Technology readiness and e-service quality – impact on purchase intention and loyalty

PurposeThis paper aims to explore impact of technology readiness (TR) on e-service quality (ESQ) and effect of ESQ and TR on purchase intention (PI) and behavioral loyalty (BL) in the context of online shopping.Design/methodology/approachWith the help of the existing literature, the authors propose a conceptual model. Questionnaire was designed to collect data, and analysis has been done using a final sample of 341 respondents.FindingsThe results show how TR has a significant impact on ESQ, PI and BL. Outcomes also highlight that only three dimensions of ESQ have a positive impact on both PI and BL. System availability dimension of ESQ impacts neither PI nor BL. Therefore, TR and ESQ together play a vital role as enablers in influencing BL and PI in online shopping context.Practical implicationsThe study results will serve as a guide to business-to-consumer e-commerce players and help them to determine how TR and ESQ dimensions will help them to build BL and PI for online shopping.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies that takes into consideration both TR and ESQ and check how they impact PI and BL. Also, in the Indian context, it is an under-researched area and tries to fulfill this gap.

Consumer fear and healthy eating during COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the healthy eating literature by analyzing whether fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), ability to prepare food and the safety-seeking are antecedents of the intention to consume healthy foods during COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted two studies. The first study was done with a sample of 546 valid respondents. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze data. The second study was qualitative, in which 40 subjects took part. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.FindingsThe main findings reveal that ability to prepare food and the safety-seeking are strong antecedents of the intention to consume healthy foods. In addition, safety-seeking mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and intention to consume healthy eating. However, high levels of fear did not influence the ability to prepare food and intention to consume healthy foods. Also, the ability to prepare food does not mediate the relation between fear of COVID-19 and intention to consume healthy food.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to consider terror management propositions to analyze the intention to consume healthy foods during COVID-19 pandemic. From a scientific point of view, it has several contributions to the literature. First, this study provides advances and innovation in the field by identifying new explanatory relations. Second, this study extends the scope of terror management health model (TMHM) by analyzing it in the pandemic context. Third, the findings seem to provide empirical support for recent criticism of TMHM assumptions. Moreover, practical implications are outlined to public health decision-makers and healthy food businesses on increasing consumers’ intention to healthy eating.

Corporate social responsibility and SME performance: a meta-analysis

PurposeThis study aims to draw on instrumental and ethical theories to offer a quantitative review of the extant literature on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)–small-medium enterprises (SMEs) performance relationship through a meta-analysis.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical studies from 57 independent peer-reviewed articles, including 66,741 firms, were sampled and analysed. Both subgroup and meta-regression analyses (MARA) were used to test the hypotheses of the study.FindingsThe authors' results demonstrated that social-oriented, economic-oriented and environment-oriented CSR activities have a positive, significant influence on overall, financial and non-financial performance of SMEs; however, the effect of social-oriented CSR activities is the strongest. Moreover, the impact CSR dimensions have on non-financial performance is stronger than on financial performance. Additionally, findings showed that the association between CSR and SME performance is positively and significantly influenced by contextual factors (i.e. sector and region of study) and methodological factors (i.e. performance measurement, study type, theory usage, sampling size and operationalisation of constructs).Originality/valueThe study is the pioneering meta-analytic review on the CSR–SME performance relationship, thereby clarifying the anecdotal results, synthesising the fragmented empirical studies and exploring the contextual and methodological factors that may account for between-study variance. Following the study's findings, the authors delineate insightful suggestions for future scholarship and fine-grained managerial implications for practitioners.

Effects of employee identity salience on content sharing in social networks

PurposeThis research explores whether, when and why employee identity salience influences content sharing of employee's friends in social networks and further investigates two moderating conditions of network overlap and deal content.Design/methodology/approach In Study 1, the authors analyzed a field data related to 20,715 users on the largest social network platform in China. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors verified the findings of Study 1 and tested the underlying mechanism with two experiments.Findings The results showed that employee identity salience could increase sharing likelihood of content receiver, especially when the employee had higher network overlap with receiver. However, when the content contained deal-related information, the receiver was less likely to share this content from employee with salient identity. The authors also found that perceived information credibility acted as a mediator in above relationships.Originality/value This research is the first to test the effects of employee identity salience on content sharing by considering both content type and network characteristics. The authors also provide insights into the mediating role of information credibility, which enriches the content sharing and social network literature.

