ABSTRACT. Enabling customers to influence marketing decisions is now a widespread strategy enabled by digital technology development. As a matter of fact, Lego, Threadless, Muji, 3M, Starbucks, Schwarovski, can be listed as visionary brands that empower their customer to create and vote for new products designs. While substantial knowledge was gained from literature sheding light on several positive outcomes of empowerment efforts for companies, benefits withdrawned by consumers from new product development participation have been neglected by literature. In addition, if scholars adressed positive consequences of relying on consumers for companies, situations where empowerment contests could be counterproductive are still lacking. This research aims at evaluating customer empowerment campaigns effectiveness by a confrontation between criteria of success advanced by professionals and consumers perception. A qualitative study combining interviews completed with professional, participants to empowerment campaigns and projective interviews is performed.

ABSTRACT. Currently, using the technique of data analysis to assist brand management is very popular.  In the rich digital data market, there is a great deal of general literature on exploring customers’ responses. However, specific guidance on what kind of global brands could survive in the high competitions is lacking. While the management of global brands has been extensively investigated, the transformation of global best brands is relatively unexplored. This paper introduces the possibility of text analytics to provide a framework for the profile and change of the successful global brands, by using Interbrand’s Best Global Brands ranking report as a reference source (Interbrand, 2017) The world best brands in the Interbrand’s annual report are categorized and quantified in order to ascertain which brands evaluated by experts are the successful global brands. The results show that there are 166 different brands from 19 countries and 23 sectors through 2000 to 2016. The profiles of the successful global brand include C.O.O., industries, and other key factors. Moreover, text analytics was also used to investigate the keywords behind the transformation of Interbrand’s best global brand using the annual reports through 2006 to 2016.  The results suggest that customer centric, strategy, experience, and technology are the key successful factors recently.  The potential research directions are also addressed in this study.

ABSTRACT. Despite the acknowledged importance of brand experience as means of delivering value to consumers and establishing competitive differentiation, research in the field focuses on the demand side and fails to provide insight into the creation and management of brand experience. As practitioners implement a range of strategies to provide brand experiences, research from their perspective is necessary to understand their view of brand experience and the factors which influence their approach. We report here on qualitative research which has been conducted with brand experience practitioners and which examines their definitions of brand experience, their views of its purpose and of its creation and management. By exploring the views of those who are directly responsible for creating experiences, we provide a unique perspective on brand experience, identifying the challenges inherent in brand experience management and proposing a conceptual framework to assist managers with future brand experience strategy development and implementation.

ABSTRACT. Consumers currently give increasing importance to the values that brands represent. Transparency, benevolence to society, openness, environmental consciousness, and fairness are becoming more relevant, according to several consultants reports. Nevertheless, limited attention has been dedicated to this subject in marketing literature. The aim of our study was to look into the role of values in consumers’ decision making (i.e. brand loyalty). For this purpose we introduced the concept of value congruence in order to operationalize the relationship between values and brand loyalty. Value congruence is a concept borrowed from self-congruence theory, which describes the process by which consumers determine a match between their desires and what brands have to offer them. The findings of our study indicate the importance of (generic) values in influencing brand loyalty.

ABSTRACT. Today’s sales force play crucial roles and are considered as the most essential and strategic tool in the hands of sales managers for enhancing competitiveness and achieving sales growth (financial fortunes) in every organization. Thus, the effective management of sales force has assumed a top marketing function priority for business organizations. This study seeks to assess how training, motivation, effective recruitment, the internet and personal branding affect sales force performance. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed using stratified sampling method: 250 were retrieved and 210 were fully completed and useable for the purposes of the study. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, unidimensionality, and construct validity was used to analyse the variables. Structure equation modelling was also used. The study finds that Sales Force Motivation, Sales Force Training and Effective Sales Force Recruitment relates positively to Personal Branding which translates into Sales Force Performance. The study recommends that organizations must ensure that sales force are adequately motivated and appropriately trained to develop personal brands which in turn translate into performance gains. Keywords:

ABSTRACT. Previous research in service contexts finds customers feel guilty after violating a social norm (e.g., lack of purchase) and that such customer-induced guilt leads to increased repatronage intention, despite guilt being a negative emotion. Previous work, however, has not considered how service providers should react when a customer experiences guilt. Should service providers emphasize or downplay the customer’s norm violation? Emphasizing the norm violation, a tactic similar to guilt appeals in advertising, may further increase guilt and, thus, increase a customer’s repatronage intention. Nonetheless, doing so may also increase the customer’s anger. Customers may perceive that that they are being manipulated—that the service provider is attempting to induce guilt in them, or what we label perception of guilt induction. Experimental findings suggest that enhancing the customer’s norm violation increases guilt, which increases repatronage intention. However, doing so also increases perceived guilt induction and anger, which ultimately decrease repatronage intention more so than the positive effect of guilt.

