Exploring motivations for multimodal commuting: A hierarchical means-end chain analysis

Despite municipal investments in multimodal mobility infrastructure, monomodal automotive travel patterns still dominate work-related mobility. As policymakers aim to reduce associated externalities like traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution, encouraging multimodality can be a promising route toward diversified, more sustainable mobility. However, studies on modal choice and modal shift have mainly focused on investigating the consumer decision-making process concerning specific monomodal travel modes and external factors but are characterized by a lack of dedicated applications in the commuting context. Therefore, insights into consumers’ motivational patterns determining intentions to engage in multimodal commuting and factors influencing their willingness to alter the modal mix remain scarce. With a qualitative means-end chain (MEC) analysis, we explore consumers’ overarching motivational structures to choose multimodal commuting behavior through laddering interviews with forty employees from two large German employers. We contribute to existing research by revealing five motivational patterns that promote consumers' decision to become multimodal commuters: autonomy, physical health, sustainability, quality of life, and interpersonal connections, which we juxtapose with previous findings. Interestingly, we find that economic interest, security, and fun are only motives of secondary importance. Consequently, we propose implications for academics, policymakers, and practitioners to foster commuters choosing more sustainable, multimodal mobility

Understanding B2B customer journeys for complex digital services: The case of cloud computing

Cloud computing services represent a rapidly growing business-to-business (B2B) market, but managers lack guidance on managing the customer journey for these complex digital services. To address this challenge, we conduct an exploratory qualitative study based on 20 interviews with providers and customers of cloud computing services, supplemented by data from observations. Our research highlights critical touchpoints along the customer journey in cloud computing markets and provides implications for B2B customer journey management. A key finding is that B2B customers' IT competency is a crucial differentiator in this market. That is, while IT-savvy companies evaluate these services independently and use them in a self-service fashion, IT-novice companies rely on multipliers (e.g., IT system houses) to act as support and gatekeepers to buying cloud computing services. This difference has implications for the composition of buying and usage centers, the development of the customer journey, and the control of touchpoints by the service provider. Thus, cloud service providers need to manage two types of customer journey: one directly focused on customers and another involving the management of multipliers. Based on these findings, we offer recommendations for B2B practitioners to guide their customers through the journey for this complex digital service

Technology-enabled personalization: Impact of smart technology choice on consumer shopping behavior

Smart technologies promise to enhance customer experience to new levels in next-generation retail stores. Offline retailers increasingly employ technology-enabled personalization (TEP) strategies to digitally enhance in-store customer experience. To send personalized messages to in-store customers, retailers can choose from two types of smart devices: customer-owned smartphones or retailer-owned immersive screens. Although these smart devices may largely determine customers’ experiences in future retail, research rarely addresses device-related determinants of the effectiveness of personalized messages in stores. Building on assemblage theory, the authors consider the role of these devices in influencing customer experience and eventually consumer shopping behavior. Through two experiments and a mediated moderation analysis, they investigate the interplay of personalized content and device technology in customers’ response to TEP. The results illustrate that consumers react differently to message content depending on the device through which it is conveyed; that is, personalized (standardized) messages are more effective on customer-owned smartphones (retailer-owned screens) because they become integrated into (remain separate from) the customer's extended self. Relational customer experiences, or the extent to which a customer feels positively connected to store assemblages, mediate the effect on shopping behavior. To build TEP strategies, retailers should therefore use smart devices integrated into customers’ extended selves

Onto the light side of sharing: Using the force of blockchain

While the sharing economy has promised to solve a range of problems associated with traditional consumption, the reality is more akin to its inability or even exacerbation of economic and societal issues. We propose that blockchain technology could address these issues. To this end, we explain its potential by elaborating on how blockchain-based sharing services can help solve exploitation, data abuse, financial and legal risks, and the limited accessibility of current sharing practices. Moreover, we conduct a means–end chain analysis to provide a customer's perspective on the motivations and fears related to blockchain-based sharing solutions. We find four motives (trust, self-determination, quality of life, and security) and two fears (mistrust and economic interest) related to blockchain-based sharing. By juxtaposing the potential benefits of blockchain-based shared services with customer insights, we provide an outline of research avenues for promoting blockchain-based sharing to overcome the current dark side of sharing practices

Buying to share: How prosumption promotes purchases in peer-to-peer asset sharing

