bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Consumer cynicism: antecedents and consequences
Authors: Chylinski Matthew , Chu Anna 
Published: May 2010

PurposeBy examining the behaviours of cynical consumers and the factors that give rise to them, the paper's aim is to highlight the potential impact of consumer cynicism on firms and to investigate the possibility of influencing the evolution of those behaviours over time.Design/methodology/approachA multi‐method approach uses five focus groups, a survey, and a longitudinal experiment to explore the behaviour of cynical consumers experiencing different patterns of goal/value (in)congruence with the actions of a firm.FindingsProgressive development in the frequency and severity of cynical behaviours results from repeated incongruence between consumers' goals or values and firm actions. Value incongruence has a greater effect on the severity of cynical behaviours. Recency effects remove cynical behaviours when the underlying drivers of cynicism are reversed.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are based on consumers' behavioural intentions, requiring a degree of subjective interpretation to quantify the severity of consumer behaviours.Practical implicationsBecause of the potentially severe nature of cynical consumer behaviours, the study helps managers to gain a better understanding of these behaviours, their source, and how to monitor their frequency, severity, and development over time.Originality/valueSeveral facets of consumer cynicism are examined that have not been explored together previously, including drivers, cognitive/affective mechanisms, and the pattern of resulting behaviours. This approach provides managers with a tool to predict how consumers will react to a given situation and suggests actions to mitigate these reactions.
The effect of consumer confusion proneness on word of mouth, trust, and customer satisfaction
Authors: Walsh Gianfranco , Mitchell Vincent‐Wayne 
Published: May 2010

PurposeConsumer sovereignty assumes that consumers have adequate product information and are able to understand that information in order to make an informed choice. However, this is not the case when consumers are confused. Recently, Walsh et al. identified dimensions of consumer confusion proneness and developed scales to measure these dimensions. Drawing on their concept of consumer confusion proneness, this paper seeks to examine consumers' general tendency to be confused from marketplace information and its effect on three relevant outcome variables – word of mouth, trust, and satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe reliability and validity of the consumer confusion proneness scale was tested on the basis of a sample of 355 consumers, using confirmatory factor analysis. The study employs structural equation modelling to examine the hypothesised relationships.FindingsThe results show that the consumer confusion proneness scale has sound psychometric properties and that the three dimensions of similarity, overload, and ambiguity have a differential impact on word of mouth behaviour, trust, and customer satisfaction.Practical implicationsThe findings have implications for marketing theory and management, as well as consumer education. Marketers may apply the consumer confusion proneness scale to their customers and assess which dimension is the most damaging in terms of the three marketing outcomes examined.Originality/valueThis is the first study to test Walsh et al.'s consumer confusion proneness scale and to extend their work by analysing the effect of the three construct dimensions on three key marketing outcome variables.
Double jeopardy in brand defection
Authors: Wright Malcolm , Riebe Erica 
Published: May 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test whether brand defection shows double‐jeopardy effects, and whether stochastic models provide useful benchmarks of expected brand defection rates.Design/methodology/approachThe approach takes the form of an empirical study of brand defection in four markets using panel data, comparing the performance of simple OLS models with a stochastic model.FindingsBrand defection shows double jeopardy. Almost all brand defection in the markets studied could be explained by the category examined and the market share of the focal brand. A stochastic model of choice fits these data well, and provides many further practical and theoretical applications.Practical implicationsThe study provides improved benchmarks for brand defection, allowing managers to spot whether their brand is performing better or worse than expected. It also allows better analysis of market structure for subscription services, especially under dynamic conditions, and better estimation of customer lifetime value when defection rates are not known for all brands.Originality/valueThe paper closes a gap in the brand defection literature by showing that a given level of defection is a natural characteristic of any market, subject to within‐market variations dominated by market share. Recent work has overlooked these points, resulting in unrealistic goals for customer defection programmes and inefficient estimates of customer lifetime value. The paper also provides a method of defection analysis that can be deployed by numerate managers and market researchers, and used as a basis for further academic work.
Ability of heating to enhance water uptake in wood/plastic composites
Authors: Mitsuhashi June , Morrell J.J. 
Published: May 2010

