Showing papers in "Journal of Marketing in 2011"

Emotional Brand Attachment and Brand Personality: The Relative Importance of the Actual and the Ideal Self:

Abstract: Creating emotional brand attachment is a key branding issue in today's marketing world. One way to accomplish this is to match the brand's personality with the consumer's self. A key question, however, is whether the brand's personality should match the consumer's actual self or the consumer's ideal self. On the basis of two empirical studies of 167 brands (evaluated by 1329 and 980 consumers), the authors show that the implications of self-congruence for consumers' emotional brand attachment are complex and differ by consumers' product involvement, consumers' individual difference variables, and the type of self-congruence (fit of the brand's personality with the consumer's actual self versus with the consumer's ideal self). On a general level, actual self-congruence has the greatest impact on emotional brand attachment. Product involvement, self-esteem, and public self-consciousness increase the positive impact of actual self-congruence but decrease the impact of ideal self-congruence on emotio...

Impact of Emerging Markets on Marketing: Rethinking Existing Perspectives and Practices

Abstract: The core idea of this article is that five key characteristics—market heterogeneity, sociopolitical governance, chronic shortage of resources, unbranded competition, and inadequate infrastructure—of emerging markets are radically different from the traditional industrialized capitalist society, and they will require us to rethink the core assumptions of marketing, such as market orientation, market segmentation, and differential advantage. To accommodate these characteristics, we must rethink the marketing perspective (e.g., from differential advantage to market aggregation and standardization) and the core guiding strategy concepts (e.g., from market orientation to market development). Similarly, we must rethink issues of public policy (e.g., from compliance and crisis driven to purpose driven) and the marketing practice (e.g., from glocalization to fusion marketing).

Closing the Marketing Capabilities Gap

Abstract: Marketers are being challenged by a deluge of data that is well beyond the capacity of their organizations to comprehend and use. Their strategies are not keeping up with the disruptive effects of technology-empowered customers; the proliferation of media, channel, and customer contact points; or the possibilities for microsegmentation. Closing the widening gap between the accelerating complexity of their markets and the limited ability of their organizations to respond demands new thinking about marketing capabilities. Three adaptive capabilities are needed: (1) Vigilant market learning that enhances deep market insights with an advance warning system to anticipate market changes and unmet needs, (2) adaptive market experimentation that continuously learns from experiments, and (3) open marketing that forges relationships with those at the forefront of new media and social networking technologies and mobilizes the skills of current partners. The benefits of these adaptive capabilities will only ...

Reinventing Marketing to Manage the Environmental Imperative

Abstract: Marketers in the past have based their strategies on the assumption of infinite resources and zero environmental impact. With the growing recognition of finite resources and high environmental costs, marketers need to reexamine their theory and practices. They need to revise their policies on product development, pricing, distribution, and branding. The recent financial meltdown has added another layer of concern as consumers adjust their lifestyles to a lower level of income and spending. Companies must balance more carefully their growth goals with the need to pursue sustainability. Increased attention will be paid to employing demarketing and social marketing thinking to meet the new challenges.

Hybrid Offerings: How Manufacturing Firms Combine Goods and Services Successfully:

Abstract: This article examines key success factors for designing and delivering combinations of goods and services (i.e., hybrid offerings) in business markets. Goods manufacturers, unlike pure service providers, find themselves in a unique position to grow revenues through hybrid offerings but must learn how to leverage unique resources and build distinctive capabilities. Using case studies and depth interviews with senior executives in manufacturing companies, the authors develop a resource-capability framework as a basis for research and practice. Executives identify four critical resources: (1) product usage and process data derived from the firm's installed base of physical goods, (2) product development and manufacturing assets, (3) an experienced product sales force and distribution network, and (4) a field service organization. In leveraging these specific resources, successful firms build five critical capabilities: (1) service-related data processing and interpretation capability, (2) execution risk assessment and mitigation capability, (3) design-to-service capability, (4) hybrid offering sales capability, and (5) hybrid offering deployment capability. These capabilities influence manufacturers' positional advantage in two directions: differentiation and cost leadership. The authors propose a new typology of industrial services and discuss how resources and capabilities affect success across categories of hybrid offers.

