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Article
Publication date: 29 June 2023

Ragnhild Nordeng Fauchald, Lise Aaboen and Dag Håkon Haneberg

The paper focuses on how student entrepreneurs learn from the process of applying for low-threshold seed capital grants of about €2500

Abstract

Purpose

The paper focuses on how student entrepreneurs learn from the process of applying for low-threshold seed capital grants of about €2500

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth inductive study was conducted on the seed capital grant initiative TrønderEnergi–Bidraget (TEB). The research design was based on the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET) to capture the interviewees' perceptions about TEB. From the interviews, 596 codes were identified and grouped into 54 categories. The results are illustrated in a consensus map.

Findings

TEB is an enabler of student venture creation processes through both the money awarded and activities fostering learning and development. Learning by doing is visible through two processes: 1) repeated writing of applications and 2) “forced” reflective thinking through the steps in the application process. The iterativeness of these processes due to repeated applications to the low threshold initiative is important for learning.

Practical implications

The authors recommend that university managers and policymakers offer seed funding to student entrepreneurs to ensure that the offering is a low threshold. A low threshold is decisive for generating a positive learning outcome from the application process. The seed funding initiatives should require students to put time and energy into all the integrated processes to make value out of the iterativeness of the processes.

Originality/value

This paper extends the discussion on the additionality of receiving grants by focusing on the process of applying for a grant. This research contributes to the student entrepreneurship literature by suggesting that the design of the application process and forced reflections are important for learning, as well as specifying the antecedents for student motivation for continued entrepreneurial activity in the application process.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 29 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 September 2023

Caiwei Ma, Po-Ju Chen, Lianping Ren, Alei Fan and Viput Ongsakul

This study aims to investigate Generation Z’s perception of and experience with restaurant service robots.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate Generation Z’s perception of and experience with restaurant service robots.

Design/methodology/approach

Established on the servicescape theoretical framework and following Zaltman Metaphoric Elicitation Technique, 34 in-depth interviews were conducted with Generation Z consumers.

Findings

The results showed that Generation Z consumers had a generally positive attitude toward the usage of service robots in restaurants. Research participants also indicated aspects that can be improved: the service robot’s appearance design and functionality, and the human service facilitating the robotic service process.

Research limitations/implications

This paper provides a holistic understanding of the Generation Z’s mind maps about robot service restaurants presenting practical suggestions for restaurants.

Practical implications

This research offers an in-depth understanding of how the young consumption power perceives and expects the innovative service robots employed in restaurants. The research findings provide industry practitioners with timely guidelines to improve the usage of robotic services in restaurants to satisfy the emerging consumer group of Generation Z.

Originality/value

The current research contributes to the servicescape literature by extending this long-standing theory to the emerging robotic service contexts for updating discoveries. Particularly, the study focuses on the young consumers of Generation Z, shedding lights on the generational cohort research.

研究目的

本研究调查了 Z 世代对餐厅服务机器人的看法和体验。

研究设计/方法/体验

建立在服务场景理论框架之上, 并遵循 Zaltman 隐喻启发技术, 对 Z 世代消费者进行了 34 次深入访谈。

研究发现

结果表明, Z 世代消费者对在餐厅使用服务机器人持普遍积极态度。 研究参与者还指出了可以改进的方面:服务机器人的外观设计和功能, 以及促进机器人服务过程的人工服务。

实际意义

这项研究深入了解了年轻的消费力量如何看待和期望在餐厅使用的创新服务机器人。 研究结果为行业从业者提供了及时的指导方针, 以改善机器人服务在餐厅的使用, 以满足 Z 世代的新兴消费群体。

研究原创性/价值

当前的研究通过将这一长期存在的理论扩展到新兴的机器人服务环境以更新发现, 从而为服务景观文献做出贡献。 特别是, 该研究侧重于 Z 世代的年轻消费者, 阐明了世代队列研究。

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9880

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 December 2023

Chebli Youness, Pierre Valette-Florence and Cynthia Assaf

The purpose of this research is to extend the results of previous studies regarding corporate reputation scales and identify new and specific items relevant for studying global…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to extend the results of previous studies regarding corporate reputation scales and identify new and specific items relevant for studying global corporate reputation from a customer’s point of view.

Design/methodology/approach

This research was based on the qualitative projective “Album on Line” (AOL) technique. The authors used a sample of 12 French consumers distributed equally between affective and cognitive scenarios. An individual-difference multidimensional scaling approach (INDSCAL) was applied to display the overall semantic space among generated items.

Findings

The exploratory AOL approach generated 62 items related to both cognitive and affective orientations characterizing online and offline corporate reputation. The results uncovered six semantic clusters for each scenario. All in all, seven new items could be added in the process of building a new global corporate reputation measurement scale by adding: avant-garde, singularity, exclusivity, savings, return policy, freeness and speed.

Research limitations/implications

This research makes it possible to propose a new global corporate reputation measurement scale with sound psychometric properties. This scale will be adapted for click and mortars and pure players. This paper unlocks future perspectives by suggesting a causal model that integrates online corporate reputation and its main antecedents and consequences.

