And another thing...dress codes for book people: L- Librarians

A humorous consideration of what librarians wear - and what they should not wear indicating the role and status of the profession

A structural model to examine the antecedents and consequences of customer with experiential brands

Despite the increasing attention towards customer experience, empirical research to explain this notion, its antecedents and its consequences is still limited. Hence, this research aims to develop a framework of customer experience based on a number of antecedents that influence customer experience in the service sector. This paper presents the first part of the study which includes the review of literature, the application of netnography method to the development of customer experience construct, the development of the research measures and the hypotheses development for the structural model. The second part of the study, which is presented in another paper, provides the results of the empirical study and discusses the findings of the structural model

Message Oriented Approach to WOM Effects in Service Industries

In this study a search-based and an experience-based service were examined in Word-of-Mouth (WOM) context. The study aimed at revealing the extent to which consumer choices in movie theatre and repair and maintenance shop services are influenced by the experience communicated by personal sources. Four key contributions are planned. Firstly, although it has attracted attention and criticism there is no empirical examination regarding message characteristics. In this study, the effects of messages delivered by senders concerning purchase decisions are investigated. Secondly, a more powerful scale regarding active information search was developed. Thirdly, perceptual homophily and sender characteristics were added to the model in a unique construct. Fourthly, to measure the effects of personal sources a classification of services is applied for the first time in WOM researches in this context. Data was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and reliability analysis in the first stage of the analysis. At the second stage, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted and the model's hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modeling (SEM)

IMC customer-based perception: strategic antecedents and consequences on post-purchase customer behaviour

Last decades Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) have been mainly analysed from a managerial perspective, overlooking the customer opinion. Thus, this research studies IMC customer-based perception, its strategic antecedents and consequences on post-purchase customer behaviour (satisfaction, word-of-mouth recommendations, and repurchase intention), from a multi-country perspective. The structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis are based on the customers´ survey data in Belarus and Spain. The results suggest that technology orientation positively affects IMC, and, customer orientation does not. IMC positively affects customer satisfaction, which in turn positively impacts on WOM and repurchase intention. WOM does not influence on repurchase intention. IMC directly affects WOM and repurchase intention in Spain and does not in Belarus, which is the significant country difference

The Effects of Electronic Word-of-Mouth: An Exploratory Study.

Although marketing and advertising professionals tend to believe the effectiveness of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), few studies have confirmed the eWOM effects. Therefore, this study conducted a test of eWOM effects in a laboratory experiment. Subjects were randomly assigned into three groups: advertising only, advertising and positive eWOM, and advertising and negative eWOM. Results showed that eWOM possesses influences on consumers attitudes and purchase intentions, however the effects of positive eWOM are very limited. Results also showed that the effects of negative eWOM carry more weight than positive eWOM. This study also uncovered the complexity of eWOM effects. It is likely that the eWOM effects on changing attitude toward the brand are more direct and significant than the effects on attitude toward the ad and purchase intention. Besides, the effectiveness of eWOM may rest on the fulfillment of other antecedents. Implications for marketing practice were discussed

The different shades of responsibility: examining domestic and international travelers' motivations for responsible tourism in India

To address the scarcity of research concerning the demand side of responsible tourism, the present study examines the motivations of domestic and international travelers in India. Data were collected using an Internet survey distributed via e-mail and Facebook to the clients of five responsible tourism operators in India. Using Dann's push–pull typology, factor analysis uncovered nine underlying motivations for responsible tourism, with significant differences between domestic and international travelers for these factors. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct segments of travelers – Responsibles, Novelty Seekers, and Socializers – that differ in their core underlying motivations for responsible tourism and in their socio-demographic characteristics. The study contributes one responsibility-specific push and one pull factor to the literature about travel motivation. Also the findings suggest that operators and destination marketers must develop their products and marketing communications to address the heterogeneity of motivations underlying responsible tourism.Accepted manuscrip

How Does Buzz Build Brands? Investigating the Link between Word of Mouth and Brand Performance

To aid in resolving some of the ambiguity in the literature about the impact of different forms of WOM on brand performance, this dissertation investigates how WOM influences three consumer responses to WOM: purchase, WOM retransmission, and additional information search. The author investigates these questions by analyzing a database comprising more than three years of detailed WOM data from a unique, nationally representative panel merged with other secondary sources that provide various measures of brand strength (the American Consumer Satisfaction Index and Harris Interactive’s Equitrend). Using a series of hierarchical regression models, the results from this study reveal numerous insights into the contextual factors that moderate the impact of a WOM episode. For example, negative WOM about a brand has a larger absolute effect on consumer purchase intentions than positive WOM, but positive WOM has a larger positive effect on WOM retransmission than the positive effect of negative WOM. Offline WOM tends to exacerbate the effect of positive and negative brand sentiment on purchase intentions. WOM between stronger social ties tends to have greater impact on brand-related responses than WOM between weak ties, except in the case of motivating additional information search. The results also indicate that strong brands (those with higher levels of brand equity) tend to reap greater benefits from WOM. For example, negative, mixed, or neutral WOM has greater influence on purchase, and WOM from weak social ties about strong brands motivates higher levels of information search than when WOM from weak ties is about weaker brands

Trust and reciprocity effect on electronic word-of-mouth in online review communities

Purpose Social media developments in the last decade have led to the emergence of a new form of word of mouth (WOM) in the digital environment. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is considered by many scholars and practitioners to be the most influential informal communication mechanism between businesses and potential and actual consumers. The purpose of this paper is to extend knowledge about WOM in this new context by proposing a conceptual framework that enables a better understanding of how trust and reciprocity influence eWOM participation in ORCs. Design/methodology/approach This study applies non-probability convenience sampling technique to conduct a quantitative study of data from an online survey of 189 members of ORCs. Partial least squares (PLS) is used to analyse the correlations between individuals’ intention to seek opinion, to give their own opinion and to pass on the opinion of another within ORCs. Findings The data analysis reveals that opinion seeking within ORCs had a direct effect on opinion giving and opinion passing. Ability trust and integrity trust had a positive effect on opinion seeking, while benevolence trust had a direct positive effect on opinion passing. Reciprocity had a direct impact on opinion passing. While reciprocity did not affect opinion giving, the relationship between these two concepts was mediated by integrity trust. Research limitations/implications By studying the complexities that characterise the relationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM, the study extends understanding of eWOM in ORCs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of only a few papers that have examined the complex interrelationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM in the context of ORCs