Advocates of the sharing economy cite sharing as a viable alternative to asset purchases and ownership. However, Peer-to-peer (P2P) asset sharing, as a service innovation in the sharing economy, enables consumers to capitalize on their asset ownership by providing others with access to those assets for a fee. These prosumers acquire and consume the asset but also provide it as a service sold to others. In exploring the connection between prosumers and asset manufacturers, this study particularly notes the implications of prosumption for initial asset acquisition. A review of existing P2P asset sharing initiatives, three focus groups, and two experimental studies illustrate a positive effect of prosumption on willingness to acquire an asset from manufacturers, especially expensive assets. These results challenge the conventional notion that sharing is exclusively an alternative to ownership. A mediation analysis further indicates that reduced burdens of ownership can explain the positive link between prosumption and willingness to purchase assets from manufacturers. As another novel contribution, this study reveals an interdependency between prosumers and P2P service users, such that prosumers consider their own and also other P2P users’ brand preferences when acquiring assets. In summary, and contrary to conventional wisdom, promoting prosumption via P2P asset sharing might increase sales by manufacturers

Exploring business models for sustainability with nature as a key resource: a case study of urban nature-based solutions

To address contemporary sustainability challenges, we conceptualize business models for sustainability in which (urban) nature is a key resource, using the emergent concept of nature-based solutions (NBS). Based on 54 empirical case studies, we introduce NBS into the strategic management literature by identifying sustainable business models that have (urban) nature at their core. We show that NBS attract resources through eight distinct sustainable business models that deliver not just ecological but also economic, social, and/or cultural value. Further, we show that business models based on (urban) nature are stakeholder-based and do not require a focal firm: they are co-created between public, private, and civil actors, suggesting the need for novel governance arrangements to realize ‘value bundles’ among stakeholders

Spillover Effects from Unintended Trials on Attitude and Behavior: Promoting New Products Through Access-Based Services

Access-based services (ABS) provide an opportunity for brands to promote their new products by enabling (unintended) trials. However, the mechanisms and impact of consumer exposure to products in ABS and the subsequent potential spillover effects on both the brand and the product perception are largely unknown. Our hypotheses are derived from information integration theory (IIT) and subsequently tested. Study 1 is a field study investigating an unintended trial moderated by involvement and positive experience. The results indicate positive effects from the unintended trial on product and brand attitudes, brand purchase intention, and word of mouth. In line with IIT, these effects are more pronounced for positive trial experience, although in contrast to IIT, they are less pronounced for high involvement consumers. While the results of Study 2, an online experiment, show substantial effects of both trials compared to non-trials, they also reveal that intended and unintended trials have a similar impact on attitude, but ABS experiences have a stronger positive impact on brand purchase intention. We thus recommend that brand managers promote not only new products but also their brands in unintended trials. This research fills a gap in current discussions about the trial effect(s) of ABS

Onto the light side of sharing: Using the force of blockchain

International audienceWhile the sharing economy has promised to solve a range of problems associated with traditional consumption, the reality is more akin to its inability or even exacerbation of economic and societal issues. We propose that blockchain technology could address these issues. To this end, we explain its potential by elaborating on how blockchain-based sharing services can help solve exploitation, data abuse, financial and legal risks, and the limited accessibility of current sharing practices. Moreover, we conduct a means–end chain analysis to provide a customer’s perspective on the motivations and fears related to blockchain-based sharing solutions. We find four motives (trust, self-determination, quality of life, and security) and two fears (mistrust and economic interest) related to blockchain-based sharing. By juxtaposing the potential benefits of blockchain-based shared services with customer insights, we provide an outline of research avenues for promoting blockchain-based sharing to overcome the current dark side of sharing practices

Technology-enabled personalization in retail stores: Understanding drivers and barriers

Smart technologies grant brick-and-mortar retailers novel opportunities to introduce the amenities of online retailing, such as data-driven personalization, into physical interactions. Research on consumer reactions to the novel phenomenon of technology-enabled personalization (TEP) in retail stores is scarce though, so the current article proposes a conceptualization that demarcates TEP from broader notions of personalization. Qualitative data from 25 in-depth consumer interviews reveal five drivers (utilitarian, hedonic, control, interaction, integration) of and four barriers (exploitation, interaction misfit, privacy, and lack of confidence) to consumers’ acceptance of TEP. The juxtaposition of these drivers and barriers, in combination with insights from prior literature, reveals five success paradoxes for TEP (exploration–limitation, staff presence–absence, humanization–dehumanization, personalization–privacy, personal–retailer devices). The findings provide several theoretical and managerial implications, as well as avenues for further research