Springer Science and Business Media LLC

An enduring interest in consumer behavior is the investigation of external prepurchase information search. Past research has identified a large number of factors that have been found to influence the extent of information search. The purposes of this article are to summarize the external information search literature and then develop a more parsimonious model of information search. Specifically, we propose that the effects of these antecedents of information search are mediated by four variables: ability, motivation, costs, and benefits. This model integrates the psychological search literature by incorporating ability and motivation to search for information and the economic paradigm that centers on the perceived costs and benefits of information search. Propositions are developed based on this comprehensive model for future testing.

Institutional theory implies that normative societal expectations create pressures for organizations to respond acceptably to important institutional constituents. Although the role of the institutional environment on marketing has been studied, the organizational mechanisms by which firms respond to societal pressures remain under-investigated. We suggest that an important determining factor involves organizational identity, which drives firm response to societal norms and facilitates its quest for legitimacy. Accordingly, this study contributes to organizational theory in marketing by casting identity as the focal mechanism in the firm’s response to the institutional environment. Marketing ethics and CSR issues frame this research given natural synergies with institutional and organizational identity theories and evidence that increasingly, firms must respond to societal expectations involving ethics in their marketing practices. Using game theoretical models and economic experiments, we find that the influence of the institutional environment emerges through firm identity, affecting resource allocation to ethical product augmentation.

A systematic approach formulating public sector distribution decisions is suggested. The approach starts with an audit to identify who is getting how much of a service. When the existing allocation pattern is known, then objectives are set which amend or perpetuate this pattern in accordance with the agency's preferred distribution model. A distribution strategy plan is developed which establishes what will be done to implement the objectives. The plan consists of the following four main sets of decisions: (1) the channel of distribution; (2) intensity of distribution; (3) selection of site locations; and (4) schedule of service delivery.

The foot-in-the-door (FITD) effect has been extensively researched in prosocial settings. Several researchers have advocated its use as an influence strategy in marketing settings although no empirical evidence has previously been published regarding its operation in industrial/economic settings. This study experimentally tests the effect in an actual industrial marketing setting. The organization in which the study was carried out markets telecommunications products and the study sample exposed to the influence strategies consisted of potential customers—general managers and marketing managers representing industrial firms in the wholesale trade sector.

Although various manufacturing companies have developed into total solution providers, no research addresses their service orientations. Building on the literature on organizational service climate, this study explores the organizational parameters and service business orientations that explain relative product sales and service volume of manufacturing companies. Following an exploratory study involving in-depth interviews, the authors conducted an empirical survey of 137 companies in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark. The study assesses the effects of organizational parameters on the implementation of service business orientations and validates the important distinction between services in support of the client’s actions (SSC) and services in the support of the product (SSP). The findings demonstrate that services in support of the client’s action leverage relative product sales, while services in support of the product generate service volume. In addition to the main effects, the moderating effects of the organizational parameters are discussed.

Bài báo này khám phá khả năng áp dụng một mô hình di cư từ tài liệu địa lý nhân văn như một khung lý thuyết thống nhất để hiểu hành vi chuyển đổi giữa các nhà cung cấp dịch vụ của người tiêu dùng. Dữ liệu khảo sát từ khoảng 700 người tiêu dùng được sử dụng để kiểm tra tính hữu ích của mô hình di cư push, pull và moorings (PPM). Mô hình di cư PPM hoạt động tốt hơn so với một mô hình thay thế; cả ba loại yếu tố trước di chuyển (di cư)—yếu tố đẩy, kéo và neo lại—đều có tác động trực tiếp đáng kể, và một số yếu tố điều chỉnh đến ý định chuyển đổi.

This article reports the development and testing of a theoretical model of the initial stages of recommendation-based decision making by consumers. Although consumers use a variety of recommendation sources, they have different motivations for the use of different sources. The model focuses on the factors that influence the likelihood of consumers using strong-tie sources (e.g., friends and family) and weak-tie sources (e.g., acquaintances or strangers) or recommendations. The factors used in the model are the prior knowledge level of the consumer about the product being considered, the perceived decision task difficulty level, and the type of evaluative cues sought by the consumer. Hypotheses are tested using data collected in an extensive field study with consumers. Two paths or routes of influence on the use of recommendation sources are proposed and confirmed in the study.

Competitive strategy is primarily concerned with how a business should deploy resources at its disposal to achieve and maintain defensible competitive positional advantages in the marketplace. Competitive marketing strategy focuses on how a business should deploy marketing resources at its disposal to facilitate the achievement and maintenance of competitive positional advantages in the marketplace. In a growing number of product-markets, the competitive landscape has evolved from a predominantly physical marketplace to one encompassing both the physical and the electronic marketplace. This article presents a conceptual framework delineating the drivers and outcomes of marketing strategy in the context of competing in this broader, evolving marketplace. The proposed framework provides insights into changes in the nature and scope of marketing strategy; specific industry, product, buyer, and buying environment characteristics; and the unique skills and resources of the firm that assume added relevance in the context of competing in the evolving marketplace.