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Article
Publication date: 14 August 2024

Dario Natale Palmucci, Fauzia Jabeen and Gabriele Santoro

This paper aims to explore customers' motives and behaviours in sharing comments and information on e-service platforms, as well as what leads them to avoid sharing after…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore customers' motives and behaviours in sharing comments and information on e-service platforms, as well as what leads them to avoid sharing after consumption.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the goal, this research used a mixed-method approach. Firstly, a two-phase qualitative design involving 2 focus groups and 27 in-depth interviews was employed. Secondly, a quantitative approach was implemented to test the relationship between three factors, identified in the qualitative analysis and comment-sharing behaviours.

Findings

The three identified factors are (1) willingness to improve the product/service and customer justice; (2) willingness to share emotions and feelings; and (3) technological readiness. Sharing emotions and feelings, as well as technological readiness, have been found positively associated with high posting behaviours.

Originality/value

Customers' opinions, comments and feedback on online platforms represent a crucial co-creation tool that must be better understood by businesses that aim to embrace the customer-centric philosophy. Despite the importance of the topic, only recently there has been interest in exploring the motives for and behaviours of customers' post-consumption comments and information sharing about a business on an e-service platform. Based on these findings, we put forward some relevant implications for theory and specific managerial strategies to be undertaken to exploit the potential of platforms.

Details

EuroMed Journal of Business, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1450-2194

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 April 2024

Mahmooda Khaliq, Dove Wimbish and Angela Makris

This study aims to understand the utility of personas and illustrate, through a case study, how a persona-building exercise in a Community Based Prevention Marketing (CBPM…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand the utility of personas and illustrate, through a case study, how a persona-building exercise in a Community Based Prevention Marketing (CBPM) training of community leaders elicited important insights that complemented findings from ongoing formative research on vaccine hesitancy in the Hispanic/Latino population in the USA during COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory concurrent parallel qualitative study design compared three personas created by community-based organization members (n = 37) to transcripts from five formative research focus groups (n = 30) from the same project. All participants in this study were recruited by the National COVID-19 Resiliency Network as part of their capacity-building and formative research activities. Grounded theory guided the content analysis.

Findings

This study found personas and focus groups to be complementary. A high degree of co-occurrence was observed when investigating the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine under the categories of barriers, culture and communication. Between the two methods, the authors found strong associations between fear, disruption to the value system, work-related barriers, inaccessibility to health care and information sources and misinformation. Areas of divergence were negligible.

Research limitations/implications

While personas provided background information about the population and sharing “how” to reach the priority population, focus groups provided the “why” behind the behavior, followed by “how”.

Practical implications

A community-driven persona-building process built on cultural community knowledge and existing data can build community capacity, provide rich information to assist in the creation of tailored messages, strategies and overall interventions during a public health crisis and provide user-centered, evidence-based information about a priority population while researchers and practitioners wait on the results from formative research.

Originality/value

This case study provided a unique opportunity to analyze the complementary effectiveness of two methods acting in tandem to understand the priority population: stakeholder-informed persona-building and participant-informed focus group interviews. Understanding their complementary nature addresses a time gap that often exists between researchers and practitioners during times of crises and builds on recommendations associated with bringing rigor into practice, promoting academic contribution to real-world issues and building collaborative partnerships. Finally, it supports the utility of a nimble tool that improves social marketers’ ability to know more about their audience for intervention design when time is of the essence and formative research is ongoing.

