Search

An increasing number of companies are introducing chatbot‐led contexts in service failure recovery. Existing studies are inconclusive on whether humanlike chatbot‐driven service failure recovery enhances customer loyalty. Grounding our work in phenomenological hermeneutics and utilizing frustration–aggression theory, we concentrate on the historical circumstance and the participatory nature of understanding customers' chatbot‐driven interactions and loyalty. We conducted 47 in‐depth interviews with millennials from four countries (United States, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom). By analyzing interview data through thematic analysis, our study offers two significant contributions. First, through thematic analysis, we define the dynamics occurring between customers and chatbots in a service recovery journey, such as customers' priorities and expectations. Second, we present a chatbot‐led service failure recovery typology framework that identifies four types of customers based on their interactions with a chatbot and their emotions, specifically frustration and aggression, and the effects of the interactions on their brand loyalty and intention to use chatbots. The identification of four customer types can help managers shape strategies to effectively turn negative customer experiences into opportunities to strengthen their loyalty, such as making more than one touchpoint available (human and chatbot). Our study shows that customers' emotions, specifically frustration and aggression, affect not only customer loyalty but also technology adoption. The concluding section suggests future avenues for research in the service recovery literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to understand to what extent the concept of 'style' is used in the wine business and how this concept can be helpfully approached both in research and practice. A threefold study has been carried out: semi-structured interviews with renowned wine professionals; netnographic research on wine blogs in the US, France, and Italy; extensive review on academic literature. The results were jointly analyzed and compared. The main findings: style has become an ever increasingly important matter for both wine professionals and wine lovers, especially in upscale market segments; despite this importance, there is a lack of clear ideas about what wine style actually is and how to manage this tool. In the same way, even if in academic research on wine and wine business the concept of style is widely and increasingly used, to date no systematic attempts to develop a consistent and shared approach have been carried out by scholars. Given that it is an opinion shared by many in the wine industry that style and stylistic consistency can play a crucial role in defining wineries' production and marketing strategies and policies, research can help develop tools that allow for codifying and better managing the wine style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the affordances of "scan and go" apps and their influence on the flow experience of retail customers to provide a unique insight into user–technology interaction. Through a constructivist ethnographic approach, the research examines how users' socially constructed perceptions and interpretations shape these interactions, and it emphasizes the role of the material and social environment. The research innovatively conceptualizes affordances as a flow process; it introduces an affordances flow funnel that encompasses three distinct stages: perceived affordances, actualized affordances, and affordance dichotomy. By following this process, the study improves understanding of user emotions and behaviors that range from apathy to excitement, from gratification to provocation, and from abandonment to absorption. Findings underline the importance of equipping users with support to navigate technological and environmental constraints, thereby ensuring successful affordance actualization. The research contributes to the literature by revealing a new affordance type, namely affordance dichotomy, and offers valuable insights for marketers and developers to enhance user experiences and absorption behavior. Recognizing its focus on scan and go apps within supermarket contexts, the study invites future research to extend this understanding to different contexts and technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of saturation in qualitative research is a widely debated topic. Saturation refers to the point at which no new data or themes are emerging from the data set, which indicates that the data have been fully explored. It is considered an important concept as it helps to ensure that the findings are robust and that the data are being used to their full potential to achieve the research aim. Saturation, or the point at which further observation of data will not lead to the discovery of more information related to the research questions, is an important aspect of qualitative research. However, there is some mystification and semantic debate surrounding the term saturation, and it is not always clear how many rounds of research are needed to reach saturation or what criteria are used to make that determination during the thematic analysis process. This paper focuses on the actualisation of saturation in the context of thematic analysis and develops a systematic approach to using data to justify the contribution of research. Consequently, we introduce a distinct model to help researchers reach saturation through refining or expanding existing quotations, codes, themes and concepts as necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thematic analysis is a highly popular technique among qualitative researchers for analyzing qualitative data, which usually comprises thick descriptive data. However, the application and use of thematic analysis has also involved complications due to confusion regarding the final outcome's presentation as a conceptual model. This paper develops a systematic thematic analysis process for creating a conceptual model from qualitative research findings. It explores the adaptability of the proposed process across various research methodologies, including constructivist methodologies, positivist methodologies, grounded theory, and interpretive phenomenology, and justifies their application. The paper distinguishes between inductive and deductive coding approaches and emphasizes the merits of each. It suggests that the derived systematic thematic analysis model is valuable across multiple disciplines, particularly in grounded theory, ethnographic approaches, and narrative approaches, while also being adaptable to more descriptive, positivist-based methodologies. By providing a methodological roadmap, this study enhances the rigor and replicability of thematic analysis and offers a comprehensive strategy for theoretical conceptualization in qualitative research. The contribution of this paper is a systematic six-step thematic analysis process that leads to the development of a conceptual model; each step is described in detail and examples are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant to fashion, where firms invest in projects in a sustainable supply chain where it is possible to pass 'from the sheep to [...]

