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This study examines the relationship between policyholders’ psychographic characteristics and demand decisions for life insurance products in Uganda.

The study is based on a cross-sectional survey. Using a purposive sampling method, 389 questionnaires were administered to life insurance policyholders in the four geographical regions of Uganda. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the primary data, specifically to test the relationships between the dependent and independent variables.

The findings indicate a positive and significant influence of psychographic characteristics on demand decisions for life insurance products. In addition, the analysis indicates that the two first-order constructs of psychographic characteristics, namely price consciousness and consumer innovativeness, are positive and significant predictors of demand decisions for life insurance products. In contrast, the third first-order construct religious salience, exhibits a negative and nonsignificant effect on demand decisions for life insurance products.

For insurance practitioners, to influence demand decisions, they should emphasize premium-related appeals in their marketing messages (price consciousness) ignore product decisions based on religious beliefs and norms (religious salience). They should also ensure that insurance products are highly trustable and experiential (consumer innovativeness). For insurance policymakers, it offers an in-depth understanding of customer psychographic characteristics, which can be used to identify exploitative information embedded in certain marketing campaigns targeting specific psychographic characteristics, for better regulation.

The study provides a basis for understanding lifestyle and personality characteristics (psychographics), which may influence demand decisions for life insurance products in a developing country like Uganda, where the insurance industry is at an early stage of development.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2023-0440

This study aims to identify the impact that Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy tendencies have on avoidance and revenge-seeking after a service failure. The research examines the role that negative affect and desire for revenge play in aggressive behaviors by consumers.

The study uses a survey research methodology. The measurement model is validated using CFA, and hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling. The mediated and serially mediated relationships are calculated using the bootstrap method by creating estimands to test the effects.

Machiavellianism is less likely to drive avoidance and negative affect, reducing desire for revenge, negative word of mouth and vindictive complaining. Those with narcissism tendencies are likely to develop a negative affect and a corresponding desire for revenge after the failure only if negative affect is developed. Consumers who exhibit psychopathy tendencies are likely to seek out revenge directly.

Each Dark Triad tendency influences consumer avoidance and revenge-seeking in different ways when a consumer’s goals are impeded. Companies can focus on service recoveries differently based on the types of tendencies of consumers engaging in avoidance and revenge-seeking.

The individual paths from Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy tendencies to avoidance and revenge-seeking are developed and analyzed. Further distinctions between each Dark Triad tendency aids service providers in addressing and preparing for these consumer behaviors.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming consumers' experiences and how firms identify, create, nurture and manage interactive marketing relationships. However, most marketers do not have a clear understanding of what AI is and how it may mutually benefit consumers and firms. In this paper, the authors conduct an extensive review of the marketing literature, develop an AI framework for understanding value co-creation in interactive buyer–seller marketing relationships, identify research gaps and offer a future research agenda.

The authors first conduct an extensive literature review in 16 top marketing journals on AI. Based on this review, an AI framework for understanding value co-creation in interactive buyer–seller marketing relationships was conceptualized.

The literature review led to a number of key research findings and summary areas: (1) an historical perspective, (2) definitions and boundaries of AI, (3) AI and interactive marketing, (4) relevant theories in the domain of interactive marketing and (5) synthesizing AI research based on antecedents to AI usage, interactive AI usage contexts and AI-enabled value co-creation outcomes.

This is one of the most extensive reviews of AI literature in marketing, including an evaluation of in excess or 300 conceptual and empirical research. Based on the findings, the authors offer a future research agenda, including a visual titled “What is AI in Interactive Marketing? AI design factors, AI core elements & interactive marketing AI usage contexts.”

This research aims to comprehend the factors that impact the emerging inclination of consumers toward mobile finance technology (fintech) services over banking institutions. The study focuses on users' demographics and psychographics to delineate their unique segments and profiles.

The study proposes a segmentation and profiling framework that includes variance analysis, two-step cluster analysis and pairwise statistical tests. This framework is applied to a dataset of customers using a range of mobile fintech services, specifically robo-investment, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, robo-advisory and digital savings. The analysis creates distinct customer profile clusters, which are later validated using pairwise statistical tests based on segmentation output.

Empirical results reveal that P2P payment service users exhibit a higher frequency of usage, proficiency and intention to continue using the service compared to users of robo-investment or digital savings platforms. In contrast, individuals utilizing robo-advisory services are identified to have a significantly greater familiarity and intention to sustain engagement with the service compared to digital savings users.

The findings provide financial institutions, especially traditional banks with actionable insights into their customer base. This information enables them to identify specific customer needs and preferences, thereby allowing them to tailor products and services accordingly. Ultimately, this understanding may strategically position traditional banks to maintain competitiveness amidst the increasing prominence of fintech enterprises.

