Toni Ryynänen and Visa Heinonen
Temporal consumption experiences have been conceptualised as universal, subjective or practice-based experiences. Little research, though, addresses such experiences in…
Abstract
Purpose
Temporal consumption experiences have been conceptualised as universal, subjective or practice-based experiences. Little research, though, addresses such experiences in conjunction with the repeated and situational consumption events that bring them about. The purpose of this paper is to extend current knowledge by examining how the temporal and situational intertwine during consumption events. For this purpose, the concept of a consumption timecycle based on the research data is constructed.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes a longitudinal and researcher-led approach to study temporal consumption experiences. The data was collected through participant observations, video recordings and personal subjective introspections during three consecutive annual Nordic motorcycle consumer trade shows (2014–2016). The data was analysed using an interpretive approach.
Findings
The results demonstrate five temporalities that characterise a consumption timecycle as follows: emerging, core, intensifying, fading and idle-time temporalities. The features of these temporal experiences are presented in the conclusions section of the paper.
Research limitations/implications
Recalled temporal experiences are mediated experiences and they differ from lived experiences. The transferability or generalisability of the results might be limited, as the case is situated in the Nordic context.
Originality/value
The paper presents the novel concept of a consumption timecycle that extends current debates about consumer time. The consumption timecycle is contrasted with established temporal concepts in consumer and marketing research.
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Toni Ryynänen, Markus Joutsela and Visa Heinonen
This explorative paper aims to identify the dimensions of recalled consumption experiences involving packaging by means of interpretive analysis. Scholarly interest towards…
Abstract
Purpose
This explorative paper aims to identify the dimensions of recalled consumption experiences involving packaging by means of interpretive analysis. Scholarly interest towards experiential aspects of consumption started in the beginning of 1980s.
Design/methodology/approach
The memory-based research materials were collected from 97 Finnish consumers within a two-day weblog session. The consumers were asked to describe personally meaningful packaging-related experiences and to submit a photograph of the relevant packages. The analysis focused on common dimensions associated with the described meaningful experiences.
Findings
The authors built a conceptual framework incorporating “nostalgic” and “accessible” experiences. The dimensions of nostalgic experience, which although anchored in the present can be re-lived only in the memory, include the involvement of key persons; the places and physical spaces in which the experience happened; and actions or practices involving packaging during an experience. Accessible experiences include the following dimensions: lasting product and packaging encounters; individual personal experiences; culturally meaningful celebrations and rituals; and packaging that appeals to the senses. It is proposed that meaningful consumption experiences involving packaging may reflect both nostalgic and accessible dimensions.
Originality/value
Although there is a growing interest towards consumers’ role in the packaging value chain, their packaging experiences are addressed rarely. It is proposed that the consumption experiences involving packaging are a mix of nostalgic and accessible dimensions.
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Gustav Medberg and Christian Grönroos
The definition of value adopted by the current service perspective on marketing theory is value as value-in-use. Surprisingly, however, little attention has been given to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The definition of value adopted by the current service perspective on marketing theory is value as value-in-use. Surprisingly, however, little attention has been given to the question of what constitutes value-in-use for customers in service contexts? Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide an empirical account of value-in-use from service customers' point of view.
Design/methodology/approach
To capture and analyze customers' experiences of value-in-use in the typical service context of retail banking, this study employed a narrative-based critical incident technique (CIT) and a graphical tool called the value chart.
Findings
The study identified seven empirical dimensions of positive and negative value-in-use: solution, attitude, convenience, expertise, speed of service, flexibility and monetary costs. Interestingly, these value-in-use dimensions overlap considerably with previously identified dimensions of service quality.
Research limitations/implications
The concepts of service quality and value-in-use in service contexts seem to represent the same empirical phenomenon despite their different theoretical traditions. Measuring customer-perceived service quality might therefore be a good proxy for assessing value-in-use in service contexts.
Practical implications
As the findings indicate that service quality is the way in which service customers experience value-in-use, service managers are recommended to focus on continuous quality management to facilitate the creation of value-in-use.
