Theresa Billiot and Lukas P. Forbes
The purpose of this paper is to use Fink’s (2013) taxonomy of significant learning in a retail marketing class to help rural, price-sensitive students develop empathy toward…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use Fink’s (2013) taxonomy of significant learning in a retail marketing class to help rural, price-sensitive students develop empathy toward high-end urban customers while becoming self-directed learners.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a 16-week pilot course, students developed a gaming prototype and learned about the challenges of targeting those from a higher socioeconomic status.
Findings
Results indicate that educators using Fisk’s taxonomy of significant learning might be able to positively influence the empathy that individuals on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum might feel toward higher-end customers. In addition, qualitative data reflects how a majority of students acknowledged empathy as their weakness but data also reveals how students plan to become continuous learners to improve their empathy in the future.
Originality/value
This paper has two key contributions. First, it shows how using a creative style of teaching within a marketing classroom can influence a key characteristic that buyers would need to successfully engage with higher-end clients. Second, it uses a new technique (gaming) in which to do so.
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This paper aims to focus on non‐internet‐based self‐service technologies through the presentation of failure and recovery strategies employed by service firms using self‐service…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on non‐internet‐based self‐service technologies through the presentation of failure and recovery strategies employed by service firms using self‐service forms of interaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs the critical incident technique using 508 customer responses to present nine failures and nine recovery strategies used by self‐service technology firms. It presents data on post‐recovery satisfaction levels and propensity to switch behavior. The paper also compares findings in the non‐internet self‐service technology context to findings from e‐tail and bricks and mortar settings.
Findings
Findings indicate that: non‐internet self‐service technology customers experience different types of service failure relative to traditional retail and e‐tail settings; non‐internet self‐service technology firms employ a different series of recovery strategies relative to traditional retail and e‐tail settings; and post‐recovery switching by customers can be high even with satisfying experiences.
Originality/value
This paper strengthens the existing failure and recovery literature by presenting data on the largest growing sector of the service industry, self‐service technologies, and the largest sector within self‐service technologies (non‐internet purchases). These findings will have value to traditional firms looking to expand to their channels in addition to firms currently experiencing customer dissatisfaction.
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Joanna Phillips Melancon, Lukas P. Forbes and Douglas Fugate
This paper aims to investigate how changes in technology and gender roles have changed Generation Y’s (Gen Y) perception of the gender of services from previous studies. Although…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how changes in technology and gender roles have changed Generation Y’s (Gen Y) perception of the gender of services from previous studies. Although the past 20 years have seen substantial changes in service delivery methods in addition to changes in the traditional roles of gender and households, in many ways, businesses continue to deliver products and services to their customers using traditional marketing techniques.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected using a sample of 190 responses.
Findings
Results indicate that consumers will consistently identify services as having gender, that consumers will rate service gender consistent with the perceived typical consumer of a service and that consumers will rate service gender consistent with the gender of their front-line employee. Online/automated services are also gendered. High-contact services have stronger gender identity than low-contact services. Congruence of consumer and service gender is more important to men than women.
Practical implications
This study suggests that managers must understand gender identity of their services as well as cues that suggest gender relating to consumers and front-line employees. Automated and online services also must be positioned to give correct gender cues, particularly to male markets.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies to explore the gender identity of services and the first study to consider service gender in approximately two decades. Additionally, it is the first study to explore gender in automated delivery/online services as well as high/low-contact services, and the first study to gauge service gender perceptions of Gen Y.
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Traci H. Freling and Lukas P. Forbes
Seeks to provide empirical support for the “brand personality effect”, that is, the direct influence that brand personality will have on a variety of consumer‐driven outcomes.
Abstract
Purpose
Seeks to provide empirical support for the “brand personality effect”, that is, the direct influence that brand personality will have on a variety of consumer‐driven outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Tests a series of hypotheses using experimental research design with 192 subjects.
Findings
Support is found for all proposed hypotheses. These findings indicate that brand personality will have a positive influence on product evaluations and that subjects exposed to a brand's personality will have a significantly greater number of brand associations; significantly greater proportion of brand associations; significantly greater unique brand associations; significantly greater proportion of congruent brand associations; and significantly greater proportion of strong brand associations.
Practical implications
This paper conceptually establishes brand personality and empirically demonstrates the brand personality effect on consumer‐based outcomes. This finding strengthens the brand personality literature and establishes a baseline study for future empirical research.
Originality/value
Brand personality has received levels of research from academics and practitioners alike, but this research presents the first empirical test of the direct effect of brand personality and how it drives consumer behavior.
