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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 July 2023

Kaisa Aro, Kati Suomi and Richard Gyrd-Jones

This study aims to add to the understanding of the interactive nature of brand love by using a multilayer perspective that incorporates individual, group and societal contexts.

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to add to the understanding of the interactive nature of brand love by using a multilayer perspective that incorporates individual, group and societal contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative empirical study uses abductive reasoning. Its theories and conclusions are grounded in naturally occurring data from an online brand community. The approach revealed new interactive processes of brand love.

Findings

This study extends our understanding of the interactive nature of brand love by adopting a layered perspective incorporating micro- (individual), meso- (in-group), macro- (in-group vs out-group) and mega-layer (societal) social dynamics that complements the predominant focus on individual psychological processes. It challenges the linear, monodirectional trajectory approach to brand love, suggesting that brand love is in constant flux as individuals move across the layers in their identification with the brand.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides data from one destination brand in Finland. Future studies could consider other types of brands and contexts in other countries and cultures.

Practical implications

This study shows brand managers that brand lovers can be divided into subgroups with distinct drivers of their love to which brand managers should attend.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to describe the interactive nature of brand love through interactions between and within four layers of brand love. Furthermore, this study enhances our understanding of the contradictory aspects of brand love.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 57 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 May 2014

Kati Suomi, Päivikki Kuoppakangas, Ulla Hytti, Charles Hampden-Turner and Jukka Kangaslahti

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the dilemmas that challenge reputation management in the context of higher education (HE).

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dilemmas that challenge reputation management in the context of higher education (HE).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper introduces one Finnish multidisciplinary master's degree programme as a case in point. The empirical data comprises a student survey and semi-structured interviews with internal and external stakeholders whose work relates to the master's degree programme in question.

Findings

The findings identify different types of dilemmas arising from collaboration between stakeholders of HE.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates how the dilemma-reconciliation method can be used to enhance reputation management in HE.

Originality/value

The novelty of the paper is in applying dilemma theory (Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars, 2000) in parallel with reputation theories. Dilemma theory attributes reputation risks to conflicting aims.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 28 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2015

Ulla Hytti, Päivikki Kuoppakangas, Kati Suomi, Chris Chapleo and Massimo Giovanardi

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how healthcare professionals understand a new organisational brand and examine the ideas discussed in relation to it within healthcare…

2162

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how healthcare professionals understand a new organisational brand and examine the ideas discussed in relation to it within healthcare organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is based on a discursive approach that facilitates understanding how the informants perceived a new organisation brand and how that might shape their activities in the enterprise.

Findings

The study identified four distinct interpretative repertoires: the organisational brand as an economic solution, the magic wand, the factory and a servant to the customer. The new brand was understood in terms of economic and business-like functions marked by external branding and its signs (logos, etc.). The brand is not communicated to patients or colleagues and the factory metaphor is applied to work practices. Hence, several potential dilemmas arise concerning the brand promise, customer expectations, economic and efficiency gains and the professional values of employees.

Research limitations/implications

Adoption of private-sector practices in semi-public or public-sector organisations is common. This study focuses on how private-sector ideas diffuse into the organisations and how they are translated within them.

Practical implications

The authors suggest a stronger emphasis on internal branding as a reconciliation to enhance legitimacy, high-quality customer service and staff wellbeing.

Originality/value

Theoretically, the unique contribution of the study is drawing upon healthcare branding, dilemma theory and discursive institutionalism in its interpretation. Consequently, it demonstrates how ideas about the brand and public healthcare are translated and communicated in the examined discourses and how those ideas reconstruct understanding and change behaviour within the organisations.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 July 2011

Raija Järvinen and Kati Suomi

The purpose of this article is to study the construct of reputation in retail services, its dimensions and attributes from the store management perspective.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to study the construct of reputation in retail services, its dimensions and attributes from the store management perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The article adapts the conceptual model developed by Vidaver‐Cohen who suggests that reputation predictors are formed by eight quality dimensions. In the first stage of the study 18 interviews were carried out. In the second stage a survey containing 170 statements was conducted.

Findings

The main contribution lies on the identification of the context specific attributes of the quality dimensions of reputation and their content in retailing.

Research limitations/implications

The study focuses on identifying reputation dimensions and their attributes and contents in the retail context. The empirical data were gathered from stores located in shopping centres.

Practical implications

The study suggests that reputation management in the service sector might be easier if managers were better able to recognise the industry‐related quality dimensions of reputation. In addition, stores should be more prepared for unforeseen, even disastrous events and publicity that may ruin their reputation in one way or another.

Originality/value

Numerous researchers have recognised the critical role of reputation in marketing, but as yet empirical reputation studies are scarce, at least in retailing services.

Details

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-4529

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 6 May 2014

Brian Roberts

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Abstract

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 28 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Article
Publication date: 7 October 2014

Annika Blomberg

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the discursive practices employed in academic research on organizational creativity through a critical lens.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the discursive practices employed in academic research on organizational creativity through a critical lens.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature on organizational creativity is reviewed from a discourse-theoretical perspective and three groupings of dominant discursive practices are identified. The theoretical and practical implications of the practices are discussed, and other potential aspects of creativity that appear to have been neglected or suppressed in the discourse are further examined.

Findings

The dominant discursive practices in the organizational creativity research contribute to the building of a simplified and one-sided picture of organizational creativity; a stripped-down and diluted version that is more easily achievable and manageable, and leads to positive outcomes. Failure to recognize its inherent complexities reduces the value of creativity as an organizational asset.

Originality/value

The findings contribute to the organizational creativity research in recognizing a range of dominant practices that appear to promote the dilution of the concept. Although the diluted and stripped-down version of organizational creativity suits the managerial agenda and complies with organizational discourse, it fails as an organizational asset, which should be about embracing the unconventional and risky, and taking advantage of change.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 27 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 December 2021

Aline Höpner, Stefânia Ordovás de Almeida and Vinícius Sittoni Brasil

This study aims to propose a framework for understanding the construction of extraordinary consumer experiences in events from a multidimensional and longitudinal value…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to propose a framework for understanding the construction of extraordinary consumer experiences in events from a multidimensional and longitudinal value perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The main research site was the Rock in Rio Brazil VI festival, an extraordinary consumption experience. The study takes a phenomenological interpretative approach, for which input was obtained using multiple data collection techniques (in-depth interviews, diaries and photographs) in a longitudinal study that took place over 18 months. The study also includes the first author’s observations and interactions with the event organizer and its partners during the same period, and post-pandemic complementary data that were collected in 2021.

Findings

The research findings demonstrate the integrative potential of concepts and theories that are analysed in the light of a longitudinal perspective for understanding value formation for consumers in their experience of extraordinary events. It also indicates that the construction of experience involves a high level of interaction and a high degree of engagement with the consumer in order to foster the development of an affective relationship between the service provider and the user that is based on a co-created experience.

Originality/value

The study answers call for more research into understanding consumer value, and how it is created, delivered and developed over time (Helkkula et al., 2012). It also expands our understanding of consumption experiences and the consumer journey (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). It encourages longitudinal qualitative studies to be carried out and analyses value in the consumption experience in the field of events.

Details

International Journal of Event and Festival Management, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1758-2954

Keywords

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