Building the dream online: Does participation in luxury brand's social media affect brand experience, brand affect, brand trust, and brand loyalty?

The global market for luxury goods has witnessed a phenomenal growth over the past decades. Along with the increasing demand that stems from increased purchasing power, emerging markets, and new wider consumer groups, traditional luxury brands have faced a fierce competition caused by new forms of luxury such as masstige and luxurious fashion. Likewise, the rapid growth of social networks and social media has fundamentally transformed the business environment, and the whole society. Digital networks have facilitated companies and consumers to build online consumption communities, which supports the recent shift of marketing focus on relationships and co-creation of value. Consequently, luxury brands have started to use social media for advertising and relationship marketing. Due to the dynamic and interactive digital environment the importance of brand stories has become even more apparent. While brand communities and online communities are widely studied, luxury brands and social media based brand communities (SMBBCs) have not received yet much academic attention. This study takes the approach of SMBBCs to investigate the influence of consumers' participation in luxury brand's social media on brand experience, and on key dependent variables in consumer behavior research: brand affect, brand trust, and brand loyalty. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of social media, and to contribute to the research on social media brand communities and brand-consumer relationships, as well as luxury brands. The study proposes a theoretical framework that combines two empirically developed constructs: brand experience, and brand affect/trust-brand loyalty constructs, and tests the model within a social media based luxury brand community context. The data were collected as an online survey from various social media, which resulted in 333 valid responses from consumers who follow a luxury brand's social media. The study is quantitative by nature, and uses structural equation modeling (SEM) as the main method of analysis. To further examine the influence of participation on the focal construct, brand experience, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also conducted. The results support the reasoning that participation in luxury brand's social media affect consumer behavior. Social media following influences brand experience that accumulates in the long run, but participation affects also rapidly consumers new to the brand. Further, active participation and passive participation appear to have equal influence on brand experience. The findings reveal the chain of effects from brand related stimuli to brand affect, brand trust, and brand loyalty, and confirm the importance of affect in building brand loyalty

Understanding consumers’ ethical decision-making process : assessment of antecedents and consequences of consumer’s explicit and implicit perception and behavior towards ethical consumption

Soziale und ökologische Anliegen erfahren bei allen Austauschprozessen eine immer höhere Relevanz. Auch beim Konsum achten immer mehr Menschen auf die ökologische und soziale Verträglichkeit der konsumierten Produkte und Marken und wollen mit ihren Konsumentscheidungen ein Zeichen gegen unethisches Handeln setzen. Dadurch bietet der Konsum heutzutage ein Mittel, mit dem Konsumenten ihre ethischen Vorstellungen vertreten und repräsentieren können. Während Konsumenten jedoch in einigen Handlungsbereichen bewusst entsprechend ihren ethischen Vorstellungen nach handeln, geraten in anderen Handlungsbereichen die selbigen ethischen Grundsätze in den Hintergrund und erfahren kaum oder teilweise keine Relevanz bei der Konsumentscheidung. Daher stellt sich die Frage, ob es den ethischen Konsumenten überhaupt gibt. Zahlreiche Unternehmen passen sich den ethischen Grundsätzen und Vorstellungen der Konsumenten an und versuchen Ihre Angebote an diese Vorstellungen auszurichten. Da scheinbar allein die ausgesprochenen ethischen Vorstellungen der Konsumenten kein ausreichendes Merkmal sind, um entsprechende Handlungen zu tätigen, ist ein ausgeprägteres Verständnis ethischer Konsumentscheidungen und ihrer Determinanten erforderlich. Diesem Ziel widmet sich die vorliegende Dissertation. Im ersten Modul, welches aus drei Forschungsartikeln besteht, werden zunächst Treiber und Folgen des ethischen Konsums identifiziert und Ihre Beziehung zueinander diskutiert. Hierbei werden insbesondere psychographische Merkmale der Konsumenten erörtert, sowie produkt-, marken- und kontextabhängige Faktoren adressiert. Zudem wird hier ein Bezug zwischen dem Luxuskonsum und dem ethischen Konsum hergestellt. Das zweite Modul besteht aus insgesamt zwei Forschungsbeiträgen und setzt sich mit der Förderung nachhaltigen Konsums auseinander. Hierbei wird insbesondere auf die Gestaltung von Kommunikationsmaßnahmen und Kanälen eingegangen, wobei das Offline- sowie das Online-Umfeld einbezogen wird. Letzteres in Form eines Online Shops für fair gehandelten Kaffee. Da Menschen Informationen über explizite und implizite Prozesse verarbeiten und Entscheidungen oftmals unbewusst getroffen werden, werden Methoden der neuroökonomischen Forschung in Modul 2 integriert, um eben diese unbewussten Prozesse zu erfassen und so die ganzheitliche Wirkung der Maßnahmen erfassen zu können. Die Ergebnisse der verschiedenen Forschungsartikel veranschaulichen die Vielfältigkeit der Faktoren, denen ethische Konsumhandlungen unterliegen. Sämtliche Treiber müssen, je nach Anwendungskontext, in die Erklärung des ethischen Konsumentenverhaltens einbezogen werden. Die Erkenntnisse liefern für kommerzielle sowie nicht-kommerzielle Unternehmen (Non-Profit-Organisationen) wertvolle praktische Implikationen, um ihre Zielgruppe besser zu verstehen und um ihre Produkte und Kommunikationsmaßnahmen effizient gestalten und wirksam umzusetzen zu können. Für zukünftige Forschungsrichtungen liefert die Dissertation mehrere potenzielle Ansätze. Besonders zu verfolgen sind jene, die eine ganzheitlichere Erklärung ethischen Konsums anstreben und mögliche Barrieren auf Seiten der Konsumenten adressieren. Hierbei kann die Einbindung modernen Methoden der Neuroökonomie einen erheblichen Beitrag zur Erklärung des Entscheidungsprozesses bieten

