Antecedents to Online Purchasing–An Exploratory Comparison of Anglo versus Hispanic Consumers in the United States

ABSTRACT

This exploratory research investigates whether or not Anglo versus Hispanic consumers in the United States (US) differ with respect to purchase behavior on the Internet. As a new, ground-breaking innovation, the Internet represents an entirely new medium of exchange. In this study, we address whether or not the Internet has been adopted to the same extent and in the same way(s) among Anglo and Hispanic US consumers. Anglos and Hispanics represent the two largest segments of the US population and, curiously, little if any marketing research has compared and contrasted these two groups with respect to using the Internet to make commercial purchases. Extant theory and research in electronic commerce provide a basis to suggest that there may, in fact, be differences across these two US sub-cultures. Our findings reveal that the two groups do actually differ in this regard; the data also offer insights into these differences.     

The Pricing Processes of Exporters

Abstract

Within the realm of research regarding the successful implementation of exporting strategies lies the often neglected topic area of export pricing. This subject has received relatively little attention over the years for a number of reasons, including a lack of formal export pricing theory and a reluctance among international managers to discuss their pricing practices. Concurrently, what research that has been conducted on this issue has been largely undertaken from the single country perspective. Future research, both exploratory and empirical, is called for.

This study attempts to define what export pricing strategies and processes are currently being utilized by exporting firms, what influences the adoption of these strategies, and how these strategies differ across cultures. Through a series of interviews with export managers from U.S. and Mexican manufacturing firms, an exploratory case study analysis was conducted to address four major issues, namely (1) what are the export pricing processes of the firm, (2) how do stated export objectives relate to these strategies, (3) what are the perceived barriers to the successful implementation of pricing practices, and (4) how do these factors differ between Mexican and U.S. exporters.     

Special issue introduction: Historical research on institutional change

Abstract

Both business historians and organisation studies scholars study institutional change to understand the interactions between business and society. However, research approaches differ fundamentally, with organisational research focusing on theory-driven explanations, whereas historical research is rather theory-informed. The consequence of such disciplinary orientation is that interdisciplinary conversations rarely occur. For this special issue, we invited submissions that address how historical research can contribute to our understanding of institutional change while demonstrating ‘dual integrity’ in terms of being significant pieces of historical research that provide us with new insights into historiography and at the same time addressing important theoretical concerns.     

Customer Satisfaction with Consumption Systems

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This research examines how satisfaction toward a product and its associated services offered together by a single provider jointly affects behavioral intentions toward the provider.

Design/methodology/approach: In this study, empirical tests were conducted using longitudinal data spanning 5 years from a multinational company that offers both products and associated services as part of a consumption system to their customers.

Findings: Results show a joint congruent effect of product and services satisfaction on behavioral intentions is linear and positive. It appears that offering great service cannot compensate for less-than-adequate satisfaction toward the product. The results further highlight decreasing customer sensitivity to improvements in both sources of satisfaction and imply that focusing on too high levels of one type of satisfaction for their customers can actually be counterproductive for firms.

Research Limitations: Our model was tested using the data obtained from a single firm. Future research could test this model with data from multiple firms in various different industries and establish broader generalizability to the findings.

Practical Implications: Findings provide managers with insights on how to allocate resources across product and service spaces and to manage product and services revenues over time. Results also indicate that customer behavioral intention ratings are more weighted on product quality over the service received by them. However, mere improvements in the product cannot provide the highest desired results and therefore quality improvements in the product need to be complemented by improvements in service quality.

Originality/Value: There is a rapid emergence of the phenomenon of manufacturers providing both products and services as an integrated consumption system to their customers. While the provision of both product and service subsystems by the same firm leads to certain synergies, there are obvious costs to the development of new service capabilities and coordination with existing product capabilities. Our research intends to address this issue.     

The Information Content of Comparative Magazine Advertisements

Abstract

The existing research on comparative vs. noncomparative advertising has resulted in a great deal of conflict and confusion concerning its effectiveness. However, little attention has been directed toward examining the informational nature of the ads themselves. The current investigation examines the question of whether comparative advertisements actually contain more objective information cues than their noncomparative counterparts. The results indicated that comparative ads did indeed have greater information content than noncomparative ads. Additional informational dimensions of comparative ads are explored.     