PurposeWetting wood plastic composites (WPCs) prior to testing can be challenging because of the inherent water repellency of the plastic. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of heating and wetting to accelerate moisture uptake on two WPCs.Design/methodology/approachFull size samples of the two WPCs were immersed in water at various temperatures or heated in an autoclave. Samples were removed periodically and dissected to determine the moisture profile by oven drying and weighing.FindingsMoisture uptake is accelerated by heating, but the effect is mainly confined to the outer 5 mm of the samples. Moisture levels deeper in the samples are largely unaffected.Research limitations/implicationsMoisture uptake can be enhanced by heating, but the inability to increase moisture levels deeper in the wood suggests that tests assessing the role of moisture on WPC properties should use thinner specimens to ensure that moisture is well distributed in the materials.Practical implicationsThe results suggest the need for a re‐evaluation of test methodologies for WPCs where moisture uptake is an integral part of the procedures to more closely align the methods to the WPC/moisture behaviour.Originality/valueThis paper will help researchers develop better methods for assessing the role of moisture in WPC behaviour.
Customer experience management: a critical review of an emerging idea
Authors: Palmer Adrian 
Published: May 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to critically assess the conceptual validity of customer experience as a construct and propose a model which integrates inter‐personal relationships, service quality and brands.Design/methodology/approachA critical review of literature is structured around the key components of brands, relationships, quality, emotions and perceptions, viewed from a consumer's perspective.FindingsParadoxes in use of the term customer experience are noted. As a verb, experience describes a process of learning, leading to learned response, but as a noun emphasises novelty and the lack of predictable, learned response. By incorporating emotions and perceptual distortion over time, customer experience overcomes many problems associated with static, partial measures of service quality.Research limitations/implicationsAcademic coverage of the subject of customer experience remains fragmented. Approaches to its measurement are suggested and their limitations noted. The multi‐dimensional, situation‐specific nature of customer experience favours qualitative rather than quantitative measurement approaches.Practical implicationsThe unique nature of customer experience, which is specific to a customer, at a specific time and location, in the context of a specific event, limits its managerial usefulness for planning and control purposes. Many companies have seen customer experience management (CEM) as a successor to customer relationship management (CRM). However, issues of inter‐functional integration become an even greater challenge.Originality/valueThis paper has provided a critical review of an emerging topic and suggested that despite academic interest in the concept, practical application of customer experience management may be difficult to achieve.
Services' influence on minority portrayals in magazine advertising
Authors: Briggs Elten , Landry Timothy D. , Torres Ivonne M. 
Published: May 2010

PurposeThe primary goal of this study is to examine how services advertising strategy relates to the prevalence of minority portrayals in magazine advertisements.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a content analysis method. Over 1,000 advertisements were collected, and 455 were employed in the study. Chi‐square difference tests were used to test hypotheses. A second sample was collected to verify some initial findings.FindingsIt was found that minority models were more likely to appear in advertisements for services than in advertisements for goods. Differences were also found across types of services. Asian models were overrepresented in advertisements for technologies, a product category with a strong services influence.Research limitations/implicationsEmphasis was placed on portrayals of African‐Americans and Asians, so findings are most directly applicable to these groups. The generalizability of the results may be limited to the types of publications from which the sample was drawn.Practical implicationsGiven the frequency of minority portrayals in advertisements for services, especially for particular types of services, managers must consider implementing this approach to reach these customer groups. Those already implementing portrayals of minority models must be mindful of the negative effects of stereotyping.Originality/valueThe paper considers services advertising strategy in light of changes in the make‐up of the US population. It applies the same theoretical approach to explain differences in the frequency of minority portrayals in services advertising versus goods advertising, and across different types of services.
Reducing online privacy risk to facilitate e‐service adoption: the influence of perceived ease of use and corporate credibility
Authors: Featherman Mauricio S. , Miyazaki Anthony D. , Sprott David E. 
Published: May 2010

