Search

The emergence of Social Commerce, facilitated by social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, has revolutionized electronic commerce, reshaping consumer behavior and business dynamics. This study investigates the connection between customer value and sustainable choice behavior in Social Commerce, focusing on individuals aged 18 and above actively engaged with these platforms. Employing a convenience sampling method and a survey of 383 participants, a structural equation model was utilized to assess various hypotheses. The findings highlight the significant impact of word of mouth, intention, offers, and trust on purchase decisions within Social Commerce. These factors play pivotal roles in shaping customer perspectives, emphasizing the importance of integrating online brand communities into marketing and communication strategies. By leveraging social media, vendors can facilitate the discovery, sharing, recommendation, and transaction of goods and services, enhancing customer value and promoting sustainable choices. This study contributes to the understanding of consumer behavior in the context of Social Commerce, offering insights for businesses to adapt and thrive in an increasingly digital marketplace.

Consumers are showing a growing interest in organic products. This study investigates how visual packaging design elements influence the consumers' purchase intention toward organic food products compared to organic non-food products. We apply a questionnaire and ask respondents to rate the different packaging designs for organic dry pasta and soap bars. We use the orthogonal design method to obtain representative stimulus designs and conduct a conjoint analysis to determine the utilities of each design and assess the relative importance of color, material, and tagline typeface. Our results reveal that for the organic food and non-food products, packaging color is the most decisive factor, followed by material and typeface, independently to the participants' demographic characteristics. The combination of visual elements with the highest utility score includes plastic for the packaging material, the color cream, and the typewritten typeface for the organic claim for both organic pasta and organic soap. This study also integrates a benefit-based segmentation approach with conjoint analysis. Our study contributes to understanding consumers' preferences with valuable insights for the organic industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Official online stores and online marketplaces present distinct challenges and opportunities for retail brands, impacting their control over the customer experience, pricing, and brand presentation. Understanding consumer intentions in online channel selection is crucial, especially given the rise of online shopping and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer behavior. This study explores the factors influencing channel selection intention within official online stores and online marketplaces, focusing on customers who have purchased Apple electronics. A quantitative questionnaire facilitated data collection, resulting in responses from 490 individuals and 606 samples. Those who shopped through both channels were requested to complete the questionnaire twice. The respondents were divided into two groups based on their purchasing experience, and structural equation modeling was employed for hypothesis testing. In official online stores, cross-channel searching negatively impacts channel selection intention, whereas brand loyalty and channel pricing advantage have positive effects. In contrast, no significant relationships between these variables were observed in online marketplaces. Channel satisfaction was found to positively influence channel selection intention across official online stores and online marketplaces, while perceived risk demonstrated a negative impact. Based on these findings, several recommendations are proposed to aid in developing effective sales channel strategies.

Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) has revolutionized the interaction between companies and customers, creating new opportunities and challenges for both parties. This study aims to present an innovative model for identifying the dimensions and components of SCRM. The data were collected based on a qualitative research design utilizing the meta-synthesis method, following the seven steps outlined by Sandelowski and Barroso (2007). Considering the relevance to the research topic and the quality of sources, 31 studies were selected for the final evaluation. To assess the reliability of the findings, the kappa coefficient for inter-coder agreement was used, resulting in a kappa value of 0.79. The results, analyzed using MAXQDA20 software, 2 dimensions, 6 categories, and 16 concepts identified. The company-focused dimension included 3 categories: factors influencing adoption, inhibitors, and outcomes of implementation. Similarly, the customer-focused dimension identified 3 categories: factors influencing adoption, inhibitors, and outcomes of implementation. Ultimately, a comprehensive model for SCRM was developed. The results of this research can be utilized by academic references as well as companies and consumers.

The association between selling orientation and customer orientation and sales success has been a matter of intensive research since the publication of the selling orientation-customer orientation (SOCO) score in the early 1980’s. However, which attitudes predispose salespeople for high perfor-mance remains elusive. In addition, the association between customer orientation may be curvilinear and depend on the selling situation – and little research has been devoted to business-to-business (B2B) sales. This paper aims at starting to close those knowledge gaps through the development of a self-assessment tool for attitudes of salespeople. An extension of the 10-item SOCO score is developed through literature research in sales/business development and on service orientation in other settings. The score was subsequently validated through feedback by sales scholars. The extended score adds a dimension that tests whether professional salespeople consider the sales process as a service (SPAS) that should provide value beyond the identification of the best offering. Response rates by sales scholars was low, resulting in the need for further validation of the candidate SOCO-SPAS score. Business-to-business (B2B) relationships are an essential but understudied area of economics. The current paper provides a means to assess the relationship between attitudes and sales performance in modern B2B sales, by extending a scoring system that has originally been developed for B2C sales and many years in the past when market conditions were different than today.

