The growth of the Chinese outbound market has been phenomenal during recent years and still highly concentrates on neighboring Asian destinations. In particular, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region heavily depends and focuses on the Chinese tourism market. Recent calls for a possible diversification of the tourism market have nevertheless failed to shed light on how Hong Kong residents perceive the benefits of mainland Chinese tourism. In order to mend this gap, this study collected 850 online questionnaires with Hong Kong residents. Subsequent cluster analysis has shown that there are 3 segments in regard, namely “low”, “moderate” and “high” perceived benefits. A significant age gap among these 3 clusters was identified, with older respondents generally perceiving the highest benefit. Fifteen semi-structured follow-up interviews have shown the reason to be predominance of idealism in younger generations of Hong Kong, while older generations tend to be pragmatic. Possibilities for future studies are finally highlighted.
In many countries, domestic tourism is important in terms of both size and economic contribution (Massidda & Etzo, 2012). This study aimed to develop a measurement scale for place authenticity for domestic destinations. Moreover, the objective was to offer insights regarding the consequences of place authenticity while travelling within borders. Empirical literature on the authentic travel experience “within borders” is quite scant and the attention of policy makers is not adequately focused on its outcomes such as attitude, values and positive WOM. A very small body of literature has primarily focused on domestic tourists’ destination experience yet omits measuring authenticity perceptions (Chi & Qu, 2008; Massidda & Etzo, 2012; Milman & Pizam, 1995). Empirical data were collected from 456 American consumers who had travelled to domestic tourism destinations. This paper provides a new measure for place authenticity that destination marketers can use to gauge what consumers think of their domestic travel experience. In addition, the findings of this study suggest that place authenticity shapes key consumer outcomes such as attitude, values and positive WOM. Furthermore, place authenticity has significant indirect effects on value and WOM, consistent with the role of place authenticity’s effects being mediated by consumer attitude toward the destination. Finally, this study discusses the managerial implications for tourism destination marketing and positioning strategy.
Immigrants face an array of disruptions, including changes in social and religious contexts, values, norms, beliefs, behaviors, that are constantly threatening their self and social identities. How they manage those threats is crucial to their adaptation to the new cultural context, and is the main investigation of this research. Specifically, we investigated how Muslim immigrants react when they see themselves transgressing one of their cultural values.
Results of Study 1 provide full support to our hypotheses that when people see themselves transgressing their in-group values, they are more concerned when the transgressing behavior is witnessed by an out-group than an in-group member. In other words, they demonstrate to be more worried in preserving the in-group image in front of an out-group member than in preserving their self-image in front of an in-group member. Further results of Study 1 also showed evidence of a new type of value affirmation mechanism. The negative emotional reaction to the transgressing behavior was reduced when the out-group member was said to have endorsed the transgressing-related cultural value.
The tourism industry in Hong Kong is a substantial pillar of Hong Kong’s economic development because it has been a beneficiary of tourism revenues and employment opportunities. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Hong Kong accommodated 60.8 million ever-high visitors flow in 2014 (Hong Kong Tourism Commission, 2014). As three major inbound markets Mainland China, Japan, and the United States have been among the top five inbound visitors since 2003. A report of the Hong Kong Tourist Satisfaction Index (Tourist Satisfaction Index, 2014) indicated that Japanese and Korean tourists’ overall satisfaction with Hong Kong decreased from 70.11% in 2012 to 66.98% in 2014. Americans recorded the highest satisfaction level concerning experience in Hong Kong as a tourist destination, awarding it 81.8%. Moreover, the tourism industry in Hong Kong has recently relied heavily on mainland Chinese tourists as the major target group; this group comprises nearly 70% of all overnight visitors (Hong Kong Tourism Board, 2015). These three oversea markets have played an essential role towards Hong Kong tourism industry in past decade.
