Brand implications of advertising products with their reflections

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazuk Sharma ◽  
Marisabel Romero

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of advertising products with their reflections on some important brand outcomes such as brand purchase likelihood, brand trust and consumer willingness to pay for the advertised product. Design/methodology/approach This research uses four experiments to assess the effects of advertising products with (vs without) reflections on the focal brand outcomes. Findings Results evidence a robust negative effect of advertising products with their reflections on the investigated brand outcomes across multiple product categories. Following Signaling Theory, product reflections are found to act as negative signaling devices in brand advertising contexts given that these inverted, false object reproductions are processed with a sense of confusion, ambiguity and uncertainty. Further in line with Signaling Theory, increased product quality uncertainty is determined as the underlying process and brand confidence signaling is tested as a relevant moderator to the proposed effects. Originality/value This inquiry is the first to systemically investigate brand implications of advertising products with their reflections. Counter to marketers’ aesthetic intuitions, the current research finds that this common advertising practice can actually hurt critical brand outcomes such as brand trust.

2021 ◽  
pp. 232948842110323
Author(s):  
Rebecca Van Herck ◽  
Sofie Decock ◽  
Bernard De Clerck ◽  
Liselot Hudders

This study investigates the effect of linguistic realizations of employee empathy (LREE) on brand trust in email responses to customer complaints. We explore possible mediating effects of perceived empathy and perceived complaint handling quality and we look into moderation effects of compensation (Study 1) or customer’s acceptance of blame (Study 2). Our aim is to find out if LREE have a negative or positive impact on the customer in cases of partial refunds, either because LREE are being perceived as insincere or as genuine expressions of concern. The results of two experiments show that LREE positively influence brand trust through higher perceived empathy and perceived complaint handling quality. However, the expected negative effect is not found, as LREE are more effective in a low versus high compensation condition. The effectiveness itself is not influenced by the acceptance of blame when a partial refund is offered.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin Amuakwa-Mensah ◽  
Louis Boakye-Yiadom ◽  
William Baah-Boateng

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of education on migration decisions focusing on rural and urban in-migrants by comparing the 2005/2006 and 2012/2013 rounds of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS5 and GLSS6). After correcting for selectivity bias, the authors observed that anticipated welfare gain and socio-economic variables such as sector of employment, sex, experience, age, educational level and marital status significantly affect an individual’s migration decision. Design/methodology/approach – The authors made use of Sjaastad’s (1962) human capital framework as a basis for examining the impact of education on migration. The migration decision equation was based on the Heckman two stage procedure. Findings – While educational attainment is observed to have a positive effect on migration decision in the period 2005/2006, the authors find a negative effect of educational attainment on migration decision in the period 2012/2013. The effect of educational attainment on migration decision in 2005/2006 for urban in-migrant is higher than the effect for rural in-migrant, with its significance varying for the different stages of educational attainment. In absolute terms, whereas the effect of secondary educational attainment on migration decisions for urban in-migrant is higher than that of rural in-migrant, the reverse holds for higher educational attainment during the period 2012/2013. Social implications – Based on the mixed effect of education on migration decision as evident from the study, policies to enhance the educational system in Ghana should be complemented with job creations in the entire country. Moreover, special attention should be given to the rural sector in such a way that the jobs to be created in the sector do not require skilled workers. With quality education and job creation, the welfare of individuals living in urban and rural areas will be enhanced. Originality/value – In spite of the importance of education in migration decisions, there is scanty literature on the rural-urban dimension. To the best of the author’s knowledge there is no literature in the Ghanaian context which examines the rural and urban perspective of the impact of education on migration with a much recent data. Further, the author consider how the determinants of migration decision have changed over time focusing on rural and urban perspectives.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Li ◽  
Anrunze Li ◽  
Xue Song ◽  
Xinran Li ◽  
Kun Huang ◽  
...  

PurposeAs academic social Q&A networking websites become more popular, scholars are increasingly using them to meet their information needs by asking academic questions. However, compared with other types of social media, scholars are less active on these sites, resulting in a lower response quantity for some questions. This paper explores the factors that help explain how to ask questions that generate more responses and examines the impact of different disciplines on response quantity.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines 1,968 questions in five disciplines on the academic social Q&A platform ResearchGate Q&A and explores how the linguistic characteristics of these questions affect the number of responses. It uses a range of methods to statistically analyze the relationship between these linguistic characteristics and the number of responses, and conducts comparisons between disciplines.FindingsThe findings indicate that some linguistic characteristics, such as sadness, positive emotion and second-person pronouns, have a positive effect on response quantity; conversely, a high level of function words and first-person pronouns has a negative effect. However, the impacts of these linguistic characteristics vary across disciplines.Originality/valueThis study provides support for academic social Q&A platforms to assist scholars in asking richer questions that are likely to generate more answers across disciplines, thereby promoting improved academic communication among scholars.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianchun Zhang ◽  
Zhu Yao ◽  
Wan Qunchao ◽  
Fu-Sheng Tsai

