Franchising: the dilemma between standardisation and flexibility

Both standardisation and flexibility are naturally linked to franchising and the balance between them has become an important research issue. Literature states that cost minimisation, brand image and innovation are the main reasons that push towards standardisation, while flexibility is claimed (for those that advocate for it) in order to achieve a higher adaptation to local markets and enhance franchisees’ entrepreneurial attitudes. This research will focus on the computer retail sector to find out how franchise networks in services settle this dilemma. Here, franchisors have decided to focus on economies of scale and strong common corporate image as key goals and thus allow franchisees to be flexible with any other variables that do not affect their main objectives, mainly by adding a complementary product and services portfolio. Results suggest that those resources and capabilities which sustain a competitive advantage are more susceptible to being standardised in franchising, opening an interesting research line through the Resource-Based View.     

Tourist accommodation,consumption and platforms

The expansion of mediated accommodation on peer to peer (P2P) platforms, such as Airbnb, has generated extensive economic impact and structural changes in all the destinations involved. This study proposes an innovative analysis which estimates the economic impact associated with the expenditure of tourists staying in traditional hotel establishments in comparison to the impact of those staying in tourist housing mediated through P2P platforms. This research analyses fieldwork based on 1343 surveys carried out in the city of Granada, one of the main tourist destinations in Spain. Through the application of the input–output methodology we found that tourists staying in tourist housing mediated through P2P platforms generate a greater impact as a consequence of longer average stays and more heterogeneously distributed consumption. Their average expenditure is similar to that of tourists in hotels, but the indirect impact generated is greater. Consequently, we can better comprehend the economic impact associated with these platforms and their real effect. Public planners have to consider this information as part of the regulation and restriction of this activity.     

You ruined our love story,but I just cannot hate you—A moderation–mediation analysis of past experienced brand love and brand hate

The development of the consumer–brand relationship is crucial for brands as it reflects how well a consumer is emotionally connected with the brand. However, due to unacceptable behaviour, brands have become susceptible to negative consumer–brand relationships. Given the recent importance of the negative consumer–brand relationship and its consequences, little is known about the role of previously experienced brand love. Studies support the link between strongly remembered events and experiences, customer knowledge, brand association, and consumer congruence with brands in creating long-lasting influence and deep emotion towards the brand. The study examines moderation–mediation analysis of past experienced brand love and brand hate. This research, anchored in consumer brand relationship literature, builds on an analysis of data from 207 respondents. We conducted a research survey in a South-Western European country and performed the SPSS Hayes Process macro 58 to analyse the moderating role of past experienced brand love alongside the mediating role of brand hate to test our hypotheses. The moderation results show that past experienced brand love significantly moderated the link between brand hate causes (corporate wrongdoings) and brand hate. However, there is no significant moderation influence of past experienced brand love on the consequences of brand hate causes. The study also demonstrates that brand hate mediates the link between corporate wrongdoings and violations of expectations with negative word of mouth, consumer complaints, and patronage reduction/cessation. The current study is unique in that it highlights new avenues in existing research by extending the domain in consumer–brand relationships. The findings of the study have theoretical and empirical implications for brand managers.     

Four decades of negative word-of-mouth and negative electronic word-of-mouth: A morphological analysis

Customers voice their negative brand experiences to their family and friends in the form of negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). Web 2.0 enables the sharing of NWOM in electronic format on various social media sites, online customer review forums, and blogs, which is known as negative electronic word-of-mouth (NeWOM). Researchers need to study the spread of NWOM/NeWOM to prevent adverse consequences for companies and suggest an optimal response for its redressal. Existing literature review studies have focused on word-of-mouth (WOM) and electronic WOM (eWOM) and have considered both positive and negative WOM and eWOM concurrently. Past literature reviews have captured the breadth of the WOM domain, ignoring the depth. This research article contains a review of 282 journal papers capturing the depth of the extant literature by focusing solely on ‘negative’ WOM and eWOM (NWOM and NeWOM), and presents a broad view of the NWOM and NeWOM domains using morphological analysis (MA). This will help to conceptualize and categorize the existing state-of-the-art literature into broad dimensions and identify future research opportunities. The MA framework helps to bifurcate this literature into the following four dimensions: (i) nomenclature of NWOM and NeWOM, (ii) antecedents of NWOM/NeWOM, (iii) impacts of NWOM/NeWOM, and (iv) prevention and recovery response to NeWOM. Further dissection of these four dimensions leads to 15 sub-dimensions and 217 variants. Combinations of the 217 variants enable the identification of 550 novel future research opportunities in the area of NWOM and NeWOM.