Ya-Hui Kuo, Pei-Chiang Wu and Sun Young Ahn
The purpose of this study was to develop a synthesized retail brand personality scale (RBPS) framework across retail formats. This research also addresses cultural differences by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to develop a synthesized retail brand personality scale (RBPS) framework across retail formats. This research also addresses cultural differences by applying an emic-etic approach to scale development with United States (US) and Taiwanese samples.
Design/methodology/approach
After two focus group interviews and a pretest were conducted in both Taiwan and the US, a main test was conducted on consumer samples in Taiwan (N = 412) and in the US (N = 411). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to develop a valid, reliable RBPS.
Findings
The results revealed that sincerity and sophistication are comparable dimensions to those in the brand personality scale (BPS), and unpleasantness, traditionalism, enthusiasm, antagonism and innovativeness were found to be unique dimensions for retail brands. The findings also indicated that sincerity, unpleasantness and traditionalism are common dimensions across cultures, whereas innovativeness, sophistication and antagonism are culture-specific dimensions in the US, whereas enthusiasm is a specific dimension in Taiwan.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to develop a synthesized scale of retail brand personality that compares the identified dimensions to Aaker's (1997) BPS and includes an emic-etic approach. This research contributes to the branding literature and international marketing field, and has implications for retail practitioners.
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Mauricio Palmeira, Minjung Koo and Hyun-Ah Sung
This paper aims to examine how observers evaluate a company that provides service failure (or excellence) to an immoral versus a moral customer. This study introduces the concept…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how observers evaluate a company that provides service failure (or excellence) to an immoral versus a moral customer. This study introduces the concept of deservingness to the service literature and suggests that observers appreciate when a company delivers “justice” – either bad service to an immoral customer or good service to a moral customer – and thus evaluate the company more favorably.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents three online studies using scenarios (ns = 205, 199 and 181) and one lab study (n = 89) using a confederate to manipulate customer morality.
Findings
Across four studies, this study finds that a service failure has a less negative impact on observers’ company evaluations when observers consider the target customer immoral, and thus deserving of the bad outcome. Conversely, the positive impact of observing service excellence is enhanced when observers consider the target customer to be moral, and thus deserving of a good outcome. This effect occurs because the perception of deservingness leads observers to experience more positive feelings about the service outcome and these positive feelings transfer over to observers’ evaluations of the service provider.
Research limitations/implications
The mechanism shares some similarities with the concept of immanent justice reasoning, whereby individuals draw a causal link between someone’s prior immoral behavior and an unrelated negative outcome. However, the studies go one step further by showing that such causal reasoning, at least on a moral level, can impact the judgments of the other party (in this case, the company involved in the service outcome).
Practical implications
Service providers need to be particularly attentive when serving customers who are viewed in a positive light, as an observed failure that affects a moral customer can be particularly damaging to company evaluations. Conversely, companies should make efforts to publicize when exceptional service is given to nice, admirable customers, as this is particularly effective at improving evaluations.
Originality/value
Researchers have examined how allocations of responsibility affect observers' evaluation of service encounters. This paper adds deservingness as an alternate mechanism and examines service excellence as well.
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Marta Maria Ugolini, Fabio Cassia and Vania Vigolo
The purpose of this paper is to verify whether gender traits of brand personality (masculinity vs femininity) are able to differentiate services brands belonging to the same…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to verify whether gender traits of brand personality (masculinity vs femininity) are able to differentiate services brands belonging to the same service industry. Second, this paper intends to assess the validity of Grohmann's scale (that measures the masculine and the feminine dimensions of brand personality) among Italian consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical research was conducted on a sample of 200 consumers. Participants were asked to rate their perceptions of the masculinity vs femininity dimensions of four different service brands (two brands of food retailers and two brands of airlines).
Findings
The findings show that Grohmann's scale reaches high levels of validity in the Italian context, as well and that femininity and masculinity measured by that scale are able to register differences in services brand positioning for brands belonging to the same service industry.
Research limitations/implications
The services category includes very heterogeneous services with different degrees of interaction and consumer's involvement. Further studies are needed to isolate the impact of the perceived MBP and FBP associated either with the service industry/category or with the specific brand.
