Alcohol between the covers: The portrayal of alcohol in online versions of magazines read by young women

Health authorities advise that teenagers should have no alcohol due to its dangerous effects (Hickie and Whitwell 2009). Despite this, alcohol is a dominant patt of Australian culture and teenage girls are increasingly drinking at high risk levels and placing themselves at risk of long-term harm (Chikritzhs 2004). While many studies have investigated the link between alcoho I advertising and teenage drinking, few studies have looked outside of advertising, particularly at editorial. A content analysis was conducted looking at alcohol related content in non-advertising material in the online versions of four Australian magazines directed at young women. Mention of alcohol was found in all four magazines with three magazines linking alcohol to celebrities and others with source credibility

An examination of the effects of self-regulatory focus on the perception of the media richness: the case of email

Communication is a key element in organizations’ business success. The media richness theory and the channel expansion theory are two of the most influential theories regarding the selection and use of communication media in organizations; however, literature has focused little on the effects of self-regulation by managers and employees in these theories. To analyze these topics, this study develops an empirical investigation by gathering data from 600 managers and employees using a questionnaire. The results suggest that the perception of media richness is positively affected when the individual shows a promotion focus or strategy.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Seeing eye to eye: social augmented reality and shared decision making in the marketplace

Firms increasingly seek to improve the online shopping experience by enabling customers to exchange product recommendations through social augmented reality (AR). We utilize socially situated cognition theory and conduct a series of five studies to explore how social AR supports shared decision making in recommender–decision maker dyads. We demonstrate that optimal configurations of social AR, that is, a static (vs. dynamic) point-of-view sharing format matched with an image-enhanced (vs. text-only) communicative act, increase recommenders’ comfort with providing advice and decision makers’ likelihood of using the advice in their choice. For both, these effects are due to a sense of social empowerment, which also stimulates recommenders’ desire for a product and positive behavioral intentions. However, recommenders’ communication motives impose boundary conditions. When recommenders have strong impression management concerns, this weakens the effect of social empowerment on recommendation comfort. Furthermore, the stronger a recommender’s persuasion goal, the less likely the decision maker is to use the recommendation in their choice

Friends with Benefits: Social Coupons as a Strategy to Enhance Customers’ Social Empowerment

Businesses often seek to leverage customers’ social networks to acquire new customers and stimulate word-of-mouth recommendations. While customers make brand recommendations for various reasons (e.g., incentives, reputation enhancement), they are also motivated by a desire for social empowerment—to feel an impact on others. In several multi-method studies, we show that facilitating sharing of social coupons (i.e., coupon sets that include one for self-use and one to be shared) is a unique marketing strategy that facilitates social empowerment. Firms benefit from social coupons because customers who share spend more and report greater purchase intentions than those who do not. Furthermore, we demonstrate that social coupons are most effective when the sharer’s brand relationship is new versus established. For customers with an established relationship, sharing with a receiver who also has an established relationship maximizes potential impact. Together, these studies connect social empowerment to relationship marketing and provide guidance to managers targeting social coupons

The impact of service fairness dimensions on female customers’ evaluation of critical incidents

Women around the world currently control 85% of household spending, yet are most dissatisfied with the service they receive (Silverstein and Sayre 2009). This on-line survey assesses the impact women‟s fairness perceptions have on their satisfaction with the service and purchase intent. It challenges the common stereotype that interactive fairness is a more significant contributor to service evaluations than distributive fairness (service outcomes). The sample included 202 members of a large professional woman‟s association in Western Australia. Factor analysis uncovered two underlying dimensions of fairness (distributive/procedural fairness and interactional fairness). The regression analysis indicates that distributive/procedural fairness has a stronger impact on both satisfaction variables (overall and incident specific) as well as purchase intent. Thus, to improve the service to women, service firms should focus on tailoring service outcomes and processes to better meet the needs of women rather than merely focus on developing the interpersonal skills of frontline staff

A multi-industry analysis of service fairness themes from the professional female viewpoint

Women make 85 per cent of all purchase decisions and services marketing research suggests that gender differences exist and are most influential in determining customer satisfaction with service encounters (Iacobucci and Ostrom, 1993). This qualitative study used the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) and sought to investigate the service industries where women feel most dissatisfied and identified themes of unfairness which explain women's dissatisfaction with service. This study found women were most dissatisfied with the fairness of service in the automotive industry. Two new themes related to service fairness were uncovered: informational un/fairness and sexist/non-sexist behaviours. This study is among the first to use the CIT to study how gender issues and unfair treatment themes influence service performance perceptions and service evaluations

Rethinking customer engagement design: Using customer-mobilized engagement (CME) to grow business networks

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework of customer-mobilized engagement (CME) pathways where customers actively identify, engage, and mobilize hidden (new) actors (and their resources) who are beyond the reach of the focal organization. As a large proportion of value stems from connections with multiple business networks, an organization's customer network becomes an important strategic asset contributing to competitive advantage and survival. Taking a propositional approach, we conceptualize the CME pathway and elaborate on factors critical to CME drawing on two organizations for illustrative purposes. We develop three propositions explaining how customer-mobilized engagement of hidden (new) actors, resources, and engagement platforms connect dynamically via the mobilizing customer. The reinterpreted communicative value proposition increases the contribution of hidden actors and enhances and expands value outcomes for actors within the CME pathway including increased sustainable competitive advantage for the focal organization. Adopting CME adds new resources, in different ways to deliver value to an organization's diverse business streams and grow their business networks. The CME pathway provides industrial marketing managers with an agile tool to guide the design of their offerings which can adapt across business contexts and time as the social, economic, political and technological environment changes

Rethinking customer engagement design: Using customer-mobilized engagement (CME) to grow business networks

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework of customer-mobilized engagement (CME) pathways where customers actively identify, engage, and mobilize hidden (new) actors (and their resources) who are beyond the reach of the focal organization. As a large proportion of value stems from connections with multiple business networks, an organization's customer network becomes an important strategic asset contributing to competitive advantage and survival. Taking a propositional approach, we conceptualize the CME pathway and elaborate on factors critical to CME drawing on two organizations for illustrative purposes. We develop three propositions explaining how customer-mobilized engagement of hidden (new) actors, resources, and engagement platforms connect dynamically via the mobilizing customer. The reinterpreted communicative value proposition increases the contribution of hidden actors and enhances and expands value outcomes for actors within the CME pathway including increased sustainable competitive advantage for the focal organization. Adopting CME adds new resources, in different ways to deliver value to an organization's diverse business streams and grow their business networks. The CME pathway provides industrial marketing managers with an agile tool to guide the design of their offerings which can adapt across business contexts and time as the social, economic, political and technological environment changes