Exploring the Role of Product Development Capability for Transforming Marketing Intelligence into Firm Performance

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study examines the role of product development capability for transforming marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.

Methodology/Approach: The authors apply structural equation modeling to analyze survey data from 342 industrial manufacturing companies.

Findings: Results reveal that sales integration and holistic macroeconomic view are particularly important features of the marketing intelligence capability on industrial markets to gain additional insights in order to develop products successfully. Results also reveal that product development capability transforms the marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.

Research Implications: This study offers new insights on marketing theory by extending and concretizing the concept of market orientation to a broader concept of the marketing intelligence capability for industrial markets. Further, this research reveals that the product development capability serves as a mediator to business performance.

Practical Implications: This study’s systematic and tangible outline of the dimensions of marketing intelligence and its link to the product development capability helps firms to better understand how to capitalize on market orientation’s potential values.

Originality/Value/Contribution: This research (a) reveals the relevant dimensions of marketing intelligence on industrial markets and (b) shows how the product development capability tranforms marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.     

The Role of Trust in the Marketing Activities of Entrepreneurs Establishing New Ventures

The 'credibility gap' is not often cited as a problem by marketers; for this reason marketing texts pay little or no attention to it. Yet, for the entrepreneurial marketer it may well be the most fundamental marketing challenge. Addressing the credibility gap may not have received any previous research interest, but theoretical support for its relevance abounds. Risk and its corollary, making use of trust have been seen as quintessentially entrepreneurial activities. If they do epitomise entrepreneurship, then surely, studying how entrepreneurs use trust ought to provide valuable insights into what entrepreneurs do.

While there is increasing research into trust, particularly from an organisational behaviour perspective, there is none in an entrepreneurial context. This lack of research provides the reason for the exploratory nature of this investigation.

The search for trust in this investigation focuses on entrepreneurs' usage of elements of the marketing mix. Respondents are asked about what they have done, why they have taken that course of action and what the outcomes have been.

We find that there is a wide panoply of ways in which entrepreneurs use trust, for example 'enthusiasm' and 'shared values'. The latter two are particularly important because they can lead to trust in situations where there may not already be existing relationships (the most likely place for finding trust). We also identify the methods entrepreneurs use to build trust - which they can then use to mitigate customers' perception of risk.     

Perceived Value of Mexican vs. US Products in Mexico,Venezuela and the United States

Abstract

With the advent of NAFTA and the liberalization of Latin American markets, Mexican firms have gained new strategic options, many of which revolve around exporting regionally or to the United States and Canada. The studies explore consumer reactions to Mexican products. The first study compares value perceptions of a cross-national sample of Mexican, US and Venezuelan respondents toward US and Mexican products. It also explores the moderating effects of product content and financial risk on value differentials. The second study, limited to Mexican and Venezuelan respondents, looks for evidence of a home country bias. While the strategy implications for Mexican products differ according to a product's level of content and financial risk, the studies indicate that inter-regional trade is a viable possibility.     

Understanding drivers and outcomes of lurking vs. posting engagement behaviours in social media-based brand communities

ABSTRACT

Social media-based brand communities (SMBBC) are ideal tools to develop Consumer Engagement (CE). Yet, brands do not fully understand whether members are really loyally engaged with the brand and uncertainties remain regarding SMBBC return on investment. Therefore, our aim is to understand what drives CE within SMBBC, to relate it to different CE behaviours and to study its impact on brand loyalty. Data from 213 Facebook users was analysed using PLS-SEM. The study concludes that the drivers for passive/lurking and active/posting behaviours differ and vary according to brand type, with the former revealing a stronger positive association with brand loyalty than the latter. This study also provides valuable insights into CE literature and to brands holding SMBBC, helping them to successfully develop social media strategies.     

Internet of things support for marketing activities

ABSTRACT

Internet-enabled consumer devices are to be developed by the manufacturers. In this article, we examine how the Internet of things (IoT) can support marketing activities, including customer relationship management, business intelligence, and product design. In particular, the research reported in this article examines how the IoT can provide communication channels to support targeted marketing for product owners and enhance customer relationship management and product support. In addition, in this article, we examine how data gained from the operational use of Internet-enabled devices can support business intelligence in terms of how consumers actually use a product and can also support new product design in terms what features of current Internet-enabled products are most commonly used and how they are used.     

