Multilevel trust in international marketing of healthcare services: A five-country comparative study

PurposeThis research aims to increase understanding on how multilevel trust is developed as well as how trust levels are interconnected and influence international marketing strategy for healthcare services.Design/Methodology/ApproachA comparative case study approach was applied with Elekta, a Swedish firm, operating in Brazil, the Philippines, China, Russia, and Hong Kong.FindingsThe research culminated in a multilevel trust (MLT) model comprised of three levels relating to individuals, company performance, and context.Research implications/limitationsThis study offers a context-based multilevel trust model from a process perspective focusing on healthcare. This model can be tested in other service sectors.Practical implicationsManagers should consider multilevel trust to boost relationships and achieve local acceptance.Originality/ValueThis research contributes to trust theory by constructing a context-based multilevel trust model for international healthcare marketing.     

Temporal and financial risk assessments: How time and money constrain shopper behavior and influence purchase solutions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to better understand the constraints that make shopper behavior unique from consumers and how those constraints manifest themselves in retail purchase solutions.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilized value laddering and phenomenological research methodologies to explore the data gathered from 39 interviews of male and female grocery shoppers.FindingsThis research examines the perceived constraints on shopper resources. The data reveal that all shoppers perceive themselves to be constrained by both finances and time. These findings hold across all income, age, and employment strata. As a result, price and convenience no longer function as segmentation tools. Instead, pricing and convenience become thresholds setting shopper “floor” expectations for retailers, service providers and brands.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was limited to grocery shoppers largely located in the southern US. Future research could expand on the variety of product categories and conditions explored, along with the cultural diversity of the participants.Practical implicationsShoppers' broader view of purchase relationships reduces the importance of transactional savings. Shopper consideration of total market basket value, allows for more focus on services and relationships to drive shopper value. Shopper constraints can result in purchase outcomes different than what consumer research would indicate.Originality/valueThis research is the first to examine elements which may constrain shoppers, particularly temporal and financial risk assessments, and how they impact shopper purchase solutions.     

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.     

Impact of Stressful Situations on Salespersons' Gestures

Interest: This research analyses the influence of situations on salespersons’ gestures and behaviors. This research contributes to this underresearched field by exploring the impact of stressful versus nonstressful situations on salespersons’ personal behavior.

Methods: This research is based on 1,205 gestures observed during 382 sales calls that averaged 11 minutes with 382 salespersons. Half were in stressful situations, and half were in nonstressful situations. This study focuses on pharmaceutical products (drugs) in the medical field, with 95 doctors, 6 judges, 304 average performing salespersons, 39 high performers, and 39 low performers. This study shows how salespersons’ behaviors vary depending on stressful and nonstressful situations. This research also articulates a new field of sales research that is understudied by researchers and suggests new training trends in sales management.

Objective: The objective is to answer questions such as “Does stress influence salespersons’ behavior, and what are the gestures most affected by such situations?” To examine the effects of training on gestures, an experiment with 97 salespersons was conducted during a sales training session. This experiment measured whether salespersons trained on gestures behaved differently than those who were untrained.

Results: In general, stressful or nonstressful situations caused real differences in gestural behavior. In particular, the best salespersons performed the largest number of gestures during stressful situations. For example, stressful situations increased the mechanical or emotional gestures in leg movements or the number of glances.     

Tradeoffs in Supplier Attribute Ratings in Supplier Selection across Strategic versus Non-Strategic Purchases

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This research identifies a customer perspective that is often ignored, neglected, or undervalued in B-to-B sales – the nature of the product itself. The pivot point is whether the product/service desired is strategic (critical to the company’s mission) or non-strategic (not critical to the company’s mission).

Methodology/Approach: A conjoint analysis was conducted for both types of purchases (strategic and non-strategic), assessing the tradeoffs and espoused preferences of four key attributes involving both the supplier and the product across three performance levels – (1) stability of the supplier, (2) reliability, (3) competitive pricing and (4) product quality.

