Pub Date : 2022-12-04DOI: 10.1177/10949968221127897
Francesco Raggiotto, Daniele Scarpi
The authors investigate subjective well-being in the context of e-sports (competitive video games). They adopt the theoretical lenses of virtual edgework theory, a recent adaptation of edgework theory from physical to digital contexts. Sports have long been used as a tool to improve subjective well-being. The research question is whether e-sports lead to well-being, as their physical sport counterparts do, and through what psychological mechanisms. The authors answer through a conceptual model of moderated mediation tested on hundreds of e-sports players. They also address the role of privacy concerns, as e-sports pose several potential threats to players’ privacy that could hinder players’ achievement of well-being. Findings suggest that virtual edgework provides a useful theoretical perspective for understanding consumers’ behavior in digital environments. They also show that e-sports can lead to well-being by achieving feelings of self-enhancement under the positive moderation of perceived control over the digital environment and the negative moderation of privacy concerns.
{"title":"It’s Not Just a Game: Virtual Edgework and Subjective Well-Being in E-Sports","authors":"Francesco Raggiotto, Daniele Scarpi","doi":"10.1177/10949968221127897","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221127897","url":null,"abstract":"The authors investigate subjective well-being in the context of e-sports (competitive video games). They adopt the theoretical lenses of virtual edgework theory, a recent adaptation of edgework theory from physical to digital contexts. Sports have long been used as a tool to improve subjective well-being. The research question is whether e-sports lead to well-being, as their physical sport counterparts do, and through what psychological mechanisms. The authors answer through a conceptual model of moderated mediation tested on hundreds of e-sports players. They also address the role of privacy concerns, as e-sports pose several potential threats to players’ privacy that could hinder players’ achievement of well-being. Findings suggest that virtual edgework provides a useful theoretical perspective for understanding consumers’ behavior in digital environments. They also show that e-sports can lead to well-being by achieving feelings of self-enhancement under the positive moderation of perceived control over the digital environment and the negative moderation of privacy concerns.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"58 1","pages":"185 - 197"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44538134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-16DOI: 10.1177/10949968221136555
C. Schumacher, Felix Eggers, P. Verhoef, P. Maas
Consumer information is an increasingly valuable resource in the digitally interconnected modern world. Globally, the number of firms collecting and exploiting consumer information to optimize their marketing efforts is increasing rapidly. The authors determine how four cultural dimensions—power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation—affect consumers’ willingness to share their personal information with firms (WTS). The authors empirically test the direct effect of national culture on WTS, as well as its moderating effect on the link between WTS and two of its key drivers, privacy concerns and perceived benefits. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the authors develop a conceptual framework and test it using multilevel modeling on data from 15,045 consumers across 24 countries. The empirical findings demonstrate that national culture directly affects WTS and moderates the effects of both privacy concerns and perceived benefits on WTS. These results highlight the need for managers and marketers to consider international cultural differences when collecting consumer information.
{"title":"The Effects of Cultural Differences on Consumers’ Willingness to Share Personal Information","authors":"C. Schumacher, Felix Eggers, P. Verhoef, P. Maas","doi":"10.1177/10949968221136555","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221136555","url":null,"abstract":"Consumer information is an increasingly valuable resource in the digitally interconnected modern world. Globally, the number of firms collecting and exploiting consumer information to optimize their marketing efforts is increasing rapidly. The authors determine how four cultural dimensions—power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation—affect consumers’ willingness to share their personal information with firms (WTS). The authors empirically test the direct effect of national culture on WTS, as well as its moderating effect on the link between WTS and two of its key drivers, privacy concerns and perceived benefits. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the authors develop a conceptual framework and test it using multilevel modeling on data from 15,045 consumers across 24 countries. The empirical findings demonstrate that national culture directly affects WTS and moderates the effects of both privacy concerns and perceived benefits on WTS. These results highlight the need for managers and marketers to consider international cultural differences when collecting consumer information.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"58 1","pages":"72 - 89"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46062296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-10DOI: 10.1177/10949968221134805
Simbarashe Pasirayi, Patrick B. Fennell
Mobile payment technology platforms are quickly gaining popularity. Despite this growth, academic research offers little insight into how adopting mobile payment technology impacts firm value. Further, extant studies are silent on the factors that determine the outcome of pursuing this strategy. Results from an event study of 152 announcements of mobile payments show an increase in firm value by an average of 1.03%, highlighting their effectiveness. Further analysis reveals characteristics of mobile payments that can augment this change in firm value. Specifically, positive firm value accrues when retailers promote the use of mobile payments to their customers. The authors also find that, compared with retailers whose target market comprises older customers, retailers targeting younger customers benefit more from adopting mobile payments. Finally, this study reveals an early-mover advantage, which is maximized in conjunction with an expansive, national rollout strategy. In fact, although a national rollout can be more beneficial early, the results show that for retailers that adopt mobile payments later, there is no difference between using an expansive rollout or a more limited, phased rollout strategy.
