Search results

Despite the plethora of research into country-of-origin (COO) effects, research that investigates the cognitive structures behind elite consumers' preferences for foreign brands remains limited. Hence, this study aims to investigate the cognitive structures behind foreign brand preference among professional elites in Sri Lanka.

Using the means-end chain (MEC) theory as the theoretical lens and building on the findings of 30 laddering interviews (semi-structured), a survey was conducted among 311 professional elites to uncover the key elements of the cognitive structures behind foreign brand preference.

The findings revealed that the cognitive structures behind foreign brand preference are influenced by a bundle of brand attributes, brand consequences and personal values of elites', which significantly influence their attitudes towards foreign brands. Multi-group analysis further revealed that the relationship between brand attributes and attitudes significantly differs across Chinese and US COOs where the path coefficient is stronger for elites' preference for Chinese brands.

This study is the first of its kind to explore the COO effects on consumer cognitive structures. The findings contribute to MEC theory and shed light on the understanding towards elites' preference for foreign brands.

This study aims to identify and validate the different clusters of wine festival visitors based on their hedonic motivation. Further, this study also sought how identified clusters were different in terms of perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty to the wine festival.

A survey was conducted during the International Beach Wine Festival held in Karnataka, India, to collect primary data from 400 visitors. Data were subjected to a two-step cluster analysis. Further, cluster segmentation based on visitors’ demographics, perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty was conducted. Decision tree analysis based on recursive partitioning algorithm was used to validate the clusters.

A two-step cluster analysis identified two distinct segments and named those as elite and informal visitors based on hedonic motivation. The cluster scores show that the elite group had the best ratings on social status, socialization and family harmony. On the other hand, the informal group had top scores for wine tasting, enjoyment, change from routine and the festival atmosphere. Decision tree analysis results indicate that social status enjoyment and taste motives differentiate an informal group from the elite group.

This study was conducted in a wine festival held in a single location. To assess the strength of the results, case studies in other regions will be of importance.

This study extended the knowledge of the wine festival by adapting hedonic motivation as a basis for wine festival segmentation. Besides, this study’s empirical findings would greatly benefit wine festival organizers to formulate an appropriate marketing strategy to target each wine festival visitors’ cluster based on the differentiating factors obtained from the decision tree modelling.

This study aims to examine and compare the influence of the disposition to engage in engagement behaviors on physical and virtual engagement platforms, as well as the influence of these engagement behaviors on brand loyalty, value-in-use and word-of-mouth.

Data were collected using a survey distributed to a random sample of 10,000 fans of five teams in the Swedish top-division of elite football. An exploratory factor analysis was performed to derive a distinction between prevalent platforms, scales were validated through a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was used to test the research model.

Customer disposition to engage with the sports team had a significant influence on customer engagement behaviors on both physical and virtual engagement platforms. However, engagement behaviors on virtual platforms were found to be more important than engagement behaviors on physical platforms for fostering brand loyalty and value-in-use.

The results highlight the importance of engagement behaviors with a brand on virtual engagement platforms. Thus, brand managers should prioritize their presence on social media to generate the positive outcomes of customer engagement behaviors.

By examining the effects of customer engagement behaviors on both physical and virtual engagement platforms, this study provides new insights to the emerging customer engagement literature.

This paper aims to present a critical interpretation of unfolding events related to corporate and policymaking elites during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic crisis to serve as a point of contrast to mainstream views.

Drawing upon literature on elite maintenance and power, learning from recent previous crises and emerging evidence during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, this study develops arguments to question and problematize the exercise of power by elites toward maintenance of existing systems across the pandemic.

Critical examination points attention to three related but analytically distinct strategies in the exercise of elite power: reinforcing myths, redirecting blame and reclaiming positions, all directed to maintain the system and preserve power. The potential effects of this ongoing elite maintenance are highlighted, revealing the old and new forms of power likely to emerge at the corporate, national and global levels across the pandemic crisis and endure beyond it.

It is hoped that the critical examination here may build more awareness about the deep and complex nature of elite power and systems across the globe that preclude meaningful system change to address societal challenges. It may thereby provide more informed engagement toward system change.

The main originality of the paper lies in its attempt to tie together the various types of elite maintenance works and their potential effects into an overarching narrative. Making these connections and interpreting them from a critical perspective provides a rare large-canvas picture of elite power and system maintenance, particularly across a global crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to determine consumer characteristics, buying behaviour, and the factors that influence the Chinese wine consumer.

The study applies qualitative and quantitative methodology, together with a literature review and a strategic environmental scan of the Chinese wine market and consumer behavior.

Consumer education, wine‐related activities, channels of communication, taste, country of origin, quality, and price rank are found to be important factors influencing the buying and consumption behavior of Chinese consumers.

Results suggest that there is a need for stakeholders to develop and implement informational and educational marketing strategies to educate and inform consumers in ways that reflect their needs and expectations according to demographic characteristics.

The challenge for the stakeholders will be to: penetrate this emerging market to establish presence and capture market share; strive for long‐term growth and profit sustainability; create competitive advantage through core competencies; promote and sell quality products applying the principles of yield management “to charge the right price, to the ideal consumer, at the right time, in the right place”; and build brand loyalty.

The paper offers useful findings for stakeholders in the wine supply chain. Special attention should be given to the alcoholic beverage retailer and hospitality operators for whom wine revenue is the core of aggregate beverage revenue.

The paper contributes to the body of knowledge of consumer behavior in relation to wine consumption in an emerging market. The results benefit players in the wine supply chain; especially retail and hospitality operations.

The purpose of this research is to explore country of origin (COO) effects among Pakistani elite consumers and to use that knowledge as an intelligence base for SMEs considering entry into Pakistan.

