Reducing household water consumption: a social marketing approach

Abstract

There is increasing pressure for society to move towards more sustainable use of its resources, and calls in the literature have been made to reassess marketing’s role in achieving such goals. This research examines how key behavioural factors influence household water use, in the context of a social marketing programme to reduce household water consumption. A model of the key drivers of household water consumption is developed and tested using a sample of 909 households in a regional city in Australia. The findings from this study support the model developed and show that in the absence of price as a rationing mechanism, the social marketing programme significantly reduces household water consumption.     

Seek or destroy? Examining value creation and destruction in behaviour maintenance in social marketing

This article presents an empirical investigation of how behaviour maintenance is supported or hindered through value creation and destruction in social marketing. Using a longitudinal, netnographic approach, we identify and examine the key facilitators and barriers encountered during the maintenance of physical and mental health behaviours. Data were collected over a 12-week observation period via Twitter from a sample of 242 participants. A total of 5212 tweets were analysed using content and thematic analysis facilitated by NVivo software program. The findings identify key barriers to and facilitators of behaviour maintenance at the individual level (downstream), meso level (midstream), and policy level (upstream) that have an influence on value creation and destruction in social marketing. These findings demonstrate the importance of employing a strategic and integrated approach to social change management.     

Relevance of actors in bridging positions for product-related information diffusion

Research in marketing examines concepts that deal with social interaction, for example opinion leadership and word-of-mouth. Two types of actors play key roles in social networks where social interaction takes place: actors who have a lot of contacts (so called hubs) and actors in bridging positions. Given their importance in social networks, the lack of studies in marketing literature that focus on bridges is surprising. Information on bridges' roles in the diffusion of product-related information on an individual level is important for companies to take relevant actions. Therefore, this paper analyzes the relevance of actors in bridging positions for product-related information diffusion in a representative study of consumers in the mobile phone market of a large European country. The study shows that bridges display lower degrees of information seeking as well as lower levels of opinion leadership. Therefore, although in central positions, they are less suited to be used in company-initiated actions, for example in seeding strategies.     

Value Co-Creation in Health Care: A Phenomenological Examination of the Doctor-Patient Encounter

Considering the increasing conceptualization of value co-creation, this study seeks to empirically understand the value co-creation process through a phenomenological approach to further understand the doctor-patient encounter process leading to value outcomes in a public healthcare context. Three key thematic areas of the co-creation process were identified: the encounter process, consumption experience, and value outcomes. The findings reveal the importance of trust, role clarity, and actor experiences in clinical encounters. Both actors placed emphasis on the emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioral responses in encounters that consequently affect their value outcomes that include receiving treatment, getting well, improved well-being, improved compliance, reduced visits to health facilities, and enhanced service engagement between the actors. This study contributes to these dyadic interactions to gain comprehensive knowledge of how these encounter processes and experiences are perceived by the actors to influence the effectiveness of public and professional services.     

Value Co-Creation in ICT Services Company: A Case Study of a Cross-Border Acquisition

Abstract

Post-merger and acquisition (M&A) integration is especially important for the services industry, where value co-creation between actors plays a crucial role. This paper is a qualitative single case study of a multinational company (MNE) in information technology (ICT) industry, and the post-acquisition processes of its subsidiary in Russia. The main contribution of this article is the application of a value co-creation view, to the settings of the international business. We also identify the actors and their roles and activities in the value co-creation in the Russian context.     

Marketing Cooperation in Automotive Strategic Alliances

ABSTRACT

The increasing numbers of strategic alliances formed in many industries have been noted and discussed since the 1980s. This paper describes and analyzes change and stability in the patterns of cooperation that occurred within the global automotive industry during the period 1991–1995, with a particular focus on marketing and distribution cooperation. The geographical reach of marketing alliances is analyzed. The scope of the cooperation that occurs within inter-company alliances with marketing contents is also discussed, and the effect of participation in marketing alliances on individual actors is addressed. Using structural network methods, two measures of centrality are used and compared in order to determine the most central actors. The consequences of maintaining positions with different degrees of centrality in the alliance networks are discussed. The use of longitudinal data allows for analyses of the dynamic, changing nature of marketing alliances in the broader context of other forms of cooperation.     

