Angelica Blom, Fredrik Lange and Ronald L. Hess
This paper aims to investigate whether customer satisfaction varies when presented with different types of omnichannel promotions (shopping goal-congruent vs shopping…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether customer satisfaction varies when presented with different types of omnichannel promotions (shopping goal-congruent vs shopping goal-incongruent and monetary vs non-monetary promotions) and if the effect on satisfaction is mediated by service excellence. In addition, this paper examines whether consumers respond differently to these promotions when shopping for utilitarian or hedonic products or when they have an inherent utilitarian or hedonic shopping motivation.
Design/methodology/approach
Two online shopping scenario experiments are conducted. Study 1 (n = 1,034) differentiates effects of omnichannel promotions between hedonic and utilitarian product categories. Study 2 (n = 345) contrasts hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivation in the same product category.
Findings
The findings in this paper demonstrate positive effects from both presenting a shopping goal congruent and a monetary promotion in an omnichannel setting on customer satisfaction. The positive effects are explained by service excellence and are demonstrated to be attenuated in the hedonic product category and for consumers with a hedonic shopping motivation.
Research limitations/implications
The effect of omnichannel promotions was demonstrated using a scenario-based experimental approach, future research should use field experiments.
Practical implications
The findings in this paper demonstrate practical implications for a retailer who wishes to optimize its omnichannel promotion strategy across channels and touchpoints.
Originality/value
To date there is little directions for retailers on how to optimize their omnichannel promotion strategy. This paper contributes to research and practice by demonstrating that shopping goal-congruent promotions (vs in-congruent) and monetary promotions (vs non-monetary) increase customer satisfaction more in an omnichannel context. The effects are enhanced for utilitarian (vs hedonic) products/shopping motivation.
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Fredrik Lange, Sara Selander and Catherine Åberg
When consumers fulfill consumption goals they make decisions on first, from which product category to buy, and second, which brand to purchase within the product category. In this…
Abstract
When consumers fulfill consumption goals they make decisions on first, from which product category to buy, and second, which brand to purchase within the product category. In this article, the relative effects of product‐level typicality and brand‐level typicality on goal‐driven consumer choice are examined. Which level of typicality is more diagnostic of choice? Empirical results show that consumers are, in goal‐derived usage contexts, more likely to choose a less typical and less favored brand from a typical product category than a typical and more favored brand from a less typical product category. Consequently, brands that consumers perceive as inferior may be chosen over superior brands because of the link between product categories and usage contexts. Our results indicate that it may be fruitful for marketers to associate brands and product categories with usage contexts, and that they need to consider brand competitors from other product categories.
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Fredrik Lange and Micael Dahlén
Reports on an experimental study where the effects of ad‐brand incongruency on a familiar brand and an unfamiliar brand, respectively, are measured. Building on theory on…
Abstract
Reports on an experimental study where the effects of ad‐brand incongruency on a familiar brand and an unfamiliar brand, respectively, are measured. Building on theory on information incongruency, tests the notion that ads that are incongruent with the brand image may be more effective in raising brand interest and brand memorability. However, this depends on the familiarity of the brand: the incongruency reinforces the existing associations for a familiar brand by increasing elaboration of the brand message, whereas the incongruent associations may take the upper hand for an unfamiliar brand with weaker existing associations. The results show that ad‐brand incongruency enhances brand attitude and brand memorability and reduces ad memorability for the familiar brand. The only significant effect of ad‐brand incongruency for the unfamiliar brand is a reduced brand memorability.
