Giuseppe Pedeliento

Trust, information asymmetry and professional service online referral agents

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the intermediation of an online agent in the relationship between prospective clients and professional service providers affects individual purchasing processes and decisions, and satisfaction with the professional service provider once the commercial transaction is concluded. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the integrated trust-technology acceptance model, modified to include two additional variables to take into account of the specificities of the context investigated – users’ perceived reduction of information asymmetry and satisfaction with the professional service provider – a research framework is developed and tested with a research design combining a decision tree procedure with structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis. Participants are 188 users of an Italian website which incorporates an online agent that refers notaries to prospective clients. Findings Decisions to purchase professional services brokered by online agents depend upon trust in the agent, and users’ perceptions of the agent’s ability to reduce information asymmetry, as well as its perceived usefulness. Online agents for professional services can be effective as well as efficient: users who bought the service from an agent-referred notary had higher levels of satisfaction with their professional service provider than users who purchased the service from a different notary. Originality/value This is the first empirical effort to investigate the effects of online agents in the specific context of professional service purchasing. The uniqueness of the research context permitted identification of a new type of online agent, the “double-sided online referral agent”.

The cross-effects of sponsorship in non-professional sports communities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cross-effects of on-site sponsorship on online sponsorship effectiveness in communities. The research evaluates how members’ commitment to a sports-oriented community and attitude to brands providing sponsorship developed through sponsorship on-site, and sponsor-community fit, influence the effectiveness of online sponsorship measured as the intention to purchase the same brands online through sponsoring banners displayed on the community web site. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a web-survey from a self-selected sample of 272 respondents belonging to non-professional sports communities. By drawing on the principal tenets of the theory of reasoned action, the authors developed a theoretical framework and tested it through a structural equation model to evaluate the role of attitude to sponsor brands developed through sponsorship on-site, and its antecedents, on the intention to purchase the same brands online through spons...

B2B vs. B2C: an empirical attempt to bridge the gap

If B2B and B2C should be considered distinct domains, is an ongoing debate in marketing research and practice. Recent contributions in the IMP group tried to solve this century old dichotomy. With this paper the authors contribute to this cultural debate showing the importance that product attachment plays in the B2B context. Through an exploratory survey on a sample of 514 Italian truck drivers the authors give evidences of the existence of a diffused feeling of product attachment. In a second study, an experiential phenomenological analysis suggests that the extended self is a suitable framework to describe truck possession and usage. This intimate relationship between user and product in a B2B context, has interesting implication for inter and intra- organizational processes and networks, as discussed in the final part of the paper.

The local(s) as the new global? local brands for the new premium markets for spirits: The case of gin mare

In the last few years, the gin market witnessed a dramatic rise of premium and super premium brands. Once a commodity-like product category dominated by large multinational companies, the supply of gin is now characterized by the presence of myriad small-scale handcrafting producers striving to achieve distinct competitive positioning by emphasizing authenticity of botanicals, local culture and cultural capital. This case describes the birth, evolution and future developments of one brand that has contributed to making the gin industry one of the liveliest within the spirit industry: Gin Mare. Uniquely positioned as a Mediterranean brand, Gin Mare is here presented as a company that competes in the global arena by conveying its local cultural capital in an effective branding strategy.

The multichannel effects of sponsorship: an empirical analysis

Sport sponsorship is gaining increasing attention in marketing research and practice. While the industry of sport sponsorship is booming, sponsoring companies are increasingly practising multi-site sponsorship strategies by combining traditional forms of sponsorship with an online presence. Yet, although scholars have suggested the investigation of the synergistic effects between traditional and online sponsorship as an emergent stream of research, any research to date have been issued on this topic. By drawing on previous studies in the multichannel retailing literature the aim of this research is primarily that of investigating if positive feelings and attitude toward a sponsoring brands receivers form in traditional settings, affect sponsorship receivers intention to purchase online sponsoring brands when multi-site sponsorship strategies are performed. Findings suggest the existence of interactive effects between traditional and online sponsorship.