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Purpose This study aims to develop and test a process model of the effect of social media use by business-to-business (B2B) salespeople on their value cocreation and cross/upselling performance. Adopting a research acquisition perspective, the authors claim that salesperson’s social media use is critical for generating social capital – an operant resource characterized by superior market knowledge, reputation and networking – which, in turn, directly and synergistically enhances value cocreation and cross/upselling outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A model is developed based on extant sales research on salesperson’s social media use and social capital theory. Data from B2B salespeople is analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results demonstrate that salespeople’s social media use enhances their social capital with support for direct effects on market knowledge and reputation, and indirect effect on networking. The results also show that the three aspects of social capital drive value cocreation, which enhances cross/upselling performance. Post hoc analysis shows the indirect effects of salesperson’s social media use as well as the interconnected effects of the aspects of social capital on value cocreation. Practical implications The study indicates that salespeople should be encouraged to use social media as a means for enhancing market knowledge and reputation, which can then be leveraged to build networking skills. Providing training to salespeople and coaching them on how to build their social capital is essential if organizations need to capitalize on novel ways to improve the value cocreation performance of their sales teams. Originality/value This study demonstrates how salespeople’s social media use can enhance their social capital, which, in turn, is critical for value cocreation and cross/upselling performance. The proposed framework opens opportunities for future studies to examine the role of salesperson social capital and value cocreation in B2B exchanges.

Purpose The main purpose of this research is to understand how the sudden shift to work from home (WFH) after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has caught several sales organizations underprepared and ill-equipped to combat emergent challenges. In this research, the authors provide initial evidence into how the WFH arrangement impacts salespeople and sales organizations. Specifically, this research is guided by two objectives: to understand how the shift to WFH environment is affecting salespeople, and to explore how organizations can mitigate dysfunctional effects of the shift to WFH practices and enhance salespeople’s commitment toward this new reality. Design/methodology/approach The authors did preliminary in-depth interviews with 13 executives operating in the business-to-business (B2B) space to identify themes that reflected the reality faced by B2B sales organizations when transitioning to WFH. The authors then conducted a quantitative study involving a survey with 130 B2B salespeople. Findings The findings from the qualitative research suggested that the WFH situation is quite different from the more traditional remote selling situations that B2B salespeople are used to. More specifically, salespeople experienced more anxiety because of the WFH situations. This finding was supported in the empirical study done by the authors where stress associated with WFH and job insecurity had a significant impact on salesperson anxiety. Research limitations/implications The study primarily used subjective responses of salespeople with no objective measures. Furthermore, this study is cross-sectional in nature. Future research should build on the present work to understand the long-term consequences of WFH and factor in customer responses to the same. The impact of increased use of technology in the sales process will need further attention, including the sales management implication for the same. Originality/value Given the unforeseen nature of the COVID pandemic and how unprepared salespeople and sales organizations were to deal with it, this study is one of the first studies that documents the impact of WFH situations on salespeople.

Changes in technological and sales environments necessitate organizations to constantly invest in equipping salespeople with newer technological knowledge and tools. However, the success of investments in technological transformation hinges on salespeople’s beliefs regarding technology, in general, and their recognition that enhancement of technological skills results in better sales outcomes. This study develops and tests a framework that illustrates how continuous techno-training can serve as an important resource for influencing critical technology-related and sales-related outcomes. Specifically, drawing from job demands-resources theory and research on technology training in the sales context, we demonstrate that continuous techno-training can help in developing techno-efficacy directly as well as indirectly through fostering techno-expectancy and suppressing techno-stress. In turn, we show that techno-efficacy is positively related to sales-efficacy, which enhances both sales effort and sales performance. Based on our findings, we offer several meaningful implications to sales research and practice.

This tribute article focuses on Professor Shelby Hunt’s contributions to the franchising literature and evaluates how forecasts and recommendations presented in 11 of his articles compare against c...

This study examines how small, entrepreneurial enterprises can design crowdfunding projects for their aftermarket offerings. Drawing from signaling theory and the elaboration likelihood model, we investigate the direct and interactive effects of brand prominence (i.e., conspicuous display of a brand name in project titles and descriptions) and narrative features (i.e., language styles and narrative length) on funding success of crowdfunding projects by entrepreneurial aftermarket enterprises. Analysis of data from 343 crowdfunding projects shows the positive influence of brand prominence, language style, and narrative length on funding success. Findings also show that brand prominence increases the effects of language styles and narrative length on funding success. Based on these findings, we identify multiple theoretical contributions and directions for future research as well as practical recommendations for entrepreneurial aftermarket enterprises on designing crowdfunding projects.

Given that salesperson turnover is a significant problem for sales organizations, sales researchers have devoted a lot of attention toward explicating various drivers and mitigators of salesperson ...

Although branded store-within-stores are increasing in popularity in the retail environment, there has been limited systematic research on this phenomenon. This study develops and tests a theoretically grounded framework of the antecedents of shoppers' attitude toward store-within-stores and, subsequently, patronage intentions toward store-within-stores and the host retailer. Brand alignment, or the extent to which the brand featured in a store-within-store arrangement fits with the other brands carried by a host retailer, brand-related factors, and store-related factors are considered as antecedents of attitude toward the store-within-store. Based on the findings, implications are offered for academicians and practitioners. Future research directions for advancing knowledge on store-within-stores are also presented.

