Anna Racher and Isabelle Brodie
This paper aims to report on findings from action research undertaken in response to the Covid-19 pandemic by the Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme (TCESP), a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report on findings from action research undertaken in response to the Covid-19 pandemic by the Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme (TCESP), a Department for Education funded programme that provides support to local areas in improving their strategic approach to child exploitation and extra-familial harm.
Design/methodology/approach
The research included a scoping review of the literature, and focus groups with programme staff, strategic leaders and professionals from different services across England. To provide a strategic lens, findings were then considered in relation to TCE’s “Joining the dots” framework, which encourages examination of the relationships between different forms of child exploitation.
Findings
The action research highlighted the emerging and tentative nature of the knowledge base relating to child exploitation and extra-familial harm in the context of Covid-19. Findings revealed that there had been innovation in the use of digital methods and direct working, integration of practical support with other forms of service delivery and in partnership working, and also considerable variation in approach across different local areas.
Practical implications
Strategic leaders need to use the evidence emerging from lockdown as a basis for further interrogation of emerging data alongside the views of young people, families and communities and their wider workforce. This includes new information about changing patterns of exploitation. Digital delivery and innovation need to be supported by clear strategic guidance, based on review of the evidence regarding increased digital communication and its impact. New partnerships developed between services, data sharing and innovative ways of working that have taken place during lockdown need to be monitored and evaluated for quality and impact.
Originality/value
The action research findings offer a snapshot of practice regarding child exploitation and extra-familial harm at a mid-point in the Covid-19 lockdown in England and Wales.
Details
Keywords
Fiona Jane Factor and Elizabeth Lillian Ackerley
The purpose of this paper is to describe a youth work model of participatory research practice which utilises a range of methods within non-traditional research settings…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a youth work model of participatory research practice which utilises a range of methods within non-traditional research settings, highlighting the importance of trust, risk-taking and the creation of mutually respectful and non-hierarchical relationships. The paper suggests that such methods enable the development of new insights into previously intractable challenges when working with adolescents needing a safeguarding response from professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reflects on the challenges and successes of a project which brought police officers and young people together to develop solutions to improving safeguarding responses to young people affected by sexual violence and related forms of harm in adolescence. In particular, this paper focuses on a residential held in October 2016 in the Lake District involving 7 officers and 15 young people.
Findings
Despite a number of ethical challenges throughout the project, this paper makes the case that potentially high-risk participatory research projects can be supported and managed by university research centres. However, for these to be successful, staff need to work in trauma-informed ways, and possess high-level expertise in group work facilitation. Transparency, honesty, constancy and a range of different and creative activities, including mental and physical challenges, all contributed to the success of the project.
Originality/value
By detailing the empirical steps taken to develop, support and realise this project, this paper advances a youth work model of participatory research practice, filling an important gap within the methodological literature on participatory work with young people affected by sexual violence.
Details
Keywords
Deirdre O'Loughlin, Isabelle Szmigin and Peter Turnbull
This study investigates the nature of customer‐supplier interaction that currently exists within Irish retail financial services. Specifically, issues relating to the role…
Abstract
This study investigates the nature of customer‐supplier interaction that currently exists within Irish retail financial services. Specifically, issues relating to the role, meaning and importance of financial service interaction within the context of current demand‐ and supply‐side relationship marketing issues are explored. Although the literature proposes that the relationship marketing (RM) approach is particularly applicable to the financial services sector, the research findings raise questions as to the appropriateness of general RM theory to the current nature of interaction between consumers and their financial services providers. In an age of increased depersonalisation and automation impacting upon financial service quality and delivery, the paper questions the relevance of the “relationship” concept and proposes the notion of an “experience” as a far more relevant and meaningful construct. The nature and importance of this experience to consumers is explored and three levels of customer experience are conceptualised which are identified as brand, transactional and relationship experience.
Details
Keywords
Isabelle Aoun and Laurent Tournois
Branding in faith-based consumer markets, in which marketing practices, religion, and consumption intersect, is largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how…
Abstract
Purpose
Branding in faith-based consumer markets, in which marketing practices, religion, and consumption intersect, is largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how brands integrate religious concerns into their strategies through Halal branding. The central logic of authors’ view is that branding applied in a particular consumer market (i.e., Muslim) could enrich dominant (Western) branding theory.
Design/methodology/approach
Although challenging, qualitative research offers a valuable lens in international marketing research in allowing researchers to study organizations and contexts in their natural settings, enabling a more holistic approach, instead of imposing one’s culturally informed pre-conceptions (Boyacigiller and Adler, 1991). In this regard, a multiple case study approach considering Halal cosmetic brands is used. A replication logic is applied in interpreting the data.
