Carolina Herrando, Julio Jiménez-Martínez, Maria José Martín-De Hoyos, Kiyoshi Asakawa and Kazuo Yana
Drawing on the three flow-channel model and the stimulus–organism–response model, this research aims to understand how the influence of interactivity on purchase intention is…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the three flow-channel model and the stimulus–organism–response model, this research aims to understand how the influence of interactivity on purchase intention is mediated by the state of flow.
Design/methodology/approach
This research entails a neurophysiological experiment combined with a survey-based study. This study analyzes, first, participants' heart rate variability through the parasympathetic and sympathetic indexes during five different activities, and, second, the mediating effect of flow through a structural equation model.
Findings
This study contributes to research on the role of flow in interactive marketing. The findings reveal that flow state is associated with less stressful activities, such as navigating highly interactive websites and playing online games. This research confirms the mediating effect of flow between interactivity and purchase intention.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to interactive marketing and flow theory by combining traditional methods with a peripheral physiological technique that draws on neuroscience. In addition, it confirms the positive but indirect effect of interactivity on purchase intention in online contexts.
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Carolina Herrando, Julio Jimenez-Martinez and M. Jose Martin De Hoyos
Social commerce websites entail a completely new scenario for sharing experiences and opinions due to its richness in terms of social interactions. Nowadays, users can interact…
Abstract
Purpose
Social commerce websites entail a completely new scenario for sharing experiences and opinions due to its richness in terms of social interactions. Nowadays, users can interact with the company and with other users; hence, it seems important to study how social stimuli affect users. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework and flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose that the social stimulus (named social passion (sPassion)) has a positive effect on the organism (state of flow), which leads to a users’ positive response (via social word of mouth (sWOM)).
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through an online survey in 2015. The sample consists of 771 users of social commerce websites, of which 51 percent are male and 49 percent female, aged between 16 and 80 years old. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data with the statistical software SPSS version 22 and EQS 6.
Findings
The empirical results confirm that passionate users are prone to experience a state of flow and, as a consequence, share positive sWOM.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on customers’ online participation, and the findings are hoped to help companies in developing social commerce websites that boost users’ exchange of information.
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Carolina Herrando, Julio Jimenez-Martinez and M. Jose Martin de Hoyos
Social commerce websites entail a completely new scenario for retaining e-customers due to the richness of their social interactions. Nowadays, users can interact with companies…
Abstract
Purpose
Social commerce websites entail a completely new scenario for retaining e-customers due to the richness of their social interactions. Nowadays, users can interact with companies and with other users; hence, it is considered important to study how social stimuli affect users. Drawing on the Stimulus Organism Response framework and Flow Theory, this paper aims to propose that the social stimulus (sPassion) has a positive effect on the organism (state of flow) causing positive responses from users (flow consciousness, trust and eLoyalty).
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through an online survey. The sample consists of 771 users of social commerce websites, of which 51 per cent are male and 49 per cent female, aged between 16 and 80 years. The structural equation model statistical software EQS 6 was used to test the model.
Findings
The empirical results confirm that passionate users are prone to experience state of flow, and, as a consequence, they are conscious of this optimal experience, resulting in an increase in trust.
Originality/value
The originality of this research stems from analysing how users’ passion on social commerce creates an optimal experience that boost customers’ retention.
Objetivo
Las páginas web de social commerce ofrecen un escenario completamente diferente al estudiado hasta la fecha, favoreciendo la retención de clientes en Internet gracias a la riqueza de las interacciones sociales del medio. En la actualidad los usuarios pueden interactuar tanto con la compañía como con otros usuarios, de ahí que se considere importante estudiar cómo los estímulos sociales afectan a los usuarios. Enmarcado en el modelo SOR (del inglés stimulus, organism, response) y la Teoría del Flujo, este estudio propone que el estímulo social (la pasión en el social commerce) tiene un efecto positivo sobre el organismo (estado de flujo), causando respuestas positivas en los usuarios (consciencia de flujo, confianza y lealtad online).
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Los datos fueron recogidos a través de una encuesta online. La muestra está compuesta por 771 respuestas de usuarios de páginas de social commerce, de los cuales el 51 per cent son hombres y el 49 per cent mujeres, con edades comprendidas entre los 16 y los 80 años. Para testar el modelo se utilizó el software estadístico EQS 6 para modelos de ecuaciones estructurales.
Resultados
Los resultados empíricos confirman que los usuarios más apasionados son más propensos a experimentar el estado de flujo y, como consecuencia, son conscientes más de alcanzar ese estado de experiencia óptima, lo que tiene como resultado un incremento de su confianza en la página web de social commerce.
Originalidad/valor
La originalidad de esta investigación radica en analizar cómo la pasión de los usuarios en entornos de social commerce crea una experiencia óptima que ayuda a retener clientes.