Systemic changes are transforming traditional brick-and-mortar retailing, with some venerable retailers closing some or all of their stores, others reinventing store layouts and shopper engagement tactics, and, interestingly, the migration of erstwhile online-only retailers to the physical retail landscape. Given these changes, it is imperative for brick-and-mortar retailers to identify newer customer relationship mechanisms that motivate patronage intentions. Drawing from research on consumer-brand relationships, this study introduces store attachment as a second-order relational construct comprising of store-self connection and store prominence. Subsequently, for store attachment, cognitive and emotional antecedents as well as consequent influence on store patronage intentions are hypothesized and tested. Based on the findings, implications are offered for retailing researchers and practitioners.

PurposeThis paper aims to develop and empirically test a framework articulating the effects of strategic orientations (entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation) on leveraging ambidexterity. Further, the paper examines the moderating effects of knowledge stock (market knowledge and technological knowledge) on the relationship between ambidexterity and firm performance to gain additional insights into how ambidexterity can be leveraged in an organization.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained from CEOs (or equivalent members of the top management team) of 234 firms. The adequacy and psychometric properties of all measures were evaluated and purified using a maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the hypotheses were tested using ordinary least squares (OLS). A number of post hoc tests were conducted to develop a nuanced understanding of proposed effects.FindingsWhile both strategic orientations enhance an organization’s ability to be ambidextrous, results show that some types of knowledge stocks facilitate, whereas other types hinder the influence of ambidexterity on firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsBoth strategic orientations enable ambidexterity; however, technological knowledge stock impedes the effect of ambidexterity on firm performance, while market knowledge stock enhances this relation. Cross-sectional nature of the study imposes limitations on causal inferences.Practical implicationsDifferent strategic orientations provide organizations with a cluster of knowledge acquisition and utilization capabilities that enable ambidexterity. However, organizations should be wary of indiscriminate accumulation of knowledge stocks – while certain types enhance the effect of ambidexterity, others may create competency traps or core rigidities and inhibit the effect of ambidexterity.Originality/valueThis study integrates related, yet hitherto fragmented, research streams to demonstrate the interconnectedness between strategic orientations, ambidexterity and existing knowledge stock. Several theoretical and managerial implications are identified.

Celebrity endorsements have been a long-standing fixture in advertising and marketing strategies. In recent years, however, more and more celebrities have transitioned from merely endorsing a product for a third-party brand, to creating their own product lines by leveraging their personal brand. However, despite an abundance of research on celebrity endorsements, there has been very little research on celebrity-branded products. The focus of this study is on how celebrity-branded product lines influence shoppers’ evaluations of retailers. Partnership arrangements between celebrities and retailers (e.g., Jennifer Lopez line at Kohl’s, Victoria Beckham line at Target, Shaquille O’Neal line at JCPenney) provide celebrities with access to retailers’ merchandizing and marketing expertise, while providing retailers with the ability to leverage celebrity products to differentiate themselves from competing stores and enhance their appeal to chosen target markets. Specifically, this study develops and tests a theoretical framework of the transference effects of celebrity-branded products on shoppers’ evaluation of retailers. Drawing from the brand resonance model, this study postulates that shoppers’ awareness and evaluation of the salience of celebrity-branded products sold in a retailer influence evaluation of the retailer, judgments about the retailer, and retailer resonance (i.e., active, intense loyalty toward the retailer). Data collected using an online survey of 443 adult shoppers show support for the transference effects of celebrity brands on retailer resonance and provide empirical validation of the brand resonance model. Specifically, results indicate that shoppers’ assessments of celebrity-branded products (i.e., celebrity-product fit, celebrity-store fit, and brand alignment) lead to higher derived performance evaluation (i.e., store attractiveness), which lead to positive judgments of the store (i.e., store uniqueness), and ultimately, active shopper–retailer relationships. Overall, this study demonstrates that, if properly designed, the partnership between celebrity-branded product lines and retailers can be mutually beneficial to both entities and can enhance shoppers’ engagement with retail stores. Based on the findings, implications are offered for theory and practice.

Business-to-business customers are increasingly demanding total solutions in response to suppliers who are increasingly seeking to grow their revenues by focusing on providing customers with end-to-end solutions. Given that the solution sales process in business markets is inherently complex and significantly different from the traditional sales process, there is evidence that many salespeople are unable or unwilling to meet the requirements of solution selling. Although researchers have begun focusing on business-to-business customer solutions, the very nature of business-to-business solutions suggests that there are problems to be solved, and research exploring business-to-business solution provision at the intersection of problem solving and sales is extremely limited. In this research, we focus on the customers’ perspective of salesperson’s problem solving approaches. Specifically, we provide a brief overview of problem solving literature in the context of personal selling and sales management. Second, from the perspective of B2B customers, we develop a model with the consequences of the creative and deliberate problem solving routines of business-to-business salespeople and their direct and curvilinear effects on customer outcomes. Third, we provide details of our data collection efforts. Specifically, data collection was accomplished through an online survey of purchasing managers (respondents had purchasing manager, buyer, procurement manager, or similar titles) from a panel managed by a reputed research company. Respondents were (i) screened to verify that their purchasing role required them to interact frequently and extensively with salespeople of different vendors and (ii) asked to think of one of their important vendors and complete the survey with respect to that vendor’s salespeople. Here, we also screened the respondent for interaction and knowledgeability. Fourth, we discuss the method and analyses corresponding to the testing of our framework. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of our research’s implications for research and practice. Indeed, the results of the curvinear effects found in this research provide significant implications for firms in managing the role of salespeople in solution provision.