Seeing through a Glass Onion: broadening and deepening formative research in social marketing through a mixed methods approach

ABSTRACT

The purpose of formative research in social marketing is to understand the target audience to generate consumer insight, which informs the planning, development and initial implementation of social marketing programmes. Focus groups, interviews or surveys, all of which are self-report methods, are the most commonly reported methods employed in formative research. Reliance on a relatively narrow range of methods may constrain understanding and insight gained during formative research. This paper challenges social marketers to mix methods or use multiple methods and research perspectives to generate a broader understanding of the consumer and the context in which they behave. A case study is used to demonstrate how mixed methods were used in a formative research study to inform the development of a social marketing programme designed to change eating behaviour. Challenges of mixed methods are detailed along with recommendations for future research.     

The Effects of Learning on Relationship Value in a Business Network Context

ABSTRACT

In today's intense global competition, a firm's ability to learn from its networks of business relationships is an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. Learning in a network of relationships involves a constellation of resource linkages among business partners tied together by interconnected resources. This has the potential of increasing the relationship value of a firm in terms of knowledge created through interactions among firms in the business network. Prior research has not yet examined the effects of learning in and through relationships in a business network context. Interdependence of firms in business networks gives rise to learning effects of adaptation and coordination that can have implications for relationship value. An empirical study of 215 business relationships from a network of nine high-technology companies in the United Kingdom shows that learning in and through relationships as a result of interactions and resource interdependencies in networks of relationships has a positive effect on a firm's relationship value. Furthermore, an understanding of the network context through interactions among firms facilitates learning and development of the firm's learning capabilities that enhance relationship value.     

Cross-border marketing ecosystem orchestration: A conceptualization of its determinants and boundary conditions

The authors propose that the current trends and developments in the international marketplace call for a new theoretical concept-based approach to inform and guide cross-border marketing strategy. Specifically, the authors label this approach marketing ecosystem orchestration (MEO). The marketing ecosystem is defined as connected, interdependent, and co-evolving sets of actors, activities, and institutions enabling the marketing of an offering that has value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. MEO is a new strategic approach for an internationalizing firm to achieve sustained value creation, value appropriation, and growth in a host market. Orchestration involves developing and/or coordinating the ecosystem’s interdependent – but independent actors, resources, information, processes, and services to create, co-create, and appropriate value from firms’ market-based assets. The authors theorize three components of MEO – the orchestration of supply chains and fulfillment networks, marketing communications, and transactions and payments sub-ecosystems – and develop a conceptual framework and propositions influencing the determinants of MEO adoption by the focal firm. This paper concludes with managerial implications and offers several new directions for international marketing research.     

Web-based social movements contesting marketing strategy: The mobilisation of multiple actors and rhetorical strategies

Abstract

Previous studies suggest that marketing strategy is developed and used to mobilise and configure the actions of firm actors, creating a set of stabilising activities focused on the firm–customer dyad. Destabilising forces precipitated by the Internet and associated digital technologies involving contention and disruption by multiple actors are much less prevalent in the marketing literature. The central point we advance is that rather than marketing strategy being a controlled and stabilising force for firms in their relationships with customers, it can often lead to socially produced spaces where consumers and, importantly, other multiple actors form a social movement to actively attempt to destabilise it and contest its legitimacy. Using an innovative research approach, the findings of this study show how social movements proactively enrol and mobilise a wide range of relevant actors into a network of influence. Critical to this are rhetorical strategies, acting as important levers in attempts to destabilise and delegitimise a dominant firm’s marketing strategy.     

Customer Loyalty in Clusters: Perceived Value and Satisfaction as Antecedents

Purpose: This article studies, from the perspective of relationship marketing, the loyalty behavior of industrial customers in the context of an industrial cluster. Loyalty is a key variable for studying long-term relationships between firms.

