Fazlul Rabbanee

Antecedents and consequences of self-congruity

Purpose – This study aims to propose and test a parsimonious framework for self-congruity, albeit in the context of luxury branding. This paper is the first to propose an integrated model focusing on the drivers and consequences of self-congruity. The model is further applied to explain how self-congruity may motivate future experiences with the luxury brand, mainly by influencing self-perception. Although a substantive marketing literature on self-congruity currently exists, there is a lack of an integrated framework, a gap that the current work addresses. Design/methodology/approach – A paper and pencil survey was conducted among female subjects only, and structural path relationships were tested using AMOS. Findings – Consumers’ self-congruity with a luxury brand (non-luxury brand) is positively (negatively) influenced by its antecedents: social desirability, need for uniqueness and status consumption. Self-congruity with a luxury (non-luxury) brand is found to enhance (undermine) consumers’ self-perce...

Exploring the interactions among external reference price, social visibility and purchase motivation in pay-what-you-want pricing

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of social visibility (private vs public), purchase motivation (intrinsic vs extrinsic vs altruistic) and external reference price (ERP) (absent vs present) on consumers’ pricing decisions in pay-what-you-want (PWYW) context. Design/methodology/approach Two empirical studies with a fitness gym as the research setting were used to test all the hypotheses; first, a lab experiment with undergraduate student participants and, the second, an online experiment with a consumer panel. Findings Both studies show that consumers allocate a higher share (RATIO) of their internal reference prices (IRPs) to the prices to be paid (PTP) in PWYW context, in private under intrinsic purchase motivation and in public under extrinsic or altruistic motivation and this effect is more pronounced in the absence of ERP. Research limitations/implications Future research may validate and extend the findings of this paper with other product or service categories, different manipulations for the key variables, other research methods such as field experiments and expand our model by including other relevant variables. Practical implications The findings of this paper will help managers understand how individual customers’ purchase motivation and the social visibility in the PWYW setting affect their pricing decisions and how providing external pricing cues may moderate these effects. Originality/value Prior research on PWYW shows mixed findings about the direct effects of many variables on consumers’ pricing decisions, but it ignores the differences in consumers’ purchase motivations and offers mixed evidence about the influence of social visibility and ERPs on payment decisions. The authors address all these gaps in this paper.

Antecedents, outcomes, and mediating role of internal reference prices in pay-what-you-want (PWYW) pricing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating role of internal reference price (IRP) in a pay-what-you-want (PWYW) price setting. Specifically, it examines the effects of altruism, social desirability and price consciousness as the antecedents of IRP and consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP), future purchase intention and attitude toward the seller as the outcomes of IRP. Design/methodology/approach – The data for the study were collected from 272 respondents through a structured survey and analyzed through structural equation modeling technique using AMOS 22.0. Findings – Altruism and social desirability positively influence IRP whereas price consciousness influences IRP negatively. IRP mediates the effects of altruism, social desirability and price consciousness on WTP, future purchase intention and attitude toward the seller. Research limitations/implications – PWYW pricing strategy can help attract consumers with self-less characteristics or a desire to behave in a socially appropriate...

Does employee performance affect customer loyalty in pharmacy services

Purpose – Employees in community pharmacies play a far significant and distinct role compared to the employees in traditional retail stores. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of employee performance (EP) on customer loyalty of pharmacy services. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a self-administered survey filled in by the customers of 25 community pharmacies. A total of 679 completely filled-in questionnaires were analysed. The proposed model was tested through structural equation modelling using AMOS 22. Findings – EP positively affects pharmacy customers’ perceived value (PV), trust and loyalty. PV and trust fully mediates the relationships between EP and customers’ attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. Unlike short-term customers, the long-term relational customers’ PV was found to have significant impact on their trust and behavioural loyalty. Research limitations/implications – This study is based on the Australian community pharmacy industries; hence, caution...