Marketing is a central business function, and because marketing strategy affects decisions central to generating and sustaining competitive advantage, it plays a significant role in the firm’s overall business performance. Further, marketing’s boundary-spanning nature results in marketing strategies playing a major role in the business-strategy formulation. However, in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, many firms have questioned the value of marketing as evidenced by reduced marketing budgets, less executive time allocated to marketing, marketing increasingly being perceived as a cost, and the reduction in the tenure of marketing executives on top management teams (TMTs). In recent times, from a position touted to be in great peril, marketing executives on TMTs are slowly growing into the role of being significant contributors to firm strategy. In this research, drawing on upper echelons theory and silo-spanning communications research, we investigate how integration of marketing knowledge can go a long way in facilitating strong firm performance. Specifically, we investigate how top management emphasis, silo-spanning communication through formal and informal cross-functional interface mechanisms, knowledge valuation, and knowledge-oriented culture influence marketing knowledge integration and, in turn, marketing and financial performance. The results of our research support our premise that organizations that facilitate the integration of marketing knowledge are more likely to reap the positive influence on firm performance. Specifically, by not facilitating effective marketing knowledge integration, it is firms that fail the marketing function and not the other way around. Overall, modern-day marketing strategy is inherently complex and dynamic, and the ever-changing bundles of knowledge about customers, competitors, technologies, strategies, policies and procedures, and other environmental forces demand continuous integration of marketing knowledge. This research is one of the first to empirically examine the role of the marketing function in impacting firm performance. Specifically, on the foundations of upper echelons theory, this research demonstrates the valuable role that the marketing function can play in contributing to firm performance.

Metaphors are pervasive in everyday life, not only in language but also in thought and action. In addition to increasing the effectiveness of communication, metaphors have also contributed toward theory development in social science. Specifically, in the marketing discipline, there is a rich tradition of research based on metaphors. However, a systematic review of advancements in research on metaphors and, correspondingly, research in marketing communication regarding and employing metaphors, reveals that the potential of metaphors and metaphoric transfer for marketing communication remains under-realized. Given that metaphors research has been developed in disparate fields, such as linguistics, psychology, and social sciences, understandably, research on metaphors is fraught with non-conciliatory issues with regard to conceptualization, different types of metaphors, uses, and metaphoric theory. Therefore, on the foundations of the significant developments in metaphors research that can be useful for marketing communications scholarship, we undertake a systematic overview as to the status of research on metaphors in order to develop an appropriate framework for reviewing metaphors and explore implications for the domain of marketing communications. Specifically, we develop a brief review of metaphor conceptualizations, various typologies in metaphors, uses of metaphors, models of metaphor, and potential issues with and pitfalls of metaphors. To demonstrate that marketing research can be significantly advanced by focusing on metaphors as linguistic tools and as well as research tools that can spark inquiry, the objectives of this research are to: (i) provide an up-to-date review of metaphors research in terms of conceptualization, types of metaphors, uses of metaphors, models of metaphor, and issues and pitfalls of metaphors; (ii) identify several communication and theoretical metaphors that are relevant to marketing communication; and (iii) develop a research agenda on the different roles of metaphors for the domain of marketing communications. Consequently, the contributions and implications of this research for marketing communication scholarship are discussed.

In the digital and social marketing age, characterized by ubiquitous usage of smartphones and social media, marketers leverage the power of the brand to cultivate strong consumer-brand relationships which have the ability to transform consumers into a powerful “communication medium,” i.e., consumers become the vehicles to spread messages to other consumers, just as traditional media operates. Heightened consumer-brand relationships transcend mere product or service dimensions to include deep psychological attachments and active supportive behaviors directed toward the focal brand. Ultimately, such consumer-generated behaviors and communication are important because they affect brand choices including brand purchase decisions, brand expectations, and brand attitudes.

