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1 – 10 of 49
Article
Publication date: 8 January 2018

Jamie Carlson, Mohammad Rahman, Ranjit Voola and Natalie De Vries

Social media brand pages have become instrumental in enabling customers to voluntarily participate in providing feedback/ideas for improvement and collaboration with others that…

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Abstract

Purpose

Social media brand pages have become instrumental in enabling customers to voluntarily participate in providing feedback/ideas for improvement and collaboration with others that contribute to the innovation effort of brands. However, research on mechanisms which harness these specific customer engagement behaviours (CEB) in branded social media platforms is limited. Based on the stimulus–organism–response paradigm, this study investigates how specific online-service design characteristics in social media brand pages induce customer-perceived value perceptions, which in turn, stimulate feedback and collaboration intentions with customers.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected from 654 US consumers of brand pages on Facebook were used to empirically test the proposed framework via structural equation modelling.

Findings

The theoretical framework found support for most hypothesized relationships showing how online-service design characteristics induce an identified set of customer value perceptions that influence customer feedback and collaboration intentions.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is restricted to customer evaluations of brand pages on Facebook in the USA. Practitioners are advised to maximize online-service design characteristics of content quality, brand page interactivity, sociability and customer contact quality as stimulants that induce brand learning value, entitativity value and hedonic value. This then translates to customer feedback and collaboration intentions towards the brand page.

Originality/value

The findings have important implications for the design and optimization of online services in the customer engagement-innovation interface to harness CEBs for innovation performance.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 February 2019

Jamie Carlson, Siegfried P. Gudergan, Carsten Gelhard and Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman

Social media brand platforms have become a popular means for engaged customers to share information and experiences with brands and other customers. However, empirical research on…

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Abstract

Purpose

Social media brand platforms have become a popular means for engaged customers to share information and experiences with brands and other customers. However, empirical research on how customer engagement (CE) relates to customers’ sharing intentions with the brand is limited. This study aims to investigate causal patterns of four CE dimensions – focused attention, absorption, enthusiasm and interaction – together with two cognitive structure properties in stimulating sharing intentions with the brand.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data from 782 Chinese customers of brand pages on the social media platform Weibo, this paper is the first to use both finite mixture partial least squares (FIMIX-PLS) analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to empirically assess the impact of CE configurations on sharing intentions.

Findings

The findings imply that not all of the CE dimensions co-occur necessarily and that different configurations of them can produce superior sharing intentions, conditional on the cognitive structure of customers, including their level of brand knowledge and avant-gardism.

Research limitations/implications

Although restricted to customers on Weibo, the results inform practice about how social media technology can facilitate different CE configurations and customer sharing intentions.

Practical implications

The results inform brand managers’ segmentation efforts and CE content marketing initiatives that can induce different CE configurations and customer sharing intentions with customers that possess high avant-gard and brand knowledge characteristics.

Originality/value

This study is the first to substantiate how different CE configurations (as gestalts) affect sharing intentions in social media and to challenge conventional net-effects thinking about CE dimensions. Understanding how such conditional configurations foster sharing via a social media platform is advantageous because it can improve segmentation efforts to strengthen brand relationships.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 53 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 September 2018

Archana P. Voola, Ranjit Voola, Jessica Wyllie, Jamie Carlson and Srinivas Sridharan

This paper aims to investigate dynamics of food consumption practices among poor families in a developing country to advance the Food Well-being (FWB) in Poverty framework.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate dynamics of food consumption practices among poor families in a developing country to advance the Food Well-being (FWB) in Poverty framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The research design used semi-structured interviews with 25 women and constructivist grounded theory to explore food consumption practices of poor families in rural South India.

Findings

Poor families’ everyday interactions with food reveal the relational production of masculinities and femininities and the power hegemony that fixes men and women into an unequal status quo. Findings provides critical insights into familial arrangements in absolute poverty that are detrimental to the task of achieving FWB.

Research limitations/implications

The explanatory potential of FWB in Poverty framework is limited to a gender (women) and a specific country context (India). Future research can contextualise the framework in other developing countries and different consumer segments.

Practical implications

The FWB in Poverty framework helps identify, challenge and transform cultural norms, social structures and gendered stereotypes that perpetuate power hegemonies in poverty. Policymakers can encourage men and boys to participate in family food work, as well as recognise and remunerate women and girls for their contribution to maintaining familial units.

Originality/value

This paper makes an original contribution to the relevant literature by identifying and addressing the absence of theoretical understanding of families, food consumption and poverty. By contextualising the FWB framework in absolute poverty, the paper generates novel understandings of fluidity and change in poor families and FWB.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 52 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2022

Syed Mahmudur Rahman, Jamie Carlson and Noman H. Chowdhury

The experience of safety as perceived by customers is a central issue in retailing, and its importance has increased because of the pandemic. Substantial literature exists…

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Abstract

Purpose

The experience of safety as perceived by customers is a central issue in retailing, and its importance has increased because of the pandemic. Substantial literature exists addressing different factors related to safety/security experience in different types of retail channels. However, what is missing is a unified framework to guide safe customer experience initiatives across all channels. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the safety elements in omnichannel retailing as perceived by customers and how these safety elements affect customer experience (CX) judgments and consumer behavior in a post-pandemic context.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review on safety/security studies in a retail context is conducted, followed by a qualitative study driven by a means-end-chain laddering technique collecting data from 62 retail customers in Australia, the USA and UK.

