Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance of Mobile Marketing: A Two-Country Study of Youth Markets

The purpose of this study is to examine factors affecting consumers' acceptance of mobile marketing across two global markets. Drawing upon technology acceptance and uses and gratifications theories, we develop and estimate a conceptual model of the influences of antecedent factors (including risk acceptance related to the mobile platform and personal attachment related to mobile devices) on behavioral intent related to mobile marketing practice. We further propose that the above relationships are mediated by activities that consumers engage in such as downloading, forwarding content and registering with firms. Focusing on youth consumers, we empirically test the model using data collected in both an established (U.S.) and an emerging market (Pakistan). Findings across these two markets reflect cross-market similarities and differences related to consumer acceptance factors. We draw implications from these findings related to both theory and practice.     

Antecedents of consumer attitudes toward mobile marketing: A comparative study of youth markets in the United States and China

The purpose of this study is to examine factors influencing consumers' attitudes toward mobile marketing across two major markets—the United States and China. Drawing upon the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of reasoned action (TRA), and the perceived characteristics of innovations theory (PCI), we develop and test a conceptual model examining the joint influences of TAM constructs (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness) and individual characteristics (personal attachment, innovativeness, risk avoidance, and privacy concern) and on consumer attitudes toward mobile marketing practices. Focusing on youth consumers, we empirically test the model using data collected in an established (United States) and an emerging market (China). Findings across these two markets reflect cross‐market similarities and differences related to consumers' attitudes toward mobile marketing. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Brand in the hand: A cross-market investigation of consumer acceptance of mobile marketing

Given the great potential of developing marketing campaigns delivered via mobile devices and the evolution of near-field communication technologies, this study examines factors influencing consumers’ acceptance of untethered, or mobile, marketing across three influential markets: the United States, China, and Europe. We examine the extent to which the usefulness of mobile information/programs and individual characteristics—namely innovativeness, personal attachment, and risk avoidance—jointly influence attitudes toward mobile marketing, and how the latter influences consumers’ mobile marketing activity across three large and influential markets. We found perceived usefulness, consumer innovativeness, and personal attachment to directly influence attitudes toward mobile marketing in all three markets. In China and Europe, risk avoidance also negatively influences attitudes toward mobile marketing. Marketers seeking to build and maintain customer relationships via mobile platforms should view these individual characteristics as levers brands can push to amplify consumers’ acceptance of mobile marketing.     

Consumer Decision-making Processes in Mobile Viral Marketing Campaigns

The high penetration of cell phones in today's global environment offers a wide range of promising mobile marketing activities, including mobile viral marketing campaigns. However, the success of these campaigns, which remains unexplored, depends on the consumers' willingness to actively forward the advertisements that they receive to acquaintances, e.g., to make mobile referrals. Therefore, it is important to identify and understand the factors that influence consumer referral behavior via mobile devices. The authors analyze a three-stage model of consumer referral behavior via mobile devices in a field study of a firm-created mobile viral marketing campaign. The findings suggest that consumers who place high importance on the purposive value and entertainment value of a message are likely to enter the interest and referral stages. Accounting for consumers' egocentric social networks, we find that tie strength has a negative influence on the reading and decision to refer stages and that degree centrality has no influence on the decision-making process.     

Market Mavens in Social Media: Examining Young Chinese Consumers' Viral Marketing Attitude,eWOM Motive,and Behavior

A paper survey of 835 Chinese college students was conducted to examine young Chinese consumers' social media use, market mavenism, viral marketing attitude, and product recommendation behavior. Structural model testing results showed that young Chinese consumers' perceived pleasure, affection outcome expectation, and subjective norm of viral marketing affected their market mavenism while their subjective norm and pleasure influenced their viral marketing attitude. More importantly, young Chinese consumers' frequency of product recommendations on social networking websites was determined by their social media use, viral marketing attitude, and electronic word of mouth motive to help the company and market mavenism.     

