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1 – 10 of 26Asif Ali Safeer, Muhammad Abrar, Hancheng Liu and He Yuanqiong
This study examined the effects of perceived brand localness (PBL) and perceived brand globalness (PBG) on consumer behavioral intentions (CBIs) (PI – purchase intentions…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined the effects of perceived brand localness (PBL) and perceived brand globalness (PBG) on consumer behavioral intentions (CBIs) (PI – purchase intentions, PP – price premium and WOM – word of mouth) via brand authenticity (BA). Additionally, this study considered the moderating impact of uncertainty avoidance (UA) and the control variable brand familiarity (BF) in emerging markets (EMs), specifically from China and Pakistan contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
This study scrutinized 1,638 responses (China, n = 804 and Pakistan, n = 834) from consumers who used discussed local and global brands. The proposed hypotheses were evaluated using the PLS-SEM technique.
Findings
The findings indicated that the PBL and PBG favorably impacted BA, which significantly affected CBIs in both EMs. Specifically, PBL strongly influenced BA in China, whereas PBG strongly affected BA in Pakistan. The direct effects of PBL and PBG supported CBIs (PI, PP and WOM) in Pakistan. Likewise, PBL was significant on PP and WOM, whereas PBG was significant on PP in China. In Pakistan, UA had a significant moderating impact on PBL and BA. Similarly, UA acted as a positive moderator between BA and CBIs (PI and WOM) in Pakistan but was not supported in China.
Research limitations/implications
This study examined only two EMs. Future studies may examine emerging vs developed markets. Theoretically, PBL and PBG are important brand signals associated with brand authenticity that communicate to mitigate information asymmetry in EMs. Likewise, brand authenticity was recognized as a positive signal that effectively corresponds to CBIs (in terms of their PI, PP, WOM) by fulfilling brand promises in both EMs. Additionally, UA was proved an effective moderator, improving consumer perceptions of brand authenticity about local brands and increasing PI and WOM toward perceived authentic brands in Pakistan.
Practical implications
This research revealed important recommendations to help local and global managers in developing and executing several branding strategies in EMs (China and Pakistan). Practically, by improving the brand's localness and globalness, local and global managers may successfully position their brands to influence consumers' perceptions in EMs. Similarly, brand authenticity is a vital positioning tool for managers that favorably influence consumer behavior. Additionally, managers can segment and target their markets by classifying high and low UA consumers, particularly in Pakistan.
Originality/value
Following signaling theory, this is the first study that contributes toward CBIs in EMs via brand authenticity and considering cultural factors (uncertainty avoidance) from the domestic and international branding perspectives.
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Asif Ali Safeer, He Yuanqiong, Muhammad Abrar, Rizwan Shabbir and Hafiz Muhammad Wasif Rasheed
This study investigated the role of brand experience dimensions (behavioral, intellectual, sensory and affective) to predict consumer loyalty (repurchase intention (RPI)…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the role of brand experience dimensions (behavioral, intellectual, sensory and affective) to predict consumer loyalty (repurchase intention (RPI), word of mouth (WOM) and willingness to pay more (WPM)) through the mediating role of perceived brand authenticity (PBA) in the global branding context.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 422 consumers participated in this study and provided feedback on top authentic global brands after completing a self-administered online survey. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to conduct the data analysis.
Findings
This study discovered that brand experience dimensions positively influenced PBA (predominantly sensory and intellectual experiences), which significantly predicted consumer loyalty (RPI, WOM and WPM).
Research limitations/implications
This research uncovered some limitations that can be used to investigate new research possibilities. From a theoretical standpoint, this study offers new insights into brand experience dimensions (BEDs), PBA and consumer loyalty in order to develop consumer-brand relationships.
Practical implications
This study offered several managerial recommendations. By considering brand authenticity as a positioning tool, global managers can effectively develop and implement various experiential marketing strategies to develop long-term relationships with consumers to attain their loyalty.
Originality/value
This is a new study that uses Fournier's relationship theory to investigate BEDs on PBA to predict consumer loyalty in the context of authentic global brands.
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Asif Ali Safeer, Yuanqiong He and Muhammad Abrar
This research investigates the effects of multidimensional brand experiences (i.e. behavioral, intellectual, affective and sensory) on brand authenticity and brand love…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates the effects of multidimensional brand experiences (i.e. behavioral, intellectual, affective and sensory) on brand authenticity and brand love from the Asian consumers' perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This research collected primary data from 418 consumers on global brands, and it tested the proposed hypotheses by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The findings indicate that sensory and affective experiences have direct significant impacts on brand love, while intellectual and behavioral experiences have nonsignificant impacts on brand love. Overall, intellectual, behavioral, affective and sensory experiences positively influence brand authenticity, which in turn have substantial positive impacts on brand love.
Research limitations/implications
This study investigated consumer behavior in a broader sense, and consumers from 13 Asian countries participated in this research. Future research may collect data on a larger scale from Asian countries to generalize the results.