PurposeThe paper aims to examine ways to reduce privacy risk and its effects so that adoption of e‐services can be enhanced.Design/methodology/approachConsumers that form a viable target market for an e‐service are presented with the task of experiencing the e‐service and expressing their attitudes and intentions toward it. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the responses.FindingsThe paper finds that consumer beliefs that the e‐service will be easy to use and that the e‐service provider is credible and capable reduce privacy risk and its effects, thus enhancing adoption likelihood.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus on a financial services product (online bill paying) suggests that similar research should be conducted with other high‐risk e‐services (such as those dealing with healthcare) and lower‐risk e‐services (such as subscription services and social networks).Practical implicationsIn addition to addressing consumers' privacy risk directly, e‐service providers can also reduce privacy risk and its effects by enhancing corporate credibility and perceived ease of use of the service. Increased assessments of privacy risk perceptions and efforts to reduce those perceptions will likely yield higher usage rates for e‐services.Originality/valueThe use of the technology acceptance model from information systems research, combined with a multi‐faceted conceptualization of privacy risk, moves the examination of privacy risk to a higher level, particularly in light of the examination of the additional factors of perceived ease of use and corporate credibility.
External equity, loyalty program membership, and service recovery
Authors: Morrisson Olivier , Huppertz John W. 
Published: May 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend research on customer loyalty status, external equity, and satisfaction with service recovery. Most people accept that firms give special treatment to their “best” customers; but after service failures, will they accept firms' offering better compensation to loyalty program members?Design/methodology/approachAn experiment was conducted involving mobile telephone service failure scenarios affecting two similar customers; the customer received either identical or one‐half the compensation of a referent customer, who was described as either a member or non‐member of the firm's loyalty program. Participants were randomly assigned to conditions in a 2×2 design, completing questionnaires that measured satisfaction with service recovery.FindingsThe paper finds that when both focal and referent customers received equal service recovery, loyalty program status had no effect. When the referent customer received greater compensation, respondents were very dissatisfied with the outcome, but were significantly less dissatisfied if the referent customer was a loyalty program member.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough respondents were students, 97 percent used mobile telephones and experienced similar service problems.Practical implicationsAs communications among firms' customers increase (blogs, online communities), they can compare one another's complaint outcomes. Some inequity in service recovery may be tolerated because of the beneficiary's loyalty program status.Originality/valueConsumers consider loyalty of other customers when judging fairness of firms' service recovery. Inequity has a powerful effect on satisfaction with recovery initiatives, but the negative impact is moderated by loyalty program status; this paper makes a contribution by showing how inequity and customer loyalty interact.
Expanding care pathways: towards interplay of multiple care‐objects
Authors: Kajamaa Anu 
Published: May 2010

PurposeThis study seeks to challenge the notions of the standardized care pathway and patient‐centred care, both of which provide only a partial view of care as a complex system. In exploring and contrasting the care pathway protocol and an actual care pathway, the study aims to analyze the conceptualizations of care that actors involved in the actual care pathway have. The study makes suggestions on how to expand care pathways and thereby improve patient care.Design/methodology/approachA care pathway protocol is contrasted with the actual care pathway of a patient at a university hospital in Finland. Observational ethnography is combined with a narrative approach and activity‐theoretical ideas.FindingsThe study depicts the gap between the care pathway protocol and an actual care pathway. The actual care pathway, rather than being a clear‐cut process, is ruptured and unpredictable. The conceptualizations of care (i.e. care‐objects) held by the doctors, nurses and the patient were fragmented and clashed in their practical work activity. The main message to hospital management is that in order to expand care pathways, the multiple care‐objects need to be placed in constructive interplay.Research limitations/implicationsA single actual care pathway is presented and the results are interpreted accordingly.Originality/valueThe study explores the idea of a care pathway and patient‐centred care in the analysis of care‐objects. A new discursive model is introduced that places different care‐objects into interplay and opens up the possibilities for the expansion of care pathways.
Facilitating unlearning during implementation of new technology
Authors: Becker Karen 
Published: May 2010

