Nicolas Kervyn, Michael Breazeale and Iskra Herak
Cara Pils is the private label beer brand of Colruyt, the biggest supermarket retailer in Belgium. As a true private label brand, Cara Pils has never been advertised. In 2015…
Abstract
Synopsis
Cara Pils is the private label beer brand of Colruyt, the biggest supermarket retailer in Belgium. As a true private label brand, Cara Pils has never been advertised. In 2015, Colruyt undertook an initiative to reposition its numerous private label brands under two larger private label brands. Unexpectedly, customers were incensed by this initiative, came out in droves and took the matter to social media hoping to lament the demise of their beloved brand. This case study investigates the roots of this strong brand attachment and the consequences for its brand management.
Research methodology
This case is built on primary (one in-depth interview and two focus group) as well as secondary data sources (previous research and web information).
Relevant courses and levels
This case is designed to be used in a marketing management or brand strategy course for students that already followed an introduction to marketing course or for students at a master level.
Theoretical bases
This case should provide the basis of discussions on the topics of brand management, private-label brands, repositioning strategy, brand portfolio management, brand architecture, brand equity, brand elements, brand nostalgia, and consumers’ relationships with brands.
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Tyler Hancock, Frank G. Adams, Michael Breazeale and Jason E. Lueg
This paper aims to identify the ways that customers respond to customer-to-customer comparisons that may drive loyal customers to engage in undesirable behaviors. The research…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the ways that customers respond to customer-to-customer comparisons that may drive loyal customers to engage in undesirable behaviors. The research examines the role that jealousy and envy play in restoring equity through revenge-seeking intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses survey research methodology. The measurement model is validated using CFA, and hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling. The mediated relationships are calculated using the bootstrap method, and moderated mediation is calculated by creating estimands to test the effects.
Findings
Customers who feel either jealousy or envy may engage in revenge-seeking behaviors, such as vindictive complaining and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Customers who perceive that a firm is unfairly favoring other customers develop feelings of jealousy and betrayal, and this tendency is strengthened when the customer has a high level of prior trust. Customers typically develop envy when their attention and perceptions of inequity center on another customer, rather than on the firm’s actions and anger drives this effect.
Practical implications
Customers can pursue revenge-seeking actions when unfair actions influence the formation of envy and jealousy through the development of perceived betrayal. Companies can focus on the comparisons that customers make to address revenge-seeking and better manage online relationships preemptively.
Originality/value
The paths that customers take to revenge through jealousy and envy are conceptualized in a communal relationship setting and further developed. Further distinctions of jealousy and envy are made, and the role of prior trust in enhancing revenge-seeking is found.
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Tyler Hancock, Michael Breazeale, Frank G. Adams and Haley Hardman
A firestorm is a vast wave of negative information about a brand that disseminates quickly online. Their relative unpredictability represents a particularly challenging problem…
Abstract
Purpose
A firestorm is a vast wave of negative information about a brand that disseminates quickly online. Their relative unpredictability represents a particularly challenging problem for brand marketers. This paper aims to show how firestorms are enabled and can be disabled by online community members (OCMs), exploring the dissemination of negative electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM), the challenges in countering negative brand information and how brands can effectively communicate with OCMs to facilitate offsetting negative e-WOM.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a sequential mixed-method research methodology. Study 1 uses an experimental design and tests serial mediation using PROCESS Model 6. Study 2 extends the findings while introducing a moderator using the PROCESS Model 83. Finally, qualitative findings are used to develop a practitioner-friendly typology of OCMs.
Findings
The perceived authenticity of a message can influence the believability of negative WOM in the presence of a negative availability cascade. Positive cascades are likely to prevent online communities from enabling negative e-WOM when the instigating message is perceived to be inauthentic. Qualitative findings from a post hoc analysis identify a typology of eight OCM types that enable and are also capable of disabling firestorms.
Practical implications
OCMs can both actively fuel and cool a firestorm. Brands should always monitor online communities and closely monitor discussions that are most likely to generate firestorms. More proactively, they should also develop communication strategies for each OCM type to help disable firestorms in the making.
Originality/value
Both negative and positive cascades are explored quantitatively and qualitatively to understand the mechanisms that can drive firestorms and provide both warnings and guidance for brands. An OCM typology guides brands’ mitigation strategies.
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Tyler Hancock, Frank G. Adams, Michael Breazeale, Jason E. Lueg and Kevin J. Shanahan
The authors provide an example of a group of online shoppers exploiting a pricing mistake and exploring the drivers of predatory shopping that may harm online retailers. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors provide an example of a group of online shoppers exploiting a pricing mistake and exploring the drivers of predatory shopping that may harm online retailers. This paper aims to examine the role of social vigilantism, proactivity and self-presentation in driving individual predatory shopping behaviors and delivers a broader understanding of how these behaviors develop in online communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a mixed-methods sequential research model. In Study 1, the authors explore predatory shopping by using a netnographic textual approach to analyze an online forum engaging in predatory shopping. In Study 2, the authors empirically analyze the uncovered conceptual findings using the PROCESS macro.
Findings
Customers who engage in predatory shopping online exhibit social vigilantism when communicating their views to others and proactively seeking out pricing mistakes and opportunities. Customers engaging in predatory shopping adapt their presentation online to increase their chances of success; this effect is strengthened by the online disinhibition effect.
Practical implications
Predatory shoppers can actively seek out pricing mistakes online, encourage participation and exploit mistakes by adapting their self-presentation. Therefore, online retailers should be proactive and consistent when communicating with customers and collaborating to deter predatory shopping. In addition, online retailers should focus on building advocates in communities to prevent harm from predatory shoppers online.
