Marketing Commons^™

Complementary Effects Of Crm And Social Media On Customer Co-Creation And Sales Performance In B2b Firms: The Role Of Salesperson Self-Determination Needs, Omar S. Itani, Ashish Kalra, Jen Riley

Marketing Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Social media, CRM technology & social CRM enrich the knowledge of salespeople.

• Social media, CRM technology & social CRM support value co-creation efforts.

• Knowledge mediates the effects of social media, CRM technology, and social CRM.

• Job autonomy & sales quota ease moderate the effect of knowledge on value co-creation.

• Value co-creation increases sales performance.

Abstract

This study examines the effects of salespeople's social media and customer relationship management (CRM) technology use on value co-creation through knowledge and the downstream impact on sales performance. Based on task-technology fit and self-determination theories, the findings reveal that social media, CRM technology, and …

Trust Propensity Across Cultures: The Role Of Collectivism, Stanford A. Westjohn, Peter Magnusson, George R. Franke, Yi Peng

Marketing Faculty Publications

Does collectivism influence an individual's willingness to trust others? Conflicting empirical results from past research and the role of trust in international marketing make this question important to resolve. We investigate this question across cultures and at the individual level with four studies using multiple methods. Study 1 establishes correlational evidence between societal-level collectivism and individual-level trust propensity with results from a multi-level analysis of data from over 6,000 respondents in 36 different countries. Study 2 offers an individual-level analysis using the trust game, introducing a more rigorous behavioral outcome variable. Study 3 contributes causal evidence at the individual level …

Salesperson Moral Identity And Value Co-Creation, Omar S. Itani, Larry Chonko, Raj Agnihotri

Marketing Faculty Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of salesperson moral identity centrality in value co-creation. This study identified and tested an extended identity-based formation process of selling orientation, customer orientation and value co-creation. This was accomplished by examining the role of inclusion of others in the self and circle of moral regard in the mechanism through which moral identity centrality impacts selling orientation, customer orientation and value co-creation, taking into account the contingency role of salesperson self-construal.

Design/methodology/approach

An extended identity-behavior model grounded in identity theory and the social-cognitive perspective of moral identity centrality was tested. …

The Role Of Entitlement And Perceived Resources In Gratitude’S Effect On Materialism: Longitudinal And Situational Effects, Hyunjung Crystal Lee, Sunaina Chugani, Jae-Eun Namkoong

Marketing Faculty Publications

Gratitude plays a prominent role in marketing and consumer behavior. Yet, limited causal evidence has demonstrated how gratitude works or how gratitude-based marketing influences purchase decisions. We address this gap using four studies. Studies 1 and 2, both longitudinal experiments, illustrate that gratitude reduces materialistic values by decreasing entitlement and perceived resource scarcity. Studies 3A and 3B examine the effect of gratitude on materialism in a marketing context and illustrate that gratitude-based campaigns can shift consumer preference away from material goods and toward experiential purchases. Our findings suggest that gratitude-based marketing efforts reduce materialistic values and purchases and promote experiential …

Marketing And Market, A. Fuat Firat

Marketing Faculty Publications

In this paper, a contradiction that has developed between the key economic institution of modernity, the market, and its institutionalized practices, marketing, is explored. This paper makes observations beyond earlier discussions of this contradiction based on the history of perspectival developments in the orientations of the discipline and in marketing practices. Specifically, separation of marketing practice from consumers resulting in its conceptualization as a provisional set of activities, and the turn from a focus on needs to a focus on exchange resulting in an emphasis on the health of the market rather than on the health of the people are …

Design Power And Potential Future Of Global Organization Of Life, A. Fuat Firat

Marketing Faculty Publications

In this essay I propose a definition of design to address its potential role in largely determining power relations in the future. Some foundational discussion of wealth, culturally constructed differently in different historical times, trends of corporatization in the contemporary world, and the birth of control society is presented to help understand the possibilities and difficulties of building future organizations of life. I invite discussions and dialogues to widen and deepen the concept of design power.

Inside Sales Social Media Use And Its Strategic Implications For Salesperson-Customer Digital Engagement And Performance, Nawar N. Chaker, Edward L. Nowlin, Maxwell T. Pivonka, Omar S. Itani, Raj Agnihotri

Marketing Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Inside salespeople rely on four main strategies when it comes to using social media in their roles to engage with customers.

