Mrugank Thakor, Susan Reid and Rui Chen
Many studies have investigated consumers’ loyalty to businesses situated in the local area, in the community, the region or in the same country. However, the effect of loyalty to…
Abstract
Purpose
Many studies have investigated consumers’ loyalty to businesses situated in the local area, in the community, the region or in the same country. However, the effect of loyalty to the state in which the consumer resides has received little attention. This paper aims to propose the concept of home-state attachment (HSA) and develop models of its antecedents and its effects on criterion variables such as loyalty to local business.
Design/methodology/approach
After refinement of the measure of HSA, the authors conduct two studies (n = 202 and n = 201) among residents of two different Canadian provinces (states). They estimate the models, which include both formative and reflective indicators, using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results of both studies show that HSA can be distinguished from related constructs like consumer ethnocentrism (CET). HSA has a strong effect on loyalty to local businesses, independent of the effect of CET, testifying to its importance. HSA also affects other criterion variables, with loyalty to local business playing a mediational role.
Originality/value
This paper shows that HSA, a social-identity-based motivation for local patronage, is an important but largely overlooked determinant of loyalty to local businesses. The robustness of the results over two studies suggests that appeals to consumers based on this motivation may enhance the effectiveness of marketing programs.
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The purpose of this paper is to challenge Cold War binaries, seeking a more nuanced understanding of popular experience of change in the Soviet Union’s last decades. This was a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to challenge Cold War binaries, seeking a more nuanced understanding of popular experience of change in the Soviet Union’s last decades. This was a period of intensive modernization and rapid transformation in Soviet citizens’ everyday material environment, marked by the mass move to newly constructed housing and by changing relations with goods.
Design/methodology/approach
To probe popular experience and changing meanings, the paper turns to qualitative, subjective sources, drawing on oral history interviews (Everyday Aesthetics in the Modern Soviet Flat, 2004-2007).
Findings
The paper finds that qualitative changes took place in Soviet popular consumer culture during the 1960s-1970s, as millions of people made home in new housing amid the widespread media circulation of authoritative images representing a desirable modern lifestyle and modernist aesthetic. Soviet people began to make aesthetic or semiotic distinctions between functionally identical goods and were concerned to find the right furniture to fit a desired lifestyle, aesthetic ideal and sense of self.
Research limitations/implications
The problem is how to conceptualize the trajectory of change in ways that do justice to historical subjects’ experience and narratives, while avoiding uncritically reproducing Cold War binaries or perpetuating the normative status claimed by the postwar West in defining modernity and consumer culture.
Originality/value
The paper challenges dominant Cold War narratives, according to which Soviet popular relations with goods were encompassed by shortage and necessity. It advances understanding of the specific form of modern consumer culture, which, it argues, took shape in the USSR after Stalin.
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Nicolas Papadopoulos and Oscar Martín Martín
This paper has two overall goals. The first is to serve as a broad overview of the literature on the subject theme, with three main objectives in mind: to highlight the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper has two overall goals. The first is to serve as a broad overview of the literature on the subject theme, with three main objectives in mind: to highlight the complexities of international market selection or segmentation as a field of study and as a strategic decision by international firms; to explore the various ways and perspectives from which this area has been studied; and to suggest areas for future research by drawing on the preceding discussion. The second goal of the paper is to act as an introduction to the IMR special issue on the title theme, by outlining the special issue's objectives and the contributions to it.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the relevant literatures, the paper begins by outlining the factors that make the field complex in both theoretical and applied terms, moves to consider the research streams that comprise its main components, and concludes by drawing conclusions and implications for future research.
Findings
A large part of the complexity characterizing this field arises from the fact that it is closely intertwined with the broader area of internationalization and a number of other decisions related to it, such as the “go/no‐go” decision and the firm's choice of mode of entry. From the research perspective, theory development has been impeded by a high degree of fragmentation, which has resulted in various different streams studying the same general issues from widely different perspectives.
Research limitations/implications
The paper identifies a large number of directions for potential future research, not the least of which is the need for integrative research that addresses the fragmentation identified in the study.
