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1 – 10 of 338Alberto Lopez and Ricardo Garza
Do consumers rate reviews describing other consumers' sensory experience of a product (touch, smell, sight, hear and taste) as helpful or do they rate reviews describing more…
Abstract
Purpose
Do consumers rate reviews describing other consumers' sensory experience of a product (touch, smell, sight, hear and taste) as helpful or do they rate reviews describing more practical properties (product performance and characteristics/features) as more helpful? What is the effect of review helpfulness on purchase intention? Furthermore, why do consumers perceive sensory and non-sensory reviews differently? This study answers these questions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze 447,792 Amazon reviews and perform a topic modeling analysis to extract the main topics that consumers express in their reviews. Then, the topics were used as regressors to predict the number of consumers who found the review helpful. Finally, a lab experiment was conducted to replicate the results in a more controlled environment to test the serial mediation effect.
Findings
Contrary to the overwhelming evidence supporting the positive effects of sensory elicitation in marketing, this study shows that sensory reviews are less likely to be helpful than non-sensory reviews. Moreover, a key reason why sensory reviews are less effective is that they decrease the objective perception of the review, a less objective review then decreases the level of helpfulness, which decreases purchase intention.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the interactive marketing field by investigating customer behavior and interactivity in online shopping sites and to the sensory marketing literature by identifying a boundary condition, the authors’ data suggest that sensory elicitations might not be processed positively by consumers when they are not directly experienced, but instead communicated by another consumer. Moreover, this study indicates how companies can encourage consumers to share more effective and helpful reviews.
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Monica Chaudhary, Alberto Lopez and Rachel Rodriguez
The purpose of this paper is to understand and explore how young children relate to brands. The paper specifically attempts to explore their favourite and everyday brands with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand and explore how young children relate to brands. The paper specifically attempts to explore their favourite and everyday brands with which they interact, understand the phenomenon of intergenerational transfer of brands, and study how child consumers experience and cope with brand transgressions.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative study where 20 in-depth interviews were conducted among young Indian children in the age-group of 8–12 years. For data analysis “iterative method” is used. Inspiration was taken from Spiggle’s (1994), Ereaut’s (2002) and Holt and Thompson (2004).
Findings
Children’s relationships with brands are mainly characterised by four categories: their favourite brands, everyday brands, intergenerational brands and brand transgressions. Children’s favourite brands can be categorised in fantasy, yummy, identity construction, social bonding, technology and trusted brands. Parents have a big influence on kids’ lives leading to intergenerational brand-transfer. Children consumers also reveal having experience brand transgressions, more importantly, they also show signs of brand forgiveness.
Originality/value
This qualitative study has addressed the pressing need to understand child understands of brands. This is one of the very few empirical studies that have investigated child consumer behaviour regarding their association with brands.
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Alberto Lopez and Ricardo Garza
Will consumers accept artificial intelligence (AI) products that evaluate them? New consumer products offer AI evaluations. However, previous research has never investigated how…
Abstract
Purpose
Will consumers accept artificial intelligence (AI) products that evaluate them? New consumer products offer AI evaluations. However, previous research has never investigated how consumers feel about being evaluated by AI instead of by a human. Furthermore, why do consumers experience being evaluated by an AI algorithm or by a human differently? This research aims to offer answers to these questions.
Design/methodology/approach
Three laboratory experiments were conducted. Experiments 1 and 2 test the main effect of evaluator (AI and human) and evaluations received (positive, neutral and negative) on fairness perception of the evaluation. Experiment 3 replicates previous findings and tests the mediation effect.
Findings
Building on previous research on consumer biases and lack of transparency anxiety, the authors present converging evidence that consumers who got positive evaluations reported nonsignificant difference on the level of fairness perception on the evaluation regardless of the evaluator (human or AI). Contrarily, consumers who got negative evaluations reported lower fairness perception when the evaluation was given by AI. Further moderated mediation analysis showed that consumers who get a negative evaluation by AI experience higher levels of lack of transparency anxiety, which in turn is an underlying mechanism driving this effect.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous research has investigated how consumers feel about being evaluated by AI instead of by a human. This consumer bias against AI evaluations is a phenomenon previously overlooked in the marketing literature, with many implications for the development and adoption of new AI products, as well as theoretical contributions to the nascent literature on consumer experience and AI.
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Gema Barbancho-Maya and Alberto A. López-Toro
In order to meet the increasingly demanding needs of international markets, quality and food safety systems have become widespread among companies in the agri-food sector. This…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to meet the increasingly demanding needs of international markets, quality and food safety systems have become widespread among companies in the agri-food sector. This has led to a transformation of the agri-food sector that has also been detrimental for companies seeking to adopt such standards. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to define the determining factors that affect the process of adopting quality and food safety standards in agri–food companies, from the implementation of standards in company quality management systems to the process of certification of these standards.
Design/methodology/approach
To this end, a literature review is carried out in which the motivations, benefits, barriers and contingency factors are identified, analyzing and delimiting the scope and contribution of each of them to the company’s quality management.
Findings
The results show that the most important benefits and motivations are access to new markets and compliance with legislation, while the most important barrier is the high cost of adopting QFS systems within the company. Finally, the most relevant contingency factor when adopting these systems is the size of the company. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the results are closely interrelated. In conclusion, the consideration of the determinants identified in the paper contributes to a better implementation of agri-food quality and safety standards by companies.