Details

Journal of Social Marketing, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6763

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2024

Attiqur Rehman, Ali GhaffarianHoseini, Nicola Naismith, Abdulbasit Almhafdy, Amirhosein Ghaffarianhoseini, John Tookey and Shafiq Urrehman

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to transform the infrastructure, mobility and social well-being paradigms in New Zealand (NZ) amid its unprecedented population and…

Abstract

Purpose

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to transform the infrastructure, mobility and social well-being paradigms in New Zealand (NZ) amid its unprecedented population and road safety challenges. But, public acceptance, co-evolution of regulations and AV technology based on interpersonal and institutional trust perspectives pose significant challenges. Previous theories and models need to be more comprehensive to address trust influencing autonomous driving (AD) factors in natural settings. Therefore, this study aims to find key AD factors corresponding to the chain of human-machine interaction (HMI) events happening in real time and formulate a guiding framework for the successful deployment of AVs in NZ.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilized a comprehensive literature review complemented by an AV users’ study with 15 participants. AV driving sprints were conducted on low, medium and high-density roads in Auckland, followed by 15 ideation workshops to gather data about the users’ observations, feelings and attitudes towards the AVs during HMI.

Findings

This research study determined nine essential trust-influencing AD determinants in HMI and legal readiness domains. These AD determinants were analyzed, corresponding to eight AV events in three phases. Subsequently, a guiding framework was developed based on these factors, i.e. human-machine interaction autonomous driving events relationship identification framework (HMI-ADERIF) for the deployment of AVs in New Zealand.

Research limitations/implications

This study was conducted only in specific Auckland areas.

Practical implications

This study is significant for advanced design research and provides valuable insights, guidelines and deployment pathways for designers, practitioners and regulators when developing HMI Systems for AD vehicles.

Originality/value

This study is the first-ever AV user study in New Zealand in live traffic conditions. This user study also claimed its novelty due to AV trials in congested and fast-moving traffic on the four-lane motorway in New Zealand. Previously, none of the studies conducted AV user study on SUV BMW vehicle and motorway in real-time traffic conditions; all operations were completely autonomous without any input from the driver. Thus, it explored the essential autonomous driving (AD) trust influencing variables in human factors and legal readiness domains. This research is also unique in identifying critical AD determinants that affect the user trust, acceptance and adoption of AVs in New Zealand by bridging the socio-technical gap with futuristic research insights.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 May 2024

Jonas Nilsson, Jeanette Carlsson Hauff and Anders Carlander

In modern societies, consumer well-being is dependent on choices regarding complex services, such as investments, health care, insurance and lending. However, evaluating costs of…

Abstract

Purpose

In modern societies, consumer well-being is dependent on choices regarding complex services, such as investments, health care, insurance and lending. However, evaluating costs of such services is often difficult for consumers due to a combination of limited cognitive resources and complexity of the service. The purpose of this study is to empirically examine to what extent three specific consequences of complexity influence consumer tendencies to make mistakes when evaluating the costs (or price) of complex services.

Design/methodology/approach

Three studies were conducted (survey: n = 153, experiment: n = 332 and conjoint analysis: n = 225), all focusing on how consumers evaluate costs in the complex mutual fund setting.

Findings

The authors find that consumers struggle with estimating and using cost information in decision-making in the complex services setting. Consumers of complex services frequently underestimate the costs over the long-term, may see costs as a signal of service quality and are susceptible to influence from presentation formats when evaluating costs.

Research limitations/implications

The study investigates mutual funds, which is one example of a complex service. In order to get a full picture of how consumers deal with costs in complex setting, future research needs to expand this focus to other types of complex services.

Practical implications

The results have implications for both marketers of complex services and policymakers. For marketers, this paper highlights that competing with a low-cost strategy may be difficult in the complex services setting as consumers may lack the ability to actually evaluate what they pay over the long term. For policymakers, increased simplification of prices may be an attractive option. However, it is important that this simplification is done in a way that increases the possibility to compare prices.

