Psychographics of comparison shoppers

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Banwari Mittal
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Achievement Orientation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Service Value ◽  
Decision Confidence ◽  
Comparison Shopping ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to identify the psychographics of comparison shoppers. How do comparison shoppers differ from their counterparts? This question has remained unaddressed in extant literature. Design/methodology/approach – Two separate surveys of convenience samples of consumers were used to identify comparison shoppers and non-comparison shoppers and their profiles. Findings – Comparisons shoppers enjoyed shopping more and were on a tight budget. They also saw themselves as smart shoppers compared to their counterparts. However, non-comparison shoppers did not lack in buying gratification, decision confidence or satisfaction with their choices. Both groups were also at par on achievement orientation, optimism, spirited living and happiness. Research limitations/implications – Findings of differences are important: comparison shoppers do not find the shopping task stressful, instead they enjoy shopping more. The findings of no difference are even more important: the act of engaging in comparison shopping did not, in and of itself, heighten (nor lessen) the decision confidence, consumption pleasure, optimism or happiness. Practical implications – Given that comparison shoppers are just as optimists and achievement oriented, their self-esteem is likely just as high, and, as such, they would expect to be treated with respect. Thus, even low-service, value-priced stores need to make shopping hassle free, pleasant and respectful. Originality/value – Comparison shopping has not been studied before as a focal construct. The present paper contributes by identifying important psychographic traits of comparison shoppers, both those that separate them from their counterparts and those that unite them.

Toward better theory on the relationship between commitment, participation and leadership in unions

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 715-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Gall ◽  
Jack Fiorito
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Union Commitment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to give a critique of the extant literature on union commitment and participation in order to develop remedies to identified weaknessesDesign/methodology/approachThe paper uses a critical assessment of extant literature.FindingsA number of critical deficiencies exist in the literature to which remedies are proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThe remedies need testing through empirical research.Practical implicationsFuture research needs to have different research foci and questions.Social implicationsWith a reorientation of future research on union commitment, participation and leadership, unions may be better able to benefit from academic research in the area.Originality/valueThe paper suggests that a reorientation of future research on union commitment, participation and leadership will allow more incisive and more robust contributions to be made to understanding unions as complex social organisms.

A solution to the problem of brand definition

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Avis ◽  
Isaac Levi Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
Brand Concept ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Agreed Definition

Purpose This paper aims to critically evaluate the definition of the brand concept, support the critique with an empirical study and provide a definition to resolve the problems that have been identified. Design/methodology/approach This paper combines a conceptual critique with empirical research using a sample of 730 journal papers to analyse the scope and number of brand-related concepts in extant literature. Findings The brand concept has evolved to become problematic with no clarity of definition. There has been an explosion in the number of brand-related concepts that make the brand concept opaque and unwieldy. Based upon the findings, the authors argue that it is necessary to return to a “label and associations model” of the brand concept to ameliorate these issues. Research limitations/implications The empirical research presented examines only 730 papers from a much wider body of brand literature. Nonetheless, it illustrates the fact that researchers and theorists are not talking about the same concept when using the term “brand”. Practical implications Practitioners are not being served by academic branding literature because no two researchers appear to be studying the same entity. This prevents a body of research from being built to guide practitioners. Originality/value This paper makes an original contribution by combining a conceptual critique and empirical study to examine the problems arising from the absence of an agreed definition of the brand concept and uses this as a foundation for creating a resolution to the problems.

Enhancing the transparency of accounting research: the case of narrative analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivo De Loo ◽  
Stuart Cooper ◽  
Melina Manochin
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Interpretive Approach ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
The Way

Purpose – This paper aims to clarify what ‘narrative analysis’ may entail when it is assumed that interview accounts can be treated as (collections of) narratives. What is considered a narrative and how these may be analyzed is open to debate. After suggesting an approach of how to deal with narrative analysis, the authors critically discuss how far it might offer insights into a particular accounting case. Design/methodology/approach – After having explained what the authors’ view on narrative analysis is, and how this is linked with the extant literature, the authors examine the socialisation processes of two early career accountants that have been articulated in an interview context. Findings – The approach to narrative analysis set out in this paper could help to clarify how and why certain interpretations from an interview are generated by a researcher. The authors emphasise the importance of discussing a researcher’s process of discovery when an interpretive approach to research is adopted. Research limitations/implications – The application of any method, and what a researcher thinks can be distilled from this, depends on the research outlook he/she has. As the authors adopt an interpretive approach to research in this paper, they acknowledge that the interpretations of narratives, and what they deem to be narratives, will be infused by their own perceptions. Practical implications – The authors believe that the writing-up of qualitative research from an interpretive stance would benefit from an explicit acceptance of the equivocal nature of interpretation. The way in which they present and discuss the narrative analyses in this paper intends to bring this to the fore. Originality/value – Whenever someone says he/she engages in narrative analysis, both the “narrative” and “analysis” part of “narrative analysis” need to be explicated. The authors believe that this only happens every so often. This paper puts forward an approach of how more clarity on this might be achieved by combining two frameworks in the extant literature, so that the transparency of the research is enhanced.

