Does the current pre-experience in FinTech trigger MarTech usage behaviour? A literature review and pilot study in the context of relationship marketing

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to put forward a new research agenda in the context of relationship marketing regarding customers’ usage intention - behaviour gap. The presented literature review and pilot study expand a number of research potentials. Design/methodology/approach: In this pilot study, the researcher conducted thirty in-depth personal interviews with a diverse group of non-customers of Mobile Banking application (MB app) from Licensed Commercial Banks (LCBs) in Sri Lanka (SL) to understand and explore customers’ views on expected pre-experiences of MB app usage. Content analysis is used to analyse the interviews and current pre-experience of MarTech has been proposed as a new construct. Findings: A brief literature review provides a basis for understanding the different angles of Marketing Technology (MarTech) views by Financial Technology (FinTech) marketers and customers’ usage intention – behaviour gap in the relationship marketing with the customer journey and experience as an experiential marketing strategy. Originality: This is the first study that suggests that the correct pre-experience construct can empirically be tested to validate the pilot study as new research agenda. Implications: This study helps FinTech marketers to focus more on referencing/providing current pre-experience. Therefore, this study advances the knowledge of the MarTech domain by proposing a new triggering idea to bridge the behavioural gap in MarTech usage intention and actual usage behaviour in a relationship marketing context. Keywords: Current pre-experience, FinTech marketer, Intention-behaviour gap, MarTech, Pilot study, Relationship marketin

A study of brand preference: An experiential view

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel UniversityConsumer brand preference is an essential step to understand consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. Brand preferences reveal the type of attributes a brand possesses, to strengthen its position and increase its market share. Moreover, it forms a critical input in developing a company’s successful brand strategy, and gives insight for product development. However, the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Experiential marketing also considers both, the rational and irrational assumptions of consumer behaviour. The technological advancement helped increasing the similarities between the brands attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek the brand that creates experience; intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional, and creative way. Companies’ competitiveness in such market has, therefore become increasingly difficult. Their survival requires building their competitive advantage by delivering memorable experiences, which would influence consumers’ brand preferences, and consequently stimulate consumers’ purchase decisions. In the marketing literature, the traditional models are uni-dimensional, and addressing the brand preferences by consumers’ cognitive judgement of brand attributes on a rational basis. The role of experience is limited to the impact of its type on shifting preference level. Most of prior studies are partial and focusing on one or two antecedents of brand preferences. In addition to these drawbacks, the studies also ignore consequences determining the consumer purchase decisions. Based on these limitations in the literature, a lack of understanding of how consumers develop their brand preferences was identified. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experiences determine brand preferences and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intentions. In this model, the brand knowledge is defined by attribute-based beliefs, referring to consumers’ salient beliefs about the brand intrinsic cues, and non-attribute beliefs, reflected in the price, appearance, brand personality, and self-congruity. Therefore, the relative importance of brand knowledge factors contributing to brand preference is determined. Furthermore, the model addresses the interactions between the brand knowledge and brand experience in shaping brand preference. Thus, addressing how the experiences reflect embedded value in the brand offerings influencing consumer preferences. To achieve the aim of this study, a sequential mixed-method methodology combining both qualitative and quantitative research was adopted. The aim of the first qualitative phase is exploratory, using focus groups, to refine the proposed model and generate items for questionnaire development. The second phase, quantitative research, is the survey conducted using self-administrated questionnaires. The structural equation modelling (AMOS) software is used to analyse the data. The findings confirm that brand knowledge and brand experience are key sources of brand preferences. In addition, all the factors of brand knowledge have a direct positive impact on brand preferences. However, the role of brand personality on brand preference is realised through brand experience. The findings also support that the impacts of the general brand attributes and appearance on brand preference are partially mediated by brand experience. Furthermore, brand preference positively impacts repurchase intentions. The ultimate contribution of this study stems from revealing that both cognitive information processing and experiential responses form the bases of developing brand preferences, which form the link to future psychological reactions. Methodologically, the study measures the multi-dimensional constructs, brand experience and brand personality, at the aggregate level. In addition, it validates the “big-five personality” as a measure of brand personality. Pragmatically, the study suggests three levels for building brands of technological products to win consumer preferences. At the first level lies the brand functional attributes, at the second level, are the brand symbolic attributes reflected in the imagery associations and aesthetic appearance while at the third level is the brand experience. Noteworthy, these experiences are private in nature and cannot be commoditised. This model extends the notion of brand experience on preference development and can be extended in future research to build long-term consumer-brand relationship.Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Egyptian Cultural Bureau in Londo

Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumer Purchase Behavior: The Moderating Role of Self-Presentation

In recent years, companies have experienced increasing pressure to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into their organizational structure. The relationship between a company\u27s investment in CSR and overall revenue, however, is still under debate in the current literature as research has focused on correlations and consumer purchase intentions (e.g., Auger, Burke, Devinney, & Louviere, 2003; Dutta & Singh, 2013; Klein & Dawar, 2004; Maignan, 2001; Mohr & Webb 2005; Mohr, Webb, & Harris, 2001; Nanda, 2015; Wigley, 2008). Findings from previous studies have not yet assessed actual purchase behavior or potential moderating variables impacting this relationship. Therefore, this dissertation examined the moderating role of self-presentation on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumer purchase decisions. To test the moderating role of self-presentation, two studies were conducted. Study one examined the effects of an experimental manipulation designed to either increase or decrease the salience of self-presentation concerns on overall purchase intentions. Results showed the manipulation of the salience of self-presentation concerns (e.g., high, low) did not produce differences in participants’ perceived price fairness, value, benefit, or purchase intention. Study two examined the relationship between participants\u27 actual self-presentation strategies and actual purchase behavior. The results from study two revealed a strong association between the two variables. While the hypothesis was only partially supported, these findings provide valuable insight into a potential variable moderating the relationship between CSR and consumer purchase decisions

Essays on Sales Promotion and Consumer Decision Making Process

Sales promotion is a common tool used by retailers. However, even though it is commonly used in marketplace, sometimes it cannot achieve the results as retailers expect. Thus, the specific process of consumer decision making and factors that influence the effect of promotions on consumer behavior need further research. This thesis is composed of a literature review of sales promotions, consumers response to a specific sales promotion (Minimum Purchase Requirement deal), and consumers’ decision-making process when using different symbols to shop. The first chapter presents an integrative review to summarize past empirical or theoretical literature to provide a comprehensive understanding of consumers’ and marketers’ response towards monetary and non-monetary sales promotion. The second chapter examines how the consumer’s regulatory focus influences their shopping behavior when they choose to use Minimum Purchase Requirement deals. The third chapter focuses on the interaction effect between symbol usage and personality traits on consumer’s consideration set in online shopping. The relationship among the three chapters is that the first chapter reviews the existing research about sales promotion, and the second chapter focuses on a specific type of sales promotion and examines the effect of consumers’ goal pursuit strategy (regulatory focus) on purchasing behavior when using the deal. Even though the third chapter focuses on external triggered decision-making cues (symbol usage), psychological factors (personality traits) and decision-making process (consideration set) in shopping rather than sales promotions, it follows the same thread of research in consumer decision making process and factors influencing consumer behavior. The thesis aims to contribute to the literature of sales promotion, regulatory focus, priming effect of symbol usage and consumer decision making and behavior. The findings have important implications for marketing practitioners and retailers

