Elten Briggs

Marketing Actions and the Value of Customer Assets: A Framework for Customer Asset Management

This article develops a framework for assessing how marketing actions affect customers’lifetime value to the firm. The framework is organized around four critical actions that firms must take to effectively manage the asset value of the customer base: database creation, market segmentation, forecasting customer purchase behavior, and resource allocation. In this framework, customer lifetime value is treated as a dynamic construct, that is, it influences the eventual allocation of marketing resources but is also influenced by that allocation. By viewing customers as assets and systematically managing these assets, a firm can identify the most appropriate marketing actions to acquire, maintain, and enhance customer assets and thereby maximize financial returns. The article discusses in detail how to assess customer lifetime value and manage customers as assets. Then, it identifies key research challenges in studying customer asset management and the managerial challenges associated with implementing effective customer asset management practices.

Toward a Better Understanding of Volunteering for Nonprofit Organizations: Explaining Volunteers’ Pro-Social Attitudes

In addition to currently fueling the nonprofit sector of the economy, volunteering is a key ingredient in community-based or cooperative models of economic exchange, including customer coproduction. The purpose of this study is to develop knowledge about pro-social attitudes of volunteers. Behavioral Reasoning Theory (BRT) provides a framework for understanding how volunteers’ values and reasons for volunteering influence volunteers’ pro-social attitudes. Gender, experience, and age are controlled for in the analysis. Using large-scale survey data from four distinct nonprofit organizations in Australia, structural equation modeling results suggest that the BRT framework is a valuable one for understanding important influencers of volunteers’ pro-social attitudes. In sum, values and reasons that are other-oriented appear to be much more influential than values and reasons for volunteering that are self-focused. Additionally, our results suggest that being a younger volunteer is positively correlated with higher levels of values and reasons for volunteering that are self-focused.

Service Performance—Loyalty Intentions Link in a Business-to-Business Context: The Role of Relational Exchange Outcomes and Customer Characteristics

This study evaluates the relationship between service performance and customer loyalty intentions in a business-to-business context. Specifically, the third-party logistics industry is used as a contextual setting for the research. A conceptual model is developed based on literature in social exchange theory and business buying behavior. The model suggests that service performance directly influences both social (i.e., trust) and economic (i.e., value) relationship outcomes and that these outcomes positively influence customer loyalty intentions. However, in contrast to existing business-to-consumer research, mediation analysis supports the hypothesis that the relationship between service performance and customer loyalty intention is fully mediated by relationship outcomes. Further analyses indicate that characteristics specific to business customers— organizational relationship norms and industry competitive intensity—have important moderating influences. Collectively, the findings imply that business-to-business service managers should move beyond simply tracking the performance of their services. Customer perceptions of relationship trust and perceived facilitation of economic outcomes also should be measured, since these are more proximal to loyalty outcomes. Further, service managers should leverage customer knowledge to optimize service delivery. Different service strategies should be implemented based on customers’ relational orientation and industry competitive dynamics. The article concludes with logical directions for future research.

Identification Effects on Advertising Response: The Moderating Role of Involvement

This study examines two important variables for advertisers, ethnicity and product involvement. We investigate the effectiveness of Hispanic-targeted advertising by exploring the impact of ad models ethnicity on attitudes toward high- and low-involvement products. The results of our quasi-experiment suggest that appealing to strong Hispanic identifiers may be highly desirable in terms of creating favorable attitudes when advertising low-involvement products. For high-involvement products, Hispanic-targeted advertising may not be as effective since ethnicity may not be an important cue. Theoretical implications regarding the impact of distinctiveness theory and practical implications for practitioners trying to spend advertising dollars more efficiently are discussed.