This research explored how experiencing a country’s cultural heritage influences consumers’ authenticity evaluation of its luxury brands. It showed authenticity was culturally constructed and perception was influenced by marketing means selectively exposing the consumers to different brand attributes. It contributes to transcultural research by linking cultural attributes to brand authenticity attributes.
Scholars have described compulsive behaviour as “hyperstimulation, sometimes unintentional and repeated overindulgence despite negative consequences, deception and self-neglect” (Hartston 2012). Compulsive buying behaviour has become an addiction amongst many consumers and it has fuelled the growth of the retail market since the 1990’s (Neuner, Raab and Reisch 2005; Koran et al. 2006). The higher spending power of the middle-class consumer has led to a greater demand of luxury branded products so that consumers can attain a higher level of social class within the society. This study will explore the impact of emotional factors (self-esteem, FOMO, brand prestige, and brand consciousness) and rationale factors (product quality, price consciousness and sale proneness) on compulsive buyer’s purchase intention. This is the first study to explore the impact of emotional and rationale factors on compulsive buying behaviour in the luxury branded product category. The results show that young consumers with high compulsive buying tendencies are more heavily influenced by emotional factors. Therefore, retailers could target young consumers by focusing on brand prestige and the brand name.
Negative publicity is widespread in the current marketplace, and may be of different forms ranging from sourcing garment products from sweatshops to recent Volkswagen emission crisis. Negative publicity may cause weak customer satisfaction, drop in sales, increased vulnerability to competitors’ marketing mix actions, and spill over effects on other brands (Pullig, Netemeyer, & Biswas, 2006; Van Heerde, Helsen, & Dekimpe, 2007). Existing research has focused on different response strategies for dealing with such crises. For example, Coombs (1995) listed five alternative strategies available to handle such a crisis situation: denial, distance, ingratiation, mortification, and suffering. Xi and Peng (2009) examined the effectiveness of affective, functional and informational repair strategies in restoring consumer trust after a negative publicity. However, no prior research thus far explored the role of cause related marketing in dealing with a negative publicity.
Magic words are words used to encourage consumers to buy a product in that consumers who previously did not want to buy were finally made to buy the product. This study is limited to the case of Gedong Gincu mangos in West Java, Indonesia . This type of mango is unique and has a high selling price; however, its promotion has not been conducted extensively. The promotion has been limited to exhibitions facilitated by West Java provincial government, Department of Agriculture and Department of Trade and Industry. The promotions conducted by supermarkets have not shown any optimum results because the costs spent on the promotion are not balanced with the profit they earn. So far, the supermarket promotion only includes the word discount (buy one get one free) or sold cheaply. Such words are perceived to be less encouraging for consumers. Promotion for agricultural products, especially mangos is very unique because such products are perishable, voluminous, and bulky. Being seasonal in nature, prices of agricultural products are fluctuating, which are different from industrial products which are uniform, durable, and can be stored and have fixed prices
Consumers now-a-days are more inclined to buy green products (Mosgaard, 2015; Kammer, 2009). They are concerned about the negative environmental impact of the existing pattern of production and consumption systems on their quality of life (QoL) (Alfredsson, 2004). Consequently, large body of literature on factors influencing green consumption and/or purchase behaviour, among which ‘greenness’ of the product (Gershoffs & Frels, 2015), value of the green product (Olsen et al., 2014), attitude of the consumers towards environmental protection and available knowledge, and perceived time barriers (Tanner & Kast, 2003) are noteworthy among others. Although there is an abundance of research on green consumption, little is known about the habitual purchase of green products and how it contributes to the quality of life of the consumers. Habitual purchase refers to regular and automatic purchase of a product without any cognitive thought or evaluation (Verplanken & Melkevik, 2008). Thus it is distinct from conventionally used constructs such as purchase intention. This study addresses this research gap and aims to explore the effects of different types of green values (such as ecological, functional, economical, emotional and social value) and green satisfaction on the habitual purchase of green products and thus examine their effects on quality of life (QoL) of the consumers.
