G Laud

The role of embeddedness for resource integration Complementing S-D logic research through a social capital perspective

Marketing research highlights the importance of actors’ relationships as mechanisms for integrating resources. With its roots in sociology, the concept of embeddedness has gained prominence in the literature on organizations, providing in-depth insight into how relational structures regulate resource integration processes and outcomes. However, the concept of an actor’s embeddedness is rarely discussed in association with service-dominant (S-D) logic. This limits the extant understanding of factors that influence resource exchange and value cocreation among individual actors in service ecosystems. Against this background, this article links S-D logic with social capital theory to establish and conceptualize embeddedness as a key concept. More specifically, this research identifies and delineates structural, relational, and cultural properties of embeddedness and offers a systematic and complementary theoretical understanding to better explain relational constellations based on actors’ resource integration potential. In so doing, this research significantly advances marketing science and particularly the S-D logic school of thought by explicitly clarifying the role of embeddedness and its implications for resource integration. A set of research propositions is presented laying the foundation for future research.

Value co-creation behaviour-role of embeddedness and outcome considerations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify antecedents and consequences of customers’ value co-creation behaviour (VCB). VCB as a means to facilitate value realisation processes is gaining importance in service research and practice. Encouraging such enactments can be challenging, but can also offer competitive advantages. Design/methodology/approach We empirically investigate a conceptual model by converging three contemporary concepts of co-creation research – embeddedness, VCB and value-in-context – and examining the interdependencies between them. Data were collected in an online forum of a leading international weight-management firm. Findings Results suggest that customers’ embeddedness is a key antecedent of customers’ VCB in a service system. The three embeddedness dimensions – structural, relational and cultural – have a differential impact on customers’ VCB. Furthermore, findings illustrate that customers’ VCB has a significant impact on their object-oriented, self-oriented and brand-oriented social value-in-context outcomes. Research limitations/implications This study contributes by empirically investigating and validating antecedents and consequences of VCB in a service system. In doing so, the study highlights the significance of the nature of customer’s social constellations to develop contexts where value outcomes are actualised. Understanding the factors that shape VCB offers insights for firms to recognise how and where value propositions can be deployed that drives on-going co-creation processes. Originality/value This study is the first empirical research to offer insights into important pre-conditions and subsequent outcomes concurrently to illustrate how customers’ VCB can be managed and nurtured for sustainable value co-creation processes within service systems. This research further advances mid-range theorizing and microfoundational perspectives in marketing.

Why Consumers Seek ‘Coolness’? Evidence from the Arab World

The charm of coolness is seemingly enhanced by the mysteriousness of what cool actually means. Figuring out how to be “cool” is arguably an important phenomenon amongst many modern cultures today. Consumers identify their coolness by seeking products and brands that provide them with cool status (Belk et al, 2010). While researchers have identified this cultural shift having a significant impact on how consumers are buying products, an in-depth understanding of its origin and meaning of this vernacular usage for the relevant consumer research is limited. As such, the purpose of this research is to understand consumers’ ’cool seeking’ behavior by exploring its possible determinants using a stepwise regression analysis. Drawing evidence from the Arab world our findings indicate that although the primary need for uniqueness drives cool identity, status concern is the most dominant predictor of cool-brand consciousness. We also demonstrate that in the Arab world cool is influenced by West, but not related to income, religion or gender.