Purpose Understanding consumer engagement in brand-centric collectives remains a critical area of interest in the branding literature. Although various antecedents have been examined in prior research, members’ perceptions regarding how society evaluates such collectives remain under-explored. Focusing on brand tribes as the focal brand-centric consumer collective, the aim of this research is to examine and replicate the effects of inferences regarding societal approval (i.e. reputation, stigma and legitimacy) on members’ commitment to the tribe and brand tribalism. Design/methodology/approach Two distinct video game communities – one typically described in research and media as mainstream (Study 1; N = 242) and the other as deviant (Study 2; N = 926) – are used for data collection. Structural equation modeling is used to test hypotheses. Findings Interestingly, the significance and the direction of the paths differ meaningfully for these samples. For the mainstream community, reputation relates positively to legitimacy, while stigma relates inversely to both legitimacy and commitment. For the deviant community, reputation relates positively to legitimacy, while stigma relates positively to both legitimacy and commitment. For the mainstream community, reputation relates positively to commitment; for the deviant community, this relationship is non-significant. In turn, positive effects are found for legitimacy and commitment on brand tribalism (mainstream community) and for commitment on brand tribalism (deviant community). Research limitations/implications Using data from video gamers within mainstream and deviant communities may constrain external validity. As effect sizes in this setting are cognized, researchers have additional benchmarks for future brand tribalism research. Practical implications Perceived societal approval influences engagement in brand communities, albeit in different ways depending on the type of community. Therefore, perceptions of societal approval among current and potential brand community members must be acknowledged and understood by marketers. Within mainstream and deviant video game communities, such tribal-laden following exists. By further understanding determinants of brand tribalism, marketers and brand managers are in a better position to devise adroit strategies that appeal to targeted consumers, thereby boosting brand value. Originality/value Conceptualizing brand tribalism anthropologically, this study adds to the branding literature by examining cardinal, brand community/tribe-linked antecedents of brand tribalism, whereas previous study explores brand tribalism from the perspective of members’ evaluation of focal brands and existing community members. This investigation is fixated on members’ perceptions of societal impressions of the brand tribe, offering novel insight to brand tribe formation. Further, although pure replication is pursued, the results of the path analysis between the mainstream and deviant community samples vary, suggesting not all tribes are formed equally even within the same industry/context.

Resource-based theory (RBT) posits that firms gain competitive advantage through bundles of valuable and rare resources and sustain that advantage over time when such resources are difficult to imitate or nonsubstitutable by competitors. Recent applications of RBT emphasize the role of managers in mobilizing and leveraging organizational resources and capabilities for achieving business objectives. The purpose of this research is to advance the sales literature by applying learning from two specific perspectives based on RBT that focus explicitly on managerial actions pertaining to resources and capabilities: resource orchestration and dynamic managerial capabilities. These perspectives provide insights into the role of sales managers as orchestrators of sales and nonsales resources for achieving sales, organizational, and customer outcomes. Consistent with the stated purpose, this research provides (1) a review of research on resources and capabilities in the sales literature, (2) an overview of resource...

Although a number of studies have demonstrated that perceived ethical leadership engenders beneficial follower outcomes, there is a dearth of research on ethical leadership in the sales context. This is surprising given that salespersons constantly face ethical challenges in their work environment and ethical leadership could provide them with appropriate guidelines for navigating such challenges successfully. Focusing on the salesperson’s perspective and responding to calls for investigating underlying processes responsible for the effects of ethical leadership, this study proposes that sales managers’ ethical leadership influences salespersons’ emulation intentions—i.e., their intentions to model or imitate the manager’s ethical behavior—which, in turn, influences both behavior and outcome performance. In addition, salespersons’ perceptions of the manager’s competence and gratitude toward the manager are examined as moderating mechanisms on the relationship between ethical leadership and salespersons’ emulation. Finally, three aspects of the ethical climate prevailing in the organization—ethical responsibility, peers’ unethical behavior, and unethical sales practices—are included as control variables. The proposed relationships are tested by using data from 290 business-to-business salespeople. Based on the findings, implications are offered for theory and practice.

Purpose Lawler (2001) posits that social exchanges create a sense of shared responsibility for outcome success. The purpose of this study is to apply this framework to the vendor/frontline employee/customer triad to examine the underlying role of emotions in how frontline employees’ evaluations of vendors and customers trigger and temper brand advocacy efforts, respectively. Design/methodology/approach With cross-sectional data from 168 frontline employees working at a leading national retailer of electronic goods, path analysis is used to evaluate the hypotheses. Findings Frontline employees’ relationship quality with the vendor and perceptions of vendors’ product quality positively influence brand advocacy. Also, customers’ brand affinity and recommendation preference both demonstrate a significant, negative curvilinear relationship with brand advocacy. Research limitations/implications Frontline employees’ emotion-laden evaluations of vendors and customer influence brand advocacy in different ways. Vendor relationship quality and brand quality perceptions “trigger” brand advocacy. However, customer’s affinity toward a vendor’s brand and willingness to seek recommendations “temper” brand advocacy. Specifically, brand advocacy effort is low when customers possess very low and very high affinity toward a focal brand – moderate affinity spurs high advocacy; likewise, advocacy is low when customers demonstrate very low and very high interest in seeking the frontline employees’ opinion – moderate interest spurs high advocacy. Although ideal to examine vendor and customer emotional exchanges, using only frontline employee data from a technology-selling retailer may constrain generalizability. Practical implications Frontline employee training programs should emphasize the customer’s role in the transaction to increase perceptions of shared responsibility, as a means to create a favorable emotional experience, and accentuate timing strategies on when to pursue heightened or diminished emotionally charged brand advocacy efforts. Originality/value This study contributes to the frontline employee behavior literature by viewing shared responsibility in transactions as a source of emotional value, explaining variance in frontline employee brand advocacy through relationship and product quality dimensions, and uncovering curvilinear effects for customers’ brand affinity and recommendation preference in elucidating brand advocacy.

