Effects of brand transgressions on third-party consumers

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Mantovani ◽  
José Carlos Korelo ◽  
Jenny Ibarra

Purpose Brand transgressions, characterized by service failure, are a frequent theme for marketing scholars. Their impact on satisfaction, trust and brand loyalty is of high interest. However, in assessing the influence of those events on third-party consumers, the literature is still lacking. The purpose of this paper is to explore how social distance explains the reactions of close and distant third-party consumers toward other consumers during a brand transgression event. Anger is analyzed as a driver of this process. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted. Both studies presented a 3 (social distance: victim vs close third party vs distant third party) by 2 (severity: low vs high) between-subjects design. Respondents were asked to read a transgression scenario in a mobile phone service (study 1) and in a restaurant (study 2) and then completed scales that measured their affective reactions and evaluations of the relationship – satisfaction, trust, and loyalty intention – with the transgressing brand. Findings The results showed that transgression severity intensifies the effect of the brand transgression on consumer’s anger. Victims and close third parties demonstrated higher levels of anger compared to distant third-party consumers. In the case of severe transgressions, an experience of anger contagion between victims and close third-party consumers was responsible for the negative effect on the relationship evaluation of the transgressing brand compared to distant third-party consumers. Originality/value This study extends previous research about how social distance influences consumer-brand relationships and demonstrates the mediating role played by affective anger contagion.

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 2717-2735
Author(s):  
Kavitha Haldorai ◽  
Woo Gon Kim ◽  
Kullada Phetvaroon ◽  
Jun (Justin) Li

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how workplace ostracism influences employee work engagement. It further examines the mediating role of workplace belongingness and moderating role of intrinsic work motivation. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from 402 hotel employees from Thailand. A second stage moderated-mediation is used to test the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee work engagement. Findings Workplace ostracism negatively impacts employee work engagement and workplace belongingness mediates this relationship. The negative effect of workplace ostracism on employee work engagement through workplace belongingness is stronger for employees high on intrinsic motivation. Practical implications Hotel firms should make social connection an organization-wide strategic priority. They can include workplace ostracism as workplace harassment in their policy. Originality/value Besides contributing to the nascent literature on workplace ostracism in the hospitality industry, the present study extends research on workplace ostracism by empirically testing the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee work engagement. By using workplace belongingness as a mediator, a better understanding is provided regarding “why” workplace ostracism relates to employee work engagement. By introducing intrinsic work motivation as a moderator, scholars can gain a better understanding in regard to “whom” workplace ostracism negatively relates to employee work engagement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 503-525
Author(s):  
Gul Afshan ◽  
Muhammad Kashif ◽  
Firdous Khanum ◽  
Mansoor Ahmed Khuhro ◽  
Umair Akram

PurposeBased on the conservation of resources theory, this study aims to investigate high involvement work practices (HIWP) as an antecedent to burnout with a mediating role of perceived work–family (WF) imbalance. Moreover, this study examines whether humble leadership moderates the relationship between HIWP and WF imbalance.Design/methodology/approachUsing a time-lagged survey approach, data are collected from 200 employees working in the Indian services sector organizations.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that HIWP has a direct negative effect on burnout and an indirect effect via WF imbalance. Also, humble leadership moderates the relationship between HIWP and WF imbalance.Originality/valueBy studying the pessimistic view of HIWP in the Indian context, this study contributes to the scant studies available on its effect on burnout in collectivistic societies. Furthermore, humble leadership's moderating role in the relationship between HIWP and WF imbalance is unique to this study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 2214-2229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaemun Byun ◽  
SooCheong (Shawn) Jang

Purpose This study aims to investigate, when a service failure occurs, whether circumstantial cues could be used to encourage more positive responses by customers toward restaurants through the mediation of causal attribution. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (cause of service failure: easily observable vs difficult-to-observe) × 2 (kitchen design: open vs closed) between-subject experiment is used to analyze customers’ causal attributions of service failures and resultant responses. Findings When a service failure whose cause is easy to identify occurs, customers at open-kitchen restaurants show more negative responses than those at closed-kitchen restaurants because they are likely to attribute the responsibility to the restaurant. Attribution is confirmed to mediate the relationship between the interaction of service failure by kitchen design and customers’ responses. Practical implications Diverse circumstantial cues should be actively used to encourage more positive responses by customers. The mediating role of causal attribution should be considered in managing customers’ responses toward service failures. Originality/value This study finds that circumstantial cues could be useful in dealing with service failures in restaurants by confirming the mediating role of causal attribution.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Chen ◽  
Fengxia Zhu ◽  
Murali Mantrala

