Social Media's Influence on Destination Image

Social media have become key tools for promoting and spreading the image of a tourist destination. In particular, these communication channels are critical for heritage destinations looking to boost awareness and attract a greater number of visitors. However, the tourism marketing literature has devoted limited attention to how these destinations project their image on social media. In order to cover this gap, this chapter focuses on analyzing the image projected by a specific heritage destination—Cuenca, a World Heritage City—on Facebook and Instagram. To this end, the chapter analyzes the posts, comments, and hashtags that have been published on the different tourism pages about Cuenca. The results of the analysis underscore the growing importance of the image projected by destinations on social networks. That said, there is a need to deepen our knowledge about the communication potential of these channels.

Export Marketing Resources and Their Performance Implications: A Framework and Empirical Analysis

<p><b>Why some firms perform better than others is a central question in business research. Since the mid 1980s, the dominant paradigm relating to this issue is the resource-based view of the firm (RBV). The RBV is based on the premise that firms are bundles of heterogeneous, imperfectly mobile resources, and that advantage-generating resources, rather than market and industry structures, are the most critical determinants of firm success. Originating in the field of strategic management, the RBV has become a major focus of marketing scholars, and a new direction of marketing literature has recently emerged, drawing on marketing resources.</b></p> <p>Although the RBV has received considerable attention in the marketing literature, the growing theoretical and conceptual works on marketing resources are not mirrored in empirical investigation. More specifically, while significant contributions, such as those from Srivastava et al.'s (2001) relational and intellectual market-based assets framework, have been made to the theoretical side of the RBV and marketing, little has been done, so far, with respect to its empirical side. Moreover, the majority of the theoretical and empirical insights on the antecedents of export performance are based on the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm or atheoretical models. Little attention has been given to the process of building competitive advantage and the meaningful idiosyncratic combinations of export market resources that can be used efficiently and effectively by firms competing in export markets.</p> <p>To fill these voids in the literature, this study aims to investigate the sources of competitive advantage and superior export performance by focusing on export market-based assets and capabilities. An integrated framework of export marketing resources and their performance implications is empirically tested with data collected from 320 manufacturing export firms in Thailand. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to examine the interrelationships among the theoretical constructs.</p> <p>The findings of the study provide groundwork for the understanding of the resource building blocks in the export firms and the internal process through which export marketing resources influence firm performance in the export markets. Tangible export market-based assets indirectly contribute to export performance through export market-based capabilities and export competitive advantage. The effects of relational and intellectual export market-based assets on export performance are mediated by export market-based capabilities and export competitive advantage, whereas the effects of export market-based capabilities on export performance are mediated by export competitive advantage.</p> <p>This study demonstrates and explains the richness of the RBV as the basis for assessing the ability of the firms to exploit export marketing resources as a means to enhance their performance. Hence, the study expands the growing body of literature on export marketing and export performance research by adopting a fresh theoretical perspective of the resource-based strategy. The theoretical framework and its empirical validation underpinning the study could provide a new explanation as to why some export firms are more successful than others.</p>

Export Marketing Resources and Their Performance Implications: A Framework and Empirical Analysis

