Communicating Environmental and Ethical Performance: A Longitudinal Analysis of Annual Reports from 1998–2009

Along with the publics’ increased demand for businesses to operate responsibly, more and more companies proactively publish their CSR-related principles and activities. A growing body of research is dedicated to the analysis of patterns in self-reported CSR performances; these studies use annual reports as a proxy for the social or environmental activities of the companies. Integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches, the aims of this paper are twofold: First, on the basis of content analysis, we examine categories of CSR-related communication that are in a second step used in a longitudinal perspective spanning twelve years, to compare how CSR motives and activities have changed over time

Corporate social responsibility and environmental reporting in controversial industries

Purpose: Over the last few decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received a large amount of attention in research and in practice. As a response to the growing awareness of and concern about social and environmental issues, an increasing number of companies are proactively publishing their CSR-related principles and activities. The overall research question of this study is derived from legitimacy theory and is aimed at elucidating the relationship between industry sector and CSR communication. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical examination encompasses a sample that includes the annual reports of all German DAX-30 companies from 1998 to 2009. First, based on a content analysis, categories of CSR-related communication are defined. Second, these categories are used in a quantitative analysis with a longitudinal perspective to evaluate the hypothesis that companies in controversial industries communicate their CSR more intensely than companies in non-controversial industries. Findings: The qualitative study leads to a category system that accounts not only for CSR-related activities but also for CSR philosophies and motives as the normative basis of CSR communication. The quantitative results support the hypothesis that companies in controversial industries are more active in CSR communication than companies in non-controversial industries. Originality/value: Existing studies analysing CSR communication activity have been largely inconsistent and often use unsystematic approaches in choosing industries for comparison. Therefore, in this study, to overcome some of these deficiencies, a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches addresses the concept of controversial industries. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Determinants of consumers' perceived trust in IT-ecosystems

Digital ecosystems, or IT-ecosystems (ITEs), are composed of multiple and independent entities such as individuals, organizations, services, software, and applications. Together, these elements create a number of new independent systems that operate and communicate with their own infrastructure (man to machine; machine to machine; person to person), sharing one or several missions. A better understanding of how ITEs and their interconnected components create benefits and added value for different types of consumers is of particular importance to the establishment of digital environments and to managing their resources. Considering different components of perceived trust in ITEs, we rely in this paper on a multi-dimensional framework of trust effects that includes system-centric as well as user-centric determinants of trust. Based on our conceptual model, we develop two sets of propositions. The first ones address technological drivers of trust in ITEs, whereas the second set of propositions considers individual as well as social drivers of trust. The model and propositions are discussed with reference to preliminary empirical results as well as to future research steps and business implications

Do Millennials read books or blogs? Introducing a media usage typology of the internet generation

Purpose: Millennials, the Net Generation, and digital natives all represent the same, fervently discussed phenomenon, especially in the education sciences. As the terms suggest, the main idea behind this phenomenon is that the younger generation embraces new media far more comprehensively than the older generations. However, the literature is mostly based on anecdotal evidence. To date, surprisingly little empirical research exists on the media use of the "Internet Generation". In this paper, the authors aim to partially close this gap. In doing so, they focus especially on the use of social media. Design/methodology/approach: Active media use is a key element of social software and Web 2.0 and has the potential to affect the media industry on a fundamental level. Using a large-scale empirical study with over 800 participants, the authors identify three different subgroups of Millennials. Findings: The results indicate that, although participation in and identification with social media is generally high, Millennials are less homogeneous than the literature suggests. Furthermore, the traditional media still represent integral parts of the overall media portfolio. Originality/value: These results are valuable not only as a starting point for future research on the Millennials' media usage but also for media management practices in general. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Social persuasion: Targeting social identities through social influencers