{"title":"The Effect of Mobile Payments on Retailer Firm Value: The Moderating Role of Promotions, Customer Segment, and Rollout Strategy","authors":"Simbarashe Pasirayi, Patrick B. Fennell","doi":"10.1177/10949968221134805","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221134805","url":null,"abstract":"Mobile payment technology platforms are quickly gaining popularity. Despite this growth, academic research offers little insight into how adopting mobile payment technology impacts firm value. Further, extant studies are silent on the factors that determine the outcome of pursuing this strategy. Results from an event study of 152 announcements of mobile payments show an increase in firm value by an average of 1.03%, highlighting their effectiveness. Further analysis reveals characteristics of mobile payments that can augment this change in firm value. Specifically, positive firm value accrues when retailers promote the use of mobile payments to their customers. The authors also find that, compared with retailers whose target market comprises older customers, retailers targeting younger customers benefit more from adopting mobile payments. Finally, this study reveals an early-mover advantage, which is maximized in conjunction with an expansive, national rollout strategy. In fact, although a national rollout can be more beneficial early, the results show that for retailers that adopt mobile payments later, there is no difference between using an expansive rollout or a more limited, phased rollout strategy.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"58 1","pages":"90 - 107"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49279536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-04DOI: 10.1177/10949968221134492
Giulia Pavone, L. Meyer-Waarden, Andreas Munzel
In their interactions with chatbots, consumers often encounter technology failures that evoke negative emotions, such as anger and frustration. To clarify the effects of such encounters, this article addresses how service failures involving artificial intelligence–based chatbots affect customers’ emotions, attributions of responsibility, and coping strategies. In addition to comparing the outcomes of a service failure involving a human agent versus a chatbot (Study 1), the research framework integrates the potential influences of anthropomorphic visual cues and intentionality (Studies 2 and 3). Through three experimental designs, the study reveals that when interacting with chatbots, customers blame the company more for the negative outcome, experiencing mainly frustration, compared with when they interact with a human agent. As the chatbot is perceived as not having intentions and control over them, it is not considered responsible. Thus, the company bears more responsibility for the poor service performance. However, the authors suggest that anthropomorphic visual cues might help mitigate the negative attributions to the company. The attribution of humanlike characteristics also helps promote both problem-focused coping, which helps consumers actively handle the service failure, and emotion-focused coping, which helps restore the emotional balance disrupted by the negative event.