Originality/value
This paper combines an analysis of the determining factors for the adoption of quality systems in the agri-food industry with the identification of contingency factors that, despite their importance throughout the process, are scarcely analysed in the rest of the literature. Finally, the work points out future lines of research that are still underexplored, such as the relationship between quality assurance and financial development; the role of contingency factors in the process of adopting these systems and the analysis of HACCP systems in the agri-food sector.
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Alberto Lopez and Rachel Rodriguez
The purpose of this study is to understand and explain the process by which child consumers form relationships with brands. Specifically, the authors attempt to understand how…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand and explain the process by which child consumers form relationships with brands. Specifically, the authors attempt to understand how child consumers conceptualize brands, why and how they decide to engage in relationships with brands and why they decide to breakup with brands though sometimes reconcile with them.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed methodology was followed in this research. On the basis of an ethnographic approach, ten in-depth interviews were conducted among 8-12-year-old girls. Subsequently, a survey was completed by 122 children (boys and girls) to quantitatively examine the hypotheses formulated after the qualitative phase.
Findings
Findings from both the qualitative and quantitative studies highlight and confirm that children conceptualize brands according to visual branding components, signs and promotional activities. Furthermore, children make moral evaluations of brand behaviors and judge them as “good” or “bad”. More importantly, the authors propose two typologies: one for the reasons children decide to engage in a positive relationship and another for why children engage in a negative relationship with a brand. Additionally, the authors found that children report having an active or passive relationship role according to the characteristics of the brand relationship. Moreover, despite their young age, children report having broken up relationships with several brands; the reasons are categorized into positive and negative breakups. Finally, the authors found that positive breakups lead to more probable brand relationship reconciliation than negative breakups.
Originality/value
Despite a vast body of literature in the child consumer behavior field, there is scarce research regarding brand relationship phenomena. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical research conducted with child consumers, addressing brand relationship formation, dissolution and reconciliation.
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Aida López-Urbaneja, Sergio Escribano-Ruiz, Ainara Cortés-Avizanda, Álvaro Gutierrez Ilabaca, Juan José Aramburu Lasa, Mikel Garai Lopez, Kepa Castro Ortiz de Pinedo, Alberto García Porras and Agustin Azkarate Garai-Olaun
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO Landscapes and World Heritage sites have faced unstable situations. Both at the sites themselves and in the research centres…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO Landscapes and World Heritage sites have faced unstable situations. Both at the sites themselves and in the research centres, universities and even the homes of the people involved, they have acted and responded to the best of their ability. In this context, the aim of the comparative analysis of different cases carried out here is to understand the main effects of the pandemic in the short term. On the one hand, the purpose is to determine what the general response trends have been and, on the other, to measure the resilience capacity in each case.
Design/methodology/approach
Up to eight cases studies representing different and diverse kinds of Heritage and Protected Natural sites from Southern Europe and America are compared.
Findings
In a context of uncertainty, new responses, unique opportunities and hitherto unseen weaknesses have arisen in research and management of natural and cultural heritage. In general terms, the dialogue between officials, technicians and researchers that have put together this article underlines the need to work towards a governance model that engages everyone in dialogue. Discrepancies between overlapping strategies and plans, which is the main conflict detected, should be avoided while a decentralisation of policies could be more operational. In this sense, situated knowledge may be of help in configuring practical management tools.
Originality/value
This paper compares and contrasts for first time the effects of the pandemic in Europe and Latin America. This exercise has provided a valuable diagnostic for present and future heritage management.
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Claudia Mayordomo Zapata, Salvador Moreno Moreno and José Miguel Rojo Martínez
In this chapter, we analyse the role of women in armed Basque nationalist and separatist terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) from a gender perspective. ETA women were…
Abstract
In this chapter, we analyse the role of women in armed Basque nationalist and separatist terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) from a gender perspective. ETA women were essential agents in the armed conflict, but their image in the mass media and society has been very different from that of their male colleagues (Rodríguez Lara, 2017). Also, their role in the terrorist gang has described a sexually based functional specialisation. In addition, this chapter seeks to contribute to the area of feminist studies on women and political violence. Women's role in one of the most important armed nationalist groups in Europe, ETA, stands as a suitable case study to understand how the mass media (press, journalism), audiovisual content, and social representations of ETA have portrayed these women. The final conclusion of this chapter is that women were not portrayed in the same way as their male colleagues. Women of ETA were doubly penalised because they were women and because they were terrorists.
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A year on from the historic July 2021 protests, worsening economic realities are perpetuating popular discontent. However, renewed large-scale unrest remains unlikely;…
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB271357
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
The handover was one of several changes to the politburo that have brought to an end the leadership of the 1959 revolution. The new politburo is nevertheless dominated by familiar…
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB260982
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Alberto Nájera López, Jesus Gonzalez-Rubio, José Manuel Villalba Montoya and Enrique Arribas Garde
Since first small personal exposimeters became available, some studies have characterized personal exposition to radio frequency electromagnetic fields. The effect of body and…
Abstract
Purpose
Since first small personal exposimeters became available, some studies have characterized personal exposition to radio frequency electromagnetic fields. The effect of body and relative position of the exposimeter have been also analyzed but some questions are still unanswered. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using three personal exposimeters in four different subjects, the authors characterized and compared measurements in a controlled experiment.
Findings
The authors found statistically significance differences between exposimeters and subjects due to relative position (right and left) and a control position far from the body (center). It should indicate that body and relative position of the exposimeter affect directly to the measurement, conditioning final and average results.
Research limitations/implications
Measurements using personal exposimeters have to be reconsidered and controlled.
Originality/value
The authors test personal exposimeters limitations in real conditions.
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