Purpose Time pressure is the most common kind of work pressure that employees face in the workplace; the existing research results on the effect of time pressure are highly controversial (positive, negative, inverted U-shaped). Especially in the era of knowledge economy, there remains a research gap in the impact of time pressure on individual knowledge hiding. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of different time pressure (challenge and hindrance) on knowledge hiding and to explain why there is controversy about the effect of time pressure in the academics. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected two waves of data and surveyed 341 R&D employees in China. Moreover, they used regression analysis, bootstrapping and Johnson–Neyman statistical technique to verify research hypotheses. Findings The results show that challenge time pressure (CTP) has a significant negative effect on knowledge hiding, whereas hindrance time pressure (HTP) has a significant positive effect on knowledge hiding; job security mediates the relationship between time pressure and knowledge hiding; temporal leadership strengthen the positive impact of CTP on job security; temporal leadership can mitigate the negative impact of HTP on job security. Originality/value The findings not only respond to the academic debate about the effect of time pressure and point out the reasons for the controversy but also enhance the scholars’ attention and understanding of the internal mechanism between time pressure and knowledge hiding.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 816-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nizar Souiden ◽  
Riadh Ladhari ◽  
Liu Chang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine ethnocentrism and animosity in a special context of two societies that share cultural, historical, ethnic and geographical characteristics. In particular, it first investigates the relationships between Chinese ethnocentrism and animosity toward Taiwan, and then it examines the impact of these two factors on the Chinese perception of Taiwanese brand quality and their purchase intent. Design/methodology/approach Based on a sample of 605 respondents from China, data were analyzed by structural equation modeling. Findings The results show that although Chinese animosity toward Taiwan is moderate, it is significantly driven by ethnocentrism, which has a significant and negative effect on willingness to buy, but not on the perception of Taiwanese brand quality. The Chinese animosity toward Taiwan, however, has negative and significant effects on their perception of Taiwanese brand quality and their intention of purchasing Taiwanese brands. Research limitations/implications The immense size of the country has impeded the representativeness of the authors’ sample and the generalizability of the results. Also, the study covers only one type of product. Practical implications Forming partnerships with local Chinese businesses and developing strong ties with local communities could be considered as a solution to minimize or circumvent the effect of animosity and might help foreign companies appear more “local.” Originality/value In contrast to past studies that investigated ethnocentrism and animosity in the context of countries presenting several differences (e.g. China vs USA), this study investigates the effect of ethnocentrism and animosity in the context of two countries (China and Taiwan) that share cultural, historical, ethnic and geographic characteristics. Despite the strong ties between the two countries, the Chinese have a certain animosity, though moderate, toward Taiwan and consequently are less inclined to buy Taiwanese brands. This implies that Chinese animosity toward a country may be toned down or pronounced, depending on whether they have strong or weak ties with that country.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esmeralda Crespo-Almendros ◽  
M. Belén Prados-Peña ◽  
Lucia Porcu ◽  
Juan Miguel Alcántara-Pilar

Purpose This study seeks to analyze the influence of the consumer's perceived benefits deriving from two different promotional incentives offered via social media on the perceived quality of the heritage complex.Design/methodology/approach A quasi-experimental study was carried out among online users, implementing two different promotional stimuli. Facebook was selected as the social network through which the promotional incentives were offered in the experiment. The sample was obtained via a panel of Internet users provided by Sondea Internet SL.Findings The results showed that the benefits perceived by the tourists will depend on the sales promotion type offered. On the one hand, free VIP pass was found to be mostly related to hedonic benefits that positively affect perceived quality. On the other hand, 2 × 1 offer would be perceived as a utilitarian benefit and is likely to exert a fairly negative effect on perceived quality.Practical implications Tourism managers and practitioners are encouraged to analyze the characteristics of certain types of sales promotions, as each promotional incentive bears different values and associated benefits. The findings of this study suggest managers and practitioners to implement non-monetary promotions to enhance brand equity and perceived quality. Thus, it is paramount for the managers of cultural institutions and heritage sites to trust in sales promotions which can be very helpful if they are designed carefully.Originality/value This study pioneers the analysis of the impact of the benefits associated with different typologies of sales promotions on social networks on the perceived quality of a heritage site.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sawssan Jbir ◽  
Souhir Neifar ◽  
Yosra Makni Fourati