ABSTRACT. Previous research has extended scholars’ focus on place attachment and the servicescape as the physical service setting. However, very little attention has been paid to exploring the temporal dimension in connection with attachment and servicescapes. In particular, how place attachment is maintained during the transition phase between the removal of, or disruption to, one permanent servicescape and the reestablishment of its replacement. This paper examines the use of transitional servicescapes to maintain attachment to city precincts. The context for this work is the city on Christchurch, New Zealand which suffered two devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Six years on Christchurch is still undergoing an extensive rebuilding process. Because of the magnitude of destruction, especially in the CBD, and the logistics of clearing damaged buildings, designing, planning and funding new works have meant that only now a new permanent city is emerging.This post-earthquake scenario provides a suitable study environment in regard to the time perspective of servicescapes and how residents maintain, build or rebuild their attachment to place during this temporary or transitional period.

ABSTRACT. The notion of consumer misbehavior has gained more attention in recent years, challenging the old adage that “the customer is always right.” This is also evident in the value co-creation literature in which certain behaviors, such as consumer participation, may result in undesired consequences. However, only a handful of researchers have begun to view this alternative side to value co-creation. As such, this article seeks to gain a better understanding of the manifestations and traits of value co-destruction (VCD), the opposite possibility of value co-creation. Here, VCD refers to the decline in value created together by a provider and consumer from their interactions and experiences that result in resource disintegration. From a service-dominant logic perspective, the current study argues the propensity of consumers contributing negative value to the co-creation process through resource disintegration. That is, if resources are misused or applied the wrong way, then the value potential is not realized from the dyad. Using a typology of value destruction, this article explores the application of resource disintegration based on the interaction between service systems and intentionality.

ABSTRACT. Despite all the progress in the field of Entrepreneurship, there are still some unresolved issues. Understanding of how opportunities are discovered and transformed is still hazy. The reality is that the learning paradigms employed by business schools have been based on behavioral approaches. Given that entrepreneurship is about searching and discovering opportunities, cognitive and situated learning may deem more appropriate. Moreover, recent claims posit that entrepreneurship has become more than a specific set of skills. Advocates argue that it is a more generalized method, similar to the scientific method. It’s a way of reasoning and logic (Sarasvathy 2008). This paper addresses the opportunity identification process through a customer discovery lens. First, learning theories are discussed in the light of the entrepreneurial process with an emphasis on the initial stages: search and discovery. Second, evidence-based entrepreneurship approaches derived from distinctive disciplines (e.g., design and software development) that attempt to provide guidance to the search and discovery phases of the entrepreneurial process are discussed. Third, the Innovation Canvas, an experiential learning tool that adopts and integrates from Customer Development, Lean Startup and Design Thinking is introduced. Finally, implications to theory and practice are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Technology-mediated communication is established as a key channel for firms to interact with consumers, who can choose between a rapidly expanding variety of devices types and interaction modes such as live-chats, video calls, voice-controlled virtual assistants, or online avatars. However, frustrated consumers report publicly about their negative experience and attribute their discontent to a lack of authenticity of the technology-mediated encounter. In technology-mediated contexts consumers often cannot relate to tangible products and observable behavior of a service employee to judge the authenticity of the encounter. Thus, it is unknown how consumers form their authenticity evaluation. We address this gap by exploring the concept of authenticity in technology-mediated consumer-firm interactions. Based on 41 qualitative in-depth interviews we provide a framework of consequences and antecedents of authenticity perception. Most importantly, we identify three different categories of cues from which consumers infer to judge the authenticity of an encounter: the human presence, the communication style and the brand values.

ABSTRACT. In the marketing discipline, the investigation of engagement among actors has attracted wide interest from business practitioners and academics. However, engagement studies have tended to focus on the ‘sunny’ side of engagement where actors engage favourably with a focal object/agent (e.g. product, service, brand or employee). On the other hand, actors also become negatively engaged. For example, when customers experience service failure, they may engage in predominantly negative behaviours such as retaliating towards the service provider, spreading negative word-of-mouth, or simply by avoiding the provider in future. The objective of this study is to untangle the complexities of the valence of engagement among multiple actors in the service networks or eco-system and to provide research directions for further investigations.

