Suchergebnisse

AbstractGender refers to ways men and women socialize into the male and female roles that are commonly attributed to them. These roles are continuously (re)constructed within and through our daily activities. Prior literature suggests a need for more research in investigating how men and women construct their identity in various exchange situations and in various cultural settings. This paper explores the situational construction of male and female identities (especially the male one) when shopping for fashion products in environments with strategically created scarcity. The findings of this study suggest that, when shopping for fashion products in scarce environments, men and women tend to exhibit gendered behaviors that are considered more consistent with their traditional gender norms. We find that men, although concerned about their appearance, adhere to urgent buying behavior. This behavior helps men maintain some of their traditional masculine identity. In addition, they do not participate as frequently in the in‐store hoarding and in‐store hiding that are more frequently exhibited by women and that are more consistent with a feminine identity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Death creates a discontinuity in the lives of survivors. Formerly, family and friends provided social support as the bereaved reconciled the loss and created new identities for themselves. The availability of such support in postmodern society is lessened, making it more likely that the bereaved will turn to commercial service providers for support. Marketers need to prepare employees to provide such support, and assurance is needed that the support will be provided in a sensitive and ethical fashion.

In response to W. E. Hensley (see SA 0104/H2464) it is noted that few students pay attention to the form of postage used: in one class at Kansas State U, only 3 out of 30 said that they would. A test of the null hypothesis raises doubt that the response rates were not essentially randomly generated. The lack of relationships in such simple tests creates skepticism about the validity of Hensley's conclusions. In A REPLY BY WAYNE E. HENSLEY, Hensley (U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) states that the Kansas State U students' response only indicates that actions & attitudes often do not correlate highly. The point is not what individuals say they might do but what they actually do when confronted by a stimulus. The last criticism questioned the reliability of the study. If the results were totally without reliability, they quite likely would not have augmented existing theory so neatly. Both author & critics agree on the need for replication. Jennie Farley (Cornell U, Ithaca NY) in A FOOTNOTE TO HENSLEY'S HYPOTHESIS comments that if the use of a commemorative postage stamp on a mailed survey stimulates a high response rate, then researchers should consider what or whom it commemorates. Of the 1,640 US postage stamps issued since 1847, 200 have honored individuals: 178 M's & 23 F's. Researchers seeking to elicit a high response rate from F R's might consider using a stamp which may have special appeal for F's on communications to them. US stamps honoring individual women are listed. AA.

Building on prior theorizing on hope, dramaturgy of emotions, and the notion of transfiguration, this paper examines how the Weight Watchers brand elicits and embodies hope among its consumers. Based on the findings from a qualitative study of Weight Watchers, the authors propose a three-stage conceptualization of brand-centric hope cultivation. This conceptualization highlights the importance of collective processes in hope emergence, elevation, and emplacement in which religious vernacular guides how Weight Watchers express and experience brand-centric hope.

This study explores the comparative effects of two antecedents of enduring involvement in determining whether social versus psychological effects are more important in establishing enduring involvement with an extended service encounter. Specifically, the authors look at the effects of communitas—a social effect—and flow—an individual psychological effect—to determine which has a stronger impact on one's enduring involvement in golf. Self-determination theory argues that flow should be more important than communitas in establishing enduring involvement because of higher levels of volitional control; the findings support this premise. From a practical perspective, these findings should help extended service managers determine which service environments or strategies (e.g., social atmosphere strategies vs. game improvement strategies) to emphasize when trying to establish loyal participants. The moderating effects of gender and participation frequency on the relationships between communitas and enduring involvement and between flow and enduring involvement are also examined.

AbstractThe importance of customer engagement behaviors (CEBs) has been widely acknowledged in marketing. CEB encompasses an interactive relationship with the engaged object. A customer's personality characteristics play an important role in the interactive process. So it is necessary to examine how customer's personality characteristics influence customer engagement behaviors. However, there has been relatively less empirical research examining the impact of a customer's personality characteristics on CEBs. Customer goal orientation (promotion orientation vs. prevention orientation) is one such important personality characteristic. This research examined how customer goal orientation influenced CEBs. We used a priming technique to examine the relationships between the customer's state goal orientation and the customer's recommendations and complaints in study 1. The results showed that customers with state promotion‐focused goal orientations initiated more recommendations than the customers with state prevention‐focused goal orientations. For complaints, the difference between these two groups was not significant. Study 2 investigated the impact of trait goal orientation on the customer's recommendations and complaints. The results showed that the trait promotion‐focused goal orientation customers were more likely to initiate both recommendations and complaints behaviors than the trait prevention‐focused goal orientation customers. The findings of the research demonstrate that customer goal orientation is an important influence on positive and negative CEBs, and state and trait goal orientations have different impacts on CEBs. This research helps companies aiming to improve their customers' CEBs by suggesting which type of customers (in terms of goal orientation) are more likely to engage. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.