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of CEO (chief executive officer) compensation and CEO attributes on the level of tax aggressiveness of French companies. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprises 180 firm-year observations of 40 companies listed on the CAC 40 during the period ranging from 2008 to 2018. For the purpose of overcoming the problems of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation, the authors apply the generalized least square panel regression. Findings This study’s results corroborate the importance of CEO compensation and CEO attributes as determinants of tax aggressiveness. In addition, the authors come up with the fact that CEO compensation has a negative effect on tax aggressiveness, and that older CEOs and CEOs with accounting expertise are negatively linked with tax aggressiveness. The authors also find out that there is a positive relationship between the CEO tenure and tax aggressiveness. Moreover, the authors report that foreign CEOs are more likely to engage in tax aggressiveness practices than local CEOs. Research limitations/implications The unavailability of all annual reports and the use of only one proxy to measure tax aggressiveness present limitations. This study shows significant implications for shareholders, regulators and researchers. As a matter of fact, shareholders will observe the effect of appointing a foreign CEO on the tax aggressiveness level. This study may also provide regulators with new ideas regarding the role of the CEO and its impact on aggressive decision-making. And it brings forth new insight for researchers through adding a foreign CEO as a new determinant of tax aggressiveness. Originality/value According to the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide empirical evidence regarding the effect of both CEO compensation and CEO attributes on tax aggressiveness. It also looks into the impact of a foreign CEO on tax aggressiveness.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Wang ◽  
Liqiong Liu ◽  
Yu Feng

PurposeThe mechanism of marketing strategy style and its impact on firms are research issues received wide attention. In particular, the aggressive style of marketing strategy has been chosen by many companies, but recent studies have shown that it has a negative effect on corporate performance. This leads to the core issue of this paper – does the aggressive style of marketing strategy always had a negative impact on corporate performance? Are there any factors that can alleviate this negative impact?Design/methodology/approachBased on the resource-based theory and agency theory, this paper takes the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) listed companies as the research objects, collects secondary data and conducts the research by regression model.FindingsThe empirical research shows that: (1) the aggressive style of marketing strategy significantly and negatively affects the performance of firm; (2) the resource constraint can moderate the main effect and resource control play a weak adjustment role.Practical implicationsIn practice, this paper confirms the adverse impact of aggressive style of marketing strategy on the performance of listed companies on GEM and inspires the industry to strengthen the control and supervision of marketing resources.Originality/valueThis paper makes up for the research gap in the field of cross-research in finance and marketing theoretically.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
P.K. Kannan ◽  
Gauri Kulkarni

PurposeThe Covid-19 pandemic and the related closures and lockdowns have changed how consumers shop for products and how they consume them. In this paper, the authors focus on how customers' journeys from the awareness stage down to purchase and loyalty stages have been impacted by the pandemic across different product categories and markets and how they affect the same post-pandemic. The authors propose directions for future research based on our analysis.Design/methodology/approachAnalyzing the components of customer utility, the authors provide the basis for the rapid shift towards online and digital touchpoints and the nature of emerging interactions between firms and consumers. The authors highlight those areas where changes could be permanent.FindingsThe authors show why some of the changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic could be permanent and irrevocable and what this implies for firms' strategies to acquire, retain, and grow their business with their customers.Originality/valueThe authors highlight why omnichannel strategies are the way for firms to thrive in the post-pandemic marketplace, and outline areas for future research that will allow researchers to examine how customer journeys will evolve post-pandemic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 565-581
Author(s):  
Gilles Séré de Lanauze ◽  
Béatrice Siadou-Martin

Purpose Many western consumers have become sensitive to the negative effects of their consumption levels in many product categories and those new attitudes are challenging their habitual consumption behaviors. How do dissonant attitudes influence the process toward behavioral change? How does external information reinforce those conflicting attitudes with new dissonant cognitions and foster intentions to modify behavior? This study aims to propose a conceptual model, based on cognitive dissonance theory, which introduces psychological discomfort as an important mediator toward behavioral change intentions. Design/methodology/approach Two studies are conducted. Using structural equation modeling under Amos, hypotheses are tested and validated in the field of meat consumption on a sample of 501 French consumers. A second study investigates the impact of the nature of the stimulus on consumers’ responses. Findings The results show that psychological discomfort is increased by the contact with dissonant external information and that consumers may at the same time minimize the effects of additional cognition by implementing informational strategies such as trivialization or decredibilization to defend their consumption behavior. Research limitations/implications Future researchers could consider the various objections to meat consumption separately and further explore the dynamics between external information, consumer cognitions and consumer consumption behavior in diverse consumption contexts. Practical implications The authors advise meat marketers to reduce consumer psychological discomfort by promoting the hedonic perceived value and by presenting credible counterarguments to defend the benefits of their products. Social implications The study may encourage advocates of lower meat consumption to provide credible information about the detrimental effects of meat consumption to influence behavioral change intentions. Originality/value As responsible consumption becomes a key trend in western societies, new attitudes, fostered by external critical information, are influencing consumption behavior in many product categories. This research contributes to a better understanding of the attitude–behavior gap in a context of emerging criticism toward highly consumed and traditional products.


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