J.W.M. Verhoeven

On Store Design and Consumer Motivation: Spatial Control and Arousal in the Retail Context

Research testifies to the influence of environmental factors in shopping environments. However, few studies examine effects of store design in interaction with shoppers’ motivations. The authors propose that task-oriented shoppers prefer stores that are spacious, whereas recreational shoppers enjoy and prefer the arousing properties of color. To provide controlled tests of these hypotheses, we created visual simulations of stores that varied by color (arousing red vs. less arousing blue) and layout (spacious vs. cluttered), and induced either task-oriented or recreational shopping motivations. Customers at a clothing store responded to one of these four store video displays. Results showed that motivations interact with environmental factors. Task-oriented shoppers preferred shopping in spacious stores, whereas recreational shoppers preferred high-arousing store environments. These findings suggest that store managers could increase arousal levels using ambient design elements, such as colored lights, when shoppers are likely recreationally oriented and provide spacious environments to appeal to task-oriented shoppers.

Social media’s dark side: inducing boundary conflicts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the negative consequences of work-related social media use, and the extent to which the presence of social media policies in organizations are able to mitigate these consequences. Design/methodology/approach Internet-based survey data (N=575) was analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the indirect effect of social media use on exhaustion through work/life conflict. Findings This study shows that there is a dark side to social media use, as employees’ work-related social media use might be intrusive to their personal lives while simultaneously increasing life to work conflict. Furthermore, the results indicate that the current implementation of social media usage policies at work is not sufficient to defend employees against the negative consequences of social media use; namely, work/life conflict and ultimately exhaustion. Research limitations/implications The indirect pathways are assessed using cross-sectional data, which makes verifying causal relationships difficult. Practical implications The findings underscore the need for contemporary organizations to pragmatically intensify their efforts to mitigate the impacts of boundary conflict on workers’ well-being that result from increased use of social media for work. Originality/value This paper is among the first to demonstrate that the use of social media for work is related to exhaustion through increased work/life conflict.

Self-censorship on Internal Social Media: A Case Study of Coworker Communication Behavior in a Danish Bank

ABSTRACT Internal social media (ISM) or social intranets provide organizations with a communication arena in which coworkers can actively contribute to organizational communication. Coworkers are, however, far from impulsive and spontaneous when they communicate on ISM. A case study in a Danish bank found that coworkers considered carefully the consequences of their posts or comments before publishing them. These coworkers perceived four different risks associated with ISM communication, and they used seven self-censorship strategies to ensure that both the content and the formulation of their communication were relevant and appropriate. Coworkers not only censor themselves by withdrawing, as previous studies have suggested, but they also postpone publishing content, phrase or frame content differently, imagine responses from organizational members, ask others for a second opinion, choose another channel, or write only positive comments. Through these seven self-censorship strategies, coworkers retain the quality of communication on ISM and prevent conflict or relational damage. Future research should explore the self-regulation strategies underlying self-censorship in order to improve understanding of the circumstances that increase the likelihood of responsible use of ISM. The potential dark side of self-censorship also requires exploration: when can self-censorship threaten coworkers’ freedom of expression, and develop into organizational silence?

Understanding social media governance: seizing opportunities, staying out of trouble

Purpose The rise of social media such as Facebook and Twitter has provided employees with means to share work-related information. Increasingly, social media governance policies are implemented to negotiate the risks and opportunities of such behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to unveil the motivations behind managers’ attempts to govern these behaviors. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten communication managers of various organizations. Higgins’ regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) was used to examine whether managers adopted a prevention or promotion focus to social media, and whether regulatory focus affected the measures taken toward social media governance. Findings Prevention and promotion foci were both observed among managers, and differed per communication model. Managers who employed dialogic models of communication were primarily promotion-focused and emphasized opportunities to improve stakeholder relations, while managers who employed one-way models were primarily prevention-focused and highlighted the risks of social media (e.g. the risk of employees publishing messages that contradict corporate communication and confuse stakeholders). Social media governance differed depending on regulatory focus. In the prevention scheme managers usually attempted to regain control by restricting social media to private use only, while in the promotion focus managers trained and facilitated employees for work-related social media use, to various extends. Originality/value By examining the interplay of regulatory focus, communication models and governance, this paper sheds light on the rationale behind social media governance policies that are implemented in organizations.

Webcare as an integrative tool for customer care, reputation management, and online marketing: a literature review

When consumers are dissatisfied with a consumption experience, they usually respond in one of the following ways (Hirschman, 1970): (1) stop using an organization’s products/services and take their business to a competitor, (2) file a complaint with the organization that is responsible for the dissatisfying consumption experience, or (3) talk about their dissatisfying consumption experience with fellow consumers (negative word of mouth). Janelle McCoy, a former loyal customer of Chevrolet, decided to combine all responses with the help of social media. In a series of comments on Facebook and Twitter, in which Chevrolet was either tagged or addressed (@chevrolet), Janelle shared her dissatisfaction with one of Chevrolet’s car dealers. In doing so, she not only engaged in negative word of mouth (NWOM) but also complaint behaviour. As can be seen from the excerpt of the Twitter dialogue depicted by Figure 4.1, Janelle’s comments addressed a double audience consisting of not only other consumers but also the organization responsible for the dissatisfying consumption experience. Consumers such as Janelle increasingly voice their complaints as electronic NWOM, with the aim to draw the attention of organizations and, as such, enforce service excellence. Thus, after receiving no satisfactory response from Chevrolet, Janelle decided to take her business to a competitor and to share this decision with other consumers on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Webcare als online reputatiemanagement: het gebruik van webcarestrategieën en conversational human voice in Nederland, en de effecten hiervan op de corporate reputatie

In dit artikel is door middel van een inhoudsanalyse en een experiment onderzocht welke webcarestrategieen Nederlandse organisaties gebruiken op Twitter om reputatieschade te voorkomen, hoe effectief deze strategieen zijn en welke invloed een menselijke stem heeft op deze effectiviteit. Uit studie 2 blijkt dat webcarestrategieen die tegemoetkomen aan het individu de reputatie beter beschermen dan collectief tegemoetkomende of defensieve webcarestrategieen.