Status demotion in hierarchical loyalty programs: effects of payment source

ABSTRACT Hierarchical loyalty programs are being operated currently by many firms to improve customer relationships. While past work has demonstrated the negative effects of status demotion in such programs, research on how these effects may vary across different customer group based on payment source is almost nonexistent. This paper examines the moderating role of payment source (‘own money’ versus ‘others money’) on the effects of status demotion on customer attitudes and behavior in hierarchical loyalty programs. Analysis of data collected from members of airline loyalty programs show that the negative effects of status demotion on customer attitudes, loyalty intentions, and share-of-wallet are stronger for demoted ‘own money’ customers than for demoted ‘others money’ customers. The study provides a deeper insight about the effects of status demotion and points out that firms could possibly be endangering the loyalty of many potentially valuable customers, in particular among the ‘own money’ customer group.

Exploring the Moderating Role of Price Consciousness in Pay-What-You-Want Pricing: An Abstract

Pay what you want (PWYW) is a unique participative pricing mechanism that has no minimum price set by the seller, and the buyers can pay whatever price they want (including a price of zero) that the seller has to accept without being able to withdraw the offer. Recent research on PWYW focuses only on the direct effects of variables, such as altruism, price consciousness, and reference prices, and ignores their interactions with each other. We address this gap by exploring the moderating influence of price consciousness on the effects of altruism and internal reference price on PWYW pricing decision. We use a field survey with university students in Australia with an ethnic restaurant setting, to show that both altruism and internal reference price have stronger (weaker) effect on the amounts consumers are willing to pay for consumers with lower (higher) levels of price consciousness. Our findings have important implications for both academic researchers and marketing practitioners in this growing research area.

Combined effects of franchise management strategies and employee service performance on customer loyalty: a multilevel perspective

Abstract Although franchisee performance is likely to be influenced by franchisors’ management strategies, little is known about whether and how franchisors’ strategies affect franchisee employees’ performance. This study examines the combined effects of three franchisor management strategies, namely innovative culture, support services and autonomy on service performance of the franchisee store employees and the loyalty of their customers. Data were collected from a total of 38 employees and 679 customers of 25 franchisee stores. The study employs multilevel analysis on a nested data-set created by matching customer data with employee data for each store. The results reveal that customer loyalty of a franchisee store is positively influenced by the service performance of its employees and the support services received by the employees of the store from its franchisor. On the other hand, it has been found that franchisor management strategy such as innovative culture and autonomy negatively influence customer loyalty of the franchisee store. The paper discusses relevant theoretical and managerial implications of the findings.

From resentment to excitement – Australasian students’ perception towards a sales career

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore Australasian students’ current perception towards a sales career. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a self-administered survey from 431 students enrolled in a Sales Management unit in a large Australian university and its Asian campuses. Findings The study reveals a four-factor solution with factors labeled as “exciting,” “deceptive,” “taxing,” and “challenging,” with “exciting” being the only factor to significantly predict likelihood of pursuing a sales career. Although no differences of perception were found between males and females, Asian students were found to perceive sales career as more exciting, innovative and fun than Australian students. Research limitations/implications Although significant difference was noted between Australian and Asian students’ perceptions towards sales as an exciting career, it is prudent to interpret and generalize the finding with caution as Asia is the largest continent with different cultures, religions and races. Practical implications The four factors that were found to influence students’ perception towards a sales career are novel, psychometrically sound, and are pertinent for businesses conducting graduate recruitment. This study indicates how sales education at university level assist in changing students’ views towards a sales career from negative to positive. Originality/value While previous research has reported negative perceptions about sales as a career, this study reveals that students consider sales to be an “exciting” career.

Factors influencing consumers’ willingness to pay under pay what you want context

Pay What You Want (PWYW) is a type of participative pricing mechanism where the buyer can offer any price including a price of zero; and the seller has to accept the price without withdrawing the product offer. Although existing research identified several variables such as altruism, price consciousness, reference price, income, and perceived fairness of the price paid to influence consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) under PWYW context; however, many of these variables may act in complex interactive ways. To the best of our knowledge, no study tested the interaction among these variables in a PWYW context. This research examined the direct and interactive impact of product involvement, price consciousness and internal reference price on consumers’ WTP under PWYW context. It confirmed that consumers pay a significantly higher price than zero under PWYW condition. The findings of the study revealed that product involvement had a direct impact on consumers’ WTP. Further, the effect of product involvement on consumers’ WTP was found to be moderated by price consciousness. This moderation, however, took place for consumers with high internal reference price but not for consumers with low internal reference price. Managerial implications of the findings were discussed.