Engaging and marketing to stakeholders in World Heritage Site management: a United Kingdom multiple case study perspective

ABSTRACT

This research addresses the limited studies which apply stakeholder theory to World Heritage Site (WHS) management and managerial theory to heritage management. WHS management highlights a context where sites rely on numerous interests uniting through goodwill. This is intensified by the multiple-ownership patterns which characterise many WHSs, necessitating a need for collective action. This study aims to explore how managers attempt to manage stakeholders and generate involvement and support. This study adopts a multiple case study approach, exploring three United Kingdom WHSs. Data were collected through interviews, documentation and physical artefacts. The analysis found that through representation, raising awareness and support, managers were able to generate stakeholder patronage. However, this required managers to look beyond informative engagement toward participatory means. Furthermore, the findings highlight the importance of the facilitators, time and money in successful stakeholder engagement. Lastly, conclusions, limitations and future research are offered. Underpinned by stakeholder theory, this paper contributes to the understanding of stakeholder engagement within WHS management and adds to limited empirical studies on multiple sites. This investigation found that engagement is constrained by managers’ limited time and resources. Furthermore, participatory engagement is essential in fostering stakeholders’ responsibility for site management and developing relationships with managers.     

Jumping children: a review of the literature

Abstract

A review of the literature on forces exerted by jumping people is presented. The actual goal was to collect data on jumping children, but only very limited research has been reported on this age group. Data were found on various jumping techniques as well as various influential factors such as body height, footware, properties of the substrate and the forces exerted in association with the different phases of a jumping movement. This study resulted in an experimental investigation which will be reported separately.     

Broad and Narrow Country-of-Origin Effects and the Domestic Country Bias

ABSTRACT

Across three studies and three countries, this research specifies the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on domestic country bias. Extending extant research, it distinguishes the moderating effects of broad (country image, country production image) and narrow (country product category image) country-of-origin effects, demonstrating that the latter mitigate domestic country bias more strongly than the former. Moreover, nationality emerges as an antecedent of consumer ethnocentrism and domestic country bias. The findings enable international marketers to predict domestic country bias in different country markets. Additionally, this research advocates using a finer-grained, narrow view of country-of-origin effects, instead of a broad perspective.     

How do consumers co-create their experiences? An exploration in the heritage sector

Abstract

Whilst the body of work around co-creation has grown, co-creation continues to be considered from a value perspective with key questions, such as what is actually being co-created, remaining unanswered. This article moves beyond value to experiences and explores co-creation of the consumption experience. The research examines the manifestations and antecedents of co-creation of the consumption experience from a consumer angle and presents a co-creation framework. Customer critic analysis with consumers from two exemplar heritage organisations is used to investigate co-creation. The findings illuminate three facets of co-creation: co-production, engagement, and personalisation. This paper addresses a gap in Service-Dominant Logic theory, arts/heritage, and broader marketing literature by distinguishing between co-creation of value and co-creation of the consumption experience and proposing a definitive conceptualisation of the latter. The proposed model progresses the co-creation discussion to an empirical level and provides a foundation for future research.     

Marketing images of gender: A visual analysis

An interpretive method drawing from social psychology, feminist theory and art criticism is developed to analyze contemporary images of gender. Utilizing and expanding upon visual research techniques, a selection of ads from contemporary fashion magazines and catalogs was assembled to illustrate particular themes suggested by research on the representation of gender in advertising. The body‐and what it expresses‐is a site of central concern, and discussion focuses on how female and male bodies are represented in advertising. The conventions of art history, when framed within a social science perspective, offer unique contributions to the study of advertising and gender, well suited for researchers interested in the culture of consumption.     

Relationship Quality in Cross-Border Exchanges: A Temporal Perspective

Purpose: This article seeks to understand how relationship quality dimensions develop in cross-border relational exchanges and explores their determinants, including the role of cultural sensitivity, in each relationship phase. By mobilizing the multidimensional meta-concept of relationship quality and its forms, this research captures the evolution of relationship quality between French buyers and foreign sellers. The improved understanding of relationship quality’s dynamics under cultural sensitivity influences in turn offers a more accurate, active form of relationship management.

Methodology: Thirty-nine semistructured, in-depth interviews with business buyers located in France, representing a range of sectors, reveal the nature, transformations, and determinants of relationship quality. Qualitative methods are more appropriate to elucidate processes and the fundamental transformation of constructs over time. Because relationship quality is a property of a specific buyer–supplier, cross-border interaction, this multiphase study provides insights into the nature and the fundamental transformation of concepts.