The Effects of business and Political Ties on Firm Performance: Evidence from China.

Abstract: Despite increasing attention to the role of social ties in emerging economies, few studies have explicitly distinguished the differential roles of business versus political ties. Drawing on relational governance and institutional theories, this study offers a contingent view of business and political ties in China. The findings from a survey of 241 Chinese firms indicate that business ties have a stronger positive effect on performance than political ties, and both effects depend on institutional and market environments. Business ties are more beneficial when legal enforcement is inefficient and technology is changing rapidly, whereas political ties lead to greater performance when general government support is weak and technological turbulence is low. These findings indicate that firms operating in China should be cautious in their use of business and political ties and adapt their tie utilization to changing institutional and market environments.

Is Market Orientation a Source of Sustainable Competitive Advantage or Simply the Cost of Competing

Abstract: The authors use panel data constructed from the responses of repeatedly surveyed top managers at 261 companies regarding their firm’s market orientation, along with objective performance measures, to investigate the influence of market orientation on performance for a nine-year period from 1997 to 2005. The authors measure market orientation in 1997, 2001, and 2005 and estimate it in the interval between these measurement periods. The analyses indicate that market orientation has a positive effect on business performance in both the short and the long run. However, the sustained advantage in business performance from having a market orientation is greater for the firms that are early to develop a market orientation. These firms also gain more in sales and profit than firms that are late in developing a market orientation. Firms that adopt a market orientation may also realize additional benefit in the form of a lift in sales and profit due to a carryover effect. Market orientation should have a more pronounced effect on a firm’s profit than sales because a market orientation focuses efforts on customer retention rather than on acquisition. Environmental turbulence and competitive intensity moderate the main effect of market orientation on business performance, but the moderating effects are greater in the 1990s than in the 2000s.

A Framework for Conceptual Contributions in Marketing

Abstract: Conceptual advances are critical to the vitality of the marketing discipline, yet recent writings suggest that conceptual advancement in the field is slowing The author addresses this issue by developing a framework for thinking about conceptualization in marketing A definition of conceptualization is followed by a typology of types of conceptual contributions The types of conceptual contributions, their similarities and differences, and their importance to the field are described Thinking skills linked to various types of conceptual contributions are also described, as are the use of tools that can facilitate these skills The article concludes with a set of recommendations for advancing conceptualization in our field in the years to come

Seeding Strategies for Viral Marketing: An Empirical Comparison

Abstract: Seeding strategies have strong influences on the success of viral marketing campaigns, but previous studies using computer simulations and analytical models have produced conflicting recommendations about the optimal seeding strategy. This study compares four seeding strategies in two complementary small-scale field experiments, as well as in one real-life viral marketing campaign involving more than 200,000 customers of a mobile phone service provider. The empirical results show that the best seeding strategies can be up to eight times more successful than other seeding strategies. Seeding to well-connected people is the most successful approach because these attractive seeding points are more likely to participate in viral marketing campaigns. This finding contradicts a common assumption in other studies. Well-connected people also actively use their greater reach but do not have more influence on their peers than do less well-connected people.

When should the customer really be king? : On the optimum level of salesperson customer orientation in sales encounters

Abstract: In today's age of relational selling, a key challenge for salespeople is to determine the degree to which their customer-oriented behaviors drive sales performance. Therefore, this study analyzes whether a salesperson's customer orientation in sales encounters has an optimum level with regard to sales performance and customer attitudes. Using triadic data from a cross-industry survey of 56 sales managers, 195 sales representatives, and 538 customers, the authors provide strong empirical support for a curvilinear, inverted U-shaped effect of a salesperson's customer orientation on sales performance, whereas the effect of customer orientation on customer attitudes is continuously positive. Moreover, the findings reveal that the optimum level of customer orientation with regard to sales performance is higher for salespeople selling individualized products, in firms pursuing a premium price strategy, and in markets with a high degree of competitive intensity.

