Search results

Product discounts have been widely applied in digital commerce as a method to attract and retain customers to purchase in China. Given that digital channels differ in their attributes, customers may behave differently when they respond to the same discount across channels. However, little attention has been paid to explore the heterogeneity of customer responses to discounts across channels. This study aims to fill in the gap by exploring how customers’ purchase responses to price discounts differ across digital channels.

This study applies a Poisson regression to an unbalanced data set of purchasing history from Chinese footwear brands with 3,510 customers in a two-year time window across the three digital channels (i.e. personal computer [PC], app and mobile website), with a correction for endogeneity by using the Gaussian copula method.

This paper finds that price discounts have the strongest positive effect on consumers’ purchase volumes on the PC channel, followed by the app channel, while discounts show the weakest impact in the mobile website channel. By so, this paper demonstrates that customers respond differently to online and mobile channels, and they also respond differently within mobile channels when they purchase products with price discounts.

This study is original in analyzing the difference in customers’ discount responses across digital channels, offering valuable contributions to existing research on multichannel marketing as well as mobile marketing and providing helpful insights for multichannel merchants to design digital discount strategies.

War is one of the worst characteristics of human nature. Wars over territory, religion, and governance were and are always present through history. War and tourism seem dissonant at first glance. However, the post effects of war enable its components, such as battlefields and artefacts, to become tourist attractions. People share the impetus to visit war attractions such as battlefields, military museums, cemeteries, memorials, and other war-related sites. There is a supply for this type of tourism in exchange for the demand. This type of tourism is referred to in the literature as battlefield tourism. The meaning and definition of battlefield tourism are the main aim of this chapter. What is battlefield tourism? What are the components of battlefield tourism? How can battlefield tourism be defined? These are the primary questions this study tries to address.

This paper aims to examine why retail firms seldom achieve full integration of online and offline channels as prescribed in omni-channel literature. It examines the intermediate process of channel integration from an internal, operational perspective.

This study is composed of two parts. In the first part, the authors interviewed informants from nine firms that were engaged in channel integration. In the second part, the authors conducted case studies with three firms from the cosmetics and skincare industry against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic to find evidence to support or negate the propositions made in the first part.

The first part identified six operational challenges to channel integration. The authors categorized these challenges into two groups: inter-channel communication and inter-channel competition. Inter-channel competition carries more weight at the latter stage of integration. The authors also identified two antecedents that affect the seriousness of these challenges: heterogeneity among channels in business operation and external competitive pressure. In the second part, the authors found that both inter-channel communication and inter-channel competition were improved because of the external competitive pressure exerted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the heterogeneity of offline channels against online channels in business operation is a double-edged sword.

The study identifies the changing effects of the challenges of channel integration and their antecedents in the midst of integration. The positive influence of a specific dimension of channel heterogeneity against other channels increases and then decreases along channel integration. The identification of the changing effects lays the foundation for a finer stage model of channel integration.

Advances in digital technologies and the growing number of touch points have had a significant impact on the shopping behaviour of omnichannel customers. Several research papers have explored different facets of omnichannel, but only a few have thoroughly explored the literature on showrooming and webrooming simultaneously. This paper aims to identify the key groups of antecedents influencing customer buying behaviour in omnichannel, under the influence of digital technologies, with a particular focus on showrooming and webrooming.

Our study conducted a systematic literature review to identify the factors influencing customers’ buying behaviour in omnichannel, which have been the subject of academic discussion over the last decade. We finalized 149 articles for the thematic analysis and identified three groups of antecedents: channel-related, product-related and consumer-related with their subgroups.

Under channel-related antecedents, cost and perceived benefits, search convenience, need for interaction and situational circumstances have been identified as major attributes. The expressiveness of the product, product demonstration and search and experienced products have been identified under product-related antecedents, followed by price consciousness, past experiences, perceived risks and shopping motivations as leading attributes under consumer-related antecedents. The study revealed the multifaceted influence of digital technologies on omnichannel buying behaviour. Digital technologies are shaping the antecedents related to channels, products and consumers. Digital technologies simultaneously mediate between antecedents and the selection of a specific path within an omnichannel environment. Showrooming and webrooming should no longer be seen as general concepts. The rise of digital technologies has led to the development of new consumer journey patterns and the blurring of distinctions between showrooming and webrooming. A conceptual framework has been proposed to understand consumers' omnichannel behaviour, having considered the identified antecedents and the role of digital technologies.

This study advances the academic understanding of consumer behaviour in omnichannel under the influence of digital technologies and provides important implications for omnichannel management. With the advancement of digital technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality, retailers should implement channel integration strategies to bridge the gap between online and offline channels, providing a memorable shopping experience for omnichannel customers.

This study is unique because it identifies and analyses the antecedents of consumer behaviour in omnichannel settings under the influence of digital technologies. It also uncovers new potential combinations of showrooming and webrooming patterns. The proposed framework can help retailers in their future planning of omnichannel strategies.

Through the theoretical lens of social practice theory, the aim of this research is to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) high-tech startups build their brands in an omni-digital environment, particularly by focusing on the most important digital touchpoints implemented to interact with stakeholders.

A qualitative analysis was performed by conducting 36 semi-structured interviews with key informants operating in B2B high-tech startups, including founders, CEOs, managing directors, marketing managers and other actors from this sector.

The results reveal the enablers, inhibitors and specific objectives of startups in their brand-building processes across digital touchpoints in an omni-digital environment.