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Lukas P. Forbes, Scott W. Kelley and K. Douglas Hoffman
The authors propose focusing on e‐commerce service failure and recovery through the presentation of failure and recovery strategies employed by e‐commerce service firms.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors propose focusing on e‐commerce service failure and recovery through the presentation of failure and recovery strategies employed by e‐commerce service firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ the critical incident technique using 377 customer responses to present ten e‐tail failures and 11 e‐tail recovery strategies used by e‐commerce service firms. The authors also present data on post‐recovery satisfaction levels and propensity to switch behavior.
Findings
Findings indicate that: e‐tail customers experience different types of service failure relative to traditional retail settings; e‐tail firms employ a different series of recovery strategies relative to traditional retail settings; and post‐recovery switching by e‐tail customers can be high even with satisfying experiences.
Originality/value
This paper strengthens the existing failure and recovery literature by presenting data on the largest growing sector of the service industry. These findings will have value to traditional firms looking to expand to e‐commerce channels in addition to e‐commerce firms currently experiencing customer dissatisfaction.
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Aldona Glińska-Neweś, Iwona Escher, Barbara Józefowicz and Alicja Łuka
Together with increasing ambiguity and frequency of changes, management becomes full of seemingly conflicting choices, i.e. paradoxes, coming up in the process of decision-making…
Abstract
Purpose
Together with increasing ambiguity and frequency of changes, management becomes full of seemingly conflicting choices, i.e. paradoxes, coming up in the process of decision-making. Successful management of paradoxes, i.e. treating them as “both/and” constructs leads to innovative solutions and better overall organizational performance. In response to a significant research gap regarding antecedents of managing paradoxes, the aim of the paper is to investigate how individual characteristics of strategic decision-makers, specifically their age, tenure and educational background, affect the ability to combine contradictions in their strategic choices.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical study was conducted among 201 managers representing furniture companies in Poland. The CATI technique with an interview questionnaire was adopted in order to identify respondents' opinions on the main features, traits and dimensions of the strategy implemented in their companies. Participants' tenure, age and education were measured by single items.
Findings
The study suggests that the ability to manage paradoxes increases with age and tenure in a company and at a current position. At the same time economic/business educational background appears to be unsupportive in this regard.
Originality/value
While the issue of managing paradoxes energizes researchers in various disciplines, we still do not know much about antecedents of the process. The study shed light on effects that managers' demographics have on their ability of managing paradoxes. It contributes to the theory on strategic paradoxes as well as theory on the influence of decision-makers' individual characteristics on their decisions.
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Gashaw Abeza, Norm O’Reilly, Benoit Séguin and Ornella Nzindukiyimana
The purpose of this paper is to examine the practice of celebrity athletes’ product endorsement in the context of social media, guided by meaning transfer model.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the practice of celebrity athletes’ product endorsement in the context of social media, guided by meaning transfer model.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a content analysis method based on data gathered from the official Twitter account of 17 of the highest-paid athletes over a period of five months.
Findings
Results outline the state, involvement level, roles, modes, preferred content types, discernible differences, shared features, and best practices employed in endorsement tweets. A framework of athletes’ product endorsement on Twitter is presented.
Research limitations/implications
The study presented theoretical and practical implications, and limitations and impetus for future research.
Originality/value
The study investigated professional athletes’ use of their own media channel for the purpose of endorsement, presented a framework that illustrates the practice of celebrity athletes’ product endorsement on social media, and identified a best practice and an exemplary reference.
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Roberto Aprile, Mario Nicoliello and Susanne Durst
This conceptual paper proposes an intellectual capital (IC) framework dedicated to elite athletes (EA) to demonstrate the usefulness of IC on individual persons. Thus, it…
Abstract
Purpose
This conceptual paper proposes an intellectual capital (IC) framework dedicated to elite athletes (EA) to demonstrate the usefulness of IC on individual persons. Thus, it connects EA with the concept of IC.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is inspired by the classical IC dimensions (human capital, structural capital and relational capital), which are used to develop the IC framework for EA. An exemplary case study is used to validate the framework.
Findings
It is argued that there is a need to adapt the traditional IC framework for EA. Therefore, this paper proposes a specific IC framework consisting of natural capital, sports capital and media capital.
Research limitations/implications
This paper deals with EA and the sports industry, but should be extended to other sectors where aspects such as image and celebrity represent significant intangible resources.
Practical implications
The proposed IC framework can help EA and their managers to better understand how IC value is created.
Originality/value
This paper extends the IC concept to other fields of application, i.e. EA, and thus individual persons.