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Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive understanding of current literature on value. In exploring perspectives on economics, choice, consumption and evaluation of value, assumptions and limitations of extant approaches are highlighted and an integrative framework of value is proposed. It is suggested that this integrative perspective on value has a number of implications for marketing theory and research.

Methodology/approach – This chapter conducts an extensive review and assimilation of value from management, marketing, philosophy and economics.

Findings – The chapter categorises the existing value literature into six themes of value understanding: utility, economic worth, perceived satisfaction, net benefit, means end and phenomenological experience. In so doing, the chapter identifies implicit assumptions in philosophy, chronology and consciousness of value and offers an integrative value framework which brings in the literature to understand the contextual invariances of value creation within a phenomenon (i.e. offering, affordance, context, agency and individual resources). In addition, it reconciles creation with choice and evaluation of the value ex ante and ex post. Finally, our chapter proposes the paradox of value – value which can be assessed, measured and even judged by an individual cannot be the value created.

Research limitations/implications – In shifting value away from exchange towards use, it is suggested that marketing positioning, segmentation and targeting strategies may need to consider five elements identified in the integrative value framework. Furthermore, as proposed by the framework, new business models may be achieved from understanding value creation in context.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter extends existing literature on value through reconciliation of various theoretical literatures in management, marketing, philosophy and economics. Notably, it highlights implicit assumptions in philosophy, chronology and consciousness of value and their potential limitations. It proposes an integrative framework that can be used for understanding the future of marketing and new business models.

The objective is to extend the concept of purse parties introduced by Gosline (2009) and to explore the phenomenon of counterfeit consumption through the in-home “purse parties” channel. The authors seek to reveal themes from the depth interviews and build a consumer typology reflecting attitudes toward purse parties and counterfeit luxury products.

The method is a qualitative phenomenological approach. Authors assessed attitudes toward purse party attendance and counterfeit goods – along with any subsequent behavioral intentions or behaviors. Authors addressed the objective using depth interviews among 28 women.

Findings included five emerging themes: distinctness of in-home consumption settings, obligatory attendance, social engagement, curiosity, and disregard for legalities of counterfeit consumption/disdain for purse parties.

The sample primarily consists of female colleges students and is not representative of all consumers. Due to social desirability bias and the controversial nature of counterfeit consumption, informants may have struggled to provide honest responses.

Research implications suggest potential increases in purse party events and consumption due to informant’s blatant disregard for the legalities of the practice, and interests in social engagement, intimacy (exclusivity), and curiosity.

The main contribution is a typology representing four types of purse party consumers: loyal, curious/social, skeptic, and disengaged. This proposed typology stems from the aforementioned themes uncovered. Further, authors identify the social implications of in-home purse parties and underscore the significance of an under-investigated purchase channel.

The purpose of this investigation is to add to the body of knowledge regarding consumer skepticism toward advertising in general, and toward pharmaceutical advertising in particular. The study was conducted in the U.S. and in Germany. Skepticism toward advertising for both prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals was analyzed. Additional variables explored include: health consciousness, product involvement with pharmaceuticals, satisfaction with information in pharmaceutical advertising, and the importance of pharmaceutical advertising as a source of information. Furthermore, differences in the cultural value of uncertainty avoidance between U.S. and German consumers were examined and related to skepticism toward pharmaceutical advertising. Three hundred and forty-one Americans and 447 Germans were surveyed. A significant finding of this research revealed that skepticism toward pharmaceutical advertising is lower than skepticism toward advertising in general. Results also indicated that consumers showed no difference in their level of skepticism toward advertising for prescription versus non-prescription drugs. This is a particularly relevant finding as it relates directly to the ongoing discussion in Europe regarding whether or not to lift the ban on advertising for prescription drugs. Skepticism toward pharmaceutical advertising was found to be significantly negatively related to involvement with pharmaceuticals, to satisfaction with the informational content of the advertisements, to satisfaction with the comprehensibility of the advertisements, and to the importance placed on advertising as a source of health information. Regarding cultural differences, U.S. consumers appear to be less skeptical toward advertising in general, and toward advertising for prescription and non-prescription drugs in particular, than German consumers. This may be due to the lower degree of uncertainty avoidance in the U.S. Differences between the two countries related to the additional variables examined in the study are addressed as well. Implications for consumer protection policies are discussed, and recommendations for advertisers of pharmaceutical products are provided. The authors provide a cultural explanation for differences in the degree of skepticism between U.S. and German audiences.

This chapter describes a new leadership model called shared equity leadership (SEL). The goal of SEL is to create culture change that embeds shared values of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into the core of an organization. SEL emerged from a qualitative multiple-case study of leaders who were committed to establishing an equitable organization at eight colleges and universities that had seen success in their equity efforts. We reviewed over 1,000 pages of documents and interviewed 126 leaders, including cabinet-level executives, mid-level leaders, and group-level leaders. While we identified this model on college campuses, it has relevance for any organizational context. SEL entails three elements: (1) a personal journey toward critical consciousness in which leaders solidify their commitment to equity, (2) a set of values that center equity and guide the work, and (3) a set of practices that leaders enact collectively to change inequitable structures. Distinct from traditional leadership models, SEL encompasses both personal and organizational processes of leadership and emphasizes collaborative, relational, personal, and emotional aspects of leadership. This change starts with transforming awareness and behaviors of individuals, who engage in personal journeys toward critical consciousness and develop an urgent sense of responsibility for creating change. Organizations can facilitate their personal journeys and begin structuring SEL by forming a diverse team and socializing them into SEL expectations. With a concerted effort of leaders committed to SEL values and practices, an organization can be transformed so that equity is everyone’s work.

The study presents findings obtained through ethnographic field research about the uses and practices of information and communication technologies among tobacco planters living in the region of Vale do Sol–Santa Cruz do Sul. This inquiry aims to better understand both the data and the data-gathering approaches deployed by biographical research based on in-depth and semi-structured interviews.

We deploy the prevailing category of historical conscience by exploring biographical narratives through and with media supplied by the informants. This approach helps us focus on lived experience of time and change.

The informant becomes a narratable self in the very act of speaking about his or her own life, and special attention to the ever-changing conditions of time and space can be essential to better understanding how new media finds new uses and how life coexists these new medias in new ways. We propose here to connect the practical approach of ethnographic research, particularly biographical research, to media usage and appropriation practices. These practices are evident in the social landscape of an ever more technologically colonized region. Our inquiry is guided by the aim to understand how the conscience of a certain people, in a certain space, manifests itself through and with media.