Purpose This paper aims to systematically investigate the direct and indirect effects of four types of support – peer instrumental support, peer emotional support, platform business support and platform communication support – on seller trade volume in social commerce. It also aims to uncover the path of support-to-sales of the seller from a platform perspective and provides a more complete picture of the social commerce phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses multi-source data including primary survey data and secondary data on trade volume to test the hypotheses. PROCESS mediation model is used to analyze the multi-source data set. Findings This study finds that the positive effects of peer instrumental support, platform business support and platform communication support on seller trade volume are fully mediated by seller collaborative information exchange. Also, peer emotional support has a significant negative effect on seller trade volume and collaborative information exchange can serve as a buffer to mitigate the negative effect. Research limitations/implications The authors provide new insights into what types of support are or are not conducive to improving transaction volume of individual sellers and highlight the mediating role of seller information exchange in this value generation process in social commerce. These findings advance current knowledge of how seller interactions increase value in social commerce. The chosen research setting may limit the generalizability of the findings of this study. Practical implications This paper offers valuable implications for social commerce platforms on how to better serve their sellers to achieve high growth. Specifically, the findings suggest that platforms should encourage instrumental support and information exchange among peer sellers. In addition, platforms should expand seller support from a single-focus on sellers’ business to a dual-focus on both sellers’ business and socialization in social commerce. Originality/value This paper fulfills an identified need to study how sellers can better derive value from the social interactions and how social commerce platforms can effectively influence transactions, support sales and serve as a selling platform.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 630-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won Ho Kim ◽  
Young-An Ra ◽  
Jong Gyu Park ◽  
Bora Kwon

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of burnout (i.e. exhaustion, cynicism, professional inefficacy) in the relationship between job level and job satisfaction as well as between job level and task performance. Design/methodology/approach The final sample included 342 Korean workers from selected companies. The authors employed the Hayes (2013) PROCESS tool for analyzing the data. Findings The results showed that all three subscales of burnout (i.e. exhaustion, cynicism, professional inefficacy) mediate the relationship between job level and job satisfaction. However, only two mediators (i.e. cynicism, professional inefficacy) indicated the mediating effects on the association between job level and task performance. Originality/value This research presented the role of burnout on the relationships between job level, job satisfaction, and task performance especially in South Korean organizational context. In addition to role of burnout, findings should prove helpful in improving job satisfaction and task performance. The authors provide implications and limitations of the findings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 806-817
Author(s):  
Patrick Amfo Anim ◽  
Frederick Okyere Asiedu ◽  
Matilda Adams ◽  
George Acheampong ◽  
Ernestina Boakye

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationships between political marketing via social media and young voters’ political participation in Ghana. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role political efficacy plays in enhancing the relationship. Design/methodology/approach With a positivist mindset, and adopting the survey strategy, data gathered from the questionnaire administered from the sampled 320 young voters (18-29 years) in Greater Accra were quantitatively analyzed. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the research model. Findings The study revealed that a political party or candidate’s ability to achieve political participation from Ghanaian young voters’ is dependent on how effective they build customer relationship or gaining visibility through social media. In addition, the study showed that political efficacy mediates the relationship between customer relationship building or gaining visibility through social media and political participation among Ghana young voters. Thus, young voters in Ghana must see themselves to have a say in the affairs of political parties through the political messages they gather from social media platforms to enhance their political participation activities. Practical implications The results of this paper will enable political marketers and politicians not only in Ghana but across the globe, to better understand how social media as a communication tool could be used to positively influence users’ political participation. Originality/value Considering the uniqueness of this study in a Ghanaian context, this paper is the first of its kind to use the social capital theory in examining the mediating role political efficacy plays in enhancing the relationship between political marketing on social media and young voters’ political participation.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Asim Rafique ◽  
Yumei Hou ◽  
Muhammad Adnan Zahid Chudhery ◽  
Nida Gull ◽  
Syed Jameel Ahmed