• Inside sales strategic social media use leads to higher levels of customer digital engagement and, ultimately, performance.

• Firm digital technology resources may shape the effects of inside sales strategic social media use.

Abstract

The nature of inside sales has shifted, increasing in autonomy, importance, and scope. Moreover, buyers are changing their preferences from face-to-face interactions to virtual-based relationships, leading to a future full of opportunities for inside salespeople using social media. The practitioner literature suggests that inside sales …

The Use Of Virtual Conference Software (Vcs) In The Workplace During Covid-19 In North America: An Empirical Validation Of Innovation Diffusion Theory, Khaleed I. Khasawneh

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers in marketing and technology realized the importance of paying more attention to how and when new technologies or innovations are adopted during crisis, and which factors impact individuals’ successful adoption. Navigating through the different stages of the present COVID-19 crisis, it has become clear that such research focus would be beneficial so that firms can shape customers' decision making process in a way that ensure successful escape of a crisis and its Destructive results on a business or organization; COVID-19 will undoubtedly not be the last global crisis we face. First, a firm understanding of the factors affecting the …

Consumers’ Health-Locus-Of-Control And Social Distancing In Pandemic-Based E-Tailing Services, Omar S. Itani, Linda D. Hollebeek

Marketing Faculty Publications

Purpose

COVID-19 and its precautions, including social distancing, have revolutionized traditional retailing- and consumption patterns. In this turbulent environment, the purpose of this study is twofold. First, this paper explores the direct effect of consumers’ internal/external health locus-of-control on their hygiene consciousness, which, in turn, affects their social distancing behavior. Second, this study posits that social distancing, in turn, impacts consumers’ current online grocery shopping behavior and their future online grocery shopping intentions, thus uncovering important insight.

Design/methodology/approach

To address these gaps, this paper develops a model that links consumers’ internal/external health locus-of-control to their adoption of e-tailing-based grocery services. …

Explaining Loyalty In Higher Education: A Model And Comparative Analysis From The Policy Of Gratuity, A Case Applied To Chile, Maritza Katherine Galindo-Illanes, Juan Alejandro Gallegos-Mardones, Arturo Z. Vasquez-Parraga

Marketing Faculty Publications

Since the 1980s, numerous transformations in higher education were experienced in Latin America, and especially in Chile, a country that allowed private entities to enter the education systems and develop a market. The opportunity triggered an increase of coverage and competition to capture and retain students, followed by marketing strategies delivering student satisfaction and pursuing student loyalty. Moreover, since 2012, higher education institutions in Chile have been allowed to adopt a policy of gratuity, giving families the co-responsibility of dealing with the cost of education. So, some institutions adopted gratuity and continued receiving funds from the state, but others did …

Social Credibility: Trust Formation In Social Commerce, Lena Cavusoglu, Deniz Atik

Marketing Faculty Publications

Trust formation in informal social commerce, also considered lateral exchange markets (LEMs) on social media platforms, has different dynamics from e-commerce and traditional consumerto‐ consumer (C2C) exchange. These online markets are massive in scale; thus, it is an important phenomenon in consumer research. With a holistic perspective, we conducted in-depth interviews with Instagram consumers and sellers. Our research is among the first to reveal an empirical understanding of the critical dynamics of trust formation in LEMs within social commerce and contribute to theory by introducing a novel dimension termed social credibility. Social credibility surpasses the source credibility evaluations one step …

Necessitation Through Growing Entanglements: Why We “Can’T Live Without” Some Products, Jakob Braun

Theses and Dissertations

Much research has been concerned with what constitute necessities and how they are related to pertinent concepts, such as needs, wants, desires, and luxuries (Belk, Ger, and Askegaard 2003; Duncan 2002; Fraser 1998, Hoyer and MacInnis 2004; Kerin, Hartley and Rudelius 2004; Sheth and Mittal 2004). Using thing-focused approaches, earlier studies are primarily concerned with classification schemes using dichotomies such as need-want and necessity-luxury. Studies that employ a human-focused perspective challenge these divisions and argue that necessities cannot be studied without considering the social and historical contexts (e.g., Buttle 1989; Firat 1987). Notwithstanding the important contributions that these studies have …

