opportunity to further engage employees. An inside-out or internal marketing approach, where employees are treated as key stakeholders for the program, may be an effective means of enhancing program effectiveness, while increasing customer and employee satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. Little research has explicitly considered the influence of retailer-provided sustainability disclosure at points of purchase for brands within specific product categories. Thus, the current research examines the conditions wherein sustainability-focused scale ratings can assist consumers in determining the sustainability performances of products. The implications of these findings for retailers, manufacturers, nongovernmental organizations, and policymakers are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Høgevold and Svensson (2016) identify multiple organizational directions to assess the organizational efforts and priorities of sustainability initiatives through time. This study combines and applies their developed frameworks in the service-oriented industry of health care organizations, namely both private and public hospitals.

This study aims to offer a foundation to understand past and present organizational efforts and priorities of sustainability initiatives. In doing so, it seeks to provide an empirical foundation for the organizational direction of sustainability initiatives through time, as well as revealing similarities and differences between private and public sectors.

ABSTRACT. A panel discussion entertaining audience questions about the history and trends in marketing textbooks led by a panel of authors of marketing, sales, and marketing research textbooks.