The formation of habit and word-of-mouth intention of over-the-top platforms

The current study examines how video content on over-the-top (OTT) platforms and the enjoyment from watching them form habits and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. We propose a research model that integrates elements from the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the concept of “habit loop” from the Interest-Driven Creator (IDC) theory. The model was analyzed using PLS-SEM on 302 responses from OTT users. The study elucidates how video content availability helps in habit formation indirectly through perceived enjoyment. The results also demonstrated that the WOM of OTT platforms is explained by perceived enjoyment, affective commitment, and the habit of using the OTT platforms. The study highlights that habit is a significant predictor of affective commitment and WOM intention of hedonic apps. This is the first study to illustrate how video content availability affects users’ enjoyment, habitual use, and WOM intentions. Habit as a significant predictor of affective commitment and WOM intention of hedonic apps, like OTT platforms, is unprecedented.     

Influences of question wording on levels of support for genetically modified organisms

This paper examines the influences of question wording on consumers’ levels of support for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food products. Pairs of questions, offering varied amounts of information on the benefits and risks of GMOs, are posed to consumers in a specific geographic area (Vermont, USA) to ascertain the factors that impact on levels of support for this technology. A multivariate analysis is conducted to examine how knowledge, attitudes, and behavioural intentions affect changes in levels of support. The findings suggest that consumers’ levels of support do vary based on question wording. It is further found that knowledge and behavioural intentions play a consistently significant role in influencing change in support for GMOs. Implications for both consumer advocacy groups and industry groups are discussed.     

Effect of service recovery on customers’ perceived justice,satisfaction, and word-of-mouth intentions on online shopping websites

As consumers become better informed and more demanding about their purchase of services, service provider's failure to satisfy all consumers during delivery of service is unavoidable. Consequently, to alleviate consumer dissatisfaction that results from service failure has become important. However, empirical consensus has been lacking on the effects of various service recovery activities. Thus, this study examines the impact of different types of service recovery on customers’ perceptions of justice, post-recovery satisfaction, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. The results indicated that consumers’ perceptions of distributive and interactional justice differ by the types of service recovery and supported significant relationships among perceptions of justice, satisfaction, and WOM intentions. The results implied that consumers respond differently to different types of service recovery and that consumers particularly favor apology among types of service recovery.     

Retailers,don't ignore me on social media! The importance of consumer-brand interactions in raising purchase intention - Privacy the Achilles heel

Effective interactions are essential for retail brands to progressively nudge consumers towards purchase. While social media provides the platform for brands to directly connect with consumers, it is critical that brands take privacy concerns seriously. This paper address common questions retailers ask: How do brands develop effective interactions with consumers on social media? Do consumer-brand interactions impact purchase intention? Does privacy matter? Through 541 UK participant responses and using social exchange theory, this research examines consumer-brand interactions on social media, focusing on how social media activities, attitudes towards social media advertising, and privacy, impact upon purchase intention. Our results show that brands must establish strong relationships through high-quality consumer-brand interactions to significantly raise purchase intentions, while also carefully managing consumers' privacy expectations. Effective privacy management positively mediates the link between social media and purchase intention but ignore privacy, and it becomes the Achilles heel of the relationship.     

Factors that Influence Consumers’ Attitudes toward Internet Buying in Nigeria

The study used previously validated measurement instrument to investigate, in a Nigerian context, the extent to which some specific factors like perceived security, perceived privacy, perceived integrity, constrained consumer’s product need, personality, perceived ease of use, perceived usability, perceived usefulness, and previous experience in Internet buying predict consumers’ attitude towards Internet buying in Nigeria. The survey research was adopted and the population of the study consisted of postgraduate management students form University of Benin, Benson Idahosa University, Ambrose Ali University, and Graduate MBA Students from the University of Benin. Data were analyzed using regression, t test and ANOVA. The research findings were: perceived privacy, constrained product need, consumers’ previous online experience and perceived usability exert strong predictive influence on consumers’ attitude towards internet buying in Nigeria. In view of the findings, a modified model that addresses the key factors influencing consumers’ attitude towards Internet buying in Nigeria is proposed.     

