Showing papers in "Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science in 2013"
TL;DR: The authors analyzes value creation and co-creation in service by analytically defining the roles of the customer and the firm, as well as the scope, locus, and nature of value and value creation.
Abstract: Because extant literature on the service logic of marketing is dominated by a metaphorical view of value co-creation, the roles of both service providers and customers remain analytically unspecified, without a theoretically sound foundation for value creation or co-creation. This article analyzes value creation and co-creation in service by analytically defining the roles of the customer and the firm, as well as the scope, locus, and nature of value and value creation. Value creation refers to customers’ creation of value-in-use; co-creation is a function of interaction. Both the firm’s and the customer’s actions can be categorized by spheres (provider, joint, customer), and their interactions are either direct or indirect, leading to different forms of value creation and co-creation. This conceptualization of value creation spheres extends knowledge about how value-in-use emerges and how value creation can be managed; it also emphasizes the pivotal role of direct interactions for value co-creation opportunities.
2,036 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a contagion effect of social media use across business suppliers, retailers, and consumers, and tested social media contagion effects and their ultimate impact on multiple performance measures.
Abstract: In this research, the authors propose a contagion effect of social media use across business suppliers, retailers, and consumers. After developing and validating social media usage measures at three levels—supplier, retailer, and customer—the authors test social media contagion effects and their ultimate impact on multiple performance measures. The conceptual framework and empirical results offer new insights into the contagion effects of social media usage across the channel of distribution as well as important social influence mechanisms that enhance these effects. Consistent with the predictions, social media use positively contributes to brand performance, retailer performance, and consumer–retailer loyalty. Also, the effect of supplier social media usage on retailer social media usage and in turn on customer social media usage is moderated by brand reputation and service ambidexterity. With the ever-increasing growth and adoption of social media applications and similar technologies, this research provides a framework to promote usage by supply channel partners which ultimately influences performance-related outcomes.
495 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine social and self-motives as drivers of Word of Mouth (WOM) and find that the transmitter expects to gain personal and social benefits from sharing his opinion about a brand.
Abstract: We examine social- and self-motives as drivers of Word of Mouth (WOM). The main proposition is that the transmitter expects to gain personal and social benefits from sharing his opinion about a brand. The gains are in the form of expected satisfaction of self- and social-needs. In the research model, self-needs (i.e., self-enhancement and self-affirmation) are considered the initial driver of WOM. The desire for their satisfaction through WOM results in an intended social interaction, which in turn triggers social-motives: social-needs (i.e., social comparison and social bonding) and social-intentions (i.e., helping others and providing social information). WOM is the outcome of the intention to engage in a social interaction that is initiated by the intention to satisfy self-needs. Through an empirical analysis, we examine how the underlying mechanism varies for positive and negative WOM. Positive WOM is motivated primarily by the need for self-enhancement, and negative WOM is motivated by the need for self-affirmation. The need for social comparison affects both valences of WOM, the need for social bonding affects only positive WOM, and intention to help others and share social information affect only negative WOM. The findings suggest that discussing brands can be a mechanism for acquiring personal and social benefits, and consequently, promotional campaigns should highlight the gains customers accrue through WOM.
323 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of green marketing programs in influencing firm performance, the impact of slack resources and top management risk aversion on the deployment of such programs, and the conditioning effects that underpin these relationships.
Abstract: Growing concern about the sustainability of the natural environment is rapidly transforming the competitive landscape and forcing companies to explore the costs and benefits of “greening” their marketing mix. We develop and test a theoretical model that predicts (1) the role of green marketing programs in influencing firm performance, (2) the impact of slack resources and top management risk aversion on the deployment of such programs, and (3) the conditioning effects that underpin these relationships. Our analyses show that green marketing programs are being implemented by firms, and we find evidence of significant performance payoffs. Specifically the results indicate that green product and distribution programs positively affect firms’ product-market performance, while green pricing and promotion practices are directly positively related to firms’ return on assets. In addition, industry-level environmental reputation moderates the links between green marketing program components and firms’ product-market and financial performance. Finally, we find that slack resources and top management risk aversion are independently conducive to the adoption of green marketing programs—but operate as substitutes for each other.
282 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a model on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions is used to empirically assess how situation-specific emotions and customer participation during a health care service experience affect perceptions of the service provider.