To explore the determinants of consumer purchase intentions on foreign multi-sided e-commerce platforms (MSPs) within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: Revenue management (RM) practices are well established in the hotel industry. Peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation is a distinctive alternative to hotels, which in its original intention, is managed by non-professionals. The main research question of this study was how the professionalism of P2P accommodation providers relate to their use of RM practices.

Purpose – Salesperson performance is accepted as a relevant factor of retailing success. However, scarce studies reveal the relationship between sales performance and brand relationship. The purpose of this study is both, from one side, to empirically demonstrate the impact of salesperson brand attachment (SBA) on sales performance and, on the other side, to identify the mediators of this relationship in small retailing. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted with a sample of 206 small retailers from different sectors of an emerging country. The proposed model was tested using partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS3. Findings – The results demonstrated that SBA is relevant to driving sales performance through two relevant paths – one following SBA–satisfaction–performance and one path following the SBA–commitment–performance. The model was able to explain 63% of the outcome performance. Practical implications – Regarding small retailers, where the owners, employees and managers have higher levels of interaction than the large national retail chains, the marketing executives must invest in improving the attachment to the brand and create emotional bonds and cognition between marketers and the brand. They must develop strategies to promote job satisfaction and organizational commitment because they determine performance. Originality/value – Despite the relevance of small businesses for economies worldwide and the importance of salesperson brand relationships, no study has been developed to demonstrate the impacts of such relationships on salesperson performance in retailing. Furthermore, in addition to the central role of organizational commitment in the sales research, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore how to mediate the relationship between brand attachment and sales performance.

Purpose – This paper examines whether guests contribute sWOM (social word of mouth) on different SNSs (social networking sites) regarding various personal motivations. SNSs have changed the way guests eat and experience their food and dishes. Marketing managers have effectively targeted SNSs as a marketing tool, yet have little research about drivers of guests' sWOM contribution on SNSs has been done. A model including the significant motives: (1) experiences, (2) opinion leadership, (3) reflection of self and (4) need for unique is tested to investigate their positive effects on contribution behavior of social media guests. Design/methodology/approach – The data collected from 411 guests by using the snowball method was used for analysis. The structural equation modeling was applied to examine the relationships among the constructs and test the eight proposed hypotheses. Findings – Results reveal that experiences, opinion leadership, reflection of self and need for unique were positively associated with contributing sWOM of restaurants. Furthermore, those who have positive experiences tend to be opinion leadership and reflection of self. And guests who show reflection of self, they are more likely to have opinion leaders and show need for uniqueness. Our study expands the existing frameworks of sWOM contribution by identifying various motivations and labeling sWOM. Findings provide restaurant managers with managerial implications for online marketing strategies on SNSs to attract sWOM contribution among guests. Research limitations/implications – It has some limitations while discovering the motivations of positive sWOM contribution. First, we only focused on the motivation of contributing positive sWOM, while negative sWOM received many arguments in changing attitudes toward buying products or services. Second, we collected data in Vietnam only without comparing with different countries. Future research could explore further cross-cultural perspectives to fill the gap. Third, this study explored sWOM contribution in service environment, sWOM contribution from service context may be slightly different from those of product brands. Practical implications – These findings highlight the motivations of sWOM contribution that restaurant managers must recognize and make use of it. SNSs have given power to consumers to post everything at anytime and anywhere they like, therefore restaurant managers need to deeply understand why their consumers contribute sWOM. In digital era, customers and guests have become the ultimate tools for promoting product or service brands. The marketing managers should create an online platform in order to facilitate their consumers to discuss their brand frequently (Charu et al., 2018). Restaurants should have policies to push positive eWOM maximally and also reduce advertising costs. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies on sWOM contribution of what motivate guests to contribute their sWOM on SNSs. Theoretically, this study offers deep insights into the links between various motivations and sWOM in foodservice context. Managerially, understanding these motivations allow marketing managers create effective policies that motivate guests to contribute positive word of mouth.

Aim/purpose – This study aims to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on peer-to-peer accommodation (P2PA), investigate the potential factors related to organizational resilience based on resilience resources and consumer threat response frameworks, and revisit the tourism disaster management framework.