An empirical examination of the effects of design elements of email newsletters on consumers’ email responses and their purchase

In this research, we empirically explore the effects of various design elements of email newsletters on consumers' email responses and their purchases. We capture the consumers' email responses using three metrics, namely email open, email click, and email reopen. We operationalize consumers' purchases as their spending on product items that are featured in email newsletters. Using a novel email marketing database, first, we model the influence of design elements of email newsletter on consumers' email responses at the individual consumer level. The email design elements constitute several email attributes, situational factors, and integrated marketing communication. Second, we quantify the effects of these three email responses, open, click, and reopen, on consumers' purchases. Our empirical results suggest a significant influence of email attributes, situational factors, and marketing communications on consumers' email responses. Furthermore, among open, click, and reopen, we find clicks tend to have the highest impact on consumers’ purchase, followed by email reopening and opening. However, email newsletters with higher opening probability are more effective in influencing purchases than those email newsletters with higher reopening probability. Furthermore, consumers who indulge in all three email responses, namely opening, clicking, and reopening, tend to purchase the most. Results from our study offer several critical insights for email marketing strategy helping managers improving the effectiveness of email campaigns by careful consideration for the design elements of email newsletters.     

Mobile marketing: A literature review on its value for consumers and retailers

The article describes the existing knowledge of how mobile marketing can increase the value for consumers and retailers. Mobile device shopping, and consumers' use of mobile devices while shopping is shown to be both an extension of consumers' shopping behaviours developed on Internet-connected desktop and laptop computers (PC), and potentially new behaviours based on a mobile devices' uniquely integrated features such as camera, scanners and GPS. The article focuses on how mobile marketing creates value for consumers and retailers, enabling more precise research and development of managerial concepts and tools while providing both managers and academics with increased understanding of mobile marketing and its value outcomes for retailers.     

Identifying the critical factors of customer behavior: An integration perspective of marketing strategy and components of attitudes

The purpose of this empirical study is to operationalize the relationship of green marketing's influence on consumer attitudes via the mediating role of marketing mix towards green products to validate the proposed research model in the Taiwanese context of explaining consumers' willingness to be environmentally friendly. The model is based on structural equation modeling (SEM) from data collected from 977 online consumers. The findings revealed that green consumption intention was significantly and indirectly driven by attitude to green products. Additionally, the effect of perceived quality on marketing mix and consumer willingness in environmental concern is both significant and positive. However, when a restaurant has high consumer social responsibility (CnSR) for marketing mix, the consumer attitudes of cognitive, affective, and behavioral model (C-A-B model) is less effective. These findings have contributed to the revival of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and offer a comprehensive understanding of consumer attitude, consumer social responsibility, marketing mix and perceived quality impact that a restaurant has on the ability to raise consumer willingness to purchase green products or food. We provides valuable suggestions to marketers to design from the perspective of green marketing policies and strategies in order to accommodate Taiwan's indigenous green restaurants.     

Enablers and inhibitors of permission-based marketing: A case of mobile coupons

Permission-based marketing is a unique marketing practice that requires consumers' overt consent. Previous studies examined only either positive or negative predictors of adoption of permission-based marketing practices. Thus, the current study proposes and tests both enablers and inhibitors that determine consumers' adoption decision of permissionbased marketing in a context of mobile coupons and aims to provide insights on relative importance of antecedents. A national survey of US consumers (N=611) supported the proposed model. Perceived risk and subjective norm are particularly important for consumers who have never used mobile coupons. Moderating effects of prior experience was also examined. Finding of moderating effects of prior experience in mobile service adoption suggests research implications for future studies.     

Dangerous Donations? The Effects of Cause-Related Marketing on Charity Attitude

SUMMARY

How might cause-related marketing affect attitudes toward the charity involved? Could charity attitudes be harmed? These questions were addressed in a controlled laboratory study. Positive/negative fit between the organizations was manipulated, and company attitude was measured. The results suggest that charity attitude may be negatively impacted if consumers' attitudes toward the company are negative, or if the organizations have negative fit. Alternatively, CRM may improve charity attitude if company attitude is positive or the organizations share positive fit. The effect of fit is stronger than the effect of company attitude, so positive fit may compensate for pairing with a company toward which consumers' attitudes are negative.     

