Digital product innovations for the greater good and digital marketing innovations in communications and channels: Evolution,emerging issues,and future research directions

During the past quarter-century, digital technologies-based innovations for creating, communicating, and delivering products of value to customers have significantly risen in importance to the competitiveness of firms. Digital technologies-based innovations have been transformational in numerous ways, such as their impact on firms’ marketing behaviors, consumers’ search and buying behaviors, and the structural characteristics of markets and industries. Against this backdrop, this article provides a perspective on the evolution of research and practice in digital product innovations and digital marketing innovations. Specifically, the article focuses on (a) innovations for the greater good in the domain of the former and (b) direct and mediated communications through social media platforms and omnichannel marketing in the domain of the latter. In respect of each of the above, the article provides an overview of the evolution and current state of the field, highlights certain current issues and the trajectory of the field, and proposes directions for future research.     

Twenty-five years of consumer vulnerability research: Critical insights and future directions

Consumer vulnerability is gaining increasing attention from researchers and practitioners as a social phenomenon in modern consumption-driven societies. In an attempt to conduct a comprehensive review using credible published research materials on the topic, this study applies a big data analytics approach to analyze scholarly research with a pool of 859 articles covering the last 25 years of post-modern marketing practices that have been a precursor to market-driven vulnerability. This paper identifies the most influential articles, as well as the top contributing journals and authors, along with their affiliations. In addition, this study reveals four major themes of research in consumer vulnerability, namely marketing, fraud and consumers, consumer vulnerability and well-being, ethics and vulnerable consumers, and consumption, disability and gender. These integrative perspectives will serve as a critical starting point to encourage focused theme-based exploration in the field.     

How customer experience incongruence affects omnichannel customer retention: The moderating role of channel characteristics

Although a positive customer experience is known to be an important source of competitive advantage, it is unclear how customer experience can be effectively managed in an omnichannel setting. Drawing on goal theory, this study explores the effect of incongruity between online customer experience and offline customer experience on customer retention in an omnichannel context. It also examines the moderating effects of three channel characteristics: transparency, convenience, and seamlessness. Our hypotheses are tested with online survey data, and the results indicate that in an omnichannel context, customer experience incongruence has a negative effect on customer retention, but channel transparency, convenience, and seamlessness can effectively mitigate this negative effect. The findings have both theoretical implications for research related to omnichannel business and customer experience and practical implications for managers of omnichannel services.     

Guiding directions and propositions: Placing dynamics at the heart of customer experience (CX) research

Our study summarizes and synthesizes the content of our Special Issue along with additional information from customer experience (hereafter CX) managers and research to determine the main challenges and opportunities for the most important trend in CX practice and research alike: CX's dynamic nature. While widely acknowledged, CX researchers and managers have been struggling with how to research, address, and successfully manage CX's dynamic nature. Individual contributions build the foundation for our study, establishing a conceptual framework within which to successfully address the four main challenges at hand: time, the role of emotions, personal experience vicinity, and methods. We present guiding research directions and questions emphasizing fruitful avenues of enquiry.     

The role of customer contact employees as external customers: A conceptual framework for marketing strategy and future research

Existing streams of literature in marketing, management, and organizational behavior are integrated to propose a conceptual framework that highlights the customer contact employee's dual role as employee and external customer of the organization. Several iterative “cycles of success” are proposed whereby job satisfaction, the employee's patronage of the company's products (i.e., goods or services), and job performance (as customer contact employees) are all enhanced, ultimately leading to long-term relationships (with customers and employees) and profits for the organization. The framework highlights the role of internal marketing as a tool for enhancing the competitive advantage gained by strategically considering the customer contact employee's role as external customer.     

The new wave of AI-powered luxury brands online shopping experience: The role of digital multisensory cues and customers’ engagement

Academic literature retains a dearth of empirical evidence of the cutting-edge aspect of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital assistance and digital multisensory cues, despite the prospect of these factors on real-life customers' luxury brand online shopping experience. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the significant pathway and effects of AI-powered digital assistance toward customers’ luxury brand online shopping experience. Drawing on S–O-R (Stimulus, organism, and response) and TRAM (Technology Readiness and Acceptance Model) paradigm, a multi-method research design was deployed to investigate constructs. Firstly, semi-structured interviews were utilized to explore customers' online behavior under the luxury brands and information technology aspect. Secondly, survey data were collected and analyzed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The PLS-based analysis of quantitative data confirmed the exploratory insights of qualitative findings, establishing the connections of AI-powered digital assistance, customer engagement, and customers' luxury brand online shopping experience. Research findings also suggest that customer engagement plays a mediation role in the relationship between AI-powered digital assistance and customers' luxury brand online shopping experience. Besides, digital multisensory cues moderate the relationship between AI-powered digital assistance and customer engagement. Further, fsQCA complements the findings of PLS-SEM that reveal the significant combination of factors that lead to the perceptions of customers' luxury brand online shopping experience.     

