bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Is the polarization index a valid measure of loyalty for evaluating changes over time?
Authors: Corsi Armando Maria , Rungie Cam , Casini Leonardo 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThis paper aims to argue that the polarization index (φ) represents a valid loyalty measure for evaluating changes over time.Design/methodology/approachThe brand performance measures (BPM) are a valid and useful tool for marketing managers in measuring the loyalty consumers attach, in a single time period, to a product or brand. However, the BPM reflect other attributes and not only loyalty. Over time, what might appear to be a change in loyalty may actually be a change in market size or market share. The polarization index (φ) is not biased in this manner and is more appropriate for evaluating changes over time. The study compares the results obtained with three well known BPM utilised for the analysis of loyalty – the purchase frequency, the share of category requirements and the repeat rate – with those obtained with the φ on the purchases of wine made by Italian consumers in the retail sector over two three‐year periods (2003‐2005 and 2006‐2008).FindingsThe study shows that the BPM are a fundamental source of information on the loyalty consumers attach to brands and products at one point in time. However, their strong relationship with market share risks providing results that do not reflect actual trends in loyalty. By comparison, φ provides a valid and useful analysis of the ways in which loyalty evolves over time.Originality/valueAlthough several researchers have studied the uses of φ on one‐year and three‐year periods, none observed how the index offers more valid results than the BPM over time. The paper shows that marketing managers should always compare the results obtained with the BPM with those derived from the φ before drawing conclusions on the real loyalty trends of their products and brands.
The effect of country of origin on brand equity: an empirical study on generic drugs
Authors: Nath Sanyal Shamindra , Datta Saroj Kumar 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of country of origin image on brand equity of branded generic drugs.Design/methodology/approachBrand equity of branded generics is examined through an analytical review. Country of origin image is hypothesised to influence components of brand equity, i.e. brand strength and brand awareness, which in turn influence brand equity. An empirical investigation was carried out among professionally similar respondents, i.e. doctors of different categories in Kolkata megapolis, India.FindingsResults showed that country of origin image had a positive and significant effect on components of brand equity, i.e. brand strength and brand awareness, derived from factor analysis conducted on brand equity components. The result also showed that country of origin image of branded generics significantly, but indirectly, affected brand equity through the mediating variables, brand strength and brand awareness.Research limitations/implicationsDifferent variables have influence on brand equity. This study dealt with only one type of variable, i.e. country of origin image, that may limit the total process of brand equity enhancement.Practical implicationsMarketing actions should be implemented to enhance brand strength and awareness levels. Country of origin image should be assessed as a multidimensional concept for enhancing brand equity. Marketers should be aware of the fact that physicians are influenced by the brand's original country image.Originality/valueThis research work has extended prior country of origin research by conceptualising the country of origin image as a brand equity enhancing tool in a new area called branded generic drugs.
Marketing from the end of the earth: the dilemma of Puerto Nativo Lodge
Authors: Santiago Jose A. , Pitta Dennis A. 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThis case study aims to describe a real company created by its founders more to satisfy their desires than those of their customers.Design/methodology/approachThe lead author traveled to Chiloe and spent an intensive period assessing the Puerto Nativo Lodge from a brand management perspective. The ultimate goal is to offer advice and direction to turn this labor of love into a prosperous operation. The material that follows details the findings and recommendations that would help achieve that objective.FindingsInstituting brand management holds the promise of building awareness, a connection to customers and brand equity. The owners' attention to constructing the vacation experience was valuable in creating a product of interest to consumers who were aware of it. Conversely, the owners' failure to put promotional and marketing processes in place reduced the level of brand awareness and reduced the potential for sufficient volume to constitute success.Originality/valueThe paper provides a discussion of how to market a unique resort experience and uses the Puerto Nativo Lodge as a case study.
