Emergent Internet Technology Applications for Relationship Marketing

Abstract

In this paper we bring together the concepts of Relationship Marketing (RM) in the marketing literature and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Information Systems (IS) literature to identify and assess emergent Internet-based Information Technologies (IT) that add value for consumers. We focus on the customer's perspective by identifying the key benefits consumers seek when they enter into IT-mediated interactions with sellers. We review the IS-CRM literature and identify 8 critical IT categories that have the potential for changing how buyers and sellers establish and maintain relationships in the Internet era. Subsequently, we introduce a conceptual model, which considers the nature of the consumer's involvement with sellers through emergent Internet-based technologies in juxtaposition to potential technology-based benefits to consumers. We then discuss the implications of this proposed direction. Finally, we discuss a future research agenda, which considers the use of IT in relationship management.     

Young Peoples' Relationships with Online Marketing Practices: An Intrusion Too Far?

This paper presents findings from a study comparing young peoples' relationships with 'new' digital and more 'traditional' forms of media. The study explored mediated relationships emerging in the everyday lives of older adolescent teenagers, aged 13-17. The study utilised multiple methods of inquiry, seeking out holistic depictions of young peoples' multi-media experiences, rooted in everyday lifestyles. Self-completion questionnaires were combined with mini focus groups across three diverse school types. The quantitative findings confirm that the internet was used for a diverse range of motivations, one the least powerful being commercial contact. The qualitative findings highlight the intensity of young peoples' concerns over commercial intrusion experienced online. This theme highlighted the growing conflict between marketing practitioners seeking to harness digital media for targeted communication and the uses of digital media by young people for noncommercial purposes.     

Toward an Understanding of Internet Adoption at the Marketing/Entrepreneurship Interface

The aim of this research is to explore those competencies within the entrepreneurial small firm, (ESF), which will determine if it is to adopt and fully exploit the potential of the Internet in developing and maintaining relationships with its customers. A key relationship, and one that is a major focus of much of the relationship marketing literature, is that between the supplier, in this case the ESF, and the customer or buyer. In this research, using a qualitative methodology, the authors examine the nature and character of the challenges faced by 30 entrepreneurial individuals in their relationship-oriented utilisation of the Internet. As a first stage of a larger research programme it explores the competencies likely to determine the extent of Internet adoption. The paper offers insights to a more complete competency spectrum for Internet marketing in the ESF.     

How to take customers into consideration in service innovation projects

At a time of great change within the higher education sector, this paper focuses on the challenges facing marketers in the UK's higher education industry. Specifically, the research identifies the extent to which university marketing managers are conscious of the importance of market segmentation particularly with regard to the growing mature learner segment, and to what extent such marketers are using the web to engage and influence this older segment. The evidence presented in this study suggests that the sample universities display an inadequate state of readiness to respond to the marketing challenges arising in the changing environment and that the opportunity to influence the growing and affluent mature learner market through online communication remains largely unexploited. A general lack of a marketing orientation within the sector prevails.     

Critical factors underpinning the e-CRM activities of SMEs

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are vital components of our economies, but many struggle to perform the marketing prescribed theoretically for large organisations. In practice, marketing is performed in SMEs through an intrinsic customer orientation, which exhibits striking resemblances to customer relationship management (CRM) theory. This paper presents research evidence to help us understand the impact of Internet-based technologies (IBTs) on the CRM activities (that is e-CRM) of SMEs in Ireland. A quantitative approach (online survey questionnaire) was adopted and distributed to 1445 SMEs. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered eight distinct yet inter-related factors underpinning the practices and processes of e-CRM in SMEs. Briefly, findings illustrate that SMEs are performing e-CRM to varying extents, reaping a range of performance benefits and facing a range of challenges. It is true that SMEs are not adopting e-CRM per se, as described in the large organisation-biased literature, but they are adopting relatively simple IBTs to improve their customer communication and information management capabilities and thus to create competitive advantage in their own strategic way. The study adopts a strong managerial focus, where pertinent practical implications and recommendations around e-CRM are provided for SME owner-managers, helping to bridge the gap between theory and practice.     