I Buy Less When Others Suggest: Impact Of Personal Relative Deprivation, Temporal Discounting, Social Norms And Store Reputation On Food Over-Acquisition, Swapnil Saravade

Theses and Dissertations

Food over-acquisition has shown to have detrimental consequences such as food over-consumption, food waste, obesity, and greenhouse effects. Extant literature has typically focused on food over-consumption, with little explanation of its precursor, food over-acquisition. The current thesis situates the research in grocery retail and examines why people over-acquire food. Further, which interventions can marketers develop to mitigate food over-acquisition and in which grocery stores would those be effective? The present dissertation approaches this issue by drawing concepts from two disciplines, sociology, and behavioral economics. Through five studies, the current thesis shows that when people feel relatively food-deprived, they tend to …

Light At The End Of The Tunnel: Visitors' Virtual Reality (Versus In-Person) Attraction Site Tour-Related Behavioral Intentions During And Post-Covid-19, Omar S. Itani, Linda D. Hollebeek

Marketing Faculty Publications

Consumer behavior is changing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus compelling attraction sites to find new ways of offering safe tours to visitors. Based on protection motivation theory, we develop and test a model that examines key drivers of visitors' COVID-19-induced social distancing behavior and its effect on their intent to use virtual reality-based (vs. in-person) attraction site tours during and post-COVID-19. Our analyses demonstrate that visitor-perceived threat severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy raise social distancing behavior. In turn, social distancing increases (decreases) visitors' intent to use virtual reality (in-person) tours during the pandemic. We find social …

“Us” To Co-Create Value And Hate “Them”: Examining The Interplay Of Consumer-Brand Identification, Peer Identification, Value Co-Creation Among Consumers, Competitor Brand Hate And Individualism, Omar S. Itani

Marketing Faculty Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of identity-based relationships, customer brand identification and peer identification, in driving customer outcomes including customer experiential hedonic value, social influence and repurchase intentions through the effects on value co-creation among customers and competitor brand hate, while taking into consideration the moderating impact of individualism.

Design/methodology/approach

The study integrates social identity theory, identity-based marketing perspective and self-construal theory to develop relationships. The data comprises a web-based survey of customers in the USA and was analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Customer brand identification and peer identification are drivers of value …

The Conundrums Of Happiness And Subjective Well-Being: Views From Brazil, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Deniz Atik

Marketing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Cognition To Action: The Effect Of Thought Self-Leadership Strategies And Self-Monitoring On Adaptive Selling Behavior, Hayam Alnakhli, Rakesh Singh, Raj Agnihotri, Omar S. Itani

Marketing Faculty Publications

Purpose

This study aims to investigate salespersons’ self-monitoring and its effect on adaptive selling behavior. As salespeople are constantly facing different customers with various needs and want and engaging in a different sales situation, salespeople must deploy their inner capabilities in practicing adaptive selling behavior during and across sales interactions. This study also investigates the impact of salesperson’s intrapersonal leadership – where leadership stems from the individuals with the purpose to influence oneself.

Design/methodology/approach

Authors draw on the social cognitive theory of self-regulation to develop our model and examine the relationship between self-monitoring, thought self-leadership and adaptive selling behavior. We …

When Consumers Live Several Experiences In One: Syncretic Thematization And Consumers’ Productive Use Of Free Time, Damien Chaney, Fuat Firat

Marketing Faculty Publications

In a culture of experiential consumption, themed consumer experiences have become highly marketable commodities, giving birth to new types of experiences. In this research, we explore these new forms of experiences that try to escape from commodification through syncretism. We conduct an ethnography of a highly themed festival, Hellfest in France. We identify that this festival offers an experience based on cognitive, sensory, and praxeological syncretism which aims to re-enchant as well as disorient consumers. Since syncretic experiences are perceived as several sub-experiences in one, we also show how these new types of experiences are rooted in a new conception …

How Does Choosing Fitness Labeled Food Affect Consumer’S Intention To Forgo Exercise, Mei Han

Theses and Dissertations

As one of the most widely used marketing techniques, the role and effects of food labels have received significant attention from researchers. Different labels have very different influences and implications. This dissertation focuses on a unique persuasive language label: fitness label. This dissertation starts with a discussion on self-regulation mechanisms and research on goals, and their implications on how choosing fitness labeled food affects subsequent intention to forgo exercise.

