•Investigating public acceptance from a consumer-oriented perspective is limited in the ability to capture the full picture.•Drawing on a social constructionist perspective, we investigate public ...discourse on AVs and base our qualitative analysis on conversation data (389′863 posts) from two related online communities.•Four major streams of discussion are identified, namely Social, Economic, Ethical, and Legal dimensions.
Previous research has been limited to investigating acceptance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) from a consumer-oriented perspective, thereby neglecting the numerous attitudes and behaviors emerging among multiple social actors and contexts. Moreover, methodological approaches based on surveys or interviews are limited in their ability to capture the full picture of public opinion due to the pre-defined nature of questioning and small sample size. Drawing on a social constructionist perspective, we investigate public discourse on AVs and base our qualitative analysis on conversation data (389′863 posts) from two related online communities on Reddit between January 2016 and March 2021. Four major streams of discussion are identified, namely Social, Economic, Ethical, and Legal dimensions. By systematically exploring and structuring the complex nature of public opinion on AVs, the present study contributes by enhancing our understanding on AV acceptance and providing implications for policy makers, stakeholders, and social science research.
Customer referral programs, which encourage existing customers to recommend a firm’s services in their social network, have become a popular marketing tool. This research focuses on another social ...group that may also issue recommendations, namely a firm’s own employees. Drawing on social identity research, the authors find that employees are more likely to promote their firm’s services when their employee identity is highly salient. Moreover, this effect is moderated by relational norms, such that employees are only willing to refer their friends when they feel that this is an appropriate behavior in a friendship. Specifically, the results reveal that identity salience only affects referral likelihood when referrals are framed in terms of communal sharing rather than market pricing (Study 1) and when referral rewards are assigned to the friends rather than to the employees (Study 2). Finally, Study 3 shows that relational framing is only effective in increasing referrals when employees feel that there is little risk that their firm’s services will not perform as expected. Thus, managers interested in increasing employee referrals of friends may not only need to link referrals to employees’ organizational identity but may also need to convince employees that referrals do not violate relational norms.
•We explore the motivational patterns of 40 employees’ who switched from monomodal to multimodal commuting.•Autonomy, physical health, sustainability, quality of life, and social affection motivate ...multimodal commuting behavior.•Economic interest, security, and fun are motives of secondary importance.
Despite municipal investments in multimodal mobility infrastructure, monomodal automotive travel patterns still dominate work-related mobility. As policymakers aim to reduce associated externalities like traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution, encouraging multimodality can be a promising route toward diversified, more sustainable mobility. However, studies on modal choice and modal shift have mainly focused on investigating the consumer decision-making process concerning specific monomodal travel modes and external factors but are characterized by a lack of dedicated applications in the commuting context. Therefore, insights into consumers’ motivational patterns determining intentions to engage in multimodal commuting and factors influencing their willingness to alter the modal mix remain scarce. With a qualitative means-end chain (MEC) analysis, we explore consumers’ overarching motivational structures to choose multimodal commuting behavior through laddering interviews with forty employees from two large German employers. We contribute to existing research by revealing five motivational patterns that promote consumers' decision to become multimodal commuters: autonomy, physical health, sustainability, quality of life, and interpersonal connections, which we juxtapose with previous findings. Interestingly, we find that economic interest, security, and fun are only motives of secondary importance. Consequently, we propose implications for academics, policymakers, and practitioners to foster commuters choosing more sustainable, multimodal mobility.
•We conceptualize technology-enabled personalization (TEP) in smart retailing.•Drivers of TEP are utilitarian, hedonic, control, interaction, and integration.•Barriers to TEP are exploitation, ...interaction misfit, privacy, and lack of confidence.•The juxtaposition of drivers and barriers reveals five success paradoxes for TEP.
Smart technologies grant brick-and-mortar retailers novel opportunities to introduce the amenities of online retailing, such as data-driven personalization, into physical interactions. Research on consumer reactions to the novel phenomenon of technology-enabled personalization (TEP) in retail stores is scarce though, so the current article proposes a conceptualization that demarcates TEP from broader notions of personalization. Qualitative data from 25 in-depth consumer interviews reveal five drivers (utilitarian, hedonic, control, interaction, integration) of and four barriers (exploitation, interaction misfit, privacy, and lack of confidence) to consumers’ acceptance of TEP. The juxtaposition of these drivers and barriers, in combination with insights from prior literature, reveals five success paradoxes for TEP (exploration–limitation, staff presence–absence, humanization–dehumanization, personalization–privacy, personal–retailer devices). The findings provide several theoretical and managerial implications, as well as avenues for further research.
Globally, the carsharing domain is growing, and new service offerings are arising. Peer-to-peer carsharing, facilitating car rental between private individuals, has attracted attention from ...entrepreneurs and researchers alike. Irrespective of this trend studies on carsharing have been predominantly focusing on identifying users' consumption motives in business-to-consumer contexts. Consequently, insights on consumers' motivational drivers to offer peer-to-peer carsharing services remain scarce. By conducting a series of laddering interviews with German peer-providers, we add to extant literature by uncovering four overarching motivational patterns that drive consumers' decision to participate as providers in peer-to-peer carsharing: economic interest (“earn”), quality of life (“enjoy”), helping others (“enrich”), and sustainability (“enhance”). Although self-centered motives of economic interest and quality of life are the dominating participation motives, peer-providers also seem to be intrigued by the possibility of helping others in terms of providing mobility and thereby enabling the creation of lasting memories. Paradoxically to previous assumptions regarding participation in sharing activities, sustainability is not a main participation motive for most peer-providers but is rather seen as an indirect consequence of participation.