Teenagers on the Net

ABSTRACT

Both in business and in academic research, the Internet and electronic commerce grow exponentially. Attention has predominately been directed to developing the companies' capabilities and systems, while the consumers' perspective in contrast has received much less attention. This paper takes this perspective and focuses on online behavior of specifically 16- to 18-year-old teenagers. This particular segment tends to open to new things and know a great deal about using computers and the Internet. A questionnaire conducted among students in a high school in southern Finland showed that the overwhelming majority had computer and Internet access at home. Most of the young respondents had already used the Internet for various purposes and intend to do so even more in the future. For the young, information search and communication were the main purposes of using the Internet, and lower-value products related to mobile phones were the main products being bought online. At the same time they had different concerns that influence their behavior and, somewhat surprisingly, reported a slightly negative attitude towards electronic commerce. In line with previous studies, privacy and security issues were the primary concerns for the young Internet users. Gender aspects also emerged from the data since there were several differences in Internet usage and online purchasing between girls and boys. Based on the findings, the paper ends with implications and recommendations for companies attempting to approach teenagers in order to build relationships with them.     

Exploiting online social gambling for marketing communications

Internet technology provides a new approach to how gambling is conducted in postmodern times. Drawing on constructivist research and utilising a single case study strategy, this paper examines online social gambling and real money gambling marketing communication practices, as well as offering some insights into the development and implementation of effective marketing communication programmes. In contrast to existing studies, this paper, in part, proposes integrative and higher levels of marketing communication programmes between online social gambling and real money gambling environments. The paper reveals the implicit structure of meanings underlying the link between online social gambling activity and real money gambling practices.     

ChatGPT and consumers: Benefits,Pitfalls and Future Research Agenda

The need of the hour is to encourage research on topics with newness and novelty. In this context, this article discusses multidimensional benefits and potential pitfalls of using artificial intelligence-based Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), and provides numerous ideas for future research in consumer studies and marketing in the context of ChatGPT. ChatGPT provides algorithm-generated conversational responses to text-based prompts. Since its launch in the late 2022, ChatGPT has generated significant debate surrounding its hallmarks, benefits and potential pitfalls. On the one hand, ChatGPT can offer enhanced consumer engagement, improved customer service, personalization and shopping, social interaction and communication practice, cost-effectiveness, insights into consumer behaviour and improved marketing campaigns. On the other hand, potential pitfalls include concerns about consumer well-being, bias, misinformation, lack of context, privacy concerns, ethical considerations and security. The article concludes by outlining a potential future research agenda in the area of ChatGPT and consumer studies. Overall, this article provides valuable insights into the benefits and challenges associated with ChatGPT, shedding light on its potential applications and the need for further research.     

Addressing privacy predicaments in the digital marketplace: A power‐relations perspective

The utilization and governance of the internet and adjacent disruptive technologies have created numerous challenges to ensuring consumer online privacy. This study employs the power–responsibility equilibrium theory to explore emerging online privacy issues in the data‐driven marketplace. This exploratory study, based on semi‐structured interviews, explains why online shopping consumers are increasingly worried about their privacy and why they behave in a manner that could be detrimental to the consumer–vendor relationship. The findings suggest that deficiencies of corporate privacy responsibility and regulatory protection have deprived consumers of privacy empowerment. These deficiencies have also accentuated perceived privacy contract violations to trigger privacy concerns and subsequent defensive responses. We identify enhancement of consumer privacy empowerment and assuagement of privacy contract violations as two separate mechanisms of addressing online privacy issues. We also highlight the importance of addressing power and responsibility dynamics for maintaining a healthy information‐exchange environment.     

Self-Disclosure and Managing Privacy: Implications for Interpersonal and Online Communication for Consumers and Marketers

In our fast-changing technological world, the line between the offline and online world has become blurred and individuals are faced with constant opportunities to divulge personal details. The process of disclosing sensitive information to others is necessary for establishing, maintaining, and building relationships, both with people and businesses; however, it also creates opportunities for misuse of the disclosed information. Consumers who are willing to disclose personal information online may often be unaware of the full implications of such disclosure. By thoroughly exploring the origins and processes of self-disclosure, and outlining its development in interpersonal and online communication, individuals will become more aware of their (sometimes competing) implicit and explicit disclosure behaviors necessary for enacting strong privacy management. Utilizing communication privacy management (CPM) theory, this article proposes a framework for ongoing consideration of how self-disclosure and privacy function online. By framing privacy in terms of the literature of communicative self-disclosure, CPM instructs the building of privacy boundaries that are functional for consumers and marketers alike, allowing people to protect themselves online while also ensuring their continued enjoyment of Internet provided benefits.     