ABSTRACT. This proposed special session for the 2017 AMS World Marketing Congress focuses on the role of marketing in creating value for public entities that include universities, research centers, and governments. Despite their apparent differences, these entities possess certain commonalities that enable value creation through innovative and transformative marketing. The proposed session is unique because the focal institutions reside in four different countries—Saudi Arabia, Poland, Mexico, and the United States. As such, the generality of the insights proffered and coalesced will be unprecedented in marketing. In addition, the proposed session is unique in that it brings together a panel of experts that include academics as well as practitioners. Thus, the proposed session will incorporate and interlace both academic perspectives and practice perspectives, something that is seldom done in marketing. Moreover, the proposed session will suggest avenues through which AMS members can engage with the focal entities for mutual benefit.

ABSTRACT. Firms these days operate an online crowdsourcing platform to "outsource" ideas for new products and services from “crowd” of consumers (Bayus 2013). This crowdsourcing brings freshness to the new product development by adapting novel ideas from consumers (Bayus 2013, Carson 2007, Raassens, Wuyts, and Geyskens 2012). For example, participants can submit their own idea of a product to Lego Ideas (Lego’s crowdsourcing website: http://ideas.lego.com). Then, Lego picks the most valuable and creative product to get manufactured. So, if the idea submitted from a participant can be positively influenced by the environment of the crowdsourcing platform, firms will get more benefit. In addition, the outcome of a worker becomes more creative if the environment is creative (Amabile 1982, 1996). Yet, lack of literatures have studied the relationship between website environment and individual creativity. The purpose of this study is to figure out a way to improve creative crowdsourcing results from the participants by controlling website environments. The study focuses on the relationship between creative website environments of a crowdsourcing website and the impact on the users’ individual creativity. According to the results, individual creativity is significantly influenced by website environments (creativity and design) through perceived playfulness and perceived ease of use of the website.

ABSTRACT. The focus of this research is to investigate the effect of creativity on community activity and valence. Various factors can influence the degree of community activity ideators participate in. Therefore in this research, we examined the dimensions of creativity, novelty and meaningfulness with the ideas generated by online users as well as the number of prior entries they have submitted. We examined creativity and their influence on community feedback and activity to gain insight into how a crowdsource generated idea is received by other ideators. The results indicated the amount of votes and comments an idea receives is effected differently depending on whether the idea is novel or meaningful. This allows us to better understand the crowdsourcing community. By understanding what type of creativity the community responds to, we can provide more focalized incentives to ideators, particularly repeat ideators.

ABSTRACT. Taste perception plays a key role in consumers’ food decisions. The current research examines consumers’ taste preference for a snack/drink to enhance their creativity and how different tastes influence performance on a creativity task. We find that although consumers prefer to have sweet taste for a creativity task (Study1), sour taste actually enhances performance on the creativity task better than sweet taste (Studies 2 and 3). We demonstrate that this beneficial effect of sour taste is due to its cognitive association with creativity (Studies 2 and 3).

ABSTRACT. “Visceral factors cause people to behave contrary to their own long-term self-interest, often with full awareness that they are doing so,” (Loewenstein 1996, p 272-273) and are defined by arousal and a temporary increase in desirability of acting (Hoch and Loewenstein 1991). Advertising is replete with visceral cue usage (Loewenstein 2000). However, visceral cues can backfire unintentionally (Hovland, Janis, and Kelly 1953; Yoon, Choi, and Song 2011). It is the purpose of this research to evaluate how promotional advertising of a high involvement product using visceral cues can cause attenuated consumer attitudes, as a result of mental imagery.

The 2 x 2 experimental design, manipulating involvement and visceral cues, indicates that visceral cues can produce a boomerang effect under low involvement purchases, attenuating attitudes and purchase intentions. The absence of visceral cues enhances attitudes, especially under high involvement, explained via mental imagery formation in PROCESS. A second study is currently underway, ruling out alternative explanations for the negative effects under low involvement. Planned additional studies will reveal boundary conditions for the boomerang effect.

ABSTRACT. In this study, we conducted two experiments to explore the persuasive effects of identity-defining messages and identity-referencing messages under the influences of product category and self-construal when consumers possess the identity described in an advertisement message. The research results show that product category and self-construal can be effective factors interfering with the persuasive effects of identity-relevant messages and that the agency of self-expression acted as a mediator. In addition to enriching the research on identity marketing, we hope to provide information that enables marketers to use identity-relevant messages flexibly in various situations.

ABSTRACT. The study examined the heart rate responses toward entertaining advertising of different stimulation levels and the link between consumer’s heart rate when exposure to entertaining advertising and their attitudes toward advertisements and brands. By employing heart rate measure it is further confirmed that emotional responses to entertaining advertisement is positively related with the stimulation level of advertisement. More importantly, the heart rate measure of emotional reactions is found positively related with Aad and Ab. The heart rate measure enriched the traditional measures of entertaining advertisement effectiveness, through the analysis of consumers’ unconsciousness. This study provides marketers with another instrument to evaluate their entertaining TV commercials. Heart rate data allow the researchers to explore participants’ responses that are not controllable. Hence, heart rate measures could play a valuable role in predicting advertising effectiveness as it offers objective and precise data. This study also confirms that the heart rate result obtained by smartphones may serve as an objective predictor supporting marketers’ decision in diverse areas such as selecting the best advertising appeals.

