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This paper advocates for banks to understand customers' online privacy concerns, use those insights to segment consumers and design tailored sales strategies to build a mutual relationship through a social exchange that produces a competitive advantage.

A qualitative study involving 30 in-depth interviews with Australian and Asian millennials residing in Australia was conducted using a grounded theory approach to explore privacy concerns of online banking and determine the efficacy of their banks' existing sales strategy and practice.

The study revealed differences in customer perceptions of trust, confidence, responsibility and exchange. Adopting a power-dependency paradigm within a social exchange theoretical framework and power distance belief of national culture theory, the authors identified four consumer segments: exemplar, empiric, elevator and exponent. The authors propose a tailored consumer-centered sales strategy of communication, control, consolidation and collaboration.

The paper contributes to the research in services marketing, sales strategy and banking in three ways: first, the authors demonstrate the importance of the social exchange theory and national culture as a premise to develop a competitive advantage; second, the authors propose an innovative set of consumer segments in regards to online privacy concerns; and, third, the authors introduce four sales strategies tailored to each of the four segments.

Informal learning networks are critical to response to calls for practitioners to reskill and upskill in off-site construction projects. With the transition to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social media-enabled online knowledge communities play an increasingly important role in acquiring and disseminating off-site construction knowledge. Proximity has been identified as a key factor in facilitating interactive learning, yet which type of proximity is effective in promoting online and offline knowledge exchange remains unclear. This study takes a relational view to explore the proximity-related antecedents of online and offline learning networks in off-site construction projects, while also examining the subtle differences in the networks' structural patterns.

Five types of proximity (physical, organizational, social, cognitive and personal) between projects members are conceptualized in the theoretical model. Drawing on social foci theory and homophily theory, the research hypotheses are proposed. To test these hypotheses, empirical case studies were conducted on two off-site construction projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Valid relational data provided by 99 and 145 project members were collected using semi-structured interviews and sociometric questionnaires. Subsequently, multivariate exponential random graph models were developed.

The results show a discrepancy arise in the structural patterns between online and offline learning networks. Offline learning is found to be more strongly influenced by proximity factors than online learning. Specifically, physical, organizational and social proximity are found to be significant predictors of offline knowledge exchange. Cognitive proximity has a negative relationship with offline knowledge exchange but is positively related to online knowledge exchange. Regarding personal proximity, the study found that the homophily effect of hierarchical status merely emerges in offline learning networks. Online knowledge communities amplify the receiver effect of tenure. Furthermore, there appears to be a complementary relationship between online and offline learning networks.

Proximity offers a novel relational perspective for understanding the formation of knowledge exchange connections. This study enriches the literature on informal learning within project teams by revealing how different types of proximity shape learning networks across different channels in off-site construction projects.

This simple case study tells the story of three young men who started an online business-to-business trading portal for fun, and to help fund them through university. They seized the opportunity of a major assignment to ask a new lecturer, the narrator, to guide them into profitability. Reluctantly, the young men were coerced into a literature survey, which proved surprisingly helpful to them. A simple research project followed, using mixed methods (survey, expert opinion, key account interviews). Based on the survey results and some simple frameworks from the literature, the young men not only completed their exercise, but also went on to turn their hobby into a sustainable business. The business still exists today, based on the simple study conducted some 12 years ago.

In Japan, virtual exchange and mobility are regarded as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic and as alternatives to international learning through physical mobility. International educators express concerns that online international learning methods may fade away after physical student mobility resumes on a larger scale. However, it is crucial for universities to leverage newly developed online learning tools after the pandemic in order to offer inclusive international education which reaches the larger student pool who are unable to study abroad. Now is the time to reflect on how international education policy and practice have relied excessively on cross-border student mobility. In turn, it will be important to position ICT-based educational practices as an opportunity to create new value and meaning for international education in an environmentally friendly and low-cost manner in the new normal world. Also, in Japan, internationalization at home was not addressed to any great extent before the pandemic. However, there is an increasing awareness that ICT-based international education can effectively contribute to the expansion of internationalization at home. Adapting to the new normal situation requires a new modality of internationalization, and it will have a significant impact on the attractiveness of higher education in the country.

This study aims to explore the evolution of the culture agapic (personal) gift-giving with the advent of new online gifting platforms that provide the opportunity to gift tourism experiences. This study investigates this well-established cultural behavior in view of this new form of social exchange.