Practical implications
Marketing managers can actively try to influence consumer's perceptions of FBP and MBP through the brand logo colors, brands slogans, masculine or feminine spokespeople, etc. to obtain their desired positioning.
Originality/value
The paper is the first to specifically study brand personality's gender dimensions within services environments. The paper also supports the validity of Grohmann's scale outside the German context.
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Abstract
School uniform is regarded as children’s daily wear, which is restricted to wear for more than 5 times per week. However, available information shows that some parents and children are not satisfied with the existing school uniforms. Therefore, it is meaningful and valuable to investigate this area. From the existing information, it shows that people are dissatisfied with the existing school uniforms. It is because they are not suitable for children's physical and psychological development. Therefore, improvements in school uniforms are needed. Information on new design of school uniform was obtained through literature review, observation, interview and questionnaire surveys. Finally, new school uniforms were designed based on child development.
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Chang Soo Sung and Joo Yeon Park
This study aims to understand the benefits and challenges associated with the adoption of a blockchain-based identity management system in public services by conducting an…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the benefits and challenges associated with the adoption of a blockchain-based identity management system in public services by conducting an academic literature review, and to explore the design of such a system that can be applied to the Korean government.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores the adoption of a blockchain-based identity management system using a literature review and an actual design case intended for use by the government sector.
Findings
Blockchain-based identity management systems can significantly improve transparency, accountability, and reliability in the user control of one's own data while reducing the time and cost needed to deliver public services, as well as increasing administrative efficiency. However, it is not always easy to implement such systems, and introducing new technologies in the government field requires a complicated, time-consuming process. There is currently an appetite for research extending beyond the typical technology-driven approach to elucidate the government adoption of new technologies and explore its implications.
Practical implications
The idea behind this system is that by storing and managing personal information on the blockchain and providing mobile apps to customers, users can log in or retrieve previously authenticated personal information without having to go through an authentication process. Since users do not need to go through the verification process every time, it is expected that they will be able to access only the necessary personal information more quickly and conveniently without having to deal with unnecessary details. In addition, the blockchain-based operation of a public service effectively increases the transparency and reliability of that service and reduces the social costs caused by personal information leakage.
Originality/value
This study introduces the design of a blockchain-based identity management system that can be used in public services, specifically in the Korean government sector for the first time. Along with a literature review, the implications that this study gleans from these real-world use cases can contribute to this field of research.
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Piyaporn Auemsuvarn and Piya Ngamcharoenmongkol
This study aims to empirically develop a new destination personality scale (DPS) for Thailand.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to empirically develop a new destination personality scale (DPS) for Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach
To fill the previous gaps in the existing literature, this research study used a more concise destination personality definition consisting of human personality traits only, a variety of more than 100 destination stimuli covering 12 categories of tourist destinations including many urban cities across the country, a mix of sample groups (domestic and international tourists) that proportionally represent tourist population visiting the country and mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approaches.
Findings
The results revealed that the new scale consists of seven personality dimensions representing eastern cultures: traditionalism, kindness, excitement, easygoingness, liveliness, trendiness and charm. The results also showed that the scale is valid and reliable.
Research limitations/implications
First, data was collected using a cross-sectional survey method, so the results are limited to a specific period of time. Thus, longitudinal studies are recommended to enhance the validity and reliability of the scale. Second, destination stimuli used in this scale covered both urban cities and rural areas across the country. Thus, further studies should compare between destination personality dimensions resulting from urban cities as stimuli and those from rural areas.
Practical implications
City tourism marketers can use this scale as a valid tool for measuring destination personalities in urban cities of the country and checking whether such personalities are consistent with what is intended.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first attempt to develop the Thailand Destination Personality Scale (TDPS).
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Ragini Bhati and Harsh V. Verma
The purpose of this paper is to find out the antecedents of customer brand advocacy (CBA) on the basis of synthesis of the CBA literature. A summarisation of the results of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find out the antecedents of customer brand advocacy (CBA) on the basis of synthesis of the CBA literature. A summarisation of the results of the empirical CBA studies containing CBA as a measured variable is carried out. The antecedents’ strengths of association with CBA are compared.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature is synthesised using the technique of meta-analysis (Hedges and Olkin, 1985). A total of 63 empirical research papers containing 66 data sets, published between 1988 and 2019, are analysed. For each antecedent – CBA relationship, the statistics calculated include point estimate of the reliability adjusted correlation coefficient (ρ), 95% confidence interval of the computed effect size, Cochran’s Q statistic and fail safe-N. The effect of study context as a possible moderator is assessed.