ABSTRACT. The literature on empowerment in marketing has grown exponentially in the 2000s. This article provides a comprehensive review of the concept of consumer empowerment, which in prior research has given rise to a variety of work with sometimes contradictory theoretical frameworks. Building on scholarly insights from multiple literature streams, this paper identifies three facets of empowerment (bestowing power, gaining power, and as a subjective state) and structures extant marketing research according to it. The critical synthesis of empirical findings from marketing literature leads to propose in integrated framework where future advancements on empowerment can be developed. An examination of fundational theories of power will help scholars better circumscribe their empirical studies in appropriate genealogical approach of power. This analysis reveals some limits associated with earlier research. We end by suggesting further directions of research to advance the theorization and empirical testing of empowerment.

ABSTRACT. Whereas most prior research on cosmetics consumption focused on users as objects of others’ or their own judgment, the purpose of this research was to understand more fully the psychology of cosmetics consumers themselves, especially as it pertained to their close relationships. Because of the novelty of this approach (and the dearth of research from this perspective), we began with a rigorous ethnography to develop a framework and hypotheses, which we then experimentally tested with real U.S. consumers. We uncover more nuanced aspects of the makeup consumer’s psychology, finding that a short makeup ritual gives rise to a sense of playfulness, which in turn enhances the wearer’s capacity for love. For some wearers, the makeup ritual inspired reciprocation from romantic partners.

ABSTRACT. This study focuses on satisfaction of life (SOL), social (SWB) and environmental well-being (EWB) as determinants of consumers’ willingness to consider the long term environmental implications of their decisions in their pre-purchase evaluation and selection of white goods. The South African white goods industry has shown substantial growth as more households attain economic well-being and converge into a middle class segment. It is postulated that if these consumers enjoy SOL with high levels of SWB and EWB, they will be less likely to engage in future discounting practices (FDP) whereby they prioritize more immediate concerns rather than long term environmental consequences. Following principal component analysis, structural equation modelling was performed. Construct associations between SOL and SWB as well as SOL to EWB were positive and significant. As hypothesized, a negative association exits between consumers’ EWB and FDP. The association between consumers’ SWB and FDP was however not significant. It would seem that within the South African emerging market context more attention must be devoted toward improving consumers’ SOL and overall well-being to counter FDP. Yet, SWB might not be as important as EWB in convincing individuals to act beyond immediate gratification for the sake of the environment.

ABSTRACT. Demain is a documentary film launched in 2015 by Laurent and Dion. The film collects many feel-good stories of people that are taking positive actions to combat the ecological crisis we are living. This example is representative of a recent change in the tone used in the media and in the campaigns addressing climate change issues. The majority of the messages addressing climate change were framed negatively, aiming to motivate engagement through the willingness of avoiding guilt or shame. However, recently, a new way to communicate has emerged. Positive messages are created with the idea that feel-good information can be effective for motivating people to solve the ecological crisis. The President Obama for his opening speech at the UN climate summit in Paris, France, in 2015 calls for hope. He suggests to hope that the ecological crisis can be addressed. Empirically this new trend seems to empowered positive emotions of motivational skill. However, regarding climate change issues, surprisingly few studies tested the impact of positive emotions on pro-environmental behaviors engagement. This paper aims to fill this gap in investigating the role of hope about climate change.

ABSTRACT. In Germany, reports about societal damages related to the e-commerce system regularly hit the headlines. Although the literature on e-commerce adoption and ethical consumption is vast, no research so far explores these issues and consumers’ related concerns. The present study determines the nature of these concerns and assesses their impact on consumers’ attitude and choice to purchase online instead of in a shop. An analytical model for measuring consumers’ perceived negative effects of e-commerce on society (PNEES) is developed, based on a thorough literature review, focus-group discussions and in-depth interviews. The validity of the construct is assessed by means of a quantitative study measuring its impact on consumers’ affective and cognitive attitudinal as well as on their behavioral responses. PLS-SEM results reveal that consumers’ concerns regarding a potential reduction of the product offer, the degrading attractiveness of their cities as well as the decreasing wealth of their fellow citizen are three aspects of importance to understand their behavioral responses against online shopping. At a higher analytical level, this study also highlights a discrepancy between consumers’ affective and cognitive attitudinal responses, showing the predominance of the former to explain consumers’ behavioral responses.

