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1 – 10 of 31John Hyland, Maeve Mary Henchion, Oluwayemisi Olomo, Jennifer Attard and James Gaffey
The aim of this paper is to better understand European consumers' behaviour in relation to Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), so as to provide insights to support their development…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to better understand European consumers' behaviour in relation to Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), so as to provide insights to support their development as part of a sustainable food system. Specifically, it aims to analyse consumer purchase patterns, motivations and perceived barriers and to identify patterns of behaviour amongst different consumer groups.
Design/methodology/approach
An online consumer survey was conducted in 12 European countries (n = 2,419). Quantitative data analysis, including principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis, was undertaken using SPSS.
Findings
Four consumer clusters are named according to their behavioural stage in terms of SFSC engagement: Unaware Unengaged, Aware Unengaged, Motivationally Engaged and Executively Engaged. Unaware Unengaged and Aware Unengaged are in the non-engagement phase of behaviour. Motivationally Engaged are motivationally activated to engage in the behaviour but fail to do so consistently. Executively Engaged is the fully engaged cluster, being motivated to act and purchasing local food on a frequent basis. The results show an interesting interplay between motivations and barriers, i.e. higher scores for motivations and lower scores for barriers do not necessarily translate into higher purchase frequency.
Originality/value
The research gleans insights into the contextual factors that may inhibit SFSC purchases in different consumer segments. It offers practical implications for policymakers and others seeking to develop SFSCs as part of a sustainable food system.
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Alice Guzzetti, Roberta Crespi and Glyn Atwal
The purpose of this exploratory study is to identify the antecedents of brand hate in respect to luxury brand gamification marketing activities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this exploratory study is to identify the antecedents of brand hate in respect to luxury brand gamification marketing activities.
Design/methodology/approach
Five gamified product placements characterized by the ad hoc design of luxury co-branded virtual and/or physical products were selected for the research study. Content analysis was used to identify patterns and classify negative comments shared online into categories.
Findings
A content analysis of the negative comments (n. 2,321) related to the perception toward gamification of luxury fashion in videogames revealed the following seven domains: monetization of the game; promotion of inappropriate behavior; unethical placement; games commodified by brands; predatory monetization; perceived incongruence; poor product performance.
Research limitations/implications
The exploratory research study revealed how the perception of gamification activities trigger negative emotions toward luxury fashion brands. It was significant that many of these emotions fall within the antecedents of brand hate.
Practical implications
Luxury companies and game developers need to be aware and manage the antecedents of brand hate in respect to luxury brand gamification activities in videogames. Moreover, luxury brands need to consider customers’ influencing behavior via online word-of-mouth and the potential to impact attitudes and behaviors of other consumers toward brands.
Originality/value
The ethics of gamification within a marketing context have largely escaped inquiry. The study provides evidence that luxury brands need to align the fundamentals of luxury brand management in the digital world of gaming.
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There is a growing trend among online merchants to conduct help-request marketing campaigns (HMCs), which refers to a kind of marketing campaign that leverages participants'…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing trend among online merchants to conduct help-request marketing campaigns (HMCs), which refers to a kind of marketing campaign that leverages participants' help-request to encourage the subsequent engagement of participants' online friends. The paper aims to investigate how individuals respond to online HMCs in social networking groups (SNGs). Integrating the norm activation model and regulatory focus theory, this paper examines the mediation effects of the two facets of responsibility perception, i.e. perceived causality and perceived answerability.
Design/methodology/approach
A field experiment was conducted by organizing a real HMC on WeChat. To manipulate request individuation, experimental confederates were engaged to serve as requesters in the HMC. The actual responses provided by the recipients (subjects) were captured via the HMC pages. The multiple-group analysis was used for data analysis.
Findings
Empirical results reveal that request individuation strengthens the effect of relationship closeness on perceived causality but reverses the effect of relationship closeness on perceived answerability from being positive to negative. Except for the negligible impact of perceived answerability on inaction, both perceived causality and perceived answerability affect recipients' reactions to HMCs as expected.
Practical implications
First, social media platforms should promote other-oriented prosocial values when designing features or launching campaigns. Second, the designers of HMCs should introduce a “tagging” feature in HMCs and provide additional bonuses for requesters who perform tagging. Third, HMC requesters should prudently select tagging targets when making a request.
Originality/value
First, this paper contributes to the literature on social media engagement by identifying responsibility as an other-oriented motivation for individuals' social media engagement. Second, this paper also extends our understanding of responsibility by dividing it into perceived causality and answerability as well as measuring them with self-developed instruments. Third, this study contributes to the research on WOM by demonstrating that individuals' response behaviors toward help-requests embedded in HMCs can take the form of proactive helping, reactive helping or inaction.
