Brand identity and online self-customisation usefulness perception

Online self-customisation (OSC) enables customers to tailor their preferences to certain product features via a brand-hosted online platform. The recent literature has given increasing attention to how consumers value OSC. However, extant research is characterised by a scarcity of understanding the effects of brand identity and individual differences on consumer responses to OSC. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of trust and the moderating role of need for uniqueness on the effects of brand identity prestige and brand identity similarity on consumer perceived usefulness of OSC. A field survey, through mall intercept, was conducted to test this conceptual framework. Our findings advance this field by finding that, not only the brand identity and consumer need for uniqueness but also the interaction between them may affect consumers’ evaluation of OSC.     

Harnessing the creative potential of consumers: money,participation, and creativity in idea crowdsourcing

Given the growing importance of innovation and consumer engagement, many firms are strongly interested in finding ways to encourage their consumers to generate creative new product ideas for them in their crowdsourcing initiatives. To that end, managers often use monetary rewards—one of the most commonly used managerial tools to stimulate desired behaviors. A critical question in this respect is whether the use of monetary rewards is effective in stimulating creativity and, if so, how large those rewards should be. This study aims to answer these questions. The results of an experiment suggest that introducing monetary rewards does not contribute to the number of new product ideas generated by a single consumer or the novelty of his/her ideas, and when the reward is relatively small, it can even be harmful. Monetary rewards, however, are effective in encouraging widespread participation in crowdsourcing initiatives and improving the appropriateness of the new product ideas. As a whole, these findings take us a step further toward better understanding the motivational mechanisms of consumer creativity in new product ideation.     

Assisting consumers in detecting fake reviews: The role of identity information disclosure and consensus

Current discussions in academia and in the press increase consumers’ awareness of potentially deceptive online reviews. The increasing practice of fake reviews posted online not only jeopardizes the credibility of review sites as important information sources for individuals but also endangers a valuable source of information for service providers. Two studies shed further light on the role of consensus and identity-related information in assisting consumers detect potentially faked reviews. In one preliminary study, a sample of 4826 rejected and 4881 published online reviews was analyzed to investigate the differences in the disclosure of author-related information such as name and age as well as star ratings across those reviews. In the main study, a 3 (identity disclosure) x 2 (consensus) x 2 (priming of fake reviews) experiment was carried out with 390 respondents. The results highlight the relevance of the review's consensus in relation to the overall rating of previous reviews and corroborate the results of the preliminary study from the perspective of an internet user: the value of the amount of available information on the review's author in assisting individuals detect potential fake reviews. This study complements research in computer science by highlighting the relevance of contextual—in addition to textual—indicators that assist internet users in detecting potentially deceptive online reviews.     

Working consumers: Co-creation of brand identity,consumer identity and brand community identity

The creation of identity, in terms of both consumer identity and brand identity, is a core topic in marketing theory. Based on participant ethnography of Yes Edinburgh North & Leith, part of Yes Scotland, the national referendum campaign supporting Scottish independence, this paper explores identity co-creation among three entities: the brand, the individual consumer, and the brand community. The findings suggest that the interactions among these entities co-create their identity, primarily through the actions of highly motivated working consumers. This paper identifies the main dialectic relationships and shows how the effects move beyond the dyads to affect the other entities, including the symbols used in the process of co-creation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for brands, individual consumers, and brand communities.     

Where is the power in numbers? Understanding firm and consumer power when crowdsourcing

This work utilizes the theory of social power as a lens through which to analyze the power structure of firms and consumers involved in crowdsourcing and discusses the managerial implications of this power balance. The results of this analysis reveal how power is structured differently in each form of crowdsourcing, with consumer power being strongest in the case of idea crowdsourcing and weakest in the case of microtask crowdsourcing. These differences in power have implications for managers who initiate and maintain crowdsourcing endeavors. Understanding the structure of consumer power in different types of crowdsourcing allows firms to better prepare for the wide range of possible outcomes as consumers inevitably push their own agendas regardless of whether or not these agendas are aligned with those of the firm.     

Finnish young people's narrative construction of consumer identity

This article examines how young Finns represent their consumer identity through narratives. Young consumers are easily seen as careless spenders and selfish hedonists in the contemporary consumer society. However, an empirical approach is required in order to find out whether this generation of young Finnish consumers is one of ‘raving hedonists’ or ‘ultimate materialists’, as their peers are often presented in public discussion in many western societies. The empirical data was collected in five upper secondary schools between the end of November 2001 and the beginning of January 2002. These schools are located in five different districts in Finland, varying from metropolitan to rural areas. The study focused on students aged 16–19 years and used essay writing as the method for collecting qualitative data. The data thus consists of 159 life stories as a consumer written by young Finnish people. Qualitative research methods, such as narrative analysis, were used in this study. It is argued that Finnish young people are representing their identities as consumers through a combination of various levels of consumer discourses besides hedonism and squandering: rationality and economizing are an essential part of their consumer identities. Some youngsters also present themselves as responsible consumers including ecological and ethical choices as part of their narrative. The way these youngsters combine discourses gives evidence of the various features of the present‐day young consumer. It is also suggested that their consumer identity develops and changes with age. Young people describe their identity changing through a hedonist/squanderer discourse to a rational and economical one or vice versa. They also combine hedonist, rational, economical and responsible discourses simultaneously.     

Advertising as Unfavorable Self-Presentation: The Dirty Laundry Effect

Identity appeals—marketing communications that invoke one of the target market's identities—are typically well liked by consumers. In contrast with this notion, this research examines a situation when consumers respond negatively to identity appeals in advertising. Through three studies, we find that identity appeals fail when consumers judge an identity-congruent ad as portraying information about them that they would rather not have widely broadcast. In these cases, self-presentation concerns arise, leading to ad dislike. Thus, although identity-congruent ads resonate with consumers, such ads may lead to negative responses if consumers believe the ad airs their “dirty laundry.” We discuss implications for targeted advertising and identity marketing strategies.     

The Role of Identity Salience in the Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Behavior

Based on the assumption that consumers will reward firms for their support of social programs, many organizations have adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. Drawing on social identity theory, a model of influence of CSR on loyalty is developed and tested using a sample of real consumers. Results demonstrate that CSR initiatives are linked to stronger loyalty both because the consumer develops a more positive company evaluation, and because one identifies more strongly with the company. Moreover, identity salience is shown to play a crucial role in the influence of CSR initiatives on consumer loyalty when this influence occurs through consumer-company identification. A strong identifier is not necessarily in a constant state of salience, but activating identity salience of a particular consumer social identity (a company) will affect consumer reactions to product stimuli, increasing consumer loyalty.     

Comparing crowdsourcing initiatives: Toward a typology development

Although numerous studies have examined the crowdsourcing phenomenon, little consensus exists regarding the classification of distinct types of activities within crowdsourcing. In this study, we identify and classify 12 crowdsourcing initiatives that comprise the key categories of crowdsourcing: Crowdpedia, Fansourcing, Crowdnetworking, Crowdsharing, Crowdvoting, Crowdfunding, Ideation, Open Innovation, User Innovation, Scisourcing, Crowd‐Relief, and Open Source Software. Our main objective is to establish the similarities and differences between basic crowdsourcing initiatives and develop a typology based on nine crowdsourcing dimensions that we develop. This crowdsourcing typology will provide a roadmap on which researchers can anchor their research and practitioners can make more informed decisions about which category of crowdsourcing they should seek. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring expatriate adjustment through identity perspective

This study reveals multifaceted identities experienced by corporate expatriates and how these identities are related to expatriate host country work and non-work adjustment. Specifically, we take a symbolic interactionism-based identity theory perspective and examine qualitative data from 73 corporate expatriates in China and Japan, revealing an expatriate identity (i.e., identification with being a manager and a foreigner), and a cultural identity (i.e., identification with home and host country cultures) which through identity stability/change are related to the mode and degree of expatriate work and non-work adjustment. Our findings suggest that these identities explain how corporate expatriates shape their new environment to their preferences, instead of adjusting to it.     

The Internet of Things (IoT) in retail: Bridging supply and demand

A sales channel serves two primary functions: delivering information and products to customers. Omnichannel retailing allows for the decoupling of these two functions as consumers can learn about products through channels that differ from those used to purchase them. This separation requires a sophisticated inventory and supply chain operation, as well as integration of all customer touchpoints, in order to match fast-moving supply and demand. The Internet of Things (IoT) can play a fundamental role in channel integration because it allows companies to rebalance supply and demand. We classify IoT initiatives on an opportunity map, presenting a strategic framework that distinguishes initiatives by the value they create and by their major area of impact. We justify the adoption of IoT in terms of its enabling capabilities—those immediately realized by deploying IoT sensor data—but its true potential resides in its enhancing capabilities—unanticipated benefits following IoT adoption—at the intersection of supply and demand.     

众包模式下顾客参与、顾客互动和新产品价值

将众包模式下顾客参与划分为合作众包模式下顾客参与和竞争众包模式下顾客参与两个关键维度,确定顾客互动之人际互动、人机互动的重要维度构成,构建众包模式下顾客参与直接影响新产品价值,以及通过顾客互动的中介效应间接影响新产品价值的理论模型。实证检验结果表明：合作众包模式下顾客参与、竞争众包模式下顾客参与对新产品价值的积极影响都显著;人际互动在合作众包模式下顾客参与影响新产品价值的关系中起完全中介效应,但在竞争众包模式下顾客参与影响新产品价值的关系中无中介效应;人机互动在竞争众包模式下顾客参与影响新产品价值关系中的部分中介效应显著,但在合作众包模式下顾客参与影响新产品价值关系中的中介效应不显著。     

Social value and content value in social media: Two paths to psychological well-being

The unique characteristics and universal popularity of social media enable consumers to experience their customer value and thus improve their psychological well-being. Hence, it is important for researchers to investigate how consumers experience their customer value in this new media and demonstrate how managers can use the ensuing knowledge for designing appropriate marketing strategies. This article is a step toward that direction. We explore the antecedents and consequences of customer value in social media so as to provide a deeper insight into consumer behavior and subsequently discuss its managerial implications. Specifically, we develop a model that incorporates psychological well-being as the endogenous variable, interdependence self-construal and independent self-construal as exogenous variables, and social value, content value, social identity, self-esteem, and flow as mediating variables. Based on data from a sample of 437 social media consumers collected by an online survey and through analysis of the data by SPSS 22.0 and Amos 22.0 programs, the study revealed that consumers can gain psychological well-being by either of two paths: consumers with a higher degree of interdependent self-construal will have a higher degree of social value experience, thus leading to a higher degree of psychological well-being through a positive mediating role of social identity; whereas consumers with a higher degree of independent self-construal will have a higher degree of content value experience, thus leading to a higher degree of psychological well-being through a positive mediating role of self-esteem. Managers can segment the consumers based on their self-construal and design appropriate customer relationship strategies.     

Gay men's identity attempt pathway and its implication on consumption

This paper integrates sociological and psychological perspectives to examine gay consumption practices in relation to the dynamics of gay identity development. Specifically, this paper investigates how internal motivational factors underlying gay identity formation and external social influence work in concert to affect gay identity attempts throughout the gay identity development process. The findings of this study reveal that the consumption patterns of gay men are continuously evolving and correspond to attempts at discovering, disclosing, constructing, maintaining, (re)constructing, suppressing, and/or disposing the gay social identity. Precipitated by individual differences, two divergent pathways—the linear progression and pendular progression pathways—of identity attempts emerged from the gay identity development process. The data used in this study were collected through in‐depth interviews with gay men in Taiwan, where homosexuality is traditionally stigmatized but is gradually gaining acceptance with the global emergence and spread of the gay subculture. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Crowdsourcing in a time of empowered stakeholders: Lessons from crowdsourcing campaigns

Crowdsourcing can test a company's willingness to relinquish control to key stakeholders. Using past examples of four failed crowdsourcing initiatives, we explore the negative and unintended consequences of crowdsourcing in an age when stakeholders are empowered to speak their minds, make a mockery of organizational initiatives, and direct initiatives as it suits their own agenda. The concepts of crowdthink and crowd hijacking are introduced, and advice is given on how managers can avoid or anticipate some of the potential issues that arise during crowdsourcing endeavors. With these considerations, managers can harness the power of crowds effectively to achieve organizational goals with limited negative consequences.     

How institutional logics shape fairness in crowdsourcing: The case of Threadless

Fairness is essential for successful crowdsourcing. Without it, companies run the risk of consumers not participating, or worse, sabotaging the crowdsourcing initiative. Yet little is known about how consumers determine what is fair in crowdsourcing. Building on theories of organizational justice and institutional logics, and using a longitudinal netnography of Threadless, a popular crowdsourcing platform, this paper shows how experiences of fairness stem from the interaction between two conflicting crowdsourcing logics: the logic of renewal and the logic of community. The two logics inform notions of fairness in crowdsourcing contests across procedural, distributive, and interactional justice dimensions. A balance between the two logics is ideal for maintaining fairness among a crowdsourcing community. We show the conditions in which crowdsourcing participants tolerate transgressions to each justice dimension, consequently emphasizing one logic over the other. Overall, our study advances theory on crowdsourcing logics and how they guide notions of procedural, distributive, and interactional fairness in crowdsourcing. Our study also offers new guidance on how to manage fairness in crowdsourcing.     

Family firms’ identity communication and consumers’ product involvement impact on consumer response

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the image transfer theory and the elaboration likelihood model can provide a theoretical framework capable of assessing the influence of consumers’ product involvement and family firms’ identity communication through websites on consumer responses. This research conducted an experiment using an eye‐tracking technique measuring attention to family and nonfamily corporate websites. The procedure involved 120 participants. Consistent with the image transfer theory, family firms’ identity through websites positively impacts attitude toward the website and intention to buy. Additionally, the attitude toward the website affects the relationship between family firms’ identity through websites and the intention to buy. In line with the elaboration likelihood model, consumers’ product involvement negatively impacts the relationship between family firms’ identity through websites and intention to buy.     

众包社区创意领地行为影响机制研究

在共享经济对社会资源重新分配的背景下,现有研究较多从技术嵌入、平台监管、社会网络等客观方面揭示众包社区创意领地行为的产生机制,文章则聚焦创意资源供给者的主观方面因素,探究社会价值取向、内群体认同对创意领地行为的影响以及网络面子意识在以上关系中的调节作用。研究结果表明：（1）众包社区成员的社会价值取向对其创意领地行为具有重要影响,其中亲自我创客比亲社会创客更可能实施创意领地行为;（2）社会价值取向通过内群体认同对创意领地行为产生影响;（3）网络面子意识不仅调节社会价值取向与内群体认同的直接关系,而且进一步调节社会价值取向通过内群体认同与创意领地行为的间接关系;（4）与网络面子意识较低的亲自我者相比,网络面子意识较高的亲自我者实施创意领地行为的倾向得到了显著改善,甚至转而进行创意分享和贡献,而网络面子意识对亲社会者的创意领地行为的影响效果却并不显著。     

Crowdsourcing and brand control

Crowdsourcing is the deliberate use of crowds to solve problems, create new products, and improve consumer experiences. When used by brands, crowdsourcing engages consumers by asking them to be part of a deliberate call to action. Crowdsourcing provides interesting and dynamic marketing opportunities for brands, given the consumer engagement it entails. This conceptual study examines the literature on crowdsourcing and brand community, and makes a series of propositions regarding this rich marketing arena. Herein, we discuss managerial implications of the relationship between crowdsourcing and brand community dynamics and propose a typology for brands to better assess customer bases and market realities.     

Beyond window signs: Understanding the affect‐based effects of window signs on store patronage intentions

Store managers commonly use window signs to decorate their stores and, more importantly, to communicate store‐related information to their customers. This research investigates the role window signs play in influencing consumers’ attitudes and store patronage intentions. Empirical evidence from two studies (data from a real‐life store environment and from an experimental setting) indicates that window signs generate positive inferences to consumers about the store image and the store promotion value, which ultimately influence consumers’ patronage intentions. Furthermore, this study proposes and tests a model suggesting that window signs represent a diagnostic cue from which consumers infer a sense of place identity. The results show that place identity partially mediates the relationship between consumers’ attitude toward window signs and consumers’ store patronage intentions. Moreover, this study includes the store manager's perspective and finds evidence that retail managers have positive attitudes toward window signs, which encourage them to rely on this promotional tool to announce store promotions. Implications of the findings for the role of window signs are discussed.