ABSTRACT. This research is concerned with encouraging consumers to adopt environmentally friendly electric vehicles (EVs). Previous research tend to focus more on the product or technical attributes, while less attention has been paid to the different types of servicing attributes and context-based governmental intervention factors. This research collected data from over 1000 respondents in China through a choice-based conjoint analysis. Results from a mixed logit model shows that consumer preferences towards most product, service and policy attributes are heterogeneous across consumers. Specifically, three product attributes, namely vehicle purchasing price, running cost and maximum driving range, are consistently important for the consumers’ choice, while charging service has mixed effects depending on the service provision and speed. In particular, the availability of home charging facility has the strongest influence for consumers to choose EVs and the service speed of public fast service stations is also significant. With regard to the public policy initiatives, in addition to the typical governmental subsidy, this study finds that the free licensing policy for EVs is very attractive for consumers, with the reference to the lottery-based licensing policy for conventional ICE vehicles. This research is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71573213).

ABSTRACT. The session presents specific research methodological topics and issues that directly relate to conducting marketing research and the impact on the value of the empirical and statistical insights reported in the research studies. Using short presentations, expert panel insights, and an interactive format between panel members and the audience, this session focuses on interesting discussions concerning such topics and issues as:

• Issues using student, M-Turk, and private sector research organizations’ panel sources and the data quality and ability to generate external validity inferences.

• Construct reliability and validity issues of adapting versus adopting previous reported scales in the literature.

• Difficulties underlying the lack of reporting insignificant empirical-based research results.

• Issues of secondary versus primary research methods to test theory, causality, and predictability of multiple constructs.

• Issues concerning the mediation and moderation effects of constructs in empirical and experimental design studies.

• Issues underlying data ethics and data integrity.

Panel members for this session are Barry J. Babin Louisiana Tech University, Linda L. Golden University of Texas-Austin, Catherine Frethey-Bentham University of Auckland and David J. Ortinau University of South Florida.

ABSTRACT. Adversarial price reduction efforts are often viewed negatively by suppliers to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Nevertheless, the practice of using price pressure on suppliers continues in numerous industries throughout the world. This research seeks to find out whether price pressure on suppliers necessarily results in poor supplier-OEM relationships and whether price reduction tactics and good relationship can exist simultaneously. An eight-construct research model with overall relations as the dependent variable and with price pressure and other pressures (like quality pressures) as the exogenous variables is tested using data collected from North American, European, and Asian suppliers to OEMs who manufacture automobile heavy vehicles and electronic products. Analysis using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling revealed the existence of similarities and differences between the two data sets. While the automobile data set revealed that the impact of pressure takes place mostly through the moderating relationship variables, the electronics industry data set displayed some direct relationship as well as relationships through the relationship variables. The findings of this research indicate that price pressure and good overall supplier-OEM relationship can coexist simultaneously if managers take steps to maintain good supplier-OEM relationship.

ABSTRACT. This study examines purchasing agents’ perspectives regarding customer switch back. We survey 401 purchasing agents across various industries to examine buying center advocates and blockers and their influences on relationship quality rebuilding and purchasing agents’ advocacy to return. Additionally, we assess the moderating effects of purchasing agent’s emotional reactions on relationship quality rebuilding. Our results show that advocates enhance relationship quality rebuilding and purchasing agent’s advocacy to return. Meanwhile, although blockers reduce purchasing agent’s advocacy to return, they do not decrease relationship quality rebuilding. Interestingly, purchasing agents’ “felt bad” emotional reactions result in higher level of relationship quality rebuilding for both advocates and blockers.

ABSTRACT. Attitudes toward advertising as a research topic has been around for a long time. In the West, the heyday of research on such issues is past, although some work continues on specific issues and to update to new media channels, such as various online contexts. However, it is still an important topic in developing countries, including those transforming toward more open capitalist economies. We revisit old data to see attitudes toward advertising in China and Vietnam early in their transformation process. Generally, consumers in both countries recognized the positive macroeconomic role of advertising, but they were also becoming aware of problems, similar to common criticisms of advertising in the West. Some specific differences between responses in the two data sets may be useful for policy formation and advertising implementation currently in developing economies.

ABSTRACT. In emerging markets like India multinationals are charting entry strategies and often they harness mass media to create brands. Therefore it is important to understand the drivers of viewership or readership in these markets. To delineate the factors influencing readership and viewership we look at mass communication literature. The five factors of credibility, ideology, localization, entertainment and packaging are identified as variables influencing readership or viewership habits. The study surveys 1000 respondents about the local newspapers and news channels to establish a factor model which would explain the drivers of media consumption.

