Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the motives of online sellers of counterfeit products in online social networking sites.

The study uses a sample of 22 in-depth interviews with counterfeit sellers.

Based on the findings, the authors have developed a framework called “Dark motives-counterfeit selling.” The framework includes ten motives for selling online counterfeit products organized into four main themes. Personal characteristics include self-interest priority and sense of adventure. Moral justifications consist of denial of responsibility, and inequality hypothesis of self-deception process, and social acceptance. Operational aspects include: low-cost investment, free riding on luxury brands’ marketing effort, and invisibility from regulators. Finally, relationship management involves projecting image using volitional cues and interpersonal relationship with buyers. The themes regarding personal characteristics and morality are associated with their choice of counterfeit business. The other two themes are associated with the use of social networking sites for counterfeit business. Finally, some outcomes of online counterfeit retailing were revealed as value creation for the counterfeit buyers and value destruction for genuine brands’ customers.

This study investigates different rationalization strategies and motives behind selling counterfeit products with a special focus on online platforms. This is among the first to investigate the perspectives of counterfeit retailers in social network sites.

In the past few decades, relationship management (RM) theory and RM strategies in business-to-business (B2B) contexts have evolved tremendously, driven by constant innovation. Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand the trends and evolution of RM and relationship quality (RQ) in B2B contexts and empirical insights on RM and RQ in B2B, which in turn would provide insights into trends and future research directions.

Grounded on the industrial marketing and purchasing group, this study adopts a critical systematic literature review to provide a comprehensive analysis of the past, current and future trends in empirical research insights of RM and RQ in B2B markets.

This study provides some novel insights into RM in B2B context by using a multidimensional approach to RM and RQ and analyzing prior marketing research from three perspectives: the evolution of RM and RQ in B2B context; prior empirical research; and practical business insights. Overall, these perspectives inform the development of an evolving side of RQ in B2B contexts, leading to some predictions regarding the future of RM in B2B markets.

The exploratory results of this study shed light on the key factors that drive RQ and the importance of RM in B2B markets in the digital age where customers still long for human interaction regardless of the prevalence of advanced technology.

In the wake of advanced technologies and particularly, B2B companies had to turn to virtual platforms and embrace digital transformation to establish and manage their customer relationships. Yet, managing relationships via digital channels has its own challenges for both B2B practitioners and scholars. This indicates that there is still a huge need for attuned RM strategies that align with the changing environments – mainly driven by technological advancement – in B2B markets.

This study conducts a systematic literature review to synthesize the extant literature primarily on “online shopping consumer behavior” and to gain insight into “What drives consumers toward online shopping”.

The authors followed guidelines for systematic literature reviews with stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria. The review is based on 79 research papers published from 2000 to 2020 in 21 reputed peer-reviewed international journals. The papers were analyzed and synthesized based on their defining characteristics, methodologies, major constructs and themes addressed.

The literature synthesis indicated that consumers have to make a trade-off between 11 perceived benefits and six perceived sacrifices to improve their net perceived value before making the final decision to adopt online shopping. It is important to decode these factors as they could improve both the functional and recreational value of the shopping experience for online consumers, resulting in an improvement in conversion rates from a prospect to the final purchase at e-stores. This could improve turnover as well as profits for the e-tailers.

This study pioneers to consolidate these factors through the lens of the value adoption model. This study also suggests insightful directions for further research perspectives in the online context from both consumers' and retailers' perspectives.

This research examines the effect of team diversity on customer behavior (purchase likelihood) associated with sustainable luxury products and further considers the mediating role of customer skepticism and the moderating role of the growth mindset in these relationships.

Study 1 aims to confirm the direct effect of team diversity on purchase intention and the mediating effect of customer skepticism. Featuring a fictitious brand, Study 2 seeks to test the moderating effects of a growth mindset. This research recruits participants located in the USA who have shopping experiences with a luxury product.

The findings support the notion that team diversity can mitigate customers' skepticism while enhancing purchase likelihood. Moreover, this effect is stronger among those with a growth mindset. As such, the findings suggest that communicating the heterogeneous composition of team members can benefit sustainable luxury brands.

Underpinned by the signaling theory and incremental theory, this research examines the effects of team diversity on customer behavior (purchase likelihood) related to sustainable luxury products, as well as the role of customer skepticism (as a mediator) and a growth mindset (as a moderator) in these relationships. Thus, the findings broaden the current diversity research which has predominantly focused on team decision-making and performance.

The present study operationalizes and tests the impact of extrinsic (store environment, promotional activities) and intrinsic (hedonism, materialism) variables on impulsive buying during the COVID-19 period. It also considers the dual-factor approach (panic and impulsive buying tendency) using the “Stimulus-Organism-Response” approach and “Dual-Factor Theory”.