In the sales literature, researchers have identified that ethical leadership by sales managers influences various salesperson outcomes, including organizational identification, person-organization fit, extra-role behaviors, and reduced turnover intentions (DeConinck 2015; Schwepker 2015; Wu 2017). Yet, the process by which ethical leadership influences ethical behavior and improved performance by salespeople remains unknown.

The formation of brand-centric relationships between franchisors and franchisees is of utmost importance to the success of franchising endeavors. Brand resonance refers to the nature of heightened brand-centric relationships and is characterized by intense psychological attachment with a brand as well as active, volitional behavior directed toward the brand's benefit. This study offers a parsimonious framework of the antecedents of brand resonance in franchising relationships and test hypothesized relationships from the franchisee's perspective using data collected from business format franchisees in South Korea. Results demonstrate that franchisor's knowledge specificity, franchisor's trade equity, and franchisee's trust in franchisors are instrumental in the formation of brand resonance. Implications for researchers and practitioners as well as directions for future research are offered.

Given their societal presence, brand communities and tribes must, in some capacity, influence marketing strategy. With a player base exceeding 50 million and annual sales surpassing $12 billion, the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) community is considered a burgeoning cultural and economic consumer segment. Yet, quantitative examination of MMORPG community members' consumptive processes is sparse. To help fill this research lacuna, the current study tests a sequential choice model of attachment, tribalism, and self-esteem on MMORPG-related behavioral outcomes. Using a sample 970 MMORPG players, support is offered for the posited model, indicating among others, that brand attachment antecedes MMORPG brand tribalism, which in turn, augments player self-esteem. Implications and future research directions are offered. MMORPG player communities mirror characteristics of brand communities.As with brands, attachment with MMORPGs engenders tribal bonds among players.Tribalism boosts self-esteem and thus, behaviors that support the community.Virtual product purchase, player recruitment, and word-of-mouth ensue.This study highlights player socialization and brand tribes in MMORPG communities.

Ethical leadership, a leadership style that embodies the utilization of certain elements of both transformational and transactional approaches albeit with a moral dimension, has been proposed by leadership theorists to influence positive behavioral and performance outcomes among followers (e.g., Brown et al. 2005; Mayer et al. 2012). Within the sales literature, other than studies on the effect of sales managers’ ethical leadership on ethical context and work-related outcomes (e.g., DeConinck 2015; Schwepker 2015; Wu 2017), there has been little attention on the influence of sales managers’ ethical leadership on salespersons’ evaluations of sales managers, subsequent role-modeling behaviors, and resultant performance.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative review of coaching research from different contexts (e.g. athletics, executive coaching, project management and sales), delineate professional sales coaching from other developmental activities and develop a research agenda for stimulating research on professional sales coaching. Professional sales coaching is considered an important sales force developmental program by both sales practitioners and researchers. Yet, research on sales coaching remains fragmented in the extant literature. Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature review of extant research and theoretical perspectives on coaching as well as insights gathered from exploratory, in-depth interviews of ten sales managers were used to develop the research agenda. Findings – The review and research agenda identify a number of sales coaching-related topics that warrant further research. Specifically, the research agenda addresses salesperson characteristics, sales manager and coach characteristics, selling organization characteristics, sales coaching approaches, nature and effectiveness of the sales coaching process and, finally, outcomes of sales coaching. For each topic, extant research, relevant insights from exploratory interviews and directions for future research are discussed. Originality/value – This paper is the first integrative review of coaching-related research in the sales literature. It offers an updated conceptualization of sales coaching and identifies opportunities for future research.

Video games have become a global economic, social, and consumption phenomenon. Within the video game industry, massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) have demonstrated unprecedented growth in recent years by attracting more than 50 million consumers who spend in excess of $12 billion annually. Yet, marketing researchers have not paid sufficient attention toward understanding consumption behaviors exhibited by MMORPG players. Drawing from research on MMORPGs, social identity theory, and online communities, this study examines the antecedents and consumption-related outcomes of players' (1) identification with MMORPGs and (2) identification with the MMORPG community. Analysis of data collected from 970 MMORPG players indicates that online games are socially driven and, although attachment with games is important, the relationships forged with fellow players drive consumption behaviors. Theoretical and managerial implications as well as limitations and directions for future research are offered.

Perceived security risk refers to consumers’ perceptions of the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime (Rader, May, & Goodrum, 2007). Consumers’ cognitive perception of the threat of criminal victimization and associated emotional fear may drastically affect their daily lives and behavior (Rader et al., 2007). For instance, perceived security risk may influence consumers’ conspicuous consumption, shopping intentions, shopping times and locations, and brand-directed behaviors. Although crime and perceived security risk are prevalent in all countries and economies, they are heightened in emerging markets and, as more firms look to emerging markets for growth, it is important to understand the effects of perceived security risk on consumption.

This paper contributes to the emergent literature on sales managers’ ethical leadership (e.g., DeConinck 2015; Ng and Feldman 2015) by developing a framework of the mechanism by which sales managers’ ethical leadership influences salespeople’s ethical behavior and performance. Ethical leadership is defined as “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making” (Brown et al. 2005, p. 120). This definition embodies two broad aspects of an ethical leader: (a) a moral person dimension, demonstrated through honesty, caring, and fair and balanced decision-making and (b) a moral leader dimension, demonstrated through frequent communication about ethics, setting clear ethical standards and using rewards and punishment to motivate adherence to those standards, and proactively serving as role models for ethical conduct (Brown and Trevino 2006).