By embracing sustainability and successfully communicating their sustainability initiatives through diverse digital environments and touchpoints, companies can initiate a continuous virtuous cycle, where the brand is sensitizing consumers to sustainability, and the brand is in turn sensitized to specific causes or issues. Although luxury brands have remained, for many years, deeply attached to the offline channel and to the flagship store, seen as a place for celebrating the brand and to deliver memorable customer experiences [[40]], the disruptions of recent years have encouraged most companies to fully embrace a digital transformation. The major advantage of the digital environment is that it brings companies and consumers closer together, enabling multiple interactions initiated by either the company or the consumer [[75]], and it also allows personalized and tailored communications that have a greater impact [[76]]. For years, luxury companies have been facing the issue of communicating their brand values to their consumers to give them a greater understanding of the brand as a whole. [Extracted from the article]

While the debate on online service failure and recovery strategies has been given considerable attention in the marketing and information systems literature, the evolving Covid‐19 pandemic has brought about new challenges both theoretically and empirically in the consumption landscape. To fully understand customers' responses to service failure during a crisis we asked 70 millennials from three European Countries—Italy, France, and the UK—to describe their responses to service failure during the Covid‐19 pandemic (30 completed a 4‐week diary and 40 completed a 4‐week qualitative survey). Drawing on phenomenological, constructivist, and hermeneutical approaches, and utilizing an actor–network theory perspective, the current study proposes a new framework for understanding customers' responses to online service failure and recovery strategies during the Covid‐19 pandemic. Conclusions highlight implications for theory, policy, and management practice through extending comprehensions of service failure recovery processes by examining how marketing policies generate different social impacts during a crisis situation which facilitate the achievement of customer satisfaction and positive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being authentic implies maintaining a character of genuineness and honesty, while remaining coherent with oneself and one's surrounding context over time. It can represent a critical asset to be preserved and exploited, especially in the case of family firms. This paper explores the role of authenticity as a driving force for foreign sales expansion in those family firms that are rooted in a territory. While previous studies emphasize the emergence of a trade-off between maintaining linkages with local traditions and foreign sales expansion, this paper proposes an original perspective. We aim to answer the following question: How does a family business maintain a territorial-based identity by going international? Methodologically, this study presents the cross-case analysis of six Italian family firms whose products are expressions of the cultural legacy, history, and traditions of a territory. The results of the study find their synthesis in a model for family business internationalization driven by a territorial-based authenticity. We identify four building blocks that allow for pursuing the maintaining of the links with local traditions as well as helping family firms to grow on foreign markets, namely, integration, retention, evangelization, and reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online brand communities are gaining traction in the development of marketing strategy, but it is unclear how the dominant group of users, the millennials, is being targeted with the prevailing and varying customer loyalty programs. Grounded in understanding that loyalty is seen and understood differently by people who participate in online brand communities, this study is based on a constructivist perspective combined with hermeneutic methodology and embedded case study research strategy to examine how online brand communities activate multidimensional customer loyalty intentions. Empirical data were generated through 45 in‐depth interviews of millennials. The analysis proposes a framework that categorizes customer loyalty into ambassador loyalists, public‐voting loyalists, loveless loyalists, and mercenary loyalists. Each stream contains one additional subcategory mediated by consumer levels of participation in online brand communities. This study contributes to existing literature. Unlike extant studies, it specifically argues that customers' loyalty intentions in online brand communities depend on the individuals and context, and it categorizes loyalty into different levels. Practical steps by which companies may utilize these categories and theoretical implications for wider consideration