The purpose of this paper is to identify and quantify the factors determining the prices of organic and conventional cheese. For a market with a high degree of product…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and quantify the factors determining the prices of organic and conventional cheese. For a market with a high degree of product differentiation, i.e. the German cheese market, price premiums of various cheese attributes are examined. Thereby, special attention is paid to country of origin (CO) effects, geographical indications (GIs) and organic claims.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based on homescan panel data of 13,000 representative German households provided by the GfK consumer research association. The data set combines actual purchase and demographic data for a five-year sample period from 2004 to 2008. Applying the hedonic technique, the cheese price is modelled as a function of a wide range of consumer, store and product characteristics. Effects are analysed in detail by distinguishing between supply- and demand-side effects and by estimating price regressions not only for the whole sample but also for different shop types.
Findings
The estimated organic price premiums range between 18 per cent in discount shops and 26 per cent in hypermarkets. The impacts of the CO and GIs are considerably smaller in magnitude and limited to special shopping venues like super- and hypermarkets.
Originality/value
The German cheese market is currently evolving from a staple product market to a highly differentiated market where increasing attention is paid to quality indicators such as organic claims or GIs. The data are remarkable, both in sample size and information content. Furthermore, the estimation of shop type-specific price premiums offers new and detailed insights in consumer valuation and producer costs of a wide range of cheese attributes.
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Michael Schwalbe, Tricia McTague and Kylie Parrotta
We examine collective responses to identity threats in organizations, conceptualizing these responses as identity contests in which members of opposing groups share an identity…
Abstract
Purpose
We examine collective responses to identity threats in organizations, conceptualizing these responses as identity contests in which members of opposing groups share an identity and strive to protect the social psychological rewards derived from that identity.
Methodology/approach
We present an argument for the importance of identity as a basis for motivation, suggesting that the desires to obtain and protect identity rewards underlie much behavior in organizations. We also present two case studies from which we derive further theoretical implications about identity contests as drivers of organizational change.
Findings
Our case studies show how organizational subgroups perceived identity threats arising from actual or proposed changes in policies and practices, mobilized to resist these threats, and negotiated further changes in organizational structure, policies, and practices.
Practical implications
Applying this analysis, social psychologists who study identity threats can see how responses to such threats are not solely individual and cognitive but sometimes collective and behavioral, leading to changes in organizations and in the surrounding culture.
Social implications
Our analysis of how identity contests arise and unfold can enrich understandings of how self-definition and mental well-being are shaped by organizational life.
Originality/value
By focusing on collective responses to identity threats, we offer a new way of seeing how intra-organizational identity struggles are implicated in social change.
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Robert Ciuchita, Gustav Medberg, Valeria Penttinen, Christoph Lutz and Kristina Heinonen
Digital platform users not only consume but also produce communication related to their experiences. Although service research has explored users' motivations to communicate and…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital platform users not only consume but also produce communication related to their experiences. Although service research has explored users' motivations to communicate and focused on outcomes such as electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), it remains largely unexplored how users iteratively interact with communication artifacts and potentially create value for themselves, other users and service providers. The purpose of this paper is, thus, to introduce communicative affordances as a framework to advance user-created communication (UCC) in service.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from the literature in communication, service research and interactive marketing, an affordance perspective on UCC in service is introduced.
Findings
Three UCC affordances for the service context are presented – interactivity, visibility and anonymity – opportunities and challenges for service providers associated with these affordances are discussed and, finally, affordance-specific research questions and general recommendations for future research are offered.
Research limitations/implications
By conceptualizing UCC in service from an affordances perspective, this paper moves beyond the traditional sender–receiver communication framework and emphasizes opportunities and challenges for service research and practice.
Practical implications
Instead of focusing separately on specific technologies or user behaviors, it is recommended that service managers adopt a holistic perspective of user goals and motivations, use experiences and platform design.
Originality/value
By conceptualizing UCC as an augmenting, dialogical process concerning users’ experiences, and by introducing communicative affordances as a framework to advance UCC in service, an in-depth understanding of the diverse and ever-evolving landscape of communication in service is offered.
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This paper broadens and extends the idea of organizational death by arguing that certain organizational site moves, those in which employees hold a strong place attachment to the…
Abstract
This paper broadens and extends the idea of organizational death by arguing that certain organizational site moves, those in which employees hold a strong place attachment to the to be left, are a form of organizational death. It argues for the utility of viewing organizational change as involving loss and including space in studies of everyday organizational experiences. Using ethnographic research (participant‐observation and in‐depth interviews with the employees) of one such organization (the “Coffee House”) and a negotiated‐order perspective, discusses employee beliefs as to how the site move should have been managed as a means to document their understanding of the move as a loss experience and as a form of organizational death.
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This chapter addresses the circulation of anthropocenic imaginings on YouTube. Travelling to a multitude of tourist sites, many travel influencers became aware of the…
Abstract
This chapter addresses the circulation of anthropocenic imaginings on YouTube. Travelling to a multitude of tourist sites, many travel influencers became aware of the unpredictability of the weather and the increasing destabilisation of annual cycles of drought and flooding. The sustainable tourist site Kolarbyn epitomises how travel influencers shaped meanings attached to the Anthropocene and sustainable tourism through their video production. The eco-lodge is a further example of a place-assemblage that is entangled with other assemblages, such as commodity chains and digital platforms. By portraying the eco-lodge in YouTube videos, travel influencers connect the alternative tourism destination to platform audiences. The case of Kolarbyn shows that climate agency can be attributed to YouTubers whose popular videos can reinforce the dissemination of anthropocenic imaginaries and campaigns for climate justice.