Abstract: Many service interactions require customers to actively participate, yet customers often do not participate at levels that optimize their outcomes, particularly in health care. To gain insight into how customers shape a service experience with highly uncertain outcomes, we construct a model on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. The model is used to empirically assess how situation-specific emotions and customer participation during a health care service experience affect perceptions of the service provider. The model is tested using data from 190 medical clinic customers. Consistent with theory, results reveal that as customers’ relative affect levels become more positive, levels of participation increase as well. In turn, higher levels of positivity and participation improve customer perceptions of the quality of the service provider and satisfaction with the co-produced service experience. Implications of this research focus managers on designing services to help clients manage their emotions in ways that facilitate positivity and participation and thus improve service perceptions.
255 citations
TL;DR: The authors used conjoint analysis to uncover the attribute preferences of car and TV buyers when green attributes are negatively correlated with conventional attributes, and these attribute preferences were then used to predict choice among sets of green and less green alternatives currently sold in the marketplace.
Abstract: Despite widespread pro-green attitudes, consumers frequently purchase non-green alternatives. One possible explanation for this value–action gap is the tradeoffs that green products often force on their users: higher prices, lower quality, and/or reduced performance. The current study uses conjoint analysis to uncover the attribute preferences of car and TV buyers when green attributes are negatively correlated with conventional attributes. These attribute preferences are then used to predict choice among sets of green and less green alternatives currently sold in the marketplace. Strong preferences for green products are found when tradeoffs are not apparent, but preference shifts significantly to less green compromise alternatives when the actual attribute tradeoffs are considered. Although general preference is reduced by tradeoffs, a green product offering some compensatory advantage on a conventional attribute does attract a broader spectrum of consumers, while only “dark green” consumers are willing to pay the price to go green when the product offers few compensatory qualities. In all cases, however, predicted buyers of the greenest technologies offset some of their environmental benefits by choosing more energy-thirsty specifications on negatively correlated conventional attributes. Managerial and public policy implications of the findings are then discussed.
218 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the dynamics of consumer-brand identification and its antecedents in the context of the launch of a new brand and found that on average, CBI growth trajectories initially rise after the introduction but eventually decline, following an inverted-U shape.
Abstract: This study examines the dynamics of consumer–brand identification (CBI) and its antecedents in the context of the launch of a new brand. Three focal drivers of CBI with a new brand are examined, namely: perceived quality (the instrumental driver), self–brand congruity (the symbolic driver), and consumer innate innovativeness (a trait-based driver). Using longitudinal survey data, the authors find that on average, CBI growth trajectories initially rise after the introduction but eventually decline, following an inverted-U shape. More importantly, the longitudinal effects of the antecedents suggest that CBI can take different paths. Consumer innovativeness creates a fleeting identification with the brand that dissipates over time. On the other hand, company-controlled drivers of CBI—such as brand positioning—can contribute to the build-up of deep-structure CBI that grows stronger over time. Based on these findings, the authors offer normative guidelines to managers on consumer–brand relationship investment.
218 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the effect of different interactive effects of different control styles on the performance of industrial salespeople. But they focused only on the main effects of sales control systems without explicitly considering their interactive effects and associated intervening mechanisms.
Abstract: Sales control systems represent an important managerial tool in directing the sales force for desired organizational objectives. However, the majority of prior sales control research has focused only on the main effects of sales control systems without explicitly considering their interactive effects and associated intervening mechanisms. Drawing on job demands–resources theory, the authors theorize differential interactive effects of outcome control, activity control, and capability control on job engagement (i.e., adaptive selling behavior and selling effort) and job stress (i.e., role ambiguity and role conflict), which subsequently affect salesperson performance. Empirical results using a sample of industrial salespeople find that (1) outcome control and capability control have positive interactive effects on adaptive selling behavior and selling effort while suppressing role conflict, (2) activity control and capability control have a negative interactive effect on role ambiguity, and (3) outcome control and activity control have a positive interactive effect on selling effort but negative interactive effects on adaptive selling behavior and role clarity. These results indicate that sales control researchers can benefit from considering the complex interactive effects of various control styles as well as the intervening processes, which provide a more refined understanding of this important managerial tool.
163 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how the interplay between drivers (relationship-specific investments and behavioral uncertainty) and deterrents (inter-firm social capital) of opportunism affect partner opportunism in buyer-supplier exchanges.