Findings

Fourteen distinct safety elements in omnichannel retailing are identified. Four elements are relevant to the CX at the pre-purchase stage of the customer journey: social inclusiveness, role readiness, employment policy and safety policy enforcement. Six elements are relevant to the during-purchase stage: physical safety, personal hygiene, spatial distancing, fraud prevention, security surveillance and safety signal. The remaining four elements are relevant to the post-purchase stage: delivery safety, safety recall, mental health and data usage.

Originality/value

This study presents a new unified framework addressing safety and security in post-pandemic retail service settings. The SafeCX framework offers researchers and managers a holistic understanding of the distinct safety elements that shape customers’ perceptions across each customer journey stage of the retail CX.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 36 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 December 2022

Sorush Sepehr, Jamie Carlson, Philip Rosenberger III and Ameet Pandit

Social media has transformed communication possibilities for immigrant consumers with their home country in their acculturation efforts. However, the acculturative outcomes of…

Abstract

Purpose

Social media has transformed communication possibilities for immigrant consumers with their home country in their acculturation efforts. However, the acculturative outcomes of consumer interactions with the home country through social media are largely overlooked in previous research. This study aims to investigate the acculturative processes and outcomes resulting from interacting with the home country through social media.

Design/methodology/approach

A netnographic approach is used to collect data from a social media platform that provides an interactive social context in which Iranian immigrants in Australia share their experiences of immigration with non-immigrants who are considering and planning to migrate to Australia.

Findings

Findings show how both immigrants and non-immigrant users via social media reflexively contribute to the formation of two competing collective narratives, namely, the dominant, romanticizing narrative and counter, pragmatic narratives. Findings highlight how notions of the home and host countries, and the idea of migrating from home to host, are constructed as the result of the circulation of the dominant and counter narratives. Further findings include how these two collective narratives come into play in the formation of three acculturative outcomes, namely, self-validating, ordinary experts and wellbeing. These insights extend consumer acculturation theory through highlighting the acculturative processes and outcomes of interactions with the home country via a social media platform. This includes, for example, how interacting with the home culture can take on assimilationist properties through the construction of a romanticized representation of the hosting society (i.e. Australia) in the dominant collective narrative.

Practical implications

Implications for ethnic marketing practice, policymakers and non-governmental organisations are advanced, especially regarding using social media as a channel to communicate with current and potential immigrant consumers. Notably, policymakers can use social media to engage with immigrants before and after migration to reduce the potential for cognitive dissonance in recent arrivals. Managerially, brands can advertise on Web-based forums, independent websites and social media platforms to target potential immigrants to sell relevant products immigrants needs after migrating to the host country.

Social implications

Findings broaden the understanding of the potential acculturative outcomes on social media by moving away from the traditional outcomes, which are restricted to the dichotomy between the home and host cultures.

Originality/value

Scholarly attention is deficient on the role of direct interaction with the home country in immigrant consumer acculturation, especially through social media, which is the focus of this study.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 40 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2015

Brian Tung and Jamie Carlson

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers of the customers’ cross-buying intentions for retail banking services in Hong Kong.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers of the customers’ cross-buying intentions for retail banking services in Hong Kong.

Design/methodology/approach

The research model was developed based on literature and tested empirically among 269 customers of retail banks in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was used to test the system of relationships.

Findings

The results indicate that the customers’ cross-buying intentions are primarily associated with image conflicts about the provider’s abilities to deliver high quality financial services from different activities and high levels of customer loyalty.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited to a single country focus of Hong Kong retail banking. The generalizibility of these findings is therefore limited to this context.

Practical implications

The findings of the study have important implications for academicians in understanding what drives cross-buying behaviour as well as retail bank practitioners to help design more effective cross-buying strategies.

Originality/value

The authors show that perceived image conflict and customer loyalty directly influences cross-buying intentions and that cross-buying intentions is not affected by dimensions of relationship quality directly. However, relationship quality dimensions was found to influence customer loyalty and play an important indirect role in unlocking cross-buying intentions.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 32 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 2011

Jamie Carlson and Aron O'Cass

The paper aims to examine the role of service branding and web site performances in a multi‐channel retail context by studying consumers who have on‐going relationships with…

3521

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to examine the role of service branding and web site performances in a multi‐channel retail context by studying consumers who have on‐going relationships with retailers. Focus is placed on understanding perceptions of image congruency of the retail service brand across physical and electronic channels, together with web site performance perceptions influencing web site attitudes. The effects of web site attitudes on behavioural loyalty are also investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were gathered via an online survey from 196 consumers and analysed using structural equation modelling via PLS analysis.