Purpose: Buying behaviour can be interpreted as a signal of social identity. For example, individuals may purchase specific cars to indicate their social status and income, or they may dress in particular ways to show their taste in fashion or their membership in a social group. This paper aims to focus on the identification of market place influencers in a social identity context, in order to better market products and services to social groups. Design/methodology/approach: A structural model linking consumers' individual capital (motivation to influence), social capital (opportunistic use of social influence), and social leadership ability (persuasive "power") is introduced. Hypotheses on the interrelations of these factors are proposed and the model is empirically tested using causal analysis. The survey data were collected in Germany in the context of socially influenced automotive buying behavior (428 valid questionnaires). Findings: The proposed model supports significant relations between individual capital and social capital and social leadership ability. The results suggest which factors (individual and social capital) describe social influencers, helping to identify powerful social influencers in a social identity context. Different types of social influence leaders and followers are presented and characterized. Originality/value: This paper offers marketing researchers and practitioners a new integrative approach to target consumers with specific social identities via social influencers. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

The green brand: Explicit and implicit framing effects of ecolabelling on brand knowledge

An increasing number of brands rely on ecolabelling as associative branding strategy for communicating their sustainability performance. Specifically, associative branding aims to link a brand to an ecolabel to embed sustainability into brand knowledge to provide an added value for consumers. In this regard, the present study applies a combined measurement approach that examines both implicit and explicit information processing to assess consumers’ brand associations related to sustainability. Specifically, a pre/post-testing is conducted to evaluate the framing effect of ecolabel exposure in a brand advertisement on the enhancement of brand knowledge. The results of the current study provide evidence that in particular implicit brand sustainability is a favorable brand association that positively affects consumers’ decision-making and preferences. Furthermore, the results reveal a relevant framing effect of ecolabelling on the enhancement of brand knowledge, on both implicit and explicit levels. In addition, the study results indicate the existence of three efficacy parameters that influence brand knowledge transfer: adequate ecolabel-brand fit, early ecolabel recognition time, and distinct implicit-explicit knowledge acquisition

Customer value perception: Cross-generational preferences for wine

Purpose-A deeper understanding of the key drivers of consumer wine perception is a major challenge in the domain of wine marketing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the various dimensions of customer-perceived value that lead the customers-in general and divided into different age groups-to choose and consume a certain wine. Design/methodology/approach-In the exploratory study context of examining value-related consumer attitudes and behavioural effects, the drivers and outcomes of wine consumption based on a cross-generation sample, PLS path modelling was considered for the empirical tests of our hypotheses. Findings-Though there exist differences between Generation X and Generation Y consumers, the empirical results are supportive of the hypothesized positive relations between financial, functional, individual and social perceptions that influence the desire for and the consumption of wine. Research limitations/implications-For future research, the findings presented in the paper support the importance of enlarging the size of the sample and collecting data in different countries to compare the results on an international level. Practical implications-Successful wine marketing strategies should focus on the customer’s subjective expectations and individual value perceptions by addressing the specific value aspects that are highly relevant for consumer loyalty. Originality/value-The study results are valuable for researchers, managers and marketers because they address the question of how to measure and forecast the perceived value with the greatest influence on consumers’ wine choices. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Tasting green: An experimental design for investigating consumer perception of organic wine