Findings: The results indicate that B-to-B customers do make tradeoffs between suppliers based on stability, reliability, pricing and product quality. The direction of the tradeoffs depends on whether the purchase is a strategic or non-strategic acquisition. The results suggest that suppliers would benefit from understanding the relationship of their products and services to the B-to-B customer’s mission when the supplier is deciding how to improve performance.

Research implications: Too often there is a disconnect between B-to-B salespeople and their customers resulting in suppliers failing to reach performance goals. The research focuses on the importance of B-to-B salespeople uncovering whether or not the customer considers the nature of the product being considered as strategic or non-strategic to their business. The research helps to explain some of the mixed findings in the supplier selection literature.

Practical implications: The research points to the fact that customers analyze and make decisions differently depending on the type of product. Additionally, the research highlights the importance to customers of understanding the potential legal and financial risk of suppliers. This is important in that traditionally suppliers tend to focus on product features and benefits in their selling efforts. These results indicate that they should spend significant time discussing factors that illustrate legal and financial risk reduction to the customer of dealing with their companies.

Originality/Value/Contribution: The study offers a new look at an age-old problem of enhancing sales performance through a new lens by considering the nature of the product (strategic versus non-strategic) through the perspective of the customer. The findings help to explain the mixed results of previous research. To date, the nature of the product and tradeoffs of attributes that customers are willing to make depending on that product classification have not been the focus, though the results suggest that understanding customer decision-making through this lens may enhance supplier success.     

Consumer showrooming: Value co-destruction

PurposeThis research employs value co-destruction as a theoretical lens to investigate the antecedents of consumer showrooming behavior. Drawing on relevant literature, a research model specifying showrooming dynamics from the consumer's perspective is conceptualized and empirically tested.MethodologyUtilizing survey data from 275 consumers, structural equation modelling is employed to assess a research model including thirteen hypotheses.FindingsThe study findings reveal that showrooming behavior is complex and comprises differing degrees of accumulative value co-destruction and value co-creation behavior across online and offline channels. Specifically, consumer characteristics, channel characteristics and product characteristics are shown to be associated with in-store value taking and online value co-destruction and co-creation.Originality and valueScholarly insights into the antecedents of consumer showrooming are rare. In responding to calls for research, this paper represents the first empirical investigation of consumer showrooming behavior utilizing the lens of value co-destruction. The study adds to academic understanding of the showrooming phenomena and demonstrates that co-destructive and co-creative behaviors can occur in a simultaneous, concurrent and iterative fashion. Focusing on practice, the findings reveal opportunities for experience-led shopping environments.     

The role of design in the future of digital channels: Conceptual insights and future research directions

PurposeIn the past channel literature has looked to other disciplines in developing and refining their theories, models and methods in order to evolve the field. This paper traces such history and highlights the substantial changes caused by the digital age. In light of this, the inclusion of design theory into future channel management is presented to overcome existing concerns.Design/methodology/approachA comprehensive review of literature on the history of channels, the emotional experience (people), limitations of digital innovation (technology) and the role of design (business) has been conducted to create a new approach, built upon the theory of the techno-economic innovation model.FindingsThe findings of this study propose design-led channel management as a new research area, providing novel research questions and future research directions. The inclusion of design and emotion theories indicates that the future of digital channel design requires a deeper understanding of customers and needs to go beyond technological advances.Theoretical implicationsThe findings provide an opportunity to explore dynamic theories and methodologies within the field of design that will broaden the horizons and challenge existing notions in channel literature.Originality/valueThis paper is the first paper that introduces the theory of Emotionate, as the next evolution of channel literature. The value of Emotionate lies in providing a new design-led process of integrating emotion to provide advice to practitioners as well as identifies research areas for academia, thereby extending the reach and richness of this emerging research field.     

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.     

A Model of Consumption Emotions,Attitude, and Satisfaction for Services

Abstract

Prior research on consumer satisfaction has focused on cognitive dimensions of satisfaction. The cognitive stream of research has focused on the influence of a product's attributes on satisfaction. Recent research shows the importance of another construct, the role of emotions, on satisfaction. This paper examines the influence of consumption emotions on satisfaction, attitude and intention to visit again.     