The Path between Personality, Self-Efficacy, and Shopping Regarding Games Apps

Producción CientíficaThe smartphone has made gaming more accessible and desirable for a wider market than ever before. Game apps are one of the most consumed and fastest growing products in the world today. Yet, few studies have thus far explored the implications of games apps consumption from a consumer perspective, addressing the transfer of abilities from one technological field to another. The main purpose of this paper is threefold: to ascertain the role of personality as a determinant of self-efficacy, to establish whether there is a transfer process from self-efficacy in video gaming with apps to online shopping and to analyze the impact of self-efficacy on the online purchase of game-related products. Results show that neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness determine the gaming self-efficacy that is transferred to online shopping self-efficacy and finally to the online purchase of game-related products. These insights provide interesting managerial implications that could affect video game marketing.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (proyecto ECO2017-82107-R)Fondo europeo de desarrollo regional (proyecto VA112P17)Junta de Castilla y León (proyecto VA112P17

Explaining and predicting the single channel versus multi-channel consumer: the case of an embarrassing product

The fundamental purpose of this thesis was to determine how effective is the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to predict and explain shopping for embarrassing products in single and multi-channel. This is important because multi-channel consumers buy more, the question is why (Neslin, Grewal et al. 2006). The question was answered by comparing consumer behaviour in three different channels: drugstore, internet and multi-channel. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been successful to predict intentions for a wide variety of products and behaviours. However, little is known about how effective it is when the behaviour under study is influenced by the emotion of embarrassment. Similarly, the TPB is parsimonious and has a good predictive power; nevertheless, this thesis identified that the TPB could be more effective if it considered: (1) the role of positive and negative emotions (2) other determinants of choice like personality and demographics (3) variables that are useful to make marketing decisions like the synergistic effect of brands, retailers and channels (4) variables that explain consumer response like approach and avoidance. To provide a comprehensive theoretical framework that is able to understand single and multi-channel, this thesis integrated the TPB within the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework. To evaluate the proposed model, the study used a context and target product that resonated with the theory: the purchase of Regaine (a hair loss product that is embarrassing to buy) in Boots (a well-known UK. multi-channel drugstore). The embarrassing nature of Regaine created differences in the importance that variables play in each channel. The results were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and the three shopping environments were compared using multi-group analysis (MGA). The effectiveness of the TPB was improved. The variance explained (R² to intention) was 73 percent for the drugstore, 67 percent for the internet and 54 percent for multi-channel. However, subjective norm (SN) was the only factor that achieved significance for the three shopping environments. Personality and demographic factors had a low but significant moderating effect on intention. This thesis built on a series of contributions in different areas, such as the TPB, attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, embarrassing products, multi-channel, marketing, emotions, personality and demographics. Future research should expand this thesis to other embarrassing products, industries and social media settings

Do you Get Tired of Shopping Online? Exploring the Influence of Information Overload on Subjective States towards Purchase Decision

The increase and development of shopping websites make customers confront with too much information, this may influence subjective states towards purchase decision. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of information overload on subjective states towards purchase decision. Based on the framework of stressor-strain-outcome, we regard information overload as the antecedent of website fatigue and website anxiety, which could further influence subjective states towards purchase decision. Besides, customer involvement should be considered. The results show that information overload leads to the low level of subjective states towards purchase decision through website fatigue and website anxiety and customer involvement plays as a moderator. Implications and limitations are also raised

What drives electric vehicle drivers' satisfaction and continuance intention?

Cruz-Jesus, F., Figueira-Alves, H., Tam, C., Pinto, D. C., Oliveira, T., & Venkatesh, V. (2023). Pragmatic and idealistic reasons: What drives electric vehicle drivers' satisfaction and continuance intention? Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 170(April), 1-16. [103626]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2023.103626The sales and use of electric vehicles (EVs) have been growing in recent times in Europe, with the hopes of mitigating CO2 emissions and enabling more sustainable transportation. Considering the growth of the EV market, the main goal of this research is to shed light on what drives electric vehicles' satisfaction and continuance intention. We collected data from 290 EV drivers in Europe. Grounded in the task-technology fit model and expectation-confirmation theory, we explained 22 % and 40 % of the variance in EV satisfaction and continuance intention, with green self-identity as a moderator. EV satisfaction and continuance intention are primarily driven by adequate infrastructure and environmental concerns.publishersversionpublishe