Originality/value

As complexity influences several aspects of decision-making, an understanding of how consumers evaluate costs in complex settings is dependent on taking a multidimensional research approach. This paper makes a novel contribution to the literature on pricing by showing that consumers struggle with multiple aspects when evaluating costs in complex contexts. Understanding these effects is important to policy, as well as to research on the cognitive value of simplicity that is currently gaining traction in marketing research.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 58 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 August 2023

Daria Belkouri, Lina Khairy, Richard Laing and Ditte Bendix Lanng

The practical demonstrations and research which led to the preparation of this paper involved a combination of stakeholder engagement, policy debate and the practical…

Abstract

Purpose

The practical demonstrations and research which led to the preparation of this paper involved a combination of stakeholder engagement, policy debate and the practical demonstration and testing of autonomous vehicles. By adhering to a design approach which in centred on participation and human-centred engagement, the advent of autonomous vehicles might avoid many of the problems encountered in relation to conventional transport.

Design/methodology/approach

The research explored how a new and potentially disruptive technology might be incorporated in urban settings, through the lens of participation and problem-based design. The research critically reviews key strands in the literature (autonomous vehicles, social research and participatory design), with allusion to current case study experiments.

Findings

Although there are numerous examples of autonomous vehicles (AV) research concentrating on technical aspects alone, this paper finds that such an approach appears to be an unusual starting point for the design of innovative technology. That is, AVs would appear to hold the potential to be genuinely disruptive in terms of innovation, yet the way that disruption takes place should surely be guided by design principles and by issues and problems encountered by potential users.

Practical implications

The research carries significant implications for practice in that it advocates locating those socio-contextual issues at the heart of the problem definition and design process and ahead of technical solutions.

Originality/value

What sets this research apart from other studies concerning AVs was that the starting point for investigation was the framing of AVs within contexts and scenarios leading to the emergence of wicked problems. This begins with a research position where the potential uses for AVs are considered in a social context, within which the problems and issues to be solved become the starting point for design at a fundamental level.

Details

Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 August 2024

Christopher Igwe Idumah, Raphael Stone Odera and Emmanuel Obumneme Ezeani

Nanotechnology (NT) advancements in personal protective textiles (PPT) or personal protective equipment (PPE) have alleviated spread and transmission of this highly contagious…

Abstract

Purpose

Nanotechnology (NT) advancements in personal protective textiles (PPT) or personal protective equipment (PPE) have alleviated spread and transmission of this highly contagious viral disease, and enabled enhancement of PPE, thereby fortifying antiviral behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

Review of a series of state of the art research papers on the subject matter.

Findings

This paper expounds on novel nanotechnological advancements in polymeric textile composites, emerging applications and fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Research limitations/implications

As a panacea to “public droplet prevention,” textiles have proven to be potentially effective as environmental droplet barriers (EDBs).

Practical implications

PPT in form of healthcare materials including surgical face masks (SFMs), gloves, goggles, respirators, gowns, uniforms, scrub-suits and other apparels play critical role in hindering the spreading of COVID-19 and other “oral-respiratory droplet contamination” both within and outside hospitals.

Social implications

When used as double-layers, textiles display effectiveness as SFMs or surgical-fabrics, which reduces droplet transmission to <10 cm, within circumference of ∼0.3%.

Originality/value

NT advancements in textiles through nanoparticles, and sensor integration within textile materials have enhanced versatile sensory capabilities, robotics, flame retardancy, self-cleaning, electrical conductivity, flexibility and comfort, thereby availing it for health, medical, sporting, advanced engineering, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, military, automobile, food and agricultural applications, and more. Therefore, this paper expounds on recently emerging trends in nanotechnological influence in textiles for engineering and fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 May 2024

Changiz Valmohammadi, Mona Sadeghi, Roghayeh Taraz and Rasoul Mehdikhani

This research investigates the impact of business analytics (BA) on corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and open innovation (OI), considering the moderated mediation analysis in the…

Abstract

Purpose

This research investigates the impact of business analytics (BA) on corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and open innovation (OI), considering the moderated mediation analysis in the context of Iran as a developing country. The study was conducted in various industries, including food, chemicals, agriculture, automobile, and service industries, with 207 observations.

Design/methodology/approach

Through an in-depth review of the extant literature a conceptual model was developed and the proposed hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling technique (PLS-SEM).

