Elfriede Penz

Analysing textual data in international marketing research

Purpose – To provide guidance for the formalised analysis of qualitative data and observations, to raise awareness about systematic analysis and illustrate promising avenues for the application of qualitative methodologies in international marketing research.Design/methodology/approach – Conceptually, the nature of qualitative research, globalisation and its implications for the research landscape, text‐data as a source for international research and equivalence issues in international qualitative research are discussed. The methodology section applies these concepts and analysis challenges to a real‐world example using N*Vivo software.Findings – A 14‐step analytic design is developed, introducing procedures of data analysis and interpretation which help to formalise qualitative research of textual data.Research limitations/implications – The use of software programs (e.g. N*Vivo) helps to substantiate the analysis and interpretation process of textual data.Practical implications – Step‐by‐step guidance o...

Voluntary Purchase of Counterfeit Products: Empirical Evidence From Four Countries

ABSTRACT Counterfeiting, i.e., producing and selling copies of branded products that strongly resemble the original, has emerged as a major problem for global marketers, rising dramatically over the past several years. Surprisingly, factors driving the demand for fake products have attracted far less attention than supply-side remedies. This paper attempts to redress this imbalance by investigating the demand for counterfeits. Specifically, we consolidate existing findings and develop a comprehensive yet parsimonious model of the antecedents and drivers of voluntary counterfeit purchases. Following the frequent call for more cross-national comparisons, we used a sample of over 900 consumers from Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Mexico to test our model. This large-scale approach calls existing findings into question and raises provocative thoughts guiding future research in the area.

Predicting consumer digital piracy behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer perceptions of personal risk and benefits of digital piracy behavior as determinants of ones justification for such behavior and the consequent future piracy intention. Temporal effects of rationalization in shaping future piracy intent are also addressed.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model was developed using counterfeiting and piracy literature. Data were gathered via mail and online survey of adults in five European Union countries. The model was tested on pooled sample using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.Findings – Rationalization mediates the relationship between perceived benefits and piracy intention, but not between perceived risk and intention. Both perceived risk and benefits affect piracy intent, with risk reducing it and benefits increasing it. Rationalization of past behavior increases future digital piracy intent.Research limitations/implications – Risk measure was limited to technica...

Power versus trust – what matters more in collaborative consumption?

Purpose Collaborative consumption, such as car sharing, specifically implicates customer-to-customer interaction, which must be regulated by service providers (companies, peers and self-regulating communities), comprising different challenges for business organizations. While in conventional business relations, consumers are protected from undesirable customer behavior by laws, regulations (power) in the context of collaborative consumption are rare, so that trust becomes more relevant. It is the purpose of the study to investigate possible mechanisms to prevent undesirable customers in collaborative consumption. Design/methodology/approach In between subject designs, samples of 186 and 328 consumers filled in experimental online questionnaires with vignettes. Analyses were made of differences among car sharing companies, private persons and car sharing communities in terms of the power of providers, trust in providers and trust in other users of the shared goods, undesirable customer behavior and consumer–provider relations. Findings Companies, private persons and self-regulating communities differ in terms of perceived power and trust. Participants specifically perceive mainly coercive power with the car sharing company, but with the private person and the community, reason-based trust in other users is perceived as prevalent. Nevertheless, undesirable customer behavior varies only marginally over the models. Originality/value The present study is the first to investigate measures to prevent undesirable customer behavior over different collaborative consumption models. This enables appropriate identification of market segments and tailoring of services. The study identifies opportunities for companies in contrast to private persons and self-regulating communities and, in doing so, provides important stimulation for marketing strategy and theory development.

Multilingual elite-interviews and software-based analysis: Problems and solutions based on CAQDAS

Qualitative international research is increasingly popular in marketing, management and business practice. Cultural dimensions, most importantly language, play a central role in this research context. The importance of language in the context of questionnaire design and international data gathering has long been stressed in various sources (Pike 1966; Brislin 1970; Piekkari & Welch 2004). However, the practice of qualitative data collection and analysis has not been addressed sufficiently, although new and innovative software-based tools are available to help these efforts. This paper deals with methodological and practical issues in analysing qualitative interviews with corporate elites. We illustrate conceptual challenges in setting up qualitative projects that build on interviewing corporate elites and address practical implementation issues in terms of multilingual coding, node creation and theory building by means of computerassisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). To this end a specific empirical example will be used.