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Julio César Acosta-Prado and Arnold Alejandro Tafur-Mendoza
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) enable firms to improve their processes to remain competitive and profitable in today’s market. These demands not only value…
Abstract
Purpose
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) enable firms to improve their processes to remain competitive and profitable in today’s market. These demands not only value economic results but also social impact and environmental care. In other words, firms must achieve sustainable performance. However, to take on these new sustainability challenges, firms must have dynamic capabilities to take advantage of highly changing technology. Thus, this study aims to examine the mediating role of dynamic capabilities in the relationship between ICT and sustainable performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was empirical, associative and explanatory, following a latent variable design. The sample of the study consisted of partners, founders, executives and promoters from 102 Colombian new technology-based firms selected through purposive non-probabilistic sampling. Variance-based structural equation modeling or partial least squares was used for the statistical data analysis.
Findings
A higher-order model was tested, corroborating that ICT was composed of two dimensions (use and acquisition), dynamic capabilities were composed of three dimensions (absorption, innovation and adaptation), while sustainable performance showed a unidimensional structure. As for the research hypotheses, all the direct effects were supported, as well as the mediating effect of dynamic capability in the relationship between ICT and sustainable performance, this being a complementary mediation.
Originality/value
This study highlights the importance of dynamic capabilities for firms today, especially those working with high levels of technology. Also, considering the results obtained, firms must implement better strategies in the acquisition and use of technology to improve their sustainable performance in dynamic and uncertain environments.
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The study seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between remediations and participation in new media. By lending some transparency, the analysis hopes…
Abstract
Purpose
The study seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between remediations and participation in new media. By lending some transparency, the analysis hopes to contribute toward generating a critical optics aware of the potentials and pitfalls of emergent media.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is visual semiotic analysis. The author make no claim for one, true interpretation or critical judgment about the images.
Findings
In demonstrating some shortfalls of Instagram affordances, the analysis shows how social media sites can develop tools that encourage users to engage in civic consciousness and respectful political debate. The study makes clear that new media tools can hamper or aid participatory logics.
Originality/value
To author’s knowledge, no other study that has analyzed remediated images related to the controversial confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is also important to place these images in the contexts of “iconicity” in emergent media (a concept increasingly being eroded in new media environment).
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Rizwana Hameed, Naeem Akhtar and Anshuman Sharma
Utilizing the theoretical foundation of the stimulus-organism-response framework, the present work developed and investigated a conceptual model. The work explores the effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
Utilizing the theoretical foundation of the stimulus-organism-response framework, the present work developed and investigated a conceptual model. The work explores the effects of perceived risk of COVID-19 on tourists' choice hesitation and choice confidence. Furthermore, it examines the impacts of choice hesitation and choice confidence on psychological distress, which, in turn, influences purchase intentions and risk-protective behavior. Additionally, the study assesses the boundary effects of vulnerability on the association between choice hesitation, choice confidence, and psychological distress.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was administered in China during COVID-19 to assess the postulated hypotheses. We collected 491 responses using purposive sampling, and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was performed to investigate the relationships.
Findings
Results show that the perceived risk of COVID-19 positively influences the choice hesitation and negatively impact choice confidence. It was also found that choice hesitation and choice confidence positively developed psychological distress, which, in turn, negatively triggered purchase intentions and positively developed risk-protective behavior. Additionally, perceived vulnerability had a significant moderating impact on the proposed relationships, strengthening psychological distress.
Originality/value
In the current context, this study measures bipolar behavioral outcomes using the S-O-R model. Because cognitive processes influence participation in health preventative behavior during the spread of diseases, we highlighted how the perception of risk and vulnerability to a pandemic serves as a reliable indicator of certain behaviors. This study advances understanding of how the psychological mindset of tourists copes with such circumstances. Due to the pandemic, tourists face limitations in their choices and are placing greater emphasis on adopting protective measures to mitigate associated risks.
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Clement S.F. Chow, Wing Chi Chow, Weng I. Leong and Shizhe Zheng
Western manufacturers have often benefited from the Country-of-Origin (COO) effect when a product is launched into emerging markets. The authors examine if this still holds true…
Abstract
Purpose
Western manufacturers have often benefited from the Country-of-Origin (COO) effect when a product is launched into emerging markets. The authors examine if this still holds true in the China market. The authors believe that the degree of perceived hedonism associated with the product does matter and, therefore, conducted an experiment to test how this influences the effect of COO on perceived quality and price of the product. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objective.
