Journal of Consumer Marketing

Tafesse, Wondwesen; Wien, Anders

doi: 10.1108/JCM-08-2016-1905pmid: N/A

PurposeThis study aims to examine how message strategy influences consumer behavioral engagement in social media. To this end, the study develops a comprehensive typology of branded content in social media and tests for its effect on consumer behavioral engagement.Design/methodology/approachA sample of brand posts derived from the official Facebook pages of top corporate brands was double-coded using an elaborate coding instrument. Message strategy was operationalized using three main message strategies (i.e. informational, transformational and interactional) and their paired combinations. Consumer behavioral engagement was operationalized using consumer actions of liking and sharing brand posts. Proposed relationships were tested with MANCOVA and univariate ANOVAs.FindingsResults indicate that the transformational message strategy is the most powerful driver of consumer behavioral engagement, while no significant difference is observed between the informational and the interactional message strategies. Further, complementing the informational and interactional message strategies with the transformational message strategy markedly enhances their effectiveness.Practical implicationsUseful managerial guidance to develop effective message strategies is offered. In particular, the importance of transformational messages, both as a standalone and a complementary message strategy, is underscored. By mastering and deploying transformational messages more frequently in their social media communication, marketers could improve their effectiveness.Originality/valueDrawing on a theory-driven typology, this study sheds light on how message strategy shapes consumer behavioral engagement in a social media context. Importantly, the study documents pioneering empirical evidence regarding the effect of combined message strategies on consumer behavioral engagement.

Hiler, Jacob L.; Cook, Laurel Aynne; Northington, William Magnus

doi: 10.1108/JCM-10-2016-1984pmid: N/A

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the phenomenon of co-competition, within service-dominant logic, whereby multiple parties with mutually exclusive goals compete for the rights to co-create with a firm.Design/methodology/approachWithin the context of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, the paper uses a naturalistic inquiry approach guided by the core objectives of qualitative research provided by Belk et al. (2012). These objectives include understanding the construct of study, the antecedents and consequences of what is being studied and, finally, the process used by the consumer during the phenomena. Additionally, the results are presented within an idiographic framework.FindingsThis study finds that co-competition arises when heterogeneous segments of consumers attempt different co-creation strategies with the firm, an overlooked dark side of co-creation and co-production of value. Additionally, the study finds evidence that co-competition may have led to co-destruction of value for both consumer parties and the firm.Originality/valueThe outcomes of this process could have significant financial and reputational impacts for the firm resultant from alienating both types of consumers competing for the rights to co-create. The conceptual framework established here provides a guide through which further investigation of co-creative forces can occur.

Åsberg, Per

doi: 10.1108/JCM-03-2017-2161pmid: N/A

PurposeBrand architecture and brand portfolios have been regarded as absolute entities to be analysed from the company’s perspective. The purpose of this study is to question such a uniform view by adding a perceptional dimension to the two concepts.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews with 58 marketing professionals and customers were used to explore ten propositions and map associations in the perceived brand portfolios, based on the brand concept map methodology.FindingsThe study reveals systematic differences between the collective view of company representatives, who name fewer brands associated through more sophisticated and highly connected brand systems and customers who include more partners and competitor brands in the portfolio, who also name more brands and connections in total.Research limitations/implicationsImplications of the results are analysed and future research is suggested to determine the generalizability of the findings and the economic implications of discrepant internal and external views of a brand architecture and brand portfolio.Practical implicationsAcademics should relate to this dualism by compensating for the effects of the associative predisposition of employees versus customers when interpreting results of studies related to brand portfolios and brand architecture. Marketing practitioners must actively acknowledge and manage the role of partners and competitors as part of the company’s external brand portfolio.Originality/valueThis study is the first to problematize the unilateral interpretation of brand portfolios and brand architecture by introducing a dual view of these concepts based on internal (employees) and external (consumers) perceptions.

Alhouti, Sarah; D’Souza, Giles

doi: 10.1108/JCM-08-2016-1895pmid: N/A

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine how consumers benefit from corporate social responsibility (CSR) and whether spiritual benefits are a stronger outcome of CSR.Design/methodology/approachItems for values are developed and tested prior to their inclusion in an experiment that manipulates the presence and absence of CSR. A structural equation model is used to test the mediation effect of perceived value on the relationship between CSR and consumer outcomes. A chi-square test is used to compare the magnitude of the significant effects.FindingsCSR influences spiritual, status, efficiency and aesthetic benefits equally. Spiritual benefits is a stronger predictor of attitude and personal satisfaction than efficiency and status benefits.Originality/valueConceptual and qualitative findings in the literature demonstrate that CSR is associated with spiritual benefits. This study quantitatively tests not only how CSR influences various benefits but also how those effects compare to the relationship between CSR and spiritual benefits. The examination of the effect of CSR benefits on consumer outcomes reveals that the types of benefits do not have identical effects.