Abstract: Fostering and maintaining buyer–supplier relationships is a fundamental premise of many channel initiatives. Indeed, these relationships may culminate in significant performance enhancements and competitive advantage. Yet these relationships may also result in competitively harmful events such as partner opportunism. Despite this potential competitive erosion, there is a lack of studies examining the interplay between the drivers and deterrents of opportunism. By building on transaction cost economics and social capital theory, we examine, via a sample of 400 manufacturing firms in China, how the interplay between drivers (relationship-specific investments and behavioral uncertainty) and deterrents (inter-firm social capital) of opportunism affect partner opportunism in buyer–supplier exchanges. The significance of this interplay between the drivers and deterrents sheds new light on how a firm can leverage social capital to curb the harmful effects of opportunism.
156 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the generation and use of competitive intelligence within the buyer-seller exchange process and its influence on salesperson performance using the concept of social capital as a theoretical foundation and multilevel data collected at three time points from 686 customer-salesperson dyads.
Abstract: This study explores the generation and use of competitive intelligence (CI) within the buyer–seller exchange process and its influence on salesperson performance. Using the concept of social capital as a theoretical foundation and multilevel data collected at three time points from 686 customer–salesperson dyads, the authors empirically test a conceptual framework that proposes both antecedents and consequences of CI sharing between customer and salesperson. The results of the study demonstrate that CI sharing by customers is a function of salesperson customer orientation, customer-centric extra-role behaviors, and relationship quality. CI sharing translates into increased perceived value, share-of-wallet, and profit margins when the salesperson utilizes the information to position and differentiate his or her product; however this occurs only when the salesperson has strong adaptive selling skills. Surprisingly, CI negatively influences these outcomes among low-adaptive salespeople, indicating that CI can actually work to a firm’s disadvantage if the salesperson is not equipped to respond to it. These findings suggest that CI must be examined differently than general market knowledge and that firms may leverage CI to their tactical advantage at the salesperson–customer interface if managed effectively.
155 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated how the mere presence of country cues can trigger different kinds of country stereotypes which subsequently automatically influence consumers' cognitive and affective brand evaluations as well as brand-related behavior.
Abstract: Country-of-origin (COO) research typically regards COO cue usage as a conscious and controlled process dependent on consumers’ intention to use COO information. However, emerging evidence indicates that country stereotypes can affect consumers’ brand evaluations regardless of intention. In three complementary experiments, this study investigates how the mere presence of country cues can trigger different kinds of country stereotypes (functional vs. emotional) which subsequently automatically influence consumers’ cognitive and affective brand evaluations as well as brand-related behavior. Findings confirm the automatic influence of country stereotypes and suggest that brand evaluations and brand-related behavior are enhanced when the underlying country stereotype matches the advertising execution format. On the other hand, mismatches can result in adverse effects. A follow-up study further reveals that cognitive and affective brand evaluations mediate COO effects on brand-related behavior. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are considered and future research directions identified.
TL;DR: Marketing must be elevated to a higher level of consciousness that grows beyond solving small, immediate problems to addressing long-term, large problems that goes beyond individual customer satisfaction and short-term financial performance to encompass the total value creation system.
Abstract: Marketing must be elevated to a higher level of consciousness. A consciousness that grows beyond solving small, immediate problems to addressing long-term, large problems that goes beyond individual customer satisfaction and short-term financial performance to encompass the total value creation system. The discipline, in theory and practice, must move beyond a narrow focus on customers to a broader concern for them as citizen-consumers. This necessitates a recommitment of marketing to its fundamental purpose in society, which is improving the standard of living for all citizens by co-creating value at all levels within a socio-economic system. An elevated (systems) concept of marketing must focus on micro, meso and macro systems with an understanding of the purpose and shared vision for each system, a clear identification of responsibilities, and a focus on resource effectiveness and efficiency.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated perceived brand globalness, brand origin image, and brand origin-extension fit as drivers of brand extension success that are mediated through parent brand quality and brand extension fit.
Abstract: This research investigates perceived brand globalness, brand origin image, and brand origin–extension fit as drivers of brand extension success that are mediated through parent brand quality and brand–extension fit. The authors present two complementary studies based on consumer samples from a mature and an emerging market respectively. In both studies, out of all drivers examined, the brand origin–extension fit has the strongest effect on brand extension success both in terms of quality evaluations and purchase intentions. The findings further indicate that extension success is more influenced by consumers’ perceptions of the country from which the focal brand originates than by their perceptions of the brand’s global availability and reach. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are considered and future research directions identified.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether, how, and under what conditions providing a reward for a referral affects receivers' responses to the referral and found that rewards adversely affect responses because they lead receiving consumers to infer ulterior motives for the referral.