This dissertation finds that the existence of response conflict in food choice, as well as the magnitude of the response conflict affect consumer’s reaction mechanisms, which in turn affect consumer’s exercise …

R&D Investment, Business Performance, And Moderating Role Of Guanxi: Evidence From China, Chiquan Guo, Sudipto Sarkar, Jing Zhu, Yong J. Wang

Marketing Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Relationship duration with major clients not only has a direct, negative effect on total income (sales).

• Relationship duration has a negative moderating effect on the association between research & development (R&D) and total income.

• Relationship duration with major suppliers has a positive moderating effect on the association between R&D and total profits.

• Relationship with government has a positive effect on total income, and it also has a negative moderating effect on the R&D-performance chain.

• Chinese firms over emphasize the importance of guanxi with the government by going overboard or overspending on it.

Social Media And Customer Relationship Management Technologies: Influencing Buyer-Seller Information Exchanges, Omar S. Itani, Michael T. Krush, Raj Agnihotri, Kevin J. Trainor

Marketing Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Social media and CRM technology aid salespeople in market sensing and customer-linking activities.

• Social media utilization enhance the competitive information collection abilities of the seller.

• CRM techpositively affects seller product information communication, which enablesbuyer information sharing intentions.

• Sellers capture value from buyers by CRM utilization.

• Seller experience has significant moderating and explanatory power regarding the use of sales technology.

Abstract

Due to the increasing array of sales technology, salespeople must understand how each application assists them. This study examines how business-to-business salespeople use different forms of sales technology to meet their boundary-spanning roles. Our research draws from social exchange …

When Poignant Stories Outweigh Cold Hard Facts: A Meta-Analysis Of The Anecdotal Bias, Traci H. Freling, Zhiyong Yang, Ritesh Saini, Omar S. Itani, Ryan Rashad Abualsamh

Marketing Faculty Publications

The objective of this paper is to resolve mixed findings about which type of evidence is more persuasive—statistical or anecdotal information. In a meta-analysis of 61 papers exploring the persuasive impact of evidence type, we establish that, in situations where emotional engagement is high (e.g., an issue associated with a severe threat, involving a health issue, or affecting oneself), statistical evidence is less influential than anecdotal evidence. However, in situations where emotional engagement is relatively low (e.g., an issue associated with low threat severity, involving a non-health issue, or affecting others), statistical evidence is more persuasive than anecdotal evidence. We …

How Youtube Health Vloggers Influence Viewer Compliance: The Interplay Between Vlogger Characteristics, Parasocial Interaction, And Viewer Characteristics, Md Nazmus Sakib

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on the notion of parasocial interaction (PSI) theory (Horton and Wohl, 1956), this dissertation provides a framework to demonstrate how YouTube health vloggers can influence viewer compliance intention toward a prescribed health behavior (i.e., weight-loss diet to lose weight). Initially, drawing on the discounting principles of attribution theory (Kelly, 1973), physical attractiveness stereotype (Eagly et al., 1991), and the black sheep effect (Marques and Yzerbyt, 1988), the interaction effects of three vlogger characteristics on viewer PSI experience were conceptualized and examined (Study 1). Then by using a scenario-based experiment, viewer PSI experience with the vlogger was manipulated (high vs. …

Understanding Mental Health Services And Help-Seeking Behaviours Among College Students In Vietnam, Ngoc C. Pham, Yuanqing Li, Tofazzal Hossain, Claudio Schapsis, Huan H. Pham, Michael Minor

Marketing Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE

Mental health is a significant topic, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there is higher prevalence, there is less attention, to mental health problems among Asian college students, so the authors decided to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of mental health services and help-seeking behaviors in Vietnamese universities. By conducting this study, the authors hoped to contribute to current literature on the factors that contribute to professional mental health help-seeking behavior of college students in Vietnam and to suggest strategies to reduce possible barriers that prevent them from looking for professional medical help.