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Fredrik Engelstad, Trygve Gulbrandsen, Marte Mangset and Mari Teigen
The contribution starts out from the question whether the political legitimacy of the Third Wave democracies has suffered in the wake of the Great Recession. The expectation of a…
Abstract
The contribution starts out from the question whether the political legitimacy of the Third Wave democracies has suffered in the wake of the Great Recession. The expectation of a damaging effect of an economic or political crisis on legitimacy is based on Lipset’s assumption that established democracies with a high degree of political legitimacy are better capable of coping with such crises than young democracies. The database includes two surveys of members of parliament conducted in 2007 and 2013 in Sweden, Germany and five Third Wave democracies located in different world regions (Chile, South Korea, Poland, South Africa and Turkey). Waves 5 and 6 of the World Values Survey that were conducted at about the same time were used for comparing the legitimacy beliefs among MPs and citizens. The data show that the scores for all indicators of political legitimacy are higher among MPs than among citizens and that the differences between the two groups of respondents are considerably larger in the five young democracies. Confidence in political parties is fairly low, especially among citizens, while the evaluation of the quality of democracy in the respondents’ country is much higher. Both evaluations have been rather stable over time. In the two established democracies, support for democracy among citizens is nearly as high as among MPs. In the five young democracies, the MP-citizen differential is larger and support for democracy in the population shows a steady increase only in Chile, while it has remained low in Poland and Turkey and even decreased in Korea and South Africa. This indicates that democracy has not taken deep roots in four of the five new democracies included in the study. In Korea and South Africa, the decline in support for democracy started already before the onset of the economic crisis and therefore cannot be attributed to the recession. This is confirmed by the lack of a statistical relationship between political legitimacy on one side and economic evaluations on the other side. A multiple regression analysis shows strong country-specific effects, while individual-level variables have only minor effects.
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Fredrik Bååthe, Mia von Knorring and Karin Isaksson-Rø
This study aims to deepen the understanding of how top managers reason about handling the relationships between quality of patient care, economy and professionals’ engagement.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to deepen the understanding of how top managers reason about handling the relationships between quality of patient care, economy and professionals’ engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative design. Individual in-depth interviews with all members of the executive management team at an emergency hospital in Norway were analysed using reflexive thematic method.
Findings
The top managers had the intention to balance between quality of patient care, economy and professionals’ engagement. This became increasingly difficult in times of high internal or external pressures. Then top management acted as if economy was the most important focus.
Practical implications
For health-care top managers to lead the pursuit towards increased sustainability in health care, there is a need to balance between quality of patient care, economy and professionals’ engagement. This study shows that this balancing act is not an anomaly top-managers can eradicate. Instead, they need to recognize, accept and deliberately act with that in mind, which can create virtuous development spirals where managers and health-professional communicate and collaborate, benefitting quality of patient care, economy and professionals’ engagement. However, this study builds on a limited number of participants. More research is needed.
Originality/value
Sustainable health care needs to balance quality of patient care and economy while at the same time ensure professionals’ engagement. Even though this is a central leadership task for managers at all levels, there is limited knowledge about how top managers reason about this.
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Elites are the principal decision-makers in the largest or otherwise most pivotally situated organizations and movements in a modern society. By commanding major business firms…
Abstract
Elites are the principal decision-makers in the largest or otherwise most pivotally situated organizations and movements in a modern society. By commanding major business firms, large trade unions, state bureaucracies, the mass media, the military, important pressure groups, and mass movements, as well as political parties, elites are the persons and groups who have the organized capacity to affect political outcomes regularly and substantially. Researchers have estimated that elites in this sense number about 10,000 people in the United States (Dye, 2002, p. 139); roughly 5000 in middle-sized democracies like France, Australia, and Germany (Dogan, 2003; Higley, Deacon, & Smart, 1979; Hoffmann-Lange, 1993); and perhaps 2000 in smaller democracies like Denmark and Norway (Christiansen, Möller, & Togeby, 2001; Gulbrandsen et al., 2002). This is a narrow definition and identification of elites. It does not equate high occupational, educational, or cultural status with “elite,” even though this “high status” definition is often employed. I understand elites in a much more restricted sense – as the few thousands of people who occupy a modern society's uppermost power positions.
Trygve Gulbrandsen and Ursula Hoffmann-Lange
Several scholars have maintained that corporatist arrangements may contribute to a national consensus between groups with opposing interests (Katzenstein, 1985; Siaroff, 1999)…
Abstract
Several scholars have maintained that corporatist arrangements may contribute to a national consensus between groups with opposing interests (Katzenstein, 1985; Siaroff, 1999). Some have even described (neo) corporatism as a strategy for consensus building (Woldendorp, 1995). These general viewpoints seem to imply that participation in the various channels and networks in a corporatist system may influence participants to moderate their ideological attitudes, to become more centrist. Participation has a “civilising” effect. In a study of the Swedish industrial relations system Öberg and Svensson (2002) concluded, however, that there is not much trust across the class borders, a finding which questions the validity of these assumptions. It seems therefore appropriate to test these assumptions empirically in a variety of national settings.