Sensorimotor experiences in servicescapes predict attitude formation through memory dynamics: A longitudinal study

In a longitudinal study design with three waves, we show that strong sensorimotor associations of past service experiences positively influence consumers' attitude formation during postconsumption stages by (a) leading to more postconsumptive memories, specifically if (b) the initial experience has been perceived as moderately positive. Our study complements extant research on sensory marketing, consumer retrospection, and cognitive reinforcement by introducing memory frequency as an important mediator to explain time-related antecedents of consumers' word-of-mouth. The results provide novel insights into the dynamics of attitude formation based on prior service experiences and help marketers to create long-lasting customer relationships during postconsumption stages.     

Effects of in-store live stream on consumers’ offline purchase intention

Live stream marketing through social media has attracted the attention of digital retailing marketers in recent years. However, there is a lack of evidence in understanding the influence of in-store live stream on offline purchase intentions. This study aimed to investigate the influence patterns of environmental stimuli on consumers' intention to purchase offline/in-store after watching an in-store live stream session. The Stimuli-Organism-Response (SOR) model was employed as the theoretical framework, and a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from individuals who had previous experience with in-store live stream marketing. Structural equation modelling was then applied for data analysis, with a total of 234 valid responses. The findings revealed that environmental stimuli have a significant positive effect on consumers' intentions to make in-store purchases, and the attitudes towards influencers and products substantially mediate the relationship between stimuli and purchase intention. More specifically, consumer attitude towards products has a pronounced effect on whether they will make an in-store purchase. The novelty of this research lies in its investigation of the impact that live stream marketing has on offline or in-store shopping experiences. This contrasts with the majority of existing live stream studies, which focus on consumers’ online shopping experiences. In addition, this study broadens the scope of the application of the SOR model to contribute to the growing body of literature on live stream marketing.     

Price image and the sugrophobia effect on luxury retail purchase intention

Consumer shopping behavior in luxury retail stores continues to be a subject of interest among marketing researchers. Such a phenomenon has led us to explore how price image and sugrophobia, a psychological feeling of being taken advantage of, would influence consumers' future behavioural intention in the context of luxury retail store. Informed by a survey of 400 consumers, this study adopts the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S–O-R) model to examine how price image triggers consumer perceptions (i.e., perceived value, trust and attitude) and results in behavioral intention. Sugrophobia is included in the S–O-R model to assess its moderating effect. Data analysis using SEM-PLS demonstrates that a retailer's price image has a positive effect on consumers' perceived value, trust, attitude, and future behavioral intention. Sugrophobia, in turn, is found to weaken the relationship between price image and consumer perceptions. The study thus highlights the relevance of sugrophobia among risk-averse consumers and the necessity to manage sugrophobic consumers effectively in the context of a luxury retail store. Implications of the study are discussed.     

The Mediating Role of Customer Relationship on the Social Media Marketing and Purchase Intention Relationship with Special Reference to Luxury Fashion Brands

The reach of internet technology and social media has opened abundance of opportunities for marketers as well as for consumers across the globe. To anticipate future purchase behavior of consumers, marketers are not leaving any stone unturned. The main objective of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of social media marketing activities (entertainment, customization, interaction, word of mouth, and trend) on consumers' purchase intentions in luxury fashion brands. This study employed higher order Structural Equation Modeling to test the study model with (n = 243) sample data. We found positive significant impacts of social media marketing and customer relationships on consumers' purchase intentions. In addition, our study model confirmed full mediation of customer relationships in the relationship between social media marketing and consumers' purchase intentions. Based on our research findings, we strongly recommend that marketers of luxury fashion brands engage in social media marketing activities to provide value to customers.     

Consumers' Attitudes toward Products and Associated Marketing Unethicality as Predictors of Buying and Using Preferences: The Case of Russia

This study examines (1) the differences in Russian consumers' attitudes toward European and domestic household goods and associated unethicality of firms' marketing practices, as well as the differences in consumers' buying and using preferences and (2) the effect of consumers' attitudes toward the products and associated marketing efforts on their buying and using preferences. The findings indicate that country of origin has a substantial effect on the attitudes of Russian consumers toward all product/marketing cues examined, whereas consumers' attitudes toward products and associated marketing unethicality are important determinants of their buying/using preferences. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Book Review Index

The authors examine the impact on consumers' purchase likelihood after learning about online covert marketing practices. The findings suggest that while learning of online covert marketing practice lowers purchase likelihood, it is moderated by contextual factors including prior purchase experience, whether the company is well known or a start-up, and whether covert marketing involved information gathering or promotions. Consumer background variables were also found to moderate the negative impact on purchase likelihood resulting from consumers learning about online covert marketing activities. Conjoint scenarios were examined and a segmentation study was conducted based on a national survey of U.S. consumers. Implications for advertisers and regulatory action are discussed.     

