Personal goals in consumers' adoption of mHealth services

PurposemHealth services are effective and cost efficient, yet wide-scale adoption of these services by consumers has yet to be achieved, constraining their public health benefit. Further investigation of non-technological determinants of mHealth adoption is needed; specifically, the role of consumers' goals has received scant attention and forms the research focus.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 comprised 20 interviews with participants who possess a health goal, with the data analysed using an abductive reasoning approach. Study 2 was a 15-min online survey (n = 653), with the data analysed using multi-group structural equation modelling.FindingsStudy 1 identified several antecedents to the desirability and feasibility of consumers' health goals, which influence their desire to use mHealth services. Study 2 shows significant differences in the determinants of mHealth service acceptance depending on whether consumers set concrete as opposed to abstract goals, but social acceptance of mHealth services of these services is important for both groups.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest emphasising the importance of health goals to achieving other consumer goals (e.g. work or travel goals), the efficacy of mHealth services relative to other service alternatives for achieving those health goals, and the social acceptance of mHealth services to increase their uptake.Originality/valueThis study is the first to use construal-level theory to improve understanding of the role of consumers' goals in the adoption of mHealth services. By identifying the antecedents to goal desirability and feasibility, it also broadens the model of goal-directed behaviour.

The Role of Consumer and Customer Journeys in Customer Experience Driven and Open Innovation

Customer and Consumer Journeys, touchpoints and Consumer Goals have been widely discussed among Customer Experience theorists and practitioners, establishing that a hierarchical relationship between those exist. Customer Experience driven innovation evaluates opportunities mainly within touchpoints in Customer Journeys. However, there is still a gap in understanding how exactly those elements are interlinked and impact each other. This research article aims to create this understanding by answering three research questions: “To what extent, and how do Customer Journeys impact Consumer Journeys and vice versa?” and “Are touchpoints (including other actors) a sub-set of Consumer or Customer Journeys?” and “Where in the hierarchy should Customer Experience driven innovation opportunities be identified?”. Phenomenological interviews with participants of the Cambridge Venture Camp 2021, organized as part of the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union within Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education were chosen for the research methodology. Grounded theory and open coding were used to interpret the collected data. In this article, we demonstrate how Consumer Journeys impact Customer Journeys, and that Customer Journeys do not impact other journeys directly, but rather by adjusting the higher-order goals of the Consumer through the response to the stimuli in the touchpoints. A theoretical model is proposed that highlights the interconnectivity of the different experience elements, and how to interpret Customer Experience driven innovation within the hierarchy.

Poetizing to improve consumer representation

The notion of the identity project fosters a persistent emphasis on consumer goals and plans and has dominated many interpretations of consumers undergoing transformation. This article contrasts this self-will view by introducing the lived experience of poetizing. Poetizing represents our moments of humble vulnerability when we wonder about life circumstances that we do not control or understand as we experience transformation. In those moments of humble vulnerability, we are possessed by our identities, rather than owning an identity project. By adopting the theoretical lens of poetizing, we enrich our capacity to represent the messiness of life and make space for a critical understanding of the accidentality of identity in creation and its embedded vulnerability.

Construal Matching in Online Search: Applying Text Analysis to Illuminate the Consumer Decision Journey

As consumers move through their decision journey, they adopt different goals (e.g., transactional vs. informational). In this research, the authors propose that consumer goals can be detected through textual analysis of online search queries and that both marketers and consumers can benefit when paid search results and advertisements match consumer search–related goals. In bridging construal level theory and textual analysis, the authors show that consumers at different stages of the decision journey tend to assume different levels of mental construal, or mindsets (i.e., abstract vs. concrete). They find evidence of a fluency-driven matching effect in online search such that when consumer mindsets are more abstract (more concrete), consumers generate textual search queries that use more abstract (more concrete) language. Furthermore, they are more likely to click on search engine results and ad content that matches their mindset, thereby experiencing more search satisfaction and perceiving greater goal progress. Six empirical studies, including a pilot study, a survey, three lab experiments, and a field experiment involving over 128,000 ad impressions provide support for this construal matching effect in online search.

Mere Exposure Effect and Applied Choice between Equivalent Alternatives

Objectives. We examined possibility to use mere exposure effect (MEE) as driving force to take one of equal object as fee and to extend MEE to partly familiar objects. Background. Potency of the MEE in the marketing literature is underestimated. Study design. Participants were well acquainted with a geometrical symbol unobtrusive presented at all entrances of the campus, where all participants could see it though not everyone recognize that. After the time (10 or 60 min.) as a fee for a survey, participants were allowed to pick one of three chocolates that differed by a symbol depicted on the cover. One symbol was as presented at the campus entrance, the second was a similar shape and the third one was totally different. After all participants ranked geometrical symbols by liking to proof the MEE presence. Participants. 18 male 42 female students from 2 Moscow universities Measurements. Pearson’s Chi-squared test and 1-way between subjects ANOVA. Results. MEE motivated participants to take a chocolate with a symbol on the cover that looked similar to known one more often, even though participants might acknowledge a really familiar symbol. Chocolates with the exact or totally unfamiliar symbols were picked rarely. Conclusions. MEE is extendable to partly familiar objects and can be used for promotion of everyday goods, similar in terms of consumer goals. Results support Berlyne’s explanatory models of MEE and provide new insight why recognition inhibits MEE.

Multi-tier store brand strategies: a case study

PurposeThis paper aims to describe and understand the offer of premium private labels (PPLs) in Italy, with a case study on the extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study on EVOO in Italy was aimed to investigate the drivers of the offer of PPLs and its effects on assortment policies. The study was carried out in three Italian provinces, using a cross-sectional design with data collected through direct observation. A two-step data analysis was performed. First, descriptive statistics were used to preliminary appraise hypotheses on the rationale underlying the offer of PPL, and then, the drivers of PPL policy were studied using a logistic regression model.FindingsThe estimated model indicates that in the case of EVOO the probability of offering a PPL is higher for stronger with a stronger competitive position (with respect to other stores), and increases with the size of the category assortment (Total Assortment Width) and with the share of the PL products offered by the store (PL Assortment Index). It also increases if the average price (Total Average Price) and the average price of the standard private label (SPL Average Price) improve; by contrast, it decreases if the national brand (NB) share in the assortment (NB Assortment Index) augments.Research limitations/implicationsOverall, the study confirms that the multi-tiered PL strategy is one of the current competitive strategies of top retailers, centred more on a differentiation than on a low cost/price policy. Such a differentiation policy may have various effects in terms of channel structure and social welfare depending on the underlying corporate and consumer goals and beliefs and on the existing institutional framework.Originality/valueThis is the first study to investigate the PPL market in Italy using original data and taking into account policies actually carried out at the individual store level. A further element of novelty is the attention given to the welfare effects of multi-tier strategies. This paper suggests that these latter may have various effects in terms of channel structure and social welfare depending on the underlying corporate and consumer goals and beliefs and on the existing institutional framework.