Our study aims to investigate the mechanisms leading to focal firm’s innovation performance through the coopetitive relationships. Specifically, we argue focal firm’s two capabilities, coopetition capability and NPD capability, play a crucial role as a mediator of interfirm coopetition and its innovation performance. In order to provide new evidence on this subject, we contribute to this stream by developing a conceptual model. We argue that coopetitive behaviors of partners will influence the focal firm’s coopetition capability, which will then influence the focal firm’s NPD capability, although we assume NPD capability will have an impact on coopetition capability as well. We also argue NPD capability will not only lead to new product advantages, NPD process advantages as well, as a result of them, financial performance at the end. This paper reports the development of this model.
Research into country-of-origin effects has been conducted since the 1960s, and the research focus has gradually shifted from country-of-origin to ideological effects, such as consumer ethnocentrism, animosity, and more recently, consumer cosmopolitanism. From the postwar period to the 1980s, globalization brought a negative consumer attitude toward foreign products, but a positive one among an increasing number of consumers after the mid-1990s, partly due to the prevalence of the internet (Terasaki, 2016a). Even though the exact number is still unknown, cosmopolitan consumers are increasing faster than ever before (Riefler & Diamantopoulos, 2009; Cleveland et al., 2011; Grinstein &Wathieu, 2012).
The concept “consumer cosmopolitanism” was first introduced by in Cannon et al. (1994), and since then a number of empirical studies have been conducted using the Cannon, Yoon, McGowan & Yaprak’s Cosmopolitanism (CYMYC) scale. Although consumer cosmopolitanism has become a popular theme in international marketing (Terasaki, 2016b), little research has been conducted examining the antecedents for cosmopolitan consumers (Riefler & Diamantopoulos, 2009). Our study fills this important gap in the emerging literature, using sequential mixed methods. This is important because we specify where prospective cosmopolitan consumers are, and what elements of products and services, and in some cases advertisements, potentially attract them.
It was Macy’s (a department store in the U.S.) which introduced the concept of ‘omnichannel’ in 2010 for the first time, and, at present, representative U.S. retailers have also adopted the approach. In Japan, the effort to interlock real and Internet stores started around the same time. Big retailers have promoted its omnichannel strategies by providing services in which customers can order merchandise on the Internet and receive it in a store.
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the characteristics of the Japanese type of omnichannel by comparing it to the U.S. type.
Rigby (2011) defines omnichannel as “an integrated sales experience that melds the advantages of physical stores with the information-rich experience of online shopping.” Lazaris & Vrechopoulos (2014) refer to it as “the use of both physical and online channels combined with the delivery of seamless shopping experiences.” Kondo (2015) understands it as “a marketing approach that integrates all (omni) channels and provides consumers with a seamless shopping experience.”
Creating their brand images based on rich consumer experiences is becoming significant for retailers to differentiate themselves from competitors (Ailawadi and Keller 2004). Among multiple retailer attributes that have been argued by existing studies that influence overall image of the retailer, several researchers pointed out that personal encounters, such as those between employees and customers, may be more influential in communicating brand meaning than marketing-driven, mass-targeted messages (Cialdini 1993, Keller 2003, Sirianni et al. 2013) and referred to service employees as the “living brand” (Bendapudi and Bendapudi 2005).
Motivated by the recent cases of negligent social responsibility as manifested by foreign luxury fashion brands in Korea, this study investigates whether agency costs depend on the sustainability of different types of corporate governance. Agency costs refer either to vertical costs arising from the relationship between stockholders and managers, or to horizontal costs associated with the potential conflicts between majority and minority stockholders. The firms with luxury fashion brand could spend large sums of money on maintenance of magnificent brand image, thereby increasing the agency cost. On the contrary, the firms may hold down wasteful spending to report a gaudily financial achievement. This results in mitigation of the agency cost.