are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze how guanxi-based business relations impact on distribution choices of foreign companies entering China. In particular, it investigates the influence of guanxi on decisions regarding both the organization of distribution channels and the management of distribution channels. It emerges that from an organizational point of view guanxi-based business relations may favor interdependence, low integration in the channel relationships, and foster multichannel choices. From a management point of view, guanxi may reduce the control of local partners over channel, create coexistence between conflict and collaboration in the channels relationships, and favor unmediated communication. The authors examine the emblematic case of Ferrero, a well-known Italian multinational company, specialized in chocolate production, which began to develop its entry strategy in China more than 30 years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT The paper investigates authenticity in supply chain, applying the concept of self-authentication to analyse authentic productions resulting from an authentic supply chain. Adopting the method of action research, the authors accompany the planning and creation of an extended local textile and apparel supply chain based on the native wool produced by autochthonous Tuscan sheep. The research studies native wool's self-authentications along the supply chain together with the related compromises and paradoxes. The methodology used is based on a mixture of qualitative techniques that has favoured researcher participation in the context of analysis. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this exploratory study is to propose a new methodological approach to investigate brand associations. More specifically, the study aims to show how brand associations can be identified and analysed in an online community of international consumers of fashion to determine the degree of matching with company-defined brand associations. Design/methodology/approach -- The methodology is two-pronged, integrating qualitative market research techniques with quantitative text mining. It was applied to determine types and perceptions of brand associations among fashion bloggers with reference to three leading Italian fashion houses. These were then compared to brand associations found in company-generated texts to measure the degree of matching. Findings -- The results showed consistent brand associations across the three brands, as well as substantial matching with company-defined brand associations. In addition, the analysis revealed the presence of distinctive brand association themes that shed further light on how brand attributes were perceived by blog participants. Practical implications -- The methods described can be used by managers to identify and reinforce favourable brand associations among consumers. This knowledge can then be applied towards developing and implementing effective brand strategies. Originality/value -- The authors propose an interdisciplinary approach to investigate brand associations in online communities. It incorporates text mining and computer-assisted textual analysis as techniques borrowed from the field of linguistics which have thus far seen little application in marketing studies, but can nonetheless provide important insights for strategic brand management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how companies entering the Chinese market integrate brand image and country image, how they redefine this integration in the corporate rebranding process adopted to develop the new market, and what impact they achieve in terms of commercial and economic results. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on the analysis of the cases of Alpha and Beta. Alpha is a multinational company specialized in the production of chocolate, while Beta is one of the world's largest companies in the tyre industry. These cases are emblematic for the way the two companies combine brand attributes and country image attributes. Findings – The case analysis shows that: initially in the corporate rebranding strategy defined in China, brand image is created independently from the country image; the impact of the integration on brand attitude is sought by producing a cross-fertilization between the meaning of brand attitude and of country image attitude; the level of integration (country-of-manufacture, country-of-design) embodies the aim of the integration itself; and the differentiation of the country image for different brands passes through a phase of focalization. Originality/value – The study identifies practices that managers can consider in the definition of the integration strategies involving brand image and country images that accompany their rebranding processes in the Chinese market. The analysis of these practices together with the results may help managers to arrive at pondered decisions concerning integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]