Björn S. Ivens

Who will buy smart glasses? Empirical results of two pre-market-entry studies on the role of personality in individual awareness and intended adoption of Google Glass wearables

We introduce smart glasses to the consumer literature.We investigate the direct and moderating role of personality.We show that personality plays a significant role smart glass use (intention).We provide pre-market entry knowledge about smart glasses. Recent market studies reveal that augmented reality (AR) devices, such as smart glasses, will substantially influence the media landscape. Yet, little is known about the intended adoption of smart glasses, particularly: Who are the early adopters of such wearables? We contribute to the growing body of research that investigates the role of personality in predicting media usage by analyzing smart glasses, such as Google Glass or Microsoft Hololens. First, we integrate AR devices into the current evolution of media and technologies. Then, we draw on the Big Five Model of human personality and present the results from two studies that investigate the direct and moderating effects of human personality on the awareness and innovation adoption of smart glasses. Our results show that open and emotionally stable consumers tend to be more aware of Google Glass. Consumers who perceive the potential for high functional benefits and social conformity of smart glasses are more likely to adopt such wearables. The strength of these effects is moderated by consumers individual personality, particularly by their levels of openness to experience, extraversion and neuroticism. This article concludes with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications for research on technology adoption, and with suggestions for avenues for future research.

Social Media Marketing: How Design Features Influence Interactions with Brand Postings on Facebook

The use of social networks is becoming more and more popular among consumers (Fox et al., 2010). Facebook, for instance, the predominant network online, has more than 700 Mio. members who often visit the platform several times a week (Poynter, 2008). Thus, social networks offer interesting perspectives for marketers (Eisend and Kuster-Rohde, 2008; Zhang, 2010), and it is not surprising that several marketers already use Facebook as a marketing tool (e.g., Coca Cola, Red Bull, Audi, and many others) or plan to be present in social networks in the future (e.g., Busby et al., 2010; CFMR, 2009).

Collaborative Brand Attacks in Social Media: Exploring the Antecedents, Characteristics, and Consequences of a New Form of Brand Crises

Recently, a new challenge has emerged for brand management. Large numbers of Internet users attack brands on social media collaboratively, a phenomenon that we refer to as “collaborative brand attacks” (CBAs). Yet despite the frequency and the relevance of CBAs, little is known about why and how they develop. In this research, we apply a Delphi study followed by a qualitative analysis of multiple CBA cases in order to develop a framework that explains the triggers, the amplifiers, as well as the reaction strategies to CBAs. These findings highlight the conceptual differences between CBAs and traditional brand crises.

Scale Development in Employer Branding

The present research proposes an approach to establish a reliable, valid, and generalisable scale for the measurement of employer brand dimensions. To overcome limitations of previous research, the scale items are derived from an extensive, interdisciplinary literature review in addition to in-depth interviews with both employees and employers. The survey participants (n=223) are employees of German companies. Exploratory factor analysis is used to establish the dimensionality of employer brands. The dimensionality exploration provides the ground work for future research. For management, the results help design efficient employer value propositions that ensure the businesses’ success in the war to hire and retain the right talents.

The Personality of Brand Lovers

In everyday conversation, people frequently talk about ‘loving’ products, brands, and consumption activities such as skiing or eating out at restaurants. Previous studies have found that talk about love is more than a colorful figure of speech (Ahuvia, 1993). There is mounting evidence that consumers use mental schemas and processes such as love not only in interpersonal contexts (“I love you”) but also in consumption contexts (“I love my car”) (Aaker, 1997; Ahuvia, 2005; Batra et al., 2012; Fournier, 1998). Brand love is a legitimate form of love alongside romantic love, parental love, friendship love, unrequited love, and other types of love. Henceforth, we will use the term ‘brand love’ in a very general way, to refer to the love of brands (including nonprofit brands), products and services, product categories (e.g., cell phones, fashion), as well as specific products (i.e., a particular consumer’s cell phone).