The influences of ethical climate and organization identity comparisons on salespeople and their job performance

Sales research has recognized the importance of ethical climate perceptions. However, research that examines the influence of ethical climate on how favorably salespeople perceive their organizations is lacking. This is critical because these factors may affect a salesperson’s behavior, life satisfaction, and performance. Using a sample of salespeople from the television broadcasting industry, we derive and test a model involving ethical climate, organization identity comparisons, lone wolf tendencies, life satisfaction, behavioral performance, and outcome performance. Results suggest that salespeople’s perceptions of their company have a significant effect on individual and organizational outcomes. Implications for managers and researchers are discussed.

Beyond Just Being There: An Examination of the Impact of Attitudes, Materialism, and Self-Esteem on the Quality of Helping Behavior in Youth Volunteers

ABSTRACT Young people represent a strong and growing source of volunteers for not-for-profit organizations (NPO) and are an important focus for NPO marketing efforts. Using helping behavior theory, this paper reports a study conducted with a sample of teenagers to examine influences on their decision to volunteer and their goal setting for fund-raising. The relationship between three individual variables (attitude toward the organization, self-esteem, and materialism) and the quality of helping behavior provided was found to be mediated in large part by attitude towards the actual volunteering task. Implications for NPO marketing and future research are discussed.

Does Hispanic‐targeted advertising work for services?

Purpose – The study seeks to examine two variables of interest to marketers in the area of services advertising, ethnicity and service involvement. The goal of this study is to investigate the relative effectiveness of ethnic‐targeting in services advertising, specifically, Hispanic‐targeted advertising. The purpose of this research is to understand what types of services can benefit from Hispanic‐targeted service advertising and develop practical implications for practitioners trying to spend advertising dollars more efficiently.Design/methodology/approach – The impact of the advertising models ethnicity on post‐exposure attitude toward high and low involvement service brands was explored.Findings – The results of this quasi‐experimental study suggest that appealing to strong Hispanic identifiers may be highly desirable in terms of creating favorable attitudes toward service brands when advertising low involvement services, where, by definition, the consumer does not engage in intensive decision making ...

The development of core retailer community functions

The community-building functions of socialization, mutual support, social control, and social participation are derived and tested in relation to the development of consumer loyalty and a consumers willingness to pay more for the retailers product. Empirical results indicate that the development of community is not, ceteris paribus, always a positive thing. Of the four core functions, retailer socialization and mutual support relate positively to consumer willingness to pay more. In addition, while retailer socialization and social participation relate positively to consumer loyalty, retailer social control relates negatively to consumer loyalty. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Explicating customer orientation's influence on frontline employee satisfaction

This study examines how conflict and hours worked affect the influence of customer orientation on frontline service employee satisfaction. The conceptual model builds upon the role of personal resources in the job demands-resource model, while integrating perspectives from the work–family conflict (WFC) literature and conservation of resources theory. Results indicate that customer orientation influences employee satisfaction both directly and indirectly through interpersonal conflict with customers (ICC), WFC, and felt stress. The impact of ICC on employee satisfaction was found to be fully rather than partially mediated. ICC increases WFC which then augments job stress and eventually reduces job satisfaction. Moderation analyses show that the negative influence of customer orientation on ICC becomes stronger as hours worked increase to exceptionally high levels; while the positive influence of customer orientation on employee satisfaction becomes weaker as hours worked increase to exceptionally high levels. These results support the importance of customer orientation and imply that service managers should be especially cautious not to overwork these employees, in order to keep them happy and motivated.

How Do Differing Community Engagement Strategies Affect Consumer Responses to a Retailer

This article develops and tests a conceptual model examining the effects of retailer’s use of two community engagement strategies, partnership and philanthropy. A survey, featuring one of four randomly assigned promotional messages, was created and distributed to customers of a retailer that were also members of a women’s social organization. Analysis on the sample of 440 respondents indicates that engagement strategies cause different reactions. Specifically, partnership strengthens consumer identification with the retailer, while philanthropy strengthens feelings of purchase satisfaction. Moderation tests imply that using both strategies together can encourage consumers to behave more relationally, yielding additional returns for a retailer.