This study offers new theoretical insights into new ventures’ brand management strategies through the development of a theoretical framework in which the enablers, inhibitors and specific objectives of the brand-building process of startups are identified. Although the recent literature has addressed the topic of startup brand building, this is the first study, to the authors’ knowledge, focused on the brand-building process of B2B high-tech startups in an omni-digital environment.

The integration of e-commerce platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) into the marketing channel ecosystem is challenging the explanatory capacity of traditional channel power theories, indicating a significant yet unaddressed research gap concerning the impact of these digital entities and AI on channel power exercise dynamics. This study adopts a contingency perspective to critically revisit how e-commerce platforms exercise channel power and the ensuing effects on channel conflicts. The purpose of this study is to extend the boundaries of traditional channel power theories, enhancing their relevance in today’s digital marketplace.

Building on channel power theories, the authors developed a framework tested with survey data collected from 262 sellers. This framework incorporates three key contingent variables: inter-platform competition, AI capabilities and platform value co-creation. Regression analysis was used to perform the analyses.

This study finds that intense inter-platform competition mitigates the (positive) negative relationship between platform channel power and the exercise of (non-) coercive power. Moreover, a platform’s AI capabilities and value co-creation activities diminish the potential for channel conflicts induced by the exercise of coercive power. AI capabilities can also strengthen the negative relationship between the exercise of non-coercive power and channel conflicts.

This study contributes to the advancement of traditional channel power theories by integrating contemporary digital elements like AI and platform dynamics. This study provides theoretical and practical insights on navigating channel power in modern marketing environments, offering strategic guidelines for optimizing channel relationships.

In the dynamic landscape of the digital economy, companies are increasingly adopting omnichannel integration strategies to enhance customer experiences. However, the interplay between this strategy and digitalisation in fostering brand trust remains uncharted. Drawing on the social exchange and psychological reactance theories, this study ventures into unexplored territory by examining the impact of omnichannel integration and digital value on brand trust building. It also delves into the boundary roles of customers’ psychological perceptions, both positive (customer empowerment) and negative (privacy concerns and perceived deception), in this process.

This study conducted an online survey of 595 omnichannel users in China and validated the model using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

This study’s results have significant implications for businesses. They show that customer perception of omnichannel integration and perceived digital value are critical drivers of omnichannel brand trust, with customer empowerment playing a mediating role. Notably, the study also reveals that customers’ negative psychological perceptions can have different moderating effects, highlighting the need for businesses to address these concerns in their omnichannel strategies.

This study breaks new ground in marketing research by highlighting the benefits of omnichannel integration and incorporating digital perspectives. It demonstrates the positive impact of blending customer perception of omnichannel integration and perceived digital value on brand trust formation. Furthermore, it explores the boundary roles of customers’ psychological perceptions in this process, offering a unique and comprehensive perspective.

In most Sub-Saharan African countries, a widely adopted policy to increase access to healthcare is the complete or partial removal of health user fees. This paper examines the effect of removing health user fees on the cognitive development of children in Ghana.

The study uses the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey (GSPS) and a difference-in-differences method to analyze the impacts of free healthcare.

The findings show that improved access to healthcare enhances the cognitive ability of children. More importantly, children who received free healthcare in early life experienced significant improvement in their cognitive ability. The benefits are also huge for girls and children from low-income families. The findings further show that maternal health, the timely receipt of vaccinations and regular infant health visits are important operative channels through which improved access to healthcare affects children’s cognitive ability.

There are several studies on the effects of eliminating health user fees on various outcomes, but only a few focus on children’s outcomes. This study contributes to the literature by focusing on a vital child outcome, cognitive ability and exploring the timing and pathways through which abolishing health user fees affect cognitive development in children. Because cognitive ability is crucial for educational and labor market outcomes, the findings are useful for policymakers in determining the population to target and the timing of interventions that yield huge impacts when designing health intervention programs in developing countries.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2022-0739.

The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the B2B customers’ perspective regarding salespeople’s social media use.

The study adopts a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with 26 key informants performing their job in customer role in various industries.

The authors inductively identify five themes regarding the B2B customers’ perspective of social media use in B2B selling. These themes allow for valuable implications for social selling activities and expected outcomes.

Against a growing body of literature on drivers, best practices and outcomes of social media use by B2B salespeople, less attention has been paid to the customer’s side. The authors extend current research by providing a more complete picture of social selling activities and expected outcomes.

Does the history of the bureaucratic system, along with the establishment of the Great Wall during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911), affect firm behavior across the borderlands of the Great Wall?

The Ming and Qing dynasties built a centralized administrative system in the borderlands on the south side of the Great Wall, in contrast to the “feudal lordship” system on the north side. Employing a regression discontinuity analysis framework with the Great Wall as a geographical discontinuity, we examine the long-run effects of the Great Wall on firms’ earnings management.

Using a large sample of nonlisted firms in the central core frontier region, we show that the earnings management of firms in the region south of the Great Wall is significantly curtailed compared with firms in the north of it, and this effect is more pronounced for non-SOEs. Our findings are robust to a battery of tests to account for alternative explanations.

Overall, by emphasizing the role of institutions, like legal system, shaped in history on firms’ earnings management, this study sheds new light on institutional determinants of firms’ behaviors in earnings information disclosure.

First, we enrich our understanding of the institutional determinants of firms’ financial reporting outcomes. Second, our findings shed new light on the long-term effects of historical ruling styles on modern corporate behavior.