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Carmina Fandos-Herrera, Carolina Herrando, Julio Jiménez Martínez and José Miguel Pina
Traditional teaching strategies are making way for a more collaborative learning style, where students play active roles in their learning process. This work focuses on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Traditional teaching strategies are making way for a more collaborative learning style, where students play active roles in their learning process. This work focuses on the discussant role activity in the market research subject in a business administration bachelor's degree as a way of empowering students' role. The discussant activity fosters critical thinking and debate between classmates while also encouraging communication and relational skills.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on expectation-disconfirmation theory, this study analysed students' expectations and perceptions before and after the discussant activity. Data were collected through two surveys carried out in class at the beginning and at the end of the course.
Findings
The empirical findings show that interactions in the classroom during the activity contribute to students' final evaluation of the activity and positively affect cross-curricular and subjective learning performance.
Originality/value
Activities that recreate real-life experiences help students in the acquisition of certain key competencies related to their future inclusion in the labour market.
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Elena Fraj-Andrés, Carolina Herrando, Laura Lucia-Palacios and Raúl Pérez-López
Because food waste is a serious problem today, society is currently aiming for more responsible consumption to minimize it, as defined in the 12th goal of the United Nations…
Abstract
Purpose
Because food waste is a serious problem today, society is currently aiming for more responsible consumption to minimize it, as defined in the 12th goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to examine whether an informative initiative can help to raise university students’ awareness of food waste consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
The initiative consisted of explaining the problem of food waste to students of two marketing subject modules within economics and business administration degrees and asking them to participate in an activity in which they analyzed their own behavior. To assess its impact, two questionnaires about the students’ food waste behaviors were administered, before and after the initiative, adopting an experimental design.
Findings
The results show that the information and awareness activities were successful, because, after the initiative, the students were more aware about the food waste problem and its consequences and were more critical of their behavior regarding the management of leftovers at home.
Research limitations/implications
Despite some circumstances under which the study was conducted (the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown), the practical and social implications are relevant.
Practical implications
This study offers some interesting practical implications for educational institutions that want to inform and train students in more responsible consumption behavior. It shows that an initiative in which students are involved, like collecting data about food waste, in their homes with a diary, and informative sessions can be useful to increase students’ awareness of food waste to behave in a more sustainable way.
Social implications
These findings may be of interest to academics for designing initiatives that try to train and educate young people in making more responsible personal and professional decisions.
Originality/value
This study analyzes the impact of an awareness-raising initiative about food waste in higher education, which is a relatively neglected topic in the literature.
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Carolina Herrando, Julio Jimenez-Martinez and M.J. Martin-De Hoyos
The proliferation of social commerce websites has allowed consumers to share and exchange information, experiences, advice and opinions. Recently, information provided by users…
Abstract
Purpose
The proliferation of social commerce websites has allowed consumers to share and exchange information, experiences, advice and opinions. Recently, information provided by users has been considered more trustworthy than the information shared by companies. However, the way in which users interact with technology can vary with age, and generational cohorts show different shopping behaviors, interests and attitudes. Hence, the way users process information (user-generated vs company-generated) can affect trust differently. Drawing on the trust transfer theory and the generational cohort theory, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects on user- and company-generated information in boosting trust of three different cohorts (Generation X, Y and Z).
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through an online survey. The sample comprised 715 users of social commerce websites, aged between 16 and 55 years old. The study was analyzed using partial least squares with the statistical software Smart PLS 3.
Findings
The empirical results show that generational cohorts show different patterns. Generation X transfers trust to social commerce websites mainly from trust in information generated by companies, while Generation Z transfers trust mainly from information generated by users. Finally, Generation Y, in contrast to previous findings about millennials, develops trust based on company-generated information to an even greater extent than does Generation X.
Originality/value
The originality of this study lies in its analysis of generational differences when it comes to trusting one type of information over another. This study contributes to the idea that users cannot be considered as a whole but must be segmented into generational cohorts.
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Elena Fraj-Andrés, Carolina Herrando, Laura Lucia-Palacios and Raúl Pérez-López
This study aims to find the most relevant variables for understanding the gap between intention and behaviour in relation to food waste reduction among young consumers, providing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to find the most relevant variables for understanding the gap between intention and behaviour in relation to food waste reduction among young consumers, providing a theoretical framework that reveals what theories can explain this gap.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative analysis based on two focus groups with participants aged 18–35 was developed to examine young consumers' intention–behaviour gap.
Findings
The results suggest that a combination of variables from different theories (the theory of planned behaviour, social practice theory and value-belief-norm theory) can better explain the gap, and that other variables such as emotions, price consciousness and situational factors should also be taken into consideration. The authors also find that although some situational variables tend to reduce the gap, some specific situations do the opposite.
Originality/value
The results offer a conceptual model that combines variables from diverse theoretical streams with the aim of understanding food waste among young consumers holistically, and identify new variables that had not been considered by previous research.
