Hayley Vale, Lisa Schuster and Dominique A. Greer
To increase charitable donations, not-for-profit organisations sometimes include a pre-giving incentive such as a monetary gift alongside a request to donate. Little is known…
Abstract
Purpose
To increase charitable donations, not-for-profit organisations sometimes include a pre-giving incentive such as a monetary gift alongside a request to donate. Little is known about how monetary pre-giving incentives impact subsequent donation intentions, particularly for young consumers who are an important market for the not-for-profit sector. Using the principles of reciprocity, this paper aims to examine whether the value of monetary pre-giving incentives induces obligation (i.e. a negative psychological state) and/or gratitude (i.e. a positive psychological state) and whether this subsequently impact young consumers’ initial donation amount and future donation intention.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a one-factor, three-level between-subjects experimental design (n = 274) to test the effect of different values of pre-giving incentives on gratitude, obligation, initial donation amount and future donation intentions of young consumers.
Findings
Higher value pre-giving incentives increase young consumers’ experience of obligation and subsequent donation intention as well as future donation intention. Unexpectedly, gratitude towards the organisation was not influenced by the value of the pre-giving incentive but did increase obligation.
Originality/value
This research highlights an ethical tension about the use of pre-giving incentives to solicit donations from young consumers: while this strategy is effective, it activates an obligation that can negatively impact young consumers’ wellbeing. As such, it also contributes to extending the limited empirical examination of the ethics of fundraising. Theoretically, this research extends understanding of the distinct but simultaneous mechanisms of gratitude and obligation, which has not received sufficient research attention, generated by the norm of reciprocity within the not-for-profit context.
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Lisa Schuster and Joy Parkinson
mHealth services are effective and cost efficient, yet wide-scale adoption of these services by consumers has yet to be achieved, constraining their public health benefit. Further…
Abstract
Purpose
mHealth services are effective and cost efficient, yet wide-scale adoption of these services by consumers has yet to be achieved, constraining their public health benefit. Further investigation of non-technological determinants of mHealth adoption is needed; specifically, the role of consumers' goals has received scant attention and forms the research focus.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 comprised 20 interviews with participants who possess a health goal, with the data analysed using an abductive reasoning approach. Study 2 was a 15-min online survey (n = 653), with the data analysed using multi-group structural equation modelling.
Findings
Study 1 identified several antecedents to the desirability and feasibility of consumers' health goals, which influence their desire to use mHealth services. Study 2 shows significant differences in the determinants of mHealth service acceptance depending on whether consumers set concrete as opposed to abstract goals, but social acceptance of mHealth services of these services is important for both groups.
Practical implications
The findings suggest emphasising the importance of health goals to achieving other consumer goals (e.g. work or travel goals), the efficacy of mHealth services relative to other service alternatives for achieving those health goals, and the social acceptance of mHealth services to increase their uptake.
Originality/value
This study is the first to use construal-level theory to improve understanding of the role of consumers' goals in the adoption of mHealth services. By identifying the antecedents to goal desirability and feasibility, it also broadens the model of goal-directed behaviour.
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Timo Dietrich, Jakob Trischler, Lisa Schuster and Sharyn Rundle-Thiele
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how vulnerable consumers can be involved in transformative service design and how this approach may enhance the design of such…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how vulnerable consumers can be involved in transformative service design and how this approach may enhance the design of such services. The study also analyzes how co-design with vulnerable consumers differs from existing user involvement processes with the purpose of developing a co-design framework.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study approach was employed, with six high schools in Australia identified as sites to conduct co-design sessions for a school-based alcohol education program. Adolescents were invited to review and (re)design an existing alcohol education program.
Findings
The study indicates that co-design with vulnerable consumers cannot be approached in the same way as conventional user involvement processes. Based on the insights generated from six co-design sessions as well as the examination of user involvement and co-design literature, the authors propose a six-step co-design framework. The six steps comprise resourcing, planning, recruiting, sensitizing, facilitation and evaluation.
Research limitations/implications
The co-design framework illustrates important differences to conventional user involvement processes. However, the generalizability of the research findings is limited to a specific study setting and a narrowly defined sample. Future research in a different setting is needed to further validate the presented findings.
Practical implications
For service design practice, this study provides guidelines on how co-design activities with vulnerable consumers can be effectively resourced, planned, recruited, sensitized, facilitated and evaluated. The framework outlines how co-design may be applied so that vulnerable consumers can become empowered participants during the design process.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the knowledge in transformative service research – a priority in service research – and service design by extending the boundaries of our understanding of processes and tools for the involvement of vulnerable consumers in transformative service design.
