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1 – 10 of 49Jorunn Lindholm, Yasaman Vadoudi and Håvard Hansen
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the negative impressions consumers hold toward institutional food can be remedied by subtle changes in menu descriptions. While an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the negative impressions consumers hold toward institutional food can be remedied by subtle changes in menu descriptions. While an expectancy-disconfirmation explanation would suggest this, a negativity bias explanation would suggest otherwise.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test the research question using an experimental 2 × 2 full factorial design, with data collected from 100 university students.
Findings
The results show that when hospital menus are made somewhat fancier in their description, consumers evaluate the food as more attractive and menu variation to be greater. This implies that the judgments are more likely to be based on an expectancy-disconfirmation process that on being subject to negativity bias.
Research limitations/implications
The authors study perceived attractiveness and menu variation, but future research should include taste perceptions and consumption volume.
Practical implications
Institution managers could improve consumer perceptions of how attractive the food being served is, and the perceived variation in their menus, by subtly changing the course descriptions to become fancier. However, as such, a strategy based on an expectancy-disconfirmation process, institution managers should beware not to sweeten the pill too much, i.e., making promises they cannot keep may backfire if one makes the menus too fancy compared to what is delivered.
Originality/value
The authors extend current knowledge on menu label effects by addressing them for food suppliers, which are inherently associated with low food quality. The authors also show that when managers apply such strategies, the effect is due to a disconfirmation process rather than a negativity bias.
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The purpose of this paper is to test the direct effects of intrinsic motivation, perceived information value, activity perception, perceived organizational support, and adaptive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the direct effects of intrinsic motivation, perceived information value, activity perception, perceived organizational support, and adaptive selling on the propensity to collect market information and how locus of control (LOC) moderates these effects.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using a cross-sectional design with a web-based survey. The respondents were business-to-business salespeople. All relationships were tested by regression modeling.
Findings
Support was found for most direct effects, and LOC moderated all supported direct effects. Thus, adding LOC as a moderator will increase the understanding of what motivates salespeople to gather information.
Research limitations/implications
This study shows that using the theoretical construct of personality as a moderator increases the understanding of what motivates salespeople to collect information.
Practical implications
Sales leaders use different motivational tools to ensure that their sales forces focus on important tasks, but the responses to a specific motivational tool may differ among salespeople. The most prominent managerial contribution of the present study is a possible explanation of why salespeople differ in information collection even when the same motivational tools are used.
Originality/value
Several researchers have focused on what drives salespeople to collect, share, and use market information at the individual-level perspective, but despite the long history of studies of the relationship between motivation and personality, focus on the effects of individual differences is lacking. This paper addresses this gap and shows how personality differences have a moderating effect on the propensity of salespeople to collect market information.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ intention to buy domestic food applying the theory of planned behavior. Based on this framework, the authors investigate the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ intention to buy domestic food applying the theory of planned behavior. Based on this framework, the authors investigate the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and self-construal.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the conceptual model, a cross-sectional study from a random sample of Norwegian consumers was employed. A total of 501 consumers filled out the web-based survey. The data were analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression.
Findings
The results show that subjective norm and perceived behavioral control (PBC) both have positive significant effects on consumers’ intention to buy domestic food. Attitude also has a positive effect but is only significant on the ten percent level. The effect of subjective norm is reduced with increasing levels of ethnocentrism, and the effect of PBC is reduced when consumers are collectivistic rather than individualistic.
Originality/value
This study provides the food industry with useful information about which mechanisms underlie the consumers’ intention to buy domestic food. In addition the study provides useful insight into how different personality characteristics affect the consumers’ intentions.
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Kjersti Berge Evensen and Håvard Hansen
The purpose of this paper is to investigate integrative practices within institutional food chains with special emphasis on cooperation and information sharing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate integrative practices within institutional food chains with special emphasis on cooperation and information sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was applied, based on 17 in-depth interviews with staff from four different institutions. The data collection and analysis were guided by constructivist grounded theory.