Focus group interviews with two key target markets – mothers and couples/singles – were conducted (N = 39). Interview questions focused on understanding gifting using online platforms, sharing the experience and the role of various parties in the exchange.

This study reveals that experiential tourism gifts differ from physical gifts because they offer novelty and symbolic value, heighten positive emotions and have the potential to create lifelong memories for recipients. However, giving an experiential gift can also be a risky option because of the uncertainty of getting the gift–recipient identity match correct, particularly for adventure tourism gifts. The identity of the gift-giver is also considered in gift selection as the experience selected is a reflection of self.

It is recommended that online experiential gifting platforms pay attention to both the identity of the gift-giver and gift-recipient. Sharing the experience through social media posts can reinforce both parties’ social identity, create a positive social exchange and may motivate repeat purchase.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to uncover the motivational factors of online tourism experiential gifting as part of the culture of gift-giving and the parties in this exchange. The findings advance theoretical understanding of this new form of social exchange.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sets of relationships, both physical and virtual, on which school technology coordinators (STCs) rely in exchanging problem‐solving knowledge. Using prestige as an indicator of knowledge exchange across school boundaries, a model of relational variables was constructed from social networks to explain the characteristics of personal knowledge exchange in STC communities.

The analytical model designed for this research was based on social network theory. Egocentric interviews were conducted to collect relational data on knowledge exchange among STCs. Path analysis was applied to examine associations among relational variables.

Prestigious STCs engage more in contributing knowledge to online communities of related competency than to STCs at other schools. They do not expend as much effort helping other STCs and only reciprocate within a smaller group from whom they have received advice. Online knowledge contributions have mediation effects for STCs with limited personal networks in becoming prestigious.

Few studies have evaluated the sets of relationships on which teachers rely, to solve problems, and few empirical studies have focused on the features of personal knowledge exchange in a loosely coupled community of practice. This study uses prestige rather than job evaluations as an indicator for knowledge‐intensive workers to examine the knowledge‐exchange characteristics and demonstrate applicability to studies of communities of practice. The results also reveal deficiencies of knowledge dissemination in STC communities. These findings are relevant for studies of the information and communication technology practices of other professionals.

The purpose of this paper was to explore the role knowledge sharing plays in both firm-sponsored (FS) and user-generated (UG) Online Brand Communities (OBCs) on Facebook. Branding through online mediums is an under-researched area that is slowly gaining attention in the literature. In some ways, action has come first as theory struggles to catch up with technological advances. Given that social sharing behaviours (i.e. online social networking) are arguably driving the strategic direction of marketers, it is important to understand the discourse that is being communicated. One such avenue is through participation in an OBC. While it is apparent that research is growing in the OBC area, there are still areas of interest that have gained little attention.

Data were collected using netnography, an appropriate yet under-applied methodological technique used to investigate the consumer behaviour of cultures and communities present on the Internet. Specifically, Facebook Pages relating to five OBCs based on the cruise-liner P & O Australia have been chosen for this case study.

Results indicate that in both the FS and UG OBCs, knowledge-sharing was seen to have an important influence on pre-purchase decision-making. It also acted as a mechanism for trust building and sharing brand experiences and as an important encouragement to developing a sense of community among community members. A particularly interesting outcome of this research was the way in which consumers have taken on an active role in co-creating brand identity, which seemingly illuminates the role of brand management in social media.

Given that this research was conducted with a real brand, with real customers, in a real OBC, the findings also point to some important practical applications. This study has found that the role of brands in their online forums is paramount, and as such, highlights the importance of effective brand governance. The rise of technology brings increased opportunities for a brand to reach out to their consumers. This study makes a further contribution by providing insights into how the consumer–brand relationship is shaped by the communication that occurs between consumers. To this end, consumers see it as the brand’s responsibility to monitor such online platforms, thus indicating the management of OBCs needs to be at the forefront of brand management practices.

This study represents one of the earliest investigations of brand communities facilitated by social media, specifically focusing on Facebook as the communication platform. Importantly, this study increases our knowledge of consumer interaction in social media, with an emphasis towards the role that knowledge sharing contributes to OBCs and the differences prevalent between FS and UG online communities.

