Brandon Gustafson, Nadia Pomirleanu and Babu John-Mariadoss
The COVID pandemic has prompted B2B and industrial marketing scholars to understand more about how external disruptions impact parties involved in B2B transactions. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID pandemic has prompted B2B and industrial marketing scholars to understand more about how external disruptions impact parties involved in B2B transactions. This paper aims to adopt an ecosystem perspective to conceptually classify the interactions between actors involved in B2B ecosystems.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper presents a framework across multiple levels of ecosystem interactions (at micro, meso and macrolevels) to illustrate how value cocreation and knowledge flows (as mechanisms underlying B2B relationships) are related to firm performance.
Findings
Based on this framework, this paper offers propositions and several research questions about the effects of disruptions and how they propagate among these essential business ecosystem elements.
Originality/value
This conceptual framework underscores the vital role of relationships and interactions in shaping B2B ecosystems, especially during disruptive periods. With a greater understanding of how these interactions operate across levels (micro, meso and macro), scholars and practitioners may be better able to navigate disruptive periods.
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Babu John-Mariadoss, Nadia Pomirleanu, Pavan R. Chennamaneni, Rajani Ganesh Pillai and Suhaiza Zailani
The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive effects of a firm’s strategic sustainability orientation (SSO) and customer relationship capital (CRC) on sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive effects of a firm’s strategic sustainability orientation (SSO) and customer relationship capital (CRC) on sustainable product design practices (SPDP).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine the interactive effects of two firm resources, namely, SSO and CRC, as they relate to SPDP, using survey data from 132 manufacturers in Malaysia.
Findings
The findings show that the effect of SSO on SPDP is stronger when CRC is low, than otherwise. The authors also find that the interactive effects of the firm-level resources stated above are stronger when customer pressures (CPs) are higher than when they are low.
Research limitations/implications
The authors contribute to the literature by studying the effects of firm-level strategic resources and their interactions as they relate to SPDP. An important limitation of this research is the usage of single-source data and single-period data.
Practical implications
Managerially, this research provides new insights into how organizations should respond to CPs while understanding the counterintuitive but disabling effects of customer relationship assets.
Social implications
The findings are important to society because most of the environmental impact arising from the production, consumption and disposal of products is a direct consequence of decisions made at the product design stage and an unintended consequence of the marketing decision-making processes that underlie marketing strategy formulation that fails to recognize ecosystems impact as a standard decision influence.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to study the effects of firm-level strategic resources and their interactions as they relate to SPDP.
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Nadia Pomirleanu, Pavan Rao Chennamaneni, Babu John-Mariadoss and John A. Schibrowsky
This study evaluates the factors related to the creation of a human brand in the brand inception stage.
Abstract
Purpose
This study evaluates the factors related to the creation of a human brand in the brand inception stage.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing content analysis of expert reviews, we establish the role played by valence (positiveness), depth (number of statements) and timing of subjective and objective critical reviews for human brands. To address these issues, we employ generalized estimating equations to model numerical ratings of celebrity reviews evaluating a nascent human brand.
Findings
The findings show that subjective reviews have the potential to influence the probability of survival of a human brand in the brand inception period, are increasingly consequential during the inception period stages and are more influential than objective reviews. We also found that the valence of objective reviews can negatively and significantly relate to human brands in their late inception stage.
Originality/value
This is the first research to demonstrate the importance of critical reviews in building human brands, with a focus on the first moment of a brand's inception. More importantly, this research enriches our understanding of the larger process of personal brand building as it may emerge over time.
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Na Su, Babu John Mariadoss and Dennis Reynolds
Based on persuasion theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between four types of interactive consumer activities (viewing, liking, sharing and commenting…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on persuasion theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between four types of interactive consumer activities (viewing, liking, sharing and commenting) on hotel brand social networking sites (SNSs) and their cognitive and emotional responses to understand the psychological states underlying such actions and assess their influence on brand attitude and the brand–consumer relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administrated using an online platform. Participants who had been following a hotel brand on any of its SNSs were screened to fill out the questionnaire. Eventually, 226 valid responses were collected and analyzed using structure equation modeling.