Findings
In summary, the authors find that: low differentiation lead to a high level of service variability at the satellite kitchens, high level of optimizing behavior lead to a high level of service variability, there is a positive relationship between food task involvement and access to the information being shared, there is a positive relationship between food task involvement and participation in cooperation activities and when the physical distance between stages in the chain increases, the information sharing will deteriorate.
Research limitations/implications
To empirically generalize the findings, this first qualitative study should be followed up by a quantitative study.
Practical implications
Based on the findings, the authors suggest that the chains would benefit from improving the interfaces between front line employees, and share information more extensively. The location of the central kitchen seems to influence information sharing across stages in the food chains.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge this is the first study that examines cooperation and information sharing practices within institutional food chains.
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Håvard Hansen, Bendik M. Samuelsen and James E. Sallis
While satisfaction, value, image, and credibility are commonly assumed to drive customer loyalty, there is nevertheless reason to question whether their effects vary across groups…
Abstract
Purpose
While satisfaction, value, image, and credibility are commonly assumed to drive customer loyalty, there is nevertheless reason to question whether their effects vary across groups of consumers. This paper seeks to explore how individuals with contrasting need-for-cognition (NFC) levels differ in using memory-based information when forming behavioral intentions towards a current service provider.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors tested the hypotheses by means of survey data from customers of retail banks, and applied two-group analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the moderating effects of NFC.
Findings
Satisfaction positively affects loyalty for high NFCs, but not for low NFCs. Image is insignificant in both groups. Value positively affects loyalty for low NFCs, but not for high NFCs. Credibility has a positive effect for low NFCs, but not for high NFCs.
Research limitations/implications
The limited sample size affects the power of the test methodology, but Chow-tests of regression models gave similar results. Further research should test the model in other contexts to enhance external validity.
Practical Implications
To develop more effective customer strategies, both researchers and practitioners need to understand how different types of consumers attend to and utilize information when forming behavioral intentions. The standard practice of surveying customer satisfaction and loyalty typically requires the consumer to make a memory-based judgment.
Originality/value
Previous research has primarily focused on how consumer demographics moderate satisfaction-loyalty links. This paper includes additional drivers of loyalty, and assesses moderation by a personality trait (NFC) not previously used in satisfaction-loyalty research. The results indicate that a consumer ' s dispositional tendency to think and elaborate (more or less) can bias survey results.
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The paper presents a model that suggests that four relationship variables traditionally found to affect behavior beneficial to the firm also increase consumers’ disclosing…
Abstract
The paper presents a model that suggests that four relationship variables traditionally found to affect behavior beneficial to the firm also increase consumers’ disclosing intimacy. Employee benevolence, credibility, image, and consumers’ satisfaction with the relationship to the employee are all proposed to increase intimate disclosures by the consumer. The model is tested in a sample of retail bank customers using structural equation modeling. The findings support the important role of benevolence and image, but do not confirm the hypothesized effects of credibility and satisfaction. The results and managerial implications are discussed and limitations and suggestions for future research presented.
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Elisabeth Lind Melbye and Håvard Hansen
The majority of previous studies on parental feeding practices have focused on the effect of controlling feeding strategies on child eating and weight (i.e. parental influence on…
Abstract
Purpose
The majority of previous studies on parental feeding practices have focused on the effect of controlling feeding strategies on child eating and weight (i.e. parental influence on children). The present study turns the arrow in the opposite direction, and it aims to test a child-responsive model by exploring the process in which child weight status might influence parental feeding practices, addressing potential mediating effects of parental concern for child weight (i.e. child influence on parents).
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey was performed among parents of 10- to 12-year olds (n = 963). The survey questionnaire included measures of parental feeding practices and parents’ reports of child weight and height. Stepwise regressions were performed to reveal potential mediating effects of parental concern for child weight status on the associations between child BMI and a wide range of parental feeding practices.
Findings
Our results suggest a mediating effect of parental concern for child overweight on the associations between child body mass index and controlling feeding practices such as restriction for weight and health purposes and responsibility for determining child portion sizes.