Abstract: Referral reward programs have been shown in past research to stimulate referrals and also to contribute positively to customer lifetime value and firms’ profitability. In this paper we examine whether, how, and under what conditions providing a reward for a referral affects receivers’ responses to the referral. Based on a multiple motives inference framework, we propose that rewards adversely affect responses because they lead receiving consumers to infer ulterior motives for the referral. Using experiments and a survey, we find support for this hypothesis and show that this effect is stronger for unsolicited and weak tie referrals. We also demonstrate that rewarding both the referral provider and receiver or providing symbolic rewards can eliminate the negative effect of rewarded referrals. The paper makes conceptual contributions to the literature on referral reward programs, word-of-mouth, and motive inferences. The work has implications for managers considering ways to construct referral programs and design marketing activities to increase referrals.
TL;DR: This article developed an extension to brand positioning theory to understand how individuals seeking work in established organizational fields can effectively position themselves by analyzing qualitative data on the practices of people in one job category (fashion models) in an established organizational field (fashion).
Abstract: This paper inductively develops an extension to brand positioning theory to understand how individuals seeking work in established organizational fields can effectively position themselves. It does so by analyzing qualitative data on the practices of people in one job category (fashion models) in an established organizational field (fashion), examining them through the lens of concepts adapted from work by Pierre Bourdieu. Four brand positioning practices are identified as relevant for models vying for work in the fashion field: crafting a portfolio, cultivating and demonstrating upward affiliations, complying with occupation-specific behavioral expectations, and conveying field-conforming tastes. Drawing on Bourdieu, we argue more generally that person brand positioning within established organizational fields happens through processes that help to portray a person as having field-specific social and cultural capital that allows them to “stand out,” while acquiring the habitus that allows them to comply with field- and occupation-specific expectations in order to “fit in.” Standing out and fitting in have parallels with—but are not identical to—the processes of establishing and reinforcing points of differentiation and points of parity for product brands. Our study implies that scholars interested in person branding should further develop theories that illuminate variations in brand positioning practices between products and persons. It also suggests that people building person brands should be sensitized to the valued forms of capital and normative expectations in their field that enable them to stand out while fitting in.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine tactical ways for online merchants to mitigate consumers' negative reactions when adopting dynamic pricing strategies and show that using various price-framing tactics, compared to no framing, can induce price-disadvantaged consumers to perceive their ostensibly similar transactions differently relative to their comparative other parties.
Abstract: The viability of online dynamic pricing, or differential pricing for the same product from the same seller, is still debatable given the contradictory findings reported in both modeling and behavioral price research. This paper examines tactical ways for online merchants to mitigate consumers’ negative reactions when adopting dynamic pricing strategies. In three experiments, we show that using various price-framing tactics, compared to no framing, can induce price-disadvantaged consumers to perceive their ostensibly similar transactions differently relative to their comparative other parties. As the degree of perceived transaction dissimilarity increases, price-disadvantaged consumers’ perceived price fairness, trust, and repurchase intentions are enhanced. We further compare different price framing tactics and demonstrate that they have different effects on consumers across different product price levels, customer segments, and framing formats. The paper concludes with theoretical and managerial implications of the research.
TL;DR: In this paper, a measure of athletic coachability is adapted and applied to salespeople in a business-to-business sales context, and relationships among salesperson coachability, salesperson trait competitiveness, sales manager leadership style, and sales performance are conceptualized and tested.
Abstract: In this two-part empirical study, a measure of athletic coachability is adapted and applied to salespeople in a business-to-business sales context. Relationships among salesperson coachability, salesperson trait competitiveness, sales manager leadership style, and sales performance are conceptualized and tested. Results suggest that sales performance is highest when salespeople are highly coachable, highly competitive, and under transformational leadership. Results also suggest that salesperson coachability fully mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and sales performance and partially mediates the relationship between salesperson trait competitiveness and sales performance.
TL;DR: In this article, a multilayer model of innovation-oriented corporate culture, using data from three different informants: marketing managers, R&D managers, and customers, is analyzed.
