Most researchers focus on the effect of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on investor returns and overlook customer reactions, despite the fact that customers are directly impacted by these corporate ...transformations. Others suggest that in M&A contexts, a dual emphasis of customer satisfaction and firm efficiency is both likely and beneficial. In contrast, the authors demonstrate that M&As not only do not yield a dual emphasis but also cause a decline in customer satisfaction to the extent that they eclipse any gain in firm value from an increase in firm efficiency. A quasiexperimental difference-in-differences analysis and an instrumental variable panel regression provide robust evidence for the dark side of M&As for customers. The authors use the attention-based view of the firm to demonstrate that post-M&A customer dissatisfaction occurs because of a shift in executive attention away from customers and toward financial issues. In line with the related upper echelons theory, they find that marketing representation on a firm’s board of directors helps maintain executive attention on customers, which mitigates the dysfunctional effect of M&As on customer satisfaction. This research identifies a negative M&A–customer satisfaction relationship and highlights executive attention to customer issues and marketing leadership as factors that mitigate this negative relationship.
Multinational companies increasingly focus on subsistence marketplaces, given their enormous market potential. Nevertheless, their potential is untapped because subsistence consumers face extreme ...constraints. The authors contend that subsistence consumers need marketplace literacy to participate effectively and beneficially in marketplaces. Marketplace literacy entails the knowledge and skills that enable them to participate in a marketplace as both consumers and entrepreneurs. This is crucial for subsistence consumers, as they often must function in both roles to survive. Previous research, however, has not empirically examined the influence of marketplace literacy on well-being or marketing outcomes related to well-being. To address this gap, the authors implemented three large-scale field experiments with approximately 1,000 people in 34 remote villages in India and Tanzania. They find that marketplace literacy causes an increase in psychological well-being and consumer outcomes related to well-being (e.g., consumer confidence, decision-making ability), especially for subsistence consumers with lower marketplace access, and it causes an increase in entrepreneurial outcomes related to well-being (e.g., starting a microenterprise) for those with higher marketplace access. Overall, this research generates practical implications for the use of marketplace literacy as a pathway to a better world.
Although subscription boxes are incredibly popular, box companies often miss out on the benefits of a subscription model. Customers routinely skip boxes, and even when they do not, they often return ...products from each box. Hoping to avoid these returns, box companies ask customers to preview upcoming boxes, evaluate delivered boxes, and justify skipped boxes. The authors are interested in how such extensive customer participation can discourage skipping or, even better, encourage spending. An analysis of 30,000 apparel box customers’ repeated preview, feedback, and purchase behavior reveals that, in addition to whether customers participate, the way in which and when they participate matter, and often in counterproductive ways. Specifically, customer participation with the delivered box drives future purchases, whereas participation before and after the delivered box appears to decrease box opt-in and spending. Further, the double-edged nature of customer participation, especially when such participation involves emotionality, has long-lasting effects, indicating the important role of customer participation dynamics in shaping purchase behavior.
Service firms are encouraged by historic evidence that loyal customers are less price sensitive. Yet, some research has challenged the assertion while others have demonstrated considerable ...heterogeneity within loyal segments. Aiming to reconcile this debate, we investigate the relationship between customers’ behavioral loyalty and the importance they place on price relative to two managerially relevant service attributes: rewards and convenience. We also assess the moderating role of attitudinal loyalty resulting from superior service experience. Results from a longitudinal survey and transaction data from an airline carrier show that as customers’ behavioral loyalty increases, they place
more
importance on price and
less
importance on rewards and convenience, revealing that behavioral loyalty causes a shift in emphasis toward price. As a result, behaviorally loyal customers spend less and revenue decreases. However, by improving attitudinal loyalty, firms achieve the desired outcome of reducing price sensitivity and increasing revenue. Specifically, after experiencing better service, behaviorally loyal customers focus less on price and instead shift their focus toward rewards and convenience, and this results in revenue gains for the firm. Overall, attitudinal loyalty from better service experience acts as a key mitigator of the positive link between behavioral
loyalty
and price sensitivity.
In realizing that consumers regularly straddle the work–life interface, some companies position their products according to their ability to address work and life needs together, then communicate ...this offering to consumers. Whether using a work–life positioning strategy is effective remains unclear , however. If this strategy signals work–life enrichment, it should increase consumers’ interest, but only if the product demands few resources from consumers. If the product instead demands substantial resources, a work–life positioning might inadvertently trigger perceptions of work–life conflict and lower consumers’ interest. To test these predictions, the authors partnered with three businesses to advertise their products, which impose varying resource demands, on social media using content that highlights the work–life interface or not. Analyses of ad click data support the predictions: Work–life ads are less effective than single-domain (work or life) ads if the advertising involves resource-demanding products, but they are more effective if it pertains to resource-undemanding products. Furthermore, the effects are stronger among consumer segments that experience more work–life conflict in general. With this initial application of work–life theory to a marketing context, this article offers relevant insights for both research and practice.
Overconsuming and wasting food are disadvantageous for consumers and society as a whole and, therefore, are topics of great relevance. This research identifies food-based collaborative consumption ...(CC) as a hitherto unrecognized cause of overpurchasing, overconsuming, and wasting food. Food-based CC, which involves members of a group contributing to and taking from a collective pool of food, is a common social practice (e.g., potlucks) and a widely adopted format by the restaurant industry (e.g., family-style and tapas dining). A combination of interviews, behavioral studies, and online experiments show that consumers purchase significantly more food per person in CC (vs. personal-consumption) group contexts, resulting in overconsumption and waste. This is shown to be the result of both generosity motives and cognitive errors (specifically, failing to account for the reciprocal nature of CC). However, inflated purchase amounts in CC contexts can be reduced (i.e., consumer well-being can be improved) by (1) having consumers explicitly focus on the amount they expect to take from others and (2) providing antiwaste persuasive messages at the point of purchase.