Practical implications
By following brand authenticity as an essential positioning tool and implementing several experiential marketing strategies, global managers can develop brand-loving consumers in Asia.
Originality/value
Under the parasol of attribution theory, this research explores the relationships among the multidimensional brand experiences, brand authenticity and brand love from the Asian perspective.
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Jie Xiong, Jie Yan, Kun Fu, Ke Wang and Yuanqiong He
This paper aims to understand the role of government played in the innovation process during the social crisis, and to investigate the innovation activities of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the role of government played in the innovation process during the social crisis, and to investigate the innovation activities of the authoritarian state when dealing with social crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data pertaining to eight impactful technological innovations in China during the COVID-19 crisis reveal how interactions and joint efforts by commercial firms and government organizations emerged as spontaneous responses.
Findings
The analysis of eight innovations – health code adoption, health omnichannel construction, noncontact service provision, distance education provision, public emotion consolation service, cross-boundary project promotion, cloud office adoption and medical material production – reveals a matrix of best practices that details the roles of government (controller or endorser) and the value creation orientation (pro-social or pro-economic value).
Originality/value
This study enriches innovation literature by providing a new perspective on the relationship between governmental force and technological innovation during social crises. As these new insights reveal, technological innovation can contribute to social crisis management. China’s example provides helpful implications for other countries suffering from the COVID-19 crisis.
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Yuanqiong He, Qi Zhou, Shuojia Guo and Jie Xiong
This study aims to investigate the construal congruence of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging and its underlying mechanism on consumers' product attitude.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the construal congruence of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging and its underlying mechanism on consumers' product attitude.
Design/methodology/approach
Four experimental studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. Study 1 investigated the framing effect of anthropomorphized brand roles (servant vs partner) in consumers' minds. Study 2 examined the matching effect of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging on product attitude. 132 students were randomly assigned to a 2 (anthropomorphized roles: servant vs partner) × 2 (product messaging: higher-level construal vs lower-level construal) between-subject factorial design. Study 3 tested the mediation effect of processing fluency underlying the construal congruence mechanism. Study 4 replicated the results of study 3 and further examined the boundary conditions by introducing product innovation locus as a moderator. A total of 218 students were randomly assigned to a 2 (anthropomorphized role: servant vs partner) × 2 (product messaging: higher-level construal vs lower-level construal) × 2 (innovation locus: core innovation vs peripheral locus) between-subjects design experiment.
Findings
The results demonstrate that a construal match between product messaging and anthropomorphized brand roles –anthropomorphized “servant” with higher-level construal messaging and anthropomorphized “partner” with lower-level construal messaging – can positively influence consumers' attitude via enhanced processing fluency. Furthermore, this construal matching effect on product attitude is moderated by the innovation locus of the product.
Practical implications
This study reveals that anthropomorphized brand roles with compatible product messaging in the associated construal levels lead to more favorable product attitudes. Furthermore, the matching effect of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging is stronger for products with peripheral innovation than with core innovation.
Originality/value
Our study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides new insights into the construal matching effect of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging. Second, it investigates the boundary conditions of the above-mentioned construal fit mechanism.
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Asif Ali Safeer, Yuanqiong He, Yuanyuan Lin, Muhammad Abrar and Zubair Nawaz
In the modern era, brand authenticity is one of the most powerful positioning strategies for sustainable business growth. This study investigated the impacts of perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
In the modern era, brand authenticity is one of the most powerful positioning strategies for sustainable business growth. This study investigated the impacts of perceived brand authenticity dimensions (i.e., quality commitment, heritage, sincerity) on brand love to predict Generation Y's behavior from the Asian context.
Design/methodology/approach
This is new empirical research that tested the proposed hypotheses through PLS-SEM, as PLS is the most robust technique for predicting consumer behavior. Importantly, consumers (of Generation Y) from five Asian countries contributed to this study, and data collected from 427 Asian millennials on global brands.
Findings
The results analysis revealed that perceived brand authenticity dimensions significantly impacted brand love, which positively affected Asian millennials' behavioral outcomes (i.e., continuous purchase intention and price premium).
Research limitations/implications
This study investigated dimensions of perceived brand authenticity to predict Asian millennials' behavioral outcomes in a broader perspective. Future researchers may investigate a specific culture with a larger sample size to predict millennials behavior.
Practical implications
This study has several implications that guide the global managers of several service and manufacturing industries to develop various positioning and relationship strategies for global brands to target Asian markets effectively.
Originality/value
Using attribution theory, this is the first novel research study that empirically discussed the dimensions of perceived brand authenticity, brand love, and Asian millennials' behavior toward global brands.