Research implications: Recent advances in consumer and services marketing consider that perceived value and satisfaction are central to explaining customer loyalty. However, very few business-to-business (B2B) studies explain the antecedents of customer loyalty, where perceived value acquires a multidimensional perspective. This study adopts the relationship marketing approach, and loyalty behavior is analyzed in a specific setting: an industrial cluster. Furthermore, the effect of the number of suppliers is analyzed as a possible moderator in the relationships of the model.

Methodology approach: We have chosen the Spanish tile cluster to test a series of hypotheses. Questionnaires were elaborated from primary and secondary information and structural equation models (SEM) have been used for statistical treatment and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Findings: This study highlights the importance of the relationships among perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty and the importance of the different dimensions of perceived value.

Practical implications: The empirical study and the results provide important evidence for managers, specifically, the critical influence of the emotional and social perceived values by the customer on his or her level of satisfaction and on the achievement of final loyalty—the importance in the commercial training programs of this matters.

Originality, value, and contribution: This study highlights the importance of the most intangibles dimensions of value for the industrial cluster relations between companies.     

The Potential and Challenge of the Network Realization Capability for SMEs in Ireland and Finland

In recognizing that the term ‘network’ can be interpreted in a multitude of ways and from a number of varying perspectives, the purpose of this article is to report the findings of a study designed to determine whether SME owner/manager see networks as an industrial relationship phenomenon. This gap, termed ‘realization capability’ refers to the SMEs’ ability to visualize the inter-organizational embedded systems that they are a part of that could enhance their marketing efforts. Bonds tie network members together and provide the context for relationships. Therefore, in measuring the level of SME realization capability the authors conceptualized the concept into social and structural bonds to ascertain the network perspective of the SME participants. To determine the level of realization of SME actors, a participatory action research method was employed in an Irish setting and compared to a control group in Finland. Findings suggest that from an Irish perspective, realization was low, highlighting that misconceptions existed amongst the SMEs regarding the nature and dynamics of networks whereby they were viewed as a predominantly personal contact structure. Conversely, the Finnish participants viewed networks as interconnected business relationships, continually operating in close collaboration with other stakeholders within their business. The findings are discussed in detail as they raise the barrier for many SMEs to participate in networks which by definition are proposed as cost effective solutions which can address many of the gaps to implementing marketing approaches by SMEs.     

Framing social marketing as a system of interaction: A neo-institutional approach to alcohol abstinence

Abstract

We employ Giddens’ structuration theory to gain insights into the interaction between upstream/midstream and downstream social marketing perspectives. This is conducted through thirteen phenomenological interviews with informants who stand outside of the practice of alcohol consumption through their voluntary engagement in one month of sobriety. Our study identifies the ‘modalities’ located at the intersection between individual actions and the institutions of alcohol. By identifying these ‘modalities’, we conceptualise social marketing in interaction, which incorporates the institutional orders of domination, signification and legitimation, and the individual actions of power, communication and sanction. Specific domains of interventions are identified, namely marketplace offerings and promotional techniques, social grouping and positional status and rituals and traditions, through which social marketers can enact social change.     

Embedded Relationships: Implications for Networks,Innovation, and Ecosystems

In today’s dynamic market environment, no single actor has enough knowledge and sufficient human resources to innovate on a globally competitive level. This trend has accelerated the need for a deeper understanding of relationship management in alliances, virtual corporations, and networks to maximize capacity for innovation. We refer to these structures as service ecosystems and propose a framework for investigating how innovation occurs in service ecosystems. Specifically, we review the conceptualization of relationship as it has evolved from the relationship marketing, service and business-to-business marketing, and service-dominant logic literature. Then, we draw on centrality and embeddedness to explicate how actors in these service ecosystems draw on resources from their extended networks for innovation. We propose an embedded relationships framework for investigating innovation as a dynamic and continuous ecosystem of information seeking and information processing. Future research directions are discussed.     

Organizational buying effectiveness in supply chain environment: A conceptual framework

The idea of effectiveness measurement in supply chain context stresses the importance of value development process for the forthcoming member of the chain. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model of organizational buying effectiveness in the supply chain context, emphasizing the importance of marketing orientation in the purchasing process. Literature has revealed that there are many focal interaction points between relationship marketing, supply chain management, and organizational buying. The effectiveness framework was developed regarding the value perception, organizational buying involvement, and decentralization of decision making     

A study of antecedents and outcomes of social media WOM towards luxury brand purchase intention

This research develops a conceptualized model that illuminates the role of luxury perceptions in explaining consumer engagement in social media WOM and luxury purchase intention. It also explores the moderating effects of consumer demographic characteristics and perceived social status. The proposed model is validated by using SEM in AMOS against 282 samples, and chi-square difference test is applied to test the moderating effects. The findings demonstrate that social media WOM positively influences consumer luxury purchase intention. Perceived quality highly influences functional and social value, and social media WOM is strongly influenced by personal and functional value. This research 1) highlights the powerful role of social media WOM in enhancing luxury brands purchase intention, 2) extends current body of knowledge of the social media WOM and its focal antecedents, and 3) shows how consumer characteristics (e.g., age, gender, income, education, perceived social status) are important for developing customized marketing strategy to promote luxury brands on SNS. Overall, this study helps firms to understand which aspect of luxury brands to be emphasized to initiate consumers into social media WOM, which in turn, influences purchase intention.     

Social anxiety as a moderator in consumer willingness to accept AI assistants based on utilitarian and hedonic values

This study develops a comprehensive research model to explain user willingness to accept AI assistants, and the acceptance path pertaining to this process. User data was used to test how the advantages of AI assistant (accuracy, responsiveness, compatibility, anthropomorphism, & affinity) influence consumer utilitarian and hedonic value, and explore how their willingness to accept AI assistants is affected by their value perceptions. This research also examines whether social anxiety moderates the relationship between AI assistant advantages and utilitarian/hedonic value. The study reveals that AI assistant advantages are important factors affecting the utilitarian/hedonic value perceived by users, which further influence user willingness to accept AI assistants. The relationships between AI assistant advantages and utilitarian and hedonic value are affected differently by social anxiety. Marketers and managers in the AI context can refer to the study methods to help improve AI assistants and develop more effective marketing strategies for product promotion.     

A Customer Value Perspective in the Nonprofit Marketing Context: Expanding the Means-End Chain for Multiple Stakeholders

ABSTRACT

Very little of the current research on nonprofit marketing adopts a customer value perspective. This paper will (1) briefly outline the special customer value challenges faced by nonprofit organizations, such as multiple stakeholders and a lack of marketing orientation; (2) describe the innovative customer value approach developed by Woodruff and Gardial (1996); and (3) offer a model applying the Wood-ruff/Gardial approach in the NPO context, including research propositions.     

Successful exporting to the Arabian gulf region: A survey of Bahraini consumers

This paper details the emerging need for relational skills in marketing. The challenges of fostering relational resources within marketing practice and pedagogy are then discussed. Next, the paper explores the value of experiential learning approaches in education and considers different experiential models for fostering relational resources. An African Drumming circle was chosen, because it offers exciting opportunities to explore relational principles both through the actual lived experience as well through the active exploration of the metaphor. The paper concludes that the drumming circle offers an interesting access to experiencing the movement from being an individual actor to collaborating as part of a wider network of actors. Thus, insights are generated at the level of lived experience as well as at a more metaphoric one. The paper therefore serves to foreground the role of pedagogy in Relationship Marketing     

The Relationships of Customer-Perceived Value,Satisfaction, Loyalty and Behavioral Intentions

Abstract

The concept of Customer-Perceived Value (CPV) has become a matter of increasing concern in marketing literature. However, there are few empirical studies that attempt to examine the notion of it. Filling this gap, this study provides a conceptual as well as empirical investigation of CPV as a formative construct and also offers an insight regarding the role of CPV in influencing, through satisfaction and loyalty, the behavioral intentions of word of mouth, repurchase intention and cross-buying. Furthermore, the potential moderating role of social pressure in the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty is also examined. The results suggest that delivering superior customer value enables a firm to achieve favorably behavioral intentions. Implications for practice, study limitations and future research are discussed.