Transition economy and market factors: the influence of advertising on customer satisfaction in Serbia

Transition economies often face various issues in their socio-economic structures. Several studies analysed the differences and similarities between traditional capitalist economies and transition economies. In this research, advertising and customer satisfaction, two crucial market-driving factors, are measured in the emerging economy of Serbia. Additionally, perceived quality, brand credibility and brand relationship quality are included in the study as mediating factors. Four hundred thirty-two (432) customers and consumers participated in the survey. The findings indicate that advertising has a strong positive correlation with customer satisfaction. This provides support and invites future research in the domain of emerging economies when it comes to key market factors such as advertising and customers’post-purchase experiences

The relationship between the perception of advertising, FOMO, social network fatigue and privacy concerns among social network users

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between factors of social network advertising, attitudes towards social networks, social network advertising, brands and perception of intrusiveness of social network advertising, and factors of social networks user behaviour (FOMO and privacy concerns). The research was conducted online on a sample of 212 respondents, who are digital natives aged 18 to 45. For the purpose of examining these variables the following was used in the research: a semantic differential scale taken from Elliott and Speck (1998) to measure the attitude towards advertising, an adjusted Facebook Intensity Scale (FBI scale) (Ellison et al., 2007), a questionnaire on attitudes towards brands (Bearden et al., 2011), an adjusted media intrusion scale (Li et al., 2002), the Gartner Inc. (2011) version of the social network privacy questionnaire, the Croatian version of the Fear of Missing Out Scale – FoMOs (Omajec and Čorkalo Biruški, 2020), and the Gartner Inc. (2011) version of the social media fatigue scale. The results indicate that positive attitudes towards advertising, higher levels of privacy concerns and FOMO are predictors of higher levels of social network fatigue, while attitudes towards social networks and perceptions of intrusiveness did not prove to be significant predictors of social network fatigue. The implementation of hierarchical regression analysis revealed the mediating effect of FOMO on the relationship between the attitude towards social network advertising, the attitude towards brands and social network fatigue, while the significance of mediation was verified by the Sobel test. The paper describes the findings, research limitations and offers suggestions for future research

Influence of advertising on consumer-based brand loyalty

This paper examines the relationship between advertising and brand loyalty. Further, mediating dimensions are included in the research: brand trust and perceived quality. The data was collected via online survey. The data processing included a t-test analysis, regression analysis, and correlation analysis. Next, the findings have shown moderate influence of advertising on brand loyalty. Overall, satisfactory results are achieved. Certain limitations with online surveys didn't affect the results of the research. Furthermore, the findings in this paper contribute to future research, offering a solid basis for a more complex investigation of the marketing environment

Rise of Social Media Influencers as a New Marketing Channel: Focusing on the Roles of Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Social Responsibility among Consumers

This empirical research investigated the structural relationships between social media influencer attributes, perceived friendship, psychological well-being, loyalty, and perceived social responsibility of influencers, focusing on the perspective of social media users. More specifically, this study conceptually identified social media influencer attributes such as language similarity, interest similarity, interaction frequency, and self-disclosure and examined the respective effects of each dimension on perceived friendship and psychological well-being, consequently resulting in loyalty toward social media influencers. The authors collected and analyzed data from 388 social media users in the United States via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk with multivariate analyses to test the hypothesized associations among the variables in this study. The findings indicated that perceived friendship was significantly influenced by language similarity, interest similarity, and self-disclosure, but did not have a significant impact on psychological well-being. Additionally, perceived friendship significantly affected psychological well-being and loyalty, and psychological well-being significantly influenced loyalty. Lastly, social media influencers’ social responsibility moderated the path from psychological well-being to loyalty. Based on these findings, this study proposes theoretical and managerial implications for the social media influencer marketing context

Promotional activities and customer satisfaction: Long-term influence or a temporary marketing 'mirage'?

In this paper the influence of promotional activities on customer satisfaction is examined. In addition, key marketing constructs were measured in accordance with the goals of the research. These constructs are perceived quality, brand loyalty, and customer experience. The goal of this study is to determine the effectiveness of promotional activities regarding customer satisfaction in a modern marketing environment. Data was collected through an online survey from 466 subjects (customers, consumers, and users of various products). The structured survey was distributed in Serbia. The findings imply that promotional activities have a major influence on customers' post-purchase experience. Further, the results show how promotional activities affect consumers' and customers' subjective views on products. As promotional activities and customer satisfaction play important roles in a marketing environment, it can be argued that this paper lends support and contributes to the existing body of literature in this domain

The Impact of Customer Experience in Online Brand Communities on Customer Engagement and Purchase Intentions Among Arab Internet Users: Theoretical Analysis, Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda

Drawing on the service ecosystem theory and customer experience and engagement theory, this study examines the relationship between customer experience, customer engagement, and purchase intentions in online settings. Customer experience is operationalized into pragmatic, hedonic, sociability, and usability, whereas customer engagement is operationalized into the attitudinal and behavioral engagement. This study was undertaken among members of online communities from The Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO); a specialized organization affiliated with the League of Arab States. The study delves identifying into which customer experience may elevate customer engagement, how the specific customer experience elevates customer engagement to potentially lead to a purchasing intention in online brand communities

Contextualising social capital in online brand communities

Online brand communities (OBC) are growing in number and becoming an increasingly important interface where marketers can effectively facilitate the relationship between their brand and consumers. A qualitative study using a four-month netnography over three OBCs followed by focus groups with OBC members explored the dynamics of social capital in these communities. Findings indicate that social capital is an important driver in the success of OBCs, and all the elements of social capital including a shared language, shared vision, social trust and reciprocity are evident. Moreover, results from this study indicate that these elements are crucial in developing the network ties that are integral to building loyalty and brand equity

Brand community: The right crowd for crowdfunding

Recently crowdfunding has become popular among entrepreneurs, startups and non-profit organizations. Funders often seek to get something back either in form of equity or non-financial terms.Members of the same group show strong relationship for crowdfunding rather than individuals.Brand community including online communities has more response for open call crowdfunding.Brand community members are relatively enthusiastic in funding altruistic way that is often pursued by many firms. Besides brand community members make surveillance for project success and often volunteer in addition to funding.This study suggests brand communities as the right crowd for crowdfunding