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Xiu-Hao Ding, Yuanqiong He, Jiang Wu and Chen Cheng
Employees play a central role in firms’ knowledge transferal, but knowledge-sharing brings significant costs for employees. Thus, this study aims to explore the components…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees play a central role in firms’ knowledge transferal, but knowledge-sharing brings significant costs for employees. Thus, this study aims to explore the components of firms’ incentive systems and how these influence employees’ knowledge-sharing, and also to test whether employees’ knowledge-sharing intentions transform into better knowledge transfer performance at the firm level.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected data in China, and 219 usable questionnaires were collected. Then, this study used a structure equation model by LISREL for hypotheses testing.
Findings
This study finds that positive economic incentives, positive relational incentives and negative relational incentives all increase employees’ knowledge-sharing intentions, contributing to firms’ improved knowledge-transfer performance. Thus, both positive and negative incentives and both economic and relational incentives exert influences on employees’ knowledge-sharing activities.
Practical implications
Because employees have both material and emotional needs and always want to approach good things and avoid bad things, firms should take measures to make their incentive systems more comprehensive. Then, employees can be motivated to share their knowledge effectively.
Originality/value
Existing studies have mainly explored the effects of positive economic incentives on knowledge transferal. Because individuals have both a promotion self-regulatory focus associated with an approach motivation and a prevention self-regulatory focus associated with an avoidance motivation, and because they have both material and emotional needs, this study classifies incentives into three types and confirms their effectiveness for motivating employees to share knowledge.
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Yuanqiong He, Hongyi Sun, Wenbin Ni and Stephen C.H. Ng
The importance of supplier integration (SI) in improving firms’ performance has been previously identified but the effects of SI are complicated, as the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
The importance of supplier integration (SI) in improving firms’ performance has been previously identified but the effects of SI are complicated, as the relationship between supplier and buyer is full of uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the effects of SI on operations performance from a relational view.
Design/methodology/approach
Two strategies of integrating suppliers are theoretically presented: information sharing and joint decision making. Hypotheses are then developed on when SI influences operations performance, using product complexity and competitive intensity as moderating factors. The hypotheses are tested using a global survey data set, made up of 763 manufacturing firms from 22 countries.
Findings
The results indicate a positive relationship between SI and operations performance and that the moderating roles of product complexity and competition intensity are significant, but product complexity does not have significant moderation effects on the relationships between joint decision making and product quality/cost reduction.
Research limitations/implications
The moderators of product complexity and competitive intensity are not comprehensive. Future study into how and under what circumstances SI has the greatest effect will be of benefit.
Originality/value
This study makes theoretical contributions by exploring the strategies of SI through a relational view, and examining the effects of SI through the moderating roles of product complexity and competition intensity.
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Ruihong Liu, Yuanqiong He, Xiu-Hao Ding and Jianhong Li
Based on media choice theories and real option theory, this study aims to explore the role of communication media portfolio in achieving collaborative innovation with suppliers.
Abstract
Purpose
Based on media choice theories and real option theory, this study aims to explore the role of communication media portfolio in achieving collaborative innovation with suppliers.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data of the Study of Competitiveness, Technology and Firm Linkages 2002 collected by the World Bank and the Enterprise Survey Organization of the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, this study employed logit model to test the hypotheses. Moreover, some robustness analyses were conducted.
Findings
This study suggests that media multiplicity increases the probability for a firm to achieve collaborative innovation with suppliers on the basis of real option theory. Furthermore, distance from the suppliers and relationship formality make media multiplicity further important in collaborative innovation with suppliers.
Originality/value
Through investing how communication media portfolio affecting collaborative innovation with suppliers and the contingency factors, this study complements existing studies just concentrating on supplier capabilities, relationships with suppliers and characteristics of supplier network. Moreover, this study contributes in the information system field by exploring the role of media portfolio rather than individual media.
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Xin Chen, Yuanqiong He, Lihua Wang and Jie Xiong
The purpose of this paper is to examine how customer socialization strategies can help social enterprises (SEs) to establish different types of organizational legitimacy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how customer socialization strategies can help social enterprises (SEs) to establish different types of organizational legitimacy and how different types of organizational legitimacy in turn can encourage customers' positive in-role behavior (such as repurchasing) and extra-role citizenship behavior (such as referral, feedback and forgiveness of quality problems).
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 381 customers in Chinese SEs is used to examine the research questions. The paper uses structural equation modeling and bootstrap method to analyze the hypothesized relationships among customer socialization strategies, organizational legitimacy and customers' in-role and extra-role behaviors.
Findings
This study finds that various customer socialization strategies can differentially enhance different types of organizational legitimacy of a SE, which in turn positively affects customers' in-role repeated purchase behavior and extra-role citizenship behavior. The study also finds that three types of organizational legitimacy are highly accumulative; gaining relational and market legitimacy might be a precondition for obtaining social legitimacy for SEs.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to empirically investigate the important role of customer socialization strategies in the acquisition of different types of organizational legitimacy in the context of SEs. It also shows how different types of organizational legitimacy, in turn, can positively affect customers' in-role and extra-role behaviors. In addition, this is one of the first empirical studies to investigate the accumulative nature of three types of organizational legitimacy in SEs: relational legitimacy, market legitimacy and social legitimacy.
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