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Sara Lewis Hood, Kristin Anne Thoney-Barletta and Lori Rothenberg
This study explored the role that Instagram, a prominent social media platform, plays in the consumer decision-making process of young adults (age 18–27 years) in the United…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explored the role that Instagram, a prominent social media platform, plays in the consumer decision-making process of young adults (age 18–27 years) in the United States as they shop online for apparel and interact with the digital profiles of apparel brands. Specifically, this study compared consumers' purchase and post-purchase evaluation behaviors on Instagram between Millennials and Generation Z, and investigated the role of consumers' trust of Instagram on these behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey instrument was developed to explore critical variables, including consumers' purchase and post-purchase evaluation behaviors on Instagram, consumers' trust of Instagram, and demographic factors, adapting previous works from Ko (2018), Djafarova and Rushworth (2017), and Herrando et al. (2019). Survey responses were collected via the Qualtrics participant panel service (N = 226), then coded and analyzed using JMP Pro (Version 14.2).
Findings
Results indicated that statistically significant mean differences were present among several key variables, including between Millennial and Generation Z post-purchase behaviors on Instagram, willingness to share feedback about a brand experience on Instagram, and trust of content on Instagram. Additionally, it was determined that purchase and post-purchase behaviors on Instagram are significantly different depending on whether or not a consumer trusts Instagram and the content therein.
Originality/value
While online consumer behaviors have been previously studied, the impact of young adults' Instagram usage on their purchase and post-purchase evaluation behaviors in the apparel sector had not been thoroughly examined. The findings from this study provide meaningful insights on the purchase and post-purchase behaviors on Instagram of young adult consumers from different generational cohorts. They demonstrate that developing trust with young adults is critical to the success of brands trying to reach this demographic on Instagram.
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Mona Mrad, Maya Farah and Nour Mehdi
The purpose of this study is to explore the pros and cons of WhatsApp communication service and its likely effects on consumer behavior and one’s perception of luxury brands.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the pros and cons of WhatsApp communication service and its likely effects on consumer behavior and one’s perception of luxury brands.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted 27 in-depth interviews with UK-based participants. This study used NVivo12 to thematically analyze the collected data.
Findings
The findings indicate that perceived communication convenience, searching for prepurchase information, intimate consumer–brand relationship, perceived self-worth and the thrill of a new service positively contribute to luxury customers’ acceptance of WhatsApp communication usage. Nevertheless, many factors including push promotional strategy, poor service quality, brand “massification” effect, deficient sensory experience, fear of financial risk and deceptive practices, all curbed the participants’ acceptance of this communication platform. When service is poor, all these factors jeopardized the luxury image, causing an impaired brand image, accompanied with negative word of mouth and in some instances, unexpected anticonsumption reactions.
Research limitations/implications
This study carries the limitations of any exploratory and qualitative research. Therefore, future research should replicate this study in other areas and for other instant messaging platforms.
Practical implications
The implications of this study serve as a reference for luxury brands’ managers when managing their WhatsApp service. This study provides important insights into the risk of using WhatsApp by luxury brands to communicate with customers. The overall conclusion is that WhatsApp communication service requires a close, supervised and innovative use to benefit luxury brands.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the topic of WhatsApp usage as a communication mean in the luxury industry is still largely underexplored, hence filling a gap in the literature that needs to be addressed given its significant implications.
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Peng Zhu, Zixi Liu, Xiaotong Li, Xu Jiang and Mark Xuefang Zhu
Livestreaming, as a relatively new online marketing model, has generated numerous business opportunities for e-commerce and social commerce. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Livestreaming, as a relatively new online marketing model, has generated numerous business opportunities for e-commerce and social commerce. The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what degree livestreaming content impacts online users' cognitive and emotional reactions and whether their cognitive and emotional responses affect their purchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
Through the lens of regulatory focus theory (RFT) and stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) theory, the authors empirically examine the influencing mechanisms of livestreaming on online consumers' purchase intentions. Structural equation models are used to analyze the relationships in the proposed research model.
Findings
The results of this study show that information-task fit positively affects consumers' perceived usefulness of livestreaming. Both visual effects and sociability positively affect consumers' perceived value and social presence. Furthermore, perceived usefulness and perceived joy positively affect consumers' purchase intentions in a livestreaming environment. This study’s results also demonstrate that the regulatory focus of consumers has a moderating effect on the influence of their perceived joy on shopping intentions.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the relevant literature by simultaneously examining the role of e-commerce platform characteristics and online consumer psychology in influencing behavioral intention. With a better understanding of their role, platform operators and sellers can refine their livestreaming marketing tools and strategies. Highlighting the interplays among external stimuli, user reactions and user motivational styles, this study contributes to mobile e-commerce literature and the broader literature on digital marketing and human–computer interaction.