Originality/value
This study is the first to explicitly raise the notion that in the minds of service customers, value defined as value-in-use and service quality may represent the same empirical phenomenon.
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Sarah Badar (Imran) and Ajmal Waheed
The rapid shift in the emerging pedagogies of customer behavior has changed the business preferences in the hotel sector. This study prioritizes the hotel's main task to develop…
Abstract
Purpose
The rapid shift in the emerging pedagogies of customer behavior has changed the business preferences in the hotel sector. This study prioritizes the hotel's main task to develop customer re-patronage intention. Keeping in line with these factors, this study investigates the impact of customer empowerment on re-patronage intentions through customer value co-creation in the hotel sector of Pakistan. Furthermore, the study examines the moderating impact of sensation-seeking on customers.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 350 potential customers participated in the online survey using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Partial least square structural equation modeling was employed using Smart PLS-3 to test the projected hypotheses.
Findings
This study reveals that empowered customers improve their behavior and involvement in value co-creation, which, in turn, increases the prospects of re-patronage intention. Moreover, sensation-seeking moderates between consumer empowerment and customer value co-creation.
Research limitations/implications
Customer-dominant logic and sense-making theory present interesting insights where customer empowerment and value co-creation have a positively significant impact on customer re-patronage intention. Findings also elaborate on a significant mediating role of customer value co-creation activities, which is an interesting call for hotel managers to add thought-sharing ecosystems. The suggested factors add long-lasting results in terms of revenues, performance and global GDP.
Practical implications
It provides guidance for the hotel managers through novel factors that activate the customer to augment an intention to re-patron. Moreover, it provides a direction to add sensation-seeking strategies that strengthen the effects on customer empowerment and value co-creation.
Originality/value
This study has its uniqueness in introducing an environment in hotels where customers are empowered to further actively participate in value co-creation initiatives, along with sensation-seeking acting as a stimulus among them. These factors have greatly impacted the hotel's objectives (i.e. re-patronage intention).
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Reynold James, Suzanna ElMassah and Shereen Bacheer
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) offers a level playing field to all ethnic entrepreneurs (EE’s) operating from within it. The purpose of this qualitative research case study is to…
Abstract
Purpose
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) offers a level playing field to all ethnic entrepreneurs (EE’s) operating from within it. The purpose of this qualitative research case study is to explore the reasons underpinning the relatively greater success that Indian-origin EE’s in the UAE have been enjoying for sustained periods – and across diverse industries – relative to their counterparts belonging to several other nations.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research case study that draws from data gathered through 30 interviews of participants identified through expert sampling.
Findings
Whereas the UAE treats all its ethnic entrepreneurs (EE’s) alike and provides them with a level platform to operate from, the EE’s from India have consistently been outperforming those from all other nations, particularly within the context of the UAE’s large businesses spanning diverse industries. Three features seem to explain their success: their high tolerance for ambiguity; thriftiness; and intercultural competence.
Research limitations/implications
Two key limitations were faced: firstly, the negligible research literature on ethnic entrepreneurship in the UAE, and related official statistics such as details (by ethnicity/nationality) of EE-owned businesses, and secondly, the industry-wise break down of such businesses and their performance, as available in other developed nations hosting EE’s. Resultantly, alternate sources of data have been used to complete this research.
Practical implications
Given the UAE’s national-level institutionalised efforts to promote entrepreneurship amongst its citizens and wider populace, there are many implications that this study holds for existing and future entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
While on the one hand, the UAE and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council region have been witnessing frenetic ethnic entrepreneurial activity in the past decade, the research literature on the regions’ ethnic entrepreneurship is extremely patchy. This case study serves to significantly bridge this gap, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work, that extensively explores the entrepreneurial trajectory of Indian EE’s in the UAE, and the factors driving their success.