Extant research (e.g., Atuahene-Gima 2005; Cohen and Levinthal 1990; March 1991) explicitly recognizes the inherent tensions involved in searching for new ways of doing things (exploration) while currently leveraging and building upon what has already been learned (exploitation). Organizational ambidexterity is a popular approach to balancing explorative and exploitative activities in organizations, and has been recommended as an effective means to sustain organizational performance (e.g., Gibson and Birkinshaw 2004; March 1991). In this chapter, we suggest that an organization’s strategic orientation is important in shaping ambidexterity and address two research questions: (1) How do different strategic orientations facilitate or hinder ambidexterity and subsequent firm performance? (2) How does an organization’s knowledge stock influence these relationships?

Branded store-within-stores is an innovative approach aimed at improving customer engagement, retail store design and layout, and ultimately, value creation for customers, brands, and retailers (Jerath and Zhang 2010; Sorescu et al. 2011). Typically in a branded store-within-store format, specific brands agree with a retailer to have a standalone existence within a retail store’s layout with the brand’s vendor partly or wholly managing activities such as pricing, merchandising, staffing, and stocking in an autonomous manner (Jerath and Zhang 2010). There are different manifestations of the store-within-store format, but the focus of this study is on formats where third-party owned product or retailer brands are presented in an independent arrangement within a retail store, such as the Sephora store inside JCPenney, Armani and Gucci stores inside Neiman Marcus, and the DKNY store inside Bloomingdale’s. This study tests a framework of (1) consumers’ evaluations of brands and retailers involved in branded store-within-store formats, (2) their subsequent behavioral intentions toward the brand alliance and constituent partners (i.e., the brands and retailers), and ultimately, (3) differences in the abovementioned issues across store-within-stores featuring a “star” brand (i.e., a standalone store-within-store for a brand that is perceived as significantly superior to the other brands in the retail store) versus a “supporting cast” brand (i.e., a standalone store-within-store for a brand that is perceived as comparable to the other brands in the retail store). Furthermore, as a follow-up study, we examine the influence of brand’s image, price, and their interaction on perceptions of branded store-within-store and on intentions to purchase. Based on data collected from a large Southwestern university in the USA, the findings indicate that the type of branded store-within-a-store affect intentions toward a retailer, with a Star Brand exerting greater influence on intentions toward the retailer and the featured brand than the retailer’s prototypical brands. Results show greater intentions toward the retailer and the featured brand in the case of a Star Brand store-within-store for male shoppers rather than female shoppers. In addition, follow-up study results indicate that Star Brand must be congruent with store’s image but its price does not have to. Overall, results indicate that stores looking to increase sales by adding a branded store-within-store should consider brands that their shoppers consider superior to the store’s prototypical brands but congruent in image to store. This study is exploratory in nature, and future research, using different product and/or store types and samples, could help validate the results.

Brands tend to polarize consumers. As a result, consumers engage in behavior and communication in support of a focal brand or against that brand’s competitors (e.g., Gregoire et al. 2009; Lovett et al. 2013; Wolter et al. 2015). As brand-directed word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior by consumers represents an opportunity to indirectly influence consumer behavior in a cost-effective and rapid manner, marketers are attempting to create “talkable brands,” which have characteristics that promote WOM (e.g., Berger 2014; Hollebeek et al. 2014; King et al. 2014; Lovett et al. 2013). But such efforts come with the concomitant risk of brands stimulating unfavorable behaviors such as opposition and avoidance (e.g., Wolter et al. 2015).

Online consumption communities, involving millions of online consumers, have been created around massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). Within these communities, players who share interest in MMORPGs convene, interact, and collaborate with fellow players and achieve game-related outcomes. As these online social networks have been noted to augment, and perhaps supplant person-to-person interaction, this study focuses on the drivers of inherent interpersonal relationships, the nature of the constructed society, and resulting consumer initiatives to sustain and nurture the organization. Specifically, this research suggests that MMORPG communities transcend more facile forms of online or brand communities and demonstrate characteristics that can most aptly be construed as brand tribalism in the anthropological sense. Here, the challenge and telepresence innate in playing MMORPGs, cognitive and affective involvement associated with MMORPGs, and commitment to MMORPGs are modeled as antecedents of brand tribalism or a sense of the relationship with the brand and MMORPG community. Consequently, intent to purchase MMORPG-related virtual products, recruitment of other MMORPG players, and word of mouth are identified as consequences of this unique consumer–brand relationship. Further analysis reveals the negatively charged emotional measure (i.e., defense of the tribe) within the tribalism instrument explains more variance in the outcome variables than the positively charged emotional measures (i.e., lineage, social, sense of community). Implications and future research directions are offered.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of project creativity in international marketing teams. The proposed framework includes both proximal (characteristics that impact the everyday functioning of the team) and distal (characteristics associated with the team's organizations that are relatively remote to the everyday functioning of the team) factors as antecedents of project creativity. Specifically, the authors investigate the influence of three proximal factors, namely, collaboration with foreign counterparts, autonomy, and international experience as well as two distal factors, namely, organizational encouragement and innovative organizational culture. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 156 executives from publicly traded firms in the manufacturing sector in South Korea and tested using hierarchical regression. Findings – Collaboration with foreign counterparts and autonomy exert direct positive influence on project creativity. International experience exerts a curvilinear relationship such that low and high levels of international experience positively influence project creativity, whereas moderate international experience negatively influences project creativity. In addition, whereas the relationship between organizational encouragement and project creativity was supported, the relationship between innovative culture and project creativity was not. Originality/value – Despite the importance afforded to international marketing teams and creativity in marketing research and practice, little attention has focussed on project creativity in international marketing teams. This study represents an initial effort toward filling the void and identifying certain proximal and distal factors as relevant antecedents of project creativity in international marketing teams. In addition, deviating from extant studies on creativity, this study highlights a curvilinear relationship between international experience and creativity.