Abstract: In recent years, firms have invested considerably in programs to raise their innovativeness by inspiring employees with an innovation-oriented corporate culture. However, extant literature is inconclusive on how an innovation-oriented culture leads to increases in product program innovativeness (PPI). This study investigates this question by analyzing a multilayer model of innovation-oriented corporate culture, using data from three different informants: marketing managers, R&D managers, and customers. The effects of innovation-oriented values and norms on PPI are fully mediated by cultural artifacts. Therefore, values and norms must be transformed into specific artifacts to exert an influence on innovativeness. Furthermore, market dynamism and technological turbulence have opposite moderating effects on the relationship between innovation-oriented artifacts and PPI. Market dynamism weakens this relationship, whereas technological turbulence strengthens it.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between a sales team manager's empowering leadership and his or her sales team's customer knowledge creation capability, and find that the effect of empowering leadership on sales team performance is mitigated when either outcome interdependence or both task and outcome inter-ependence are high.
Abstract: Drawing on substitutes for leadership theory, this study examines the relationship between a sales team manager’s empowering leadership and his or her sales team’s customer knowledge creation capability. The authors develop and test a model that positions task interdependence, outcome interdependence, and their interactions as substitutes for empowering leadership. Further, the authors explore two perspectives of team-level performance—customer relationship performance and financial performance—as consequences of a sales team’s customer knowledge creation capability. Using matched data collected from sales team managers and sales team members, the authors find general support for their hypotheses. The study finds that a sales manager’s empowering leadership has a positive effect on a sales team’s customer knowledge creation capability. However, the results also suggest that the positive effect of empowering leadership on a sales team’s customer knowledge creation capability is mitigated when either outcome interdependence or both task and outcome interdependence are high. Further, as outcome interdependence and the interaction between task and outcome interdependence increases, a sales team’s customer knowledge creation capability also increases, which suggests that outcome interdependence and the combination of task and outcome interdependence replaces the role of empowering leadership. The study also finds that the greater a sales team’s customer knowledge creation capability is, the higher its customer relationship performance and sales team financial performance will be. Implications for customer knowledge creation in sales teams in the presence and absence of empowering leadership are discussed.
Abstract: Even in difficult economic times, many consumers consider the social implications of the goods they select and therefore take into account whether those goods carry a luxury brand label—which for some will be authentic, for some counterfeit. While previous research has investigated influences on the authentic vs. counterfeit choice, this study adds a third possibility: rejecting both types of luxury brands to show that one has better claims to status than “buying the label.” This study tests a model of three alternative brand type choice processes and finds support for the importance of status considerations in the selection or rejection of luxury brands.
TL;DR: In this article, a large-scale dataset comprising information from sales managers and salespeople as well as company data on customer satisfaction and sales performance was used to explore important phenomena of interpersonal identification in the sales manager-salesperson dyad.
Abstract: In recent years, marketing research and practice have recognized the importance of managing frontline employees’ identification. However, investigations so far have focused on identification at the collective level of the self, such as organizational identification, thereby largely neglecting important interpersonal identification processes at the relational level. Using a large-scale dataset comprising information from sales managers and salespeople as well as company data on customer satisfaction and sales performance, the authors make a first attempt to address this neglect by exploring important phenomena of interpersonal identification in the sales manager–salesperson dyad. Results show that initial increases in the level of identification congruence between sales managers and their respective salespeople yield positive incremental effects on sales performance and customer satisfaction. Findings also show that interpersonal over-identification and identification incongruence are negatively related to both outcomes. Results demonstrate how sales managers could mitigate these negative effects.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate that a salesperson's perception of brand advertising has a significant effect on salesperson effort and performance by positively influencing the extent to which the salesperson identifies with the brand and his or her expectancy that such effort will generate results.
Abstract: Considerable research explores advertising’s role in influencing consumer perceptions and behavior. However, advertising’s impact on another key audience—the sales force—has been largely overlooked. Drawing from social identity and expectancy theories, and using survey and objective performance data across multiple wholesalers, the authors demonstrate that a salesperson’s perception of brand advertising has a significant effect on salesperson effort and performance by positively influencing the extent to which the salesperson identifies with the brand and his or her expectancy that such effort will generate results. These effects are moderated by internal communications and brand size. Model results suggest that advertising’s role may extend beyond “pull” to “push” by motivating salespeople to exert more effort on behalf of a brand. As a result, firms should take steps to proactively manage salesperson perceptions of brand advertising while also considering this dual role when assessing advertising effectiveness and efficiency.