An empirical study about the impacts of China's accession to the WTO on the telecommunications industry in China

Post‐China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China's telecommunication industry now needs to face a much stronger competition in a relatively open market that has a number of diverse rivalries. There are specific benefits and risks associated with both domestic telecommunication (telecom) companies and foreign investors in the telecommunication or information technology area. To meet with these new challenges and take advantage of the competitive, strategic advantages to penetrate the market, both China's telecom industry and foreign investors must understand the impacts of China's accession to the WTO on its telecommunication industry and hence make the necessary adjustments and/or implementation improvements. In specific, we carefully examine the impacts such as prices, quality, and local protectionism in this article. We draw the findings based on the data collected from a survey and the resulting statistic analysis.     

Factors predicting attitude toward disclosing personal data online

To test a theoretical model, this study explores the effect of anxiety, trust, personality, and perceived benefits on the disclosure of personal information online. An online survey conducted among participants in the United States (n = 248, age range: 20–82 years) examined attitudes toward disclosing personal data online. Specifically, the study researches the impact of anxiety disclosing personal data, trust (both in the Internet and in institutions), the Big Five personality traits, and four sets of perceived shopping benefits (opportunity, bargain, purchase, and expected privacy benefits) in e-commerce disclosure and their role as antecedents for adoption and use of e-commerce. The study aligns with existing trust literature and corroborates other findings on how perceived purchase benefits impact individuals’ attitudes toward disclosing personal data online. The data suggest that both trust in the Internet and trust in institutions positively influence attitude toward disclosing personal data online. Perceived purchase benefits were also significant positive predictors for attitude toward disclosing personal data online. Furthermore, personality dimensions can affect attitude toward disclosing: the more neurotic a person is, the more negative their attitude is about disclosing personal data online. The study underscores that consumers have a responsibility to educate themselves about online disclosure and marketing practices, and about how to protect their online privacy. Most importantly, fostering trust, reducing anxiety, and promoting benefits are essential to the future of e-commerce. Implications for theory, consumers, marketing practice, and public policy are also discussed.     

Payday Loan Marketing in Social Media Networks

The payday lending industry has grown dramatically over the past two decades, with lenders increasingly marketing their products on the Internet. However, little is known about payday loan (PDL ) marketing through social media networks. Our study is the first to report the PDL promotions on Twitter. Out of 23,276 tweets related to PDLs from June 29, 2015 to October 2, 2015, 71% were commercial tweets, most of which came from a small percentage of users. The overall impact to the general public was large and we observed a range of opinions in our sentiment analysis. Commercial tweets had an average sentiment score of 34.9 while noncommercial had a total average sentiment score of 50.7. Commercial tweets were more concentrated in states with restrictive or hybrid regulations on PDL . Our findings provide evidence for enhancing online PDL regulations and using social media data for real‐time monitoring of PDL lending.     

Building brand relationships online: A comparison of two interactive applications

Due to its potential for interactive communication, the Internet is considered a promising tool for relationship marketing. However, the effects of interactive communication on marketing effectiveness may depend on several factors related to each individual consumer, such as Internet experience. In this study, two of the most common applications for interactive communication—personalized Web sites and customer communities—were compared for their ability to develop consumer-brand relationships as measured by the Brand Relationship Quality (BRQ) framework of Fournier (1998). No main effects of the applications were observed. However, significant effects of Internet applications were found when Internet experience was included as a moderating variable. Specifically, it was found that personalized Web sites developed stronger consumer-brand relationships for respondents with extensive Internet experience than for respondents with limited Internet experience. Conversely, it was found that customer communities developed stronger relationships among respondents with limited Internet experience than among respondents with extensive Internet experience. Implications for marketing management and future research in this area are discussed.     

Marketing communications implications of children's new electronic media use: a survey of parental opinions and perceptions

Currently new electronic media, the Internet in particular, are poised to become a major part of the marketing and communications mix, not only for adults but also children. This poses challenges and heralds a new debate on both protection of the young vis‐à‐vis more equitable access and the need, nature and forms of regulation warranted. This paper reviews the literature on this debate and related issues. It reports on a New Zealand empirical study of parental perceptions of their children's electronic media use and examines the findings and the insights obtained on the use of the Internet and its role as a marketing communications medium. It also reports on what these parents consider to be the key concerns in this area and their Internet site preferences. The issues relating to children, the Internet and the link between violence and video games are examined and implications for marketing communications are discussed.     