Organizational-level visual identity: an integrative literature review

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Kristian Gregersen ◽  
Trine Susanne Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Brand Identity ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Visual Identity ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe aim is to review and discuss main conceptualizations, themes and assumptions within organizational-level visual identity (VI) in order to identify potential avenues of theoretical advancement of VI as an independent construct.Design/methodology/approachAn integrative review approach offers a structured, nuanced perspective on the concept by synthesizing extant literature through an iterative, critical and qualitative process.FindingsThe synthesis identifies three overlapping terms [corporate visual identity (CVI), visual brand identity (VBI) and VI] and two main themes (visual consistency and authenticity). The dominant assumptions underpinning consistency and authenticity are challenged by alternative understandings, which provide a platform for perceiving visual consistency and authenticity in new ways.Research limitations/implicationsThe review offers an overview of organizational-level VI that helps define the concept as well as critical reflections which open up for additional research avenues that may develop it and point to potential areas for exploration.Practical implicationsThe review provides practitioners with a platform for discussing how to approach visual identities with regards to consistency and authenticity.Originality/valueThe review contributes with a synthesis of VI literature covering 50 years. It offers a structured presentation of and critical discussion on the underlying, dominant assumptions. By challenging these dominant assumptions, a palette of future research opportunities, with potentials to nuance and develop the concept as a unique construct, are presented.

Gatwick employees get passport to a slimmer and fitter life-style

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 10-11
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Life Style ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Health Program ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – Describes two health and well-being programs that are helping employees at London’s Gatwick airport to get fitter and enjoy a healthier lifestyle. Design/methodology/approach – Explores the reasons for the programs the form they take and the results they have achieved. Findings – Explains how security employees became slimmer and fitter following a 12-week health program, while the ongoing passport to health program is promoting healthier eating and lifestyles among employees. Practical implications – Advances the view that improved health and well-being in employees reduces absenteeism and improves productivity, mood and self-esteem in the workforce. Social implications – Reports that Gatwick employees feel happier, have better sleep quality, more confidence in what they can achieve and more satisfaction with exercise and leisure activities. Originality/value – Highlights how other employees could benefit from similar schemes.

Internationalization and relationship marketing: an introduction

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Khojastehpour ◽  
Raechel Johns
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Foreign Market ◽  
Internationalization Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Internationalization Strategy ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This paper aims to integrate the concepts of the internationalization process and relationship marketing (RM). It identifies two stages for internationalization (pre-internationalization and post-internationalization) and assigns RM components for each step. Design/methodology/approach – The study undertakes a review and synthesis of the extant literature examining internationalization and RM. It then identifies two stages of the internationalization process and its steps, associated with RM components. Findings – The study highlights that each step in the internationalization process requires appropriate RM component to be implemented successfully. Practical implications – Findings of this study highlight the importance of managing internationalization for firms intending to enter to foreign market and identify the issues that need to be understood, if firms are to effectively manage their internationalization strategy. Originality/value – The paper is the first to integrate the concepts of internationalization and RM and to identify the factors that make managing these two types of firm's strategy.

scholarly journals Working within the shadow: what do we do with “not-yet” data?

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Benozzo ◽  
Silvia Gherardi
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Opportunities For Learning ◽  
Qualitative Methodologies ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities opened up by those messy, unclear and indeterminate data in research situations that may be described as being in the shadow and may as such remain in a state of vagueness and indeterminacy. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on the extant literature on shadow organizing and post-qualitative methodologies. It focuses attention on not-yet (or shadow data) in order to ponder over what researchers do to data when they are not (yet) black-boxed as such. At the same time, it investigates what it is that not-yet data do to researchers. Findings Four types of “not-yet” data – illegible, wondrous and disorienting, hesitant and worn out – are presented and discussed. Data are illegible when a researcher is in the position of not knowing how to interpret what is in front of her/him. A second illustration is constructed around wonder, and poses the question of the feelings of surprise and disorientation that arise when facing uncanny realities. In a third situation, not-yet data are narrated as hesitation, when a participant feels conflicting desires and the researchers hesitates in interpreting. The fourth illustration depicts not-yet data as data that have been corrupted, that vanish after time or are worn out. Practical implications Not-yet data belong to researchers practice but can also be found in other professional practices which are concerned with the indeterminacy of shadowy situations. It is argued that situations like these constitute opportunities for learning and for the moral and professional development, so long as indeterminacy is kept open and a process of “slowing down” both action and interpretation is nurtured. Originality/value This paper is of value for taking the metaphor of shadow organizing further. Moreover, it represents a rare attempt to bring the vast debate on post-qualitative research/methodologies into management studies, which with very few exceptions seems to have been ignored by organization studies.