Findings

The results indicate that business analytics has significant effects on corporate entrepreneurship and open innovation. Open innovation has a significant effect on corporate entrepreneurship, with open innovation serving as a suitable mediator. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis shows the positive impact of Business Analytics on Open Innovation-Corporate Entrepreneurship relationship.

Research limitations/implications

As this study was conducted in Iran, one of the main limitations can be attributed to the specific characteristics of the country which may affect how and how much the variables influence each other.

Practical implications

The study highlights the importance of promoting Open Innovation in organizations and utilizing Business Analytics to make strategic decisions and foster innovation in entrepreneurial activities.

Originality/value

This study fills the gap in the literature by exploring how BA contributes to corporate entrepreneurship of the Iranian organizations in various industries, given open innovation as a mediator under dynamic market conditions.

Article
Publication date: 19 April 2024

Jitendra Gaur, Kumkum Bharti and Rahul Bajaj

Allocation of the marketing budget has become increasingly challenging due to the diverse channel exposure to customers. This study aims to enhance global marketing knowledge by…

Abstract

Purpose

Allocation of the marketing budget has become increasingly challenging due to the diverse channel exposure to customers. This study aims to enhance global marketing knowledge by introducing an ensemble attribution model to optimize marketing budget allocation for online marketing channels. As empirical research, this study demonstrates the supremacy of the ensemble model over standalone models.

Design/methodology/approach

The transactional data set for car insurance from an Indian insurance aggregator is used in this empirical study. The data set contains information from more than three million platform visitors. A robust ensemble model is created by combining results from two probabilistic models, namely, the Markov chain model and the Shapley value. These results are compared and validated with heuristic models. Also, the performances of online marketing channels and attribution models are evaluated based on the devices used (i.e. desktop vs mobile).

Findings

Channel importance charts for desktop and mobile devices are analyzed to understand the top contributing online marketing channels. Customer relationship management-emailers and Google cost per click a paid advertising is identified as the top two marketing channels for desktop and mobile channels. The research reveals that ensemble model accuracy is better than the standalone model, that is, the Markov chain model and the Shapley value.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current research is the first of its kind to introduce ensemble modeling for solving attribution problems in online marketing. A comparison with heuristic models using different devices (desktop and mobile) offers insights into the results with heuristic models.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 December 2023

Manuel J. Sánchez-Franco and Sierra Rey-Tienda

This research proposes to organise and distil this massive amount of data, making it easier to understand. Using data mining, machine learning techniques and visual approaches…

1967

Abstract

Purpose

This research proposes to organise and distil this massive amount of data, making it easier to understand. Using data mining, machine learning techniques and visual approaches, researchers and managers can extract valuable insights (on guests' preferences) and convert them into strategic thinking based on exploration and predictive analysis. Consequently, this research aims to assist hotel managers in making informed decisions, thus improving the overall guest experience and increasing competitiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employs natural language processing techniques, data visualisation proposals and machine learning methodologies to analyse unstructured guest service experience content. In particular, this research (1) applies data mining to evaluate the role and significance of critical terms and semantic structures in hotel assessments; (2) identifies salient tokens to depict guests' narratives based on term frequency and the information quantity they convey; and (3) tackles the challenge of managing extensive document repositories through automated identification of latent topics in reviews by using machine learning methods for semantic grouping and pattern visualisation.

Findings

This study’s findings (1) aim to identify critical features and topics that guests highlight during their hotel stays, (2) visually explore the relationships between these features and differences among diverse types of travellers through online hotel reviews and (3) determine predictive power. Their implications are crucial for the hospitality domain, as they provide real-time insights into guests' perceptions and business performance and are essential for making informed decisions and staying competitive.

Originality/value

This research seeks to minimise the cognitive processing costs of the enormous amount of content published by the user through a better organisation of hotel service reviews and their visualisation. Likewise, this research aims to propose a methodology and method available to tourism organisations to obtain truly useable knowledge in the design of the hotel offer and its value propositions.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 62 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

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