Denise Conroy

Who Wants a Relationship Anyway? Conditions When Consumers Expect a Relationship With Their Service Provider

Prior research suggests that consumers may vary in the degree to which they wish to engage in a relationship with their service providers. The authors identify previously found and new factors that influence whether consumers expect a service provider to form a relationship with them. The authors then use these factors to segment consumers based on the relationship expectations they have with three universal categories of service providers: phone companies, banks, and doctors. Depending on the service type, either two or three segments emerge, ranging from consumers who are keen to have a relationship to those who are indifferent about relationships, down to those who are averse to forming relationships with service providers. Although there are always consumers who are keen to form a relationship with their service provider, there is no “hard core” group of consumers keen on relationships with all service providers.

Socialisation through Consumption: Teenagers and the Internet

In this exploratory research we were interested in how teenagers consume the internet, and how these experiences help to shape them as consumers. Through a series of interviews and observations, we discovered that the internet provides an environment where adolescents observe and learn attitudes and behaviours within global communities, they learn to become members of global communities and, importantly, we learned that teenagers consume the internet as an experiential, rather than as an economic, activity. Interestingly, this research also demonstrated that adolescents’ consumption of the internet promoted active, as opposed to passive, socialisation processes. We discuss the potential impact these findings may have for both the way researchers approach adolescents as a consumer group, and the implications for policy makers concerned with regulating marketing approaches to adolescent consumers. We conclude with possible future research directions of interest to academics.

An Exploration of Factors Influencing Chinese Consumers’ Expectations of Corporate Social Responsibility

Consumers’ CSR expectations can affect consumers’ attitudes, purchase, and engagement and play a key role in influencing a firm’s social performance. Relatively little research has been done about factors influencing consumers’ CSR expectations, especially the expectations of consumers in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical framework with which to examine factors influencing consumers’ expectations of CSR. Eighteen semi-structured interviews with Chinese consumers were conducted. An abductive approach was used, drawing on the interplay between collected data and the literature about consumers’ general and CSR expectations. Three groups of factors, consumer, company, and contrasted country-related factors, are found. This study is the first to propose a conceptually deeper understanding of what influences the CSR expectations of Chinese consumers, which can drive both future research and guide managers interested in implementing CSR strategies in China.