Instagram influencers: the role of opinion leadership in consumers’ purchase behavior

Instagram has gained momentum in influencer marketing for cosmetic products. This study aims to examine the antecedents of social media opinion leadership and its effects on consumers’ actual purchase behavior. The results based on a sample of 223 followers reveal that originality, quality, and quantity are essential elements leading a user to be perceived as an opinion leader. Besides, opinion leadership impacts consumers’ purchase intention, actual purchase behavior, and purchase loyalty. These findings deepen our understanding of the effects of opinion leadership on consumers’ purchase decisions. Moreover, the findings have beneficial implications for developing effective social media marketing communication strategies

The impact of market orientation on new product performance through product launch quality: a resource-based view

Purpose- Grounded on the resource-based view, this study aims to examine the mediating role of product launch quality as a deployment mechanism in the association between market orientation and new product performance. Design/methodology/approach- Conducting an on-site survey of Iranian manufacturing industries, this study applies covariance-based structural equation modeling to test research hypotheses and verify the proposed theoretical model. Findings- The empirical findings indicate market orientation is a critical knowledge-based resource enhancing firms’ product launch quality, and right decisions concerning the product launch elevate new product performance. The results also reveal while market orientation significantly impacts new product performance, product launch quality is a crucial deployment mechanism for leveraging market orientation as it fully mediates impacts of market orientation on new product performance. Originality/value- The current static characterization of the resource-based view signifies strategic resources have potential value, but unleashing this potential requires incorporation of deployment mechanisms in the resource-performance link. Besides, considering this insufficient view, prior studies have revealed mixed and inconsistent results. Accordingly, through examining product launch quality as a deployment mechanism for leveraging market orientation on new product performance, not only does this study address inconsistent findings, but it noticeably contributes to the resource-based view by casting light on the mechanism through which market orientation as a strategic knowledge-based resource leads to superior new product performance

Effect of feeding different levels of corn snack waste on broiler performance

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of using corn snack waste on growth performance, carcass traits and economical efficiency of broiler chicks. Five hundred Ross 308 day-old broiler chicks were divided randomly into 20 pens. There were 25 chicks in each pen which consists of 4 treatments (4 levels of waste corn snack) with five  replicates. Corn snack waste had been considered in grower and finisher periods in level 170, 300 and 500 g/Kg of diet. Usage of corn snack waste had reduced (P<0.05) feed intake and weight gain of broiler chicks. However usage of corn snack waste in broiler chick's diet in levels 170 and 350 g/Kg increased feed conversion ratio and in level  500 g/Kg, feed conversion ratio were improved (p<0.05). The usage of corn snack waste was induced by the negative effect on performance of carcass and weight thigh, but reduced breast meat weight also reduces  abdominal fat, and had no effect on liver, heart, gastrointestinal tract (p<0.05).Keyword: Corn snack waste, corn by-product, broiler performance, broiler diet

The bidirectional complementarity between market orientation and launch proficiency affecting new product performance

Purpose- Based on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory, this study examines the complementarity between market orientation and launch proficiency as a driver of new product performance. Design/methodology/approach- In this research, an on-site survey of Iranian, R&D-intensive, manufacturing firms was carried out to examine the proposed hypotheses. Based on the 179 workable survey responses, a covariance-based structural equation modeling was applied to verify the proposed theoretical model. Findings- The empirical findings reveal that the effects of market orientation or launch proficiency alone are not significant while the complementarity between them significantly influences new product performance. These research outcomes suggest that this complementarity leads to a bidirectional co-specialization relationship in firms, promoting both market intelligence generation processes and product-launch capabilities and therefore resulting in superior new product performance. Originality/value- The current characterization of the resource-based theory signifies that strategic resources merely have potential value, and actualizing this value needs complementary organizational capabilities. Furthermore, the literature notably lacks empirical findings supporting these complementarities. Therefore, the findings concerning the bidirectional co-specialization between market orientation and launch proficiency not only provide empirical support for the dynamic capabilities theory but also address recent research calls to identify and calibrate the importance of dynamic capabilities for leveraging market orientation on new product performance

Generation, susceptibility, and response regarding negativity: an in-depth analysis of negative online reviews

Negative online reviews can drastically influence consumer behavior and business strategies. Recent attention on the subject demonstrates its importance in the consumer and marketing literature. Even so, no study quantitatively investigates the corpus of the literature. This study quantitatively and systematically investigates the foundational research streams of negative online reviews to identify influential sources and main areas of knowledge in the domain. The study employs an integration of text mining and co-citation analysis, recognizing that firms’ responses to negative online reviews cannot be analyzed without understanding the role of customers. Accordingly, this study generates insight into customers and firms in each negative online review stage, furnishing a conceptual framework that synthesizes the previous literature and highlights the most important research gaps requiring attention. Ultimately, the conceptual framework can guide future researchers in unfolding new and novel directions to expand the boundaries of the negative online review literature

How do entrepreneurs learn and engage in an online community-of-practice? A case study approach