Les clients comptes clés sont-ils vraiment traités différemment ? Le point de vue des clients

En réaction aux évolutions des comportements dachat de leurs clients (centralisation, coordination), mais aussi à la complexification des échanges interorganisationnels (internationalisation, évolution vers des offres solutions globales, etc.), de nombreuses entreprises industrielles ont mis en place des programmes de gestion des comptes clés. Ces programmes consistent à servir certains clients stratégiques dune façon plus individualisée que ne le sont les clients traditionnels. Lobjectif recherché est de parvenir à une création de valeur accrue. Cette recherche présente les résultats dune étude menée auprès de 297 acheteurs professionnels. Sur la base du cadre des échanges relationnels, les auteurs proposent de tester lhypothèse selon laquelle des clients comptes clés reçoivent un traitement plus relationnel que des clients traditionnels. Ils proposent aussi de tester lhypothèse selon laquelle les clients comptes clés perçoivent une qualité de relation avec leur fournisseur supérieure à celle perçue par les clients traditionnels.

Preiscontrolling in der Unternehmenspraxis

Preispolitische Entscheidungen haben fur Unternehmen auf Grund ihrer direkten Erloswirksamkeit eine enorme Bedeutung. Die zielgerichtete und systematische Gestaltung des Preismanagements stellt Unternehmen in vielen verschiedenen Branchen jedoch vor enorme Herausforderungen. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen Uberblick uber grundlegende Aspekte des Preismanagements. Daruber hinaus zeigt der Beitrag auf, wie durch Preiscontrolling das Preismanagement in Unternehmen gestarkt und Optimierungspotentiale fur Unternehmen erschlossen werden konnen.

Verkaufscontrolling: Analyse der Wirkungen der persönlichen Kommunikation

Der Verkauf von Leistungen ist fur das Uberleben von Unternehmen am Markt von herausragender Bedeutung. In zahlreichen Industrien und Branchen werden Leistungen durch personliche Verkaufsprozesse verausert. Diese Verkaufsprozesse sind durch direkte Kommunikation zwischen Anbieter und Nachfrager gekennzeichnet. Zur Planung, Steuerung und Kontrolle personlicher Verkaufs- und Kommunikationsprozesse ist ein effektives Verkaufscontrolling essentiell. Gegenstand dieses Beitrags ist es, einen Uberblick uber Spezifika personlicher Kommunikation beim Verkauf zu geben sowie Ansatze des Verkaufscontrollings aufzuzeigen und zu thematisieren. Der Beitrag liefert einen Uberblick uber verschiedene Kennzahlen, die zur Bewertung der Wirkung personlicher Kommunikation im Rahmen von Verkaufsprozessen eingesetzt werden konnen.

Service Infusion im Industriegütermarketing – Konzept, Wertschöpfung und Wirklichkeit

Service Infusion beschreibt ein Konzept im Bereich des Industriegutermarketing, das sich auf die Anreicherung industrieller Produkte mittels verschiedener Dienstleistungen bezieht (Eggert et al. 2011). Hiermit wird neues Wertschopfungspotenzial durch gesteigerten Service Value generiert. Service Infusion wird fur Industrieguter schon seit einiger Zeit eingesetzt. Nur selten verkaufen Unternehmen lediglich Produkte ohne irgendwelche Dienstleistungen, welche mit diesen in Bezug stehen.

Damaging brands through market research:: can customer involvement in prediction markets damage brands?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibility of using the new marketing research tool of prediction markets (PMs), which integrates customers to into the marketing research process. The research questions are: does taking part in PMs influence customers’ brand perception? Is there a danger of damaging a brand through this tool? Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a series of five short-term (less than one hour) and five long-term (three weeks) experimental online PMs where customers are integrated into marketing research and apply a series of online-surveys before and after taking part as virtual stock market traders. Subjects of research are taken from the sporting goods industry. Findings – The paper shows that PMs can be used by marketing researchers without the danger of damaging the brand of the products that are subject of the PMs, although customers are being integrated to improve the markets’ forecasting accuracy. Research limitations/implications – The studys su...