Retailing evolution research: Introduction to the special section on retailing research

This JBR Special Issue on Retailing includes several high quality research studies presented at the 10th and 11th Society for Marketing Advances Retail Strategy and Patronage Behavior Symposiums. The articles cover a wide range of interesting and important retailing topics including topics such as atmospherics, self-esteem and advertising. This introduction offers a few comments on the 2007 and 2008 Symposiums' content including a brief overview of each article.     

Consumer product search and purchase behaviour using various retail channels: the role of perceived retail usefulness

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of consumers' perceptions of retail usefulness for product information search and their previous purchase satisfaction on their frequencies of product information search and product purchase behaviours for apparel products. These relationships were investigated in five retail settings – Internet shopping, catalogue shopping, television shopping, local retail shopping, and non‐local retail shopping. One hundred seventy‐six students in a US Midwestern university provided usable responses. The results of causal model analyses showed that the proposed model fits the data well for all five retail channels. Consumers who perceived a certain retail channel more useful for product information search searched for product information more frequently via that retail channel, and purchased products more often via that retail channel. Consumers who were more satisfied with apparel purchases from a retail channel purchased the products more frequently via that retail channel. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Talent management: Current theories and future research directions

Research on Talent Management (TM) has been lagging behind businesses in offering vision and leadership in this field. After sketching a comprehensive outline of knowledge about TM, theoretical as well as practical, we introduce the papers in this special issue and their important contributions. This introductory article contributes to filling the knowledge gap by offering a research agenda at multiple levels and in multiple contexts. We also discuss methodological issues in the study of TM, and conclude by identifying several key trends that are now, and will continue to influence the practice and study of TM in the future.     

The harmonious role of channel integration and logistics service in Omnichannel retailing: The case of IKEA

Grounded on the stimulus–organism–response framework, this study investigated the mechanism by which channel integration and logistics service influence satisfaction and repurchase intention from customers’ perspectives. An online survey was conducted to collect data and partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed for model assessment. The results disclosed that perceived logistics service quality is an antecedent of perceived channel integration quality and that the two variables harmoniously influence customer satisfaction (transaction-specific and cumulative) which subsequently generates repurchase intention. Particularly, the results demonstrated that the respective contributions of perceived channel integration quality and perceived logistics service quality in enhancing transaction-specific satisfaction differ through the distinct hybrid experiences. This study had theoretical implications for the literature on omnichannel retailing and practical implications for managers of omnichannel retailers.     

Exporter-importer business relationships: Past empirical research and future directions

We present a systematic and comprehensive review of the extant empirical literature on exporter-importer business relationships during the period 1975–2017. The review covers 196 articles published in academic journals, which were content-analyzed with their theoretical background, research design, scope of research, sampling/data collection methods, data analysis, and thematic areas covered. Our findings reveal that this line of research is characterized by: (a) a sound theoretical foundation, the most frequent theories being the behavioral paradigm, transaction cost economics, and relational exchange theory; (b) heavy emphasis on formalized, statistical, cross-sectional, and causal research designs; (c) focus on single-country studies, conducted mainly in Europe, Asia, and North America; (d) a tendency to employ probabilistic samples, of a relatively large size; (e) an adoption of relatively sophisticated methods to purify and analyze data collected; and (f) an emphasis on topics relating to behavioral and structural relational dimensions, followed by external and internal influences. Guidelines for researchers focusing on exporter-importer relationships are provided, as well as suggestions for potential new research topics.     

Emerging markets research: Trends, issues and future directions

We survey recent research on emerging markets (EM) within the fields of economics, finance, international business and management. To do this, we reconfigure the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification system to provide a comprehensive list of the topics that have been studied, and we combine it with the main journal ranking methodologies to identify the journals in which significant contributions to EM research have been disseminated. We highlight the areas of greatest interest and those that have received relatively little attention to date. The suggested topics for future research include: Data and methods; market efficiency, risk-adjusted returns and risk premia; exchange rate volatility and firm-level exposures; classification systems, clusters and networks; firm-level internationalisation; international business strategy; attracting and benefiting from FDI; corporate and institutional governance; and behavioural perspectives, culture and the demise of the representative agent.     

Retail internationalization: A review and directions for future research

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide a review of scholarly articles that have examined retail internationalization issues. We identify three core areas within RI research: (1) RI drivers and impediments, (2) RI strategy, and (3) RI performance. We also discuss four RI strategy issues that have been examined: (1) RI speed, (2) Foreign market selection, (3) Foreign entry mode, and (4) Strategy employed. Based on the review, we point to multiple areas where RI research is lacking and can contribute to the advancement of the field as well as offer insightful implications for international retail managers.     