{"title":"Rage Against the Machine: Experimental Insights into Customers’ Negative Emotional Responses, Attributions of Responsibility, and Coping Strategies in Artificial Intelligence–Based Service Failures","authors":"Giulia Pavone, L. Meyer-Waarden, Andreas Munzel","doi":"10.1177/10949968221134492","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221134492","url":null,"abstract":"In their interactions with chatbots, consumers often encounter technology failures that evoke negative emotions, such as anger and frustration. To clarify the effects of such encounters, this article addresses how service failures involving artificial intelligence–based chatbots affect customers’ emotions, attributions of responsibility, and coping strategies. In addition to comparing the outcomes of a service failure involving a human agent versus a chatbot (Study 1), the research framework integrates the potential influences of anthropomorphic visual cues and intentionality (Studies 2 and 3). Through three experimental designs, the study reveals that when interacting with chatbots, customers blame the company more for the negative outcome, experiencing mainly frustration, compared with when they interact with a human agent. As the chatbot is perceived as not having intentions and control over them, it is not considered responsible. Thus, the company bears more responsibility for the poor service performance. However, the authors suggest that anthropomorphic visual cues might help mitigate the negative attributions to the company. The attribution of humanlike characteristics also helps promote both problem-focused coping, which helps consumers actively handle the service failure, and emotion-focused coping, which helps restore the emotional balance disrupted by the negative event.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"58 1","pages":"52 - 71"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48926715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-26DOI: 10.1177/10949968221129817
E. Montaguti, Sara Valentini, Federica Vecchioni
Every day, social network users worldwide spend an average of 1 hour and 47 minutes on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, and they forward online content to friends. Nonetheless, 87% of posts to brand Facebook pages go unanswered. To reduce this negative outcome and attract fans’ attention, companies post content that is not necessarily congruent with their brand and that contains promotion-based themes. The question is whether this strategy is effective in boosting rebroadcasting. The authors propose a conceptual framework that explains how two key post themes—congruency and promotions—influence consumers’ propensity to share and why. They validate it through a multimethod approach. First, the authors document the existence of the effect between congruency, promotions, and rebroadcasting by analyzing one year of posts for four leading brands. Second, the authors run a field experiment with Samsung Mobile. They find that the degree of congruency between online content and the brand positively affects the amount of rebroadcasting. Posts that include promotional incentives generate fewer shares, but this negative effect reverses when the post is congruent with the brand. Third, the authors conduct two online lab experiments to explain why this happens and show that fans’ reactance and altruistic motives play a central role.
{"title":"Content That Engages Your Customers: The Role of Brand Congruity and Promotions in Social Media","authors":"E. Montaguti, Sara Valentini, Federica Vecchioni","doi":"10.1177/10949968221129817","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221129817","url":null,"abstract":"Every day, social network users worldwide spend an average of 1 hour and 47 minutes on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, and they forward online content to friends. Nonetheless, 87% of posts to brand Facebook pages go unanswered. To reduce this negative outcome and attract fans’ attention, companies post content that is not necessarily congruent with their brand and that contains promotion-based themes. The question is whether this strategy is effective in boosting rebroadcasting. The authors propose a conceptual framework that explains how two key post themes—congruency and promotions—influence consumers’ propensity to share and why. They validate it through a multimethod approach. First, the authors document the existence of the effect between congruency, promotions, and rebroadcasting by analyzing one year of posts for four leading brands. Second, the authors run a field experiment with Samsung Mobile. They find that the degree of congruency between online content and the brand positively affects the amount of rebroadcasting. Posts that include promotional incentives generate fewer shares, but this negative effect reverses when the post is congruent with the brand. Third, the authors conduct two online lab experiments to explain why this happens and show that fans’ reactance and altruistic motives play a central role.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"58 1","pages":"16 - 33"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41745210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-22DOI: 10.1177/10949968221129268
Mathieu Béal, Yany Grégoire, François A. Carrillat
This research investigates whether companies’ use of humor is an effective strategy to address complainers’ incivility on social media. Using three main experiments, the authors examine observers’ evaluation of companies’ humorous responses on social media in relation to the degree of incivility of the complaints. The authors find, first, that observers develop greater purchase intentions toward companies that use humor to respond to uncivil complaints. Drawing on benign violation theory, they explain that observers are less committed to uncivil complainers, which makes the use of humor more benign and thus more amusing. Second, they compare the effectiveness of humor with an accommodative recovery (e.g., apologies). When the complaint is civil, an accommodative recovery is a more effective strategy than affiliative humor. However, when the complaint is uncivil, affiliative humor is more interesting than an accommodative recovery because of greater engagement with the post (i.e., likes and shares) and similar purchase intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications of these results are then discussed.