This research provides an in-depth examination of customer segments and profiles within the mobile fintech services sphere, thus giving a nuanced understanding of customer behavior and preferences and generating practical recommendations for banks and other financial institutions. This study thereby sets the stage for further research and paves the way for developing personalized products and services in the evolving fintech landscape.

One of the most well-known, seminal models in the tourism field is the one proposed 50 years ago by Stanley C. Plog. His venturesomeness model has been widely cited in journal articles, textbooks, and has also been used as a reference for planning and designing tourism marketing projects. However, empirical research using Plog's psychographics has yielded varied results, some of which have corroborated his model, while others have found partial or no support for some postulates. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to offer an exhaustive review of 47 studies in the literature which have employed Plog's venturesomeness concept to examine travelers' personality traits, attitudes, and behavior, synthetizing empirical findings and drawing conclusions from the cumulative results. A discussion of the model's contribution to the current body of knowledge, managerial implications for tourism practitioners, and directions for future research are presented.

The case study offers a unique teaching tool to the instructor and learners. Very few cases offer a product and segmentation dilemma in a single problem. The discussion would enable learners to:

– conduct a situational analysis by using frameworks such as the 5C and SWOT;

– understand different kinds of segmentation options that a firm can consider;

– understand the nuances of making a viable and actionable new product launch decision;

– analyze the pros and cons of a segmentation decision and comprehend how the decision will impact the firm’s marketing and/or business strategy.

Sirona Hygiene Private Limited was a young startup founded in 2015 by Deep Bajaj. The firm had three brands under its umbrella, namely, female hygiene (Peebuddy), menstrual hygiene (Sirona) and protection and wellness (BodyGuard). Though the firm was recognized for feminine hygiene products, the pandemic boosted the sale of BodyGuard face masks and hand sanitizers.

The sanitizer market was growing, and protection and sanitization products were now part of every consumer’s daily ritual. As BodyGuard now had some brand recognition, Sirona could consider expanding the sanitizer line with a natural new product formulation. However, the expansion decision could have short- and long-term impacts on BodyGuard and Sirona Hygiene. The decision could be two-pronged, involving a product line expansion and revisiting the BodyGuard segmentation strategy. Currently, the BodyGuard range was focused on business-to-consumer (B2C) users, but volumes were higher in business-to-business (B2B). Second, BodyGuard was a forced fit brand amongst the Sirona family of feminine products

Thus, as Sirona considered a new product opportunity, assessing the viability of a possible move to the B2B segment may be prudent. However, the BodyGuard range also had mosquito repellents and baby products, which were essentially a B2C option, so was it more practical to stay as a B2C brand? Furthermore, if BodyGuard stayed a B2C brand, should it consider a demographic segmentation, or was a psychographic approach more beneficial in a cluttered commoditized space such as sanitizers? Which approach would build a consumer–brand connection? Or should the brand straddle both segments? Finally, the firm would also need to assess the BodyGuard segmentation strategy from the overarching Sirona business strategy.

The case can be used for a foundation course in Marketing and/or an advanced elective on Product Management or Marketing Strategy.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Focusing on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are characterized by resource restrictions, this paper aims to explore consumer segment profiles by considering demographic, personality and creativity traits to determine whether consumers with different profiles exhibit distinct affective reactions to different logo design types (organic, cultural and abstract).

This exploratory study incorporates recent methodological developments, such as the novel response style correction method, to account for response style effects in evaluations of affect toward logo design. In separate analyses, respondents are segmented according to response style–corrected logo affect and personality and creativity items. The segmentation analysis relies on reduced k-means, a joint dimension and cluster analysis method, which accounts for dependencies between items while maximizing between-cluster variability. A total of 866 respondents from the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal: n = 543; Spain: n = 323) participated.

Based on a study using unknown logos (proxy for lower levels of budget communication, characteristics of SMEs), results reveal that there are three segments of consumers based on their affective response toward logo design: logo design insensitives, cultural logo dislikers and organic logo lovers. These segments are associated with different personality traits, creativity and biological sex (although biological sex is not a discriminant variable).

The decision not to control logos by color, to increase external validity, could limit the study’s internal validity if this aspect interacts with relevant study variables. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence can be used to further test associations between consumer profiles and responses to logo design.

Findings highlight the relevance of considering complex profile segments, combining demographics, psychographics and creativity to predict affective consumer responses to brand logo design. This research provides guidelines for SMEs when choosing or modifying their logo design to appeal to different consumer segments.