DESIGN

For this …

Exploring Customers' Reactions To Enforcement Of Fine Print, Sudipto Sarkar

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the effects of enforcement and/or unenforcement of “Fine Print” on consumers’ reactions. “Fine Print” is defined as both the explicit and implicit conditions under which the product/service contract waives firm responsibility and accountability toward unsuccessful product/service experience, and outcome or lack of customer satisfaction with the same. Study 1 examined the interaction effects between “Fine Print” and “Company Size” on trust, satisfaction, repurchase intention, switching intentions, and word-of-mouth in a retailer context. The results revealed significant interaction effects between “Fine Print” and “Company Size” for satisfaction and repurchase intention, where satisfaction and …

Explaining Customer Loyalty To Retail Stores: A Moderated Explanation Chain Of The Process, Arturo Z. Vasquez-Parraga, Miguel Sahagun

Marketing Faculty Publications

This chapter reassesses the process of how store customers become loyal to their stores; what are the core subprocesses generating customer store loyalty, and what contributing moderators enrich the final outcome. A new empirical research is designed to identify and test a parsimonious model of core relationships and moderators. The result is an explanation chain that incorporates relational variables, trust, and commitment to the traditional transactional one, customer satisfaction, and the moderating factors of the relational variables. The findings reveal that 1) customer commitment is the major contributor of explanation to true customer loyalty, significantly more than the contributed explanation …

Anime And Manga Fandom In The 21st Century: A Close-Up View, Chiquan Guo, Chengyan Zeng

Marketing Faculty Publications

Anime (animated films) and manga (comic books) fans are easily misunderstood and can even face prejudice. In fact, they are considered nerds or weirdoes in the eye of many people. This is an unfortunate happenstance for two simple reasons. First, it is a gross misperception of fans, which is fundamentally unfair to them. Second, with a growing fan base, this ever-expansive population presents ample opportunities for businesses. However, any biased view toward those fans may likely hinder marketers' efforts to serve them in an effective manner. We would like to show people what anime and manga fans are all about. …

Diverse Effects Of Diversity: Disaggregating Effects Of Diversity In Global Virtual Teams, Vas Taras, Daniel Baack, Dan Caprar, Douglas Dow, Fabian Froese, Alfredo Jimenez, Peter Magnusson

Marketing Faculty Publications

Global Virtual Team (GVT) member diversity provides many advantages but also poses many challenges. Diversity comes in different forms that each has different effects on GVT dynamics and performance. Past research typically explored the effect of only one type of diversity at a time. Using multi-source, multi-wave data from 5728 individuals working in 804 consulting project GVTs, the present study is unique in that it explores and compares the effects of different forms of team member diversity on different aspects of GVT effectiveness in a single sample. It proposes a refined theoretical model that differentiates between the effects of personal …

Multi-Brand Loyalty In Consumer Markets: A Qualitatively-Driven Mixed Methods Approach, Ghizlane Arifine, Reto Felix, Olivier Furrer

Marketing Faculty Publications

Purpose

Although multi-brand loyalty (MBL) in consumer markets has been identified in previous brand loyalty research, empirical studies have not yet explored the facets of its different types. This paper aims to have a deeper understanding of MBL by investigating its different types and facets.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a sequential, qualitatively driven mixed-method design consisting of in-depth interviews and supplementary survey research.

Findings

The findings of this study suggest that mood congruence, identity enhancement, unavailability risk reduction and market competition are the most important facets that explains the two types of MBL (complementary-based and product substitutes). Furthermore, the findings …

Consumer Response To The Disposal Of Potentially Harmful Products: The Product Life-Cycle, Consumer Activism, And Subjective Well-Being Across Borders, Sergio Enrique Robles-Avila

Theses and Dissertations

This research attempts to uncover the factors that influence protest behaviors, specifically, consumer activism intention and how the factors are different between industrialized and developing countries. This research draws from the Values-Norms, Beliefs (VBN) Theory and the Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) framework to test protest intention between the United States and Mexico regarding the improper disposal of potentially harmful products across borders. Further, this research attempts to extend the VBN-Theory to include trust-in-government, attitude towards the firm, and subjective well-being.

The findings of this research indicate that the VBN Theory is confirmed not only in the United States, but also in Mexico …