ABSTRACT. Advertising will enhance brand capability and company reputation. Many researches have shown that advertising affect company’s sales performance. However, how advertising expenditure influencing corporate financial market performance needs further investigations. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between advertising and firm value with the consideration of heterogeneous beliefs theoretically and empirically. Compare to some other heterogeneous beliefs researches, both investors heterogeneous beliefs and investor-manager heterogeneous beliefs have been tested for the moderation effects in this study. A panel model is used and data of manufactory industry in China’s stock markets was collected for empirical econometric analysis. The results show that advertising has a significant and positive effect on firm value. In addition, heterogeneous beliefs have a negative moderation effect on the relationship of advertising and firm value. These findings indicate that advertising is rather an investment than expenses. Firm value can be improved by devoting advertising expenses as well as reducing the investor and manager heterogeneous beliefs.

ABSTRACT. Pilgrimages are a feature of all major world religions as well as spiritual movements and more secular realms (Digance, 2003; Margry, 2008). The sacred sites of pilgrimages are often important commercial centres featuring vibrant marketplaces, where spiritual goods and services are sold (Scott and Maclaran, 2012). As such, pilgrimages and pilgrims’ consumption behaviours can provide rich sites of inquiry into symbolic, spiritual and material consumption. A critical dimension of pilgrimage is arguably pilgrims’ experience of authenticity. The purpose of this research is to examine the role of authenticity in the negotiation of identity. Studying the pilgrimage experience broadens our understanding of the role of religious consumption and perceived authenticity in the negotiation of a Shi’a Muslim identity. The context of this study is a pilgrimage to Syria and Iraq undertaken by a group of Belgian Muslim women in January 2012. Whilst consumption is often contrasted with the more spiritual pursuits of purification, enlightenment and communion with the divine, this study reveals that secular and sacred consumption are entwined in the context of a religious pilgrimage. As such, this research contributes to our understanding of the contextual, multifaceted and multidimensional nature of authenticity.

ABSTRACT. Using a case study methodology, this paper assesses an environmental intervention among employees of a cultural heritage tourism organization. The intervention took a downstream social marketing approach, focused on influencing individual employee behaviors within the heritage organization, such as energy saving (i.e., lighting and heating) and recycling (i.e., waste reduction). It was delivered via a customizable ‘sustainability toolkit’. The assessment of the intervention process is based on data collected from the heritage organization employees and the reflections of sustainability practitioners (external to the organization) who designed and delivered the intervention. More specifically, using Pawson and Tilley’s (1997) context-mechanism-outcome framework, we carry out an evaluation of the environmental intervention and we uncover that a good understanding of the tourism and organizational context (regarding the dimensions of structure, culture, agency and relations) and the use of tailored, action-focused mechanisms (for each context dimension) are critical to achieving transformational outcomes in environmental interventions within cultural heritage organizations. Implications for future interventions and for tourism management and practice are discussed along with further research directions.

ABSTRACT. The paper evaluates a theoretical model based on social exchange theory (SET) that postulates relationships between the five constructs of place attachment, positive environmental impacts, negative environmental impacts, perceived benefits of a certificate for environmental sustainability (CES), and event support. Data were collected from residents of Milan during the Milan World Expo 2015. Based on 449 useable questionnaires and the use of PLS-SEM, significant and positive relationships were found between place attachment and positive environmental impacts. The perceived benefits of a CES mediated the relationship between perceived positive environmental impacts and event support. Likewise, the perceived benefits of a CES mediated the relationship between perceived negative environmental impacts and event support. Place attachment has a direct and positive impact on event support. The findings partially confirm the propositions of SET that suggests resident support for an event is dependent on residents’ perceptions of the perceived benefits and costs associated with the event. The findings have implications for event organizers, policy makers and authorities responsible for hosting mega-events.

ABSTRACT. This research examines the moderating role of problem gambling status (low risk gamblers, moderate risk gamblers and problem gamblers) on the processing of fear appeals in a sample of Australian gamblers. This study uses multi-group comparisons in structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the robustness of the revised protection motivation model (RPMM) in predicting the effectiveness of fear appeals to induce help-seeking intentions in at-risk gamblers. The results provide evidence that fear does not mediate the impact of perceived susceptibility on help-seeking intentions in at-risk gamblers. Cognitive appraisals of perceived susceptibility directly and positively impact help-seeking intentions in low, moderate and problem gamblers. Overall, this research demonstrates that negative emotion such as fear does not prompt at risk gamblers to seek help. However, when gambling threat perceived as relevant, the cognitive appraisals of gambling risks predict significant help-seeking intentions in low, moderate and problem-gamblers. Direct impact of perceived susceptibility on help-seeking intentions does not significantly differ among low, moderate, and problem gamblers. This research demonstrates the unique role of individual gambling status on fear appeal effectiveness in at-risk gamblers.