Sex-Role Specialization in a Transforming Market: Empirical Evidence from Vietnamese Middle-Class Households

Vietnam is undergoing a rapid transformation to a more prosperous society. This article analyzes household decision making in a transforming economy that has undergone modification of the traditional view of the family, from being an autonomous unit to an object of state policy. This is relevant because policy interventions shape household consumption through gender equality programs and thus have an impact on sex-role specialization. The aim of this study is to advance understanding of Vietnamese household consumption decisions and spouses’ current influence patterns by investigating sex-role specialization in Vietnamese middle-class families’ decision making. Overall, no significant sex-role changes were observed. It seems that traditional Vietnamese sex-role specialization does not (yet) differ among age groups. Instead, traditional sex-role segmentation remains predominant across all investigated age groups. While economic and consumption habits change rapidly, middle-class families appear to preserve their traditional influence patterns in purchase decisions.

Paradoxical effects of the Internet from a consumer perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Internets paradoxical nature from the perspective of consumers.Design/methodology/approach – First, it is discussed that negotiations between companies and consumers about their respective shares of power lead to different models of consumer power. Second, the paradoxical effects of technology on social relations and an individuals sense of identity and responsibility are discussed. These changes have altered not only consumer behaviour but also the relationship between producers and customers, in the sense that power shifts to consumers. The case of the international music industry is used as an example. This case embodies many of the studied aspects of the paradox concept and proves useful in the development of implications for companies and their strategies.Findings – The paper finds that while negotiations between companies and consumers about their share of power lead to different models of consumer power, the effects of technology on social rel...

Households in international marketing research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to respond to the call of alternative methodologies for studying household dynamics and aims to contribute to method development in international marketing research. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the Viennese Diary Study, a methodology was developed to study Vietnamese middle-class partners’ decision making. This allows for dyadic analyses and keeping track of the decision and mutual influence history in an emerging market. Findings – The methodology proved suitable to be used in a transitional economy, which is characterized by specific cultural aspects, such as the embeddedness of decisions in close relationships and traditional role specialization. Research limitations/implications – While the diary method is time and resource-costly with rather small sample size, it allows for detailed insight into everyday decision making. Further research might want to extend participation in the method to the extended family, which is of high importance in collectivis...

Qualitative Analysis of Online Communities to Support International Business Decisions

Social, cultural, political and technological forces have significantly transformed the competitive landscape of the global economy. Amongst these forces, technology has arguably had the most rejuvenating impact on the way international businesses interact with each other and their customer base. End-users are making use of computer-mediated communications, newsgroups, chat rooms, email list servers, personal World Wide Web pages and other online formats at an unprecedented pace, and as they share ideas and obtain information about products and services, firms are extending their market research activities to these domains. These new tools, online communities, virtual communities and virtual worlds have emerged as a fascinating and useful pool of collective experience for international business. However, the utilization and analysis of this body of knowledge for international business decisions is still in its infancy. This paper analyzes the potential of these tools to inform international business decisions. We explain how to identify and access each of these communities, and how to convert the qualitative information available from online communities into a strategic input for the firm.

The Influence on Need for Cognition, Web Expertise and Trust on Online and Offline Information Search Behaviour: An Abstract

Word of mouth (WOM) and its equivalent electronic word of mouth (eWOM) have been established as important influences in consumer decision processes. While recent research has explored the various aspects of eWOM and confirmed its importance as a source of information for consumers in online contexts (Zhu & Zhang, 2010), no study so far has investigated simultaneously traditional WOM and offline environments and the importance of eWOM in relation to other sources of information, namely, commercial and public channels. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore these relationships and to compare consumers’ online and offline information search behaviour, depending on need for cognition (NFC), web expertise and trust in offline and online sources, which are considered relevant influences to information search behaviour. Time consumers spend on a particular website is agreed as a crucial performance metric for websites (Danaher et al., 2006). Previous research suggests that usage duration better reflects consumer’s engagement than loyalty or intention measures (Dholakia et al., 2004). The experimental design (n = 366, 53.27% female, Mage = 30.23, SDage = 11.35) consisted of an interactive online information search task. Participants were asked to gather information for a buy or no-buy decision of a high-involvement product, namely, a HDTV monitor. This direct observation of consumers’ actions in a buying decision-related information search task was combined with a questionnaire focusing on their individual motives for choosing information sources (commercial, public and personal). Items measuring the need for cognition (Bless et al., 1994), web expertise, trust in and usage frequency of commercial, public and personal (online vs. offline) were used (5-point Likert scale). According to our results, consumer’s decision to search for information in the online environment depends very much on web expertise and trust, not on NFC. The search itself with usage frequency and time spent, however, is not influenced by web expertise anymore, but depends mainly on trust.