Paolo Antonetti and Stan Maklan
The purpose of the study is to outline the unique role of compassion in reactions to cases of irresponsible corporate behavior that present information about victims of these…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to outline the unique role of compassion in reactions to cases of irresponsible corporate behavior that present information about victims of these events. In this study, four antecedents of compassion for the victims of irresponsibility are presented, and a model that explains the consequences of this emotion is tested empirically.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies test the research hypotheses using a mix of experimental and survey research. The effects are tested both in laboratory conditions, where consumers assess a fictitious case of corporate irresponsibility, and through a test of reactions to real online campaigns.
Findings
Compassion is one of the drivers of consumers’ anger at the culprit, playing an indirect role in decisions to retaliate against perpetrators. Four key drivers of compassion are identified in the research: the perceived suffering of the victims, the perceived similarity of the victims to the observer, victims’ derogation and the vividness of the description of the victims.
Practical implications
The study offers insights both for campaigners wishing to instigate boycotts and organizations managing complex stakeholder relationships following a crisis. Insights on the role of compassion and its antecedents lead to more effective communications able to heighten or dampen this emotion.
Originality/value
Existing research offers contrasting views on the potential role of compassion in reactions to injustices. This study presents a novel account that clarifies previous findings and extends our knowledge of causes and consequences of compassion.
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Stan Maklan, Joe Peppard and Philipp Klaus
The purpose of this paper is to examine the conundrum between the increasingly importance of investments in new information technologies (IT) on marketing practice and marketing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the conundrum between the increasingly importance of investments in new information technologies (IT) on marketing practice and marketing scholars continuing to question the profitability of IT-led marketing initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
Systematic reviews of the relevant literature on the financial and market return of customer relationship management (CRM) investments from both Marketing and Information Systems (IS) literature were conducted.
Findings
Findings suggest that, while both IS and Marketing scholars try to determine what generates returns on CRM investment, the IS community has a more complete conceptualisation as to how these returns are realised. A broader epistemological framework, better suited to observing how organisations benefit from IT-led management initiatives, enables a more comprehensive assessment of CRM investment.
Research limitations/implications
Supplementing the methods used by Marketing scholars with those frequently used in IS research would likely improve the assessment of IT-led Marketing investments and the resultant prescriptions for Marketing practitioners.
Practical implications
Failure to assess accurately the return from IT-led Marketing investments hinders managers’ ability to manage them for maximum performance improvements, all the more important now that organisations are preparing for large-scale investments in big data and social media strategies.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to illustrate how a combination of Marketing and IS scholarship can assist Marketing research and practice.
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The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the practical application of dynamic capabilities theory to improve investment decisions in customer relationship management (CRM).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the practical application of dynamic capabilities theory to improve investment decisions in customer relationship management (CRM).
Design/methodology/approach
Action research (AR) allows managers to raise the tacit knowledge of their dynamic capabilities to a level where they can be identified and developed. A framework and a process for managing dynamic capabilities in marketing are presented.
Findings
The findings relate to the nature of dynamic capabilities in marketing and how they are managed.
Practical implications
Marketing managers can improve the return on investments in CRM.
Originality/value
The paper presents a method for applying dynamic capabilities drawn from the resource‐based view (RBV) to practical marketing problems.
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Philipp “Phil” Klaus and Stan Maklan
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize, construct, refine and empirically validate a multiple‐item scale for measuring customers' service experience (EXQ).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize, construct, refine and empirically validate a multiple‐item scale for measuring customers' service experience (EXQ).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors present exploratory research developing a conceptualization of service experience based on a two‐stage approach: initial item generation through qualitative research, initial purification of these findings through exploratory factor analysis, and validation through the use of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.
Findings
The paper conceptualizes and validates the concept of customer/service experience. In total, 19 items in four dimensions of the EXQ scale were identified: product experience, outcome focus, moments‐of‐truth and peace‐of‐mind. These dimensions reflect service experience perceptions. The findings support the conclusion that the service experience has a significant impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty and word‐of‐mouth intentions. The scale demonstrates good psychometric properties based on the variety of reliability and validity tests utilized and builds upon extant research.
Practical implications
The research provides managers with the dimensions of service experience that influence purchase behavior and provides researchers with a sought‐after conceptualization of service experience.
Originality/value
The authors believe that this is the first empirically founded conceptualization and measurement of the service/customer experience.
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Outlines a new approach for managing brands that brings the process into line with recent advances in the management of flatter, customer‐facing organizations. Argues that the…
Abstract
Outlines a new approach for managing brands that brings the process into line with recent advances in the management of flatter, customer‐facing organizations. Argues that the traditional marketing and brand‐building approach, characterized by a narrow, product‐focussed selling proposition, no longer adds sufficient customer value. As a result, a gap has arisen between the value offered by the brand and the value expected by its customers. The factors which contribute to this value gap are discussed in the context of the changing customer and the changing organization where customer value is increasingly generated by business processes traditionally outside the remit of brand management. Introduces a management tool, the Unique Organization Proposition (UOP) to bridge this value gap by integrating the company’s core business processes into a visible set of credentials that adds customer value through the supply chain. Identifies and discusses the ways in which the UOP links with each of five core business processes. In conclusion argues that if marketers are to regain their role in the heart of the value‐adding process, they must lead in the management of the UOP and relegate their traditional brand engineering tools to an appropriate place in the overall UOP architecture.