Measuring environmental performance in business to business relationships: a bibliometric review

PurposeThis study presents a bibliometric review of environmental performance in business to business relationships research.Design/methodology/approachWe applied suitable keywords to retrieve relevant peer-reviewed articles from the Web of Science database between 1992 and 2019. The study uses bibliographic coupling as a tool to screen 358 relevant articles' titles, abstracts, keywords, frameworks and headings for analysis. For visualization analysis, the study applied the visualizing scientific landscapes viewer.FindingsOur review systematically reports about the evolution of environmental performance in business-to-business literature relationships. Bibliometric procedures reveal prominent authors and publication outlets (journals) as well as noteworthy thematic and theoretical contributions to the literature.Practical implicationsThis study provides a comprehensive overview of environmental performance in business relationships and theoretical directions for further research.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to business literature by outlining emerging research themes and theoretical clusters on environmental performance for future research.

Brand portfolio strategies effects on consumers' attitude

PurposeThe aim of this study is to determine the effects of brand components (CBBE, brand fit, brand image, brand reputation, brand familiarity) on consumers brand portfolio attitude via perceived risk (for two main portfolio strategies).Design/methodology/approachThe study used a structured questionnaire to collect primary data from 636 consumers who made purchases from companies using house of brand (318) and branded house strategy (318). By conducting reliability and validity analysis, the model of this study was tested with confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis methods, using structural equation modeling.FindingsAccording to the results of the path analysis, the effects of CBBE and brand reputation on brand attitude were confirmed for both house of brand and branded house strategy. Moreover, the full and partial mediating effect of perceived risk was proven in the relationships.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations of the study is determining a portfolio of brands for each strategy and collecting data for these brands. In addition, since the number of consumers using brand portfolios could not be reached in the study, data could be collected using the purposeful convenience sampling method. For this reason, it is thought that research conducted with the data obtained through systematic sampling methods can yield more reliable results.Practical implicationsManagers of companies with a brand portfolio should work on a main strategy that enhances CBBE and brand reputation regardless of the strategy they use. After these two variables, the variable that portfolio managers need to address is brand fit.Originality/valueIt will offer different perspectives in terms of understanding which portfolio strategy is needed, and which predecessors and outputs can be produced. Also, the findings of the research will produce important results to reduce the perceived risks of consumers and increase their positive attitudes toward brand portfolios.

Social media marketing, shoppers' store love and loyalty

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of social media marketing activities (SMMA) on shoppers' store love and the impact of store love on store loyalty in grocery retail. Moreover, it explores the mediating and moderating role of store love and social media usage intensity (SMUI).Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted among grocery shoppers and social media users in Norway. A total of 177 valid responses were collected and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe study discovered that SMMA impacts store love, and store love affects store loyalty. Store love serves as a mediator between SMMA and store loyalty. SMUI positively moderates the relationship between SMMA and store love; however, the relationship between store love and store loyalty is not moderated by SMUI.Research limitations/implicationsDespite having limited generalizability from a cross-sectional study, this study provides literary additions to the body of knowledge in grocery retail and enhances the cognitive appraisal theory (CAT) and the attachment theory (AT).Practical implicationsThe findings of this study will help grocery shoppers, store managers and grocery chain marketers to comprehend the role of SMMA in building emotional attachment with a grocery store and help make better decisions.Originality/valueFor the first time, this study incorporated SMUI as a moderator in the relationship between SMMA, store love and store loyalty in grocery retail. The study also proposes a new explanation for the relationship between SMMA and store loyalty by highlighting the mediating role of store love.