A pricing approach for service companies: service blueprint as a tool of demand-based pricing

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 906-921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armando Calabrese ◽  
Federico De Francesco
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Design Science ◽  
Pricing Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Value ◽  
Service Companies ◽  
Service Pricing ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Service Blueprint

Purpose – Demand-based pricing fixes price according to customers’ perceptions of service value and to their resulting willingness to pay. This pricing approach enables service companies to align their prices to customers’ preferences and to their expenditure propensity. Accordingly, it can generate higher margins than other pricing approaches. Nevertheless, this approach is difficult to implement operationally. Consequently, in order to overcome these implementation difficulties, the purpose of this paper is to provide a demand-based pricing approach based on the user-friendly technique of service blueprint (SB). Design/methodology/approach – The methodology relies on the design science leads. Design science deals with creating artefacts or models for supporting human or organizational purposes; such artefacts have to be assessed against criteria of utility or value for users. Accordingly, an experimental action research is performed for both implementing and testing the proposed pricing approach. Findings – Starting from the main difficulties hindering implementation of demand-based pricing, SB is proved to enable companies to overcome such difficulties and to support its implementation. Moreover, by employing SB, an innovative approach for fixing service prices is provided. Practical implications – The proposed approach enables managers of service companies to overcome difficulties of demand-based pricing and to employ pricing strategies according to demand-based drivers. Originality/value – In line with a recent call for research on service pricing, this paper develops a new pricing approach, which is able to promote demand-based pricing.

Self-gratification and self-discrepancy in purchase of digital items

2019 ◽  
Vol 119 (8) ◽  
pp. 1608-1624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuainan Li ◽  
Chee Wei Phang ◽  
Hong Ling
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Current View ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Self Discrepancy ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose While previous research underscored self-presentation desire as an important motivator of digital item purchase, user needs for digital items may become increasingly inner-focused with the maturation of virtual communities (VCs). The purpose of this paper is to posit that self-discrepancy and self-gratification are key to explaining user purchase of digital items. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 310 users of a social media-based VC well supports the hypotheses. Findings The tenet of this study is that individuals purchase digital items in VCs not only for self-presentation purpose per se, but more importantly for reasons of more inner-focused, such as due to their self-discrepancy that motivates them to purchase digital items to enhance self-esteem, and also for self-gratification. Furthermore, self-discrepancy arising from comparing ones’ current self against how they perceive others expect them to ideally be (i.e. self-other discrepancy) increases their self-presentation desire. Originality/value Overall the findings enrich the current view that individuals purchase digital items mainly to present themselves to others (Kim et al., 2012), thus affording a more complete understanding of this behavior that has both important research and practical implications.

Are size-zero female models always more effective than average-sized ones?

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 1184-1206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuemei Bian ◽  
Kai-Yu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Psychological Characteristics ◽  
Product Evaluations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Effective Policy ◽  
Targeted Marketing ◽  
Model Features ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate if brand might affect consumers’ response to replacing size-zero models (SM) with average-sized models (AM) in advertising and how individuals’ psychological states might underlie consumers’ reactions. Design/methodology/approach – Three studies manipulating brand and model body size were conducted and advertising images to female individuals differing in self-esteem were exposed. Findings – This research finds that brand moderates consumers’ model evaluation. Participants evaluated AM as being more attractive than SM for new brands, whereas for well-established brands associated with SM, participants rated both AM and SM as being equally attractive. Self-esteem shapes participants’ evaluation of AM and SM. For new brands, low self-esteem individuals evaluated AM as being more attractive than SM, whereas high self-esteem individuals evaluate AM and SM as being equally attractive. The results are consistent, regardless of whether it is a luxury and a generic brand. These results emerged for both model attractiveness rating and product evaluations. Practical implications – A better understanding of the relative consequences of the use of AM versus SM is essential for more effective policy initiatives and better targeted marketing campaigns. Originality/value – Limited research has documented the possible effects of brand on individuals’ responses to AM as opposed to SM. How individuals of different psychological characteristics may react distinctively to advertisements containing AM versus stereotype SM has not yet been explored until this study. This research takes the first step to bridge these knowledge gaps by looking into how brand and perceiver psychological characteristics jointly work with model features to determine how consumers perceive the AM as opposed to SM. This study provides empirical and comparative evidence of the advantages of using AM and SM in print media.

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