Purposive sampling was used to obtain data from 362 responses from retail shoppers and analyzed by path analysis. The moderation of novel constructs (scarcity and COVID-19 pandemic) examines the backdrop of retail impulse shopping.

The store environment has a detrimental effect on panic and impulsive buying. Promotional activities have a beneficial effect on impulsive buying tendency. Similarly, hedonism and materialism have a substantial positive effect on panic and impulsive buying tendencies. Between stimulus (intrinsic and extrinsic) and response variables, organism factors (panic and impulsive buying inclinations) influenced positively (impulsive buying); in terms of moderation, scarcity and the COVID-19 pandemic exhibit substantial moderation between organism and response.

The results contribute substantially to the existing domain of customers’ panic and impulsive purchasing behavior for the scarcity of essential items during the COVID-19 epidemic. Research in this field is limited, varied and inconclusive. New insights were obtained as this research blends the “Stimulus-Organism-Response” and Dual factor theories.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the applicability of the strategic place brand-management model (SPBM) for a product-place co-branding context, focussing on Sri Lanka’s tea industry.

Conducted as an exploratory case study, pattern matching and explanation building methods are employed to analyse data from secondary sources such as archival data and documentation.

Strategic components of place branding in SPBM are applicable for product-place co-branding, as evidenced in Sri Lanka’s tea industry, although key strategies appear to be reactive rather than proactive in this context.

The findings provide reassuring guidance to practitioners on applying strategic place branding models in product-place co-branding settings, given the unique risks associated with product-place co-branding.

Given the novelty of and the need to advance knowledge on product-place co-branding as a component of place branding, this study extends extant literature on the use of SPBM in a successful product-place co-branding setting. Additionally, it extends the value of place branding concepts for industries other than popularly studied tourism.

The purpose of this paper is to review the past, current and future trends in empirical research and theoretical insights into online relationship marketing.

Review over 100 empirical and theoretical studies in the online relationship marketing from top marketing and management journals.

This paper examined three areas pertinent to online relationship marketing: first, the evolution of online relationship marketing from pre-1990s to the present, which offers a temporal snapshot of changes in and an overview of the critical components that make up the structure of online relationship marketing; second, key theoretical perspectives are underlying the development of online relationship marketing; and third, empirical insights into online relationship marketing. In general, online relationship marketing has evolved from customers being passive receivers of online information and services to active co-producers and value co-creators.

The paper identifies future research areas, including multiple layers of interactions, use of new technologies and platforms and the dark side of online communications.

The authors dedicated summary tables for each area, highlighting key findings, which in turn suggest a series of managerial recommendations for facilitating efficient, effective buyer–seller interactions and maximising firm performance in relation to online relationship marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to examine online purchase behaviours amongst young consumers in Australia and the USA. It also aims to develop and test a theoretical framework of young consumers’ online purchase behaviour.

Data were collected through online surveys targeting young online shoppers in Australia and the USA. A multi-group structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed structural model and hypotheses.

The model shows a good fit with the data. Young consumers in Australia and the USA have positive attitude towards online shopping that significantly affects their online purchase intentions. Social motive negatively impacts online purchase intentions in the Australian sample. Escapism and value motives positively affect Australian and American young shoppers’ online purchase intentions. Young consumers in Australia and the USA are very familiar with the online shopping process. The familiarity strongly triggers their information search behaviour that leads to online purchase intentions.

The results of this paper assist the marketers and policy makers to target and appeal to this young segment, based on their unique motivations, values and characteristics.

Using the generational cohort theory, this paper contributes to the extant literature by providing insights on the Australian and American young generation’s unique values and characteristics that influence their online purchase behaviours. This research also contributes insights for the marketers and policy makers to improve their marketing efforts and services and appeal to this young segment, based on their unique values and characteristics.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of scarcity and the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) consumption tendency on the purchase intention of organic foods. The study used the protection motivation theory and the stimulus-organism-response theory to understand the impact of comparatively new variables like “perceived scarcity” and “perceived consumer effectiveness” (PCE) on the consumer's organic food purchase intentions.

The study is using structural equation modeling with 402 organic food consumers. The participants are regular consumers who bought organic food from specialized shops and supermarkets in the previous few months. The data has been collected at organic food specialized shops and supermarkets that sell organic foods.

The results showed that LOHAS consumption tendency (LCT), scarcity and PCE positively affect attitude. Similarly, LCT and PCE direct affect trust. Scarcity and PCE directly positive impact on purchase intention of organic food products. Interestingly, LCT had no direct impact on the purchase intention of the product. Trust and attitude were found to be significant mediators impacting purchase intention.

The study contributes to the past theoretical literature on LOHAS consumption by analyzing new constructs like scarcity and PCE in the context of organic food consumption. These findings will be crucial for marketers planning to launch organic products in new markets.