Originality/value
This study provides an extension of previous research on parental feeding–child weight relationship. It includes a wider spectrum of feeding variables, and integrates parental concern for both child who is overweight and child who is underweight as potential mediators of the associations between child weight and parental feeding practices. Moreover, it has its focus on preadolescent children, while previous studies have focused on infants and young children.
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Micael Dahlén, Henrik Sjödin, Helge Thorbjørnsen, Håvard Hansen, Johanna Linander and Camilla Thunell
This paper aims to investigate how marketing leakage to undesired audiences, a common phenomenon in today's globally connected world of consumers, impacts on the target audience…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how marketing leakage to undesired audiences, a common phenomenon in today's globally connected world of consumers, impacts on the target audience, and how marketers can mitigate the negative effects of leaked marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct three studies in line with research on the third-person effect (TPE). The studies feature experimental designs with participants from neighbouring countries.
Findings
The first study finds that people in the intended target audience expect and overestimate a (negative) reaction in the undesired audience to marketing leakage, and this impacts negatively on their own reactions. The second study replicates and extends the findings, showing that explicit information that marketing has leaked to an undesired audience impacts negatively on both the attitudes and behaviors of the intended, target audience. The third study tests potential strategies to mitigate the negative effects of leaked marketing and finds that the most important thing is to inform the intended target audience that the undesired audience has accepted the marketer's actions.
Research limitations/implications
Extending the TPE to marketing, this is, to the authors' knowledge, a first investigation of the previously neglected phenomenon of marketing leakage and the impact of undesired audiences on marketing effectiveness. It hopes to stimulate further research on consequences of marketing leakage and enrich research on international advertising and crisis management.
Originality/value
This is, to the authors' knowledge, the first inquiry into how and why marketing leakage to undesired audiences impacts on the intended target audience, and how negative effects can be mitigated. The original use of a third-person approach in this setting helps explain marketing effectiveness and assess managerial strategies.
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Mukta Srivastava, Sreeram Sivaramakrishnan and Neeraj Pandey
The increased digital interactions in the B2B industry have enhanced the importance of customer engagement as a measure of firm performance. This study aims to map and analyze…
Abstract
Purpose
The increased digital interactions in the B2B industry have enhanced the importance of customer engagement as a measure of firm performance. This study aims to map and analyze temporal and spatial journeys for customer engagement in B2B markets from a bibliometric perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The extant literature on customer engagement research in the B2B context was analyzed using bibliometric analysis. The citation analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis, three-field plot and bibliographic coupling were used to map the intellectual structure of customer engagement in B2B markets.
Findings
The research on customer engagement in the B2B context was studied more in western countries. The analysis suggests that customer engagement in B2B markets will take centre stage in the coming times as digital channels make it easier to track critical metrics besides other key factors. Issues like digital transformation, the use of artificial intelligence for virtual engagement, personalization, innovation and salesforce management by leveraging technology would be critical for improved B2B customer engagement.
Practical implications
The study provides a comprehensive reference to scholars working in this domain.
Originality/value
The study makes a pioneering effort to comprehensively analyze the vast corpus of literature on customer engagement in B2B markets for business insights.
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Hannah King occupies a unique place in missionary and colonial history, the history of education, cross‐cultural relations and material culture in New Zealand. She was the only…
Abstract
Hannah King occupies a unique place in missionary and colonial history, the history of education, cross‐cultural relations and material culture in New Zealand. She was the only woman from the first 1814 Missionary settlement of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in New Zealand to remain in New Zealand for the rest of her life, yet she does not have an entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, and is rarely indexed in either New Zealand’s general historical works or even works more specifically related to the Missionary era. John and Hannah King were one of three artisan missionary couples who sailed with the Revd Samuel Marsden on his ship, the missionary brig ‘Active’, from Port Jackson, Australia to Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands, in late 1814. Marsden’s 1814 Christmas Day service on the beach at Rangihoua is recognised as the beginning of missionary activity and planned European settlement on New Zealand soil.
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