This research investigates the intermediate mechanism that translates brand communities into brand relationships. Using a sample of online brand communities from China, the study finds that consumer ...brand attachment plays a full mediating role between brand community commitment and brand commitment and exerts partial mediation between brand identification and brand commitment. Perceived community–brand similarity moderates both brand community identification's effect on brand identification and brand community commitment's effect on brand attachment. The findings contribute to the brand literature and provide implications for brand community management.
► We investigate how brand communities generate brand relationships. ► Consumer brand attachment plays a mediating role. ► Perceived community Cbrand similarity plays a moderating role.
East Asia is fast becoming the world's largest brand-name luxury goods market. This study develops the concept of face and face consumption to explain why Asian consumer possess strong appetites for ...luxury products despite their relatively low income. This paper distinguishes the concept of face from a closely related construct, prestige, and examines the influence of face on consumer behaviours in the United States and China. Due to the heavy influence of face, Asian consumers believe they must purchase luxury products to enhance, maintain or save face. Accordingly, face consumption has three unique characteristics: conformity, distinctiveness and other-orientation. the results of a cross-cultural survey support the existence of these three subdimension and show that Chinese consumers are more likely to be influenced by their reference groups than are American consumers. Furthermore, they tend to relate product brands and price to face more readily than do their US counterparts. In addition, Chinese consumers are more likely to consider the prestige of the products in other-oriented consumption than are their American counterparts. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Extending the perspective of agency theory, this study incorporates both professional and local knowledge asymmetry into a model of relationship satisfaction between global professional service firms ...and their local clients. The model also includes learning orientation and adaptation that are theorized to regulate the impact of knowledge asymmetry on goal incongruence, which ultimately affects relationship satisfaction. China was selected as the setting of the study because it is the largest emerging market, has seen double-digit growth of advertising expenditures for the past two decades, and is home to many multinational advertising agencies that have increasingly pursued local clients as revenue sources. Multiple informants from 177 domestic Chinese firms and their multinational advertising agencies were personally interviewed, and the dyadic data were used to test the model. Results show that both types of knowledge asymmetry lead to goal incongruence, which causes client dissatisfaction. The role of learning orientation varies, as does the role of adaptation, in moderating the impact of knowledge asymmetry on goal incongruence and the impact of goal incongruence on relationship satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed, along with the limitations of the study and future research directions.
An integrative model of destination image, self-congruity, and travel behavior is described in this article. In particular, the model postulates relationships between destination environment, ...destination visitor image, tourists’ self-concept, self-congruity, functional congruity, and travel behavior. Travel behavior is hypothesized to be influenced significantly by both self-congruity and functional congruity. Self-congruity is the match between the destination visitor image and tourists’ self-concept (actual, ideal, social, and ideal social self-image). Functional congruity is the match between the utilitarian attributes of the destination and the tourist’s ideal expectations related to those attributes. Self-congruity is hypothesized to influence functional congruity. It is argued that the destination environment influences the formation and change of the destination visitor image and the tourist-perceived utilitarian destination attributes.
Institutional environments exert significant effects on organizational behavior, structure, strategy, governance, and process. To gain competitive advantage, managers are striving for legitimacy ...while maintaining efficiency. In line with this thinking, we propose the developmental process of institution-driven and legitimacy-embedded efficiency, and emphasize the confluence of legitimacy and efficiency in the context of business marketing. We then highlight several promising directions for further research on the development of institutional theory and its application in business marketing. Finally, we present a brief summary of each paper in this special issue.
This research explores how abstract appeal (i.e., describing the features of green products in a more vague way) and concrete appeal (i.e., describing the features of green products in a more ...specific way) can encourage consumers to engage in green consumption behavior, such as purchasing green products. Across three experiments, this research tests the prediction that abstract (concrete) appeal is more effective in generating green purchase intentions than concrete (abstract) appeal in situations where the benefit association of green products is other (self). Public self-awareness and identity salience moderate the effect of appeal type and benefit association on green purchase intentions. In particular, when green products associate with the benefit of other, abstract appeal is more effective, whereas both abstract and concrete appeals are less effective when green products associate with the benefit of self. This effect is moderated by public self-awareness and whether a collective level of self or an individual level of self is made salient. The results provide important managerial implications for marketers who seek to promote green consumption by suggesting that rather than merely depending on the types of advertising appeals, marketers should modify their advertising message to match the benefit association of the products and to consider the situations where public self-awareness and identity salience are present.
Channel relationships with dependence asymmetry, which are especially harmful to partners with dependence disadvantage, abound in developing markets. To help these dependence-disadvantaged parties ...find feasible solutions for dependence balancing, this study examines network embeddedness and its differential role in enforcing the counterpart’s relationship-specific investments (RSIs), thus leading to improved channel performance for both partners. Based on the political economy framework, we posit that a dependence-disadvantaged partner’s embeddedness in business and government networks entices its partner to commit more RSIs, which in turn improve its channel performance; conversely, such an effect is weaker for the dependence-advantaged partner. We also predict that under high dependence asymmetry, a dependence-disadvantaged partner’s embeddedness in the business network will exert a smaller effect, but its embeddedness in the government network will exert a larger effect. We collected dyadic survey data of buyer–supplier pairs in consumer product industries in China. In general, the results provide support for our predictions. The findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for partners in asymmetric channel relationships in developing markets.
This introduction provides an overview of the papers in this special issue, which highlights the contributions the authors from both marketing and management have endeavored to make to the relevant ...literature. Also this introduction pinpoints the possible directions and specific topics the scholars from both areas can explore in the future to be mutually informed regarding supplier-buyer relationship management.
Negative online reviews are a ubiquitous problem that affects every online seller at some point. It can lead to prospective consumers' distrust and decrease future purchase intention. Therefore, ...formulating a proper response is essential for minimizing these negative effects. Based on the ability–motivation paradigm and stability attribution, we find that apology works better when the alleged cause is relatively unstable (e.g., competence-based negative review) and when the seller has a high ability to change. However, when the alleged cause is relatively stable (e.g., integrity-based negative review) or when the seller has a low ability to change, we show that it is better for the seller to defend its reputation. In addition, we demonstrate that a remedial action plan in the seller's response can reinforce the motivation to change communicated through apology. Thus, coupled with a remedial action plan, apology works better than defending one's reputation, regardless of the negative online review type.
•This research investigates how online seller responses to negative online review affect prospective customers' distrust.•Seller can respond to negative reviews depending on the review type.•Defending one’s reputation is an effective response strategy if the alleged cause is relatively stable.•Apology is more effective if the alleged cause is relatively unstable.•Remedial action plan can improve the effectiveness of apology.
