Matthew Wilson, Jeannette Paschen and Leyland Pitt
Technology is an important force in the entrepreneurial ecosystem as it has the potential to impact entrepreneurial opportunities and processes. This paper explores the emerging…
Abstract
Purpose
Technology is an important force in the entrepreneurial ecosystem as it has the potential to impact entrepreneurial opportunities and processes. This paper explores the emerging technology of artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for reverse logistics within the circular economy (CE). It considers key reverse logistics functions and outlines how AI is known to, or has the potential to, impact these functions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is conceptual and utilizes the literature from entrepreneurship, the CE and reverse logistics to explore the implications of AI for reverse logistics functions.
Findings
AI provides significant benefits across all functions and tasks in the reverse logistics process; however, the various reverse logistics functions and tasks rely on different forms of AI (mechanical, analytical, intuitive).
Research limitations/implications
The paper highlights the importance of technology, and in particular AI, as a key force in the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem and discusses the specific implications of AI for entrepreneurial practice. For researchers, the paper outlines avenues for future research within the entrepreneurship and/or CE domains of the study.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to present a structured discussion of AI's implications for reverse logistics functions and tasks. It addresses a call for more research on AI and its opportunities for the CE and emphasizes the importance of emerging technologies, particularly AI, as an external force within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The paper also outlines avenues for future research on AI in reverse logistics.
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Jeannette Paschen, Leyland Pitt, Jan Kietzmann, Amir Dabirian and Mana Farshid
Online brand communities provide a wealth of insights about how consumers perceive and talk about a brand, rather than what the firm communicates about the brand. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Online brand communities provide a wealth of insights about how consumers perceive and talk about a brand, rather than what the firm communicates about the brand. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether the brand personality of an online brand community, rather than of the brand itself, can be deduced from the online communication within that brand community.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is empirical in nature. The authors use community-generated content from eight online brand communities and perform content analysis using the text analysis software Diction. The authors employ the five brand personality dictionaries (competence, excitement, ruggedness, sincerity and sophistication) from the Pitt et al. (2007) dictionary source as the basis for the authors’ analysis.
Findings
The paper offers two main contributions. First, it identifies two types of communities: those focusing on solving functional problems that consumers might encounter with a firm’s offering and those focusing on broader engagement with the brand. Second, the study serves as a blueprint that marketers can adopt to analyze online brand communities using a computerized approach. Such a blueprint is beneficial not only to analyze a firm’s own online brand community but also that of competitors, thus providing insights into how their brand stacks up against competitor brands.
Originality/value
This is the first paper examining the nature of online brand communities by means of computerized content analysis. The authors outline a number of areas that marketing scholars could explore further based on the authors analysis. The paper also highlights implications for marketers when establishing, managing, monitoring and analyzing online brand communities.
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The creation and dissemination of fake news can have severe consequences for a company’s brand. Researchers, policymakers and practitioners are eagerly searching for solutions to…
Abstract
Purpose
The creation and dissemination of fake news can have severe consequences for a company’s brand. Researchers, policymakers and practitioners are eagerly searching for solutions to get us out of the “fake news crisis”. Here, one approach is to use automated tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, to support managers in identifying fake news. The study in this paper demonstrates how AI with its ability to analyze vast amounts of unstructured data, can help us tell apart fake and real news content. Using an AI application, this study examines if and how the emotional appeal, i.e., sentiment valence and strength of specific emotions, in fake news content differs from that in real news content. This is important to understand, as messages with a strong emotional appeal can influence how content is consumed, processed and shared by consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyzes a data set of 150 real and fake news articles using an AI application, to test for differences in the emotional appeal in the titles and the text body between fake news and real news content.
Findings
The results suggest that titles are a strong differentiator on emotions between fake and real news and that fake news titles are substantially more negative than real news titles. In addition, the results reveal that the text body of fake news is substantially higher in displaying specific negative emotions, such as disgust and anger, and lower in displaying positive emotions, such as joy.
Originality/value
This is the first empirical study that examines the emotional appeal of fake and real news content with respect to the prevalence and strength of specific emotion dimensions, thus adding to the literature on fake news identification and marketing communications. In addition, this paper provides marketing communications professionals with a practical approach to identify fake news using AI.
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Jeannette Paschen, Matthew Wilson and Karen Robson
This study aims to investigate motivations and human values of everyday consumers who participate in the annual day of consumption restraint known as Buy Nothing Day (BND). In…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate motivations and human values of everyday consumers who participate in the annual day of consumption restraint known as Buy Nothing Day (BND). In addition, this study demonstrates a hybrid content analysis method in which artificial intelligence and human contributions are used in the data analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a hybrid method of content analysis of a large Twitter data set spanning three years.
Findings
Consumer motivations are categorized as relating to consumerism, personal welfare, wastefulness, environment, inequality, anti-capitalism, financial responsibility, financial necessity, health, ethics and resistance to American culture. Of these, consumerism and personal welfare are the most common. Moreover, human values related to “openness to change” and “self-transcendence” were prominent in the BND tweets.
Research limitations/implications
This research demonstrates the effectiveness of a hybrid content analysis methodology and uncovers the motivations and human values that average consumers (as opposed to consumer activists) have to restrain their consumption. This research also provides insight for firms wishing to better understand and respond to consumption restraint.
Practical implications
This research provides insight for firms wishing to better understand and respond to consumption restraint.
Originality/value
The question of why everyday consumers engage in consumption restraint has received little attention in the scholarly discourse; this research provides insight into “everyday” consumer motivations for engaging in restraint using a hybrid content analysis of a large data set spanning over three years.