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Uta Jüttner, Dorothea Schaffner, Katharina Windler and Stan Maklan
The purpose of this paper is to develop and apply the sequential incident laddering technique as a novel approach for measuring customer service experiences. The proposed approach…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and apply the sequential incident laddering technique as a novel approach for measuring customer service experiences. The proposed approach aims to correspond with the concept's theoretical foundation in the extant literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies the sequential incident laddering technique to measure customer service experiences. The technique integrates two well‐established methods in service marketing: sequential incident and laddering techniques. The data collected from 41 customers in a hotel and restaurant experience context illustrate that the method corresponds with the key themes of the proposed experience concept and experience formation process.
Findings
Applying the proposed technique reveals first, the customer's cognitive and emotional responses to company stimuli. Second, the salient customer cognitions and emotions across several episodes of the service interaction process are identified. Third, the personal values which drive the customer's service experience are disclosed.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical study is a first illustration of the proposed measurement approach in only one company based on a limited sample size. The methodological contributions and development opportunities for further applications are set out for different contexts and in combination with other methods.
Practical implications
The proposed method integrates customer and company‐related constructs. Therefore, the data collected can provide managers with guidelines for customer service experience design based on detailed customer feedback.
Originality/value
The paper proposes an innovative measurement approach to customer service experiences which can support knowledge development in an important marketing area.
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The objective of this paper is to conceptualise supply chain resilience (SCRES) and to identify and explore empirically its relationship with the related concepts of supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this paper is to conceptualise supply chain resilience (SCRES) and to identify and explore empirically its relationship with the related concepts of supply chain vulnerability (SCV) and supply chain risk management (SCRM).
Design/methodology/approach
From a review of the literature the conceptual domain of SCRES is defined and the proposed relationships with SCRM and SCV are derived. Data from a longitudinal case study with three supply chains are presented to explore the relationship between the concepts in the context of the global financial crisis.
Findings
The empirical data provide support for a positive impact of supply chain risk (SCR) effect and knowledge management on SCRES and from SCRES on SCV. SCR effect and knowledge management seem to enhance the SCRES by improving the flexibility, visibility, velocity and collaboration capabilities of the supply chain. Thereby, they decrease the SCV in a disruptive risk event. The positive effects manifest themselves in upstream supplier networks of supply chains as well as in distribution channels to the customers.
Research limitations/implications
The recession caused by the financial crisis has illustrated the importance of SCRES in today's interdependent global economy vividly. However, the concept is still in its infancy and has not received the same attention as its counterparts SCRM and SCV. The study confirms the benefit of resilient supply chains and outlines future research needs.
Practical implications
The paper identifies which supply chain capabilities can support the containment of disruptions and how these capabilities can be supported by effective SCRM.
Originality/value
To date, there has been no empirical study which has investigated supply chain resilience in a disruptive global event.
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Abstract
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The paper aims to propose a new conceptualisation of consumer anger directed against a company.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to propose a new conceptualisation of consumer anger directed against a company.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, an integrative review of the literature on anger in marketing has been conducted.
Findings
Anger at the firm is experienced in two forms: vengeful anger or problem-focused anger. The motivational goals associated with each differentiate between the two types and lead to different relational consequences: vengeful anger implies a desire to hurt the culprit, whereas problem-focused anger solely requires the attainment of a thwarted goal. The two types are associated with different patterns of appraisals, levels of intensity and emotion expression. These differences, documented in the literature, are not universal but shaped by contextual and personal variables. Although marketers conflate these two types of anger under the same label, only vengeful anger represents a threat to marketing relationships, whereas problem-focused anger has positive consequences if managed appropriately.
Research limitations/implications
Studies that examine anger will benefit from a more nuanced understanding of this concept. This paper raises important implications for the measurement of this emotion, as existing scales are not able to measure the goals associated with the two types of anger.
Practical implications
The insights presented help managers form strategies to address consumer anger in contexts such as service failures and/or crisis communications.
Originality/value
The paper extends scholars’ understanding of consumer anger. It offers an improved conceptualisation of this emotion, opening new avenues for future research.
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The objective of this short research-informed, practitioner-orientated paper is to provide a viewpoint on interactive marketing pre and post COVID-19.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this short research-informed, practitioner-orientated paper is to provide a viewpoint on interactive marketing pre and post COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual article designed to articulate a viewpoint that despite COVID-19 the strategic considerations that marketers need to make remain unchanged.
Findings
As a result of the pandemic, there is much more obvious use of interactivity in other, aligned functions such as sales and customer services. The effectiveness of interactive marketing will only be increased by having focus on the fundamental roles of the marketing discipline, strategy and segmentation, and understanding customers at the individual level. We also need reminding briefly that the rules of competition had changed well before the COVID-19 pandemic. The traditional make and sell model has been substantially replaced by new technology-enabled organisations without the restrictions of high fixed costs and cloying bureaucracy. Customers can now search for and evaluate products and services independent of suppliers and now have as much information about suppliers as suppliers have of customers. This is the backcloth against which marketers face the challenges at the beginning of 2021. We conclude that there is a great future ahead. There is no reason why the best of interactive marketing will not be capable of building relationships that are great for customers, great for the people who create them, great for all stakeholders and great for the environment.
Originality/value
This is a practitioner viewpoint outlining the view that COVID-19 has not had as great of an impact on interactive marketing practice as technological change has and that interactive marketing will continue to develop after COVID-19 has receded.