Search results for "Customer"
showing 10 items of 387 documents
Motivational drivers of customer brand engagement and its effect on share of wallet in a social media context
2014
In recent years, many companies have used social media as part of their marketing and brand building activities. The rise of social media has strengthened the need for customer activation and engagement. Customer brand engagement offers companies multiple positive outcomes, such as satisfaction, trust, loyalty, and empowerment, which potentially facilitate successful business performance. The idea of engagement is relatively new in the marketing literature, and academic research has only minimally examined the potential for growth presented by engaging customers. However, numerous researchers have recognized the growing academic interest in customer brand engagement, as evidenced by the Mar…
Customer-based brand equity building
2016
The marketing literature suggested that customers are adding incremental value to a product by its brand, conceptualizing this phenomenon in terms of brand equity. This article is a contribution to this area of study as it provides a new understanding of the process of brand equity building, when approached from the customer point of view. The empirical research is centred on the hospitality industry, more specifically, upscale (i.e. four- and five-star) hotels in Croatia. The data were collected from 475 guests in 24 upscale hotels. The results reveal that image and loyalty exert a direct impact on the overall brand equity, while the influence of trust and affective commitment is mediated…
Security, Reliability and Usability of mHealth Environments
2015
Mobile technologies confer mobility and autonomy on patients with the advantage of access to home care and health care services on demand. However, these benefits impose challenges to the future health care services. For instance, computation capacity of a conventional smartphone provides applications and services with sufficient power of calculation and automation to assist in daily life activities and medical purposes. Combined with a user-friendly interface, mobile technologies can be an easy and efficient manner to help people who are in a condition of cognitive deterioration or have a chronic disease which demands a close connection to near family members and/or to health care services.
Relational content of travel and tourism websites
2006
Developments in information technologies are having a far-reaching impact on the travel and tourism industry. This paper analyses the use of the internet as a relational tool for travel and tourism companies providing air travel and rent-a-car services. The empirical research results show the role the internet plays in increasing sales and how companies use different relational tools to gain consumer trust and commitment.
The drivers of customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry: applying the Kano model to Sicilian hotels
2013
Starting from the assessment that hotels need to embrace a managerial approach oriented towards customer satisfaction, we adopt the Kano model to identify the relevant drivers of satisfaction of hotels guest in the main cities of Sicily, Italy. This study analyzes the customer satisfaction requirements for Sicilian hotels in order to suggest and weigh a set of key attributes that hotel managers need to consider in order to create an attractive offer. We base our analysis on the qualitative data collected through 600 questionnaires submitted to hotel guests of twenty Sicilian three-star hotels located in city downtowns, in different provinces and locations.
Global versus cultural approaches in public relationship management
2007
PurposeThe aim of this paper is to present and compare two approaches (the global and the cultural) to public relationship management and to argue by reference to different cases, why the cultural approach can be considered more effective in establishing good relationships in different national cultural contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe discussion identifies some of the limitations of recent thinking regarding the nature of a global public and the possibility to define and treat international publics as a global public in public relationship management. As validation of this claim, cases in the European context are presented to show that a cultural approach provides better interpretat…
An interaction orientation approach to SME-Intermediaries relationships
2021
Abstract Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaging in foreign operations have drawn significant research attention in recent years. One of the aspects linked to such operations is SMEs’ expansion to foreign markets, often relying on local intermediaries. These intermediaries provide the firms with valuable resources such as market knowledge and recognition and reduce foreign operations’ costs. Hence, they are often considered as strategic partners. The current study aims to expand the existing knowledge regarding the relationships between business to business SMEs and their intermediaries by exploring interaction orientation as an organizational cultural aspect and its linkage to t…
The value of B2B relationships
2009
PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to contribute to the knowledge of how relationship value, trust, commitment, satisfaction and loyalty intentions are defined and relate to each other. It explores these relationships in the business‐to‐business (B2B) context by analysing manufacturing companies regarding to their main supplier.Design/methodology/approachAfter the literature review and several in‐depth interviews, a method of empirical analysis consisting of quantitative intervention with an ad hoc survey using a structured questionnaire has been developed. Structural equations modeling is used to contrast the hypotheses on the links between the constructs analysed.FindingsConfirmatory fact…
The influence of belonging to virtual brand communities on consumers' affective commitment, satisfaction and word‐of‐mouth advertising
2011
PurposeThis paper aims to explore some of the effects of belonging to a virtual brand community on consumer behaviour. It also proposes the concept of belonging as a three‐dimensional construct.Design/methodology/approachThe paper proposes that belonging to a virtual community has positive effects on consumer satisfaction, affective commitment and word‐of‐mouth behaviour. After validation of the measurement scales the hypotheses are contrasted through modelling.FindingsThe data show that belonging to a virtual community may enhance consumer satisfaction, affective commitment and word‐of‐mouth advertising towards the brand around which the community is developed. In addition, the paper intro…
The Dual Nature of Spreading Negative eWOM for Branded Offers: Emotional Reaction or Social Response? – A Structured Abstract
2017
The exchange of comments online about branded offers is defined in the literature as electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Most of the existing academic research on consumer behaviour focuses on positive emotions and behaviour about branded offers (Veloutsou and McAlonan 2012; Zarantonello et al. 2016). However, next to sharing positive comments, consumers are increasingly using online media to distribute unfavourable experiences and opinions about products and brands (Ullrich and Brunner 2015), and more research on the effects of the expression of negative comments online is needed. The negative electronic word of mouth (NeWOM) is defined in this study as negative statements made or distributed…