The literature concerning COO effects is presented and a principle component analysis is conducted with an elite Pakistani sample using a COO Likert type style scale that was previously used by Lascu and Babb in Uzbekistan and Poland.

Four components were identified that correspond with consumers perceptions of produce attributes. The elite segment of Pakistan perceives COO image, product quality and luxurious image of product and price as distinct attributes when making a purchasing decision. This study provides a basis for SMEs to gather further detailed intelligence with regards to consumer perceptions of products and potential demand in Pakistan.

It is difficult to predict which other foreign market these results will be applicable to because of different market structures, buying power, cultures and attitudes toward the product and lifestyle.

The paper indicates a strategy that SMEs could adopt to enter the emerging market of Pakistan. Targeting the niche market of elite consumers who have strong buying power could prime the economy for future growth. Both SMEs within and outside Pakistan could take up strategies that use appropriate COO image, provided that appropriate marketing research is undertaken which produces intelligence both regarding COO image of the SMEs products and perceptions of those products' attributes in the target market.

The study explores components within a COO Likert type questionnaire with reference to an elite managerial and professional consumer group in the under researched market of Pakistan. It is argued that SMEs can use the knowledge gained as a basis for entry to new country markets.

To improve the effectiveness of online reviews in the cultural industries, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of online cultural reviews of professional and consumer commentators on consumer responses toward elite and mass cultural offerings by drawing upon associative learning theory and social influence theory.

This study used a 2 (cultural offerings: elite vs mass)×2 (commentators: professional vs consumer) between-participants factorial design to examine the proposed hypotheses. A total of 195 participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental cells.

The ANOVA results indicate that the credibility of online cultural reviews is significantly higher for professional commentators than for consumer commentators across both elite and mass cultural offerings. Furthermore, the results confirm that there is a significant cultural offering type by commentator interaction on a consumer's offering evaluation, overall attitude, and behavioral intention.

This study provides strong support for the congruence between cultural commentators and cultural offerings in online cultural reviews. The findings can also effectively explain the weak correlation between professional judgments and popular appeal.

For better effectiveness of online cultural reviews, the findings recommend cultural marketers that the use of professional commentators is effective for elite cultural offerings, whereas the use of consumer commentators is effective for mass cultural offerings.

This study proposes a useful dichotomy to classify cultural offerings as elite and mass. Meanwhile, this study is one of the first to examine the congruence between cultural offerings and cultural commentators in online reviews.

This study explores the motives and objectives of sports sponsorship in China, taking into account the sports, social and cultural contexts. It also adopts a comparative approach to examine the sponsorship of elite and grassroots sports events in China.

This study adopts a qualitative approach, employing semi-structured interviews with representatives of nine companies sponsoring elite and/or grassroots sports events in Western China. The data were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis.

In China, sponsors are frequently driven to sponsor elite sport events by a sense of obligation and responsibility to the country, whereas their motives to sponsor grassroots sport events is primarily influenced by sincerity and goodwill. Chinese companies consider brand awareness, exposure and the relationship with the government and authorities as key factors for sponsorship, and use sponsorship to achieve market-related objectives.

Companies’ sponsorship motives and objectives have received significant attention in the literature, but mainly in Western countries. In the context of China, this study identifies how sponsors utilize social networks to shape their motives and objectives. It also reveals certain patterns common with the current literature, as well as specificities such as how the roles of the government and authorities are linked to the contingent economic and social context of the country. Furthermore, the differences between elite and grassroots sports events sponsorship are explained.

Online reviews are often likely to be socially influenced by prior reviews. This study aims to examine key review and reviewer characteristics which may influence the social influence process.

Restaurant review data from Yelp.com are analyzed using an ordered logit model and text mining approach.

This study reveals that prior average review rating exerts a positive influence on subsequent review ratings for the same restaurant, but the effect is attenuated by the variance in existing review ratings. Moreover, social influence is stronger for consumers who had a moderate dining experience or invested less cognitive effort in writing online reviews. Compared to reviewers classified by Yelp as “elite,” non-elite reviewers appear more susceptible to the social influence of prior average review rating.

This study provides guidelines for mitigating the social influence of prior reviews and improving the accuracy of online product/service ratings, which will eventually enhance business and the reputation of online review platforms.

The findings from this study contribute to the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) literature and social influence literature in terms of the bidirectional nature of social influence on eWOM.

This study aims to determine the antecedents and consequences of information source choice to support a purchase decision for services high in experience attributes.

The authors conduct two studies to test their propositions. Study 1 is a single-category application using data from a national survey of 974 consumers who recently made a hotel-stay purchase/reservation. Correspondence analysis was used to identify search patterns, and regression analysis was used to identify their antecedents and influence on search outcomes. Study 2 is a cross-category study using data from a survey of 422 MTurk respondents reporting on search processes across six different services contexts, including hotel reservations. In this study, the authors seek generalization of their results to other services categories.

The authors identify four dimensions that characterize what information sources consumers, on average, use together when purchasing services. It is found that loyalty program membership and consistency in service delivery across a brand’s outlets for the brands in a consumer’s evoked set are important determinants of search patterns. Search patterns partially mediate the impact of consumer characteristics, choice context and choice set characteristics on search effort and, ultimately, on price paid.

An understanding of the factors that are associated with consumers’ choices of information sources and whether these choices are systematically related to search outcomes has implications for market segmentation and for marketers’ initiatives with respect to what information content to emphasize across sources.

The contribution is an understanding of the antecedents and consequences of consumer search patterns – and what information sources consumers tend to use together, considering the diversity of both internet and non-internet sources. There are limited insights in the services literature regarding how the internet impacts information search processes.