Anupama Sukhu, Soobin Seo, Robert Scharff and Blair Kidwell
This services marketing research provides a theoretical framework for experiential and relationship marketing and extends the theory of transcendent customer experience (TCE)…
Abstract
Purpose
This services marketing research provides a theoretical framework for experiential and relationship marketing and extends the theory of transcendent customer experience (TCE). Specifically, this paper aims to identify how the drivers (emotional intelligence [EI]), outcomes (customer loyalty, willingness to pay and word of mouth [WOM] intentions) and influences (openness to experience) of TCE are integrated. The research contributes to the theoretical debate regarding ability-based and self-reported EI measures by examining their influence on TCE.
Design/methodology/approach
Students and general consumers provided data through structured online surveys in three survey-based experiments. Linear and multiple regressions, mediation analyses and simple effects tests were used for data analysis.
Findings
Findings suggest that self-reported and ability-based measures of EI influence TCE differently. Participants who had high self-reported EI evaluated positive service encounters as more transcendent than they evaluated negative service encounters. Participants who had high ability-based EI evaluated positive service encounters as less transcendent than they evaluated negative service encounters. TCE experiences evoked higher loyalty, willingness to pay (WTP) and WOM recommendations. Furthermore, dispositional factors were significant in forming TCE: participants who were highly open to experience and had high ability-based EI interpreted their service encounter as less transcendent than did participants who were more closed to experience and had low ability-based EI.
Research limitations/implications
TCE, a relatively new concept, offers theoretical advancement in context and constructs. The student-provided data gave high internal validity; the general consumer-provided data gave external validity. Ideally, a future field study in an actual consumption setting should replicate the findings. A self-reported questionnaire used to measure constructs may have introduced common method variance that biased the results.
Practical implications
By understanding that EI affects perceptions of transcendence in positive/negative service encounters, marketers can better implement consumer-oriented marketing strategies that will enhance TCE, customer loyalty, WTP and WOM.
Originality/value
Despite considerable research in experiential and relationship marketing, room remains for theoretical and practical enhancement in the under-researched concept of TCE. This research is the first attempt to extend TCE theory to marketing by identifying the drivers, outcomes and moderators of TCE in service encounters. The research also provides theoretical advancement in EI research. The results contradict previous research claiming that ability-based and self-reported measures are equally valid. Instead, using the two EI scales interchangeably leads to potentially different outcomes.
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Diego Alvarado-Karste and Blair Kidwell
This study aims to demonstrate that feelings of resentment, fueled by perceptions of injustice, underlie the formation of rivalries. Further, this study analyzes how consumers…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to demonstrate that feelings of resentment, fueled by perceptions of injustice, underlie the formation of rivalries. Further, this study analyzes how consumers evaluate the two brands that participate in a rivalry relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The research uses four experiments. Study 1 uses two conditions to test whether injustice predicts inter-personal rivalries through resentment. Study 2 uses a one-factor design with three levels (resentment vs contempt vs control) to examine the underlying mechanism of resentment on the formation of a rivalry. Study 3 analyzes the effect of brand rivalries on consumers’ brand attitudes. Study 4 uses a 2 (Temporal-focus: past vs future) × 2 (competitive relationship: resentment vs control) between-subjects experimental design, to test the moderating effects of temporal-focus on consumer brand rivalry perceptions. This experiment replicates the effects of brand rivalries on consumer brand attitudes.
Findings
Rivalries have an essential emotional component – resentment – that is fueled by injustice and leads consumers to form more favorable attitudes toward the brand that consumers perceive is treated unfairly (target brand) and more unfavorable attitudes toward the brand that is perceived to treat the other brand unfairly (the rival brand). A future-focused mindset attenuates consumer perceptions of brand rivalries, whereas a past-focused mindset enhances these effects.
Originality/value
Prior research has failed to identify the emotional components of rivalries and their effects on consumer choices. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that reveals how attitudes change when consumers are exposed to a brand rivalry.