Referral Programs and Customer Value.

Abstract: Referral programs have become a popular way to acquire customers. Yet there is no evidence to date that customers acquired through such programs are more valuable than other customers. The authors address this gap and investigate the extent to which referred customers are more profitable and more loyal. Tracking approximately 10,000 customers of a leading German bank for almost three years, the authors find that referred customers (1) have a higher contribution margin, though this difference erodes over time; (2) have a higher retention rate, and this difference persists over time; and (3) are more valuable in both the short and the long run. The average value of a referred customer is at least 16% higher than that of a nonreferred customer with similar demographics and time of acquisition. However, the size of the value differential varies across customer segments; therefore, firms should use a selective approach for their referral programs.

Competing for Consumer Identity: Limits to Self-Expression and the Perils of Lifestyle Branding

Abstract: The idea that consumers use brands to express their identities has led many companies to reposition their products from focusing on functional attributes to focusing on how they fit into a consumer's lifestyle. This repositioning is welcomed by managers who believe that by positioning their brands as means for self-expression, they are less likely to go head-to-head with their direct competitors. However, the authors argue that by doing so, these companies expose themselves to much broader, cross-category competition for a share of a consumer's identity. Thus, they propose that consumers' need for self-expression through brands is finite and can be satiated when consumers are exposed to self-expressive brands. Moreover, they argue that consumers' need for self-expression can be satiated not only by a brand's direct competitors but also by brands from unrelated product categories, nonbrand means of self-expression, and self-expressive behavioral acts. The authors examine these propositions in a se...

It's Got the Look: The Effect of Friendly and Aggressive “Facial” Expressions on Product Liking and Sales:

Abstract: When designing their products, companies try to employ shapes that are both emotionally appealing and compatible with the brand's image One way to accomplish these aims is to anthropomorphize a product's appearance The current research investigates how people decode emotional “facial” expressions from product shapes and how this affects liking of the design, using three studies in the domain of cars and one in the domain of cellular phones In accordance with theories on the perception of human faces, the first study shows that perception of friendliness is limited to the grille (mouth), while aggressiveness can be communicated with both grille and headlights (eyes) The next study examines the best-liked combination of these two emotional expressions and finds that consumers prefer the combination of an upturned (friendly) grille with slanted (aggressive) headlights The authors further explain this finding on a process level by showing that this combination triggers a positive affective state

Social Effects on Customer Retention

Abstract: This study explores the role of customers' social network in their defection from a service provider The authors use data on communication among one million customers of a cellular company to create a large-scale social system composed of customers' individual social networks The study's results indicate that exposure to a defecting neighbor is associated with an increase of 80% in the defection hazard, after controlling for a host of social, personal, and purchase-related variables This effect is comparable in both magnitude and nature to social effects observed in the highly researched case of product adoption: The extent of social influence on retention decays exponentially over time, and the likelihood of defection is affected by tie strength and homophily with defecting neighbors and by these neighbors' average number of connections Highly connected customers are more affected, and loyal customers are less affected by defections that occur in their social networks These results carry im

Poisoning Relationships: Perceived Unfairness in Channels of Distribution:

Abstract: Understanding how relationships are damaged is a critical component in building and preserving strong distribution channels. Using longitudinal data from a Fortune 500 firm and its channel members, this research shows that perceived unfairness truly acts as “relationship poison” by directly damaging relationships, aggravating the negative effects of both conflict and opportunism, and undermining the benefits of using contracts to manage channel relationships. Surprisingly, at low levels of perceived unfairness, conflict and opportunism have small or even insignificant effects on channel member outcomes, which implies that research investigating the negative impact of conflict and opportunism on exchange outcomes may need reevaluation because these effects are contingent and may vary depending on the levels of perceived unfairness. In addition, the findings support the premise that using contracts to manage channel relationships represents a double-edged sword that suppresses the negative effects ...