This paper investigates the ways in which entrepreneurs use communities of practice (CoPs) to express themselves, using narrative theory and rhetorical analysis, to gain insight into an electronic social network medium, namely, YoungEntrepreneur.com. In particular, the study focuses on CoPs themes, including why entrepreneurs engage in CoPs, what role the moderators and resident entrepreneurs can play in managing online CoPs, on communication rituals of the knowledge sharing through interactivity, and on “how to develop an intervention” to maintain and stimulate entrepreneurs for engaging in on-line community. Findings reveal that topic title plays major role in attracting people. Successful topics with successful conclusion (in terms of the original query was answered) will not necessary get high responses and vice versa. It is observed that the domain expert does not play a big role in keeping the discussion going. Finally, the study also discovered that entrepreneurs like to communicate in story telling genre. A comprehensive set of engagement measurement tools are introduced to effectively measure the engagement in a virtual CoP, along with a classification to define and categorise discourse of messages in terms of content and context, which allow practitioners to understand the effectiveness of a social networking site

Effect of autoclave processing and gamma irradiation on apparent ileal amino acids digestibility of cottonseed meal in male broiler breeders

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of autoclaving and different doses of gamma irradiation on the apparent ileal digestibility of amino acids of cottonseed meal in male broiler breeders. Samples were irradiated in a gamma cell at total doses of 15, 30 and 45 kGy. One package (control) was left at room temperature: Similar to the other treatments, evaporation decreased the moisture content of the samples. Autoclaving of cottonseed meal for 15 min at 121°C was studied. The treatments were: (1) control, untreated cottonseed meal diet; (2) autoclaved cottonseed meal diet; (3) cottonseed meal diet gamma irradiated at a dose of 15 kGy; (4) cottonseed meal diet gamma irradiated at a dose of 30 kGy; (5) cottonseed meal diet gamma irradiated at a dose of 45 kGy. The results show that autoclaving for 15 min at 121°C did not have a statistically significant effect on the apparent ileal digestibility of the amino acids in cottonseed meal when compared with the control treatment. The results also show that gamma irradiation of cottonseed meal were not effective in increasing the apparent digestibility of amino acids. In addition, irradiation of cottonseed meal did not improve the apparent digestibility of amino acids in comparison with the other processing methods only, but also significantly decreased it (p<0.05).Key words: Gamma irradiation, digestibility, amino acid, cottonseed meal, broiler

Knowledge sharing by entrepreneurs in a virtual community of practice (VCoP)

Purpose. This paper examines how entrepreneurs engage in a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) to share knowledge. Intensity of engagement is taken as a proxy to measure the strength of knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach. The archival data spanning over a three-year period from ‘Start-up-Nation©’ (a VCoP purposefully setup for entrepreneurs) is used for analysis. A set of indices are introduced to measure participants’ intensity of engagement in terms of message length, message frequency and reciprocity in the knowledge sharing process. Content analysis is employed to test a sample of ‘highly engaged’, ‘moderately engaged’, ‘low engaged’ and ‘not engaged’ discussion topics as part of the on-line discourse. Findings. We find that entrepreneurs normally use short (fewer than 100 words) or medium (fewer than 250 words) message size to contribute to the discussions. In addition, we find that senior members and discussion moderators play important roles in igniting the ‘reciprocity’ behaviour in stimulating the interest of the community with the topic discussion. We also find that highly engaged topics usually lead to further discussion threads. Originality/value. This is the first study of its kind to explore how entrepreneurs engage in a VCoP to share their knowledge and experiences. The set of measurement indices tested here provide a tool for the owner, designer and moderator of the VCoP to measure the utility of their website in terms of its members’ participation. In addition, the set of textual and subjective interventions identified here enable the moderator (administrator) of a VCoP to design effective interventions to facilitate on-line discourse and augment the knowledge sharing process amongst its community members

Sharing your assets? A holistic review of the sharing economy

Even though academics and practitioners extensively apply the notion of the sharing economy (SE), the conceptualization and the literature construction remained disjointed and dispersed due to the lack of a rigorous attempt to understand the core concept of the SE. This concept is multidimensional, which makes its investigation essential for practitioners and academics. Based on a 15-year data set collected from the Web of Science database, our paper seeks to provide a pervasive science plot of the intellectual structure of the SE field. A bibliometric review method was used by studying documents published from 2005 to 2020, using the VOSviewer, Bibexcel, SPSS, and GunnMap2 software. Providing an overview of articles, authors, the most influential journals, and themes of research, we contribute to the literature on the SE by identifying and proposing six research groups in MDS analysis, six research clusters in HCA analysis, and future study directions. Eventually, the research acknowledges the theoretical contribution, the limits of the present study, and recommends further study directions

Let Me Engage You: Peer engagement behaviour on peer-to-peer platforms

Data Availability: Data will be made available on request.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This study addresses a crucial gap in current research by introducing the first-ever measurement scale for assessing peer engagement behaviour in peer-to-peer platforms. By scrutinizing its drivers and outcomes, the research aims to decode the complex ecosystem of peer interactions. Leveraging rich data drawn from 15 managerial interviews, four focus groups of platform users, and a robust survey involving 672 peer consumers, the study unveils a compelling link: the quality of relationships directly amplifies peer engagement, which subsequently fuels value co-creation within these platforms. This pivotal revelation not only offers fresh theoretical contributions but also opens the door to transformative practical implications, setting the stage for future research