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to illustrate that the operant resource perspective of the service-dominant (S-D) logic can explicate how operant resources can influence relationship marketing (RM) strategy success. Design/methodology/approach – After a brief discussion of the operant resource perspective of the service-dominant (S-D) logic, the paper reviews relationship marketing literature to identify and explore specific operant resources that can influence relationship marketing success. Findings – This paper identifies several operant resources that have been empirically verified to have positive influence on relationship marketing success and several other operant resources that need further conceptual and empirical investigation. Originality/value – The operant resource perspective of relationship marketing strategy and the operant resources identified in this paper provide the foundation for theory development and managerial practice.

MNCs constantly search for ways to enhance their knowledge base given that access to superior knowledge can enable them to maintain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. MNCs have a un...

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine how the nature of consumers' relationship with a brand influences brand evangelism, which represents an intense form of brand support behavior. Specifically, the study investigates the influence of two consumer-brand relational constructs, brand trust and brand identification, on brand evangelism. Brand evangelism, conceptualized as an amalgam of adoption and advocacy behaviors, is operationalized in terms of three supportive behaviors: purchase intentions, positive referrals, and oppositional brand referrals. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from prior research on consumer-brand relationships, a framework of brand relationships and brand evangelism is developed. To provide a more robust test of theory, consumers' extraversion, gender, and brand experience are included as control variables. Structural equation modeling is used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings – The findings reveal that consumer-brand relationships influence brand evangelism, albeit in different ways. Whereas brand trust influences purchase intentions and positive referrals, brand identification influences positive and oppositional brand referrals. Overall, the findings reveal the power of consumer-brand relationships in engendering brand evangelism, relative to other factors such as extraversion, gender, and brand experience. Practical implications – In today's consumption society, where it is increasingly easier for consumers to demonstrate extreme devotion and derision toward brands, it is important for marketers to understand the drivers of behaviors directed toward brands. This study suggests that marketers can cultivate brand evangelism by building brand trust and brand identification. Originality/value – Marketing researchers and practitioners are only recently beginning to understand brand evangelism. This study demonstrates that consumer-brand relationships, rather than personality, gender, and usage experience, trigger brand evangelism and offers directions for future researchers to further explicate brand evangelism.

Evidence suggests that both cognitive and emotive factors elucidate consumer decision processes; yet, research exploring such factors jointly (i.e., a dual-process approach) as antecedents of high-involvement, lasting purchases is lacking. To address this paucity, we developed two studies, each with a unique dual-process model for explaining consumers’ intention to get a tattoo. Study 1 explores anticipated regret about getting a tattoo, emotional response before and now regarding a tattoo purchase, and self-expression via tattoo acquisition. Study 2 examines perceived trust in the tattoo artist, self-esteem, attitude toward art paintings, and age as determinants of intention to get a tattoo. Data collected for testing these models support dual-process theory in the tattoo context. Implications and future research directions are offered.

This study examines cross-cultural differences in thinking styles in the context of hybrid retailers (i.e., land-based retailers that augment their retail operations by creating online stores). Prior research indicates that consumers transfer retailer-related associations from hybrid retailers' physical to online stores and that trust in online stores is a critical factor in the online retail environment. Extending such findings, this study uses respondents from South Korea and the United States as representatives of holistic- and analytic-thinking cultures, respectively, and tests whether differences in thinking tendencies influence the transference of trust from hybrid retailers' land-based stores to their online stores. The study uses structural equation modeling to test online consumer behavior models and group differences. The results suggest that the role of trust is more pronounced in holistic-thinking cultures (e.g., East Asians) than in analytic-thinking cultures (e.g., Westerners). The results also show that transference of trust from hybrid retailers' land-based to online stores and the relationship between trust in and attitude toward hybrid retailers' online stores are greater for holistic thinkers than for analytic thinkers. The findings hold implications for research and practice and suggest directions for future research.

As retail sales associates play a critical role in influencing in-store customer decisions by providing brand recommendations, manufacturers attempt to use a variety of strategies to induce brand advocacy of their respective brands. Toward this end, manufacturers have traditionally deployed their salespeople to cultivate and maintain brand-centric relationships with retail sales associates. However, little is known on how manufacturers' salespeople build such relationships and induce brand advocacy by retail sales associates, especially in retail environments where commissions and incentives are prohibited. This study develops and tests a theoretical model of the antecedents of relationships between manufacturers' salespeople and retail sales associates and the subsequent impact of such relationships on brand advocacy by retail sales associates.