The consumer psychology of mail‐in rebates
Authors: Gourville John T. , Soman Dilip 
Published: April 2011

PurposeMail‐in rebates are an oft used, but poorly understood mechanism to promote the purchase of a product. In particular, prior research suggests that a significant percentage of consumers who purchase a product intending to redeem an accompanying rebate, fail to do so – a phenomenon known as “slippage.” To date, however, there has been very little research designed to understand why this takes place. The authors here aim to propose that the presence of a rebate provides a consumer with the means to justify a preferred course of action. Specifically, when considering the purchase of a desired product that carries a rebate, consumers tend to generate scenarios of successful rebate redemption and fail to adequately account for things that can go wrong in the redemption process. As a result, they systematically overestimate their likelihood of rebate redemption.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conduct three laboratory experiments to test the proposed framework.FindingsStudy 1 shows that consumers overestimate their redemption likelihood because they tend to generate scenarios of successful rebate redemption and fail to adequately account for things that can go wrong in the redemption process. In studies 2 and 3, it is found that this effect is moderated by the valence and strength of one's motivation to purchase the promoted product.Originality/valueThe authors propose a new psychological account to explain consumer responses to rebate offers, and in particular study the role of motivation and elaboration. The results suggest that managers could use rebates in situations where customers need a reason to purchase, and that rebates for hedonic products are best delivered at the point‐of‐purchase.
The Multi‐Sensory Sort (MuSeS)
Authors: Cian Luca , Cervai Sara 
Published: April 2011

PurposeIn the literature, there is a lack of tools able to catch the symbolic dimension of the brand image, which go beyond rational and emotional dimensions. This paper aims to find and test a new instrument, named “Multi‐Sensory Sort” (MuSeS).Design/methodology/approachMuSeS, a direct methodology of exploring the consumer's symbolic universe and the unconscious expectations, is composed of a set of projective techniques based on multi‐sensory stimuli.FindingsThe results showed how MuSeS allows one to collect in‐depth data, otherwise difficult to obtain through other kinds of surveys.Practical implicationsMuSeS is able to measure both the consumers' perceptions about the brand image concept (its potentials) and the characteristics that the customer wishes to find in the brand image (brand image future development).Originality/valueMost of the tools created to investigate the brand image are based on questionnaires with attitude scales; this assumes that the brand image is a conscious and fully verbalized construct. The paper started from another assumption, trying to measure the non‐verbal and the unconscious brand image aspects, using instruments derived both from psychology and marketing.
An exploratory investigation of the theorized levels of consumer fanaticism
Authors: Thorne Scott 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a model for the behaviors of consumers engaged in fan activity and test to see if that model simulates the movement of consumers among the proposed levels of fan behaviors.Design/methodology/approachSupport for the proposed model is examined through the literature, a series of structured interviews with fans are evaluated using first qualitative, then quantitative methodologies for evidence of the hypothesized model.FindingsThe research indicates moderate support for the three‐level model first proposed by Hill et al.Research/limitations/implicationsGiven the moderate support found for the model, further research could serve to offer stronger evidence, as well as to examine the extinguishing process by which a fan exits the subculture.Practical implicationsThe research identifies members and levels of the fan subculture that marketing professionals should target when offering products and services aimed at those segments.Originality/valueThis paper tests a model which has previously only existed as a theory, utilizing methodologies that integrate qualitative and quantitative research.
Lexicon Rhetoricae: the narrative theory of Kenneth Burke and its application to marketing
Authors: Hershey Lewis , Branch John 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to propose Lexicon Rhetoricae, the narrative theory of Kenneth Burke from the discipline of literary criticism, as a comprehensive model which helps to explain how symbolism and nonconscious processes influence the consumption experience, and which helps to reconcile the psychology of the consumption experience with the more observable stimuli of the marketing environment.Design/methodology/approachLexicon Rhetoricae distinguishes two categories of literary form – symbolic and formal appeal – which describe inputs to the literary experience. A third term, eloquence, categorizes the interaction of symbolic and formal appeals, and describes how robust that experience is.FindingsLexicon Rhetoricae provides: a mechanism for describing how unobservable internal psychological processes (conscious or nonconscious) might work; a method for coding observable marketer‐controlled inputs to the consumption experience; and a means for demonstrating how the unobservable processes and the observable inputs interact in the consumption experience.Originality/valueLexicon Rhetoricae provides a theoretical framework for categorically combining the “black box” experiences of the consumer and the perceptible marketer‐controlled variables in the marketplace.
