Guest editorial

Citation

Singh, R. (2014), "Guest editorial", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 32 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-06-2014-0102

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Volume 32, Issue 5.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce to the readers of Marketing Intelligence and Planning, this special issue to package some of the best papers presented in the Second International Marketing Conference at IIM Calcultta – MARCON 2012, held at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, 28-30 December 2012, and organised by the marketing group at IIM Calcutta. The theme of this conference was Sustainability and Marketing to Socially Connected Consumers. The conference brought together thought-leaders and practitioners, from marketing and other domains to facilitate a dialogue that would contribute to the theory and practice of marketing in the inter-connected world. More than 225 paper submissions from more than ten countries were received, and of these, 76 full papers, and 27 poster presentations were made across 19 tracks, during the three days of the conference.

In this special issue, we have seven wonderful research papers.

In the first paper, "Artificial neural networks: a tool for understanding green consumer behaviour", authors, Prajita Chowdhury and Mercy S. Samuel apply neural networks to explain the intention-behaviour gaps of consumers for green products. In the study, the authors use the theories of planned behaviour and social dilemma, using artificial neural networks to analyse their data. Even though the authors are not able to fully establish the conclusive linkage to explain the intention behaviour gap, the application of this novel methodology is welcome especially in the nascent yet growing domain of green marketing, which dovetails into sustainable marketing.

In the second paper, "Location sharing on social networks: implications for marketing" by Ramazan Yavuz and Aysegul Toker, the authors explore the motivation of consumers on social networking sites to check-in and share their location. The authors also propose a theoretical model for the emergent motives of check-in behaviour and offers implications of location sharing for consumer behaviour and marketing in general, based on such behaviours, using data from 217 unique check-ins, locations and motives to arrive at seven emergent motives following content analysis. The authors find that social-enhancement value, informational and social motivation, entertainment value, gameful experiences, utilitarian motivation, and belongingness are main motivations for consumers to check-in and share locations on social networking sites. Gameful experiences are a newly emerging motive that contribute to the "uses and gratifications theory" (UGT).

In the third paper, "Exploring the factors affecting sponsored search ad performance" by Agam Gupta and Arqum Mateen, the authors draw upon their professional experience as well as academic literature to posit a theoretical model that delineates the various relationships at work in a sponsored search process. The paper's primary contribution lies in highlighting the various dimensions of sponsored search advertising.

In the fourth paper, "The impact of promotional mix on profit in the B2B sector" by Somroop Siddhanta and Neelotpaul Banerjee, the authors look at the empirical relationship between integrated marketing communications, e.g. advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, and profit before depreciation interest and tax (PBDIT) in the cement industry, looks at long-term as well as short-term relationships in order to better understand the causal linkages. The study interestingly finds some empirical support for PBDIT affecting IMC budgets with a lag of 18 months.

In the fifth paper, "Impact of country of origin and word of mouth on brand equity" by Sri Murtiasih, Sucherly Sucherly, and Hotniar Siringoringo, the authors look at how country of origin and marketing communications can be an influential factor in determining consumer choice. The study explores the effect of the image of country of origin and WOM on the development of brand equity.

In the sixth paper, "Targeting the young food consumer" by Pavleen Soni and Jyoti Vohra, the authors look at the nature and extent of food advertisements directed at children screened on Indian television, using content analysis of TV food advertisements broadcast in children's networks in India.

In the last and seventh paper, "Impact of firm's reputation & ethnocentrism on attitude towards foreign products" by Madhurima Deb and Himadri Roy Chaudhuri, the author explores the impact of reputation of firms with its foreign origin on animosity impacting customer ethnocentrism and attitude towards products from foreign countries.

All-in-all, the seven papers address some of the pressing issues in the domains of consumer behaviour, branding marketing communications, and international marketing, unravelling some of the concerns faced by managers in the advent of the new-age consumer living in an era where consumers are not only connected, but are also assuming a new social identity.

We hope the readers of this journal will enjoy reading this special issue!

Dr Ramendra Singh

Department of Marketing, IIM Calcutta, Kolkata, India