The adoption of branded store-within-stores by retailers is an innovative approach aimed at improving customer engagement, retail store design and layout, and ultimately, value creation for both customers and retailers (Jerath and Zhang 2010; Sorescu et al. 2011). In a typical branded store-within-store format, specific brands enter a rental or profit sharing agreement with a retailer to have a standalone existence within a retail store’s layout with the brand’s vendor partly or wholly managing activities such as pricing, merchandising, staffing, and stocking in an autonomous manner (Jerath and Zhang 2010). Although there are different manifestations of the store-within-store format, the focus of this study is on formats where third-party owned product or retailer brands are presented in an independent arrangement within a retail store. The Sephora store inside JCPenney, Armani, and Gucci stores inside Neiman Marcus, the DKNY store inside Bloomingdale’s, the North Face store inside Sports Authority, and the Samsung store inside Best Buy are examples of this phenomenon.

Market orientation represents a fundamental theoretical domain within the marketing literature and, arguably, one of the most important contributions of marketing thought to the business discipline (Menguc and Auh 2006). This study contributes to the extant literature by developing and testing an integrated framework of the influence of an organization’s top management teams and board of directors on market orientation and the subsequent impact on innovation and firm performance. First, extending perspectives that top management influences an organization’s market orientation (e.g., Jaworski and Kohli 1993), behavioral integration within top management teams (Hambrick 2004; Simsek et al. 2005) and control exerted by board of directors (Walters et al. 2010) are examined as antecedents of market orientation. Second, shedding further light on the relationship between market orientation and innovation (e.g., Grinstein 2008; Han et al. 1998), two types of innovation, namely exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation (Jansen et al. 2006), are investigated as outcomes of market orientation.

Over the last four decades, several researchers have investigated the concept of integrated marketing communication (IMC). Particularly, in the last decade, IMC as a research area has generated a lot of debate, led to intellectual discourse, and overall, contributed to the evolution of IMC. This is reflected in about 150 research articles, 400 books, three special issues by Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, and Journal of Business Research, and a journal entitled International Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications. Furthermore, several universities (e.g., Florida State University, Northwestern University, University of Denver, and West Virginia University) have instituted undergraduate and graduate IMC programs. In fact, 31 universities across the world offer IMC programs (Kerr et al. 2008). However, these developments notwithstanding, IMC remains a controversial and theoretically underdeveloped domain within the marketing literature.

The provision of high-value integrated solutions that address customers’ business or operational needs can lead to potential competitive advantages (Davies 2004). Formally, “a solution is a set of customer–supplier relational processes comprising (1) customer requirement definition, (2) customization and integration of goods and/or services and (3) their deployment, and (4) postdeployment customer support, all of which are aimed at meeting customers’ business needs” (Tuli et al. 2007, p. 5). Solving customers’ problems is critical and providing customized solutions that may consist of tangible products; application of specialized competences (knowledge and skills) through deeds, processes, and performances; or combinations that solve customer problems could lead to competitive advantages in the marketplace (Vargo and Lusch 2004).

PurposeResearch on virtual teams is still in its nascent stages. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretically grounded integrative framework of key factors influencing the effectiveness of virtual new product development teams.Design/methodology/approachThe framework is developed by integrating perspectives from several research streams, including relationship marketing, new product development, knowledge management, the resource‐based view, virtual teams, innovation, and communication.FindingsFactors impacting effective virtual interactions (i.e. improved decision quality and decision speed) and new product development (i.e. increased levels of creativity, innovativeness, and product development speed) are proposed.Research limitations/implicationsGuidance is provided for managing virtual new product development teams. The paper offers testable propositions that can serve as a foundation for further research in this promising area.Originality/valueBy synthesizing relevant perspectives from diverse literature streams, the paper offers a new framework for understanding and improving the functioning of virtual new product development teams.

Purpose – This paper aims to attempt to develop an integrative theoretical framework that approaches global industrial marketing from a managerial cognition perspective.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from the managerial cognition research, business strategy research, and international business research, this paper develops a theoretical framework that is relevant to global industrial marketing.Findings – Global industrial marketing research has much to gain from the managerial cognition literature. The framework developed in this article presents relevant managerial cognition variables, their individual and firm level antecedents, and desirable outcomes.Research limitations/implications – The framework presented in this paper provides strong theoretical foundation for further theory development in global industrial marketing research and managerial cognition research. However, given the conceptual nature of our research, empirical scrutiny and further conceptual and empirical research are required....

Retail salespeople represent an important link for manufacturers in communicating value propositions to retail customers and for implementing target market strategies. Past research reveals that the recommendations provided by retail salespeople exert significant influence on customers’ brand choice, especially in the context of consumer durables. However, as the retail environment is often characterized by an inherent tension between manufacturer and retailer strategies, a major challenge for manufacturers is to induce retail salespeople to recommend their brands over those of rivals. Relationship marketing and social identity theory suggest that psychological attachments motivate the direction and intensity of individuals’ volitional efforts and extra-role behaviors. Extending past research, this study examines brand identification among retail salespeople as a critical psychological mechanism that mediates the influence of manufacturer and manufacturer representative–related factors on brand advocacy a...