•Peer-providers' participation in P2P carsharing is motivated by different values.•Peer-providers do not only participate for economic reasons.•Peer-providers strive for economic interests, lifestyle, helping others and sustainability.•Communication campaigns should focus on values creating benefits for peers.•Sustainability is a side product of P2P carsharing.
Autonomous vehicles are expected to disrupt mobility but face consumer reluctance. Diffused through carsharing services, the technology could become more accessible and overcome initial skepticism. ...Consequently, carsharing with shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) can provide the combined benefits of autonomous driving technology and access-based consumption. Whereas first investigations into the topic provide projections in adoption preferences and first impacts, the literature lacks a holistic understanding of drivers, barriers, and future developments in carsharing with SAVs over the next ten years. We conducted a four-stage exploratory Delphi-study with 40 international experts to elicit these factors. Key findings include the strong perception of technological aspects, consumer acceptance considerations, and legislative concerns. Remarkably, the factors of sustainability and ethics were perceived as secondary. We conclude our paper with implications and recommendations for managers, policy makers, and future academic research.
•A four-stage Delphi study with 40 international experts involved in novel mobility services.•Examination of drivers, inhibitors and future developments of carsharing with shared autonomous vehicles•Technology, encompassing functionality and convenience, considered most important•Economic drivers, including demand and supply factors, received high ratings.•Sustainability and ethics were considered of minor importance.
Display omitted
•TPB and GFT are used to predict workers’ intention to switch to multimodal commute.•Instead of values, goals are measured directly, and a novel fourth goal is proposed.•Multimodal ...switching intention is mainly associated with the normative goal frame.•Both attitude and subjective norm have a positive influence on switching intention.•Strengthening normative goals may help encourage multimodal commuting behaviour.
Existing research has revealed that there is a growing dominance of multimodality in urban areas, which is frequently considered to be an important part of the solution to the burdens associated with heavy car use, such as traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution, as well as associated risks to human health. Yet, while the role of private motorized transport is decreasing in densely populated urban areas, monomodal travel patterns, as exemplified by single occupancy car use, are still dominating work-related mobility. To date, studies on modal shift have investigated the decision-making processes with regard to particular travel modes. However, the intention to switch to multimodal mobility in a commuting context, which may represent a first step towards car use reduction, remains relatively unexplored. Therefore, this paper aims to understand and identify the predecessors of car commuters’ intention to switch to multimodal commuting via an online questionnaire. Our theoretical framework is based on an extension of Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) with Lindenberg and Steg’s Goal-framing Theory (GFT), including a novel fourth goal frame, habit, and person-organisation fit (POF) as additional constructs. Contrary to our expectations, gain and hedonic goals, as well as POF and habit, were not found to affect switching intention. Instead, our findings suggest that a switch to multimodal mobility is strongly dependent on people's normative goals, underlining the need for employers to encourage and reward sustainable multimodal commuting. These findings can assist policy makers, corporate mobility, and HR managers to promote more sustainable, multimodal mobility behaviour.
The sharing economy is growing globally in terms of user numbers, service providers, and novel concepts. Peer-to-peer (P2P) asset sharing, or asset rental between private individuals, has attracted ...the attention of entrepreneurs and researchers alike. P2P asset-sharing networks need to focus on two distinct customer groups: (1) asset owners willing to rent out their assets, and (2) renters interested in renting others’ assets. Despite consumers’ high interest in P2P asset sharing, participation rates lag projections, which is mainly attributable to lack of participating asset owners. This could be problematic for P2P networks as they do not own assets; instead, they rely on a sufficient number of asset owners to participate. Detailed indications on the participation motives of users are required to distinctly position P2P asset sharing and enhance communication of consumer-relevant benefits. To this end, we have engaged in a detailed investigation of participation motives in the P2P car-sharing context. We have conducted in-depth interviews with car owners and renters to derive usage types that represent consumer decision profiles that participate in P2P car-sharing services. Based on our findings, we provide extensive recommendations to entrepreneurs in the P2P asset-sharing market.
•Consumer reaction to in-store communication is contingent on the displaying device•Personalized in-store messages are more effective on customer-owned smartphones•Standardized in-store messages are ...more effective on retailer-owned screens•This effect can be explained by extended self and assemblage theory
Smart technologies promise to enhance customer experience to new levels in next-generation retail stores. Offline retailers increasingly employ technology-enabled personalization (TEP) strategies to digitally enhance in-store customer experience. To send personalized messages to in-store customers, retailers can choose from two types of smart devices: customer-owned smartphones or retailer-owned immersive screens. Although these smart devices may largely determine customers’ experiences in future retail, research rarely addresses device-related determinants of the effectiveness of personalized messages in stores. Building on assemblage theory, the authors consider the role of these devices in influencing customer experience and eventually consumer shopping behavior. Through two experiments and a mediated moderation analysis, they investigate the interplay of personalized content and device technology in customers’ response to TEP. The results illustrate that consumers react differently to message content depending on the device through which it is conveyed; that is, personalized (standardized) messages are more effective on customer-owned smartphones (retailer-owned screens) because they become integrated into (remain separate from) the customer's extended self. Relational customer experiences, or the extent to which a customer feels positively connected to store assemblages, mediate the effect on shopping behavior. To build TEP strategies, retailers should therefore use smart devices integrated into customers’ extended selves.
PDF