Ethical Judgments in Business Ethics Research: Definition,and Research Agenda

Decades of empirical and theoretical research has produced an extensive literature on the ethical judgments construct. Given its importance to understanding people’s ethical choices, future research should explore the psychological processes that produce ethical judgments. In this paper, the authors discuss two steps needed to advance this effort. First, they note that the business ethics literature lacks a single, generally accepted definition of ethical judgments. After reviewing several extant definitions, the authors offer a definition of the construct and discuss its advantages. Second, future ethical judgment research would benefit from greater integration between theories of ethical decision making and theories of social cognition. Drawing upon the Hunt–Vitell (Journal of Macromarketing 6(Spring), 5–15, 1986; In: N. C. Smith and J. A. Quelch (eds.), Ethics in Marketing. Irwin, Homewood, IL, pp. 775–784, 1992) model and the heuristic-systematic model (Chaiken, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39(November), 752–766, 1980), the authors present a brief research agenda intended to stimulate research on the psychological processes behind ethical judgments.     

The Relationship between Mutual TSI and Interfirm Contracts: The Moderating Effect of Strong Ties

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study examines the influence that tie strength has on contractual relationships between exchange parties with specific investments and also explores the role of network intensity in contractual relationships between buyers and suppliers. We hypothesize that the relationship between transaction-specific investments (TSIs) and contracts is moderated by network intensity.

Methodology: An empirical test is carried out by analyzing buyer–supplier relationships of manufacturing companies. The construct measures were based on those obtained from prior research, and the reliability and validity were established using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The overall measurement model was then assessed with structural equation modeling using AMOS.

Findings: We focus primarily on contract variables as a governance mechanism that can be affected by the strength of ties among firms and the results of our empirical study indicate that supplier TSIs improve the use of informal contracts while the use of formal contracts undermines the effect on supplier TSIs. In addition, we found that firms with weak ties with their partners in the network are more likely to use both formal and informal contracts than those with strong ties.

Contribution: Our study has several contributions. First, our research improves the understanding of the relationship between TSIs and the choice of contracts as a governance mechanism, especially for mutual TSIs. Second, our research improves our understanding of the network strength in the context of business-to-business relationships extending the understanding of the relationship intensity among firms in a network. Third, we focused on the effects of network intensity on contractual relationships.     

Globalizing Business Ethics Research and the Ethical Need to Include the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Countries: Redefining the Global Triad as Business Systems and Institutions

A majority of the countries in the world are still considered “developing,” with a per capita income of less than U$1,000. Hahn (2008, Journal of Business Ethics 78, 711–721) recently proposed an ambitious business ethics research agenda for integrating the “bottom-of-the-pyramid” countries (Prahalad and Hart, 2002, Strategy and Competition 20, 2–14) through sustainable development and corporate citizenship. Hahn’s work is among the growing field of research in comparative business ethics including the global business ethics index (Michalos, 2008, Journal of Business Ethics 79(1), 9–19; Scholtens and Dam, 2008, Journal of Business Ethics 75(3), 273–284; Tsalikis and Seaton, 2008, Journal of Business Ethics 75(3), 229–238). This article is complementary to Hahn’s work and it advocates an urgent need for business ethics researchers to globally integrate the bottom-of-the-pyramid countries through a fundamental re-definition of the global economic triad, including the United States, Western Europe, and Japan [Ohmae, 1985, Triad Power: The Coming Shape of Global Competition (New York: Free Press)]. The definition that we propose is based on business systems and institutional perspectives that include the bottom-of-the-pyramid countries. We also propose to broaden the research in business ethics to enable comparisons across business systems indifferent income levels.     

Service Business Markets: Relationship Development in the Maritime Industry

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Prior literature has acknowledged the growing importance of service business markets (SBMs). However, relatively little research has examined the relationships and the motives for relationship development in SBMs. The aim of this paper is to investigate the nature of relationships and the various motives for relationship development between service provider and customers.