Conceptualising consumers’ word-of-mouth behaviour intention: evidence from a university education services in Malaysia

The aim of this study is to propose a theoretical model to examine consumer word-of-mouth (WOM) behavioural intention in Malaysian education services. The results from a survey of 247 respondents indicate that servicescape, service recovery, service quality and satisfaction significantly affect consumers’ intention to engage in WOM behaviour. The results support majority of the hypothesized relationships, suggesting that servicescape and service recovery function as antecedents, directly affecting consumer perceptions of education service quality. The analytical results also demonstrate that perceived service quality positively affects satisfaction, which subsequently induces consumers’ behavioural intentions. Consistent with previous empirical studies, our findings suggest that satisfaction is a super-ordinate construct with a positive relation to behavioural intention, and significantly mediates the effect of service quality on the intention to engage in WOM behaviour. The insignificant direct effect from service quality to WOM further suggests the role of satisfaction as a complete mediator in the university education service setting. Implications for future research are discussed and limitations noted.     

Customer behavioural intentions towards mobile money services adoption in Ghana

This study examined the determinants of mobile money service usage intentions and assessed the effect of social influence (SI) on mobile money services adoption and behavioural intentions (BIs). The sample of the study comprised 300 mobile money service users in Ghana. Guided by the conceptual framework and two theories identified to have an effect on technology adoption and consumer behaviour, eight hypotheses were developed and tested using Structural Equation Modelling Techniques. It is discovered that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived trust and perceived cost of use have a strong influence on mobile money service usage. The study found SI to have a significant effect on the adoption and BI. Providers ensure that their mobile application services are simple to operate, fulfil specific consumers’ needs, protect consumers’ accounts to ensure trust and are affordable, hence positively influencing consumers’ adoption of services.     

Shopper-Facing Retail Technology: A Retailer Adoption Decision Framework Incorporating Shopper Attitudes and Privacy Concerns

Continual innovation and new technology are critical in helping retailers’ create a sustainable competitive advantage. In particular, shopper-facing technology plays an important role in increasing revenues and decreasing costs. In this article, we briefly discuss some of the salient retail technologies over the recent past as well as technologies that are only beginning to gain traction. Additionally, we present a shopper-centric decision calculus that retailers can use when considering a new shopper-facing technology. We argue that new technologies provide value by either increasing revenue through (a) attracting new shoppers, (b) increasing share of volume from existing shoppers, or (c) extracting greater consumer surplus, or decreasing costs through offloading labor to shoppers. Importantly, our framework incorporates shoppers by considering their perceptions of the new technology and their resulting behavioral reactions. Specifically, we argue that shoppers update their perceptions of fairness, value, satisfaction, trust, commitment, and attitudinal loyalty and evaluate the potential intrusiveness of the technology on their personal privacy. These perceptions then mediate the effect of the technology on shopper behavioral reactions such as retail patronage intentions and WOM communication. We present preliminary support for our framework by examining consumers’ perceptions of several new retail technologies, as well as their behavioral intentions. The findings support our thesis that shopper perceptions of the retailer are affected by new shopper-facing technologies and that these reactions mediate behavioral intentions, which in turn drives the ROI of the new technology.     

Virtually Compatible or Risky Business? Investigating Consumers’ Proclivity Toward Online Banking Services

The present research examines online banking services, and it challenges the prevailing assumptions underlying the nomological validity of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Results from 594 Taiwan respondents support a negative relationship between sub-constructs of consumers’ risk propensity and ensuing online banking services (OBS) engagement. The most important contribution is the strong empirical support that both consumers’ positive impact of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are positively related to the adoption of OBS. Furthermore, the results reveal that the assumptive impact of perceived risk construct is negatively associated with OBS adoption. The diminished impact of perceived risk explicitly challenges the predominant underpinnings of the TAM framework. In addition, findings reveal that the perceived risk factor consists of five underlying dimensions: financial risk, performance risk, time risk, psychological risk, and privacy risk.     

Online word of mouth and consumer purchase intentions

Previous researchers have explained how offline word of mouth (WOM) influences consumer behaviour. Increasingly, however, consumers are turning to online WOM, especially online forums. In an online context, the research discussed in this article replicates the approaches taken to studying offline WOM. Grounded in social comparison theory, social network analysis and the theory of reasoned action, a mall intercept survey of consumers in Hong Kong showed that both similarity between a user’s interests and a forum’s topic and user attitudes towards the forum strongly predict purchase intentions as well as having an indirect effect through helping determine the forum’s persuasiveness. Theoretical implications are discussed as well as practical implications for marketers and recommendations for further research.     