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Lisa Schuster, Krzysztof Kubacki and Sharyn Rundle-Thiele
This paper aims to investigate whether application of a community-based social marketing (CBSM) principle, namely, increasing the visibility of a target behaviour in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether application of a community-based social marketing (CBSM) principle, namely, increasing the visibility of a target behaviour in the community, can change social norms surrounding the behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
A repeated measures quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation’s Walk to School 2013 programme. The target population for the survey were caregivers of primary school children aged between 5-12 years old. The final sample size across the three online surveys administered was 102 respondents.
Findings
The results suggest that the programme increased caregivers’ perceptions that children in their community walked to and from school and that walking to and from school is socially acceptable.
Originality/value
The study contributes to addressing the recent call for research examining the relationship between CBSM principles and programme outcomes. Further, the results provide insight for enhancing the social norms approach, which has traditionally relied on changing social norms exclusively through media campaigns.
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Erik Cateriano-Arévalo, Jorge Soria Gonzáles (Pene Beso), Richard Soria Gonzales (Xawan Nita), Néstor Paiva Pinedo (Sanken Bea), Ross Gordon, Maria Amalia Pesantes and Lisa Schuster
Respectful co-production is one of the principles of ethical Indigenous research. However, this participatory approach has yet to be thoroughly discussed in social marketing. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Respectful co-production is one of the principles of ethical Indigenous research. However, this participatory approach has yet to be thoroughly discussed in social marketing. This study aims to provide reflections and recommendations for respectful co-production of research with Indigenous people in social marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws upon case study reflections and lessons learned from a research program respectfully co-produced with members of the Shipibo-Konibo Indigenous group of the Peruvian Amazon called the Comando Matico. The authors focus on the challenges and strategies for respectful co-production during different stages of the research process, including consultation, fieldwork and co-authoring articles. The authors foreground how their Comando Matico co researchers infused the research process with Shipibo knowledge.
Findings
The authors reflect on three recommendations concerning 1) respectful co-production, 2) power dynamics and 3) facilitating co-authorship. Social marketers interested in respectful co production of research with Indigenous people may need to adopt a flexible and practical approach that considers the characteristics of the context and Indigenous co-researchers.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the discussion about the importance of respectful co-production of research with Indigenous people to ensure it accounts for their needs and wants.
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Erik Cateriano-Arévalo, Ross Gordon, Jorge Javier Soria Gonzáles (Pene Beso), Richard Manuel Soria Gonzáles (Xawan Nita), Néstor Paiva Pinedo (Sanken Bea), Maria Amalia Pesantes and Lisa Schuster
In marketing and consumer research, the study of Indigenous ideas and rituals remains limited. The authors present an Indigenous-informed study of consumption rituals co-produced…
Abstract
Purpose
In marketing and consumer research, the study of Indigenous ideas and rituals remains limited. The authors present an Indigenous-informed study of consumption rituals co-produced with members of the Shipibo–Konibo Indigenous group of the Peruvian Amazon. Specifically, the authors worked with the Comando Matico, a group of Shipibos from Pucallpa, Peru. This study aims to investigate how Indigenous spiritual beliefs shape health-related consumption rituals by focusing on the experience of the Shipibos and their response to COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon the principles of Indigenous research, the authors co-produced this study with the Comando Matico. The authors collaboratively discussed the research project’s design, analysed and interpreted data and co-authored this study with members of the Comando Matico. This study uses discourse analyses. The corpus of discourse is speech and text produced by the Comando Matico in webinars and online interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. The full and active participation of the Comando Matico informed the discourse analysis by ensuring Indigenous knowledge, and worldviews were infused throughout the process.
Findings
The authors foreground how Indigenous spiritual beliefs act as a force that imbues the knowledge and practice of health, wellbeing and illness, and this process shapes the performance of rituals. In Indigenous contexts, multiple spirits coexist with consumers, who adhere to specific rituals to respond to and relate to these spirits. Indigenous consumption rituals involve the participation of non-human beings (called rao, ibo, yoshin and chaikoni by the Shipibos) and this aspect challenges the traditional notion of rituals and ritual elements in marketing.
Originality/value
The authors demonstrate how Indigenous spiritual beliefs shape consumption rituals in the context of health and draw attention to how the acknowledgement of alternative ontologies and epistemologies can help address dominant hierarchies of knowledge in marketing theory.
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Joy Parkinson, Lisa Schuster, Rory Mulcahy and Heini Maarit Taiminen
This paper aims to examine the service experience in an online support community of consumers to understand the nature of social support and how it is experienced and enacted by…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the service experience in an online support community of consumers to understand the nature of social support and how it is experienced and enacted by vulnerable consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
A netnographic study was conducted to examine vulnerable consumers’ participation in an online support group for weight management. The Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) program was used, and additionally data were coded using open coding. A hybrid approach to data analysis was undertaken using inductive and deductive methods.