Antecedents of similarity perception for store-branded lookalikes

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the key antecedences contributing consumer similarity perception toward store branded lookalikes (SBLs), testing to what extent each of the antecedences influences the overall similarity perception.Design/methodology/approachTwo empirical studies were conducted. Study 1 was an online experiment to test the relative importance of packaging features on similarity judgment of SBLs. Study 2 examined the impacts of consumer characteristics and store related elements on similarity perception through a Qualtrics web-based questionnaire covering seven product categories.FindingsThis research yields two key findings. First of all, it revealed that all three packaging attributes studied (i.e. size and shape, image and color) exert positive influence on similarity judgment of SBLs, among which color shows the most significant importance, followed by size and shape, and then color. Then, it showed that brand loyalty fully mediated the effect of brand familiarity on consumers' similarity perception, giving that no direct effect was found from brand familiarity to similarity perception but consumers' brand loyalty increased as they become more familiar with the NBs. As consumers become more loyal to the brands, they would perceive the SBLs to be less similar to imitated national brands.Practical implicationsThis research confirmed the significance of proper manipulation of packaging design, either to the SBLs or to the imitated NBs. It also reveals the critical role of gaining high familiarity and strong loyalty for the NB manufacturers. For retailers, the research highlights the need to maintain a better store image in order to take advantage of SBLs to help with marketing competition.Originality/valueThis research contributes new knowledge on the lookalike phenomenon by uncovering the prerequisites that cause similarity perception between two products.

Exploring the role of spiritual leaders as celebrity business founders and brand endorsers

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the role of spiritual leaders as celebrity business founders and brand endorsers by investigating the mediating role of perceived value in the impact of normative community pressure and perceived brand credibility on purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data from two studies in India, one with urban (N = 307) and another with rural (N = 206) consumers of fast moving consumer goods brands being endorsed by popular celebrity business founders. The authors tested all our hypotheses using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach with SmartPLS software.FindingsPerceived value mediates the positive impact of normative community pressure and perceived brand credibility on purchase intention for the brands endorsed by celebrity business founders, and these mediating effects are stronger for urban (vs rural) consumers.Research limitations/implicationsThe results from Indian consumers may not be generalizable to other emerging markets with diverse cultural and socio-economic conditions.Practical implicationsThis research would help international marketers understand the unique branding and marketing strategies used by local players to learn how to successfully target both urban and rural consumers in the emerging markets.Originality/valueThis paper extends the celebrity endorsement literature by exploring the role of spiritual leaders as celebrity business founders and brand endorsers, a growing trend in the emerging markets with high cultural and religious diversity (e.g. India and Indonesia).

Cultural differences in deliberate counterfeit purchase behavior

PurposeThis paper explores the moderating effects of four personal cultural orientations or PCOs (independence, interdependence, risk aversion and ambiguity intolerance) on the relationships among counterfeit proneness, subjective norms, ethical judgments, product evaluation and purchase intentions for counterfeit products.Design/methodology/approachA field study with 840 consumers in Hong Kong using a self-administered structured questionnaire is used to test all the hypotheses.FindingConsumers with high (low) scores on interdependence (independence) show stronger positive effects of counterfeit proneness on subjective norms and its effects on the counterfeit evaluation and purchase intentions. In contrast, consumers with high (low) scores on independence (interdependence) show stronger positive effects of counterfeit proneness on ethical judgments and its effects on counterfeit evaluation and purchase intentions. Consumers with higher scores on risk aversion and ambiguity intolerance show negative moderating effects on most of the relationships in the unified conceptual framework.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors collected data in Hong Kong, which is predominantly Chinese in culture. Hence, future research in other parts of the world with more diverse cultural values would help test the validity and generalizability of the results.Practical implicationsThe findings would be useful for managers of genuine brands to learn more about the process that explains deliberate counterfeit purchase behavior.Originality/valueThe authors extend the unified conceptual framework for deliberate counterfeit purchase behavior by incorporating four PCOs to explore cultural differences in the socio-psychological decision-making process underlying this behavior.