Lincoln, Yvonna, and Egon Guba, "Postpositivism and the Naturalist Paradigm," pp. 14-46 in Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Guba, Naturalistic Inquiry . Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985.*

The measurement of meaning

The authors examine the implications of electronic shopping for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers. They assume that near-term technological developments will offer consumers unparalleled opportunities to locate and compare product offerings. They examine these advantages as a function of typical consumer goals and the types of products and services being sought and offer conclusions regarding consumer incentives and disincentives to purchase through interactive home shopping vis-à-vis traditional retail formats. The authors discuss implications for industry structure as they pertain to competition among retailers, competition among manufacturers, and retailer-manufacturer relationships.

Interactive home shopping: Consumer, retailer, and manufacturer incentives to participate in

According to service-dominant logic (S-D logic), all providers are service providers, and service is the fundamental basis of exchange. Value is co-created with customers and assessed on the basis of value-in-context. However, the extensive literature on S-D logic could benefit from paying explicit attention to the fact that both service exchange and value co-creation are influenced by social forces. The aim of this study is to expand understanding of service exchange and value co-creation by complementing these central aspects of S-D logic with key concepts from social construction theories (social structures, social systems, roles, positions, interactions, and reproduction of social structures). The study develops and describes a new framework for understanding how the concepts of service exchange and value co-creation are affected by recognizing that they are embedded in social systems. The study contends that value should be understood as value-in-social-context and that value is a social construction. Value co-creation is shaped by social forces, is reproduced in social structures, and can be asymmetric for the actors involved. Service exchanges are dynamic, and actors learn and change their roles within dynamic service systems.

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Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: a social construction approach

Purpose – Brand fan pages on social networks have become very popular online services. However, empirical research on fan pages is still in its infancy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of fan pages on the customer-brand relationship and what motivates users to participate.Design/methodology/approach – For this a framework was developed based on classical concepts of use and gratification theory, customer engagement, and involvement theory. The model is tested using a multi-step approach of qualitative and quantitative methods.Findings – The paper can show a significant influence from online service usage behavior on the fan page on the customer-brand relationship. Furthermore, the paper identifies different values such as functional and hedonic content as drivers of fan-page participation.Research limitations/implications – The results are limited by the used data set, which is not representative for all industries and is cross-sectional. Further research could build up a database over a longitudinal time frame in different industries. The results are interesting for theory and practice. They confirm the positive effect of integration and engagement in general and show that fan pages are more than just tools to connect brand fans. They are also instruments for gaining new fans. Originality/value – The present study is the first study that not only shows the effect of fan pages on customer behavior, but also analyses the motives for participation and the crucial constructs to manage them successfully.

How to Transform Consumers into Fans of Your Brand

Conceptualizing the brand in social media community: The five sources model

Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication has received a great deal of attention from marketing academics and practitioners alike. Widespread use of the internet for shopping, information gathering and ent...

FORUM - Word of Mouse - An Assessment of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Research:

Purpose – The aim of this study is to determine whether the cumulative effects of satisfaction, trust, and perceived value may, under certain conditions, provide more explanatory power for customer loyalty intentions than the often studied and more elusive customer delight. Herzberg's two-factor theory is used to explain why the frequent nature of grocery shopping, a primarily utilitarian experience, might introduce considerations that have not yet been addressed in the study of delight. Design/methodology/approach – A survey is administered to a quota sample of Portuguese supermarket shoppers via phone, using a CATI system. Findings – Research findings suggest that perceived value, trust, and satisfaction have a greater impact on behavioural outcomes than customer delight in the grocery shopping setting. In such a setting, cognitive drivers may be even more important for customers who are primarily concerned with hygiene factors (rather than motivators). Research limitations/implications – Retailers are ...

Michael Breazeale

Papers

Conceptualizing the brand in social media community: The five sources model

FORUM - Word of Mouse - An Assessment of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Research:

Who needs delight? The greater impact of value, trust and satisfaction in utilitarian, frequent-use retail

Timeliness, transparency, and trust: A framework for managing online customer complaints

The Effects of Perceived Fairness on Customer Responses to Retailer SST Push Policies