Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: A social construction approach

According to service-dominant logic (S-D logic), all providers are service providers, and service is the fundamental basis of exchange. Value is co-created with customers and assessed on the basis of value-in-context. However, the extensive literature on S-D logic could benefit from paying explicit attention to the fact that both service exchange and value co-creation are influenced by social forces. The aim of this study is to expand understanding of service exchange and value co-creation by complementing these central aspects of S-D logic with key concepts from social construction theories (social structures, social systems, roles, positions, interactions, and reproduction of social structures). The study develops and describes a new framework for understanding how the concepts of service exchange and value co-creation are affected by recognizing that they are embedded in social systems. The study contends that value should be understood as value-in-social-context and that value is a social construction. Value co-creation is shaped by social forces, is reproduced in social structures, and can be asymmetric for the actors involved. Service exchanges are dynamic, and actors learn and change their roles within dynamic service systems

Constructing third age eHealth consumers by using personas from a cultural age perspective

Society ages and our already extensive use of a host of different portable devices continues to expand. No leap of the imagination is needed to grasp that an exponential growth of the eHealth market is at hand. While the ageing of the baby boomers will have an impact on the global economy as a whole, of particular interest is the impact this will have within the context of eHealth market development. We wish to clarify and raise the level of awareness about how older age identity is constructed in the marketer-consumer dialectic within the eHealth context and how the personas method can be used from a cultural age perspective. Our focus is on the process of third agers becoming eHealth consumers. We present an analytical framework for future studies aiming to an-alyze eHealth offerings. This will allow us to gain insight into the process of constructing the third age eHealth consumer group’s identity through multimodal communicative acts, as is the case in advertising, or in settings requiring interactivity, such as the service design process. It is through these multimodal acts that new eHealth offerings could be marketed to the third age eHealth con-sumer, focusing especially on both the written and visual language used. Our approach is meant to offer an alternative to studies in which ageing has mostly drawn upon the chronological age concept and where marketing has not been seen as a discursive practice shaping consumers’ identities

Introduction to the Special Thematic Symposium on the Ethics of Controversial Online Advertising

The field of marketing and consumer ethics has evolved considerably over the past 20 years, yet research on specific areas of advertising ethics remains limited. This limitation persists despite developments in digital technologies, and the impact they have had on advertising practice generally and online advertising more specifically. Online media are becoming increasingly populated by advertising content, as consumers continuously navigate ever-evolving mediascapes. Thus, there is a need to examine the ethical issues associated with the use of controversial advertising online, as well as consumers’ responses to such ads. This special thematic symposium addresses this literature gap, which is at the intersection of consumer ethics, e-marketing, and controversial advertising. The two papers in the special thematic symposium present new research in this area, along with some initial ethical implications as well as potential for future research

Co-Creation in der Veranstaltungsbranche: Der Mehrwert von partizipativen Veranstaltungsformaten

Das Konzept der Co-Creation hat sich zu einem vieldiskutierten Thema in der Veranstaltungsbranche entwickelt. Dieses Kapitel analysiert das Konzept von Co-Creation, auch vor dem Hintergrund ihrer Entstehung und Entwicklung im Rahmen der service-orientierten Sichtweise des Marketings. Ziel des Co-Creation-Ansatzes ist die Schaffung eines Mehrwertes für alle Beteiligten. Im Sinne eines gelungenen Wissenstransfers ist es für Veranstaltungs organisatoren dabei auch wichtig zu beachten, wie die Teilnehmer lernen und wie sie Informationen aufnehmen und behalten. Dazu werden verschiedene Lerntypen und Lernstile aus der Lernpsychologie vorgestellt. Die Ausführungen belegen die hohe Bedeutung von partizipativen Elementen, die somit neben den konventionellen Formaten (z. B. Frontalvorträgen) Bestandteil einer erfolgreichen Veranstaltung sein sollten. Das Kapitel stellt die prominentesten partizipativen Formate und deren Vor- und Nachteile vor und geht auch auf mögliche Herausforderungen bei der Umsetzung ein

Systems constellations : A better way to identify branding opportunities?

Contains fulltext : 46286.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Building strong brands has become one of the main marketing priorities for brand-supportive companies. The leading positivist paradigm in marketing may not be, however, the most-effective perspective in identifying branding opportunities. This paper offers an alternative phenomenological point of view by applying the innovative systems constellation technique within the soft systems methodology to identify new branding opportunities. A case study illustrates its content validity but also shows there is limited support for its reliability, which is in line with the positivists' reservation on phenomenological methods and techniques.1 p