PurposeOne of the critical issues for change management, particularly in relation to the implementation of new technologies, is the existence of prior knowledge and established mental models which may hinder change efforts. Understanding unlearning and how it might assist during organizational change is a way to address this resistance. The purpose of this paper is to present research designed to identify specific factors that facilitate unlearning.Design/methodology/approachDrawing together issues identified as potential influencers of unlearning, a survey questionnaire was developed and administered in an Australian corporation undergoing large‐scale change due to the implementation of an enterprise information system. The results were analyzed to identify specific factors that impact on unlearning.FindingsFindings from this paper identify factors that hinder or help the unlearning process during times of change including understanding the need for change, the level of organizational support and training, assessment of the change, positive experience and informal support, the organization's history of change, individual's prior outlooks, and individuals' feelings and expectations.Research limitations/implicationsThe use of only one organization does not allow for comparisons between organizations of different sizes, cultures or industries and therefore extension of this research is recommended.Practical implicationsFor practitioners, this paper provides specific elements at both the level of individuals and the organization that need to be considered for optimal unlearning during times of change.Originality/valuePrevious literature on unlearning has been predominantly conceptual and theoretical. These empirical findings serve to further an earlier model based on qualitative research into potential influencers of unlearning.
A deeper understanding of evolution of the role of the object in organizational process
Authors: Hussenot Anthony , Missonier Stéphanie 
Published: May 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the different roles and natures of objects in organizational process. Furthermore, the concept of the mediation object is developed to understand how the objects help to structure interactions and collective activities over time.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs data from a case study (the Pupitre Virtuel) in order to highlight and illustrate the relevance of a process analysis of the roles and natures of objects.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that the roles and natures of objects evolve over time through controversies and compromises. On one hand, the evolution of interactions drives the evolution of the roles and natures of objects. On the other, the evolution of objects help the actors to structure their interactions and activities.Originality/valueThe paper argues that, rather than a static analysis, human‐object interaction needs to be understood and observed through a process analysis, taking into account the evolution of objects and interactions. This paper shows that mediation objects can play three roles – as carriers of controversies, of compromises, and of prescriptions – and that it can appear in one of three aspects – interpretable, modifiable, and non‐interpretable/non‐modifiable.
Who controls store atmosphere customization in electronic retailing?
Authors: Vrechopoulos Adam P. 
Published: May 2010

PurposeTechnology now allows e‐tailers to customize online store atmosphere at the individual level, with the customization controlled and executed by either the retailers or the customers, or both. Since in conventional retailing the manipulation of store atmosphere is controlled mainly by retailers (e.g. store layout, product display techniques, store theatrics, etc.), the potential for mass customization with consumer involvement radically changes the way research regarding online store atmosphere must be approached. Positioned in the e‐tailing research area, the purpose of this paper is to summarize the research challenges presented by virtual store atmosphere customization and control and to formulate specific research propositions.Design/methodology/approachThis viewpoint paper employs an interdisciplinary “desk‐research” approach. It elaborates on the emerging research challenges of customizing store atmosphere in electronic retailing highlighting the differences that exist among the conventional and the virtual retail channels. It then justifies the interdisciplinary nature of store atmosphere studies, investigates the customization challenges available online and formulates specific research questions and direct research propositions.FindingsE‐tailing store atmosphere customization capabilities at the individual level, revolutionizes the established relevant theory from conventional retailing. However, the control of the customization process is a quite complex issue and should be treated as that, by e‐tailers.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper sets the research agenda and builds avenues for further research.Practical implicationsThe paper provides direct managerial implications for effectively placing online store atmosphere customization in the hands of the consumer‐user.Originality/valueThe paper clearly justifies why current online store atmosphere studies should be adapted to the mass customization challenge applicable online. Similarly, it demonstrates the promising role that consumer control could potentially play on this topic.
Cookery‐related employment vacancy advertisements and skills shortages
Authors: Robinson Richard N.S. , Arcodia Charles V. , Tian Christina , Charlton Phillip 
Published: May 2010

PurposeCookery has been identified as an occupation with skills shortages, at least in the developed world. There is currently a dearth of research into the cookery labour market, its occupational culture and characteristics. This paper seeks to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilised a tracking approach to collate and investigate aspects of electronically‐listed job advertisements for cookery‐related vacancies in Australia's northern state of Queensland. Content analysis of advertised employment vacancies has previously been utilised as a method in tourism and hospitality research.FindingsThe findings support the proposition that industry demand exceeds labour supply. Moreover, the content analysis of the vacancies' characteristics suggest that a range of job advertisement details, including remuneration, is infrequently supplied.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited in scope to cookery‐related vacancies and to those advertised for Queensland. Accounting for vacancy duplications and consequential vacancies were the two key analytical challenges. Future research with refined instruments and more generalisable samples is invited.Originality/valueThe study reveals that the increased electronicisation of information facilitates both the collection and generation of labour market research.