PurposeInnovations are imperative for organizational growth and sustainability. This study focuses on the employees' innovative behavior, a source of organizational innovations, which has received substantial attention from the researchers. Based on the psychological empowerment theory, the study exposes the effect of the various dimensions of public service motivation (PSM) on employees' innovative behavior (IB) in public sector institutions especially in the context of developing countries such as Pakistan. Moreover, the study also investigates the mediating role of psychological empowerment (PSE) between the dimensions of PSM and IB.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the cross-sectional research design. By using random sampling, the adapted survey questionnaires were used to collect data from 346 faculty members of public sector universities located in provincial capitals of Pakistan. A partial least square–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) tool was used to assess the proposed hypotheses through SMART-PLS software.FindingsResults revealed that attraction to policymaking (APM), compassion (COM), self-sacrifice (SS) have a significant impact on employees' PSE and their innovative behavior, while the relationship of commitment to the public interest (CPI) with PSE and IB was found insignificant. Moreover, PSE partially mediated the relationship between PSM dimensions and employees' IB.Originality/valueThere was a scarcity of research on IB especially in public sector institutions such as academia. This study theoretically contributed to the literature by providing a refined picture in assessing the proposed relationship of the constructs. This is also one of the original studies that examine the relationship between the dimensions of PSM and IB.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xun Zhang ◽  
Biao Xu ◽  
Jun Wu

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between renqing and purchase intentions and the mechanism of its impact in the Chinese business-to-business (B2B) context. Design/methodology/approach Renqing in China has played an important role in business relationships and has been receiving increased attention in both practice and theory. However, little is known about whether it can influence purchase intentions in a rational B2B condition. This research aims to examine the relationship between renqing and purchase intentions and the mechanism of its impact in the Chinese B2B context. Based on a survey of 1,010 industry buyers from 468 Chinese downstream buyer companies, the empirical findings indicate a positive relationship between renqing and purchase intentions and the mediating role of long-term orientation (LTO) for increasing purchase intentions. In addition, this study also finds that product involvement (PI) has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between renqing and purchase intentions, which means that renqing has a big positive effect on purchase intentions in low PI conditions. The results highlight several implications for B2B companies that sell products to Chinese enterprises. Findings The empirical findings indicate a positive relationship between renqing and purchase intentions and the mediating role of LTO for increasing purchase intentions. In addition, this study also finds that PI has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between renqing and purchase intentions, which means that renqing has a big positive effect on purchase intentions in low PI conditions. Originality/value First of all, by answering the research question, this study shows that renqing has a positive effect on purchase intentions in Chinese B2B context. Second, this study elucidates the influence mechanism of renqing on purchase intention and identifies the mediating effect of LTO and the moderating effect of PI.


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.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joather Al Wali ◽  
Rajendran Muthuveloo ◽  
Ai Ping Teoh

PurposeThe study aims to examine the relationship between innovative work behaviour (IWB) and JP amongst physicians in Iraq public hospitals. The study also determines the effects of creative self-efficacy (CSE) and humble leadership (HL) on IWB. Besides, the study investigates the mediating role of IWB on the relationship between CSE and JP as well as between HL and JP.Design/methodology/approachA total of 332 respondents participated in the survey, although 173 responses were utilised after data screening. The study employs the structural equation modelling via partial least squares (PLS-SEM) to ascertain the relationship between the variables.FindingsEvidence from the study indicates that IWB has a positive relationship with JP, whilst CSE and HL are significant determinants of IWB amongst physicians in Iraq public hospitals. The study provides evidence that IWB plays a positive mediating role in the relationship between CSE and JP as well as between HL and JP amongst physicians in Iraq public hospitals.Originality/valueThe study implies that the JP of physicians in Iraq public hospitals can be enhanced by IWB, whilst the latter can be improved by CSE and HL. The influences of CSE and HL on JP can be boosted by IWB. Hence, efforts to promote IWB should be vigorously pursued by Iraq public hospitals to foster the physicians' JP.


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