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The purpose of this study is to understand how and why consumers engage in market-shaping activities on behalf of firms.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand how and why consumers engage in market-shaping activities on behalf of firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a combination of archival, netnographic and interview methods to examine how consumers responded to the entry of Tesla into the U.S. automotive market.
Findings
Consumers are driven to engage in supportive institutional work by the culturally resonant ideologies embodied in Tesla’s strategic orientation. This work takes both discursive and practical forms and sees consumers adopting responsibilities typically associated with other actors, including activists and sales professionals.
Originality/value
In developing an account of an understudied phenomenon – consumers’ firm-supportive market shaping – this research extends theorization around institutional work and cultural branding.
Details
Keywords
Dominic Detzen and Lukas Löhlein
This paper studies the interactive valuation discourses of an online user community (transfermarkt.de) that seeks to determine market values for soccer players. Despite their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper studies the interactive valuation discourses of an online user community (transfermarkt.de) that seeks to determine market values for soccer players. Despite their seemingly casual nature, these values have featured in newspapers, transfer negotiations, academic research, and capital market communication – and have thus become reified.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs netnographic research methodology to collect and thematically analyze a wide range of user entries on the platform. These entries are studied using theoretical insights from the sociology of quantification and valuation.
Findings
The analysis reveals how values are constructed in constant interaction between value-proposing users and value-justifying “experts.” This dynamic form of relational valuation positions players relative to one another as well as to actual transactions on the transfer market. In the absence of authoritative guidelines, it is this possibility and affordance for interaction that enacts a coherent valuation regime. The paper further reveals the platform's response to a disruptive event, which risked bringing the user-expert dynamics to a halt, requiring intervention from the platform to repair its valuation frame.
Originality/value
The paper responds to increased scholarly interests in the valuation of professional athletes. It contributes to the extant literature on valuation, first, by analyzing the dynamic valuation work that feeds into the social construction of values and, second, by studying platform participation and user interaction in a socially engineered online space.
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Keywords
This paper aims to study antiques enthusiasts’ perspectives on the recent stagnancy in the antiques market, along with their suggestions on how the antiques trade can forge a more…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study antiques enthusiasts’ perspectives on the recent stagnancy in the antiques market, along with their suggestions on how the antiques trade can forge a more secure path forward.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative analysis approach through netnography, this paper examines archived comments of antiques enthusiasts on a “r/antiques” subreddit.
Findings
This research studies connoisseurs’ insights into the reduction in antiques sales experienced by a wide cross-section of sellers, particularly independent and small business retailers. Specifically, the results of this paper’s discourse analysis show that technological advances on one hand and socioeconomic factors (e.g. income, family structure and lifestyle) on the other hand have had a significant negative impact on demand for antiques. In addition, specific attributes such as authenticity and sustainability emerged as potential key marketing elements for invigorating the broader public’s interest in purchasing antiques.
Originality/value
Despite their significant insights into the antiques market, antiques enthusiasts have not received the academic attention they deserve. Through discourse analysis of comments in an online antiques community, this paper draws attention to the vulnerabilities of antiques markets to a protracted climate of slow sales, while highlighting potential strategies on how to turn the tide for struggling antiques stores.
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Keywords
Dandan Zhu, Nina Michaelidou, Belinda Dewsnap, John W. Cadogan and Michael Christofi
This study aims to follow a rigorous approach to identify, critically analyze and synthesize 75 papers published from 2000 to 2022.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to follow a rigorous approach to identify, critically analyze and synthesize 75 papers published from 2000 to 2022.
Design/methodology/approach
The study presents a systematic literature review on identity expressiveness (IE), clarifying and expanding what is currently known about the concept.
Findings
To synthesize current knowledge on IE, the study uses the overarching framework of antecedents-phenomenon-consequences, using this same framework to identify gaps and future research directions. The findings show individual and brand-related factors such as the need for uniqueness and anthropomorphism as antecedents of IE, and eWOM/WOM, impulse purchases and upgrading to more exclusive lines as consequences of IE.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to theory by synthesizing and mapping current understanding of the state of knowledge on the concept of IE while highlighting gaps in the extant literature and paving future research directions for scholars in the field.
Practical implications
The study offers useful insights for practitioners, broadening marketers’ actionable options in identity-based marketing. Marketers can use insights from this study to inform marketing strategy and communication campaigns for different types of brands.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind and offers an integrative review of the current literature on IE, thus enhancing understanding of the concept, its antecedents and consequences. The study also contributes to knowledge by highlighting future research priorities for researchers in this field of enquiry.
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Bernardo Figueiredo, Torgeir Aleti, Diane M. Martin, Mike Reid, Jacob Sheahan and Larissa Hjorth
This study aims to address the existing gap in co-design frameworks by introducing the EMPOWER framework, a strength-based co-design methodological approach specifically designed…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address the existing gap in co-design frameworks by introducing the EMPOWER framework, a strength-based co-design methodological approach specifically designed to tackle the key empowerment challenges associated with co-designing alongside individuals experiencing vulnerability. The purpose of this study is to provide a set of easy-to-remember empowering guidelines to enhance the co-design process.
Design/methodology/approach
EMPOWER is based on lessons from the field, through five years of working with older adults.
Findings
The framework includes seven guidelines to overcome common challenges in co-design research. The acronym EMPOWER refers to guidelines for extending, multiplying, publicising, outsourcing, widening, enabling and reflecting on co-design research.
Research limitations/implications
Although extendable to other experiences of vulnerability, the examples provided focus on the experiences of ageing consumers.
Practical implications
EMPOWER has direct relevance to practitioners wishing not only to work with consumers experiencing vulnerabilities but also to empower these consumers through purposeful research actions.
Social implications
Although drawing on co-design research with older adults, these guidelines can be applied to empower other groups experiencing vulnerability.
Originality/value
There is a relative lack of guidelines on how to strengthen the co-design process in a way that empowers consumers experiencing vulnerability. To address this, this paper offers a framework and some grounded examples contributing to the current knowledge of co-design in marketing.
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