The Bright Side and Dark Side of Embedded Ties in Business-to-Business Innovation

Abstract: Although the number and importance of joint innovation projects between suppliers and their customers continue to rise, the literature has yet to resolve a key question: Do embedded ties with customers help or hurt supplier innovation? Drawing on both the tie strength and knowledge literatures, the authors theorize that embedded ties interact with supplier and customer innovation knowledge to influence supplier innovation. In a sample of 157 Dutch business-to-business innovation relationships, they observe that embedded ties weaken how much suppliers benefit from customer innovation knowledge because of worries about customer opportunism (the dark side of embedded ties). However, they uncover three moderating relationship and governance features that allow suppliers to overcome these dark-side effects and even increase innovation (the bright side of embedded ties). Finally, although the authors predicted a bright-side effect, they find that embedded ties neither help nor hinder the supplier to leverage its own innovation knowledge in the relationship.

Should Firms Spend More on Research and Development and Advertising During Recessions

Abstract: Whenever a recession occurs, there is a heated dialog among marketing academics and practitioners about the appropriate levels of marketing spending. In this article, the authors investigate whether firms should spend more on research and development (R&D) and advertising in recessions. They propose that the effects of changes in firms' R&D and advertising spending in recessions on profits and stock returns are contingent on their market share, financial leverage, and product-market profile (i.e., business-to-consumer goods, business-to-business services, business-to-business goods, or business-to-consumer services). They estimate the model using a panel of more than 10,000 firm-years of publicly listed U.S. firms from 1969 to 2008, during which there were seven recessions. Their results support the contingency approach. The authors compute the marginal effects, which show how the effects of changes in R&D and advertising spending in recessions vary across firms. The marginal effects provide evid...

Emotional Intelligence in Marketing Exchanges

Abstract: This research examines how sales professionals use emotions in marketing exchanges to facilitate positive outcomes for their firms, themselves, and their customers. The authors conduct three field studies to examine the impact of emotional intelligence (EI) in marketing exchanges on sales performance and customer relationships. They find that EI is positively related to performance of real estate and insurance agents, even when controlling for the effects of domain-general EI, self-report EI, cognitive ability, and several control variables. Sales professionals with higher EI are not only superior revenue generators but also better at retaining customers. In addition, the authors demonstrate that EI interacts with key marketing exchange variables—customer orientation and manifest influence—to heighten performance such that high-EI salespeople more effectively employ customer-oriented selling and influence customer decisions. Finally, the results indicate a complementary relationship between EI an...

The Impact of Incomplete Typeface Logos on Perceptions of the Firm

Abstract: This research investigates the influence of incomplete typeface logos on consumer perceptions of the firm. In these logos, parts of the characters in the company name are intentionally missing or blanked out, giving rise to a form of perceptual ambiguity. Three studies demonstrate that although incomplete typeface logos have an unfavorable influence on perceived firm trustworthiness, they have a favorable influence on perceived firm innovativeness. The former influence is tied to the logo's perceived clarity, while the latter influence is tied to its perceived interestingness. Furthermore, incomplete typeface logos have an unfavorable influence on overall attitude toward the firm, but only for consumers with a prevention, rather than promotion, focus. These findings suggest that firms should avoid incomplete typeface logos if perceptions of trustworthiness are critical or if consumers are likely to have a prevention focus. However, such logos may be successfully employed with promotion-focused co...

Facilitating and Rewarding Creativity during New Product Development

Abstract: In an effort to improve creativity in the new product development process, many firms offer incentive programs, creativity training programs, or both. However, creativity continues to be a construct that is not well understood in marketing, and little research has examined the joint influence of such initiatives on creative outcomes. As a result, there is considerable variance in the way firms approach these issues. A qualitative study of 20 firms indicates that 15 offered some type of incentive program, whereas only 7 engaged in creativity training (a subset of the firms used both). Given that previous research has consistently found that extrinsic rewards offered in isolation actually undermine the creative process (by reducing intrinsic motivation), it seems that many firms may be unwittingly hampering their own creative efforts. However, two experiments demonstrate that the effect of rewards can be made positive if offered in conjunction with appropriate training. Specifically, product creati...