Findings

The findings shed light on the importance of cross‐channel service brand management together with managing critical web site service interface capabilities in the retail environment to engender favourable web site attitudes and customer loyalty outcomes.

Practical implications

Multi‐channel retailers should carefully consider the degree to which consumers perceive the web site and its performance to be congruous with the retailer's brand image which appears to influence how information is subsequently processed and impacts customer loyalty behavior.

Originality/value

The findings are of value to multi‐channel retail practitioners and focus on how consumers with an ongoing relationship with the retailer integrate offline and online brand images in the formation of web site attitudes. In addition, the study examines both cognitive and hedonic elements of web site performance in the research framework.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 28 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 May 2011

Jamie Carlson and Aron O'Cass

This research seeks to extend the work of Dabholkar et al. into the e‐retail domain to assess alternate theoretical frameworks of e‐service quality. Particular focus is placed on…

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Abstract

Purpose

This research seeks to extend the work of Dabholkar et al. into the e‐retail domain to assess alternate theoretical frameworks of e‐service quality. Particular focus is placed on e‐service quality and whether elements of e‐service quality should be viewed by dimensions, as antecedents to a global evaluation of e‐service quality, or as a formative configuration to predict behavioral intentions. The mediating role of customer satisfaction is also to be explored in these frameworks.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is premised on an empirical study using cross‐sectional data from actual consumers. Data from a survey of 518 online consumers were used to test the research models through the use of a structured equation modeling (SEM) tool.

Findings

The results show support for all three theoretical models, and slightly stronger support for the formative model. Customer satisfaction was also found to play a mediating role on behavioral intentions within these e‐service quality models.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited to a single e‐retail product category of sport and leisure. The generalizibility of these findings is therefore limited. Further work in other sectors and over longer periods would establish the reliability of the findings. The paper also highlights some limitations in the e‐service quality literature, particularly the emphasis on the use of reflective indicators over formative approaches in the modeling of e‐service quality.

Practical implications

Multiple configurations of e‐service quality exist in the literature, as well as variations on how it is actually measured. The authors provide specific recommendations to improve future research (and practice) involving e‐service quality conceptualization and measurement.

Originality/value

The paper examines three alternate configurations of e‐service quality's antecedents, consequences and mediators. The authors provide a platform for further research to improve the conceptualization and measurement of e‐service quality and its effects.

Details

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, vol. 21 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-4529

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 April 2010

Jamie Carlson and Aron O'Cass

The objective of this paper is to develop a conceptual model to examine the relationships among e‐service quality, consumer satisfaction, attitudes towards the web site and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to develop a conceptual model to examine the relationships among e‐service quality, consumer satisfaction, attitudes towards the web site and behavioural intentions in the context of content‐driven web sites.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from an online survey of 518 consumers were collected with the partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling technique used to empirically test the model.

Findings

Findings suggest that positive evaluations of e‐service quality influences positive levels of consumer satisfaction, consumer attitudes towards the web site and behavioural intentions within the specific service context of content‐driven professional sports web sites.

Research limitations/implications

The study specifically focuses on content‐centric web sites within a single service domain being professional sport. Future research can apply the framework to other service sectors on the internet, as well as to other cultural settings.

Practical implications

The study suggests that practitioners can use the model developed in this study to assist in allocating resources to the essential, or under‐performing, e‐service quality attributes needed to drive positive consumer satisfaction, attitudes and behavioural intentions.

Originality/value

The paper proposes and empirically supports the idea that e‐service quality influences consumer attitudes as well as consumer satisfaction and behavioural intentions in the context of content‐driven (professional sports) web sites. Moreover, the results of this study provide managers with a useful framework to manage content driven e‐services, as well as for researchers interested in the issue of managing e‐service quality.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 September 2010

Ranjit Voola, Jamie Carlson, Ho Yin Wong and Jeffrey Hou Jiun Li

This paper aims to examine the effects of market orientation and organizational learning on individual e‐business adoption functions and firm performance in the context of Chinese…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effects of market orientation and organizational learning on individual e‐business adoption functions and firm performance in the context of Chinese firms.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross‐sectional design was adopted for the study, whereby a sample of companies was selected from the province of Sichuan, China. The questionnaire was distributed via a personally administered method to senior managers. Partial least squares was used for analysing the data.

Findings

It was found that market orientation affected e‐order‐taking, whereas organizational learning affected e‐communication, e‐procurement and internal administration through e‐business technologies, and firm performance. Whilst market orientation was found only to effect e‐order‐taking and e‐communication was found to have a positive influence on firm performance.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of the study is the sample size and obtaining the convenience sample from one province in China. A larger size and broader representation of provinces in China will be a direction for future research.

Practical implications

The findings of this study highlight the need for creating an internal organizational culture, which facilitates the adoption of e‐business technologies. Specifically, they should develop capabilities such as organizational learning and market orientation prior to the adoption of e‐business technologies.

Originality/value

The contribution of the study is that the findings provide insight into e‐business adoption in China from a resource‐based perspective.

Details

Journal of Technology Management in China, vol. 5 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8779

Keywords

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