A market-oriented culture remains a source of competitive advantage for organisations. Despite calls for an integrated research perspective on the linkage between organisational culture and market orientation (e.g., Deshpande and Webster 1989; Deshpande and Farley 2004), scholars have made limited attempts to examine the relationship between the two concepts. The objective of this study is to investigate what kind of organisational culture encourages and rewards market orientation behaviours.
A structured survey was administered to 870 senior managers attending part-time EMBA programmes in prestigious business schools in China. A total of 370 completed questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 43 percent. The research findings suggested that different organisational cultures have different impacts on market orientation. Specifically, the results indicate that an adhocracy and a market culture facilitate the development of a market orientation, while a hierarchical culture hinders market orientation behaviours. However, the hypothesised negative relationship between a clan culture and a market orientation was not supported.
This study seeks to extend the literature by responding to Deshpande and Webster ’s (1989) call for an integrated research of organisational culture and marketing. Besides its theoretical contributions, this study also offers some important insights for leaders of organisations. As organisations are driving to become more market-oriented, leaders need to understand why certain organisational cultures exist and their impact on market orientation practices. Although this research provides interesting insights on the understanding of market-oriented organisational culture, it is important to recognise the limitations of the research. Culture is a complex system of norms and values that develops over time and influences organisational processes and behaviours (Hurley and Hult 1998; Schneider and Rentsch 1988). On the other hand, time affects market orientation in a number of ways, such as lagged or cumulative effects during the implementation of a market-oriented strategy (Gauzente 2001). The inclusion of
This research examines effects of supplying firms’ transaction specific investments on their firm performance through buyers’ trust and commitment. In this process, the research investigates moderating effects that buying firms’ purchasing strategies, which consist of relational strategy (competitive or cooperative purchasing strategy) and cost-reduction strategy (purchase price-based or total cost-based purchasing strategy), have on buyers’ commitment and suppliers’ performance.
The study proposes a conceptual model integrating relationship marketing and purchasing strategy researches regarding business-to-business supplier-buyer relationships and test hypotheses derived from the conceptual model. Data were collected through a survey, and 248 purchasing managers participated in the survey.
The benefits of being customer-oriented for building firm innovativeness remain ambiguous among academics, with some scholars claiming a customer-orientation fosters organizational innovation competencies, whereas some others argue that it merely inhibits innovation processes. A review of research on the effect of customer orientation on innovation activities are inconclusive, with some studies supporting a positive relationship, while others reporting mixed results. With many firms investing in activities to get to know their customers and in innovation activities, managers need an understanding of the role of customer-oriented behaviors on firm innovation practices.
The online media streaming industry is relatively new and is becoming increasing popular. It is projected to worth more than the US Box Office by 2017 with a revenue of $14 billion according to a PricewaterCooper report (2014). With online streaming, users typically pay a monthly subscription and get ``all you can eat" content (TV series, movies, music, etc.). Major players in this market include Netflix, HBO, Hulu and Amazon.
Password sharing is a concern that has arisen in the industry, this involves a single subscription being shared with multiple others, meaning multiple people have access to the streaming content on just one purchase. Nevertheless, sharing is not without costs, as most firms have restrictions such that only one person can have access to contents at any given time. This means that if Bob and Charles are two friends sharing a subscription, if Bob is streaming the content, Charles cannot stream the content at the same time.
This research examines the impact of CRM capabilities and marketing effectiveness and the role of intervening variables Interactive Marketing Implementation (IMI) as mediator, in the context of wireless telecommunication industry in Indonesia. Differ from prior research that often see CRM capability in technological perspective per se, this research uses a holistic perspective toward CRM capabilities that comprises three dimensions of capability that is complementary to each other: (1) technological capability, as a data processing instrument to support marketing activities; (2) operational capability, to support firms collecting past customer transaction information, demographics, psychographics, media and channel preferences; and (3) strategic capability, to embrace the implementation of relationship management strategies throughout the whole organization. To cover phenomena in the digital economy, this study deploys a three-part typology of interactive marketing, according to ways of interacting with new media; (1) relational-based, (2) content-based, and (3) interface-based.