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James R. Brown, Scott K. Weaven, Rajiv P Dant and Jody L Crosno
The aim of this study is to explore possible contingent variables that might explain these twin contradictory effects of marketing channel governance. Franchisors govern their…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to explore possible contingent variables that might explain these twin contradictory effects of marketing channel governance. Franchisors govern their systems to limit opportunism and enhance performance. However, the exact opposite often occurs.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper develops an integrative conceptual model of franchisor governance of its franchisees. This model is tested empirically with data collected from 197 Australian franchisees.
Findings
Under strong relational norms, goal congruence and outcome monitoring limit franchisee opportunism; compliance enhances franchisee performance, while opportunism reduces it. With weaker norms, outcome monitoring facilitates compliance, and goal congruence boosts franchisee performance, as does franchisee opportunism. However, norms fail to mitigate behavioral monitoring’s negative impact on opportunism.
Research limitations/implications
This research confirms the positive and negative effects of franchisor governance. It also shows that norms can reverse the positive link between franchisee opportunism and performance. It additionally illustrates how goal congruence and compliance can limit opportunism and boost performance. Future research should refine this study’s measures, incorporate additional constructs into the conceptual model and test the generalizability of these findings in lesser-developed economies.
Practical implications
This research shows that monitoring has both positive and negative effects on franchisee opportunism and performance. To avoid monitoring’s adverse effects, franchisors are advised to enhance goal congruence, boost franchisee compliance and develop strong relational norms.
Originality/value
This paper shows that goal congruence, as well as franchisor outcome monitoring, can mitigate the negative effects of franchisor behavioral monitoring on franchisee opportunism, as do relational norms.
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Sridhar Samu, Preeti Krishnan Lyndem and Reginald A. Litz
Retailer brand communities exist between a franchisor brand and individual retailers, with retailer‐based brand equity and brand‐building activities being key drivers of their…
Abstract
Purpose
Retailer brand communities exist between a franchisor brand and individual retailers, with retailer‐based brand equity and brand‐building activities being key drivers of their success. This paper aims to introduce retailer‐based brand equity and examine its relationship with brand‐building activities and retailer brand community.
Design/methodology/approach
Individual stores in a variable format franchise from the retail hardware industry were studied at annual conventions in two North American cities. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and regression.
Findings
Results show that retailer‐based brand equity mediates the relationship between brand‐building activities and brand community identification and demonstrates the importance of branding in retailing contexts. The franchisee's continuation as part of the retailer brand community is influenced by the retailer‐based brand equity, with increased identification leading to increased purchase and higher performance.
Research limitations/implications
The practical demands of the field study constrained the ability to examine other issues relevant to this research. There is also need to develop and refine further the items that measure the relationships.
Practical implications
Increased brand‐building activities do not automatically translate into higher commitment by franchisees, and franchisors need to increase the value of the brand. Engaging the franchisee as a member of the brand community has important outcomes for both parties. While franchisor brands benefit through increased sales, franchisees benefit through increased profit.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that has applied brand community principles to understand the franchisor‐franchisee relationship. The results from a field study have important implications for both brand building and franchising areas.
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Hendrik Slabbinck and Adriaan Spruyt
The idea that a significant portion of what consumers do, feel, and think is driven by automatic (or “implicit”) cognitive processes has sparked a wave of interest in the…
Abstract
The idea that a significant portion of what consumers do, feel, and think is driven by automatic (or “implicit”) cognitive processes has sparked a wave of interest in the development of assessment tools that (attempt to) capture cognitive processes under automaticity conditions (also known as “implicit measures”). However, as more and more implicit measures are developed, it is becoming increasingly difficult for consumer scientists and marketing professionals to select the most appropriate tool for a specific research question. We therefore present a systematic overview of the criteria that can be used to evaluate and compare different implicit measures, including their structural characteristics, the extent to which (and the way in which) they qualify as “implicit,” as well as more practical considerations such as ease of implementation and the user experience of the respondents. As an example, we apply these criteria to four implicit measures that are (or have the potential to become) popular in marketing research (i.e., the implicit association test, the evaluative priming task, the affect misattribution procedure, and the propositional evaluation paradigm).