Practical implications
Although this is primarily a theoretical paper directed at researchers, practitioners can gain useful insights from it by examining the various factors that have a bearing on their internationalization decisions.
Originality/value
The objectives of the main part of the paper will have been met if it succeeds in stimulating interest in further research and discussion on the core issues. The second part summarizes the contributions to the special issue and draws attention to the main message that each aims to convey.
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Abstract
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Stephanie Villers and Rumina Dhalla
Consumers often prefer sustainable goods and services but fail to follow through with purchases that reflect these espoused values. The green intention–outcome gap is studied in…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumers often prefer sustainable goods and services but fail to follow through with purchases that reflect these espoused values. The green intention–outcome gap is studied in many contexts but has yet to inform deathcare decisions. Industry reports suggest that most Americans prefer sustainable deathcare options, yet unsustainable corpse dispositions dominate the market. The purpose of this paper is to understand how history informs this phenonea.
Design/methodology/approach
This study looks to the past – using historical narrative analysis of deathcare trends and influential intermediaries – to understand the future of sustainable deathcare and the prospective role that marketers can play in bridging the gap between decedents’ preferences and survivors’ purchase outcomes.
Findings
Historical ritualization, medicalization and commercialization have resulted in the monopolization of traditional deathcare services. Mortuary professionals remain unresponsive to consumer preferences for sustainable alternatives.
Social implications
Socioeconomic shocks can allow humanity to reflect and transition from consumerism to sustainability. COVID-19 has led to greater awareness of self-mortality, and death has become less taboo. The slow market penetration of sustainable deathcare services suggests a lack of communication between a decedent and their survivors. Marketing scholars need to help marketing practitioners bridge the preference-outcome gap.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is amongst the first to examine how history informs the sustainable action–outcome gap for deathcare preferences in a post-COVID environment and the role that marketers can play in perpetuating change.
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The association between income distribution and measures of health has been well established such that societies with smaller income differences between rich and poor people have…
Abstract
The association between income distribution and measures of health has been well established such that societies with smaller income differences between rich and poor people have increased longevity (Wilkinson, 1996). While more egalitarian societies tend to have better health, in most developed societies people lower down the social scale have death rates two to four times higher than those nearer the top. Inequities in income distribution and the consequent disparities in health status are particularly problematic for many women, including single mothers, older women, and women of colour. The feminization of poverty is the rapidly increasing proportion of women in the adult poverty population (Doyal, 1995; Fraser, 1987).
As district leaders consider professional learning opportunities for educators, mobilizing new thought and actions across an entire system is a vexing challenge. Classroom-based…
Abstract
As district leaders consider professional learning opportunities for educators, mobilizing new thought and actions across an entire system is a vexing challenge. Classroom-based learning may unfortunately be viewed as juxtaposed to district-based learning. It becomes essential for district leaders to develop knowledge mobilization strategies which provide a framework for any district-wide focus or initiative. In doing so, opportunities for knowledge influencers to interact with each other at various levels of the educational system are intentionally enhanced, that is, at the classroom, school, and district levels. Knowledge creating groups are thereby encouraged to challenge the status quo and promote innovation.
Zeljka Hadija, Susan B. Barnes and Neil Hair
The purpose of this paper is to focus on college students, users of online social networks, as main sources of information that helps advertisers understand the ways in which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on college students, users of online social networks, as main sources of information that helps advertisers understand the ways in which advertisements are perceived online.
Design/methodology/approach
Results were reached through qualitative research. Personal in‐depth interviews, utilizing Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), were conducted among 20 college students. Interviews consisted of using screenshots of advertisements in online social networks to uncover respondents' reactions.
Findings
It was generally concluded that the users of online social networks do not dislike advertisements, but they simply do not notice them. Other content found in online social networks mitigates the attractiveness of the advertisements. Hence, the respondents reported that the brand recognition in online social networks was found to be much lower than the one created through other media channels.
Practical implications
Advertising in online social networks is a major unexplored advertising area. Interactivity on the internet shifts the ways in which users perceive advertising, and whether they perceive it at all. The paper discusses content that catches users' attention and its relation to advertisements.
