EXPRESS: An Emerging Theory of Avatar Marketing

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224292199458
Author(s):  
Fred Miao ◽  
Irina V. Kozlenkova ◽  
Haizhong Wang ◽  
Tao Xie ◽  
Robert W. Palmatier
Keyword(s):  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Purchase Likelihood ◽  
Research Propositions

Avatars are becoming increasingly popular in contemporary marketing strategies, but their effectiveness for achieving performance outcomes (e.g., purchase likelihood) varies widely in practice. Related academic literature is fragmented, lacking both definitional consistency and conceptual clarity. This article makes three main contributions to avatar theory and managerial practice. First, to address ambiguity with respect to its definition, this study identifies and critically evaluates key conceptual elements of the term avatar, offers a definition derived from this analysis, and provides a typology of avatars’ design elements. Second, the proposed 2 × 2 avatar taxonomy suggests that the alignment of an avatar’s form realism and behavioral realism, across different contingencies, provides a parsimonious explanation for avatar effectiveness. Third, the authors develop an emerging theory of avatar marketing, by triangulating insights from fundamental elements of avatars, a synthesis of extant research, and business practices. This framework integrates key theoretical insights, research propositions, and important managerial implications for this expanding area of marketing strategy. Lastly, the authors outline a research program to both test the propositions and insights as well as advance future research.

scholarly journals Sustainability Dilemmas: Risk and Uncertainty in Supply Chain Management

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Agrogiannis S. ◽  
Kinias I.
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Sustainable Supply Chain ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Conceptual Clarity

<em>Contrary to the considerable development of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) research, the level of conceptual clarity falls short in unveiling the strategic implications of sustainability integration into core business practices. This leads to dilemmas with respect to aspired and achieved levels of business responsibility increasing exposure to financial and sustainability hazards. Given the various incidents of supplier misconduct and cases where no apparent breaches still impose threats to buying firms, it is undeniably mesmeric experiencing the defiance of “common sense” law: just because risks are classified, and responses are deployed, it would be wrong to assume that vulnerability is eradicated. To overcome impediments, we need to discern between uncertainty and risk. To this end, literature supports that firms address issues based on instrumental and moral rationales encompassing fundamentally different justifications. Building on work from risk management, SSCM, paradox as well as management accounting and control, and inserting ideas from entrepreneurship literature, we investigate these particularities and explain how firms could develop their sustainability initiatives and risk management strategies across their Supply Chains (SCs) through an integrative framework. This refinement allows us to increase the odds of more sustainable SCs through a multilevel approach reverberating the interface of strategy and operations. The paper concludes with commenting on the theoretical and managerial implications as well as proposing avenues for future research.</em>

scholarly journals Development of a Model Linking Physical Asset Management to Sustainability Performance: An Empirical Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damjan Maletič ◽  
Matjaž Maletič ◽  
Basim Al-Najjar ◽  
Boštjan Gomišček
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Path Modeling ◽  
Sustainability Performance ◽  
Policy And Strategy ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Physical Assets ◽  
Physical Asset

This article is aimed at exploring the relationship between physical asset management (PAM) practices and sustainability performance. A framework of interrelated constructs was developed based on the existing literature and consequently tested through empirical study. Survey data were collected from organizations operating in six European countries (i.e., Greece, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Turkey) and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM). The results offer support for the proposed hypotheses, showing that PAM practices positively influence the sustainability performance outcomes, namely economic, environmental, and employee-related social performance. Overall, this study demonstrates that a PAM framework can be conceptualized by four sub-constructs, namely physical asset risk management, physical asset performance assessment, physical asset lifecycle management, and physical asset policy and strategy. Finally, this study brings to light some theoretical and managerial implications as well as directions for future research. The findings of the study underscore PAM areas in which managers should focus on in order to optimize costs, performance, and risk exposures concerning the physical assets, and therefore enhance sustainability performance.

scholarly journals MULTIPLE-UNIT FRANCHISING AND PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S279-S312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelli Bodey ◽  
Scott Weaven ◽  
Debra Grace
Keyword(s):  
Research Direction ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
Growth System ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Wide Adaptation ◽  
Multiple Unit ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact

The economic and social contribution of franchising is widely reported. Although, most studies have examined franchising from the single-unit typology, multiple-unit franchising is found to be a popular and pervasive retailing strategy throughout the world. Despite this, there is a paucity of prior research examining the factors influencing the achievement of the four franchising imperatives. This represents an important gapin the organizational choice literature. Therefore, this study empirically examines the impact of the four franchising imperatives (i.e. unit growth, system uniformity, local responsiveness and system wide adaptation) (Bradach 1995) upon franchise system operational performance across the four key governance structures (i.e. master franchising, area development franchising, area representative franchising and incremental franchising). Based on a sample of 347 Australian franchisors, the findings indicate that there are significant differences in the way in which three of the four imperatives (i.e. unit growth, system uniformity and system-wide adaptation) impact on performance across different governance structures. Practical and managerial implications and future research direction are discussed.

scholarly journals Nostalgia May Not Work for Everyone: the Case of Innovative Consumers

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-43
Author(s):  
Dovilė Barauskaitė ◽  
Justina Gineikienė
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Purchasing Decisions ◽  
Consumer Responses ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
The Relationship

In recent years, marketers have widely used nostalgia in their marketing strategies. However, little research has focused on understanding whether consumer responses to nostalgic communication are always positive. Seeking to fill this gap and referring to social identity theoretical framework, current research examines the relationship between nostalgia, innovativeness and consumer purchasing decisions. Empirical results demonstrate that innovativeness and nostalgia might indeed act in opposite directions. Managerial implications of the findings are considered and directions for future research suggested.  

The effect of workplace spirituality on salespeople's organisational deviant behaviours: research propositions and practical implications

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaibhav Chawla
Keyword(s):  
Workplace Spirituality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Research Propositions ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – Recent survey data suggest that salespeople's organisational deviant behaviours such as fudging an expense report, putting off work-related duties to attend to personal things etc. are growing uncontrollably out in the field. Directed towards the goal of mitigating these behaviours, this research attempts to apply the novel perspective of workplace spirituality. Jurkiewicz and Giacalone's value framework of workplace spirituality which consists of ten values (benevolence, generativity, humanism, integrity, justice, mutuality, receptivity, respect, responsibility and trust) is used to propose the theoretical linkages with salespeople's organisational deviant behaviours. The paper concludes with directions for further research, managerial implications and teaching implications. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a conceptual work, which derives research propositions from an extended literature review. Findings – It is proposed that the ten values (benevolence, generativity, humanism, integrity, justice, mutuality, receptivity, respect, responsibility and trust) of value framework of workplace spirituality negatively affect salespeople's organizational deviant behaviours. Research limitations/implications – Future research can extend the conceptual framework to salespeople's interpersonal and frontline deviant behaviours. Practical implications – First, this paper attempts to help sales managers to fight out the epidemic of deviant behaviours by suggesting that adopting workplace spirituality could reduce salespeople's organisational deviant behaviours. Second, by proposing negative effect on organisational deviant behaviours, this paper extends the list of potential benefits of workplace spirituality in sales organisation to suggest that adopting workplace spirituality could be a sound sales strategy. Originality/value – This is the first study in marketing literature which attempts to integrate workplace spirituality and salespeople's negative (deviant) behaviours.

The transversal of nostalgia from psychology to marketing: what does it portend for future research?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudhir Rana ◽  
Sachin Kumar Raut ◽  
Sanjeev Prashar ◽  
Majdi Anwar Quttainah
Keyword(s):  
Business Management ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Crowd Sourcing ◽  
Marketing Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Domain ◽  
Conceptual Study

Purpose The use of nostalgia in the marketing domain has been popular around the world. Nostalgia has been considered a complex yet ambivalent emotion, which has ignited curiosity among marketing researchers and practitioners alike. In response to calls from marketing practitioners and scholars to understand nostalgia formation among consumers, this study tracks the evolution of nostalgia concepts in the domains of marketing and, more generally, business management. This study aims to highlight the development of a theoretical framework to integrate existing concepts and offer implications based on understanding nostalgia as a phenomenon among consumers as a tool for marketing practice. Design/methodology/approach This study is descriptive and inductive in nature. The manuscript is designed and positioned as a conceptual study exploring nostalgia’s journey from the domain of psychology to business management. The study synthesizes concepts of nostalgia from psychology, sociology and business management. Findings The study reveals that nostalgia in the business-management domain is not perceived in the same way as in psychology studies. It has journeyed through different schools of thought and is now used as an impactful marketing practice. The manuscript offers relevant information to marketing practitioners to improve their nostalgia marketing strategies, such as advertising and promotions, retro-branding, crowd-sourcing and culturally oriented practice. Subsequently, the manuscript offers pointers for understanding consumers across the generations and exploring nostalgia and consumption patterns for future research. Research limitations/implications The manuscript offers relevant information about nostalgia to marketing practitioners to improve their nostalgia marketing strategies and proposes avenues for future research to the domain scholars. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no comprehensive paper tracking the journey of nostalgia in business practices and providing directions for future research. This study extends existing literature both by suggesting future research directions and by drawing marketing practitioners’ attention to a conceptual framework for understanding the processes of and relationships with consumer nostalgia, including ways to use consumer nostalgia within marketing practices.