Brand personality appeal,brand relationship quality and WOM transmission: a study of consumer markets in Vietnam

This study investigates the impact of brand personality appeal on both brand relationship quality and word-of-mouth (WOM) transmission in Vietnam. It also examines the role of consumer attitudes towards advertising and public relations on brand personality appeal as well as brand relationship quality. An empirical test with a sample of 477 consumers by means of structural equation modelling reveals that brand personality appeal has a positive impact on both brand relationship quality and WOM transmission and that brand relationship quality has a positive effect on WOM transmission. Furthermore, attitudes towards public relations have positive impacts on both brand personality appeal and brand relationship quality. Finally, attitudes towards advertising have a positive impact on brand personality appeal but not on brand relationship quality.     

The determinants of Women's redemption of geo-targeted m-coupons

This research has two objectives. First, it examines the determinants and consequences of attitude toward geo-targeted mobile coupons (hereafter, m-coupon). Second, it studies the effect of coupon value and store brand preference on women's intention of visiting a store and redeeming geo-targeted m-coupons. Using a scenario method and an online questionnaire, data are collected from 693 women students. The results support the influence of fear of spam on m-coupon usefulness, perceived privacy risks, m-coupon proneness, ease of use, and perceived product utility. The findings also confirm the effects of perceived usefulness of m-coupons, perceived privacy risk, m-coupon proneness, perceived ease of use, and perceived product utility on women's attitudes toward fashion-related m-coupons. In turn, attitude influences intention of visiting the store and intention of redeeming the m-coupon. M-coupon value and store brand preference significantly affect intentions of redeeming the m-coupon and visiting the store.     

Identity Bias in Negative Word of Mouth Following Irresponsible Corporate Behavior: A Research Model and Moderating Effects

Current research has documented how cases of irresponsible corporate behavior generate negative reactions from consumers and other stakeholders. Existing research, however, has not examined empirically whether the characteristics of the victims of corporate malfeasance contribute to shaping individual reactions. This study examines, through four experimental surveys, the role played by the national identity of the people affected on consumers’ intentions to spread negative word of mouth (WOM). It is shown that national identity influences individual reactions indirectly; mediated by perceived similarity and sympathy. Consumers perceive foreign victims as different from the self and this reduces the sympathy experienced towards them. Sympathy is an emotion that shapes consumer reactions and regulates WOM. The study identifies two moderating processes of this effect. Individuals who score high on collective narcissism are most likely to be strongly biased against foreign victims. In-group bias is also moderated by the perceived severity of the crisis. When a case is perceived as very serious, perceived similarity plays a less important role in generating sympathy because consumers focus on the perceived suffering of the victims. Hence, in-group bias is stronger in cases perceived as having minor consequences. The paper contributes to the literature on corporate social irresponsibility and offers implications for both scholars and managers.     

Loyalty to Social Ventures in Social Media: The Role of Social Cause Involvement,Identification, and Commitment

Recently, more social organizations are engaging in market transactions to achieve financial self-reliance. In today’s highly competitive market, it is imperative for such social ventures to bolster long-term support from their consumers through every possible point of access, such as social media. Given the importance of social media in enhancing customer relationships, this study examines factors that promote consumers’ loyalty toward social ventures, focusing on intentions to participate in cause-related activities and opinion-sharing behavior via social media. Data obtained from 304 US consumers confirmed that consumer involvement, identification, and commitment were key determinants of consumer loyalty in social media. The results also showed that the effect of involvement was mediated by identification and commitment. The findings suggest that social ventures should not only attract interested segments through social media, but also engage and enhance their sense of belonging and commitment.     

Investigating the consequences of word of mouth from a WOM sender’s perspective in the services context

Abstract

Employing scenario-based experiments, this paper examines the effect of word of mouth (WOM) on the sender’s intention to give future WOM about the focal service provider and the self-enhancement derived from articulating WOM. Extant WOM literature considers self-enhancement as a key driver of positive WOM. This paper provides empirical evidence that a reverse effect exists and that self-enhancement is also an outcome of WOM behaviour. Results indicate that the impact of WOM on self-enhancement has substantive significance and holds for both positive and negative WOM. The effect of WOM on intentions is only partially supported. Finally, tie strength between the WOM participants partially moderates the relationship between the variables. Importantly, the impact of negative WOM is stronger than that of positive WOM.     

