Thoughts on the Chameleon Consumer and the Chaotic Marketing

Marketing theory and practice pass through systematic reassessment and rethinking. Challenges to marketing theory and practice are given by two types of forces: on the one hand information and communication technology development and on the other hand cultural changes and change in consumer behavior patterns. Globalization has caused the connection between social and cultural values that are peculiar to consumers in different markets, an unusual mixture of behavior patterns and marketing practices. Phrases such as opportunistic consumer, the consumer who” manages” his own options, enclavement, tribalism, superficiality, flexibility, flow, the mixture between reality and simulation, between concreteness and image are to be found more and more in marketing publications. In this article I intended to analyze social and cultural mutations that changed purchase and consumption behavior, and also the continuous rethinking and conceptualization of marketing practices.marketing, postmodernism, opportunism, values, flexibility, fluidity

Consumer innovativeness: a marketing approach

By innovativeness we mean the predisposition of a consumer to adopt a product earlier than most others. Various studies have shown that across product categories, innovators tend to be: opinion leaders, risk takers, more likely to obtain information from mass media than through word of mouth, open to new ideas and change, relatively young etc. Marketers want to identify the segment of the market that is most likely to adopt a new product when it is the first introduced. This article describes we ask some key questions about the nature of innovativeness and try to make a correlation between characteristics of the innovators and innovativeness.innovativeness, new product, opinion leaders, risk takers.

PERSONALITY INFLUENCES ON ONLINE STORES CUSTOMERS BEHAVIOR

Online customer behaviors include a wide range of processes and activities related to sensory reactions, perceptions, attitude formation, preferences, decisions, satisfaction evaluation, and loyalty formation. Online customer behaviors are influenced by exogenous and endogenous factors. Exogenous factors include attributes associated with the online retailer and the consumer’s environmental influences. Endogenous factors include characteristics attributed to consumers. Of these, personality has major influences on customer behavior in the online stores. In this paper we highlight the influences of personality on important decision making variables linked to the customer’s online visiting, buying and post purchase process. Thus, we intend to point out the influences of personality on the criteria used in evaluating stores, on expectations customers form towards stores, on the perception of store performance and the assessment of satisfaction. This will involve carrying out a survey, and its administration will be performed on the Internet. The sample under research will comprise respondents who own an account on the social network Facebook, assuming these respondents have time and are more likely to have purchased online at least once. The results of this study are useful both for academic researchers and practitioners engaged in online marketing, online communication and web design

The Perceived Value of Higher Education and University Competitiveness - The Rubik Cube Metaphor

Purpose. Over the past two decades, concerned with how stakeholders perceive the value of their services, universities have adopted entrepreneurial orientations and relationship marketing approaches into their activities. The fierce competition on the global higher education market, forced university managers to innovate, to look for new ways to build their offer. Relationship marketing and the knowledge regarding the stakeholders, primarily the students’ perception of their offerings, can provide universities with a competitive advantage. As such, university managers need to carry out satisfaction surveys, inquiries regarding the universities image or the perceived value of the academic programs and services offered, need to plan and organize offline and online integrated marketing communication campaigns. Methodology /Design/Approach. Based on the resemblance of perceived value with a Rubik\u27s cube, university marketers can constantly innovate through the way they match the various dimensions of perceived value or facets of the cube to meet the stakeholders’ expectations. Result /Findings. This research highlights the dimensions of the perceived value of the educational offer and determines the extent to which factors such as the university image, the source of financing the studies and the duration of the student - university relationship have an influence on the perception of value. For this purpose we conducted a quantitative research on a sample of 320 students from the largest faculty from the West University of Timișoara, Romania. To perform the statistical data analysis, the following steps were carried out: (1) the reliability of the measurement scales analysis; (2) the opportunity to perform the factorial analysis verification; (3) the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and (4) the research hypotheses testing. Research results showed that the perceived relational value affects the student’s perceptions on the quality of learning, the usefulness and quality of the acquired knowledge, the employment opportunities. The institutional image has a positive influence on the perceived value of the educational offer. For university or faculty managers, it is important to know how to combine the various facets of the perceived value-technical value, relational value, social value, temporal value- in order to provide the value expected by their stakeholders, primarily by students

Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Suspicion of Deception in Online Reviews

- Purpose: This study formulates a new framework for identifying deception in consumer reviews through the lens of Interpersonal Deception Theory and the Persuasion Knowledge Model. It evaluates variables contributing to consumer intentions to purchase after reading deceptive reviews and proposes deception identification cues to be incorporated into the interpersonal communication theoretical framework. - Methodology: The first study is qualitative and quantitative, based on sentiment and lexical analysis of 1000 consumer reviews. The second study employs a USA national consumer survey with a PLS-SEM and a Process-based mediation-moderation analysis. - Findings: The study shows deceptive characteristics that cannot be dissimulated by reviewing consumers that represent review legitimacy based on review valence, authenticity, formalism, and analytical writing. The results also support the central role of consumer suspicion of an ulterior motive, with a direct and mediation effect regarding consumer emotions and intentions, including brand trust and purchase intentions. - Research implications: This paper presents a new framework for identifying deception in consumer reviews based on IDT and PKM, adding new theoretical elements that help adapt these theories to written digital communication specificities. The study clarifies the role of suspicion in a deceptive communication context and shows the variables contributing to consumers’ purchase intention after reading deceptive reviews. The results also emphasize the benefits of lexical analysis in identifying deceptive characteristics of reviews. - Practical implications: Companies can consider the vulnerability of certain generations based on lower levels of suspicions and different linguistic cues to detect deception in reviews. Long-term, marketers can also implement deception identification practices as potential new business models and opportunities. - Social implications: Policymakers and regulators need to consider critical deception cues and the differences in suspicion levels among segments of consumers in the formulation of preventative and deception management measures. - Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by formulating a new framework for identifying deception in consumer reviews, adapted to the characteristics of written digital communication. The study emphasizes deception cues in eWOM and provides additional opportunities for theorizing deception in electronic communication

Social Bonds and Millennial Consumers\u27 Activity in Social Networks

This study uses the Relational Bonds Theory to analyse the importance placed on activities in online social networks about variables such relational bonds and number of friends, in a cross-cultural context. We also take into consideration the differences that age can bring in consumers\u27 social media participation behaviour and analyse intra-generational differences within the Millennial group. We use a cross-cultural sample and assess the differences between consumer groups based on cultural characteristics of the country of origin. We showed that consumers who are satisfied with the social value brought to them by their contacts have higher activity rates in social media

The Common Values of Social Media Marketing and Luxury Brands. The Millennials and Generation Z Perspective

As consumers spend more time on social media, brands can take advantage of this opportunity to better serve and communicate with their followers. Still, given the characteristics of luxury, luxury brands may be reluctant to use social media. To determine the extent to which Millennials and Generation Z consumers perceive compatibility between social media marketing and luxury brands, a purposive sampling technique was employed. We collected data from 303 Romanian visitors of the Facebook page entitled Do You Like Luxury? This page, with postings from luxury producers, was specially created and sponsored in order to raise interest in completing the questionnaires. For data analysis, we used statistical tests, including confirmatory factorial analysis, regression, and independent-samples t-test. Our research shows that, for Millennials and Generation Z, luxury brands are compatible with social media apps as marketing channels. Even in the case of inadequacy, managers can still use the facilities of digital technologies to depict exclusivity, emotions, and sensory experiences specific to luxury. Unlike other studies, which only focused on a few dimensions, we proposed a multidimensional approach of the perceived value of luxury and social media marketing. Moreover, this is one of the few studies to focus on Eastern European consumers

The impact of cultural dimensions on the perceived risk of online shopping

This article analyzes the influence of cultural factors on the perceived risks of buying online. To this end, we conducted a survey on a sample of Francophone African students, through an online questionnaire. In order to test the developed research model, we opted for structural equation modeling (SEM), using the Smart PLS 2.0 software. Data analysis has highlighted the importance of power distance in perceiving the risks of online buying and, on the other hand, the fact that online buying risk perception is less important in cultures where uncertainty avoidance is high. Based on these research results, marketers could adapt their marketing approaches at a local, regional or international level