Brand management perspectives in the twenty‐first century
Authors: Herstein Ram , Zvilling Moti 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to define the tasks of product managers from the perspective of professional brand managers and to point out the gaps between their short‐ and long‐term tasks.Design/methodology/approachThe paper conducted two studies: the first utilized a focus group in order to define the tasks of brand managers. In the second study, 58 brand managers were interviewed using in‐depth interviews in order to define the various factors of each of the nine branding aspects. In the second phase of the second study, the participants were asked to point out gaps between the brand managers' long‐ and short‐term perspectives.FindingsThe findings indicate that the daily pressure on brand managers comes from the distributors, who are the decisive factor in the threefold connection (manufacturer‐distributor‐consumer) due to their strong position in the market and the ongoing requirement to learn from and to satisfy them significantly more than the competition.Practical implicationsThe implications of the study to the brand managers' approach is that they should nurture relationships with consumers, perform more frequent market segmentations in order to identify new needs, and consequently reduce the distributors' power.Originality/valueThe importance of this research is that it provides a new definition for brand managers' tasks and copes with the real gaps between the short‐term and the long‐term perspectives of brand management, and as such supplies substantial qualitative data for better decision making in accordance with the twenty‐first century challenges of the brand managers.
Financial management practices and social reproduction
Authors: Leung Ada 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding of social reproduction by investigating the financial management practices carried out by the consumers. Using depth interviews, a theoretical model is developed to describe how financial management practices are carried out to facilitate the attainment of class‐specific life goals and discuss how these practices are related to social reproduction.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 22 adults aged 22‐79 were interviewed face‐to‐face. They were asked to describe their financial management practices and their perception and feelings towards their financial situation. They were also asked about the life goals and their perception of progress towards achieving the stated goals.FindingsDifferent sets of financial management practices and their corresponding structural implications are identified in this study. The coping practices are the ones the working class carry out to meet mundane financial obligations, leaving little for long‐term strategizing. The balancing practices are the ones the middle class carry out to juggle hectic family lives and promising careers. With a low level of slack resources, the middle class need to make monetary trade‐off in their practices. The achieving practices are the ones that are practiced by the upper‐middle class who settle in their class position and focus on furthering the growth of self and family. The structural implications of financial management practices make the attainment of occupational status via education least accessible for the working class, but within easy reach for the upper‐middle class.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper studies a convenient sample of adults in a mid‐Western city in the USA, which has a high level of racial homogeneity (i.e. White) compared with the metropolitans in the USA. Nevertheless, this study communicates the social embeddedness and structural ramifications of individual/household financial management practices.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine how class situation, with its various resource levels and differences in time horizon, influences the enactment of financial management practices, and how these micro‐processes give rise to social reproduction.
Analyzing key determinants of online repurchase intentions
Authors: Har Lee Chai , Cyril Eze Uchenna , Oly Ndubisi Nelson 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe rapid changing internet environment has created a competitive business landscape, which provides opportunities and challenges for a variety of businesses. One of these opportunities includes conducting businesses online. Online transaction systems enable users to buy and make payment for products and services using the internet platform. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that may affect consumers' intentions to repurchase products and services online.Design/methodology/approachThe research framework is grounded in extended technology acceptance model (TAM). The authors used survey questionnaire to collect 102 valid responses from participants in Malaysia who must have made, at least, one previous online purchase. The snowball approach was used to select the participants, to ensure that participants had previously purchased online.FindingsData collected were analysed using regression model to determine the significance of the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The emerging results provide significant evidence in support of the eight hypotheses proposed.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations of this research is the relatively small sample size. Future research may use larger responses, as well as applying other relevant information system (IS) models/theories. Nonetheless, the paper provides a synthesis of extant literature relevant to the subject area, which is critical in addressing theoretical development in online‐related purchase research. In addition, the empirical results corroborate some of the existing literature, as well as contribute to the advancement of the frontier of knowledge in the field.Practical implicationsThis paper provides useful information for managing online businesses, especially in developing key responses to consumers' needs and in building critical capabilities to enhance competitive position in the online marketplace.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies on online repurchase intentions in Malaysia that uses data from Malaysian consumers as well as an extended IS model. The extension of the well‐established TAM model by integrating additional variables provides researchers with a fuller model, and more theoretical options in developing frameworks, which are relevant to the specific context of the study – Malaysia.