Findings
The findings suggest that although both emotional and cognitive involvement can enhance a consumer’s hotel brand attitude, cognitive involvement is associated with a slightly stronger effect in the context of SNSs. Three of the four interactive actions – viewing, liking and sharing – were found to be positively associated with emotional involvement, but only two actions – viewing and liking – were found to be positively related to cognitive involvement. No connection was identified for commenting.
Practical implications
The study suggests that practitioners should turn their attention to the emotional and cognitive responses their SNSs provoke in consumers, rather than simply on the number of likes, shares and comments they induce.
Originality/value
A recent research trend indicates widespread interest in the button functions offered by SNSs (such as “like,” “share” and “comment”) and many studies have tested means of stimulating such physical actions. This study is one of the few to explore the psychological states behind such actions and assess their influence on brand attitude and the self-brand connection.
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Yuan Wen, Babu John-Mariadoss, U.N. Umesh, Alberto Sa Vinhas and Daniel Kuzmich
This study aims to investigate the effect of stock repurchase – firms buying back their own stocks – on firm performance, focusing specifically on the role of marketing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effect of stock repurchase – firms buying back their own stocks – on firm performance, focusing specifically on the role of marketing capability. The authors also investigate the moderating influence of competitive intensity on this effect. This research sheds light on how marketing capability explains the negative effect of stock repurchase on firm performance, and how this effect varies in different competitive intensity environments.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test their hypotheses using US firm-level longitudinal data collected from a sample set of firms obtained from the Compustat database for the 1989–2015 period. The authors specify a panel data regression model to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The authors find that adoption of stock repurchase ultimately results in a decrease in firm performance, through a decrease in marketing capability. The authors also find that the indirect effect of stock repurchase on firm performance is moderated by firm competitive intensity, such that at higher levels of competitive intensity, the negative relationship between stock repurchase and marketing capability will become amplified and at lower levels of competitive intensity, the negative relationship between stock repurchase and marketing capability will get attenuated.
Research limitations/implications
This study indicates that the risk from stock repurchase is the diversion of funds from other beneficial activities such as marketing budgets, leading to lowered marketing capability.
Practical implications
This study's results will help managers improve their understanding of the dark side of the stock repurchase strategy and help take corrective action.
Originality/value
The present study empirically tests the effects of stock repurchase on marketing capability and firm performance.
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Brian N. Rutherford, Nathaniel Hartmann, Nwamaka Anaza and Scott C. Ambrose
Imran Ali, Ismail Golgeci, David Gligor and Ahmad Arslan
While prosocial motives are found to be conducive to unique manager behaviors, the literature lacks empirical evidence on the relationships between prosocial motives and managers’…
Abstract
Purpose
While prosocial motives are found to be conducive to unique manager behaviors, the literature lacks empirical evidence on the relationships between prosocial motives and managers’ willingness to engage in environmental and social innovation (ESI) in business-to-business (B2B) firms and the boundary conditions that shape these relationships. This research endeavors to unlock the potential of prosocial motives in fostering ESI, while investigating the mediating roles of creativity-relevant skills and the moderating influence of business moral values.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a quantitative survey approach, we gathered insights from 242 managers within Australia’s food and beverage industry. The authors tested their hypotheses by adopting a covariance-based structural equation modeling approach.
Findings
First, prosocial motives drive the ESI behaviors of managers in B2B firms. Second, creativity-relevant skills act as the critical bridge connecting prosocial motives with ESI within the realm of B2B firms. Third, business moral values emerge as potent moderating, positively influencing the relationship between prosocial motives and “managers’ willingness to engage in social innovation” within B2B firms.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study examining the relationship between prosocial motives and social and environmental innovation and how this relationship is influenced by creative-relevant skills and business moral values.
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James W Peltier, Andrew J Dahl, Lauren Drury and Tracy Khan
Conceptual and empirical research over the past 20 years has moved the social media (SM) literature beyond the embryotic stage to a well-developed academic discipline. As the lead…
Abstract
Purpose
Conceptual and empirical research over the past 20 years has moved the social media (SM) literature beyond the embryotic stage to a well-developed academic discipline. As the lead article in the special issue in the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing on Cutting-Edge Research in Social Media and Interactive Marketing, this review and agenda article has two key goals: (1) to review key SM and interactive marketing research over the past three years and (2) to identify the next wave of high priority challenges and research opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the “cutting-edge” research focus of the special issue, this review and research agenda paper focused on articles published in 25 key marketing journals between January 2021 and March 2024. Initially, the search request was for articles with “social media, social selling, social commerce” located in the article title, author-selected key words and journal-selected keywords. Later, we conducted searches based on terminology from articles presented in the final review. In total, over 1,000 articles were reviewed across the 25 journals, plus additional ones that were cited in those journals that were not on the initial list.
