Jakob Trischler, Simon J. Pervan and Donald Robert Scott
Many firms use customer co-creation practices with the aim of benefiting from their customers’ knowledge, skills and resources. This paper aims to explore co-creation processes…
Abstract
Purpose
Many firms use customer co-creation practices with the aim of benefiting from their customers’ knowledge, skills and resources. This paper aims to explore co-creation processes which involve users with different background characteristics and motivational drivers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study builds on an analysis of data from six teams in which users collaborated with in-house professionals for the development of new service concepts. Observations and open-ended questionnaires provided insights into the teams’ development processes. Independent experts rated the generated concepts. The data were analysed using cross-comparison matrices.
Findings
The findings suggest that the co-creation process and outcomes can be influenced by numerous intra-team factors, including relationship and task conflicts, participation style, team bonding, team identity and cohesiveness and intra-team collaboration. Their occurrence and influence seem to be linked with a specific team composition. A conceptual co-creation process model and six propositions are used to describe the complex relationships between team composition, intra-team factors and key innovation outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
Research that investigates user involvement in teams needs to consider the complexity of intra-team factors affecting the development process and outcomes. The findings are limited to a specific setting, design task and user sample. Future research should replicate this study in different sectors.
Practical implications
Key to customer co-creation is the systematic recruitment of users based on their background characteristics and motivational drivers. For instance, the involvement of users with very specific innovation-related benefit expectations can cause conflict, leading to narrowly focused outcomes. This, however, can be mitigated by the form of facilitation and roles adopted by in-house professionals. Understanding intra-team dynamics can allow the firm to assemble and facilitate customer co-creation so that generated outcomes can align with set innovation targets.
Originality/value
This paper provides original insights into the “black box” of the customer co-creation process and the complex relationship between team composition, intra-team factors and key innovation outcomes.
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Simon J. Pervan and Liliana L. Bove
– The purpose of this paper is to examine how a crisis affects public attitudes toward stigmatized service workers (SSWs) who are blamed by the media for the event.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how a crisis affects public attitudes toward stigmatized service workers (SSWs) who are blamed by the media for the event.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses grounded in two theories, crisis communication and empathic concern, are tested using two experimental design studies of 180 and 107 adult respondents.
Findings
The effects of both empathy (positive) and anger (negative) on attitudes toward the SSWs involved in crisis are mediated by controllability of attribution of crisis. Empathic concern mitigates negative public attitudes toward stigmatized workers and appears to remove the effect of anger but only when the crisis severity is not too high. In a severe crisis both empathy and anger are important predictors of public response.
Research limitations/implications
Boundary conditions in terms of severity, nature and victim of crisis and media framing need to be investigated.
Practical implications
Proactive crisis management practice is required by professional associations of SSW. Eliciting empathy and paying attention to prior crisis history and professional reputation offers scope to quell public anger and desire for punishment.
Social implications
The attrition rates of socially stigmatized workers following crisis events have profound social and financial costs to society. This study sets a foundation for substantive managerial change in crisis response, and how the perception of socially stigmatized workers, is managed.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the voracity of two theories which provide informed but different insights to public response to service workers in crisis.
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Simon J. Pervan and Andrea Vocino
The purpose of this paper is to explore how message framing is commonly used by magazine advertisers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how message framing is commonly used by magazine advertisers.
Design/methodology/approach
Following the classification suggested by Levin et al., the frequency and nature of message framing in magazine advertising is explored using a content analysis of 2,864 advertisements in a sample of popular US magazines.
Findings
Results suggest a lack of consistency between marketing practice and academic findings. Contrary to academic recommendations, advertisers used positive framing in almost all advertising messages. Further, the use of attribute framing and combined attribute and goal framing was more popular than pure goal framing
Research limitations/implications
Although the findings are limited by a judgement sample of US magazines, they do suggest the need for academics to conduct more research on the effectiveness of combined attribute and goal framing techniques.
Practical implications
Of equal importance is the need for practitioners to explore the potentiality of negative framing in their advertising content.
Originality/value
Adopting the Levin et al.'s typology, this paper highlights the need for advertising researchers to engage with practitioners to try to understand current industry practice with regard to message framing. The inconsistencies revealed in this paper point to either an insufficient understanding of message framing by one or both parties or the need for better communication between the two.
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Sarah R. Thomas, Simon J. Pervan and Peter J. Nuttall
The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of a greater marketing orientation among arts organisations and its impact on funding through sponsorship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of a greater marketing orientation among arts organisations and its impact on funding through sponsorship.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilising a qualitative methodology, the study employs case studies for the purpose of formulating tentative and emergent knowledge.
Findings
The case study observations reveal the adoption of a marketing orientation across the sample and most significantly for the purposes of securing and consolidating sponsorship relationships. But contrary to popular academic theory this is managed without significant threat to artistic integrity or adaptation of theatrical productions.
Research limitations/implications
Data were derived from a purposive but limited sample. The advantages of a qualitative method in producing rich data is well established, however a longitudinal study would facilitate the understanding of the temporal shifts in arts sponsorships and counter the limits of the cross‐sectional nature of the study.
Practical implications
The study reveals a managerial capacity for arts organisations to attract sponsorship through customer orientation without the need to compromise its artistic and social goals.
Originality/value
A central concern to the increasing significance of business and private funding for the survival of arts organisations is the impact this has on the producers ability to remain faithful to the artistic integrity of their productions. This longstanding academic debate now has predominance in arts marketing management and the issues addressed in this paper serve to address this shift in emphasis.
