Sabrina Helm, Joyce Serido, Sun Young Ahn, Victoria Ligon and Soyeon Shim
The purpose of this study is to examine young consumers’ financial behavior (e.g. saving) and pro-environmental behavior (i.e. reduced consumption and green buying) as effective…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine young consumers’ financial behavior (e.g. saving) and pro-environmental behavior (i.e. reduced consumption and green buying) as effective proactive strategies undertaken in the present to satisfy materialistic values and maximize well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on an online survey among a panel of young American adults (N = 968).
Findings
The study finds a positive effect of materialism on personal well-being and negative effects on financial satisfaction, proactive financial coping and reduced consumption, but no effect on green buying, a separate and distinct pro-environmental strategy. Both proactive financial coping and reduced consumption are positively associated with subjective well-being.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should re-examine conceptualizations of materialism in the context of climate change and the meaning of possessions in the global digital economy; studies could also focus on the specific well-being effects of reduced consumption and alternative pathways to align materialistic and environmental values.
Practical implications
Consumer education should look to models of financial education to demonstrate how limited natural resources can be managed at the micro level to enhance consumers’ subjective well-being, as well as reduce resource strain at the macro level.
Originality/value
Key contributions are the examination of materialism and consumption in the dual contexts of financial and environmental resource constraints and the effects of these key macro-social phenomena on consumers’ perceived well-being. Another study highlight is the differentiation of two strategies for proactive environmental coping, of which only one, reduced consumption, increased personal well-being and decreased psychological distress.
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Food taste is essential for customer satisfaction and loyalty with food products and services. This study examines how ethnic cues influence taste perceptions in the growing…
Abstract
Purpose
Food taste is essential for customer satisfaction and loyalty with food products and services. This study examines how ethnic cues influence taste perceptions in the growing traditional food sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Two experiments were conducted among students, faculty and staff members of two Taiwanese universities. The first experiment manipulated congruence of three ethnic cues (chef, wait staff and atmosphere) in an ethnic food setting, the second manipulated local identity salience and cue congruence for chefs in a local traditional food setting.
Findings
Ethnic congruities between food and chefs, wait staff and atmospherics increase perceived taste of traditional dishes, mediated by perceptions of authenticity and enhanced by consumer cosmopolitanism. In local traditional food settings, the indirect effect of ethnic congruence was found only when subjects perceived strong local identity. Cosmopolitanism played a negative role in the local traditional food setting.
Practical implications
The findings of this research provide insights into the potential taste management for both ethnic and local traditional food products and services and aid in the development of marketing strategies based on ethnic cues.
Originality/value
This research extends understanding of accessibility-diagnosticity theory to food judgments, empirically testing the implicit theory that ethnic food presented with ethnically congruent cues tastes better. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation distinguishing the different effects of ethnic cues on actual perceived taste for unfamiliar ethnic food and familiar local traditional food.
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Brian Mayer, Sabrina Helm, Melissa Barnett and Mona Arora
Essential frontline workers in the retail sector face increased exposure risks to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to frequent interactions with the general public. Often…
Abstract
Purpose
Essential frontline workers in the retail sector face increased exposure risks to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to frequent interactions with the general public. Often these interactions are fraught with controversies over public safety protocols. The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of frontline workers' perceptions of workplace safety and customer misbehaviors on their stress and psychological distress to inform managing workplace health and safety during public health crises.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an online survey of 3,344 supermarket workers in the state of Arizona (US) during the state's first COVID-19 pandemic wave in July 2020. Measures included mental health distress, and perceptions of workplace safety and customer behaviors. The authors utilized a mixed-methods approach combining multiple regression analyses with qualitative analyses of open-ended comments.
Findings
Workers reported high rates of stress and psychological distress. Increases in mental health morbidity were correlated with perceptions of being unsafe in the workplace and concerns about negative customer encounters. Qualitative analyses reveal frustration with management's efforts to reduce risks intertwined with feelings of being unsafe and vulnerable to threatening customer encounters.
Practical implications
The findings highlight the need to provide and enforce clear safety guidelines, including how to manage potential hostile customer interactions, to promote positive health workplace management during a pandemic.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to assess the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the mental health of non-health care frontline essential workers and presents novel insights regarding perceived customer misbehavior and need for management support and guidance in a public health crisis.
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The firm's reputation is one of its most valued intangible assets. Scientific and managerial interest in corporate reputation grows steadily. Reputation management – one of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The firm's reputation is one of its most valued intangible assets. Scientific and managerial interest in corporate reputation grows steadily. Reputation management – one of the cornerstones of corporate communications – seeks to align communication with stakeholder groups as to prevent a fragmented reputation. As yet, little is known about the perception of corporate reputation amongst the different stakeholders of a firm. Comparative empirical evidence has remained scarce. The aim of this paper is therefore to raise fundamental questions about reputation: how it may or may not differ between stakeholder groups and how firms can take these differences into account when measuring and managing corporate reputation.