Findings
The findings suggest online social support groups can be used as an online “third place” to support vulnerable consumers, with vulnerable groups engaging with the online support group differently than those in the normal weight group. Social support was also found to be bi-directional in nature.
Research limitations/implications
This study only investigates one online support group. To gain deeper insights, other support groups should be examined over a longer period.
Practical implications
This paper demonstrates that transformative services have the hidden capacity to optimize their services to enable vulnerable consumers to co-create social support in a safe place, thus providing a non-judgmental environment with the end goal of improving their health and well-being.
Social implications
Findings reveal how services can enable marginalization and stigmatization to be overcome and inspire social action through the use of online support groups.
Originality/value
This research is unique in that it used a netnography approach to examine how vulnerable consumers interact in an online service setting, reducing self-report bias and allowing for a natural research setting, thus allowing a unique understanding of how vulnerable consumers experience and enact social support.
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Joy Parkinson, Rory Francis Mulcahy, Lisa Schuster and Heini Taiminen
Online offerings for transformative services create value for consumers, although little research examines the process through which these services deliver this value. The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
Online offerings for transformative services create value for consumers, although little research examines the process through which these services deliver this value. The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive framework to capture the complexity of the co-creation of transformative value experienced by the consumers of online transformative services.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a netnography approach to examine longitudinal data from an online weight management program. In total, this research examines 15,304 posts from 3,149 users, including eight staff users.
Findings
Consumers integrate a range of social support resources, from informational support to esteem support, which provide a range of benefits such as new ideas and self-efficacy that underpin the different types of value such as epistemic and personal value. The degree of co-created value differs across the consumption experience but culminates over time into transformative value.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed framework may be useful beyond the weight management and online contexts; however, further work is required in a range of behavioral contexts and other modes of service delivery.
Practical implications
By understanding the resources consumers integrate and value, co-created services can develop appropriate value propositions to assist in improving consumers’ well-being.
Originality/value
This research provides a comprehensive framework of the transformative value co-creation process, extending on existing frameworks which examine either the process, value co-creation or the types of value co-created.
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Xin Ming Stephanie Chen, Lisa Schuster and Edwina Luck
Emerging transformative service research (TSR) studies adopt a service system lens to conceptualise well-being across the micro, meso and macro levels of aggregation, typically…
Abstract
Purpose
Emerging transformative service research (TSR) studies adopt a service system lens to conceptualise well-being across the micro, meso and macro levels of aggregation, typically within an organisation. No TSR has yet examined well-being across multiple interconnected organisations at the highest level of aggregation, the meta or service ecosystem level. This study aims to explore how value co-creation and, critically, co-destruction among different actors across interacting organisations enhances or destroys multiple levels of well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses semi-structured, in-depth interviews to collect data from five types of key actors (n = 35): players, team owners, tournament operations managers, casters and viewers, across 29 interconnected organisations in the oceanic esports industry. The interviews were coded using NVivo 12 and thematically analysed.
Findings
Resource integration on each level of aggregation within a service ecosystem (micro, meso, macro and meta) can co-create and co-destroy value, which leads to the enhancement and destruction of multiple levels of well-being (individual, collective, service system and service ecosystem). Value co-creation and co-destruction, as well as the resultant well-being outcomes, were interconnected across the different levels within the service ecosystem.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to incorporate a multi-actor perspective on the well-being consequences of value co-creation and value co-destruction within a service ecosystem as opposed to service system. Thus, this research also contributes to the minimal research which examines the outcomes of value co-destruction, rather than value co-creation, at multiple levels of aggregation.
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Joy Parkinson, Lisa Schuster and Rebekah Russell-Bennett
This paper aims to integrate existing thinking and provide new insights into the complexity of behaviours to improve understanding of the nature of these behaviours. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to integrate existing thinking and provide new insights into the complexity of behaviours to improve understanding of the nature of these behaviours. This paper expands social marketing theory by introducing the Motivation–Opportunity–Ability–Behaviour (MOAB) framework to assist in understanding the nature of social marketing behaviours by extending the Motivation–Opportunity–Ability (MOA) framework.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that proposes the MOAB framework to understand the complexity of behaviours.
Findings
This new tool will provide social marketers with an improved understanding of the differences between behaviours targeted by social marketers. Specifically, it provides a definition and application of complexity in social marketing that will facilitate the development of consumer insights and subsequent social marketing programs that more sufficiently account for the complexity of target behaviours.
Research limitations/implications
This proposed MOAB framework offers a foundation for future research to expand upon. Further research is recommended to empirically test the proposed framework.
Originality/value
This paper seeks to advance the theoretical base of social marketing by providing new insights to understand the nature of the behaviour in social marketing to assist social marketers to move beyond attempts to treat all behaviours as if they are the same.