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Article
Publication date: 15 September 2020

Lindsay R.L. Larson and Jordan Salvador

While universities and colleges engage in marketing their brands through official communications, there also exists the unique case of social media accounts created by and for…

498

Abstract

Purpose

While universities and colleges engage in marketing their brands through official communications, there also exists the unique case of social media accounts created by and for university students, which have the sole purpose of disseminating humorous parody content about the university. These accounts and their content are neither managed nor sanctioned by the university. While user-generated satire has been studied in the areas of politics and popular culture, it has not often been considered within the realm of universities and their student stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 200 undergraduates at a large public university in the southeastern United States were surveyed regarding their engagement with and thoughts about parody accounts associated with their school.

Findings

All students surveyed were aware of these parody accounts associated with their university; however, results suggest that enjoyment of and engagement with these accounts varies. Those students engaged with university parody accounts experience heightened identification with, but reduced concern over this satirical (and often unprofessional) community, which could be harmful to their university's image.

Practical implications

Although educational institutions aim to convey an outward-facing message of academic excellence and professionalism, their student population may create, engage with and disseminate alternative messaging that must be considered.

Originality/value

While this unique form of online brand engagement is potentially harmful to the university image due to its humorous nature, it also can be seen as a form of brand community, lending to feelings of group identification for students. Brand parody within social media remains a largely ignored topic within higher education marketing.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

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Article
Publication date: 19 June 2020

Hyunju Shin and Lindsay R.L. Larson

Displaying a sense of humour provides various interpersonal benefits including reducing tension and promoting conflict resolution, but should a firm use humour in response to…

2706

Abstract

Purpose

Displaying a sense of humour provides various interpersonal benefits including reducing tension and promoting conflict resolution, but should a firm use humour in response to publicly viewable online customer complaints after a service failure? The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that a firm’s use of humour in response to negative online consumer reviews has both positive and negative effects on perceptions of corporate image from a customer-as-onlooker perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Three experimental studies are conducted and analysis of variance is used to empirically test the hypotheses.

Findings

Although humorous responses have an unfavourable influence on perceived trustworthiness of the firm, they have a favourable influence on perceived excitingness of the firm. The former influence is tied to lower perceived firm sincerity, whereas the latter is tied to higher perceived firm innovativeness and coolness. Furthermore, humour within the customer complaint itself is shown to moderate the influence of humorous responses on perceptions of the firm. Finally, regardless of the type of humour used (i.e. affiliative or aggressive humour) in the humorous response, the positive effect of humorous response remains strong, although aggressive humour further aggravates the negative impact of humorous response on trustworthiness.

Research limitations/implications

The experimental set-up may limit external validity of the study, and the research is limited to the variables examined.

Practical implications

Humorous response is identified as a non-traditional approach to online customer complaints that poses a double-edged sword for managers of service organizations. Firms should avoid using humour in online service recovery if perceptions of trustworthiness are critical or if complaints are written in a neutral tone. However, such responses may be successfully used when a firm wants to position itself as exciting and if complaints are also humorous. Finally, firms are advised to avoid aggressive humour.

Originality/value

The present research represents one of the few studies in marketing to examine the potential of injecting humour into complaint management and service recovery. In addition, this study considers the consumer-as-onlooker perspective inherent in social media.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 54 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

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Article
Publication date: 10 October 2016

Lindsay R.L. Larson and Dora Elizabeth Bock

Recent evidence on consumer decision-making suggests that highly complex choice scenarios lead consumers to use simplistic decision heuristics, often resulting in suboptimal…

1241

Abstract

Purpose

Recent evidence on consumer decision-making suggests that highly complex choice scenarios lead consumers to use simplistic decision heuristics, often resulting in suboptimal decision-making. This study aims to investigate the relationships among consumers’ primary information source, patient satisfaction and patient well-being, specifically focused on the search for mental health professionals. The selection of a mental health provider is of interest, because practitioners work from a highly diverse set of theoretical bases, may hold a wide range of different credentials and provide drastically different therapeutic approaches, therefore making the selection complex and difficult for consumers to self-navigate.

Design/methodology/approach

Three studies were undertaken, with data sampling from both patients of mental health services and practitioners.

Findings

Consumers selecting a provider based on self-performed searches, rather than receiving external input (referrals from physicians, relatives or friends), report lower satisfaction with their mental health provider. In turn, patient satisfaction positively impacts patient well-being. Practitioner data corroborate these findings, revealing that a large percentage of patients stem from a self-performed internet search, though mental health providers recognize that external referrals are likely to lead to better outcomes.

Originality/value

The results reveal the importance of understanding the consumer search and, particularly, the use of the internet as a search tool. The results present several implications for service providers, including the need to identify patients’ primary source utilized within an information search, as it can adversely impact patient satisfaction.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 30 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

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Article
Publication date: 14 October 2021

Christine Armstrong, Alicia Kulczynski and Stacey Brennan

Online consumer complaint behaviour that is observable to other consumers provides the firm with an opportunity to demonstrate transparency and service quality to the public eye…

929

Abstract

Purpose

Online consumer complaint behaviour that is observable to other consumers provides the firm with an opportunity to demonstrate transparency and service quality to the public eye. The purpose of this paper is to assist practitioners with a strategy to increase perceived accommodativeness in complaint management on social media and reduce the social risk associated with online consumer complaint behaviour using a social exchange theory perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Six online experiments with 1,350 US Facebook users were conducted to investigate the effect of supportive and non-supportive virtually present others, and employee intervention on a consumer’s choice to complain, likelihood to make an observable complaint (on the Facebook page) and likelihood to make a non-observable complaint (via Facebook Messenger). The mediating role of perceived accommodativeness and subsequent social risk is also examined.