Determinants of Customers’ Responses to Customized Offers: Conceptual Framework and Research Propositions

2005 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itamar Simonson
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Market Segments ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
One To One ◽  
Research Propositions

Marketers have been challenged by proponents of individual (one-to-one) marketing to shift from focusing on market segments to making individually customized offers. Building on current knowledge regarding the construction of customers’ preferences, the author examines the basic assumptions underlying individual marketing and presents a process model of customers’ responses to customized offers. The model addresses (1) preference development, (2) evaluation of customized offers, (3) likelihood of purchasing the customized offers, and (4) maintenance of relationships with one-to-one marketers. The analysis leads to specific propositions regarding determinants of customers’ responses to customized offers. The author discusses future research directions and managerial implications.

scholarly journals An examination of firms’ strategic orientations, innovativeness and performance with large Korean companies

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohyoun Synthia Shin ◽  
Sungho Lee
Keyword(s):  
Customer Orientation ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Orientations ◽  
Firm Innovativeness ◽  
Competitor Orientation ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Technology Orientation

Purpose This paper aims to provide an examination of firms’ strategic orientations, innovativeness and performance with large Korean companies. Design/methodology/approach The authors investigated the impacts of firms’ major key strategic orientations (customer orientation [CO], competitor orientation [PO], technology orientation [TO] and internal/cost orientation [IO]) on firm innovativeness (INNO) and performance outcomes with large Korean companies. Findings The results of the analysis showed that CO, PO and TO positively influence the innovativeness, which contributes to firm performance. Originality/value The authors provide some managerial implications on the multiple roles of strategic orientations on firm INNO and performances, along with limitations of this study and future research directions.

Executive Functions and Clinical and Academic Outcomes in Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1221-1230
Author(s):  
Jane Roitsch ◽  
Kimberly A. Murphy ◽  
Anastasia M. Raymer
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Academic Outcomes ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Praxis Ii ◽  
Language Pathology ◽  
Preliminary Study

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate executive function measures as they relate to clinical and academic performance outcomes of graduate speech-language pathology students. Method An observational design incorporating correlations and stepwise multiple regressions was used to determine the strength of the relationships between clinical outcomes that occurred at various time points throughout the graduate program (clinical coursework grades throughout the program and case study paper scores at the end of the program), academic outcomes (graduate grade point average and Praxis II exam in speech-language pathology scores), and executive function (EF) scores (EF assessment scores, self-reported EF scores). Participants were 37 students (36 women, M age = 24.1) in a master's degree program in speech-language pathology at a southeastern U.S. university during the 2017–2018 academic year. Results Findings of this preliminary study indicated that a limited number of objective EF scores and self-reported EF scores were related to clinical and academic outcomes of graduate speech-language pathology students. Conclusion As results of this preliminary study suggest that EF tests may be related to clinical and academic outcomes, future research can move to study the potential role of EF measures in the graduate admissions process in clinical graduate programs such as speech-language pathology.

Children's Perceived Value: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Validation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Williams ◽  
A Gazley ◽  
N Ashill
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Internal Consistency Reliability ◽  
Future Research ◽  
New York University ◽  
Consumer Decisions ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Stage Process ◽  
Development And Validation ◽  
Value Measure

© 2020 New York University Perceived value among children is an important concept in consumer decisions, yet surprisingly no research has operationalized value for this consumer group. To address this omission, and following the guidelines of DeVellis (2016), this investigation reports the findings of a seven-stage process to develop a valid and reliable instrument for measuring perceived value among children aged 8–14 years. Value for children is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct capturing perceptions of what is received and what is given up, which differs from adult measures in terms of its composition and complexity. A 24-item scale is developed that shows internal consistency, reliability, construct validity, and nomological validity. We also demonstrate the validity of the new scale beyond an existing adult perceived value measure. Directions for future research and managerial implications of the new scale for studying children's consumer behavior are discussed.

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