Findings
Holistic branding is a broader concept than what mainstream theory acknowledges; brand attributes go beyond the functional and emotional, offering insights into a spiritual dimension. The proposed model identifies attributes that reflect the brand’s worldview and contribute to holistic branding: spiritual ethos and belief system, sustainable and eco-ethical philosophy, wholesomeness and inclusiveness.
Research limitations/implications
This exploratory research represents the initial step for faith-based/Halal branding; the discussion is confined to the cases under study. The results are not conclusive and require further empirical research to validate their broader applicability.
Practical implications
The study highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to branding of faith-based products. The Halal market (cosmetics and toiletries) may be attractive to companies that seek to widely develop products targeting faith-based Muslim consumer markets.
Originality/value
The study contributes to an area of growing concern from an academic point of view (i.e. Halal branding) by proposing to add a spiritual dimension to holistic branding. Several questions remain and should stimulate further research. Hence, researchers would be able to understand more clearly the meaning of the religious environment and the impact that environmental forces are likely to exert on business decisions.
Details
Keywords
Laure Ambroise, Céline Bérard and Isabelle Prim-Allaz
This paper aims to explore the complex relationships between knowledge strategies (i.e. exploration and exploitation) and the performance of manufacturing SMEs by testing the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the complex relationships between knowledge strategies (i.e. exploration and exploitation) and the performance of manufacturing SMEs by testing the mediating role of customer relationship management capabilities, which are defined as a firm’s level of interaction orientation in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a hypothetical deductive approach and using data collected from 793 French manufacturing SMEs, the measurement model and relationships among the constructs were examined with structural equation modelling, using the partial least squares approach.
Findings
The results support the expected mediating role of interaction orientation between exploitation and performance, and stress a competitive mediating role between exploration and performance. Complementary analyses demonstrate that while both exploration and exploitation are effectively antecedents of interaction orientation, which also acts as a lever to performance, they exhibit specific effects on the different dimensions of interaction orientation.
Originality/value
The results specifically highlight that interaction orientation counterbalances the negative impact of exploration on performance. Moreover, the findings underline the key role that customer interaction processes and tools play in making exploration and exploitation singularly effective. This is a real issue, as SMEs broadly tend to adopt opportunistic tools, not necessarily as part of a clearly defined strategic focus.
Details
Keywords
Isabelle Brun, Lova Rajaobelina and Line Ricard
The purpose of this paper is to propose a reliable and valid integrative scale for online relationship quality based on both the relationship marketing and electronic commerce…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a reliable and valid integrative scale for online relationship quality based on both the relationship marketing and electronic commerce literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The scale was developed using the approach put forward by Churchill (1979). The scale development and validation process includes a qualitative exploratory phase, three pre-tests and a final study using an online questionnaire (476 members of a consumer panel).
Findings
The findings support a third-order integrative model of online relationship quality composed of three dimensions (trust, commitment and satisfaction). The final scale is composed of 21 items.
Research limitations/implications
The study shows a lack of discrimination between satisfaction and trust, which other studies have also found. As the scale is validated in only one sector, online banking, it should be tested and replicated in other contexts (e.g. insurance).
Practical implications
An instrument for assessing the quality of online relationships between banks and consumers is important for marketing professionals who want to determine their relational positioning and focus on those dimensions that promote long-term online relationships. The scale developed here can be used to assess customers’ perceptions of the quality of the relationship with an online financial institution, to segment those customers more effectively, and to improve targeting of marketing strategies and activities.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the enrichment of the body of theory and provides researchers with a tool for the further investigation of the quality of online relationships.
Details
Keywords
Akram Garepasha, Samad Aali, Ali Reza Bafandeh Zendeh and Soleyman Iranzadeh
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of service quality and relationship quality on customer loyalty in different stages of the relationship life cycle in online…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of service quality and relationship quality on customer loyalty in different stages of the relationship life cycle in online banking services.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 651 Iranian online banking customers participated in the research by completing questionnaires. The research hypotheses were tested using structural modeling technique.
Findings
The results showed that the relationship quality on customer loyalty in online banking services is affected by the relationship life cycle. The results also showed that online service quality, in the form of Utilitarian quality and Hedonic quality, has a positive effect both directly and indirectly on customer loyalty through online relationship quality.
Research limitations/implications
In this paper, the relationship dynamics was achieved through adding the relationship life cycle variable to the model. However, the study was a cross-sectional research and different results might be obtained if data was collected longitudinally.
Practical implications
In an online banking service, the role of relationship quality in the prediction of customer loyalty is reduced as the relationship ages. Therefore, marketers need to consider other marketing actions to continue their relationship with the customer in the long run.
Originality/value
This paper examines customer loyalty to online banking services from dynamic perspective by introducing relationship life cycle as a moderating variable for the first time. Therefore, the main contribution of this paper is to develop the relationship marketing literature in the field of relationship dynamics and to challenge the effectiveness of relationship marketing in the long run.