互联网时代的口碑营销及应用策略

口碑营销是近年来企业进行营销传播的常用营销策略之一.互联网的出现使得消费者的口碑传播行为呈现出新的特点,同时为企业进行口碑营销活动提供了新的机会,因此,研究互联网时代的口碑营销具有一定的理论与实践意义.本文首先阐述了网上口碑传播的内涵,指出了网上口碑传播的途径,然后论证了网上口碑传播的特点.以此为基础,探讨了企业开展网络口碑营销的应用策略.     

Antecedents of Online Reviews' Usage and Purchase Influence: An Empirical Comparison of U.S. and Korean Consumers

We propose a model linking consumer characteristics (consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence and Internet shopping experience), attitude toward online reviews (perceived usefulness), and the outcome of online reviews (usage frequency and purchase influence). We advance hypotheses on the interrelationships among these factors and on the moderating effects of national culture on some of the relationships. We test the hypotheses on survey data collected from U.S. and Korean consumers. The results show that national culture has important moderating effects on the relationships among online reviews and its antecedents. The results suggest that an attitude-oriented marketing communication strategy is more effective for Korean consumers while a behavior-oriented strategy is more effective for U.S. consumers.     

Social media marketing: Who is watching the watchers?

The ready access to and availability of social media has opened up a wealth of data that marketers are leveraging for strategic insight and digital marketing. Yet there is a lack of professional norms regarding the use of social media in marketing and a gap in understanding consumers’ comfort with marketers’ use of their social media data. This study analyzes a census-balanced sample of online adults (n = 751) to identify consumers’ perceptions of using social media data for marketing purposes. The research finds that consumers’ perceived risks and benefits of using social media have a relationship with their comfort with marketers using their publicly available social media data. The research extends the applicability of communication privacy management theory to social media and introduces marketing comfort—a new construct of high importance for future marketing research. Marketing comfort refers to an individual's comfort with the use of information posted publicly on social media for targeted advertising, customer relations, and opinion mining. In the context of the construct development, we find that targeted advertising is the strongest contributing component to marketing comfort, relative to the other two dimensions: opinion mining and customer relations. By understanding what drives consumer comfort with this emerging marketing practice, the research proposes strategies for marketers that can support and mitigate consumers’ concerns so that consumers can maintain trust in marketers’ digital practices.     

Online service personalization for apparel shopping

This study explores the dynamics of online service personalization in the online apparel retailing context, with regard to customers’ actual online shopping activities. From an empirical study of American Internet shoppers (n=204), three types of widely-used online service personalization, that is (i) offer, (ii) recognition, and (iii) personal advice, were identified. Moreover, grounded by the Theory of Reasoned Action [Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I., 1975. Belief, Attitudes, Intention, Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA], relationships between customers’ online service personalization attitudes and their online shopping activities—regarding apparel items—have been investigated. Findings of this study empirically present the dynamics of online service personalization in the context of online apparel retailing. Also, the results show that customer online shopping experiences may impact on their online service personalization attitudes. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed regarding online service management. Based on the results, Internet-based apparel retailers may benefit from developing various types of personalization services by enhancing shopping intentions of their customers, in particular, of those who are loyal to the retailers.     

International opportunity recognition as a critical component for leveraging Internet capabilities and international market performance

Recent research in the field of international entrepreneurship has emphasized the need for a better conceptualization of international opportunity recognition. Further, with advancements in information and communication technologies, such as the Internet, there has been a profound impact on the way in which international business is conducted, for example, enabling entrepreneurial firms to capitalize on the economic opportunities of an Internet environment. In this study, we propose a model, highlighting the importance of international opportunity recognition, as a critical component for leveraging Internet capabilities and international market performance. Through the lens of a resource capabilities approach, a quantitative, online survey was used to collect data from Australian, international entrepreneurial firms. Structural equation modelling results indicate that international opportunity recognition plays a central role in explaining how resources and Internet capabilities combine for the firm’s realization of international opportunities, and subsequent international performance. The findings enrich current understanding of how international entrepreneurial firms realize opportunities in Internet-based environments.