Practical implications

From a managerial perspective, this research offers insights to managers with the main orientations surrounding the components of global corporate reputation. Moreover, the AOL mappings delineate which quadrants the managers would like to be fitted into or avoid, and hence define more precisely which key elements should be stressed or discarded.

Originality/value

This research outlines AOL, an original qualitative projective technique that can be used to understand customers’ thoughts, which are stocked and collected as images. Moreover, this research intends to analyze the gathered data using both INDSCAL and fuzzy k-means cluster analysis to reduce conventional biases related to subjectivity.

Details

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-2752

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 November 2023

Elif Tanrikulu and Ibrahim Taylan Dortyol

Social exclusion is a complicated psychological phenomenon with behavioral ramifications that influences consumers' lifestyles and behaviors. In contrast, anthropomorphism is a…

Abstract

Purpose

Social exclusion is a complicated psychological phenomenon with behavioral ramifications that influences consumers' lifestyles and behaviors. In contrast, anthropomorphism is a phenomenon that marketing strategists employ and that occurs in customers' lives as a result of social isolation. The literature discusses these two complicated structures as ones that require investigation based on consumer judgments. The purpose of the current study is to understand the fundamental motivations that underlie the propensity for anthropomorphizing in people who suffer social isolation through their pets.

Design/methodology/approach

To look into the motivations driving these themes, a study technique with three distinct components was created. Cyberball was employed as a technique to manipulate social exclusion in the initial stage of this research methodology. Two scenarios, one of which had an anthropomorphizing tendency and the other of which did not, were presented to participants who had suffered social exclusion and advanced to the second phase in order to determine the anthropomorphizing tendency. The Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), which Johnson et al. (1992) created based on the social support provided by pets, was utilized while creating the scenarios. The Zaltman method was applied as an interviewing technique in the third stage of the research design, with the interviewees being guided by visuals that reflected their emotions and thoughts.

Findings

The results of the data analysis were evaluated in light of social psychology. A more thorough expression of the complex relationship between anthropomorphism and those who experience social exclusion has been made. The findings showed that when people anthropomorphize their pets in response to feelings of social exclusion, the motivations that emerge include pure love, loyalty, animals' need for a human, living creature and embracing. The study emphasizes that these ideas will be helpful in customers' interactions with anthropomorphic objects.

Practical implications

As a contribution to the literature, the study findings offer the five major motivations underpinning these beliefs. These findings may help marketing scientists comprehend social exclusion and anthropomorphism, thereby benefiting the individual and society.

Originality/value

The majority of research in the literature (Chen et al., 2017; Epley et al., 2008; Eyssel and Reich, 2013; Waytz et al., 2019) verified that people who were socially excluded would use anthropomorphism, but no studies were discovered about the motivations outlined in the current study. The results of this investigation should add to the body of knowledge in this area. The pet was employed as an anthropomorphism tool in the current study because it is the object that a person chooses to anthropomorphize deliberately and independently. It adds to the study's originality by explaining in the individual's own terminology how he will feel as a result of his social isolation, how he will make up for it and potential responses he may have. In addition to all of these contributions, the study's primary goal of analyzing the motivations behind anthropomorphism yields significant findings that are relevant to both industry and academic research.

Details

Qualitative Research Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1443-9883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2024

Julie Napoli and Robyn Ouschan

This study aims to examine how veganism is “seen” by young adult non-vegan consumers and how prevailing attitudes reinforce or challenge stigmas around veganism.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine how veganism is “seen” by young adult non-vegan consumers and how prevailing attitudes reinforce or challenge stigmas around veganism.

Design/methodology/approach

Photovoice methodology was used to explore young non-vegan consumers’ attitudes and beliefs towards veganism. Data was collected from students studying advertising at a major university in Australia, who produced images and narratives reflective of their own attitudes towards veganism. Polytextual thematic analysis of the resulting visual data was then undertaken to reveal the dominant themes underpinning participants’ attitudes. Participant narratives were then reviewed to confirm whether the ascribed meaning aligned with participants’ intended meaning.

Findings

Participant images were reflective of first, how they saw their world and their place within it, which showed the interplay and interconnectedness between humans, animals and nature, and second, how they saw vegans within this world, with both positive and negative attitudes expressed. Interestingly, vegans were simultaneously admired and condemned. By situating these attitudes along a spectrum of moral evaluation, bounded by stigmatisation and moral legitimacy, participants saw vegans as being either Radicals, Pretenders, Virtuous or Pragmatists. For veganism to become more widely accepted by non-vegans, there is an important role to be played by each vegan type.

Originality/value

This study offers a more nuanced understanding of how and why dissociative groups, such as vegans, become stigmatised, which has implications for messaging and marketing practices around veganism and associated products/services. Future research could use a similar methodology to understand why other minority groups in society are stereotyped and stigmatised, which has broader social implications.

Details

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-2752

Keywords

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