ABSTRACT. Religious cognition is regarded as a major influencing factor in popular culture and helps shape individual attitudes and decisions regarding food choice, personal associations and social interactions. Social marketing campaigns derive from marketing and social science and are used to influence positive behaviour change through different types of communication methods. A substantial body of literature exists on both religious cognition and social marketing campaigns, yet the literature on where the two phenomena intersect is limited. Religious cognition is empirically proven as a predictor of positive healthy behavior. However, these elements receive minimal attention from social marketing researchers and practitioners. A review of the existing literature is provided with compelling evidence that religious cognition would positively influence behavior change when more congruent with social marketing campaigns. Knowledge gaps are identified and four propositions recommended for future research.

ABSTRACT. According to regulatory fit theory to be effective an advertising message must be adapted to the audience’s regulatory orientation. In the first phase of this research, based on questionnaires sent to drivers by the Quebec society for automobile insurance, we show that reckless drivers are significantly more promotion focused than safe drivers. In the second phase, building on this fact, we test four road safety messages differentiated by two factors: 1) framing: loss framed versus gain framed and 2) message’s regulatory focus: promotion focus versus prevention focus. We find that loss-framed messages are more effective than gain-framed messages for prevention focus drivers. However, for promotion focus drivers, loss-framed messages increase perceived threat to freedom which in turns increases reckless driving intention. Implications of this study are of crucial importance for road safety stakeholders and social marketers who work on road safety campaigns.

ABSTRACT. The concept of “trust” has been the topic of interesting debate and dialogue as of late. For example, the very notion of trust has been called into question, based on the perspective that it is a more complex phenomenon than conceptualized in extant literature (Read et al. 2014; Whipple, Griffis, Daugherty 2013). This has caused us to also ponder the trust construct, with specific emphasis on the role of behavioral motive in building perceptions of “trustworthiness” in supply chain relationships. By focusing on motive, defined as the underlying intent of behavior (Dwyer et al. 1987; Farrell and Petersen 1982; Takeuchi, Bolino & Lin 2015), questions emerge regarding the authenticity of trust-building behaviors. In particular, we wonder if trustworthiness can be counterfeited? Is it likely that partners are using impression management (e.g. attempts to influence perceptions of others (Bolino 1999) to mask underlying motives? In essence…are trustworthy partners good partners…or good actors?

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to understand better why process control sometimes leads to undesirable (i.e., dark side) effects in franchised channels, such as increased opportunism and reduced perceptions of fairness. Using an empirical study of 118 franchisees and their perceptions of franchisee-franchisor relationships, we find support for two theoretical explanations of these dark side effects of process control—unfairness and illegitimacy. Our study shows that franchisees’ perceptions of distributive unfairness mediate the impact of process control on their opportunism, while their perceived illegitimacy of the franchisor’s attempts at process control moderates the effects of process control on both fairness perceptions and opportunistic behavior in franchised channels. Thus, unfairness and the illegitimacy of process control both appear to be viable explanations for the dark side effects of process control in marketing channels.

ABSTRACT. This study supports the separation of action alignment domain variables (e.g., coordination and economic satisfaction) from the social alignment constructs (e.g., cooperation and non-economic satisfaction) based on the ‘domain membership theory.’ The key premise of this theory is that the association among the variables in the same domain will be stronger than the association between variables from different domains. The variables tested in this study are key elements of effective collaboration in relationships in supply chains or other interorganizational relationships.

This study finds the following. First, coordination directly affects economic satisfaction but does not directly affect non-economic satisfaction. Second, cooperation directly affects non-economic satisfaction but not economic satisfaction. The explanation is the underlying nature of the tested constructs and their membership in specific domains. Coordination and economic satisfaction belong to the action alignment domain. Variables in this domain are relatively more objective (i.e., more tangible and easier to observe) and therefore easier to quantify. Cooperation and non-economic satisfaction belong to the social alignment domain. Variables in this domain are relatively more subjective (or based upon perception) and are therefore more difficult to quantify (i.e., more intangible).