<p><b>Why some firms perform better than others is a central question in business research. Since the mid 1980s, the dominant paradigm relating to this issue is the resource-based view of the firm (RBV). The RBV is based on the premise that firms are bundles of heterogeneous, imperfectly mobile resources, and that advantage-generating resources, rather than market and industry structures, are the most critical determinants of firm success. Originating in the field of strategic management, the RBV has become a major focus of marketing scholars, and a new direction of marketing literature has recently emerged, drawing on marketing resources.</b></p> <p>Although the RBV has received considerable attention in the marketing literature, the growing theoretical and conceptual works on marketing resources are not mirrored in empirical investigation. More specifically, while significant contributions, such as those from Srivastava et al.'s (2001) relational and intellectual market-based assets framework, have been made to the theoretical side of the RBV and marketing, little has been done, so far, with respect to its empirical side. Moreover, the majority of the theoretical and empirical insights on the antecedents of export performance are based on the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm or atheoretical models. Little attention has been given to the process of building competitive advantage and the meaningful idiosyncratic combinations of export market resources that can be used efficiently and effectively by firms competing in export markets.</p> <p>To fill these voids in the literature, this study aims to investigate the sources of competitive advantage and superior export performance by focusing on export market-based assets and capabilities. An integrated framework of export marketing resources and their performance implications is empirically tested with data collected from 320 manufacturing export firms in Thailand. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to examine the interrelationships among the theoretical constructs.</p> <p>The findings of the study provide groundwork for the understanding of the resource building blocks in the export firms and the internal process through which export marketing resources influence firm performance in the export markets. Tangible export market-based assets indirectly contribute to export performance through export market-based capabilities and export competitive advantage. The effects of relational and intellectual export market-based assets on export performance are mediated by export market-based capabilities and export competitive advantage, whereas the effects of export market-based capabilities on export performance are mediated by export competitive advantage.</p> <p>This study demonstrates and explains the richness of the RBV as the basis for assessing the ability of the firms to exploit export marketing resources as a means to enhance their performance. Hence, the study expands the growing body of literature on export marketing and export performance research by adopting a fresh theoretical perspective of the resource-based strategy. The theoretical framework and its empirical validation underpinning the study could provide a new explanation as to why some export firms are more successful than others.</p>

Investigating the Role of Service Quality and Satisfaction on Debtor Loyalty Behavior

The current global economic challenges force each country to survive for the prosperity of its people. The banking sector, as one of the economic regulators, also helps to grow GDP. In this effort, the bank continues to strive to maintain customer satisfaction and build long-term relationships. Although many studies examine satisfaction, there are no studies that reveal the role of punctuality and convenience of service as solid constructs in explaining the process of bank customer loyalty behavior. The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between timeliness and service convenience to satisfaction-mediated loyalty. This paper is a conceptual study so that there are several prepositions explained. The implications of this article are expected to give alternative insight to marketing literature, especially in the field of banking marketing, as well as a foundation that can later be investigated empirically for future researchers.

Do Demographics Matter in Consumer Materialism?

This paper aims to investigate the effects of personal characteristics such as gender, income, education and age on consumer materialism. Research hypotheses are based on both existing marketing literature and an additional integration of gender studies literature in order to further the study of materialism. By using random sampling and surveying 1000 respondents living across different regions in Lithuania, the results show significant differences along gender, age, self-perceived relative income and education in terms of consumers’ materialistic dispositions. The study confirms that younger consumers are more inclined to materialistic values than older ones. Women differ from men on materialism centrality, as well as happiness and success measures. Regarding consumers’ self-perceived relative income, Lithuanians with low income are more prone to aspire to material possessions. Furthermore, research indicates higher rates of consumer materialism to appear among less educated individuals. This is one of the first representative studies in Lithuania revealing what effects different demographic consumer characteristics have on materialistic behaviour. Our findings have some practical implications; for example, they show that vulnerable segments of the population are more susceptible to materialism, necessitating educational policies to reduce such behavior and encourage a more responsible approach. As a result, these educational programs should be tailored to these individuals, with a greater emphasis on the risks associated with overconsumption.

Entrepreneurial value creation: conceptualizing an exchange-based view of entrepreneurship

PurposeThis paper proposes an Exchange-Based View of the value creation process. The Borrowing from marketing literature, the EBV advances that entrepreneurs and stakeholders are tied by exchange relationships, through which they co-create value by reciprocally making and realizing promises of value.Design/methodology/approachPropositions are developed and offered to advance the role of exchange in the entrepreneurial value creation process.FindingsThe authors conceptualize the enterprise as a system of exchange relationships between entrepreneurs and their stakeholders, thus proposing an exchange-based view of entrepreneurship.Originality/valueSuch an account of the role of entrepreneurs and of their relationship with the stakeholders has meaningful implications for our understanding of the entrepreneurial tasks of opportunity recognition and exploitation.