The domain of digital service not only includes digital service products made available for purchase but also the provision of digital customer service, such as customers seeking support on brands' social media channels. This type of digital customer service introduces new challenges not found in offline service recovery situations. This research highlights one such occurrence by investigating customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions during digital service recovery. In particular, dysfunctional dialog, such as online incivility (e.g. rude and insulting comments), directed at a complainant by a fellow customer is investigated.

Survey data from an online panel are utilized to test the hypothesized relationships between dysfunctional customer behavior (i.e. online incivility), C2C interactional justice, customer perceived service climate and three forms of experiential value using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results show that customer perceptions of the firm's service climate are negatively affected by online incivility but only when such incivility produces C2C injustice. This outcome is notable due to the strong relationship found between customer perceived service climate and the following three forms of online experiential value: sociability, hedonic and pragmatic value. Thus, a weakened service climate subsequently leads to weakened experiential value for complainants.

The theoretical implications of two nascent constructs, C2C interactional justice and customer perceived service climate, are further developed with reference to digital customer service situations. In particular, given that prior research has focused on customer perceptions of service climate in core consumption situations of enjoyable face-to-face service experiences, it has only considered optimal or extremely positive service climate assessments in non-digital contexts. This study expands the understanding of the customer perceived service climate construct by examining the implications of a sub-optimal service climate in a digital customer service situation of an unenjoyable service experience. The limitations include a small sample size, the use of hypothetical scenarios and a failure situation limited to a single industry.

Managers who oversee social media channels or online communities must be prepared to act upon C2C online incivility. Deeming such communications as innocent online chatter not worthy of company intervention is a mistake, as the results of this study show that such inaction may lead to negative customer perceptions of the digital service environment and harm the customer experience.

This work develops a greater understanding of the importance of C2C interactional justice and customer perceived service climate in online customer service situations that prior research has yet to establish. In particular, previous studies have not investigated the negative effects of a situation that produces sub-optimal customer perceptions of a service climate.

Interpersonal interaction can influence consumers’ purchase intention in social commerce (s-commerce). This paper aims to identify interpersonal interaction factors as well as the mediating effect of relationship quality between interpersonal interaction factors and consumers’ purchase intention in s-commerce.

This study explores new dimensions of interpersonal interaction in s-commerce by integrating interaction between consumers and online vendors and that between consumers and online recommenders in s-commerce. An online questionnaire was used to collect the data, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed for data analysis.

The results indicate that interpersonal interaction factors of both online vendors and online recommenders positively affect swift guanxi and initial trust between consumers and online vendors. Swift guanxi and initial trust positively affect consumers’ purchase intention. Initial trust partially mediates between interpersonal interaction factors and purchase intention while swift guanxi does not mediate between perceived similarity of online recommenders and purchase intention.

The findings can be used to guide vendors in s-commerce platforms to make good use of platform features to improve interpersonal interaction. Meanwhile, s-commerce platforms should be enhanced with efficient interaction tools to help cultivate relationship quality between consumers and online vendors.

This study combines social exchange theory, trust transfer theory and relationship quality theory to investigate the factors that influence swift guanxi and initial trust between consumers and online vendors, which extends the study of interpersonal interaction and enriches the dimensions of relationship quality in the context of s-commerce.

The intangible nature of banking services enables financial institutions to deliver them through electronic channels. In addition, the interactive and continuous nature of banking services is conducive to relationship development. It would, therefore, be beneficial for the dyad to build exchange relationships online. This exploratory research investigates the effect of e‐banking on the development of retail relationships in Cyprus.

The perspective of both sides of the dyad is incorporated through face‐to‐face in‐depth interviews. The empirical base used is the Cypriot retail banking sector.

The findings suggest that in the specific context, e‐banking has a significant impact on relationship development, especially at the first stages of the developmental process, but it cannot substitute the other delivery channels.

In view of the contextuality of exchange relationships, it is recognised that the results may be context‐specific and as such, future research should investigate the impact of online delivery systems in alternative cultures and service settings.

The findings create a number of managerial implications, including the need for banks to invest both in e‐platforms and in the development of their employees, as well as the need to systematically appraise customer relationships.

The paper is of value to both academics and practitioners as it addresses the pressing need to investigate exchange relationships using a processual perspective and offers insights into the developmental process of Cypriot retail bank‐client relationships.