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Nnamdi O. Madichie and Ayantunji Gbadamosi
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the strategies undertaken by “entrepreneurial” universities to leverage their bottom-line especially in response to withdrawals of public…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the strategies undertaken by “entrepreneurial” universities to leverage their bottom-line especially in response to withdrawals of public funding. Internationalisation has been the most prominent from setting-up overseas branch campuses to aggressive recruitment drives for international students, and more recently, the launch of new programmes to attract a wider market.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a documentary analysis, this study explores the future of curriculum development in entrepreneurial universities, using narratives around an “unconventional course” launch as a case illustration.
Findings
The findings reveal an interesting interaction of innovation, opportunity recognition, risk taking and pro-activeness at play within a university environment. The study also highlights how instructors have, in the past, based their syllabi on celebrities – from the Georgetown University to the University of South Carolina, University of Missouri and Rutgers University cutting across departments from English through sociology to Women’s and Gender Studies.
Practical implications
Overall this study captures the relationship between hip-hop artistry and poetry, as well as meeting the demands of society – societal impacts – not the least, bringing “street cred” into the classroom.
Social implications
The case illustration of a course launch at the University of Missouri linking hip-hop artists to curriculum development and pedagogy, opens up the discourse on the future trajectory of teaching and learning in higher education, with its attendant social implications – not the least for life after graduation.
Originality/value
This study provides fresh insights into the entrepreneurial potential of universities in co-branded/marketing activities with the hip-hop industry.
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This chapter examines the potential and limitations of criminal law as a policy tool for fighting against the trade in counterfeit goods in Tanzania. It uncovers major challenges…
Abstract
This chapter examines the potential and limitations of criminal law as a policy tool for fighting against the trade in counterfeit goods in Tanzania. It uncovers major challenges involved in tackling the counterfeiting business in Tanzania using criminal law. The chapter shows that counterfeit goods have infiltrated many supply chains in Tanzania. Both law-related and non-law factors drive the counterfeit goods trade. The counterfeiting business affects consumers, traders, the economy and the general society in Tanzania. The counterfeiting business presents serious societal risks during the crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic owing to the possible infiltration of counterfeit pharmaceuticals into the medical supply chain. Criminal law is part of Tanzania's legal embodies for fighting against the counterfeit goods trade. Both law-related and non-law limitations and challenges undermine the efficacy of criminal law in tackling the trade in counterfeit goods in Tanzania. The chapter recommends policy, legal and institutional reforms that will help to augment the efficacy of the anti-counterfeiting legal regime in Tanzania.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse interaction between the economic growth and population explosion on migration and impending global crises, resulting from a congruence of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse interaction between the economic growth and population explosion on migration and impending global crises, resulting from a congruence of the ills affecting the world today, including climate change, water and food scarcity, poverty and environmental degradation.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a comparative analysis of future‐oriented literature. The paper applies the “Limits to Growth” thinking and suggests an approach where the concept of material and population growth is questioned.
Findings
Multidisciplinary examination of research literature reveals what is normally considered to be problems such as energy, food and water scarcity, poverty and environmental degradation really are not problems but symptoms; the problem is the continuing economic and population growth on a finite planet. Migration has always been a possible coping strategy for people facing economic and political problems as well as environmental changes. Continuing growth has not erased poverty and closed the gap between the rich and poor, which is a major driving force of migration. Only changing the structure of the system will do that.
Practical implications
The present unsustainable way of life means that society risks a multitude of crises. Many breakdowns will most likely be happening simultaneously throughout the entire environmental and socioeconomic system on a worldwide scale. Humanity has set the scene for the overshoot scenario and reversal of growth will be necessary to get out of it. New kinds of methods are needed to respond to the current challenges. It is imperative to reinvent economic theories and create new monetary and fiscal policies to solve the multidimensional ecological, economic, demographic, political and social crises humanity is facing today.
Originality/value
In a world where the lack of foresight exists to an alarming degree at every level of society, it is important to be constantly reminded of the imminent global crises resulting from growth. It is becoming apparent that fragmented strategies cannot address the pressing challenges. New values are needed to guide society to peaceful and equitable development in an increasingly interconnected world. This can only emerge from a new critical self‐awareness and the will to act.