The impact of rebranding on club member relationships
Authors: Plewa Carolin , Lu Vinh , Veale Roberta 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the response of members to a rebranding strategy implemented by a member‐owned organisation. More specifically, the authors examine the impact of rebranding awareness and attitude towards rebranding on the members' perceived value of their memberships, their satisfaction and, subsequently, their commitment to the organisation.Design/methodology/approachThe research employed in‐depth interviews followed by a quantitative survey. Data were collected online from 264 current members of Dogs SA and data analysis employed SEM principles.FindingsFindings demonstrate that the members' awareness of a rebranding attempt can significantly enhance perceived membership value, leading to increased levels of satisfaction. With both perceived value and satisfaction antecedents of membership commitment, the importance of such improvements cannot be underestimated.Research limitations/implicationsDespite a high response rate of 88 per cent, only ten per cent of the membership base was included in the initial sample. Limitations relate to the single context, a canine association, and single rebranding attempt examined in this paper. Only three outcome measures were included, namely membership value, satisfaction and commitment.Practical implicationsWhile non‐profit member‐owned organisations play an increasingly important role in our economic and social environment, participation rates are dropping in many such organisations. If they are to remain viable, the commitment of existing members must be improved. The study provides managers with important insight into a potentially powerful strategy to increase underpin membership dedication by means of satisfaction and enhanced perceived value.Originality/valueThis paper successfully integrates relationship marketing and rebranding literature domains, producing significant implications for non‐profit membership organisations.
The interaction effects of ego involvement on the relationships between aesthetics, usability and commitment
Authors: Sánchez‐Franco Manuel J. , Martín‐Velicia Félix A. 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how ego‐involvement and the design of online services may be associated with affective commitment, making the distinction between hedonic and utilitarian services.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses partial least squares to estimate the parameters of the research model.FindingsThis research reaches four conclusions. First, that visual aesthetics and usability have a significant effect on the desire to continue using online services. Second, that ego‐involvement becomes an important quasi‐moderator when engaging in web‐based relationships. Third, that perceptions of aesthetics (and usability) more significantly influence highly‐involved users' commitment to hedonic (utilitarian) online services than their commitment to instrumental (hedonic) services. Fourth, the influences of aesthetics on usability reflect the benefits that web information systems (WIS) offer.Research limitations/implicationsThe model does not include all the relevant variables. Additional studies are required to validate these results.Practical implicationsThis study serves to enhance the aesthetics‐usability‐commitment framework to assess the long‐term viability of online services, and to appraise its validity via utilitarian and hedonic services. Designers could customise the WIS by taking into account ego‐involvement and the site's intended purpose.Originality/valueA review of the relationships between commitment, involvement and web atmosphere concerning hedonic and utilitarian online services reveals that there are still very few studies that analyse their quasi‐moderating effects. This research will help to fill this gap, by analysing the examples of electronic banking services and virtual travel communities to represent the utilitarian and hedonic benefits respectively.
Traditional scholarly publishers and Web 2.0: the case of Springer
Authors: Jacsó Péter 
Published: April 2011

PurposeMany traditional commercial publishers realise that they need to rejuvenate at least the interface part of their software in order to keep up with the trends in online information retrieval, and information dissemination that cannot be sufficiently limited by the software equivalent of the “No solicitation” and “No trespass” signs. This paper aims to look at the case of Springer and its attempts to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on the new version of SpringerLink (launched in August 2010) and other partially free services offered by Springer, the second largest scholarly publisher. The data reported here were collected during the first week of 2011.FindingsThe paper finds that many of the Springer services can significantly improve the efficiency of searching the SpringerLink databases. Most can be and should be directly incorporated in an upcoming release of the software. Others need more time for improvement, and to become practical and functional.Originality/valueThese recent concentrated in‐house efforts by Springer provide a good model for other scholarly publishers and online information services to make their software more state‐of‐the‐art by incorporating useful Web 2.0 features, or simply implementing pre‐web functions that have been used only by information professionals because they were user‐hostile compared with the gadgets, gizmos, and applets available these days that can do things automatically, smartly and very appealingly, but some of them can also turn out to be a pointless distraction.