This study provides managers of SMEs (less present nowadays in empirical studies) with evidence suggesting that complex customer profiles help to understand differences in affective responses to natural logo designs. Furthermore, it relies on the use of a novel methodological development that improves the accuracy of the exploratory study developed.

While consumer preferences for sporting goods have been widely researched within sport management, literature is lacking on aspects of social and environmental sustainability. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the role of social and environmental sustainability for purchase decisions of sportswear and compares them to the role of price and functionality.

Based on a conjoint analysis among 1,012 Europeans, the authors conducted a two-step cluster analysis. First, the authors investigated the number of segments via Ward’s method. Second, the authors ran a k-means analysis based on part-worth utilities from the conjoint analysis.

The authors identified four segments which differ in terms of preferred product attributes, willingness to pay, and sociodemographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics: undecided, sustainable, price-focused and function-oriented consumers. Based on this segmentation, the authors found that the importance of social and environmental sustainability is growing, but not among all consumers.

The generalizability of the study is limited since it is not built on a sample representative for the included European countries, it focuses on a single product, and participants are potentially subject to a social desirability bias.

The consumer analysis comprises the uptake of attributes related to social and environmental sustainability. The authors thereby address a literature gap as previous research (thematizing sporting goods) in the sport management field has often neglected sustainability elements despite their rapidly growing importance within the sport sector.

To better understand the characteristics of Indonesian Muslims, this study uses cluster analysis to group upper-middle-class Muslims based on psychographic variables related to participation in cash waqf for productive purposes.

This study used mixed methods to build and analyse the segmentation of upper-middle-class Muslims towards cash waqf and propose scenarios for a cash waqf model based on the findings.

This study identified six clusters for upper-middle-class Muslims related to the participation in cash waqf for productive purposes. All clusters show heterogeneous values of all factors. Although relatively few Muslims perform cash waqf for productive purposes, the high scores for the economic rational, family and community factors indicate great potential for the development of various cash waqf models for investment purposes. The next challenge will lie in reviewing the “one-fits-all strategy” in the development of program, education and socialisation. Based on the findings, this study proposes three scenarios of cash waqf participation: as wakif only (waqf donor), investor only (capital provider) and hybrid participation (waqf donor and capital provider).

The limitation of this study is the location and object of the sample are only Muslims in Indonesia who are categorised as upper-middle class in terms of their monthly income. Based on this study’s findings, other Muslim-majority countries worldwide have the potential to develop a cash waqf model that is integrated with financial instruments and involves the role of Islamic banking and other Islamic commercial institutions in future research development. Researchers can also attempt to include a simulation or experiment method to construct and validate the proposed cash waqf model based on this study’s findings and to explore other factors that have not been addressed.

The findings of this study can contribute as a foundation for the development of a cash waqf model and business-marketing strategy to increase the participation of upper-middle-class Muslims.

The findings of this study will support the acceleration of cash waqf collection for investment initiatives, which in turn will have a broader social and economic impact nationally.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study constitutes the first attempt to specifically investigate upper-middle-class Muslim segmentation toward cash waqf participation for productive purposes. This study’s knowledge is helpful for various stakeholders such as academia, the Islamic banking industry, regulators and the Muslim community about customer segmentation to Islamic banking products and services related to cash waqf.

This study aims to provide insights into wine consumers in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the diversity of their behavior, by investigating their motivations, consumption and purchasing behavior and segmenting the sample based on wine knowledge and frequency of consumption to identify three distinct clusters that are then profiled.

Data was collected through an online survey of wine consumers of ethnic Chinese origin residing in Mainland China and Hong Kong, using two methods of recruitment (a convenience sample from wine-related databases, a panel survey undertaken by an international market research firm). The final sample comprised 477 respondents, about equally divided among Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. Analysis of the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS) 29 included a series of descriptive analyses, followed by a two-step cluster analysis using an Euclidean distance method.

Wine knowledge and frequency of wine consumption were relatively higher within the sample as a whole than previous studies, but three distinct consumer segments are evident. There is evidence of a democratization of wine consumption, and a greater focus on wine consumption for enjoyment in relaxed and informal settings. rather than consumption driven by health and status, occurring primarily in commercial or business settings. The dominance of red wine in this market is also declining, and intrinsic cues – specifically, prior experience of the wine – are becoming important in wine purchase decisions.

This study uses a broad sample of wine consumers to identify trends in wine consumption patterns and motivations, and purchase decision-making behavior, of Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. The identification of three clusters of wine consumers offers both points of comparison with previous segmentation research globally and within China, whilst also identifying scope for further research.