Originality/value
Through literature review it has been revealed that no similar research exists. The findings of this research will aid advertisers in recognizing the possibility of advertising to the online social networks' population, taking into consideration different needs, and preferences of such users.
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Helen Payne and Susan D.M. Brooks
The purpose of this paper is to summarise practice-based evidence from an analysis of outcomes from a county-wide pilot study of a specialised primary care clinic employing an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarise practice-based evidence from an analysis of outcomes from a county-wide pilot study of a specialised primary care clinic employing an original approach for patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). Conditions with persistent bodily symptoms for which tests and scans come back negative are termed MUS. Patients are generic, high health-utilising and for most there is no effective current treatment pathway. The solution is a proven service based on proof of concept, cost-effectiveness and market research studies together with practice-based evidence from early adopters. The research was transferred from a university into a real-world primary care clinical service which has been delivering in two clinical commissioning groups in a large county in England.
Design/methodology/approach
Clinical data calculated as reliable change from the various clinics were aggregated as practice-based evidence pre- and post-intervention via standardised measurements on anxiety, depression, symptom distress, functioning/activity, and wellbeing. It is not a research paper.
Findings
At post-course the following percentages of people report reliable improvement when compared to pre-course: reductions in symptom distress 63 per cent (39/62), anxiety 42 per cent (13/31) and depression 35 per cent (11/31); increases in activity levels 58 per cent (18/31) and wellbeing 55 per cent (17/31) and 70 per cent felt that they had enough help to go forward resulting in the self-management of their symptoms which decreases the need to visit the GP or hospital.
Research limitations/implications
Without a full clinical trial the outcomes must be interpreted with caution. There may be a possible Hawthorne or observer effect.
Practical implications
Despite the small numbers who received this intervention, preliminary observations suggest it might offer a feasible alternative for many patients with MUS who reject, or try and find unsatisfying, cognitive behaviour therapy.
Social implications
Many patients suffering MUS feel isolated and that they are the only one for whom their doctor cannot find an organic cause for their condition. The facilitated group has a beneficial effect on this problem, for example they feel a sense of belonging and sharing of their story.
Originality/value
The BodyMind Approach is an original intervention mirroring the new wave of research in neuroscience and philosophy which prides embodiment perspectives over solely cognitive ones preferred in the “talking” therapies. There is a sea change in thinking about processes and models for supporting people with mental ill-health where the need to include the lived body experience is paramount to transformation.
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To provide an Asia‐Pacific viewpoint of the key constraints associated with large geographic distances for smaller westerns firms entering central and eastern Europe (CEE)…
Abstract
Purpose
To provide an Asia‐Pacific viewpoint of the key constraints associated with large geographic distances for smaller westerns firms entering central and eastern Europe (CEE), described as a turbulent transitional environment.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory study was used within a qualitative methodology, using eight case studies across multiple industries. Semi‐structured interviews were the main method of data collection conducted in 2003/2004. Open, axial and selective coding was used for the analysis to identifying issues.
Findings
Key internal constraints for smaller western firms (mindset of western management and middle management in CEE; and lack of management in CEE with decision‐making authority) related to managements' inability to recognize geographic and psychic distance as major external constraints. Largely overcome by enhancing communication between various functional groups; adapting organizational structure; maintaining frequent communicational; developing partnerships in international joint ventures; finding reliable distributors and commitment from re‐sellers and working with government. While no single international business theory adequately explains this process, there is overwhelming support for the network perspective and international entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited by small sample size. The explanatory phase is proposed with further western companies, such as the UK, operating in CEE to identify geographic distance, and additional CEE markets to verify dimensions in this environment.
Practical implications
The paper provides a checklist of strategies for overcoming constraints facing managers of smaller firms, entering emerging markets with geographic distance.
Originality/value
Previous studies, using a European or Nordic viewpoint, fail to identify the constraints associated with large geographic distances. This paper provides practical assistance to managers starting out in CEE from the Asia‐Pacific.