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate what sort of people become social entrepreneurs, and in what way they differ from business entrepreneurs. More importantly, to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate what sort of people become social entrepreneurs, and in what way they differ from business entrepreneurs. More importantly, to investigate in what socio‐economic context entrepreneurial individuals are more likely to become social than business entrepreneurs. These questions are important for policy because there has been a shift from direct to indirect delivery of many public services in the UK, requiring a professional approach to social enterprise.
Design/methodology/approach
Evidence is presented from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK survey based upon a representative sample of around 21,000 adults aged between 16 and 64 years interviewed in 2009. The authors use logistic multivariate regression techniques to identify differences between business and social entrepreneurs in demographic characteristics, effort, aspiration, use of resources, industry choice, deprivation, and organisational structure.
Findings
The results show that the odds of an early‐stage entrepreneur being a social rather than a business entrepreneur are reduced if they are from an ethnic minority, if they work ten hours or more per week on the venture, and if they have a family business background; while they are increased if they have higher levels of education and if they are a settled in‐migrant to their area. While women social entrepreneurs are more likely than business entrepreneurs to be women, this is due to gender‐based differences in time commitment to the venture. In addition, the more deprived the community they live in, the more likely women entrepreneurs are to be social than business entrepreneurs. However, this does not hold in the most deprived areas where we argue civic society is weakest and therefore not conducive to support any form of entrepreneurial endeavour based on community engagement.
Originality/value
The paper's findings suggest that women may be motivated to become social entrepreneurs by a desire to improve the socio‐economic environment of the community in which they live and see social enterprise creation as an appropriate vehicle with which to address local problems.
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Eleni Tsougkou, Maria Karampela and George Balabanis
The phenomenon of global brands taking a stance on crucial, yet polarizing, socio-political issues, namely global brand activism, is rising. However, how consumer views on this…
Abstract
Purpose
The phenomenon of global brands taking a stance on crucial, yet polarizing, socio-political issues, namely global brand activism, is rising. However, how consumer views on this practice are shaped when global branding elements are factored in remains unclear. Drawing from the functional theory of attitude formation, this study investigates the relationships of consumer characteristics (political ideology, consumer ethnocentrism) and brand factors (global brand attitudes and perceived motivation of global brand activists) with attitudes toward global brand activists.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a survey of a UK nationally representative sample (n = 439), we test our hypothesized model via structural equation modeling and mediation analysis.
Findings
Our findings reveal direct and indirect effects of political ideology on attitudes toward global brand activists (AttGBACTIVs). While consumer ethnocentrism and global brand attitudes do not directly drive AttGBACTIVs, they do influence them indirectly. Perceived motivation of global brand activists emerges as a key mechanism activating these effects and affecting AttGBACTIVs.
Originality/value
First, this study constitutes a novel examination of consumer views of brand activism through a global branding lens. Second, our investigation uniquely combines important determinants of brand activism outcomes with key international marketing factors (namely consumer ethnocentrism and global brand attitudes). Third, the concurrent exploration of individual and brand factors in our mediated model reveals the complex mechanisms through which attitudes toward global brand activists are formed.
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Roger Fullwood and Jennifer Rowley
The purpose of this paper is to construct and investigate relationships between knowledge-sharing factors, attitude and the intention to share of UK academics, as research on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to construct and investigate relationships between knowledge-sharing factors, attitude and the intention to share of UK academics, as research on knowledge sharing in higher education is extremely sparse.
Design/methodology/approach
A research model and hypotheses were constructed from individual and organisational factors that were identified to affect knowledge sharing. Questionnaire data were obtained from 367 academics concerning their attitude and intention towards knowledge sharing. This was then used in a two-stage structural equation modelling approach where the measurement model was used for confirmatory factor analysis. The structural model was used to measure and test the hypothesised relationships.
Findings
Findings indicate that, in general, individual beliefs amongst academics were more influential on their knowledge-sharing attitudes than organisational culture. Furthermore, leadership was the most influential factor within the overall organisational culture whereas autonomy demonstrated the weakest relationship. Belief in the possibility of rewards through associations was found to be a highly significant individual factor. The relationship between attitude and intention was relatively weak although still statistically significant.
Originality/value
The research demonstrates that management should ensure that departmental leaders promote knowledge sharing and that valued rewards are linked to sharing within the department.