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Michelle Wallace, Cathy Byrne, Andrea Vocino, Terry Sloan, Simon J. Pervan and Deborah Blackman
The purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamics of the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) in Australia through the lens of a changing higher education landscape. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamics of the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) in Australia through the lens of a changing higher education landscape. The paper reflects on issues raised in a previous analysis of DBA programmes undertaken a decade ago, and highlights persistent challenges and emerging opportunities for professional Doctorate programmes in the Australian context.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were undertaken with higher degree research directors, deans of graduate schools, and DBA programme directors from all 18 Australian institutions offering the DBA in 2013. Quantitative data on enrolments, accreditation requirements, course structures; and demographics are contextualised within a qualitative view of programme purposes, student and institutional motivations, rationales and concerns. Particular focus is given to perceptions of the difference between traditional research doctorates (PhDs) and professional doctorates, especially the DBA.
Findings
In the decade from 2003 to 2013 DBA enrolments are down but enquiries are up, indicating unmet demand. There is a shift in the players, with some smaller, regional universities dramatically increasing their enrolments, and larger, traditional institutions exiting the space altogether. Significant changes in accreditation criteria have generated a perceptual shift: where DBAs previously suffered from “academic snobbery” regarding their legitimacy, this perception is being challenged by standards which require DBA equivalence with a PhD. This shift in standards has also created some confusion amongst supervisors and candidates.
Originality/value
There is limited research into the DBA award or its candidates, and academic literature is generally silent on DBA supervision. This piece of research, one of very few that specifically examine the DBA, reflects on the past decade, analyses the present context and identifies emerging issues for the delivery of DBA programmes in Australia.
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Michael A. Kortt, Simon J Pervan and Owen Hogan
– The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the drivers behind the rise and fall of the Australian Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and to assess its future.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the drivers behind the rise and fall of the Australian Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and to assess its future.
Design/methodology/approach
Data covering the period 1993-2013 was sourced from the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training to provide a comprehensive analysis of the rise and fall of the Australian DBA.
Findings
In Australia, the DBA was introduced in 1993. In the first 11 years of the programme, enrolments increased from only nine candidates in 1993 to 1,505 candidates in 2004. However, by 2013, the number of candidates had fallen to 869 candidates. The authors argue that the principal rationale for the dramatic fall in enrolments points to the challenges and issues of managing overseas candidates by second tier and regional universities rather than a decline in the market per se.
Practical implications
The challenge for universities is to determine whether they can or are able to offer the DBA under a quality framework that requires academic rigour equal to the PhD.
Originality/value
This paper presents – for the first time – the most comprehensive description of trends in the Australian DBA programme from its inception to the present day. It also offers valuable insights and cautionary lessons for other countries thinking of introducing or expanding their current DBA programmes.
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Thac Dang-Van, Ninh Nguyen, Simon Pervan, Hoang Viet Nguyen and Muhammad Abid Saleem
This study investigates how rational, coercive and emotional influence tactics affect key factors in managing relationships between marketing channel members, i.e. knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates how rational, coercive and emotional influence tactics affect key factors in managing relationships between marketing channel members, i.e. knowledge transfer, relational capital and channel conflict management.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-way time-lagged sample data were obtained from purchase managers of 559 firms across industries in Vietnam. Structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze the data and test hypotheses in the research model.
Findings
The results indicate that rational tactics positively affect knowledge transfer, relational capital and channel conflict management. However, coercive tactics have a contrasting effect and emotional tactics have a mixed impact on these three factors. Moreover, knowledge transfer and relational capital mediate the link between influence tactics and channel conflict management.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the extant literature by clarifying the mechanism through which different types of influence tactics affect the key factors in marketing channel relationship management. The findings highlight various tactics managers can use to foster knowledge transfer, relational capital and channel conflict management.
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Suni Mydock III, Simon James Pervan, Alanoud F. Almubarak, Lester Johnson and Michael Kortt
The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which consumer purchasing behaviour is influenced by advertised information that a product is made with renewable energy. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which consumer purchasing behaviour is influenced by advertised information that a product is made with renewable energy. It also seeks to identify why some consumers might respond more favourably.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments were conducted using two samples of university students enroled in Australia. The first experiment tested the main effect of this research, the second tested the potential amplifying effect of locus of control and the third tested the temporal orientation.
Findings
Consumer respond favourably to products promoted as made with renewable energy. The possible explanation for this is that future temporal orientation (FTO) influences attitude towards the brand, attitude towards the advertisement, purchase intention and willingness to pay a premium for brands. The observed interaction effect between perceived greenness of the advertisement and FTO is also robust to scepticism.
Research limitations/implications
Results presented here are also derived from responses made by students at a regional Australian university. Although atypical in their profile with most over 30 years of age, findings cannot reliably be generalised to the larger population. Determining how much importance a renewable energy appeal has when it is positioned among other green appeals would reveal the relative usefulness of the focal promotion to marketers.
Practical implications
Promoting a firm’s use of renewable energy presents an important opportunity to achieve desirable outcomes, and the efficacy of this is magnified within individuals that habitually focus on the future.
Social implications
These findings benefit society because they contribute towards increasing the frequency of sustainable business practices. It should also encourage policy-makers to implement policy changes (e.g., removing subsidies that prevent renewable energy from attaining cost parity with non-renewable sources of energy), which can result in beneficial economic outcomes.
Originality/value
This research is the first of its kind to be conducted in an Australian context, providing findings that assist both firms’ and policy-makers’ decision-making.
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Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured…
Abstract
Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.
The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.
The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.