Escape to Sociality! Evaluation of the Relationship between Fitness Club members’ Escape, Sociability, Friendship and Place Loyalty Structures with Their Loyalty Levels

Background: In sports marketing literature, the importance of loyalty phenomenon has been emphasized many times. In the literature review, it has been determined that there are limited number of studies on motivational factors that affect the loyalty of fitness club members. Aim: So, the purpose of the current research is to test empirically the factors that affect fitness club members loyalty Methods: For this purpose, data obtained from a total of 652 fitness club members were analyzed in line with the methodological principles of SEM modelling. Results: In the scope of the research it has been determined that sociability, escape, friend attachment and place attachment and WOM behaviors are directly or indirectly effect the loyalty of fitness club members. Based on these findings, both the theoretical and practical results of this research are discussed in the research. Conclusion: The results of the research show that the marketers should understand the important role of factors such as social escape, friend and place attachment and they should act accordingly. Keywords: Escape, fitness club, loyalty, place attachment.

Contamination by citations: references to predatory journals in the peer-reviewed marketing literature

PurposePredatory publishing is a growing and global issue infecting all scientific domains. Predatory publishers create counterfeit, not (properly) peer-reviewed journals to exploit the open access (OA) model in which the author pays. The plethora of predatory marketing journals along with the sophisticated deceptive practices of their publishers may create total confusion. One of the many highly likely risks of that bewilderment is when peer-reviewed, prestigious marketing journals cite these pseudo-marketing journals. This phenomenon is called citation contamination. This study aims to investigate the extent of citation contamination in the peer-reviewed marketing literature.Design/methodology/approachUsing Google Scholar as a citation gathering tool, this study investigates references to four predatory marketing journals in 68 peer-reviewed marketing journals listed in the 2018 version of the Academic Journal Guide by the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABSs).FindingsResults indicate that 59 of the 68 CABS-ranked peer-reviewed marketing journals were, up to late January 2021, contaminated by at least one of the four sampled predatory journals. Together, these four pseudo-journals received (at least) 605 citations. Findings from nonparametric statistical procedures show that citation contamination occurred irrespective of the age of a journal or its 2019 Journal Impact Factor (JIF). They also point out that citation contamination happened independently from the fact that a journal is recognized by Clarivate Analytics or not.Research limitations/implicationsThis study investigated citations to only four predatory marketing journals in only 68 CABS-listed peer-reviewed marketing journals.Practical implicationsThese findings should sound an alarm to the entire marketing community (including academics and practitioners). To counteract citation contamination, recommendations are provided for researchers, practitioners, journal editors and academic and professional associations.Originality/valueThis study is the first to offer a systematic assessment of references to predatory journals in the peer-reviewed marketing literature.

Happiness and co-creation of value: Playing the blues

Little has been written about co-creational aspects of happiness. Happiness is generally treated in the marketing literature as an individual outcome of exchange. However, the notion of value in exchange has been challenged by service-dominant (S-D) logic. To stimulate the research discovery process, an account of co-creation of happiness is offered, based on the experience of the lead author, in playing blues music. We propose value is co-created in a context when it is perceived by an individual to be adding to their happiness/subjective well-being (SWB). Thus, the concepts of value and happiness/SWB are closely linked and interconnected. The contribution to S-D logic is in recognising the interconnectedness between value co-creation and happiness/SWB. In particular, this article draws attention to the co-creative role of the artist, in cultural ecosystems. This is relevant to the development of the field and has potentially significant implications for policy in allocating society’s resources.

Business strategies under the new marketing myopia perspective

The new marketing myopia portrays companies that focus excessively on the customer, neglecting other stakeholders' demands that can transform the market and lead companies to failure. Although this discussion is present in marketing literature, researchers and marketers miss trails to identify new marketing myopia. This study aims to analyze business strategies under the new marketing myopia perspective. Qualitative and descriptive research was undertaken through a multiple case study of five South American companies acknowledge by Forbes for the customer orientation. This study demonstrates the companies' difficulty to equilibrate customers and other stakeholders’ demands to define their business strategies.