Purpose: There is empirical evidence that the image of organic products has a stronger effect on consumer perception than the intrinsic characteristics. Against this background, the aim of this paper is twofold; first, to ascertain if the stimulus "organic food", placed by storytelling, influences the perception of wine. Based on this, the study tries to discover wherein a positive perception of organic wine might be reflected (e.g. willingness to pay premium prices, better taste perception). Design/methodology/approach: Focusing on the consumer perception and evaluation of conventional versus organic wine, it was decided to use an experimental design with a blind taste test procedure. The prediction was that subjects would rank a wine described as organic higher than a conventional wine - even if there is no objective difference. Consumer perceptions and attitudes toward the wines were assessed using a questionnaire including wine preference, buying and recommendation intention, and willingness to pay. Besides, consumer wine knowledge and consumer personal environmental orientation were measured as individual constructs. Findings: In accordance with existing research insights, consumers tend to prefer organic products over conventional ones. In this context, the experiment shows that adding information on the product's process during a blind test leads consumers to increase their ratings in favour of the "organic wine". Interesting is that consumers even give a better rating for "conventional wine" just described as being "organic", indicating that the appearance and taste are perceived to be better, and the price intention is higher - thus, a pure signalling effect is achieved. Originality/value: The key finding of the study was that even if they tasted the identical product, the respondents ascribe a significantly better taste to the organic-labelled wine compared to the conventional alternative. Besides, the willingness to recommend the organic wine and the willingness to pay differed significantly from the evaluation of the red wine presented as "conventional". Moreover, regardless of their knowledge and attitude towards organic products in general, all respondents rated the so-called organic wine higher in all given attributes. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Brand extensions: A successful strategy in luxury fashion branding? Assessing consumers’ implicit associations

Although the investigation of brand extension strategies has gained importance, existing research focusses primarily on consumer attitudes to brand extensions, and to date, little research has been made on the luxury market. Moreover, studies on the impact of brand extensions have been limited to explicit measurement methods. Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide new insights by focussing on the change of consumers’ brand perception related to downgrading and upgrading brand extensions strategies in the luxury market based on an implicit association test (IAT). In this exploratory study context of examining the spontaneous reaction time with reference to the luxury concept by confronting respondents with adequate verbal brand extension stimuli, a ST-IAT was considered for the empirical tests of these hypotheses. The study results give evidence that consumers’ perception of an upgrading or downgrading strategy of a brand varies in accordance to these hypotheses. Hence, the reaction time of the H&M subjects decreased after having read the upgrading stimulus whereby, in the case of Karl Lagerfeld, the ST-IAT reaction times showed that the downgrading information resulted in a weaker association of Karl Lagerfeld with luxury. The use of implicit measurement methods is becoming increasingly important for assessing consumer reaction to the new product line. Particularly, when luxury brands apply a downgrading strategy, the risks of possible damages to the core brand are much higher than in the case of an upgrade of a basic brand to the luxury or premium segment. © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limite

A cross-cultural exploratory content analysis of the perception of luxury from six countries

Purpose: The authors' research was carried out with the aim of analyzing perception of luxury and luxury brands among an international sample of young people. Design/methodology/approach: This article was based on an empirical study among 233 respondents. First, a qualitative analysis of content using the respondents' own words was conducted. Then, to show whether there are differences between countries and significant groups of countries, an analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) was performed and analyzed with Fisher F-test and post-hoc Duncan tests. Findings: Beyond the belief in the existence of two stable groups of developed and developing countries with regard to luxury, this study shows a situation that requires further analysis. The main results show some strong cross-cultural differences in the perception of luxury, which is multi-faceted as demonstrated by previous studies in this field. Research limitations/implications: Results of this exploratory study confirm that the concept of luxury presents multiple facets, and the authors' analysis provides an in-depth survey of the main categories and attributes that can be used to describe this concept. Although this study was only exploratory in nature, a number of comments can be made to highlight the congruence between the concept of luxury for young people and recent academic literature. Practical implications: To maintain their brand equity, companies in the luxury sector seek to improve their image within younger targets. Managerial implications of the authors' research indicate that international luxury companies should take into consideration the multi-faceted concept of luxury in general, but also the main differences between countries in the continuum between the "status" and "emotional" dimensions of luxury. According to the authors' research, luxury companies cannot adopt a global strategy when addressing the six countries analyzed. Some managerial recommendations are developed in this perspective. Originality/value: The additional value of this article stems from its reliance on a cross-cultural in-depth study between six countries (Italy, France, Germany, China, Japan, and USA). The balance between qualitative and quantitative techniques makes this article particularly relevant when drawing both conceptual and managerial conclusions. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited