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Purpose – This study is intended to extend scholarship on the management of organizations by examining the long-term performance of orphaned products.

Design/methodology/approach – This study uses the historical context of the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression to examine the long-run appeal (performance) of orphaned products – products from start-ups that fail soon after production. I use this setting to determine how factors within the purview of management, as well as the role of changing tastes, affect the appeal of music from short-lived start-ups founded in 1929 and 1933.

Findings/originality/value – I find that while the evolution of tastes has a substantial effect beyond the control of a firm's managers, a start-up's decision-makers were able to positively influence the long-run appeal of music when they (a) recorded tunes with new artists and (b) were able to create an early big hit with the tune. These results demonstrate how and why, even with cultural producers in one of the greatest economic disasters in U.S. history, managerial decisions were meaningful for product performance. Finally, I show that the effect of being a start-up on the long-run appeal of a tune is time-varying such that being a start-up in 1929 or 1933 does not harm a tune's appeal until after World War II. These final analyses point to further ways in which strategy, history, and sociology might combine to further scholarship on the management of organizations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is a first attempt to deal with the phenomenon of new venture failure from the business network perspective of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group. In particular, this study aims to explore the post-failure phase of a new venture to investigate what happens to the new venture’s resources and relationships in the aftermath of its failure and the role of the entrepreneur in this process.

The paper builds on an explorative multiple case study of two failed new ventures, unfolding the failure and post-failure phase: evidence from both cases is confronted and discussed.

This study shows that the post-failure is a complex phase of recombination of activities and residual resources that may lead to new business opportunities. It is discussed that residual resources influence the direction and extent of post-failure activities in terms of restrictions as well as opportunities to restart new projects or ventures. It is also shown how the entrepreneur deals with the “business remains”.

While much attention has been devoted to new ventures’ failure, the paper focuses on the post-failure phase, an almost neglected topic in industrial marketing research. This study sheds some new light upon the journey through which entrepreneurs come to develop the set of resources, activities and relationships that are not only key to the establishment of the venture but also relevant in the complex and intricate trajectories of post-failure.

This paper aims to use equity theory to develop and test a model of the dynamics of service recovery in the homesharing context.

Using a sample of those who have experienced a service failure with a homesharing company and have voiced complaints to the company directly, the study adopted alternative model comparison procedures to test three competing models of service recovery and examined the effects of five moderating variables.

The results indicated that the model based on equity theory provides a theoretically and empirically superior explanation of the dynamics of service recovery in the homesharing context than the alternative explanation based on the tenets of justice theory. The two key inputs into the service recovery interaction – consumer complaining and recovery effort and trust in brand – have significant direct effects on post-failure loyalty outcomes, and also significant indirect effects via the mediating mechanism of perceived justice. All five moderators have significant effects for at least one of the post-failure loyalty outcomes.

The findings emphasize the company’s role in service recovery in the homesharing context. Managers of homesharing platforms need to establish customer service infrastructure that minimizes the amount of time-related, procedural and cognitive effort that customers need to expend in the recovery process, and effect communication that enhances trust in the homesharing brand. Future research is needed on the dynamics of service recovery in alternative hotel-homesharing business models, and on the role of value co-creation in the homesharing context.

This study is the first to create a holistic theory-based model of the dynamics of service recovery in the homesharing context, using the novel construct of customer complaining and recovery effort. Also, and contrary to typical conceptualization, it demonstrates the role of trust in brand as an antecedent input into the recovery interaction that can generate loyalty outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how a consumer’s intention to purchase a premium or luxury product influences the anticipated regret and guilt.

A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design (label: premium versus luxury × prior event: success versus failure × product type: hedonic versus utilitarian) on guilt and regret was implemented.

Following a successful event, the anticipated regret and guilt are lower for a hedonic product compared to a primarily utilitarian one. The effect was valid when the consumers were looking to buy both luxury and premium. In a situation following a failure, the anticipated levels of regret and guilt were lower for a product that was primarily utilitarian in nature; however, this effect only appeared when the participants were looking to buy both luxury and not premium.

People may feel more licensed to indulge in a hedonic premium or luxury product after a success and more licensed to indulge in a utilitarian luxury product after a failure.

The results can be used to understand how to optimize a marketing message of indulgence whether or not one deserves it.

The study provides novel insight into how anticipated guilt and regret may be evoked by the goal of buying a premium versus luxury product in combination with the product type and a consumer’s experience of a prior event.

There is a growing trend that hospitality brands are allowing employees to personalize their workplace display. Following this trend in practice, this paper aims to examine the influence of employees’ conspicuous consumption cues (ECCCs) on consumer responses toward service failures in luxury dining.

Two experiments were conducted. Study 1 adopted a 2 (ECCC: present vs absent) × 2 (employee physical attractiveness: control vs high) between-subject experiment to test the effect of ECCCs in interactional service failures. Study 2 tested the hypotheses in core service failures.

The results of Study 1 indicate that the presence of ECCCs lowers consumers’ negative behavioral intentions in interactional service failures when employees are highly attractive. When employees’ attractiveness is not distinctive, however, ECCCs lead to higher levels of negative behavioral intentions. Mediation test results demonstrate that perceived employee service competence drives this effect. Results of Study 2 show that the joint effect of ECCCs and physical attractiveness is attenuated when core service failures are not attributable to the service employee.

Extending previous research, this study reveals the impact of employees’ physical characteristics on consumers’ post-failure responses. In addition, the effect of ECCCs on consumers’ post-failure responses was driven by the psychological process of perceived competence.

Findings of this research emphasize the importance for hospitality brands to practice tight control over employee esthetics. For hospitality brands that embrace individuality in the workplace, results of this research highlight the importance of service training in customer interactions.

This research examines an underexplored phenomenon in the hospitality service setting: employees’ display of conspicuous consumption cues and its impact on consumers’ responses to service failures.

The aim of this study is to examine the role of level of failure severity and recovery efforts in customer response behavior. Specifically, the paper investigates how severity of failure influence the relationship between recovery efforts and outcome variables of recovery disconfirmation, satisfaction, loyalty and negative word‐of‐mouth.

A 2×2 between subjects experimental design was carried out. Written scenarios were used to manipulate the level of severity and recovery efforts. Responses were collected from 103 participants on pre‐validated scale measures.

The results of the study yield significant findings of impact of failure severity and recovery effort on dependent variables in the Indian context. The findings indicate significant interaction effects on satisfaction, loyalty and negative word‐of‐mouth.

Prior studies on failure and recovery have mostly kept failure constant even though the magnitude of failure can range from low to high. This study examines the effect of level of failure severity and recovery efforts in customer response behavior. Further, this study extends prior research in recovery by investigating the variables of interest in the eastern cultural context such as India.

The research aims to explore the relationships between the digital capabilities of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), their participation in global value chains and their adoption of innovative business models. Additionally, the study investigates how the prior experiences of entrepreneurial failure may influence or moderate these relationships.

To address these research objectives, the study draws upon data obtained from the Flash Eurobarometer 486 survey, a comprehensive dataset that explores the challenges faced by 13,197 European MSMEs as they navigate the complexities of growth, the integration of sustainable business models and the incorporation of digital technologies. To test the proposed hypotheses, the research employs multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Digital capabilities are found to be positively associated with business model innovation, while integration into global value chains is linked to a higher likelihood of implementing new business models. Interestingly, entrepreneurial failure did not significantly influence the relationship between digital capabilities and the adoption of new business models. In contrast, entrepreneurial failure significantly moderated the impact of global value chain inclusion on business model innovation, particularly in MSMEs with a history of failure.

This article provides practical guidance to entrepreneurs and companies interested in enhancing their digital strategies and engagement in global value chains, considering the entrepreneurs' business histories.

This paper aims to introduce the implicit firm theory, distinguishing between the belief that firms can (incremental firm theory) or cannot (entity firm theory) readily change in response to marketplace demands. It is proposed and shown, that firm theory beliefs influence customer-engagement attitudes and intentions.

Study 1 tests the relationship between firm theory, self-theory and knowledge-sharing attitudes. Study 2a tests differences between incremental and entity firm theorists in response to firm failure. Study 2b examines the relationship between firm theory and blame attributions on post-failure loyalty. Study 3 explores the effect of firm theory on perceptions of control and blame attributions following repeated firm failures.

Study 1 shows firm theory influences consumer knowledge-sharing attitudes beyond the effect of self-theory. Study 2a shows incremental firm theorists are more likely to remain loyal to a firm following failure and less likely to share negative word-of-mouth. Study 2b shows that blame attributions mediate the relationship between firm theory and loyalty intentions, with incremental theorists ascribing less blame. Study 3 shows incremental firm theorists significantly increase blame following multiple failures, while entity firm theorists do not.

Results are based on scenario-based surveys and experimental methods; their applicability in more complex real-world customer-firm relationships warrants additional study.

Firms should account for a customer’s firm theory in their communications, emphasizing situational factors to reduce post-failure blame among incremental firm theorists.

Establishes that consumers hold beliefs regarding the malleability of firm traits, which influence their firm engagement intentions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the service recovery experience in the luxury hotel industry by introducing emotions as a predictor of future behavioural intention and to compare traditional cognitive measures of satisfaction following a recovery process with measures based on affect.

A mixed-methods approach was adopted comprising a main quantitative study, preceded by an exploratory qualitative study.

The study provides further support for the use of emotions in understanding consumer behaviour following a service failure.

As an abstract concept, we have only limited physical, measurable manifestation of emotions, and the construct is difficult to operationalise in social sciences research. Furthermore, this research has required retrospective self-reporting of emotions.

The use of emotions can provide a better diagnostic tool for understanding attitudes that customers go away with following a service failure, rather than concentrating on cognitive measures of performance.

The study has provided further support for the use of emotions in understanding consumer behaviour following a service failure.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causes of and problems resulting from the exclusion of end‐users from the requirements capture phases of information systems (IS) development.

This research conducts an extensive literature review to allow for the creation of a taxonomy of project failure. This taxonomy is then used as the basis for the thematic analysis of a case study into the failure of a large‐scale governmental IS project, utilising, interview, observation and document capture as its primary sources of data.

The paper illustrates the critical nature of end‐user consultation in the development of IS, defining six key areas of concern when examining the issue of end‐user exclusion.

This paper provides a taxonomy to allow for the identification and mitigation of user exclusion at an early stage in IS development. In addition to this, the case study provides a unique insight into an active project, where most previous studies have been conducted post failure and into the unique political and organisational challenges presented by such an organisation.