Design/methodology/approach
A single‐case, but very substantial, quantitative empirical study among German consumers, employees, and private investors of a consumer goods producer. Methods of data analysis include cluster analysis, ANOVA, and structural equation modelling using partial least squares.
Findings
The data analysis shows that the criteria applied by individuals belonging to different stakeholder groups in assessing corporate reputation are rather similar. Differentiation emerges in relation to actual perceptions of various reputational facets.
Practical implications
The findings have implications for building and interpreting the results of stakeholder‐related measures of corporate reputation and for reputation management.
Originality/value
The paper integrates different stakeholders' perceptions of corporate reputation within one empirical design and delivers insights into the relevance of adapting reputation measures to specific stakeholder groups.
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Sabrina Verena Helm, Uwe Renk and Anubha Mishra
The purpose of this paper is to identify how employees’ perceived congruity of their employers’ corporate brand with their own actual and ideal self may affect their brand…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify how employees’ perceived congruity of their employers’ corporate brand with their own actual and ideal self may affect their brand identification (BI), brand pride (BP) and brand citizenship behavior (BCB).
Design/methodology/approach
This cross-sectional paper involved 283 employees in Germany who completed an online survey.
Findings
Congruity of the brand with employees’ actual self and with their ideal self has similar effects on employees’ BI. However, effects differ with respect to the other outcome variables. BP is only affected by congruity of the brand with the ideal self, whereas BCB is only affected by congruity of the brand with the actual self. Brand identity is positively related to BP and BCB; BP also affects BCB.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies could include different sources for evaluation of BI, BP and BCB; for temporally separate measurement of identification, pride and BCB; and for use of fictitious brands or experimental manipulations of pride to increase internal validity. The discrepant impacts of congruity of the brand with the actual self and the ideal self as detected in the paper could spark research interest in addressing motivations to increase self-esteem and self-consistency in a work context or in investigating specific mediators or moderators in the relationship between self-concept, (brand) identification and pride, as well as behaviors. Finally, research could address different kinds of pride, such as individual and collective forms of pride, as well as their interplay.
Practical implications
Managers should be aware of the different effects of a corporate brand’s fit with employees’ actual and ideal self, and also should note that BI seems essential in augmenting BP and brand-related behaviors. The paper develops implications for internal branding and HRM strategies regarding employee selection, promotion and retention. Findings also indicate that BP motivates BCB in line with current assumptions in research and practice on individual forms of pride.
Originality/value
This paper investigates employees’ perceptions of “their” brand’s fit with their actual and ideal self separately, and determines the differences in impact on BP and BCB, extending existing knowledge on drivers of brand-building behaviors. It also develops the concept of BP in the context of social identity theory and the need for distinction; it further provides initial empirical insights into the role of employees’ BP, including the development of a measure.
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Sabrina Helm, Ludger Rolfes and Bernd Günter
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to investigate the supplier's view on supplier‐initiated relationship dissolution due to lack of customer profitability. …
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to investigate the supplier's view on supplier‐initiated relationship dissolution due to lack of customer profitability. Design/methodology/approach – The research is focused on inter‐organisational buyer‐seller relationships. An exploratory study in the German mechanical engineering industry was conducted to provide insights into the usage of customer valuation techniques and the preponderance of unprofitable customer relationships, and to identify various ways of managing unprofitable customer relationships by means of cluster analysis. Findings – The study shows that many companies in the industry lack knowledge and use of customer valuation techniques. Three clusters of supplying firms are identified that differ in their willingness to end unprofitable customer relationships. Research limitations/implications – Provides an exploratory study into a neglected aspect of relationship marketing characterised by a low response rate. The sample contained companies from one major German industry, limiting the applicability of its findings. The main implications are that unprofitable customer relationships are a common feature of industrial markets, which merits further investigation. Respondents were shown to have a range of different views and approaches to such relationships. Research on customer valuation needs to focus on the implementation barriers of valuation methods. Practical implications – Study results stress the importance of developing and implementing customer valuation methods, the relevance of unprofitable relationships, and suppliers' decision making concerning such precarious relationships. It is a useful source of information and impartial advice for managers involved with customer management. Originality/value – The paper leads to a more thorough understanding of relationship marketing and provides empirical data on a neglected field of marketing research, as prior work did not consider the supplier's view on dissolution management in detail.
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Word‐of‐mouth is a rarely quantified phenomenon, in spite of its importance for service firms. Therefore, referrals remain a neglected determinant of customer lifetime valuation…
Abstract
Word‐of‐mouth is a rarely quantified phenomenon, in spite of its importance for service firms. Therefore, referrals remain a neglected determinant of customer lifetime valuation, although some authors claim them to be the astronomical part of customer equity. The paper discusses different approaches to the calculation of positive word‐of‐mouth, leading to a monetary referral value of a company’s customers.