Resisting immigrant myths: everyday consumer practices of Asian immigrants in America

Projective, depth interviews with U.S. Asian immigrants revealed their ambivalence toward the U.S. commercial sector's colonial-era representations of Asian people. These commercial representations provide polarized depictions of Asian immigrants as either threatening aliens or as model citizens. These portrayals reflect “racialized otherness,” or racial stereotyping that represent Asian immigrants as inferior. Our findings indicate that Chinese immigrants strategically use everyday consumption related to foodways to resist the reverberation of American immigrant myths. In some instances, immigrants’ consumption practices instantiate a regional Asian identity. In other instances, however, immigrants’ consumption practices reflect a separation from the past and an acceptance of a new although not exclusively American way of life. Notwithstanding immigrant consumers' resistance practices, the findings call for future research into immigrant consumers' reactions to visual representations of race, ethnicity, and gender.     

From Firm-Controlled to Consumer-Contributed: Consumer Co-Production of Personal Media Marketing Communication

Fueled by the sociocultural shift from firm-controlled to consumer-contributed media, the researchers explore the idea of adapting a co-production strategy from service marketing to marketing communication sent to personal media. Eleven field experiments with firms, along with a structural model tested on survey data, provide empirical evidence supporting a co-production approach applied as a communication strategy in the context of a text message mobile coupon marketing campaign. The results demonstrate a co-produced direct marketing communication strategy that increases attitude toward the communication, purchase intent, and purchase activity, while also acting as a risk-reducing mechanism. Furthermore, perceived customization of the communication interacts strongly with risk perception and marginally with coupon proneness as related to attitude toward the communication when marketers enter the world of consumers' personal media. A push versus pull framework and a co-produced communication framework are put forth to suggest various areas marketers can make available for consumers to co-produce in a marketing communication exchange.     

A cross‐national investigation of trait antecedents of mobile‐banking adoption

Although there is a near agreement in the literature on the main predictors of consumers' attitudes toward technological innovation, the potential ways through which personal traits and national environmental differences contribute to significant variations in mobile‐banking adoption have received limited attention. Based on insights from innovation adoption and personality research, this study tested a model of mobile‐banking adoption using data from a developed and a developing country. Survey data came from a sample of 1,340 participants from the United Kingdom and Ghana. The results indicate that intrinsic traits are stronger in explaining consumers' attitude toward mobile banking in Ghana than in the United Kingdom. However, no significant variance between the two countries was observed with regard to the mediation effect of consumers' attitude on the intention to use mobile banking. The practical and theoretical implications of this study are discussed.     

The effect of interactivity of brands’ marketing activities on Facebook fan pages on continuous participation intentions: An S–O-R framework study

Social media platforms have become crucial in helping brands build their marketing activities. We investigate the effect of interactivity of brands' marketing activities on Facebook fan pages on continuous participation (i.e., commenting and sharing) intentions. The S–O-R (stimulus-organism-response) framework is used to examine consumers' psychological states (perceived brand fan page experience and attachment) and subsequent behavioral responses (continuous participation intentions) after being stimulated (social media marketing activity interactivity). Using an online questionnaire, this study surveyed the top 15 brands' Facebook fan page users worldwide. We obtained 216 valid responses and used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data. Results show that the more interactive a brand's marketing activities are on its Facebook fan page, the higher the perceived experience. In addition, perceived experience positively affects brand fan page attachment. Perceived experience and brand fan page attachment positively affect continuous participation intentions. Perceived experience partially mediated the relationship between interactivity and continuous participation intentions. Brand fan page attachment also partially mediated the relationship between perceived experience and continuous participation intentions.