Laura Lucia-Palacios, Raúl Pérez-López and Yolanda Polo-Redondo
The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of the disconfirmation of expectations of crowding and mall accessibility, on stress and two marketing outcomes, satisfaction and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of the disconfirmation of expectations of crowding and mall accessibility, on stress and two marketing outcomes, satisfaction and promoter scoring.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained through two face-to-face surveys from mall shoppers that answered them at two different moments of their shopping experience, before entering the mall and before leaving it. Results are obtained from 230 customers that answered the two questionnaires.
Findings
The findings suggest that stress indirectly influences customer promoter scoring through satisfaction, while disconfirmation of expectations influences it directly and indirectly.
Practical implications
These results also suggest that stress and disconfirmation of expectations about crowding and accessibility are important in determining promoter scoring. To reduce stress and increase satisfaction and promoter scoring, managers should focus on exceeding customers' expectations about mall accessibility and on ensuring that customers experience a lower level of crowding than they expected.
Originality/value
The article examines Net Promoter Scoring, an outcome that has attracted managers' attention but little is known about its antecedents. The paper provides evidence of the effect of disconfirmation of expectations and negative emotions on promoter scoring.
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Laura Lucia-Palacios, Raúl Pérez-López and Yolanda Polo-Redondo
This paper aims to demonstrate that stress is a relevant feeling to take into account in mall experience and customer satisfaction management. Furthermore, it is proposed that its…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to demonstrate that stress is a relevant feeling to take into account in mall experience and customer satisfaction management. Furthermore, it is proposed that its effects on mall experience and satisfaction differ depending on shopping motivation and frequency.
Design/methodology/approach
The method is based on seemingly unrelated regressions models and data were obtained through a survey of 1,088 mall clients. Mall experience is addressed through customer cognitive and affective responses. Both terms together with stress and customer satisfaction with the mall are constructs measured by seven-point Likert scales. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate these measures.
Findings
The results show that stress reduces customers’ affective response and satisfaction. The effect of low levels of stress on customer affective response is less negative for frequent shoppers, and the influence of high levels on satisfaction is less negative for them. Furthermore, stress has a U-shaped effect on customers’ cognitive response, an effect that is reduced for frequent shoppers.
Practical implications
Mall managers should try to reduce stress in the management of their customers’ experience. Moreover, they should increase the shopping frequency of their clients by implementing marketing strategies, such as frequency programs and serial concerts, and assist shoppers in reorganizing their shopping goals by implementing organizing tools and new recommendations and suggestions.
Originality/value
Given that previous work on shopping stress is scarce, this paper expands the extant literature by analyzing its effects on mall experience and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, it shows that these effects may vary depending on shopping frequency and motivation.
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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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Laura Lucia-Palacios and Raúl Pérez-López
This paper analyzes the direct and indirect effects of the autonomy of smart home speakers on consumer experience, weighing its benefits and costs in the following areas…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes the direct and indirect effects of the autonomy of smart home speakers on consumer experience, weighing its benefits and costs in the following areas: usefulness, interactivity, coolness, service failure severity and intrusiveness. Experience value is examined as an antecedent of repurchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling is applied to data collected from 607 users of smart home speakers. Mediating effects are examined between autonomy and experience value.
Findings
Autonomy has no direct effect on experience value, since the positive effect is fully mediated by interactivity, intrusiveness, perceived usefulness and coolness. Failure severity has no mediating effect and has no influence on experience value. Usefulness, coolness and interactivity show positive mediating effects between autonomy and experience value, while intrusiveness has a negative mediating effect. The better the consumer's experience response, the greater the repurchase intention.
Practical implications
Companies should highlight the benefits (interactivity, usefulness and coolness) and attempt to reduce the costs (intrusiveness) associated with smart device autonomy. Firms can use these aspects to increase the rate of smart-device adoption.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the interactive research literature by empirically examining the mediating effect of interactivity and coolness. Additionally, this research offers evidence of the full mediation effect of usefulness, interactivity, coolness and intrusiveness. Finally, this research shows that failure severity is not always important and that it can be context specific.
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Blanca Isabel Hernández Ortega and Laura Lucia-Palacios
This study explores the role of smart voice assistants (SVAs) as purchase recommenders, a phenomenon the authors term “word of voice” (WOV) communication. By integrating…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the role of smart voice assistants (SVAs) as purchase recommenders, a phenomenon the authors term “word of voice” (WOV) communication. By integrating human–computer interaction (HCI) literature and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) research, the authors examine what makes consumers trust in SVA-transmitted WOV communication following their initial interactions with their SVAs during a purchase process (i.e. post-trust); and the authors propose that consumers' perceptions of their SVAs' smart capabilities (i.e. cognitive, emotional and social) are critically important for building this trust. Moreover, the study explores the influence of post-trust on consumers' adherence to WOV communication, measured by three types of behavioural intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a survey of 202 United States (US)-based SVA users who employ them to obtain purchase recommendations were collected and analysed. They confirmed the validity of the measurement scales and provided input for the partial least squares modelling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The results demonstrated that post-trust in WOV communication partially or totally mediates the effect of smart capabilities on consumer adherence to WOV communication; identified the key role of cognitive, emotional and social smart capabilities for building consumers' post-trust in WOV and demonstrated the influence of this trust on behavioural intentions.
Originality/value
The present study contributes by examining the employment of SVAs as recommenders during the purchase process; the authors term this type of communication WOV. It analyses consumers with experience of using SVAs in their purchase processes, revealing that post-trust in WOV communication is the psychological mechanism that explains how the smart capabilities of SVAs determine consumer adherence to the recommendations they receive.
