Social media brand perceptions of millennials Helal, Guida; Ozuem, Wilson; Lancaster, Geoff
International journal of retail & distribution management,
11/2018, Letnik:
46, Številka:
10
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Purpose
A phenomenon that has revolutionized society is the technological millennial approach to communication. Social media has matured into a prime channel for regular interactions and development ...of brand–customer relationships that enrich a social identity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how this affects business communications.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilized a social constructivist perspective, adopting an inductive and embedded case study strategy.
Findings
Drawing on the social identity theory, this paper examines how evolving social media platforms have impacted on brand perceptions in the fashion apparel and accessories industries. Fashion brands’ online presence provide a platform for customers to supplement social identity based on associations with brands, and ultimately this can shape brand perceptions among customers through promised functional and symbolic benefits.
Research limitations/implications
The paper investigates a specialized marketing activity in the UK. A broader internationally based study would add strength to these findings.
Practical implications
The paper focuses on theoretical and managerial implications and proffers significant roles that social media and identity may play in keeping up with the design and development of marketing communications programs.
Social implications
Multinational corporations have embraced internet technologies and social media in adopting platforms that their brands can use to contribute content to followers.
Originality/value
In total, 30 potential participants, drawn from diverse backgrounds, were contacted via social networking sites, e-mails and telephone. In total, 22 agreed to participate and their mean age was 26. An open-ended questionnaire allowed for elaboration, providing appropriate responses for a second interviewing phase. Four industry professionals were recruited through the researchers’ personal networks to participate in in-depth interviews that sought to investigate the significance of social media as a marketing tool from an industry perspective.
Consumer purchasing behaviour has changed substantially in the light of recent developments in E-Commerce. So-called ‘multichannel customers’ tend to switch retail channels during the purchasing ...process. In order to address changing consumer behaviours, multichannel fashion retailing companies must continue to learn how to provide excellent service to such customers. Drawing on expectation confirmation theory, this paper investigates drivers for service quality from the perspective of multichannel fashion customers.
/methodology: This paper approaches the topic of multichannel service quality by adopting a social constructionist research paradigm, utilising an abductive approach and an embedded case study research strategy. It aims to explore the lived experiences and perspectives of individuals in the context of an evolving complex and multidimensional phenomenon. The paper seeks information-rich cases and therefore views service quality through the eyes of experienced German multichannel customers. A customer perspective helps to explain the phenomenon of multichannel service quality and helps to disclose the meaning that these customers give to it. The sample size for this research consisted of 18 in-depth interviews and two focus groups including ten focus group participants. As such, a process of methodological triangulation was followed.
Integration quality is identified as the essence of competitive advantage for multichannel retailers. The paper conceptualises integration quality as a catalyst, which plays a supporting role in reinforcing the reactions of the physical and electronic service quality in order to provide an optimised service quality experience.
This paper looks at retailer/customer interactions in the context of purchases of a fashion product at a retailer using different retail channels. It highlights the distinctive requirements of multiple-channel systems within which the focus should not only be to enhance and improve physical and/or electronic service quality, but must also be about the integration of the service offers of each channel. The paper contributes to the interpretation of multichannel service quality with a new concept that explains the phenomenon from the perspective of customers.
Online communities have evolved to allow larger numbers of individuals to interact with other users to form a collective virtual environment influenced by members within the community. Existing ...studies on online brand communities (OBCs) tied millennials’ participation and interactions to a unidimensional view. Specifically, OBCs scholars generally aggregate individual millennials’ participation and commitment, ignoring the variance among the demographic cohort. Our exploration challenges not only the existing ensemble interpretation within studies of OBC but also the characterisation of millennials’ burgeoning participation in OBCs. Unlike other competing epistemologies, the authors developed a conceptual framework that links a holistic set of OBCs’ characteristics (brand sentiment, identification with source, affirmative experience, conspicuous effect) to consumers’ perceptions in the fashion sector. Drawing on social influence theory along with a constructivist perspective, we conducted fine‐grained in‐depth interviews to explore millennials’ participation in online communities and brand perceptions in the fashion industry. The main findings reveal four categories of customer engagement in OBCs (bias situators, sugar‐coaters, rationalisers, judgmentalists). These key categories are explored to create a framework for future research in this area, and further contribute to the field of online brand engagement, particularly in the fashion industry.
