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Business-to-business (B2B) practitioners are increasingly interested in capabilities to holistically manage touchpoints along B2B customer journeys (CJs) to remain competitive. Research in the B2B context, however, has investigated neither what constitutes such a customer journey management capability (CJMC) nor how, whether, or when it creates value. Taking a mixed-methods approach, we conceptualize and operationalize B2B CJMC as a supplier's ability to achieve superior customer value along the B2B CJ by strategically creating value-anchored customer touchpoints characterized through the implementation of consistent resource usage across internal organizational boundaries and by continuously monitoring value creation toward the individual members of the buying center. Analyzing a multisource dataset, we provide evidence that B2B CJMC has an indirect effect on firm performance (i.e., return on sales) through two opposing mechanisms (i.e., customer loyalty and customer-related coordination costs). Importantly, using survey and archival data, we show that, overall, B2B CJMC has a significant and positive impact on firm performance through the two mechanisms. Finally, these underlying mechanisms are also prevalent when testing for the moderating factors switching costs, number of touchpoints, and product versus service., Author(s): Christian Homburg [sup.1] [sup.2] , Moritz Tischer [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.5601.2, 0000 0001 0943 599X, Marketing Department, University of Mannheim, , 68131, Mannheim, Germany (2) grid.5379.8, 0000000121662407, Alliance [...]

Complex services, such as healthcare, struggle to realize the benefits of value co-creation due to the substantial challenges of managing such services over the long-term. Key to overcoming these challenges to value co-creation is a profound understanding of dialogue (i.e., 'quality of discourse' facilitating shared meaning) during service interactions. Contributing to an emerging literature, we undertake a longitudinal, ethnographic study to assess dialogue between professionals and patients through the lens of dialogic engagement (i.e., iterative mutual learning processes that bring about action through dialogue). We develop and empirically support six dialogic co-creation and co-destruction mechanisms that impact on the resolution of tensions and integration of knowledge resources between service providers and consumers. We reveal the multidimensional and dynamic nature of value created or destroyed through these mechanisms in dialogue over time. Taking healthcare as an exemplar, we offer a research agenda for developing our understanding of DE in complex services., Author(s): Debbie Isobel Keeling [sup.1] , Kathleen Keeling [sup.2] , Ko de Ruyter [sup.3] [sup.4] , Angus Laing [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.12082.39, 0000 0004 1936 7590, University of Sussex [...]

Although social media use is gaining increasing importance as a component of firms' portfolio of strategies, scant research has systematically consolidated and extended knowledge on social media marketing strategies (SMMSs). To fill this research gap, we first define SMMS, using social media and marketing strategy dimensions. This is followed by a conceptualization of the developmental process of SMMSs, which comprises four major components, namely drivers, inputs, throughputs, and outputs. Next, we propose a taxonomy that classifies SMMSs into four types according to their strategic maturity level: social commerce strategy, social content strategy, social monitoring strategy, and social CRM strategy. We subsequently validate this taxonomy of SMMSs using information derived from prior empirical studies, as well with data collected from in-depth interviews and a quantitive survey among social media marketing managers. Finally, we suggest fruitful directions for future research based on input received from scholars specializing in the field., Author(s): Fangfang Li [sup.1] , Jorma Larimo [sup.1] , Leonidas C. Leonidou [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.19397.35, 0000 0001 0672 2619, School of Marketing and Communication, University of Vaasa, , [...]

Extant research examining interpersonal trust in business-to-business (B2B) buyer-seller relationships focuses on its multidimensionality, mainly from a business perspective. Our research captures an element of business relationships that is heretofore under-examined: the personal side of the relationship between the buyer and seller. We examine the interplay between both business and personal trust on performance in the relationship, namely analyzing customer relationship satisfaction and customer loyalty. We also test our model using perceived market turbulence as a moderating variable since turbulence in the marketplace could strain the relationship between the buyer and seller and affect the strength of the statistical relationships between business and personal trust on performance in the relationship., Author(s): Stephanie M. Mangus [sup.1] , Eli Jones [sup.2] , Judith Anne Garretson Folse [sup.3] , Shrihari Sridhar [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.252890.4, 0000 0001 2111 2894, Hankamer School of [...]

Although brands increasingly disseminate their brand biographies through brand sources, this research shows that this practice can decrease brand attitudes and consumer preferences. A brand source activates consumers' persuasion knowledge, increasing negative thoughts and impeding narrative transportation into the brand biography. This research furthermore demonstrates that the negative impact of a brand source in the dissemination of brand biographies depends on self-congruence, such that a detrimental effect on consumer attitudes and preferences occurs when the brand biography is incongruent with consumer's self-concept, but is mitigated when the brand biography is self-congruent. These findings suggest that the dissemination of brand biographies by brand sources requires consideration of source and congruence effects., Author(s): Ali Tezer [sup.1] , H. Onur Bodur [sup.2] , Bianca Grohmann [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.256696.8, 0000 0001 0555 9354, Department of Marketing, HEC Montréal, , 3000 chemin de [...]

How many customers can we expect? As of May 2020, 33 million Americans were unemployed. U.S. weekly jobless claims jumped to 6.6 million in the first week of April alone. [...]