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Natalia Lavado-Nalvaiz, Laura Lucia-Palacios and Raúl Pérez-López
This paper analyses whether the humanisation of smart home speakers can improve users' attitudes towards covert information collection. Additionally, it examines the direct and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyses whether the humanisation of smart home speakers can improve users' attitudes towards covert information collection. Additionally, it examines the direct and indirect impact of trust, social presence and user's perceived surveillance on attitude towards covert information collection.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 679 American users of smart home speakers are surveyed, and their responses are analysed using structural equation modelling. Mediating effects are also examined.
Findings
Humanisation increases social presence, improves users' attitude towards covert information collection and has a U-shaped effect on trust. A negative effect of humanisation on perceived surveillance is demonstrated. Social presence reduces perceived surveillance levels and improves users' attitude towards covert information collection.
Originality/value
We examine attitude towards covert information collection as a new outcome variable. This study contributes to the growing body of research on humanisation by providing new evidence of how humanisation helps improve users' attitude towards covert information collection and generates trust in the service provider. This research indicates the important role of social presence.
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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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Laura Lucia-Palacios, Victoria Bordonaba-Juste, Yolanda Polo-Redondo and Marko Grünhagen
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of e-business implementation (in terms of internal integration and external diffusion) on organizational performance through the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of e-business implementation (in terms of internal integration and external diffusion) on organizational performance through the mediating effects of differentiation, enterprise agility, customer relationship development and partner attraction.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of franchisors was conducted across the USA and Spain. Before running the model, the paper tests for measurement invariance across the two country samples. The paper uses structural equation modeling to test the conceptual model.
Findings
The results of the measurement invariance suggest that all the constructs supported this characteristic, except for internal integration. External diffusion leads to differentiation, enterprise agility, relationship development and partner attraction for American and Spanish firms. However, internal integration has no impact on any outcome in the USA while, for Spanish firms, it has a positive and direct effect on economic performance. The full mediating role of non-financial performance between external diffusion and organizational performance depends on the country analyzed. While differentiation and relationship development fully mediate this relationship in the US sample, in the Spanish sample, the advantages of external diffusion are transferred through differentiation, enterprise agility and partner attraction.
Practical implications
–The paper suggests that franchise firms should not focus on the direct effect of e-business implementation on performance. Instead, franchisors should consider that its effect on performance is achieved through greater differentiation, relationship development, enterprise agility and partner attraction. So, the paper suggests that franchisors should think about the long-term effects of the advantages obtained from implementing e-business.
Originality/value
This study contributes to IS research by identifying the link between internal integration and external diffusion and organizational performance through the examination of the mediating role of non-financial performance measures in two countries. Compared with previous research, the paper first analyzes measurement invariance across countries to provide unbiased results.
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Laura Lucia-Palacios, Victoria Bordonaba-Juste, Melih Madanoglu and Ilan Alon
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how signaling support services and contractual arrangements that create value for incumbent franchisees can help to create value for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how signaling support services and contractual arrangements that create value for incumbent franchisees can help to create value for the whole network by attracting prospective franchisees.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from Bond's Franchising Report the study analyses franchisors operating between 1994 and 2008 via a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model for an unbalanced panel of 2,474 franchisors.
Findings
Training, financial assistance, sub-franchising and restrictions against passive ownership, and the use of area development agreements are found to be valuable for prospective franchisees. Experience and the number of company-owned and franchised units also attract prospective franchisees.
Research limitations/implications
Our findings imply that not all value-creating services and contractual arrangements are interpreted in the same way by prospective franchisees. Franchisors should offer training and financial assistance to new franchisees in the early stages of a franchise. They should also allow sub-franchising but restrict passive ownership and offer the possibility for area development agreements as contractual arrangements to appeal to new franchisees. Franchisors should focus not only on expansion, but should view the chain in a holistic manner by sustaining and growing both franchised and company-owned units.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to the franchising literature by providing new evidence on how offering and signaling some contractual arrangements and support services can help franchisors create value for incumbent franchisees and can attract new franchisees. Our research shows that value in franchising is created differently depending on whether the franchisees are incumbent or prospective.
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Victoria Bordonaba‐Juste, Laura Lucia‐Palacios and Yolanda Polo‐Redondo
Research on franchise system survival has focused on analyzing organizational failure. However, there are two types of market exit: organizational failure and franchise…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on franchise system survival has focused on analyzing organizational failure. However, there are two types of market exit: organizational failure and franchise discontinuance, but little research has distinguished between the two. The purpose of this study is to examine whether different factors explain these types of exit. Apart from the common factors included in previous research (age, size, upfront fee, royalty rate and ownership structure), this paper aims to add system growth and its interaction with age and size.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses data about franchise systems in Spain from 1986 to 2004 from the catering and fashion sectors and applies the Cox survival model to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The paper finds that system growth rates and system size only influence franchise discontinuance. Both the youngest and the oldest firms show the lowest risk of discontinuing franchising. The results are similar to those found in previous research that uses the two types of market exit as synonymous.
Research limitations/implications
The article findings suggest that it is important to define franchise survival.
Practical implications
This research identifies what franchisors can do to continue in the market. An important result is that young and small franchisors should grow at a moderate rate. They should learn first how to manage a few units before becoming a large network.
Originality/value
This research examines the differences between two types of market exit (organizational failure and franchise discontinuance) and their drivers from the franchisor's perspective. This research contributes to the franchising literature by analyzing the effect of growth on survival. Additionally, the moderating effect of size and age on growth on the two types of market exits is included.