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The purpose of this paper is to develop a structured model to understand mall preferences among Indian customers.

The present study uses fuzzy analytical hierarchy processing (FAHP). Use of Fuzzy Logic will provide a more reliable solution since it is capable of handling vagueness and uncertainty in the database.

Findings of the study suggest that the most preferred value that determines mall preference by Indian customers is HV, followed by SV, contrary to the stereotype that Indian customers are price sensitive. Forum mall is the best mall in terms of HV and SV, which motivates customers to shop at a particular mall.

The study will be useful for managers and academicians. The study will help managers develop a better understanding of customer's mall preferences and identify their own strengths and weaknesses. Based on this, they can devise strategies to maximize strengths by minimizing weaknesses.

Most of the work on FAHP is dedicated to either vendor selection or supplier selection. A study of this kind, in the context of mall preference among Indian customers is an original contribution to the literature of Indian retailing.

Both customer engagement (CE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been linked to customer loyalty. Past studies use service dominant logic and customer value co-creation to explain this relationship. The purpose of this paper is to apply utility theory to develop and test a new theoretical model based on CSR initiative preference to understand the relationship between CE and customer loyalty to the organisation in a CSR platform.

This empirical study uses choice theory in the form of best-worst scaling, and structural equation modelling, to measure the impact of sports club members’ choice preferences for a range of CSR initiatives on their intention to engage with the initiative and subsequent loyalty to the club.

This study highlights the importance of engaging members in the CSR strategy they prefer as it enhances not only the extra value to the organisation via customer loyalty to the organisation, but also CE with the organisation. Furthermore, the study reveals age and gender impact on the relationship between CE in CSR initiatives and customer loyalty.

This study extends CE to CSR behaviours and provides empirical evidence for a unique theoretical framework of CE based on utility theory. It also highlights the need to take into account moderating variables such as customer demographics.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the effect of age, gender and education level on customer evaluations of store atmospheric attributes (colour, lighting type, musical genre/tempo/volume, circulation area, lighting, climatic conditions, ambient scent and cleanliness) in the context of retail furniture stores.

To that end, a questionnaire was administered to 273 customers who shopped at furniture stores in the Siteler district of Ankara. The reliability coefficients of the data were defined based on their percentage values. Then, to examine the effect of age, gender and education level on customer evaluations of store atmospheric attributes, the appropriate χ2 analysis was applied.

Significant differences in customer evaluations of store atmospheric attributes emerged based on age, gender and education level. Based on those results, certain store atmospheric attributes (colour, lighting type, musical genre/tempo/volume) preferred by customers were suggested to enhance the design of furniture stores. In addition, the store’s circulation area, lighting, climatic conditions, ambient scent and cleanliness were found to have a significant impact on the duration of customer visits to furniture stores.

The study scientifically assessed the effects of age, gender and education on the perceptions of customers in terms of ambient atmosphere. Application of these findings to store design should have positive effects on the willingness of customers to remain in the store and should positively affect their shopping decisions.

At the core of the success of any firm is its ability to satisfy customer preferences. It has also been part of managerial wisdom that it is good management practice to treat a market as that comprising several market segments and to serve each segment with a different marketing mix. It thus goes without saying that market segments are believed to be very important to profitability. The purpose of this paper is to contend that preference-based segments form and evolve through social interactions between customers. This argument puts forth the questions: How do they form? How do they evolve?

The authors used controlled computer simulations to study the patterns of segments that emerge in markets as consumers in them engage in social interactions.

The simulation results show that market segments emerge across a wide set of assumptions. Further, the paper offers a number of conjectures and propositions for both research and managerial applications, based on the patterns of the emergent segments that were observed.

A research program could/should be developed based on the empirical measurement of preferences, longitudinally, over the life cycle of a product for a fixed sample group, and on the collection of factors about social interaction (ν), social intervention (β) and the propensity to differentiate (α). The results of this study also indicate that further computational work may be able to find the points of criticality where patterns of behavior will change. With the availability of internet data, close empirical examination and operationalization, and refinement of the authors' initial attempts has become possible. For example, data sets that may be applicable are Zafarani and Liu (2009), Leskovec (2012), Newman (2011), and Arenas (2012).

The findings of the study have implications for product line management, conditions under which a first-mover advantage may prevail, and the critical measurements needed to understand segment evolution.

To the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to study the patterns of emergence of segments over several scenarios.

This article reviews the quantitative marketing literature on artificial intelligence (AI) through an economics lens. We apply the framework in Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence to systematically categorize 96 research papers on AI in marketing academia into five levels of impact, which are prediction, decision, tool, strategy, and society. For each paper, we further identify each individual component of a task, the research question, the AI model used, and the broad decision type. Overall, we find there are fewer marketing papers focusing on strategy and society, and accordingly, we discuss future research opportunities in those areas.

This paper aims to investigate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance (i.e. to the environment, society and stakeholders) and perceived brand quality influence brand preference. The mediating effect of perceived brand quality on the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference is also studied.

In 2011, 243 valid responses to questionnaire surveys were collected from a convenience sample in China. Regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

Customers’ brand preference can be enhanced by CSR performance. Performance in each of the three CSR domains (i.e. environment, society and stakeholders) positively impacts brand preference, although to different degrees. The impact of CSR on stakeholders has the strongest influence on Chinese customers’ brand preference among the three CSR domains. Perceived brand quality was found to be a mediator of the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference.

This research studies the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference. Results show CSR performance is not the strongest predictor of branding outcomes, its explanatory power is comparatively weaker than that of perceived brand quality. Additionally, we found a mediating effect of perceived brand quality on the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference.