Content creators' participation in the creator economy: Examining the effect of creators’ content sharing frequency on user engagement behavior on digital platforms

Content creators produce content around their interests, hobbies, and experiences and distribute and monetize it on digital platforms. This study, informed by two-factor theory, proposes an inverted U-shaped relationship between creators' content sharing frequency and user engagement behavior on digital platforms. The study further considers creator characteristics such as number of followers, number of following, and number of competitors as moderators. To test its hypotheses, the study estimates a fixed-effects regression model on a panel dataset of content creators collected using a web-scraping method. The findings indicate that as the frequency of creators' content sharing increases, user engagement behavior initially increases but then falls after reaching a peak, supporting the inverted U-shaped relationship. Moreover, creators' number of followers, number of following, and number of competitors negatively moderate the inverted U-shaped relationship. While previous research has focused on creators' strategies as an extension of advertisers' digital marketing campaigns, this study takes a creator-first approach and provides insight into creators' content sharing frequency and users’ responses to it on digital platforms.     

Customer complaining: The role of tie strength and information control

We examine the impact of two key constructs, information control and tie strength, on consumers’ likelihood of complaining following service failures. We report convergent results from three types of studies—an experiment, a survey, and secondary data. In the first study, tie strength and information control were systematically varied in an experiment using a restaurant scenario. In a second study, survey data from patients who experienced dissatisfactory service was collected. The third study used field data from 1,470 customers of an HMO. Results from all three studies showed that, following service failure, complaining is more likely when the tendency for information control is stronger and ties are weaker.     

Digital marketing communication in global marketplaces: A review of extant research,future directions,and potential approaches

Digital marketing communication, that is, communication through digital or electronic media among businesses and consumers, is growing rapidly, especially during the COVID-19 era. We propose a framework for analyzing digital marketing communication along four major dyads, business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), and consumer-to-business (C2B). We review and summarize, for researchers and practitioners, the literature during 2000–2021 in these dyads along four major components: goals; channels, media, and platforms; content; and responses. We find that extant research in digital marketing communication pertains mostly to a specific, national level rather than a global level, despite the porousness of national boundaries for digital marketing. We derive important insights, identify key research gaps and questions in each of the dyads along these dimensions. We suggest approaches to address these research questions under three major components: substantive issues, data, and methods. These approaches can offer the insights that managers need to better formulate digital marketing strategies in local and global contexts.     

Agility and flexibility in international business research: A comprehensive review and future research directions

This study explores 134 articles on agility and flexibility research published in the top-nine international business (IB) journals. Accordingly, we critically analyze, map and structure flexibility and agility research in IB, and synthesize the findings into an integrative framework. The paper identifies a wide range of definitions of the concept and a lot of work on its conceptualization. However, studies at the individual and institutional levels of analyses are scarce, and the concept is under-theorized, as there is a dearth of real theoretical underpinnings in this research stream. Thus, in addressing this gap, more qualitative and interdisciplinary research is needed.     

Celebrity influences on consumer decision making: new insights and research directions

ABSTRACT

Throughout human history, people have expressed admiration for heroes who possessed extraordinary abilities and achieved superhuman goals. For many, modern-day celebrities fulfil this role and are prominent in various marketing communications activities. This paper addresses the literature review gaps and provides an in-depth review of the psychological and social psychological perspectives which are relevant to the celebrity endorsement literature. The contributions of this paper consist of a detailed analysis of important types of consumer-celebrity relationships, key emotional drivers (e.g. envy and admiration) of celebrity influence and the development of an original conceptual model. The conceptual model pulls together the past research and identifies new research gaps, which synthesises different research perspectives and provides a sound theoretical basis guiding future researchers and marketing managers.     

Consumer involvement and marketing in Africa: some directions for future research

Despite an ongoing debate, authors agree that factors that determine consumers' involvement in any goal object are the characteristics of the object, the characteristics of the customer involved and the situational context of the decision. With this as the theoretical background, this paper advocates the need to study African‐specific contextual factors to gain a thorough understanding of consumer involvement and successful marketing practice in this society. An extensive review of the extant literature was done to provide a relevant framework for exploring consumer involvement and African‐related issues. The paper concludes that existing postulations on the subject matter could not robustly capture consumer involvement in Africa due to pertinent influences of cultural values and mores that do not apply elsewhere in the world. Hence, empirical studies to gauge the context‐specific application of the subject in relation to Africa are suggested as imperative. This paper advocates a society‐oriented consciousness for marketing activities in relation to consumer involvement with specific reference to Africa. Therefore, it cautions against undue generalization about the existing postulations on the subject, and provides directions for future research towards updating the literature.     

Managerial work in the realm of the digital universe: The role of the data triad

With the explosion of the digital universe, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how organizational decision making (i.e., the business-oriented perspective) is intertwined with an understanding of enterprise data assets (i.e., the data-oriented perspective). This article first compares the business- and data-oriented perspectives to describe how the two views mesh with each other. It then presents three elements in the data-oriented perspective that are collectively referred to as the data triad: (1) use, (2) design and storage, and (3) processes and people. In describing the data triad, this article highlights practices, architectural techniques, and example tools that are used to manage, access, analyze, and deliver data. By presenting different elements of the data-oriented perspective, this article broadly and concretely describes the data triad and how it can play a role in the redefined scope of work for data-driven business managers.