Exploring customer trust and relationships in the online environment

This thesis presents eleven selected publications concerning trust and relationships in the online environment. The evolution of the research over ten years showcases the author’s dedication to the practical application of marketing for the benefit of organisations and individuals alongside contribution to academic knowledge. The advent of new technology by way of the internet has added a new dimension to the complexity of marketing strategy and, from a practical point of view, marketers need to incorporate cutting edge technology into their strategic thinking. Existing literature at the time that the author started this research was at the nascent stage and over the period of the research, it became obvious that technology could be used as a tool to help build relationships. Conversely, customers demonstrated varying degrees of trust in both the technologies and the organisations using online-based tools. It became essential, therefore, for organisations to appear trustworthy in order for customers to engage with online marketing platforms and subsequently entrust their purchasing activities to the online environment. The research appraised in this thesis makes a significant contribution to knowledge about marketing in the online environment and the implications of engendering consumer trust. Six key contributions to knowledge are claimed as a result of this work. Firstly, a framework for using online marketing strategically has been developed. Secondly, an analysis of how online marketing fits into the traditional marketing framework is provided. Thirdly, the author introduces the notion that trust in a brand influences online behaviour by reducing perceived risk, leading to consumers committing to online purchasing. Fourthly, online brand elements used to create credibility of a B2B brand are identified. Fifthly, the author presents an identification of how structural elements of websites can be utilized to differentiate online brands from competitors’ offerings. Finally, the author puts forward the proposition that marketers can learn from relatiaonships between contributors to online social networks. The researcher has utilised a variety of deliberately chosen methodologies, most of which are qualitative. The thesis also contains three secondary contributions related to research design. These are the use of a bought-in, permission-based email list, the innovative use of netnography to elicit rich data from online discussion forums and, finally, content analysis of websites. The work concludes by offering eight recommendations for future research directions

The Inherent Human Aging Process and the Facilitating Role of Exercise

Arguably the best available depictions of the global physiological changes produced by age are the profiles of world record performance times in swimming, athletics, and cycling, depicting the trajectory of decline in maximal integrated physiological performance capability. The curves suggest that the aging process produces a synchronized, controlled decrease in physiological performance over the human lifespan. The shape of the performance profile by age is essentially independent of discipline, distance, or phenotype. Importantly, the specific times of performance are not the driving force in the production of the shape of the declining performance profile. We suggest that in these highly trained individuals the shape of the curve is generated by the aging process operating on a physiology optimized for any given age. We hypothesize that with adequate training this same profile and trajectory, but with lower performance times, would be generated by all individuals who engage in sufficient physical activity/exercise. Unlike performance, data obtained from examining individual physiological systems or tissues do not give information on the unceasing and changing global integrating functions of the aging process. However, these data do give valuable information about the integrity of physiological systems at a particular age and allow a direct comparison to be made between the effects of inactivity and physical activity/exercise. Being physically active has been shown to have global protective effects on physiological systems and thus facilitates the aging process by maintaining physiological integrity. There is emerging evidence which suggests that physiological regulation of aging may be multi-compartmentalized. We do not advocate exercise as a panacea, but all the evidence indicates that being physically active and exercising is far superior to any other alternative for achieving optimal aging

Aging and skeletal muscle force control: Current perspectives and future directions.

During voluntary muscle contractions, force output is characterized by constant inherent fluctuations, which can be quantified either according to their magnitude or temporal structure, that is, complexity. The presence of such fluctuations when targeting a set force indicates that control of force is not perfectly accurate, which can have significant implications for task performance. Compared to young adults, older adults demonstrate a greater magnitude and lower complexity in force fluctuations, indicative of decreased steadiness, and adaptability of force output, respectively. The nature of this loss-of-force control depends not only on the age of the individual but also on the muscle group performing the task, the intensity and type of contraction and whether the task is performed with additional cognitive load. Importantly, this age-associated loss-of-force control is correlated with decreased performance in a range of activities of daily living and is speculated to be of greater importance for functional capacity than age-associated decreases in maximal strength. Fortunately, there is evidence that acute physical activity interventions can reverse the loss-of-force control in older individuals, though whether this translates to improved functional performance and whether lifelong physical activity can protect against the changes have yet to be established. A number of mechanisms, related to both motor unit properties and the behavior of motor unit populations, have been proposed for the age-associated changes in force fluctuations. It is likely, though, that age-associated changes in force control are related to increased common fluctuations in the discharge times of motor units

PPARα-independent effects of nitrate supplementation on skeletal muscle metabolism in hypoxia

Hypoxia is a feature of many disease states where convective oxygen delivery is impaired, and is known to suppress oxidative metabolism. Acclimation to hypoxia thus requires metabolic remodelling, however hypoxia tolerance may be aided by dietary nitrate supplementation. Nitrate improves tissue oxygenation and has been shown to modulate skeletal muscle tissue metabolism via transcriptional changes, including through the activation of peroxisome proliferator- activated receptor alpha (PPARα), a master regulator of fat metabolism. Here we investigated whether nitrate supplementation protects skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in hypoxia and whether PPARα is required for this effect. Wild-type and PPARα knockout (PPARα-/-) mice were supplemented with sodium nitrate via the drinking water or sodium chloride as control, and exposed to environmental hypoxia (10% O2) or normoxia for 4 weeks. Hypoxia suppressed mitochondrial respiratory function in mouse soleus, an effect partially alleviated through nitrate supplementation, but occurring independently of PPARα. Specifically, hypoxia resulted in 26% lower mass specific fatty acid-supported LEAK respiration and 23% lower pyruvate-supported oxidative phosphorylation capacity. Hypoxia also resulted in 24% lower citrate synthase activity in mouse soleus, possibly indicating a loss of mitochondrial content. These changes were not seen, however, in hypoxic mice when supplemented with dietary nitrate, indicating a nitrate dependent preservation of mitochondrial function. Moreover, this was observed in both wild-type and PPARα-/- mice. Our results support the notion that nitrate supplementation can aid hypoxia tolerance and indicate that nitrate can exert effects independently of PPARα.This work was supported by King’s College London, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Councils [grant number: BB/F016581/1] and the Research Councils UK [grant number: EP/E500552/1]

The multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management ☆

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o The evolution of the internet, including developments such as Web 2.0, has led to new relationship realities between organizations and their stakeholders. One manifestation of these complex new realities has been the emergence of an internet-based democratization of brand management. Research about this phenomenon has so far mainly focused on investigating just one or more individual themes and thereby disregarded the inherent multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management as a holistic, socio-technological phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to address this limitation through an investigation of the various socio-technological democratization developments of the phenomenon. To achieve this aim, a balanced and stakeholder-oriented perspective on brand management has been adopted to conduct an integrative literature review. The review reveals three key developments, which together form the essential parts of the phenomenon: (I) the democratization of internet technology, (II) the democratization of information, and (III) the democratization of social capital. The insights gained help to clarify the basic structures of the multi-layered phenomenon. The findings contribute also to the substantiation of a call for a new brand management paradigm: one that takes not only company-initiated but also stakeholder-initiated brand management activities into account