Findings: The multiphase qualitative analysis shows that as relationships evolve, fundamental transformations take place in the components and antecedents of relationship quality. Cultural sensitivity has a key role during the most advanced relationship phases. The primacy of economic logic dominates the exploration phase; cognitive aspects receive the emphasis in the expansion phase; and relationship quality, in the maintenance phase, results from a combination of affective and emotional factors. As emotional ties deepen, relationship quality exceeds what might have been expected on the basis of the cognitive elements actually exchanged.

Originality: The key contributions of this article are the multiform conceptualization of the constituent elements of relationship quality and the phase-specific study of this meta-construct. The article argues and empirically supports how relationship quality is changing in the context of cross-border exchanges—French buyers with international sellers. The innovative study addresses simultaneously concepts that constitute relationship quality and its determinants, as well as revealing their importance in different relationship phases. Prior research does not consider

the differentiated standpoint on relationship quality forms within a temporal perspective. However, this study also is limited by the multisectoral nature of the sample and the monadic character of the research.     

Who Teaches Whom: The Varied Voices and Instructional Roles of Community Service-Learning Partners

ABSTRACT

The question of what defines a teaching role has long been a catalyst for dialogue and debate among practitioners in the service-learning community. The success of the service-learning model relies on a reciprocal exchange in the dynamic and ever changing communities in which we serve, where shared ownership, mutual respect, and a consistent exchange among various participants facilitates learning outcomes.

Through partnership with community agencies, students, faculty, and staff, we have begun to answer the question of who teaches whom in the service-learning environment. This article documents how relationship where community partners grow deeper, student roles expand and we broaden the pedagogical impressions of what defines a teacher.

Through a qualitative review of programs and courses, with insights of participants, we will demonstrate how the community-university partnerships fosters a critical exchange for all involved, including participants, community, and institution. The innovative nature of the service-learning instructional environment modifies the dynamics of classroom, causing the roles for learners to vary and the teaching role to change.     

A Framework for Electronic Reverse Auction (eRA) Research

ABSTRACT

After nearly two decades, electronic reserve auction (eRA) continues to be a widely-used eProcurement tool. Buyers report that eRA helps them reap savings in cost and procurement time and expands the pool of eligible suppliers. Suppliers point out reduced operating, selling or customer acquisition costs, a more level playing field, and access to new markets. However, questions have been raised about the actual benefits of eRA for buyers and suppliers and its potentially negative impact on buyer-supplier relationships. Given the controversy over the nature of the outcomes actually achieved with eRA, more research is needed to provide insights that can guide buyers and suppliers toward effective use of eRA. To this end, this paper identifies independent variables which impact electronic reverse auction outcomes, intervening process variables related to the way eRA is implemented, and outcome variables that are important to buyers and suppliers who use eRA. The variables are mapped onto a framework, and future research directions related to these variables are discussed.     

Scoring More After Service Failures: Why Do Customers Overclaim?

ABSTRACT

More and more customers attempt to claim what they can, rather than what they are offered by the service firm after service failures. The present article empirically investigates the role of situational characteristics in triggering the intention to overclaim through a mediating process of customer's cognitive and emotional responses to the service failure. The model goes beyond predicting the likelihood of overclaiming behavior and offers some insights related to the magnitude or the extent of such claims. The results indicate that cognitive and affective drivers of overclaiming behavior have different impacts on the magnitude or the extent of such claims.     

Drivers of Adoption and Continued Use of E-Procurement Systems: Empirical Evidence from China

ABSTRACT

This article develops and empirically tests a research framework that models the role of technological, organizational, and environmental factors in organizational intention toward using e-procurement systems. The partial least square analysis of survey data from 211 firms in China demonstrates that technological factors including perceived efficiency benefits and perceived ease, organizational factors including business to business commerce expertise, information sharing culture, and top management support, and an environmental factor, business partner pressure, shape in different ways organizational intention to adopt and to continue with e-procurement. The findings of the study not only offer valuable insights for stimulating the diffusion of e-procurement systems but also provide important guidance to systems vendors in strategizing their marketing campaigns and focusing limited resources on relevant strategic components.