TL;DR: In this paper, a theoretical framework for explaining consumer reactions to corporate offshoring by testing the impact of the decision to offshore or to maintain domestic activities on two dependent variables: consumer attitudes toward the company and word-of-mouth communication was developed.
Abstract: This paper develops a unique theoretical framework for explaining consumer reactions to corporate offshoring by testing the impact of the decision to offshore or to maintain domestic activities on two dependent variables: consumer attitudes toward the company and word-of-mouth communication. We conduct two controlled experiments administered in the field with adult consumers. Study 1 analyzes the processes underlying consumer reactions to corporate offshoring from the perspective of the perceived moral harm and good that offshoring produces. Results verify the mediating role of positive and negative moral emotions (i.e., gratitude and righteous anger) felt by consumers. Study 2 demonstrates the moderating role of consumer perceived risk of offshoring on the linkage between company offshoring and the same moral emotions and through these moral emotions on consumer attitudes toward the company and word-of-mouth communication. An unexpected finding is the mediation of the positive moral emotion of elevation on consumer attitudes.
TL;DR: This paper explored the relationship between parent quality, image fit and functional fit and found that high parent quality negatively impacts an extension's sales when functional fit is high, while low parent quality can actually increase an extension’s sales in some cases.
Abstract: The extant literature contends that a new product extension’s success is an increasing function of the parent brand’s quality and the degree of fit between the parent brand and extension. We develop theory to explore relationships between parent quality, image fit and functional fit. Each of these components should trigger positive pre-purchase associations from the parent. However, at the point of sale, high levels of functional fit are expected to increase the probability of substitution between parent and extension. To test this and related assertions, we augment UPC scanner data with perceptual measures for 42 matched parent–extension pairs. Findings confirm that high parent quality negatively impacts an extension’s sales when functional fit is high. Equally telling, low parent quality can actually increase an extension’s sales in some cases. We use our fitted model to present counter-factual experiments to show the magnitude of these increases or decreases under combinations of our key variables and extension type, line or brand. The combinations we explore occur frequently in-market.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse investors' perceptions of sponsorship's ability to increase brand equity, through the impact of sponsorship announcement on stock market value, and show substantial negative abnormal returns following announcement dates.
Abstract: The objective of this study is to analyse investors’ perceptions of sponsorship’s ability to increase brand equity, through the impact of sponsorship announcement on stock market value. An event study method, based on a unique sample of 293 worldwide sponsorship announcements from 2010, shows substantial negative abnormal returns following announcement dates. In addition, a cross-sectional regression analysis reveals the influence of several featured factors. Philanthropic sponsorships and sponsorships of events with distinctive values are less negatively perceived by investors, but US companies exhibit more negative returns in shareholder value than other firms. This study offers no support for varying impacts of event audience, renewal agreement, property sponsorship and title sponsorship on abnormal returns though.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how frontline service employees (FSEs) can learn from recovery services and improve their performance accordingly, and explore under which conditions it is beneficial for FSEs to engage in an additional innovation role.
Abstract: This study examines how frontline service employees (FSEs) can learn from recovery services and improve their performance accordingly. While research recognizes that FSEs can fulfill an innovation role by sourcing customer knowledge and developing ideas for performance improvement, it remains unclear whether such a role benefits or impairs the FSE’s primary recovery service role of providing efficient and thorough solutions to customer problems. This research models both FSE roles and explores under which conditions it is beneficial for FSEs to engage in an additional innovation role. The model is tested using survey and objective data from 134 FSEs. PLS results reveal that the innovation role is detrimental because sourcing knowledge from customers takes time and effort, but also beneficial because knowledge sourcing triggers FSEs to develop ideas for improvement, which positively influence their recovery speed and recovery quality. Managers can strengthen these positive effects of knowledge sourcing by optimizing an FSE’s service portfolio (i.e., the combination of products, customers, and failures an employee is responsible for), which leverages the effects of knowledge sourcing on ideas for improvement.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how a country's cultural fabric moderates the impact of movie-related signals on the opening weekend box office performance, and find that the positive relationship between sequels and performance wanes in individualist cultures, while critics' reviews are more instrumental in high uncertainty avoidance cultures.