Methodology: This paper adopts a qualitative research strategy and a case study approach. The context is the maritime industry. One of the largest container terminals in China represents a unique and revelatory case study, wherein nine container terminal-shipping line dyads are the units of analysis. The data were mostly collected via 34 semistructured interviews with maritime industry professionals. The data were triangulated by including archival records and industry reports.

Findings: The interdependence and nonidentical nature of service delivery episodes are identified and considered to add to the knowledge on SBMs. This research provides evidence of the applicability of three groups of motives—economic, strategic, and social—for relationship development to SBMs. The motives are found to coexist and to have greater or lesser weight in the actors’ decision making depending on external factors, such as industry and company development stage, and internal factors, including the companies’ common vision and desire to collaborate.

Contribution: Academic papers have usually focused on specific types of motives, associated with a particular theoretical framework (e.g. transaction cost theory). Motives have rarely been discussed from multiple theoretical lenses. When motives are identified it is not clear what they really imply in different contexts, and what factors cause them to appear. This paper provides a number of contributions. First, it integrates several theoretical perspectives and specifies three groups of motives for relationship development in SBMs: economic, strategic, and social. Second, through the analysis of empirical findings the paper provides a deeper understanding of each group of motives, proposing an integrated framework of motives and the factors affecting their appearance. Subsequently, the research is carried out through a dyadic perspective, which is relatively rare in SBM research. A dyadic perspective allows similarities and differences in actors’ perceptions and actions to be illuminated. Finally, the research brings in a relatively new and important context—the Chinese maritime industry.

Practical implications: Knowing the needs and motives of counterparts can greatly assist SBM actors in formulating their strategies and planning their investments. It is also important that actors realize that the extent to which the other side is open to collaboration depends on the interplay of various motives. In general, business professionals should realize that end users increasingly perceive various service delivery stages within a supply chain as interdependent. Thus, to deliver a more integrated and flawless service to the end user, service providers and customers in SBMs should develop communication and collaboration beyond the operational level.     

Marketing research and training in Europe: A view of the next ten years

Between 1993 and 1994, important research on the future of marketing in Europe was undertaken. Financed by the usual procedure of syndicated research, its aim was to provide guidelines for strategic corporate thinking over the next 10 years.

Following a summary of the research methodology, an indication is given as to the kinds of information and trends which are to be found in the results document. Our objective is then to extend this study in terms of requirements in relation to marketing research and training over the next 10 years.     

Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain Network by Adopting Relationship Management Strategies

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This paper develops a conceptual framework to analyze the impact of a supply chain network (SCN) structure on relationship management strategies (RMS) that focal firms apply to manage sustainability issues within the SCN.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a comprehensive review and analysis of the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP), sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), and SCN literature.

Findings: The conceptual framework expands the network perspective in the SSCM context by considering the important role of the SCN structure in the firm’s decision-making process. Four factors (dependency, distance, power, and transparency) were found that are useful in conceptualizing the SCN structure. The conceptual framework also categorizes various sustainability practices into four RMS (noncompliance, transactional, dictatorial, and collaborative), which are needed to make an SCN more sustainable. In addition, 16 propositions are developed based on how firms may identify the most effective RMS to implement appropriate sustainability practices through examining their SCN structure.

Research limitations/implications: The conceptual framework, developed as a result of a comprehensive review of the literature, led to the development of 16 propositions, which can assist in furthering a research agenda on RMS to diffuse various sustainability practices within SCN structures.

Originality/value: The relationship between SCN structure and RMS in the sustainability context remains an under-researched but emerging area of interest. This paper leverages existing research to develop a conceptual framework suitable for empirical testing.     