Influences of motivations and lifestyles on intentions to use smartphone applications

Mobile advertising, influenced by the current growth in smartphone applications, creates new opportunities for the advertising industry. This study identified motivations for the use of smartphone applications as well as lifestyle clusters of users and examined their influences on the relationships between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude and intentions to use. This research used a face-to-face survey and empirical analyses to investigate key questions about how and why consumers use smartphone applications, illustrating the imperative roles that motivations and lifestyle clusters play in an important advertising context. This study represents a step toward clarifying how different lifestyle clusters influence different relationships between motivations, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude and intentions to use applications as advertising media, offering implications for advertising academics and practitioners.     

Linking atmospherics to shopping outcomes: The role of the desire to stay

This study relies on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S–O-R) paradigm to explore the mediating role of the desire to stay at the shopping mall in the relationship between shopper positive attitudes towards three atmospheric cues (color schemes, lighting, and music) and the shopping outcomes of shopper satisfaction, positive Word-of-Mouth (WOM) and patronage intentions. Moreover, the study elaborates on the path from the desire to stay to positive WOM and patronage intentions by considering the mediating role of shopper satisfaction. A survey-based study comprising a sample size of 451 mall shoppers has been developed to test the proposed research model. The results indicate that the desire to stay mediates the relationship between shoppers’ positive attitudes towards color schemes and music, on one hand, and shopper satisfaction and positive WOM, on the other hand. Although the desire to stay has a direct effect on positive WOM, it does not directly impact patronage intention. However, the latter path becomes significant when considering the mediating role of shopper satisfaction, indicating that satisfying mall stays enhance desirable outcomes. Based on these findings, implications for theory and retailers are discussed.     

The Importance of Trust for Personalized Online Advertising

With the amount of online advertising on a steady rise, generic ads noticeably lose effectiveness. In order to break through the clutter, retailers employ a method called retargeting to tailor their advertisements to individual consumers based on inferred interests and preferences. However, while personalization should generally make ads more appealing, the authors use field data to show that the effectiveness of retargeting considerably hinges on consumers’ trust in a respective retailer. To uncover the underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon, they investigate how trust moderates the impact of ad personalization on consumers’ internal and external responses in the lab. They propose a two-dimensional conceptualization of ad personalization: First, a banner's personalization depth defines how closely the ad reflects a consumer's interests. Second, its personalization breadth determines how completely the banner reflects these interests. The lab results show that more trusted retailers can increase the perceived usefulness of their ads through a combination of high depth and narrow breadth of personalization without eliciting increased reactance or privacy concerns. On the other hand, for less trusted retailers, banners with higher depth are not perceived more useful, but instead trigger increased reactance and privacy concerns, regardless of their personalization breadth. These effects directly translate into consumers’ click-through intentions so that retailers should adjust their personalization strategies accordingly in order to increase the effectiveness of their online advertising.     

基于TAM的消费者网络团购态度影响的实证研究

伴随着团购网站Groupon在美国的巨大成功,从2010年3月开始,国内掀起了空前的团购热潮,在不到一年的时间里,已由"百团大战"上升到"千团大战"。团购网站如何在这场声势浩大的角逐之中吸引消费者,取得长足发展成为了当前最应该关注的问题。而消费者对网络团购的态度直接决定了其是否会进行网络团购以及选择哪家团购网站。因此有必要对网络团购态度的影响因素进行研究,识别出影响消费者网络团购态度的主要因素。本研究以参加过网络团购或未参加过但对网络团购有了解的人群为调研对象,结合SPSS13.0和AMOS17.0对数据进行了分析和模型检验,以此探讨影响消费者网络团购态度的因素。实证结果表明:感知网络团购有用、感知网络团购易用及感知网络团购风险是影响消费者网络团购态度的关键因素;除娱乐导向外,其他购物导向均会显著影响感知有用或感知风险变量;而人口统计特征对网络团购态度无显著影响。     

Determinants for Effects of Celebrity Negative Information: When to Terminate a Relationship with a Celebrity Endorser in Trouble?

This study examines three factors that influence consumers’ brand evaluation and purchase intention under negative celebrity information. The study is designed to investigate the effects of consumers’ perceived associative strength between celebrity endorser and brand, the role of congruence between a celebrity endorser's negative information and his/her endorsed brand, and the effects of consumers’ level of brand commitment. The study's findings suggest that congruence or “fit” between a celebrity endorser's negative information and an endorsed brand moderates a consumers’ evaluation of brand and purchase intentions. The study finds that a strong associative link between the brand and the celebrity endorser leads to lower brand evaluation as well as lower purchase intention. It also finds that consumers with a higher level of brand commitment are less likely to react negatively to a celebrity's bad publicity than are consumers with a lower level of brand commitment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.