Bhuian, Shahid Nakib; Sharma, Sujeet Kumar; Butt, Irfan; Ahmed, Zafar U.

doi: 10.1108/JCM-02-2017-2076pmid: N/A

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the predictabilities of five intra-personal factors to predict pro-environmental consumer behavior (PECB) and the moderating role of religiosity in Oman.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses neural network to analyze the antecedents/antecedents × religiosity → PECB relationships by using a sample of 306 consumers from Oman.FindingsThis study finds that the most important predictors of PECB, according to the order of importance, are attitude × religiosity, knowledge, concern × religiosity, knowledge × religiosity, value, religiosity, attitude, concern and value × religiosity.Research limitations/implicationsThe convenience sample from a single Islamic country limits the generalizability of the findings. Future studies should use probabilistic sampling techniques and multiple Islamic countries located in different geographical regions.Practical implicationsTo promote PECB, businesses and policymakers should provide environmental education to expand knowledge and value, leverage ecological religious values in integrated marketing communications, make positive inducements to change attitude and concern enhancing interventions.Social implicationsAs religiosity enhances PECB by moderating the impacts of environmental intra-personal factors on PECB, businesses and policymakers should find ways to use faith-based ecological messages in Islamic countries.Originality/valueDetermining the predictabilities of psychological factors and their interactions with religiosity to predict PECB in Islamic countries is necessary for promoting environmentally friendly products in Islamic countries and for reducing the ecological damage to the environment.

Bettiga, Debora; Lamberti, Lucio

doi: 10.1108/JCM-06-2016-1860pmid: N/A

PurposeThis study aims to explore the role of positive and negative anticipated emotions on adoption and continued usage of consumer products. The components of value eliciting anticipated emotions are investigated as well.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual model proposed is tested in two empirical studies, one focussing on functional and hedonic products and one on incremental and radical product innovations. Data are collected through online surveys on consumers and are analysed using structural equation modelling.FindingsResults confirm the ability of anticipated emotions to influence product decision-making process. Moreover, anticipated emotions mediate the influence of value perceptions on product attitude. Findings show that these relationships vary greatly between initial adoption and further usage of the product.Practical implicationsFindings from this study may help marketers in the development of the right brand strategies and communication campaigns, aimed at building emotional connections with the consumer which prompt product adoption and usage.Originality/valueAnticipated emotions, the predictions about the emotional consequences of a behaviour, have been acknowledged as strong drivers of consumer choices. Despite that, the role of anticipated emotions in product decision-making has not been explored yet. The present research, by means of a novel conceptual model, uncovers the role of anticipated emotions in both product adoption and continued usage decisions and depicts the components of value arousing such anticipated emotions.

Sthienrapapayut, Thuckavadee; Moschis, George P.; Mathur, Anil

doi: 10.1108/JCM-02-2017-2083pmid: N/A

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to test the efficiency of the “gerontographics” model in predicting selected consumer behaviours in older adults.Design/methodology/approachThrough regression analysis, a large sample of older Thai adults is used to test the predictive power of gerontographics against predictive measures based on both chronological age and cognitive age.FindingsThe findings of the study show that the gerontographics model is more powerful in predicting certain types of older adults’ consumer behaviour than chronological age or cognitive age.Originality/valueThese findings have implications for marketing and business strategies because they suggest that gerontographics segmentation may be a more useful and effective way to segment older consumers.

Albouy, Jeanne; Décaudin, Jean-Marc

doi: 10.1108/JCM-02-2016-1713pmid: N/A

PurposeThis paper aims to study age differences in responsiveness to shocking prosocial campaigns. It specifically investigates the differences between seniors and young adults regarding the persuasive effect of emotional charity campaigns, the intensity of negative emotions and empathy elicited, the affect-based persuasive process leading to the ad effectiveness and the role of perceived self-efficacy.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies are conducted on seniors (n1 = 173; n2 = 118) and young adults (n1 = 170; n2 = 123) exposed to appeals for “Action against Hunger” incorporating various levels of emotional content.FindingsThe results indicate that seniors are more receptive to emotional campaigns but only for higher emotional ads and only regarding intention to donate. Young adults report lower levels of empathy, and findings do not suggest major age differences in the reported negative emotions after exposure to low or high emotional appeals. The affect-based persuasion differs; young adults are particularly influenced by negative emotions, whereas the persuasive effect on the elderly stems from an empathetic reaction. Self-efficacy moderates the effect of negative emotions only among older participants.Practical implicationsSocial marketers are advised to use vivid and realistic stimuli to reach young people and develop these appeals in social media. For an older target audience, however, marketers are advised to use creative components and media support designed to foster personalisation and proximity.Originality/valueThis study provides a better understanding of age-related effects on emotional persuasion, and addresses the specificity of prosocial appeals involving responsiveness to the suffering of others.

Cho, Eunjoo

doi: 10.1108/JCM-01-2017-2066pmid: N/A

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationships between fashion innovativeness (FI) and brand image dimensions (cognitive, sensory and affective associations) for favorite fashion-related brands, the contribution of these dimensions to lovemarks (brand love and respect) and lovemarks’ consequent effect on brand loyalty.Design/methodology/approachA Web-based survey was conducted using a national sample of 2,492 US male and female consumers between the ages of 18 and 76. Structural equation modeling tested the hypotheses.FindingsResults indicated positive, statistically significant associations between the six variables. Among the three brand image dimensions, sensory associations exhibited the strongest relationship with FI, whereas lovemarks displayed stronger relationships with cognitive and affective associations. Lovemarks affected loyalty toward fashion-related brands.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey of the US consumers and the focus on fashion-related brands may limit the generalizability of the findings. This empirical study illustrated how FI impacts an extended consumer-based brand equity model.Practical implicationsFashion-related brand managers should not only promote pleasant sensory associations to attract those with a high level of FI but also promote cognitive and affective associations to foster lovemarks (high brand love and respect) to achieve the end goal of customer loyalty.Originality/valueEven though consumers with a high level of FI may contribute significantly to long-term brand success, past research has not explored the relationship between FI and the factors that lead to consumer-based brand equity. The present study is the first to examine the role of FI in fostering brand equity.