Originality/value
Online predatory shopping is explored qualitatively and quantitatively to understand the propensities that can drive predatory behavior and provide warning signs for online retailers. In addition, the effects of predatory shopping drivers are analyzed in the presence of the online disinhibition effect.
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Joel E. Collier, Michael Breazeale and Allyn White
When a failure occurs with a self-service technology (SST), do customers want to give back the “self” in self-service? The authors explore employee’s role in a self-service…
Abstract
Purpose
When a failure occurs with a self-service technology (SST), do customers want to give back the “self” in self-service? The authors explore employee’s role in a self-service failure and how the presence of other customers can change that role. Specifically, they examine how the self-monitoring of customers behavior during a failure can change recovery preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from customers of a movie self-service ticket kiosk and a grocery self-checkout. Three experiments were conducted.
Findings
Results from these studies find that customers want employees to fully take over a transaction after a failure if it takes place in isolation. If other patrons are present or waiting in line, then customers prefer the employee to simply correct the problem and let them complete the transaction. Finally, the servicescape along with the presence of other customers in a self-service area can induce self-monitoring behaviors and alter optimal recovery strategies.
Research limitations/implications
These findings have implications on the appropriate amount of recovery assistance customers need in a self-service experience.
Practical implications
This research reveals the social and functional complexities associated with executing a satisfactory SST failure recovery, particularly with respect to determining the extent to which the employee or customer should control the attempt.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the employee’s role in a self-service failure. While other studies have examined customers’ intentions in a self-service failure, authors examine how a service provider can assist in the recovery of a self-service failure.
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Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, Francisco J. Miranda and Michael Breazeale
The aim of this study is to determine whether the cumulative effects of satisfaction, trust, and perceived value may, under certain conditions, provide more explanatory power for…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to determine whether the cumulative effects of satisfaction, trust, and perceived value may, under certain conditions, provide more explanatory power for customer loyalty intentions than the often studied and more elusive customer delight. Herzberg's two-factor theory is used to explain why the frequent nature of grocery shopping, a primarily utilitarian experience, might introduce considerations that have not yet been addressed in the study of delight.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey is administered to a quota sample of Portuguese supermarket shoppers via phone, using a CATI system.
Findings
Research findings suggest that perceived value, trust, and satisfaction have a greater impact on behavioural outcomes than customer delight in the grocery shopping setting. In such a setting, cognitive drivers may be even more important for customers who are primarily concerned with hygiene factors (rather than motivators).
Research limitations/implications
Retailers are encouraged to focus on the more mundane factors that influence consumers' perceptions of value and trust rather than trying to invest in the substantial resources required to continually delight consumers. Future research may explore other determinants of loyalty intentions and test the extended model in different service sectors, cultural contexts and countries.
Originality/value
This study applies Oliver et al.'s consumer delight model in a utilitarian, frequent-use setting, finding previously undiscovered limitations to its validity.
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Michael Buhagiar, Julien Pollack and Sharon Coyle
Scholars are increasingly acknowledging the importance of conversations in the management of complex projects. Defining dialectics as “the art of purposeful conversation”, this…
Abstract
Purpose
Scholars are increasingly acknowledging the importance of conversations in the management of complex projects. Defining dialectics as “the art of purposeful conversation”, this paper aims to rationalise the somewhat disorganised field of dialectics by developing a categoreal scheme.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors refer to the current state of research into the conversational aspects of complex projects, and examine the historical development of, and philosophical and scholarly commentary on, the dialectical method.
Findings
The categories the authors propose are the Socratic, Conversational, Fichtean and Peircean. They differ in relation to the subject matter of the dialectic; their vulnerability to environmental influences; the degree of structure they require for optimal performance; and the situations in which they might most profitably be applied.
Research limitations/implications
A single categoreal scheme is rarely the last word, and the authors invite other scholars to explore the field in a similar way.
Practical implications
The scheme proposed here is intended to enhance the project manager's approach to conversations, by referring to the specific virtues and limitations of each of the categories.
Social implications
The informed use of dialectics may help to ameliorate the significant damage done to organisations and economies around the world by failed and underperforming projects.
Originality/value
The authors present the first categorisation of the field, with the aim of equipping the practitioner to think about dialectical approaches in a more systematic way.
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The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online…
Abstract
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:
Debajani Sahoo and Tathagata Ghosh
The purpose of this paper is to identify the motives that enforce consumers to find out the major determinants that frame healthscape in private healthcare service that leads to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the motives that enforce consumers to find out the major determinants that frame healthscape in private healthcare service that leads to their satisfaction in a developing country like India.
Design/methodology/approach
The generic motive dimensions are identified using an exploratory factor analysis. Next the reliability and validity of the factors are established followed by regression analysis using SPSS 20.0 s/w.
Findings
This paper identifies six healthscape motives in the private healthcare sector named as service personnel conduct and cleanliness, service delivery and facilities, ambience, location and look, appealing decoration, and upgraded safety service, out of which only service delivery, ambience, location, and decorations contribute the most to build customer satisfaction as per their significance value.
Research limitations/implications
The various dimensions of healthcare motives should be viewed as the levers of improving hospitals’ service quality in the minds of its present and future customers. This finding can offer valuable insight to the forthcoming as well as existing developer who are planning to have their healthcare service presence in India.
Practical implications
This study suggests some important strategic guidelines for service positioning and market segmentation of healthcare services as per customer requirements. In the recent past, availing services from hospitals were purely utilitarian in nature. Customers were more inclined to get proper and timely services and cared more about the service quality of the healthcare service provider.
Originality/value
This paper is among the few works done on understanding private healthcare service delivery process in India and customer satisfaction level from those Hospitals. This study addresses the gap by identifying a set of dimensions that are relevant to customers for a unique healthcare experience.