Findings
Our review uncovered eight key content areas: (1) data sources, methodology and scale development; (2) emergent SM technologies; (3) artificial intelligence; (4) virtual reality; (5) sales and sales management; (6) consumer welfare; (7) influencer marketing; and (8) social commerce. Table I provides a summer of key articles and research findings for each of the content areas.
Originality/value
As a literature review and research agenda article, this paper is one of the most extensive to date on SM marketing, and particularly with regard to emergent research over the past three years. Recommendations for future research are integrated through the paper and summarized in Figure 2.
Social implications
Consumer welfare is one of the eight emergent content areas uncovered in the literature review. Specific focus is on SM privacy, misinformation, mental health and misbehavior.
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Niloofar Fallahi Daryakenari, Mohammad Reza Jalilvand and Seyed Mohammadbagher Jafari
Running advertising campaigns and attracting the traffic, as well as collecting information from users who have entered the website once, provides the conditions to perform…
Abstract
Purpose
Running advertising campaigns and attracting the traffic, as well as collecting information from users who have entered the website once, provides the conditions to perform retargeting campaigns and consequently increases website visit rates and sales. The purpose of this research is to design a roadmap of retargeting campaign for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as to compare normal and retargeting advertising campaigns in order to confirm the effectiveness of retargeting campaigns.
Design/methodology/approach
A single-case-study strategy was adopted by choosing advertising Company-X to design the roadmap of retargeting campaigns and evaluate its effectiveness. Using a purposive sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 experts of advertising Company-X. Furthermore, the documents and reports available in the company were also analyzed. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the interviews and documents. Next, a one-way ANOVA test and a two-sample t-test were used to measure the effectiveness of retargeting campaigns of the Company-X compared to normal campaigns with secondary data of 22 SMEs for a six-month period.
Findings
The qualitative phase led to the presentation of a roadmap for the retargeting campaigns in three stages: preparation, process and implementation. The results of the quantitative phase revealed that the ratio of clicks to impressions (click-through rate) and the ratio of successful purchase tags to clicks (conversion rate) are much higher in the retargeting product campaign. Therefore, the performance of selected SMEs as an example in the product retargeting campaign was better than that of the non-retargeting campaigns. Also, the ratio of cost to the successful purchase tag was higher for the product retargeting campaigns.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature of retargeting. First, this study provides SMEs with a successful roadmap for retargeting campaigns. Second, this research reveals the effectiveness and mechanism of retargeting for SMEs.
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This study consolidates the current state of knowledge in customer experience (CX) research by examining literature published over last 20 years (2003–2022). The purpose is to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study consolidates the current state of knowledge in customer experience (CX) research by examining literature published over last 20 years (2003–2022). The purpose is to create a holistic snapshot through synthesis of extant CX research; and thereafter, leverage the snapshot to generate directions for future inquiry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses systematic literature review (SLR) using SPAR-4-SLR protocol to generate a set of 277 articles. We follow it up with scientometric analysis techniques of bibliographic coupling and betweenness centrality measurement. Finally, to extract topics from the full-text content of sampled articles, we carry out topic modelling using BERTopic.
Findings
The study unearths following insights: (1) the predominant underlying topics in extant CX research are: service experience, store brand marketing, mall and online shopping, fun and luxury marketing, brand equity and loyalty artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR); (2) bibliographic coupling suggests existence of six clusters in CX research. The study also showcases the nucleus of CX research, flagship research, major publication outlets and representative studies for each extracted topic.
Research limitations/implications
The paper introduces BERTopic to marketing scholars as a novel method of executing topic modelling and thereby, unearthing latent insights.
Originality/value
The study expands the body of knowledge on CX by applying three complementary analytical approaches: SLR, scientometric analysis and topic modelling using BERTopic.