Consideration set influences on consumer decision-making and choice: Issues,models, and suggestions

This paper affords a stylized view of individual consumer choice decision-making appropriate to the study of many marketing decisions. It summarizes issues relating to consideration set effects on consumer judgment and choice. It discusses whether consideration sets really exist and, if so, the factors that affect their composition, structure, and role in decision-making. It examines some new developments in the measurement and modeling of consideration set effects on decision-making. The paper concludes with suggestions for needed research. The authors wish to acknowledge the numerous ideas and perspectives contributed by the other members of the Banff Symposium workshop:Mukesh Bhargava (University of Alberta),Bill Black (Louisiana State University),Gary Gaeth (University of Iowa),Hotaka Katahira (University of Tokyo, Japan),Gilles Laurent (Centre HEC-ISA, France),Irwin Levin (University of Iowa),David Midgley (Australian Graduate School of Management),Thomas Novak (Southern Methodist University), andJames Wiley (University of Alberta). This paper has benefited greatly from their contributions.     

An Investigation on Incentive Strategies in Community Building in Business-to-Business Electronic Markets

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Community building is recognized as an important governance mechanism in business-to-business (B-to-B) electronic markets by enhancing firms’ participation in these platform markets. However, little research has been done regarding the role of incentive strategies in community building. The main purpose of this paper is to understand how to motivate merchants to participate in a merchant community with incentive strategies.

Methodology: Data were collected in a community of a large B-to-B electronic platform market in China. We randomly chose a sample of 605 participants from among all merchant firms registered in this community, and track their behaviors for 2 weeks. Their behaviors are recorded based on our research design.

Findings: With the empirical analysis from a community of a large B-to-B electronic platform market in China, our results show that (1) both platform and peer incentive strategies can significantly enhance community participation, while platform incentives is more effective in general; (2) platform incentive strategy is a more effective strategy as seller firm uncertainty increases; (3) peer incentive strategy is a more effective strategy as buyer firm uncertainty increases.

Originality: This paper is among the first to investigate two types of incentive strategies in community building, platform level and peer level. We also investigate the moderating role of market uncertainties due to market participants from seller and buyer when examining the effectiveness of these two incentive strategies.     

Ethical Issues in Australian Marketing Research Services

Abstract

The study focuses on Australian marketing research professionals' perceptions toward ethics in the marketing research profession and research services. These perceptions are specifically related to the ethical environment, ethical guidance, and leadership responsibility, factors leading to unethical marketing research practices and ethical climate characteristics. Overall findings underscore the importance of the role of management in setting the ethical tone and developing an appropriate frame of reference for ethical conduct and guidance in Australian marketing research.     

The Joint Effects of Formal Institutions and Business Characteristics on Interfirm Guanxi in China: A Fuzzy Set Analysis

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This research intends to investigate the effects of formal market institutions on managers’ willingness to use personal networks, such as guanxi in China, for business success.

Methodology: We collect data from a major cellular phone manufacturer and its 277 retailers across China. We employ Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FsQCA) to identify necessary conditions and causal recipes (combinations of antecedent conditions) for three elements of guanxi between boundary spanners (i.e., ganqing, information favor, and business support) and a firm’s operational performance.

Findings: We find that formal market institutions are not the sole factor influencing managers’ decisions on exercising guanxi practices and, in turn, achieving interfirm collaboration. We also find that there exists more than one causal recipe leading to each key element of guanxi between boundary spanners. The results also suggest that well-established formal market institutions would never be able to completely eliminate guanxi practices in China.

Originality: This paper is among the first to examine the joint effects of formal market institutions and key characteristics of interfirm relationships on the use of guanxi practices.     

Exploring the animosity domain and the role of affect in a cross-national context

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of animosity theory in three areas; construct domain, the mediating role of affect and model testing.Design/methodology/approachExploratory and empirical research is carried out in two countries in order to explore the domain and to test the factor structure and the hypotheses through confirmatory analysis.FindingsWe find animosity is a four-dimensional construct which impacts buying behavior through affect.Originality/valueThe research extends the domain of the animosity construct to a four-dimensional structure rather than the two-dimensional structure used in most previous studies. It is the first study to empirically test an extended animosity domain and investigate the mediating role of affective emotional responses between animosity and buying intentions.