Findings
The major antecedents of CBA, identified in the study, are categorised into personal factor (opinion leadership), relational factors (brand trust, customer satisfaction, brand identification, customer-based brand equity, affective commitment and normative commitment) and social factor (normative influence). Significant heterogeneity was found across studies for the paired relationships, pointing towards the presence of theoretical and/or methodological moderators.
Originality/value
The nascent CBA literature reports mixed findings. This creates confusion. This synthesis study contributes to the present body of knowledge of the concept of CBA. It is the only study that uses the technique of meta-analysis to the CBA literature.
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Eman Abo ElHamd, Hamed Shamma, Mohamed Saleh and Ehab Elkhodary
The purpose of this paper is to close the gap between the theoretical nature of existing contributions in customer engagement value (CEV) and its need to practically empower…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to close the gap between the theoretical nature of existing contributions in customer engagement value (CEV) and its need to practically empower business decisions. This is done by proposing a framework that consists of three techniques, each of which combines the components of CEV to make it more comprehensive and applicable. The paper also reviews and analyzes the work that has been done so far in the area of CEV whether in business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) or consumer to consumer (C2C) markets.
Design/methodology/approach
CEV is a comprehensive term that measures the total value of the customer through capturing his transactional and non-transactional behaviors. Hence, it is an essential term for measuring the value of the customer in direct marketing. This motivates researchers to compete in developing models to maximize CEV. Meanwhile, most of the existing models are conceptual and the majority of them lack applicability due to many reasons. First, these models relied on a linear version of the CEV model, hence double-counting the value of the customer; also they weighted the components of CEV equally, which is unrealistic. Finally, the effect of the environmental components in determining the engagement level of each customer was almost ignored. In this paper, two main contributions are presented. First, a summary and analysis of the contributions of the literature in the CEV field for different market types whether in B2C, B2B or C2C. Furthermore, three modifications are added to the existing models. The first model introduces a non-linear relationship of the components of CEV. The second model is a weighted linear model of these components. Finally, the third model adds the environmental factors to the CEV components. All the proposed models are theoretical in nature, however, these models are expected to show superiority when being applied to real data sets due to their ability to capture the complexity in the relationship between the firm and its customers in real-life situations. The proposed models are expected to attract the practitioners and other researchers and they both are encouraged to apply the proposed models on real-life data sets, test their performance, compare them against each other, to be able to apply each of them on the best suitable data set and business scenario.
Findings
Based on the review and analysis that has been done on about 87 papers, it is found that the majority of the contributions that have been done in the area of CEV are theoretical in nature, in spite of the effectiveness of CEV in empowering business decision. It is also found that few researchers proposed a set of theoretical comprehensive frameworks that combined CEV’s components together. Meanwhile, those frameworks are not practically applicable.
Research limitations/implications
Although the contribution of the proposed models expected to attract both researchers and practitioners, these are not applied to real-life case studies to prove their effectiveness.
Practical implications
The research in this paper has many industrial and managerial implications. First, it helps managers and decision takers to treat the customers as assets and cost-free resources who can work with the firm to achieve what’s both aims to (i.e. increase customer satisfaction and firm’s profitability). Second, it helps the firm to determine the total value of each customer and treat its customers accordingly. Third, it empowers the managers to do target marketing, based on grouping the customers upon their total engagement. This would save time and cost and for sure increase the profitability and customer satisfaction. Forth, the proposed models take into consideration not only the transactional behavior of the customers but also the non-transactional factors that play a significant role in formulating the relationship between the firm and its customers.
Originality/value
This is hereby to certify that the paper is original, neither the paper nor a part of it is under consideration for publication anywhere else. Also, this study has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
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- Marketing
- Data analysis
- Decision-making
- Modeling
- Decision analysis
- Mathematical programming
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Customer engagement value (CEV)
- Customer lifetime value (CLV)
- Customer referral value (CRV)
- Customer influencer value (CIV)
- Customer knowledge value (CKV)
- Business to consumer (B2C)
- Business to business (B2B)
- Consumer to consumer (C2C)