Abstract: Movies are experiential products that include a myriad of cultural cues, and their box office performance varies across countries with different cultural backgrounds. The profusion of studies on the motion picture industry notwithstanding, this aspect has been largely ignored in the literature. Drawing on signaling theory, this study examines how a country’s cultural fabric moderates the impact of movie-related signals on the opening weekend box office performance. We test our hypotheses using a multilevel model and a comprehensive dataset of 1,116 movies released in 27 countries between 2007 and 2011. Results reveal that the impact of star power on box office performance is amplified in high uncertainty avoidance and indulgent cultures, while it is attenuated in high power distance cultures. Moreover, the positive relationship between sequels and performance wanes in individualist cultures. Movies with high production budgets perform better in culturally open countries, while critics’ reviews are more instrumental in high uncertainty avoidance cultures.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors suggest that these mixed findings may result from the failure of extant research to control for unobserved heterogeneity that may mask the true relationships among market orientation, facets of the environment, and firm outcomes.
Abstract: The interaction between market orientation and facets of the environment is theoretically compelling and is hence the primary interaction studied in market orientation literature. Yet empirical literature offers mixed findings regarding these interaction effects. We suggest that these mixed findings may result from the failure of extant research to control for unobserved heterogeneity that may mask the true relationships among market orientation, facets of the environment, and firm outcomes. Such unobserved heterogeneity might arise due to presence of higher order (e.g., three-way, four-way) moderators (e.g., firm size and innovativeness). To illustrate our assertions on unobserved heterogeneity and the role of firm size and innovativeness, we present two studies that use firm performance or new product performance as the outcome variable; the studies (1) include market orientation, two facets of the environment (technological turbulence and market dynamism), and the interactions between market orientation and facets of the environment as explanatory variables, (2) employ finite mixture regression models to estimate the relationships of interest while explicitly accounting for unobserved heterogeneity in the form of latent regimes (segments), and (3) use firm size and innovativeness as concomitant profiling variables in the finite mixture model specification. The results indicate that disaggregate models (i.e., multi-regime solutions) offer the best fit in both studies. The effects across the latent regimes differ, demonstrating the possibility of an aggregation bias in empirical literature and suggesting the need for using disaggregated analyses to study important marketing phenomena. In theoretical terms, these results also suggest the possibility of developing theories that incorporate unobserved heterogeneity and perhaps higher order (e.g., three-way) interaction effects.
TL;DR: In this article, a dataset of 231 industrial salespeople working in 55 teams was used to investigate the role of salespeople in the field of cross-selling and found that up to 75% of all cross-sell initiatives fail due to sales force-related reasons.
Abstract: Cross-selling offers tremendous benefits for both vendors and customers. However, up to 75% of all cross-selling initiatives fail, usually for sales force–related reasons. Yet prior research has largely ignored the role of salespeople in the field of cross-selling. Using a motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) framework, this research addresses factors that determine a salesperson’s cross-selling performance, including the predominant role of the selling team as a social environment in which individual behavior occurs. A dataset of 231 industrial salespeople working in 55 teams reveals that 37% of overall variation in behavior is caused by differences across teams. The team-specific hypotheses, based on social norms and reputation theory, are tested with a hierarchical linear modeling approach with matched data from three sources. Individual cross-selling motivation has a stronger effect when a selling team has strong cross-selling norms, and in the specific context of cross-selling, selling team reputation can constrain individual behavior that might damage that reputation. Salespeople also develop beliefs about the reasons for their team reputation, including its cross-selling ability, which can reduce an individual salesperson’s reputational concerns and hence reinforce individual cross-selling behavior. These results have significant theoretical and managerial implications.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introspectively compare MUFees and SUFees in terms of the factors franchisees consider important when initially buying a franchise, and how these considerations change when SUFee becomes MUFee.
Abstract: Multi-unit franchisees (MUFees; i.e., franchisees that operate more than one outlet within a franchise system) represent a pervasive and even dominant form of franchise ownership in many sectors. However, much of the franchising literature has been developed with a focus on single-unit franchisees (SUFees). The goals of this article are to introspectively compare MUFees and SUFees in terms of (1) the factors franchisees consider important when initially buying a franchise, (2) how these considerations change when SUFees become MUFees, and (3) how SUFees and MUFees characterize their relationships with their franchisors in terms of relational constructs. Our data reveal significant differences between these two groups in terms of purchase motivations as well as relational sentiments. Importantly, franchisor preferences for multi-unit franchising notwithstanding, it is the SUFees that characterize their dyadic relationships with their franchisors as more relational as compared to their MUFees counterparts.