Department of Marketing

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https://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/65

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Browsing Department of Marketing by Subject "Business Administration, Marketing"

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    A scale of consumer engagement
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Vivek, Shiri Dalela; Beatty, Sharon E.; Morgan, Robert M.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The practitioner literature is replete with examples of firm efforts to engage consumers. However, the existing relationship marketing constructs focus primarily on customer retention. This research examines those offerings or activities of firms that aim to engage prospects, potentials, customers and their extended relationships, together addressed as consumers in this research. Contributing to the recent efforts to expand the domain of relationship marketing, this research develops the construct of Consumer Engagement, which is the intensity of the consumer's participation and connection with the organization's offerings and/ or its organized activities. Using several qualitative methods, this research develops the construct of Consumer Engagement, differentiating it from existing constructs, such as involvement and customer communities. The qualitative studies in this research show that consumers may be engaged with offerings (e.g. iPod), activities (e.g. Beauty workshops), institutions (Ikea), or brands (e.g. Apple). These offerings/ activities might come from profit-making or non-profit organizations. Engagement might be in the presence or absence of other consumers, and might happen online or offline. Consumers may also be engaged through activities organized by the businesses or by consumers themselves. Using established quantitative scale development procedures, the consumer engagement scale is developed, refined and validated. Consumer Engagement is a three-dimensional, second-order construct, composed of enthusiasm, conscious participation and social interaction. These dimensions are verified using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and validated on three different data sets, representing product usage, retail service and activity. The exploration of consumer engagement helps us understand the participation and connection of consumers, independent of their commercial transactions with the company. This research shows that even routine products and brands can engage a consumer, which, in turn, positively influences their connection with the firm, and feelings of goodwill towards and intent to do business with the firm.
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    A study of relationship repair in a business-to-business context
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Dalela, Vivek; Morgan, Robert M.; Richey, Robert Glenn; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This research concerns rebuilding/repairing those buyer-seller relationships that were once strong, but have been damaged. A framework of relationship repair is proposed and empirically tested using fairness theory as foundation. Qualitative research and the literature were used to identify the most common causes of relationship damage. The most common relationship repairing/rebuilding efforts of suppliers are also identified. Specifically, the impact of three causes of relationship damage - seller firm's opportunistic behavior, service failures, and availability of better alternative suppliers - were explored. Additionally, the impact of five repair efforts - providing compensation, making relationship specific investments, showing accountability, giving assurance, and making organizational changes - on justice perceptions and subsequently on change in relationship quality was examined. A fractional factorial, mixed-design experiment was conducted to test the main effects and the second order interaction effects of the repair efforts. Scenarios were used to operationalize the causes of relationship damage as well as the repair efforts. The results show that supplier's opportunistic behaviors have the most damaging effect on relationship quality, followed by service failures and availability of better alternatives, in that order. Moreover, as proposed, the repair efforts have differential positive effects on distributive and procedural justice perceptions, which in turn are positively related to the change in relationship quality. Overall, the proposed model is well supported by the data. The study contributes to research in the domains of fairness theory, service failure and recovery, trust repair, and business-to-business relationship marketing. Theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.