This study investigates brand switching behaviour among consumers in a competitive market. Emphasis historically places functional utility at the expense of social meanings. Given the paucity of ...literature, this study adopts a grounded theory methodology based on a series of in-depth interviews among Smartphone users in the UK to access consumers’ insights and experiences of specific brands and provides consideration of market disruptions. Data from this study confirms that literature does not capture non-utilitarian factors such as socio-psychological benefits. Underlying factors explore how resistance can be built from an identity theory perspective that motivate consumers to continue buying specific brands.
There is growing consensus that companies' long-term success is reliant on building and sustaining strong customer relationships. This study explores the antecedents of loyalty in business to ...business (B2Bs) using Guernsey's telecommunication industry as a case study. It examines how these influence customer loyalty orientation and factors that help service providers improve loyalty rates. Extant literature pays little attention to the antecedents of loyalty in small island economies. Prior research focuses on cultural, environmental and macro-economic issues. Drawing on Dick and Basu's (Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 22(Spring), 99-113, 1994) loyalty model, this research explores loyalty antecedents that are cognisant of distinct market conditions that can impact customer loyalty within the telecommunications sector of a small island economy. It seeks to advance understanding of loyalty in B2B relationships in this context and identify factors that contribute towards converting passively loyal customers to being actively loyal customers.
Determining how notions of digital books influence digital divide and decision-making for organisations is problematic, not least because it is an evolving concept, rooted in consumer and ...organisational awareness in relation to levels of technological adoption. The concept represents a phenomenon that is elusive and prone to misconception.
This paper examines how individual choices about IT products impact on social conceptualisations concerning rapid diffusion of information and utilisation of technological innovations.
A two-stage research design solicited perspectives regarding online marketing challenges to marketing in the bookstore industry. Themes emerged that were developed into a conceptual model.
It is suggested that firms must manage different customer segments through different value propositions, based on a multidimensional segmentation scheme that recognises the dynamic nature of value and value propositions to help managers classify customer portfolios and create effective value propositions.
Purpose
The concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) was developed in the 1990s and has gained significant interest from academics and practitioners, yet it is seldom achieved in ...practice. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons behind this assertion.
Design/methodology/approach
Knowledge needed for this study was generated from a case study of a global company, operating a decentralized organizational structure in the health-care industry.
Findings
Thirty semi-structured interviews were performed with marketing employees and management. This paper contributes to facilitating marketing communications by developing a conceptual model using strategic guiding principles to align marketing communication activities.
Research limitations/implications
Thematic analysis generated three integration areas: efficiency, consistency and relationship.
Practical implications
The information generated from this research paper should assist managers when attempting to implement an integrated approach to marketing communications.
Social implications
As IMC is intertwined with the concept of strategy, if it is implemented as a strategic process; similar social influences are relevant for strategic IMC implementation.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to facilitating marketing communications by developing a conceptual model using strategic guiding principles to align marketing communication activities.
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.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is by drawing on signaling theory to address the need for more investigation into the conceptual underpinnings of sponsorships by investigating and seeking to ...understand sponsorship objectives, opinions and practices, with a focus on smaller organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical study contributes to the literature through researched findings from German respondents and a critical evaluation of literature relating to the impact of sports sponsorship on SMEs within local German communities.
Findings
Drawing on signalling theory and extant studies, the following four categories of SME sport sponsorship activities are proposed: value-based connections, social engagement, recognition and bonding.
Research limitations/implications
Sponsor, sponsee and dyadic antecedents have increased in both sophistication and complexity, resulting in expected positive consumer outcomes as the justification for marketing communication investments.
Practical implications
Sponsorship has evolved from short-term philanthropic activities to long-term strategic alliances involving billions of dollars of annual spending globally.
Social implications
SME companies have certain local opportunities that larger multinational corporations cannot replicate.
Originality/value
No study to date has provided researchers with a framework to understand sports sponsorship from an SME perspective. This paper contributes to the theories and practice of sport sponsorship, drawing on signalling theory and extant studies.
Technological innovations are important sources of competitive advantage when there is a balanced rate of adoption that helps organisations maintain or improve performance levels. This paper ...synthesises and builds on efforts to conceptualise the adoption and implementation of technologically induced customer services in developing countries. Its point of departure is recent advances in computer-mediated marketing environments (CMMEs). It assesses relationships between customer services and evolving technologies in the provision of services in the banking sector. Using phenomenological hermeneutics and a case study approach, we iteratively engaged with data that emerged to identify core values and community-based values. These facets were further developed into seven main issues (core values: quality, education and reach, and community-based values: efficiency, usability, control and security). The paper offers practical steps by which companies and institutions may counter these issues and the theoretical implications for wider considerations are discussed.
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