Search results

1 – 3 of 3
Article
Publication date: 14 November 2016

Monali Hota and Maud Derbaix

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether children’s online play and participation in massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) is leading to the development…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether children’s online play and participation in massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviours. This exploratory study also examines the influence of age-related differences in children’s social and consumer development vs adults and gender on this.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted using two focus groups and ten in-depth interviews with 20 French children between the ages of eight and 12 years.

Findings

Results show that children’s online play and participation in MMORPG communities is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour through the purchase of virtual tools and accessories by all children using virtual in-game money. But these motivations are very gender specific due to the overarching importance of gender-specific motivations for achievement. Boys engage in virtual retail shopping because they need in-game progress and power gains, while girls engage in virtual retail shopping because they need social status enhancement.

Research limitations/implications

Research should be conducted on children in different age groups. All aspects of the process and consequences of children’s participation in online gaming communities should be examined more comprehensively. Quantitative research is required. Results may also vary with country and cultural context.

Practical implications

First, children between eight and 12 years of age are active consumers (influencers and buyers) for all companies. MMORPGs provide the perfect setting for better understanding of children’s motivations and behaviour regarding virtual retail shopping because they provide virtual in-game money for different achievements that children use to engage in such behaviour. Second, MMORPG companies can benefit by taking into account gender differences in children’s motivations and the importance of the games’ social dimensions and interactions when designing the games.

Social implications

First, the risks of playing computer games for children in terms of playing violent games and leading a virtual life must be considered and studied carefully by public policy officials. Second, public policy officials that look into online gaming should take into account gender differences in children’s motivations and the importance of the games’ social dimensions and interactions when monitoring online games. These are issues that are not only developing children’s abilities as social actors but may well be promoting excessive materialism aided by the formation of online peer groups.

Originality/value

This is the first study on children’s online play and participation in MMORPGs in the consumer context and will help us to understand children’s mind-set and motivations for retail activities in this unique retail setting. The study results show that children’s online play and participation in MMORPGs is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour that are very gender specific unlike adults.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 44 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 March 2019

Christina Goulding and Maud Derbaix

This paper aims to examine how and why an “old” technology and mode of consumption – vinyl records, which should have become obsolete – has managed not only to survive but also…

2199

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how and why an “old” technology and mode of consumption – vinyl records, which should have become obsolete – has managed not only to survive but also revive in the face of supposedly cheaper and superior digital formats.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used constructivist grounded theory (CGT), a methodology rooted in pragmatism. The authors acknowledge the primacy of relational, conversational and social practices as the source of individual and social life, and that all knowledge is local and the product of negotiation between people within a given context and time frame. In terms of data, the authors draw on the extensive use of memos and participatory observation at the oldest vinyl record store in the UK. The authors also draw on interviews with the store owner and workers and in-depth interviews with vinyl enthusiasts.

Findings

The authors argue that authenticity is not a fixed and static concept but has fluid and porous boundaries that can be experienced by individuals in different situations. The findings center around three experiences of authenticity – staged authenticity, interpersonal authenticity and intrapersonal/existential authenticity.

Research limitations/implications

This research is limited to a specific market, typical of old or second-hand vinyl consumption. Future research would benefit from broadening the sample to include new consumers and female enthusiasts of both old and new vinyl.

Practical implications

The paper has implications for consumer service and personal selling relationships.

Originality/value

Originality lies in theoretically positioning the phenomenon within a conceptual framework of authenticity. In particular, the authors shed light on the role that authenticity plays in the experiences of vinyl music consumption amongst buyers and sellers in a store that has a long established heritage. The authors find that vinyl in the age of digital reproduction retains and maintains a number of qualities that are missing from allegedly superior forms of musical reproduction. The authors further maintain that as it has aged, original vinyl has taken on greater power and meaning, and now that it is out of the realm of mass production/consumption, it has opened up a deeper more authentic interaction between human beings and technology. This deeper interaction goes beyond the immediate experience with the object itself and extends to the sensorial, the social and the personal.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 53 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2017

Anthony Beudaert, Hélène Gorge and Maud Herbert

The purpose of this study is both to explore how people with “hidden” auditory disorders experience exclusion in servicescapes and to unfold the coping strategies they set up to…

1267

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is both to explore how people with “hidden” auditory disorders experience exclusion in servicescapes and to unfold the coping strategies they set up to deal with it.

Design/methodology/approach

Findings from 15 semi-structured interviews and participant observations with individuals suffering from auditory disorders are presented through the paper.

Findings

The findings indicate that individuals with auditory disorders deploy three types of coping strategies when exposed to sensory overload in servicescapes: choosing between physical servicescapes, opting for electronic devices and e-servicescapes and delegating shopping to relatives.

Practical implications

The study underlines how, through temporary or permanent modifications of servicescape cues, service providers give consumers opportunities to bypass situations involving sensory overload. Implications for e-servicescapes and public policy are also raised.

Originality/value

The findings reveal how the coping strategies used by individuals with auditory disorders contribute to their exclusion from the marketplace on the basis of both individual characteristics and types of servicescapes.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 31 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Access

Year

Content type

Article (3)
1 – 3 of 3