On Managerial Relevance.

Abstract: The concept of managerial relevance continues to be a significant topic for both research faculty and business schools alike. Despite decades of debate, it is surprising that there is virtually no work on the nature of the concept itself. Thus, the author defines the concept of managerial relevance, makes three specific observations, and discusses research implications for each observation. The key message is that the field needs a much deeper understanding of the marketing roles within the firm, and research programs must be crafted to fit the needs of these particular roles. The author calls this approach “role-relevant” managerial research. With this central thesis in mind, he examines the role of the chief marketing officer (CMO) as an illustrative case study to identify areas of inquiry that are both novel and highly managerially relevant. This analysis reveals that of the seven core tasks of the CMO, three have been lightly investigated. The author concludes with advice to both academics an...

From Point of Purchase to Path to Purchase: How Preshopping Factors Drive Unplanned Buying

Abstract: Many retailers believe that a majority of purchases are unplanned, so they spend heavily on in-store marketing to stimulate these types of purchases. At the same time, the effects of “preshopping” factors—the shoppers' overall trip goals, store-specific shopping objectives, and prior marketing exposures—are largely unexplored. The authors focus on these out-of-store drivers and, unlike prior research, use panel data to “hold the shopper constant” while estimating unbiased trip-level effects. Thus, they uncover opportunities for retailers to generate more unplanned buying from existing shoppers. The authors find that the amount of unplanned buying increases monotonically with the abstractness of the overall shopping trip goal that is established before the shopper enters the store. Store-linked goals also affect unplanned buying; unplanned buying is higher on trips in which the shopper chooses the store for favorable pricing and lower on trips in which the shopper chooses the store as part of a mu...

Designing Solutions Around Customer Network Identity Goals.

Abstract: When companies fail to account for collective and relational goals in customer solutions, a mismatch can occur between firms' solutions and those that customers envision. Understanding the integration processes of customer networks is essential to improving solution design. This investigation draws on depth interviews with 21 families, the focal customer network, to generate collective and relational vacation narratives that contextualize their accounts. The authors identify four customer network integration processes: offerings assembled around prioritized goals, alternate participation, concurrent participation, and offerings assembled around separate coalitions. The findings reveal that the resulting mix of integrated products and services, or the solution, is shaped by customer network identity goals, goal management approaches, and constraints. The authors conclude with recommendations for how firms can use this information to improve solution design, identify new network partners, and revis...

Multihoming in Two-Sided Markets: An Empirical Inquiry in the Video Game Console Industry

Abstract: Two-sided markets are composed of platform owners and two distinct user networks that either buy or sell applications for the platform. The authors focus on multihoming—the choice of an agent in a user network to use more than one platform. In the context of the video game console industry, they examine the conditions affecting seller-level multihoming decisions on a given platform. Furthermore, they investigate how platform-level multihoming of applications affects the sales of the platform. The authors show that increased platform-level multihoming of applications hurts platform sales, a finding consistent with literature on brand differentiation, but they also show that this effect vanishes as platforms mature or gain market share. The authors find that platform-level multihoming of applications affects platform sales more strongly than the number of applications. Furthermore, among mature platforms, an increasing market share leads to more seller-level multihoming, while among nascent platfor...

Decision Process Evolution in Customer Channel Choice

Abstract: The growing number of sales channels through which customers can make purchases has made it imperative for managers to understand how customers decide which channels to use. However, this presents a significant challenge because there is reason to believe the channel decision process evolves over the lifetime of the customer. The authors document the existence and nature of this phenomenon by analyzing the evolution of a customer's channel choice decision process from a trial stage to a posttrial stage. First, they analyze data for a book retailer and replicate their analysis using data from a durables and apparel retailer. Their results suggest that (1) customers' decision processes do evolve, (2) a minority but sizeable segment changes decision processes within the observation period, and (3) customers who change do so from a decision process in which they are highly responsive to marketing to one in which they are less responsive. The authors illustrate and discuss the implications for both ma...