ABSTRACT. Emerging markets are prone to industry-wide crises because of their under-developed institutions. An industry-wide crisis not only impairs consumers’ trust in the implicated brands but also erodes their trust in the whole industry and even the regulatory system that oversees the industry. Our study applies an institutional perspective to evaluate the role of attribution and legitimacy judgment in trust erosion during an industry-wide crisis. Firstly, we make a theoretical linkage between institutional factors and consumers’ attribution through analyzing the role of institutional factors in consumers’ search for the target for their attribution when multiple actors are involved. Secondly, we enrich the meaning of external environments in attribution theory through conceptualizing perceptions of the institutional environments at different levels that are relevant in an industry-wide crisis, namely perception of normalization of misconduct at the industry level and confidence in governmental regulations. Thirdly, we specify the content of legitimacy judgment based on consumers’ perspective. Finally, we develop an integrated model explaining the relationships among legitimacy judgment, attribution and trust. Based on the theoretical framework, we suggest managerial implications in industry-wide crises in emerging markets.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims at advancing knowledge of how prejudice and racial discrimination is perceived by Afro Brazilian consumers during their interaction with sales staff in upper scale retailers, in predominantly “white” settings, and how these consumers react to these situations. The results of this qualitative empirical investigation yielded valuable conceptual contributions to this relevant topic as some of widely accepted theoretical perspectives were not corroborated by the empirical findings. That is, the social categorization mechanisms from the Social Identity Theory were partially confirmed, but they were not sufficient for the understanding of discriminatory behaviors between agent and target belonging to the same in-group. The paper draws the attention to: the very important and unknown aspects relating to the consumer-salesperson interaction in emerging markets not yet studied, and the need for retailers to formulate strategies that prepare sales force to avoid the store image threats arising out of prejudice and discrimination perception by consumers.

ABSTRACT. This research focused on shopper behavior in shopping malls. These malls provide numerous store and product choices, and therefore, shopper behavior in malls is different from that in specific stores. We used global positioning system (GPS) data to clarify shopper behavior in such malls since this approach enables us to use path length and range of activity as variables, while other methods such as radio frequency identification data (RFID), video tracking, and Bluetooth logging do not enable us to do so as easily. This study also investigated the relationship between shopper behavior and emotions in a shopping mall. Prior studies provide some indications that emotions are important factors in the mall experience, but these studies do not adequately investigate the relationship between shopper behavior and emotions. To analyze this relationship, we used shoppers’ GPS data and data on emotions before and after shopping. The findings revealed that the appropriate shoppers’ paths to promote unplanned buying depend on their negative emotions before shopping.

ABSTRACT. Sustainability is one of the major themes of contemporary business practice. The following teaching innovation allows students to engage in creative experiential-learning focused on writing poetry about a sustainability topic and then recording a three-minute rap video based on this poetry. The rap video project described in this paper offers students an opportunity to apply critical and creative thinking skills in the development of their artistic video and to later become teachers for their fellow students. Mastery of the sustainability topic is a result of this process evidenced by 1) deep engagement in the project, 2) reshaping ideas into the vernacular of an urban setting, and 3) presenting the finished product in a visual form that demonstrates not only competence, but confidence in the students’ point of view about the sustainability topic.

ABSTRACT. In this structured abstract, we 1) describe the four step process of team-based learning, 2) illustrate our experiences with examples of team-based learning applied to the marketing research classroom and 3) close with our thoughts on the implementation of team-based learning from the student and faculty perspective. Based on our experiences, we encourage faculty to make a change and consider adopting team-based learning for their marketing research courses to enhance student engagement, critical thinking and content knowledge.

ABSTRACT. The research explores assessment of efficiency of not-for-profit arts organizations, identifying the abilities of those organizations to both successfully market their organizations (e.g. to solicit donations and sell tickets) and assess the extent to which they are utilizing scarce resources for the benefit of the populations which they serve. For this analysis, we focus on the performing arts sector and the case of symphony orchestras, analyzing longitudinal data drawn from the League of American Orchestras' annual survey. The methodology that we use is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a nonparametric technique that has been used widely in other areas to investigate the efficiency of the relationship between inputs to a “production” and desired results (outputs), but has not, based on our review of the literature, been applied to the not-for-profit arts sector. Our DEA analysis highlights differences in the efficiencies of symphony orchestra organizations and their abilities to turn available resources (inputs) into performance-related outputs. Since the results suggest where sources of both efficiency and inefficiency lie, the methodology serves as a practical tool for improving marketing/operational performance and organizational effectiveness.

ABSTRACT. As a form of prosocial behavior, the social dimension of charitable giving has been highlighted by researchers and practitioners as a key determinant of generosity. Consequently, charitable organizations are making increasing use of the dimensions by notably publicly thank private donors. Though the positive impact of public recognition on donations is not free of debate, prior literature generally assumed that such social reward will at worst have a neutral effect on people’s generosity. Through a series of experiments, we challenge that statement and propose that, depending on donators’ need for social approval, the presence of a public recognition might actually reduce generosity. In effect, it appears that among people with low need for social approval, donations would decrease if they are made public. The present research provides a better understanding of the role of social reward in the context of prosocial behaviors and more specifically with charitable giving. Implications and theoretical contributions are discussed and leads for future research are finally presented.