Design/methodology/approach
A lab experiment with a 2 (COO: Western vs. Local) x 2 (Hedonism: High vs. Low) factorial design was conducted with Chinese consumers as subjects. The dependent variables were perceived quality and price of the products.
Findings
It was found that Western COO has a positive effect on the product perceived quality and price in the China market, but the effect was significantly moderated by the degree of perceived hedonism of the products.
Originality/value
The study used an experiment to investigate the different prominence of the COO effect on perceived quality and price in terms of hedonic vs. utilitarian products which has not been done previously. The findings provide implications concerning allocation of marketing resources to product positioning in the presence of different degrees of perceived hedonism and suggest additional areas for future examination.
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Manoraj Natarajan and Sridevi Periaiya
Consumer-perceived review attitude determines consumer overall information adoption and is a core part of consumer’s online-shopping. This study aims to focus on factors that…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer-perceived review attitude determines consumer overall information adoption and is a core part of consumer’s online-shopping. This study aims to focus on factors that could influence consumer review attitude and can be used by marketers to shape individual information perception.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used the questionnaire method to collect data from online shoppers and the modelling of structural equations as an empirical approach to analyse the data.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that both systematic and heuristic cues impact the reviewer’s credibility and perceived website attitude differently, which, in turn, influence review attitude. Review characteristics, such as factuality, consistency and relevancy, have a positive relationship with reviewer credibility, while only review consistency and relevancy appears to have a relationship with review attitude. Website characteristics such as reputation, familiarity and social interactivity positively influence the website attitude, which positively influences review attitude. Apart from this, review skepticism has a significant negative relationship with review attitude.
Practical implications
This study could help to foster a positive attitude towards online reviews. Digital marketers need to motivate trusted reviewers to post consistent, fact-based reviews. Further improving the overall website reputation and interactivity could bring a positive attitude towards the reviews. Also, digital marketers must filter and avoid contradictory reviews or reviews that have a bipolar message and reviews expressing numerous emotions to enhance review relevance and consistency.
Originality/value
The current study addresses the need to understand the formation of consumer review attitude through both review and website characteristics using heuristic – systematic model. The paper captures the complex process undergone by the consumer to decipher review attitude and thereby extend the understanding of consumer information processing.
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Smitha Girija, Devika Rani Sharma, Thorani Yeediballi and Chudamani Sriramneni
Co-working spaces bundle all real estate services into a package and leverage shared economy trend to create new opportunities for growth. This sector is anticipated to expand…
Abstract
Purpose
Co-working spaces bundle all real estate services into a package and leverage shared economy trend to create new opportunities for growth. This sector is anticipated to expand significantly due to changes in mobility and office design driven by the development of remote or hybrid work settings. The current study attempts to identify key motivating factors for users in emerging economies in choosing co-working spaces.
Design/methodology/approach
Using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology and the self-determination theory framework, a total of 4 criteria-level factors, along with 13 sub-criteria level factors were identified as key motivators for adapting to co-working spaces.
Findings
The study highlights a few factors and their relative importance, which could help firms/organizations to start or offer co-working spaces within emerging economies.
Originality/value
The study contributes to literature by advancing the understanding of key motivators for users of co-working spaces within the ambits of emerging economies. In the process, the authors enlist a few factors vis-à-vis their relative importance, which could help firms/organizations to start or offer co-working spaces within emerging markets.
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The primary objective of this study is to explore the nuanced interplay of conspicuous consumption, ethical label purchasing and the ensuing dynamics of civic virtue and cynicism…
Abstract
Purpose
The primary objective of this study is to explore the nuanced interplay of conspicuous consumption, ethical label purchasing and the ensuing dynamics of civic virtue and cynicism within the luxury foodservice context.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded in a theoretical understanding of solidarity within the context of product consumption, this research employs a two-pronged approach involving secondary data analysis and scenario-based experimental studies. The initial phase involves analyzing firm-level data from the Euromonitor database in 2019 and 2021. The main study employs a between-subjects experimental design with a cohort of 316 participants sourced from an online panel.
Findings
The results reveal a consistent pattern in the consumption of luxury foodservice and underscore a distinct upward trajectory in consumer demand for ethically labeled food. Notably, these findings underscore the moderating role of ethical label purchasing in the relationship between conspicuous consumption and consumers civic virtue. Additionally, ethical label purchasing moderates the impact of conspicuous consumption on consumer cynicism, both directly and indirectly through emotional solidarity related to both communal and equitable principles.
Originality/value
This study holds significance for both luxury food service researchers and market design practitioners. It provides valuable insights into how ethical labeling interacts with consumers conspicuous consumption, all facilitated by emotional solidarity.
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