The rapid development of retail and e-commerce is forcing marketing and logistics to be competitive and adapt to the demands of end-customers. At the same time, accurately determining the demand for goods allows to better understand customers and plan deliveries. The purpose of this article is to study the change in patterns of probability of choosing the option to purchase goods among end-consumers with and without the presence of e-commerce. The study consisted of research buyers, determining the probability of purchasing goods from “consumer basket” in the traditional way and over the Internet, which is considered for the example of one of the Kharkiv districts. The results develop e-commerce potential in Ukraine and are intended to determine the motives of consumers when choosing a shopping option.

The article examines the impact of updated IFRS on the current convergence of national accounting and reporting rules in Japan, the USA, China, France, Germany, the UK, and Ukraine based on a theoretical analysis of 59 rules and concepts of IFRS. The new differences between the updated IFRS and GAAP of these countries based on the comparative analysis were revealed. The results of the study show currently Ukraine (51%) and the United Kingdom (47%) are the most convergent with IFRS, although their degree of convergence has decreased significantly after recent innovations in IFRS; a new question arises for the UK after Brexit regarding the further application of IFRS; countries with strong national accounting traditions continue to avoid rapid changes in their GAAP; 4) the increase in the convergence of GAAP Japan with IFRS will not be possible shortly. The conclusion states that the main obstacle in the convergent process GAAP and IFRS is that: 1) IFRS are changing based on GAAP USA, rather than vice versa; 2) IFRS do not belong to the “stable to change standards”, so users have a certain distrust of the declared high quality of IFRS. The study results add significant novelty to scientific and practical research on the impact of frequent changes in IFRS both locally and internationally.

This paper presents research conducted in the United Arab Emirates with the management of Bareburger, the chain of sustainable restaurants, as well as among its clients. In our project, we are interested in the relation between the offer of sustainability and the culture of conscious consumption. The opinions of industry experts and customers collected in an interview session are analyzed to derive the answer to the research questions. The research focuses on finding the possibility of changing the mindset and habits of consumers and creating an impact on consumer behavior by offering a responsible and sustainable nutrition model. An experiment was conducted to analyze the effect of sustainable restaurants on consumer culture in terms of cultivating healthy food habits. In our case study, we analyze Bareburger, a healthier fast-food chain that originated in the United States, which took the concept of sustainability to a completely new level, from ideation to implementation. Observing this process, we checked whether the unhealthy eating habits that we observe in the Middle East can be changed through the carefully composed model of a responsible restaurant.

Purpose: This study aims to empirically present the process of personal branding of CEOs. Building on the theoretical model proposed by Wojtaszczyk and Maszewski (2014), the study illustrates how CEOs build their personal brands.

Social media is becoming omnipresent in everyone’s daily life, which is changing the way consumers think, act and buy. Organizations are aware of the possibilities that may occur from developing social media communication strategies, but oftentimes forget to predict and block negative consequences. Information spreadability and bad communication practices are the perfect trigger of a social media crisis, which is why it is crucial for organizations to know what kind of communication, both internal and external, they need to implement. To explore consumers’ opinions on social media crisis communication, an online survey was conducted. 125 participants gave their insight into their expectations of the types and tone of social media messages organizations should communicate during a time of crisis. These findings could be used as a guideline for crisis communication planning, considering they examine what types of messages consumers prefer, and which medium of communication they prefer. Even though it is recognized that crisis situations can have a huge impact on an organization’s wellbeing, consumers’ perspective on crisis communication still has not been researched thoroughly.

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is associated with superior performance, although the mechanisms through which EO translates into an advantageous market position are still poorly understood. Drawing on EO and resource-based theory (RBT) literature, this study highlights the role of a systemic bundle of firms' capabilities in channelling the effect of EO on performance. The components of EO – innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness – are analysed hierarchically to better understand how the entrepreneurial process builds within the firm and facilitates the development of idiosyncratic capabilities. The results, based on a sample of firms operating in rapidly evolving markets, suggest that innovativeness, as part of the organizational culture, contributes to risk-taking and proactiveness. Proactiveness enables firms to seize new market opportunities and foster innovation capability, directly and indirectly, through networking and market learning. Innovation capability is the ultimate driver of a firm's performance, in terms of enhancing its customer equity and business growth.

Research background: The paper focuses on value co-creation and co-destruction during online consumption. The current understanding of the concept of value is based on the premise that value emerges from interactions leading to exchange among multiple actors, including customers and companies. This implies the active role of all participants and leads to diversified outcomes, both positive (value co-creation) and negative (value co-destruction). The phenomenon of value co-destruction is studied in the context of online consumption, which is particularly suitable as it allows for consumer proactivity and participation in the process of exchange.