Sophistication in Research in Marketing.

Abstract: Over the years, the level of analytical rigor has risen in articles published in marketing academic journals. While, ceteris paribus, rigor is desirable, there is a growing sense that rigor has become a, if not the, goal for research in marketing. Consequently, other desirable characteristics, such as relevance, communicability, and simplicity, have been downplayed, to the detriment of the field of marketing. The authors explore this imbalance, setting forth the consequences of overemphasis on rigor for (1) the manuscript review process, (2) PhD programs, (3) hiring, and (4) the tenure and promotion review process. Two surveys of “successful” authors provide empirical support for the conjectures put forth. The authors then identify the causes for this trend and propose some directions to reestablish a better balance between rigor and relevance.

Enough Is Enough! The Fine Line in Executing Multichannel Relational Communication

Abstract: In an effort to build long-term, profitable relationships, many companies systematically engage in multichannel relational communication—personalized messages sent to existing customers through various channels as part of a broader relationship marketing strategy. In this research, the authors examine three key drivers of relational communication effectiveness: volume of communication, mix of communication channels, and alignment of those channels with customers' preferences. They hypothesize that customer response to relational communication follows a continuum in which reciprocity explains response to lower levels of communication, the classic ideal point describes a transition phase, and reactance explains response to higher levels of communication. They empirically test the theoretical framework by examining the impact of multichannel communication on repurchase over a three-year period. The results indicate that after the ideal level of communication is exceeded, customers react negatively. ...

Return on Interactivity: The Impact of Online Agents on Newcomer Adjustment:

Abstract: As service offerings grow in both range and complexity, how service providers and their customers interact is becoming increasingly important. In response to the challenge of optimizing these interactions, companies have introduced sophisticated online “socialization agents,” whose purpose is to help new customers more effectively adjust to and function within the service environment. The objective of these online agents, or virtual employees, is to help customers evaluate new or unfamiliar service offerings, as well as help companies achieve greater levels of service delivery and financial performance. To investigate this, the authors analyze the process by which online agents help both new and current customers adjust to and function within new, unfamiliar, or complex service contexts. They examine the impact of an online agent on account performance in the banking industry. They find that both interaction style and content of the online agent significantly influence the newcomer adjustment pro...

Consumer Disidentification and Its Effects on Domestic Product Purchases: An Empirical Investigation in the Netherlands

Abstract: Consumers' local bias is an important determinant of domestic product purchase behavior. Because of its importance, authors across various disciplines have investigated this phenomenon using the consumer ethnocentrism model. However, the research reported herein demonstrates that such an approach provides an incomplete picture at best. This research provides an initial test of the consumer disidentification (CDI) construct. In contrast with consumer ethnocentrism, the CDI model predicts that consumers' repulsion toward their domestic country negatively affects the purchase of products made in their domestic country or by domestic firms. The model is tested using survey data from 1534 second-generation immigrants who were born in and live in the Netherlands. Structural equation modeling supports the model and shows that CDI has a significant impact on buying decisions beyond the effect of consumer ethnocentrism. The results further show that for second-generation Turkish immigrants, acculturation ...

Bridging the Academic–Practitioner Divide in Marketing Decision Models:

Abstract: The marketing decision models field has produced many striking developments that have had a dramatic impact on practice. However, the field has produced orders of magnitude more developments that have received minimal use. In this article, the author notes the many successful marketing model developments but then considers the relatively low level of practical use (trial or adoption) and questions why that is the case. He then suggests how changes in the incentive and reward systems for marketing academics, marketing practitioners, and marketing intermediaries can bring about adoption and implementation improvements that would be mutually beneficial, bridging the academic–practitioner divide. The author also outlines a program of research in the area of the adoption and use of marketing decision models that will provide guidance on what to develop and how to get those developments adopted.