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Jeannette Paschen, Ulrich Paschen and Jan Henrik Kietzmann
The status of icewine as a luxury item is largely undisputed in popular perception. Despite this, icewine has received very little attention in the management literature. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The status of icewine as a luxury item is largely undisputed in popular perception. Despite this, icewine has received very little attention in the management literature. This paper aims to close this gap by developing a theoretical framework to segment the luxury wine and spirits market with a focus on icewine.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is conceptual in nature. The authors adapt Berthon et al.’s (2009) aesthetics and ontology (AO) framework for luxury brands to provide a theoretical lens for segmenting the luxury wine and spirits market into four distinct segments.
Findings
The main contribution of this paper is a theoretical framework for segmenting the market for luxury wines and spirits into four distinct segments: cabinet collectors, cellar collectors, connoisseurs and carousers. The authors then apply their framework to the icewine category and outline considerations for the marketing mix of icewine producers.
Practical implications
The AO framework for luxury wines and spirits is beneficial for icewine producers to help differentiate their current and future market segments. In addition, this paper outlines practical implications for icewine maker’s marketing mix that could enhance their competitive position today and in the future.
Originality/value
This is the first paper examining icewine in the context of luxury marketing.
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Jeannette Paschen, Jan Kietzmann and Tim Christian Kietzmann
The purpose of this paper is to explain the technological phenomenon artificial intelligence (AI) and how it can contribute to knowledge-based marketing in B2B. Specifically, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the technological phenomenon artificial intelligence (AI) and how it can contribute to knowledge-based marketing in B2B. Specifically, this paper describes the foundational building blocks of any artificial intelligence system and their interrelationships. This paper also discusses the implications of the different building blocks with respect to market knowledge in B2B marketing and outlines avenues for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is conceptual and proposes a framework to explicate the phenomenon AI and its building blocks. It further provides a structured discussion of how AI can contribute to different types of market knowledge critical for B2B marketing: customer knowledge, user knowledge and external market knowledge.
Findings
The paper explains AI from an input–processes–output lens and explicates the six foundational building blocks of any AI system. It also discussed how the combination of the building blocks transforms data into information and knowledge.
Practical implications
Aimed at general marketing executives, rather than AI specialists, this paper explains the phenomenon artificial intelligence, how it works and its relevance for the knowledge-based marketing in B2B firms. The paper highlights illustrative use cases to show how AI can impact B2B marketing functions.
Originality/value
The study conceptualizes the technological phenomenon artificial intelligence from a knowledge management perspective and contributes to the literature on knowledge management in the era of big data. It addresses calls for more scholarly research on AI and B2B marketing.
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Amir Dabirian, Pierre Berthon and Jan Kietzmann
The purpose of this paper is to develop an instrument to measure employer branding in the information age. Firms increasingly migrate from matter-intensive business models to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an instrument to measure employer branding in the information age. Firms increasingly migrate from matter-intensive business models to information-intensive models, where value lies in information rather than the physical objects. This shift has, in turn, led to a change in employee work skills. This is particularly true in the information technology (IT) sector, where firms rely on a limited supply of skilled labor. Employer branding, a firm’s reputation as a place to work, is an important strategy to attract and retain employees.
Design/methodology/approach
From the literature, the authors developed and refined an instrument to measure key value propositions of employer brands. The potential IT employees surveyed in the study were students enrolled in the disciplines of computer science and information systems at a comprehensive university in North America. The study went through three stages resulting in an instrument for psychometric properties.
Findings
This research revealed eight employer branding value propositions that future IT employees care about. These dimensions are important for both IT firms and industries competing for skilled IT labor to understand and manage.
Originality/value
This paper extends the work of Berthon et al. (2005) on employer branding to the information intensive age and particularly the IT sector. It allows executives to manage and measure their employer brand so as to maximize competitive advantage in attracting and retaining skilled employees.
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Tindara Abbate, Anna Paola Codini and Barbara Aquilani
The purpose of this paper is to understand how Open Innovation Digital Platforms (OIDPs) can facilitate and support knowledge co-creation in Open Innovation (OI) processes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how Open Innovation Digital Platforms (OIDPs) can facilitate and support knowledge co-creation in Open Innovation (OI) processes. Specifically, it intends to investigate the contribution of OIDPs-oriented to successfully implement all the phases of interactive coupled OI processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper carries out an exploratory qualitative analysis, adopting the single case study method. The case here investigated is Open Innovation Platform Regione Lombardia (OIPRL).
Findings
The case study sheds light on how OIPRL supports knowledge co-creation through its processes, tools and services as a co-creator intermediary. In its launch stage, the platform simply aimed at giving firms a tool to “find partners” and financial resources to achieve innovative projects. Now, however, the platform has developed into an engagement platform for knowledge co-creation.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation lies in the particular perspective used to perform the case study: the perspective of the digital platform itself. Future research should focus on the individuals engaged in the platform to better investigate the processes, tools and services used to implement the OI approach.
Practical implications
The paper suggests ways in which OIDPs could be used by firms for effective exploration, acquisition, integration and development of valuable knowledge.
Originality/value
The study conceptualizes the role of OIDPs in shaping knowledge co-creation, assuming that the platforms act as Open Innovation Intermediaries (OIIs). Specifically, OIDPs can be observed to function as “co-creator intermediaries” that define, develop and implement dedicated processes, specific tools and appropriate services for supporting knowledge co-creation activities.