{"title":"Let's Laugh About It! Using Humor to Address Complainers’ Online Incivility","authors":"Mathieu Béal, Yany Grégoire, François A. Carrillat","doi":"10.1177/10949968221129268","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221129268","url":null,"abstract":"This research investigates whether companies’ use of humor is an effective strategy to address complainers’ incivility on social media. Using three main experiments, the authors examine observers’ evaluation of companies’ humorous responses on social media in relation to the degree of incivility of the complaints. The authors find, first, that observers develop greater purchase intentions toward companies that use humor to respond to uncivil complaints. Drawing on benign violation theory, they explain that observers are less committed to uncivil complainers, which makes the use of humor more benign and thus more amusing. Second, they compare the effectiveness of humor with an accommodative recovery (e.g., apologies). When the complaint is civil, an accommodative recovery is a more effective strategy than affiliative humor. However, when the complaint is uncivil, affiliative humor is more interesting than an accommodative recovery because of greater engagement with the post (i.e., likes and shares) and similar purchase intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications of these results are then discussed.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"58 1","pages":"34 - 51"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47356933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-19DOI: 10.1177/10949968221128556
Annika Abell, Dipayan Biswas
Social media is emerging as a powerful platform for marketing communications. More than half of the world's population, companies, influencers, and celebrities use social media platforms to promote a desired image and advertise ideas and products. Social media users and influencers document many different aspects of their lives to the public. In that regard, one type of product prominently portrayed on social media is food. The present research investigates how the type of food (healthy vs. unhealthy) featured next to a person in a social media ad or influencer post impacts online engagement. The results of four studies, including a field experiment on Facebook, reveal that an image of a healthy (vs. an unhealthy) food adjacent to a person leads to higher engagement and higher likelihood to try a recommended product. This effect is driven by greater identification with the person in the image when the adjacent food is healthy (vs. unhealthy).
{"title":"Digital Engagement on Social Media: How Food Image Content Influences Social Media and Influencer Marketing Outcomes","authors":"Annika Abell, Dipayan Biswas","doi":"10.1177/10949968221128556","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221128556","url":null,"abstract":"Social media is emerging as a powerful platform for marketing communications. More than half of the world's population, companies, influencers, and celebrities use social media platforms to promote a desired image and advertise ideas and products. Social media users and influencers document many different aspects of their lives to the public. In that regard, one type of product prominently portrayed on social media is food. The present research investigates how the type of food (healthy vs. unhealthy) featured next to a person in a social media ad or influencer post impacts online engagement. The results of four studies, including a field experiment on Facebook, reveal that an image of a healthy (vs. an unhealthy) food adjacent to a person leads to higher engagement and higher likelihood to try a recommended product. This effect is driven by greater identification with the person in the image when the adjacent food is healthy (vs. unhealthy).","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"58 1","pages":"1 - 15"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44883130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-15DOI: 10.1177/10949968221123771
Ying Yu, Li Huang, Ping Qing, Tong Chen
The advent of social media has dramatically changed the way consumers communicate with others. How to communicate appropriately with mass audiences on social media has become an urgent topic in crisis communication. This article investigates the use of humor in crisis communication within a social media context. Across three studies using multisource data, the authors find that humorous responses to negative publicity can lead to more favorable consumer responses than nonhumorous responses do. This effect is moderated by the type (defensible vs. not defensible) of negative event. These findings have important implications both theoretically and managerially.
{"title":"How Humor Reduces the Impact of Negative Feedback on Social Media","authors":"Ying Yu, Li Huang, Ping Qing, Tong Chen","doi":"10.1177/10949968221123771","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221123771","url":null,"abstract":"The advent of social media has dramatically changed the way consumers communicate with others. How to communicate appropriately with mass audiences on social media has become an urgent topic in crisis communication. This article investigates the use of humor in crisis communication within a social media context. Across three studies using multisource data, the authors find that humorous responses to negative publicity can lead to more favorable consumer responses than nonhumorous responses do. This effect is moderated by the type (defensible vs. not defensible) of negative event. These findings have important implications both theoretically and managerially.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"57 1","pages":"601 - 613"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42486158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-13DOI: 10.1177/10949968221118333
J. Hoskins, Jameson K. M. Watts
Using a data set on the U.S. craft beer industry that includes more than one million online customer reviews, the authors investigate how mainstream channel distribution and sales by niche brands affects electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) valence. They argue that eWOM valence is negatively affected by mainstream channel distribution because this marketing decision conflicts with existing brand associations. They also argue that this negative effect can be mitigated, provided that the brand achieves a substantial increase in sales from the mainstream channel. Findings indicate that such a rebound is indeed possible and that most niche brand managers should consider mainstream channel distribution despite the risks. Most brands mitigate the negative effects of mainstream channel distribution on eWOM valence, and some even manage to improve overall valence.