Findings

Supportive comments made to the complainant by virtually present others were found to influence participants’ decision to complain, heighten participants’ likelihood to complain about the Facebook page and reduce their likelihood to complain via Facebook Messenger. This effect was reversed in the presence of non-supportive virtually present others and was explained by perceived social risk. Further, a participant’s likelihood to complain about the Facebook page was increased when an employee intervention was directed at a non-supportive comment made to a complainant, by a virtually present other. This effect was explained by the perceived accommodativeness of the employee interaction.

Research limitations/implications

The findings advance research on online consumer complaint behaviour by investigating how employee intervention can be used to increase the likelihood of an observable complaint. This research is limited in that it does not incorporate individual characteristics, such as introversion/extroversion and propensity to respond to peer pressure, which may affect participant responses.

Practical implications

This research shows that perceptions of social risk are most effectively reduced by employee intervention directed at a non-supportive comment (made to a complainant) of a virtually present other. Consumer complaint management strategies aimed at minimising perceptions of social risk and encouraging observable online complaint behaviour are proposed.

Originality/value

This research extends the consumer complaint behaviour taxonomy by introducing the term “observable complaining”, that is, visible complaints made on a Facebook page, and broadens understanding of the organisation’s role in managing non-supportive virtually present others to assuage perceptions of social risk in potential complainants.

Abstract

Organizational researchers studying well-being – as well as organizations themselves – often place much of the burden on employees to manage and preserve their own well-being. Missing from this discussion is how – from a human resources management (HRM) perspective – organizations and managers can directly and positively shape the well-being of their employees. The authors use this review to paint a picture of what organizations could be like if they valued people holistically and embraced the full experience of employees’ lives to promote well-being at work. In so doing, the authors tackle five challenges that managers may have to help their employees navigate, but to date have received more limited empirical and theoretical attention from an HRM perspective: (1) recovery at work; (2) women’s health; (3) concealable stigmas; (4) caregiving; and (5) coping with socio-environmental jolts. In each section, the authors highlight how past research has treated managerial or organizational support on these topics, and pave the way for where research needs to advance from an HRM perspective. The authors conclude with ideas for tackling these issues methodologically and analytically, highlighting ways to recruit and support more vulnerable samples that are encapsulated within these topics, as well as analytic approaches to study employee experiences more holistically. In sum, this review represents a call for organizations to now – more than ever – build thriving organizations.

Details

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-046-5

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Article
Publication date: 30 July 2014

Lindsay M. Andiola

This paper synthesizes the extant feedback literature, focusing on how feedback affects an auditor’s learning, performance, and motivation. Performance feedback is an important…

7595

Abstract

This paper synthesizes the extant feedback literature, focusing on how feedback affects an auditor’s learning, performance, and motivation. Performance feedback is an important component in the auditing environment for ensuring quality control and for developing and coaching staff auditors. However, the literature on feedback in the audit environment is fragmented and limited making it difficult to assess its behavioral effects on auditors. This paper has three main objectives. The first is to review some of the influential research in psychology and management to identify key variables and issues that appear to be critical in the study of behavioral consequences of feedback in organizational settings. The second is to review performance feedback research specifically in auditing to identify the areas previously examined and synthesize the findings. The third is to suggest a variety of future research opportunities that may assist in developing an understanding and knowledge of the behavioral effects of feedback on auditors. The literature analysis has significant implications for audit research and practice. In particular, the analysis provides important insights into understanding who, how, and when performance feedback should be given to improve its effectiveness in the audit environment.

Details

Journal of Accounting Literature, vol. 33 no. 1-2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-4607

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Book part
Publication date: 1 March 2012

Abstract

Details

Globalization and Contextual Factors in Accounting: The Case of Germany
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-245-6

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Book part
Publication date: 5 September 2018

Karen Landay and Rachel E. Frieder

Stress and the military go hand-in-hand, particularly in combat environments. While some personality traits or types weaken relationships between stress and performance, others…

Abstract

Stress and the military go hand-in-hand, particularly in combat environments. While some personality traits or types weaken relationships between stress and performance, others, such as psychopathy, may strengthen them. In the present chapter, we consider the ramifications of individuals with high levels of psychopathy or psychopathic tendencies in the military with regard to both their own stress and performance and that of those around them. We discuss different reactions to psychological and physical stress, as well as the implications of psychopathic tendencies as they relate to current military issues, including gender, leadership, teamwork, turnover, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide. By juxtaposing relevant research findings on stress and psychopathy, we conclude that psychopathic tendencies should have neither uniformly negative nor positive effects on stress and performance in the military. Rather, effects on such individuals and the peripheral others with whom they interact will likely vary greatly depending on numerous factors.

Details

Occupational Stress and Well-Being in Military Contexts
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-184-7

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Book part
Publication date: 16 March 2023

Kurt April, Babar Dharani and Amanda April

Abstract

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Lived Experiences of Exclusion in the Workplace: Psychological & Behavioural Effects
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-309-0

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Book part
Publication date: 27 February 2019

W B Howieson

Abstract

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Leadership
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-785-0

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