Innovative user engagement and playfulness on adoption intentions of technological products: evidence from SEM-based multivariate approach

Using ubiquitous computing devices, also UCD, is a conscious decision made by consumers, success of which depends on how much it involves and engages the user that results in functional, hedonic and social experiences in user’s context and long-term success for organization. User engagement, tested in multifarious concepts, indicates that experiences that are significantly hedonic create an affective bond with the device and deliver high value to the consumer. This study verifies and investigates the dispositional and impacting factors that influence a consumer’s adoption intention for radical or incremental innovation or loyalty to an incumbent ubiquitous computing device through concept of user engagement, self-congruity theory, innovativeness and playfulness. The research was based on a survey questionnaire collected from users of ubiquitous computing devices (UCDs) belonging to an educated urban population from an age group of 18 to 35 years residing in Karachi through convenience and self-selection sampling. In total, 654 complete responses were received coded in SPSS and the model was analysed through AMOS 23.0. Results indicate that three dimensions of user engagement are significant for ubiquitous computing devices (UCDs): focused attention, interaction appeal and perceived usability. The first two are significantly positive towards playfulness creating an association with self-concept leading to innovative consumer’s innovation adoption and others having loyalty with incumbent device. The research theoretically contributes by identification of user engagement dimensions and significance of incumbent loyalty in innovation adoption phenomeno

Consumer Culture and Purchase Intentions towards Fashion Apparel

This study examines the effectiveness of different fashion marketing strategies and analyzes of the consumer behavior in a cross-section of demographic settings in reference to fashion apparel retailing. This paper also discusses the marketing competencies of fashion apparel brands and retailers in reference to brand image, promotions, and externalmarket knowledge. The study examines the determinants of consumer behavior and their impact on purchase intentions towards fashion apparel. The results reveal that sociocultural and personality related factors induce the purchase intentions among consumers. One of the contributions that this research extends is the debate about the converging economic, cognitive and brand related factors to induce purchase intentions. Fashion loving consumers typically patronage multi-channel retail outlets, designer brands, and invest time and cost towards an advantageous product search. The results of the study show a positive effect of store and brand preferences on developing purchase intentions for fashion apparel among consumers.Consumer behavior, purchase intention, socio-cultural values, designer brands, store brands, fashion apparel, brand promotion, personalization, fashion retailing, psychographic drivers

An experimental research on emotional stimuli of consumers: the case of H&M flagship store influence on the millennial customer experience in Barcelona

Purpose: The main objective of this exploratory research study was to demonstrate the extent to which customers' approach-avoidance responses to fast fashion flagship stores can be predicted from their emotional states framed according to the PAD (Pleasure, Arousal, and Dominance) model and information rates. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected through a survey questionnaire from 72 randomly selected millennials visiting H&M flagship store, just after their visit (55% women and 45% men). Data was analysed using exploratory factor analysis to classify the measures and later through regression analysis explaining the predictor variables. Findings: In accordance with the theory and past research on PAD measures, results show PAD as a highly predictable variable over most of the approach-avoidance behaviour in a flagship store environment. Pleasure variable shows highly significant relationship with affect, approach-avoidance (average of all measures of approach-avoidance), and time spent in the store and to an extent significantly relates to purchase intentions. This signifies that in a highly pleasant environment, an individual’s affectionate behaviour, to remain exploring in the store for a longer time, and on an average the approach behaviour to the flagship store will be highly positive. Originality/value: This study is a unique exploration, as very little is known in the literature, on flagship store influences over consumer experiences. Findings suggest interesting advancement in the field of in person shopping effects and encourages future research in flagship store economic investments and marketing impacts, which may extend consumer behavioural scopes as well. This exploratory research may have implications of interest for business strategic decision, brand management, and for marketing as well. As brands seek to recover consumers in their physical stores, offering them a safer and more complete shopping experience, flagship stores can play a key role in encouraging online customers’ visiting stores in-person, which may ultimately increase salesPeer Reviewe