Brands can be more attractive to Chinese consumers when brands take appropriate investments in CSR activities. A socially responsible brand is not guaranteed to yield a competitive advantage. Instead a competitive advantage will more likely result through the employment of the appropriate CSR strategies, with a focus on stakeholders’ interests.

The current research contributes to the literature by finding that not all CSR activities are equally effective. Customers in emerging markets still appear to be focused more on the quality of brands and, to some extent, stakeholder CSR practice, as these provide direct benefits to customers. Findings of this study also support the notion that Chinese consumers are beginning to use CSR information to evaluate brands.

The paper aims to measure and identify customer preference for social issues and understand the importance of customer engagement when service organisations implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.

Developing a relevancy/scope typology framework, this paper then examines the relationships between social issues preference, engagement and loyalty. The models were estimated to assess the role engagement played in the relationship between CSR issue preference and loyalty. The sample was obtained from customers who used a large national Australian Internet service provider.

Local and global CSR issues relevant to the organisation were most preferred, while engagement had the strongest, positive effect on loyalty and was a full mediator of the relationship between CSR issue preference and loyalty.

Service organisations should direct their CSR efforts towards addressing social issues that are relevant to their business, and obtaining customer engagement is imperative if they wish to improve loyalty.

Providing greater clarity on how organisations can improve loyalty from CSR programmes will increase the likelihood of organisations investing their resources towards addressing social issues.

Few empirical studies have identified which social issues are the most preferred by customers. The development of a social issue typology and the testing of the relationships between social issue preference, engagement and loyalty provides empirical evidence of how a CSR strategy can improve loyalty.

This paper aims to segment spa customers based on their preferences for a set of spa attributes. With the considerable growth rate of the spa market, it is vital for spa professionals to understand spa-goers’ preferences. However, academics and industry professionals have not devised a structured method by which to manage spa customers.

A survey was conducted using a face-to-face survey with visitors to Hong Kong who had visited a spa. By applying conjoint and cluster analysis, customers could be categorized into distinct segments.

Four customer segments were identified: spa enthusiasts, high spenders, value seekers and price-sensitive spa-goers. Spa enthusiasts were the largest segment among the four, followed by value seekers, price-sensitive spa-goers and high spenders.

Given the limited academic interest in the area, this study contributes to the literature by providing insights into spa-goers’ preferences and how those preferences can be used to segment spa-goers.

Based on the different needs, preferences and socio-demographic characteristics of the four segments – spa enthusiasts, high spenders, value seekers and price-sensitive spa-goers – spa industry managers could customize their strategies and design different spa services and packages to meet the needs of the four segments.

The combined use of conjoint and cluster analysis provides a new method of market segmentation in the spa industry. This study could help spa professionals to design customized spa products for the distinct segments, and thus retain and attract more spa visitors.

International roaming (IR) makes it possible to conveniently use mobile communication services (MCS) such as MI access abroad without switching providers, devices or subscriber identity module (SIM) cards. To increase the intensity of competition in the intra-European Union market for IR services, customers will be enabled to buy IR voice and MI access services separately from their existing domestic MCS, as of July, 2014. Specifically, for separated international MI services providers can choose from three different charge types (use-dependent, flat and combination of flat and use-dependent). The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine customer preferences regarding these tariff types for separated international MI services.

Six research questions concerning antecedents of tariff type preferences for separated international MI access services are derived from a literature review. They are empirically addressed by analyzing survey responses obtained for a sample of 496 German-speaking MCS users.

Customers who actively seek for IR price information, consider IR services to be useful, exhibit high use intensities of MI services, do not restrict their MI usage when travelling abroad and tend to prefer flat rates to other pricing schemes. In contrast to these rather “active users”, customers favoring strictly use-dependent tariff plans exhibit significantly lower IR price information seeking efforts and comparatively low use intensities of MI services. Pricing schemes with MI allowances are especially liked by customers who are well-informed regarding and satisfied with IR prices, report above average use intensities of MI services, restrict their MI use abroad, are more likely to switch providers and use MCS mainly for job-related purposes.

The study is based on a German-speaking sample, which deviates from the German adult population. Additionally, the analysis is limited to stated instead of behaviorally revealed preferences for cross-border MI tariff types. Price thresholds influencing whether a cross-border MI tariff is entered into a consumer’s relevant set of offerings are not examined.

The research suggests that mobile network operators are well-advised to offer a clearly structured menu of a limited number of tariffs directed to the three profiled customer segments. Notwithstanding the advantages of such a set of rate plans, international MI tariff schemes with a data volume allowance appear to be generally beneficial both from a provider and an end-customer perspective.

To date, little is known about customer preferences concerning the three rate plan categories and on antecedents of such preferences in the field of MI access abroad. The present study takes a first step to narrowing this knowledge gap.

There has been substantial research on branding globally. However, there is a dearth of studies empirically investigating branding strategies during the pandemic to mitigate COVID-19 effects on the airline industry. The paper considers three factors which are brand familiarity, brand communication and brand reputation to develop the brand trust of customers and that ultimately influence their brand preferences.

The study is based on self-administrative surveys as 450 questionnaires were spread, received 339 responses and a total of 301 questionnaires were selected for data analysis by structural-based modeling after the deletion of outliers and partially filled questionnaires. The data was collected through purposive sampling from Malaysian airports.

The findings confirm the relationship of brand communication, brand familiarity and brand reputation to brand trust and brand preference through mediation and directly except direct relationship of brand familiarity to brand preference. The study is limited to the provided dataset of surveys. The present study couldn't interview respondents which can be done by future studies and also effects of COVID-19 can be examined on related industries or through comparative studies among countries.

The present study is the first to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on airline brands and explored the strategies to respond to crises. The study is one of the rare studies that consider branding strategies to the uplift airline industry and mitigate post-pandemic effects from the airline sector.