IntroductionCough is a common symptom of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. However, objectively measuring its frequency and evolution is hindered by the lack of reliable and scalable ...monitoring systems. This can be overcome by newly developed artificial intelligence models that exploit the portability of smartphones. In the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, cough detection for respiratory disease syndromic surveillance represents a simple means for early outbreak detection and disease surveillance. In this protocol, we evaluate the ability of population-based digital cough surveillance to predict the incidence of respiratory diseases at population level in Navarra, Spain, while assessing individual determinants of uptake of these platforms.Methods and analysisParticipants in the Cendea de Cizur, Zizur Mayor or attending the local University of Navarra (Pamplona) will be invited to monitor their night-time cough using the smartphone app Hyfe Cough Tracker. Detected coughs will be aggregated in time and space. Incidence of COVID-19 and other diagnosed respiratory diseases within the participants cohort, and the study area and population will be collected from local health facilities and used to carry out an autoregressive moving average analysis on those independent time series. In a mixed-methods design, we will explore barriers and facilitators of continuous digital cough monitoring by evaluating participation patterns and sociodemographic characteristics. Participants will fill an acceptability questionnaire and a subgroup will participate in focus group discussions.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Canada and the Medical Research Ethics Committee of Navarre, Spain. Preliminary findings will be shared with civil and health authorities and reported to individual participants. Results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals and international conferences.Trial registration numberNCT04762693.
Can smartphones be used to detect individual and population-level changes in cough frequency that correlate with the incidence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other respiratory infections?
...This was a prospective cohort study carried out in Pamplona (Spain) between 2020 and 2021 using artificial intelligence cough detection software. Changes in cough frequency around the time of medical consultation were evaluated using a randomisation routine; significance was tested by comparing the distribution of cough frequencies to that obtained from a model of no difference. The correlation between changes of cough frequency and COVID-19 incidence was studied using an autoregressive moving average analysis, and its strength determined by calculating its autocorrelation function (ACF). Predictors for the regular use of the system were studied using a linear regression. Overall user experience was evaluated using a satisfaction questionnaire and through focused group discussions.
We followed-up 616 participants and collected >62 000 coughs. Coughs per hour surged around the time cohort subjects sought medical care (difference +0.77 coughs·h
; p=0.00001). There was a weak temporal correlation between aggregated coughs and the incidence of COVID-19 in the local population (ACF 0.43). Technical issues affected uptake and regular use of the system.
Artificial intelligence systems can detect changes in cough frequency that temporarily correlate with the onset of clinical disease at the individual level. A clearer correlation with population-level COVID-19 incidence, or other respiratory conditions, could be achieved with better penetration and compliance with cough monitoring.
Research summary: Corporate acquisition is a popular strategic option for firms seeking new resources. However, little research exists on the question of why one firm is chosen over another. We ...develop a model relating characteristics of similarity and complementarity between acquirers' and target firms' key resources, including their products and R&D pipelines, to the likelihood of the acquirers choosing a particular firm. We construct measures of similarity and complementarity between and across products and R&D pipelines, and test their effects using a novel application of the choice model. Findings reveal that acquirers view similarity and complementarity differently, based on the resource they are comparing. When making comparisons to their own R&D pipelines, acquirers prefer similarity over complementarity whereas when making comparisons to their product portfolios, they prefer complementarity over similarity. Managerial summary: Corporate acquisition is a popular way for firms to grow and obtain innovative resources. However, we know little about why acquirers choose one firm over another. We capture the influence of similarity and complementarity between acquirers' and target firms' products (current innovative value) and R&D pipelines (future innovative value) on whether a particular target firm is acquired. Insights from the pharmaceutical industry reveal that acquirers value similarity and complementarity in target firms differently, based on whether the comparison being made is with respect to their products or their R&D pipelines. Regarding their R&D pipelines, acquirers prefer that the target firm has similar, rather than complementary, resources. However, the opposite is true concerning their own products: acquirers prefer that the target firm has complementary, versus similar, resources.
Service firms spend considerable resources soliciting complaints to initiate recovery efforts and improve their offerings. However, managers may be overlooking the fact that complaints serve an ...equally important role in engendering loyalty. The authors demonstrate that the strength of social ties between customers and service providers influences the degree to which complaining drives loyalty. Paradoxically, while strongly tied customers fear that complaining threatens their ties with the provider, when they are encouraged to complain, their loyalty increases because offering feedback serves as an effective way to preserve social ties. Conversely, for weakly tied customers, complaining has no effect on loyalty. Furthermore, complaints are more effective in driving loyalty for strongly tied customers when the feedback is directed toward the provider who failed, rather than to an entity external to the failure. Finally, when providers signal an authentic openness to feedback, strongly tied customers are more loyal after complaining, whereas authenticity does little to engender loyalty for weakly tied customers who complain. The value of complaints in driving loyalty is promising both for customers who perceive a strong tie to a particular provider within the firm and, more generally, in service industries wherein strong ties naturally occur.
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