Toward a new business model of retail industry: The role of brand experience and brand authenticity

While the customer-to-manufacturer (C2M) business model has received increasing attention as a new business model for e-commerce and retail industry, little is still known about it and the effect of its approach. This study aims to understand how brand-related stimuli in C2M environments affect customer responses as the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The outcomes reveal that the Sensory, affective, and intellectual aspects of brand experience positively influence brand authenticity. Brand authenticity has a positive effect on behavioral intention, such as reuse intention and word-of-mouth. Additionally, this research finds that social presence moderates the association between the sensory aspect of brand experience. Thus, this study can suggest a C2M business model as a means of sustainable operation of the retail industry to both researchers and practitioners in relation to the retail industry.     

Unconventional monetary policy announcements and information shocks in the U.S.

We study unconventional policy shocks and information shocks associated with central bank announcements in the U.S. While unconventional policy shocks capture the direct influence of announced monetary policy actions, information shocks are associated with central bank information conveyed with the announcement. To disentangle these two types of shocks, we impose sign restrictions on high frequency changes in interest rates and stock prices around announcements. We find that information shocks lead to persistent declines in the 10-year government bond yield, whereas the actual unconventional policy shock induces only small interest rate responses. We also find that expansionary output effects of unconventional monetary policy are to some extent counteracted by the information shock.     

劳动力价格、信息不对称与农户精细管理技术投入——基于质量识别能力差异的视角

近年来,劳动力价格的快速上涨已然成为中国农业生产所必须面对的内在挑战。对于机械作业难度相对较大的劳动密集型作物而言,在缓解劳动力约束瓶颈的同时,更应通过精细化的果园管理,以提高产品质量,进而提高其市场价格。然而,由于农产品具有典型的经验品属性,在信息不对称的外部约束下,农户通常难以获得应有的"质量溢价"。基于此,本文通过构建理论分析框架,以果品质量关键环节的精细管理技术作为研究对象,系统分析在劳动力价格上涨背景下农户精细管理技术投入的决策机制,以及在不同农产品质量识别程度中,劳动力成本变化对其影响的异质性,并基于全国18个省份农户的调研数据进行实证研究。研究结果表明:农户交易对象质量识别能力的提高,能够缓解农户与购买者之间存在的信息不对称性,将农产品质量信息传递给购买者,使农户获得更高的销售价格,进而在有效提高农户精细管理技术投入水平的同时,能够弱化劳动力价格对其所产生的负面影响。     

COVID19: Holiday intentions during a pandemic

The travel, tourism and hospitality industries have been the worst affected of the world's major economic sectors during the COVID19 pandemic, which has had a devastating effect on both destinations and organisations. Drawing from a sample (N = 385) of adult permanent residents of Athens, Greece, the study examines the impact of COVID19 upon holiday intention. The chaordic systems are evaluated through the use of fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, whilst the study also used Necessary Condition Analysis for the calculation of the size effects of the examined conditions. The findings reveal two sufficient complex configurations leading to holiday intention: (i) holiday risks, and (ii) impact of COVID19. Based on the results, the article also offers a set of managerial implications. The contribution of the study is to both theoretical and methodological tourism domains.     

The influence of anthropomorphic appearance of artificial intelligence products on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different product types

While artificial intelligence products are widely used in the market, their anthropomorphic appearance design is becoming a frontier issue in product strategy and consumer behavior research. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of anthropomorphic appearance on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different AI product types. It was conducted in China, a new but rapidly-growing country in the field of Internet, AI technology and AI product consumption. This study conducted four situational experiments with a 2 (anthropomorphic design: anthropomorphic vs. non-anthropomorphic) × 2 (product type: hedonic vs. utilitarian) between subjects’ experimental design. Data was collected from 1172 Chinese “Digital Natives” by using a structured questionnaire. The findings revealed that for hedonic AI products, anthropomorphic appearance improves consumers' purchase intention and brand evaluation through perceived entertainment, and intelligence level significantly moderates the mediating effect of perceived entertainment; while for practical AI products, anthropomorphic appearance improves consumers' purchase intention and brand evaluation through perceived usefulness, and intelligence level does not significantly moderate the mediating effect of perceived usefulness. There is no significant moderating effect of intelligence level on perceived usefulness. The study contributes to development and validation of a more comprehensive understanding and theoretical foundation of anthropomorphism, and furthermore explores the impact of anthropomorphic appearance on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different AI product types. This study also provides insights for companies to apply anthropomorphic strategies.     

Role of multidimensional customer brand engagement on customer behavior for online grocery shopping

This study aims to understand the relationship between environmental consciousness and multidimensional (i.e., cognition, affection, and activation aspects) of customer brand engagement (CBE) in relation to online grocery shopping. It also investigates the moderating effect of customer characteristics on the associations among environmental consciousness, CBE, and behavior intention. 358 Korean respondents took part in this research using an online survey to assess the impacts of multidimensional CBE for online grocery. The outcomes reveal that environmental consciousness positively influences cognition and activation aspects of CBE. Additionally, activation, affection, and cognition aspects of CBE positively affect behavioral intention. Multi-group analysis is performed to identify the difference among customers in low and high customer characteristics. In addition, by demonstrating a role for CBE, this study adds to the existing literature on online grocery. Furthermore, the outcomes of this research provide direction for building marketing strategies for online groceries for marketers and practitioners.     

Preventing Customer Churn in the Mobile Telecommunication Industry: Is Mobile Money Usage the Missing Link?

The paper examines the influence of mobile money usage on customer continuance intention (CCI). The study conveniently sampled 507 mobile money users to test the research model using PLS-SEM. Satisfaction, trust and active usage of mobile money were found to influence CCI. Active usage of mobile money was also confirmed as a mediator in the relationship between satisfaction and trust, on customer continuance. The study thus validated a theoretical model of customer continuance intention as it relates to mobile money usage. It has also provided a new perspective on managing customer churn in an emerging market.     

Vicarelli’s Keynes and the New-Keynesian analytical method

This article provides a critical review of the foundations of the new Keynesian apparatus, to evaluate the actual strength of the Keynesian inheritance. As a reference of the Keynesian vision, Fausto Vicarelli’s recognition of the Keynesian message is adopted. The critical recognition of the new Keynesian methodology focuses on its analytical foundations, the recent extensions and on the criticality of its empirical performances and controls. The new Keynesian construction is shown to lack truly Keynesian roots in at least three key theoretical features: the role of the microfoundations, the stability of equilibrium, and expectations formation. The directions of an ongoing research narrowing the new Keynesian theoretical fracture from Keynesian economics are addressed.     

Customer Experience in Online Shopping: A Structural Modeling Approach

Online retail's rapid growth in India has triggered both untapped growth opportunities and challenges to maintain consumer “stickiness” to retailer websites. In this context, online customer experience (OCE) has emerged as a strategic differentiator for sustainable competitive edge. However, there is a paucity of empirical research in this field. Therefore, drawing on extant literature and qualitative research of online shoppers, this study proposes an integrated model of OCE with antecedents, components, and outcome variables. Data for this study were collected from Indian online shoppers; the data are empirically tested along with the moderating effect of time availability on OCE. Results of the study largely support the model and contribute to knowledge creation on OCE in the Indian context and to strategy development for online retailers.