{"title":"The Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) Implications of Mainstream Channel Distribution and Sales by Niche Brands","authors":"J. Hoskins, Jameson K. M. Watts","doi":"10.1177/10949968221118333","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221118333","url":null,"abstract":"Using a data set on the U.S. craft beer industry that includes more than one million online customer reviews, the authors investigate how mainstream channel distribution and sales by niche brands affects electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) valence. They argue that eWOM valence is negatively affected by mainstream channel distribution because this marketing decision conflicts with existing brand associations. They also argue that this negative effect can be mitigated, provided that the brand achieves a substantial increase in sales from the mainstream channel. Findings indicate that such a rebound is indeed possible and that most niche brand managers should consider mainstream channel distribution despite the risks. Most brands mitigate the negative effects of mainstream channel distribution on eWOM valence, and some even manage to improve overall valence.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"57 1","pages":"614 - 628"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45370926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-08DOI: 10.1177/10949968221112624
Feihong Xia, Rabikar Chatterjee, R. Venkatesh
Over the past decade, the developed and emerging markets have witnessed an exponential growth in online selling strategies that leverage social interaction among customers and enable sellers to offer discounts or rewards on the basis of the size of the buyer pool. This article classifies these diverse strategies into two categories—referral reward (e.g., Uber) and collective buying (e.g., GroupGets)—with associated subtypes. The authors employ an analytical model in which the seller faces customers with heterogeneity in their knowledge and/or intrinsic valuation of a product. Informed customers may inform and increase their less-informed peers’ valuation of the product. The study's richer behavioral model and consideration of a broader strategy space, relative to the existing analytical models, provide new insights into when and how specific strategies are optimal. Referral reward and collective buying encourage information sharing with less-informed potential customers and are typically superior to the individual selling strategy (under which the seller does not incentivize information sharing among customers), except when information sharing is significantly difficult. The authors conduct model refinements and robustness checks and identify clear qualitative managerial implications that can aid strategic decisions under different product-market characteristics. The authors conclude by suggesting future research opportunities to build on this article and add new theoretical insights and managerial guidance.
{"title":"Leveraging Social Interaction Among Customers: Referral Reward Versus Collective Buying","authors":"Feihong Xia, Rabikar Chatterjee, R. Venkatesh","doi":"10.1177/10949968221112624","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221112624","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past decade, the developed and emerging markets have witnessed an exponential growth in online selling strategies that leverage social interaction among customers and enable sellers to offer discounts or rewards on the basis of the size of the buyer pool. This article classifies these diverse strategies into two categories—referral reward (e.g., Uber) and collective buying (e.g., GroupGets)—with associated subtypes. The authors employ an analytical model in which the seller faces customers with heterogeneity in their knowledge and/or intrinsic valuation of a product. Informed customers may inform and increase their less-informed peers’ valuation of the product. The study's richer behavioral model and consideration of a broader strategy space, relative to the existing analytical models, provide new insights into when and how specific strategies are optimal. Referral reward and collective buying encourage information sharing with less-informed potential customers and are typically superior to the individual selling strategy (under which the seller does not incentivize information sharing among customers), except when information sharing is significantly difficult. The authors conduct model refinements and robustness checks and identify clear qualitative managerial implications that can aid strategic decisions under different product-market characteristics. The authors conclude by suggesting future research opportunities to build on this article and add new theoretical insights and managerial guidance.","PeriodicalId":48260,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interactive Marketing","volume":"57 1","pages":"583 - 600"},"PeriodicalIF":11.8,"publicationDate":"2022-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47276401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}