Jaime Romero

A Latent Class Analysis of Spanish Travelers’ Mobile Internet Usage in Travel Planning and Execution

A study of 476 Spanish travelers found mixed interest and use for the many travel-related mobile internet services that are involved in planning and executing a trip. The findings indicate that these Spanish respondents can be classified into four segments based on the timing of using mobile apps for over a dozen activities involved in travel planning and execution: Savvies, Planners, Opportunists, and Low-techs. Each segment exhibits distinct patterns of mobile internet services usage. Savvies tend to be heavy mobile device users both before and during their trip, while Planners make heavy use of mobile devices in advance of but not during their trip. The Opportunists show a pattern opposite the Planners, and fire up their phones and pads when they arrive at a destination. Low-techs generally do not participate in the mobile internet. The respondents generally saw four benefits from mobile device use: ubiquity, immediacy, personalization, and information access, but the four groups ranked those benefits differently.

Online media rivalry: A latent class model for mobile and PC internet users

Purpose – This study aims to identify distinct online media user segments on the basis of three media theories, namely media displacement theory, media complementarity theory and media richness theory.Design/methodology/approach – A large‐scale, mobile‐based web survey was conducted in Japan to assess behavioural variables (media time allocation, media richness perceptions, and media access motives) and demographics.Findings – The latent class model reveals four distinct media user segments: dual media users (i.e. users of the internet on both the mobile and the PC); mobile internet users; PC internet users; and passive online users. Dual media users are likely to: spend more time on information searching; perceive greater levels of media richness in online media; and share common motives for accessing internet media via both mobile and PC. The findings are consistent with our theoretical expectations.Research limitations and implications – Any exploratory clustering of consumers is by definition a snapsh...

Customer Engagement Behaviors in Hospitality: Customer-Based Antecedents

ABSTRACT Customer engagement behaviors have received little attention in hospitality research. Previous research about their antecedents studies these behaviors isolatedly, out of the lens of customer engagement. This limits our understanding of the phenomenon and the managerial insights required to manage several customer engagement behaviors simultaneously. In this research, we aim to partially fill this gap, by studying the influence of customer-based factors on two important customer engagement behaviors for the hospitality industry: word-of-mouth and co-creation. We estimate our model with consistent PLS. The results of this study indicate that two types of drivers motivate customer engagement behaviors: common vs. behavior-specific antecedents, thus setting a theoretical base for future research about the topic. Customer resources moderate their influence. For practitioners, this study facilitates the management of customer engagement behaviors by indicating which antecedents exert their influence on them and highlighting the importance of implementing segmentation programs when managing customer engagement behaviors.

Relating Brand Equity and Customer Equity: An Exploratory Study:

Brand equity and customer equity, respectively, constitute the value provided by brand and customer portfolios to companies. These are metrics of marketing performance in the long term, as well as key factors in firm valuation processes. However, their relation has not been empirically analysed to date. This study explores the connection between brand equity and customer equity. We employ a simultaneous equations model in which brand equity and customer equity depend on each other and also on marketing expenditures. We find that these metrics partially overlap, particularly in some industries. Hence, our results highlight the importance of implementing models that consider the interaction between them in order to obtain reliable measurements of the overall productivity of marketing actions. Additionally, our results suggest that the value of brands and customer portfolios should be jointly measured so as to obtain trustworthy assessments of firm value.

Exploring customer engagement behavior: construct proposal and its antecedents

Customer engagement behavior (CEB) receives increasing attention from both academics and practitioners, as it represents one of the key customer profitability determinants. This study attempts to provide a holistic view of CEB by (1) proposing an instrument to measure CEB, and (2) its antecedents. Based on the existent literature, we conceptualize CEB as a formative construct consisting of word-of-mouth (WOM), loyalty program participation, customer interaction, and co-creation, which are determined by relationship quality, rewards, self-enhancement, learning, social integration, and company identification. In attempt to test these propositions, an online survey is conducted with 466 respondents. Our results provide empirical support for our proposed CEB construct, while corroborating five out of the six hypothesized antecedents. In closing, theoretical as well as managerial implications are discussed, while important limitations are recognized and future research directions are proposed.

Exploring customer engagement in tourism: Construct proposal and antecedents

Customer engagement (CE) creates economic value for tourism firms. However, tourism companies still lack enough knowledge to properly measure CE and manage its drivers. We address this gap by proposing a behavioural CE measurement and by exploring some of the antecedents on this construct (relationship quality, rewards, company identification, self-enhancement, learning and social integration). We test our propositions using survey data (466 respondents). Our results provide empirical support for our proposed CE construct, while corroborating four of the six hypothesized antecedents. In closing, we discuss theoretical and managerial implications, study limitations and future research directions.

Trade Credit Periods in Retail Commerce for Products of Mass Consumption: An Application to Spanish Legislation

Trade credit periods from providers constitute a key indicator of the market power of large retail groups in distribution channels. The current study uses a database of financial statements of retail and production firms to demonstrate that the legal measures established at the European level in general, and specifically in Spain, to fight delinquency in commercial operations are having an appreciable effect on reducing payment periods for retail firms. On the other hand, an analysis of trade credit periods at the level of manufacturers enables us to confirm that manufacturers also postpone a substantial part of their payment to their respective suppliers of raw materials. Finally, we propose an explanatory model for trade credit periods in retail firms that, once contrasted, enables us to conclude that the explanations for trade credit periods should be found in the market power, efficiency and level of indebtedness of the retail firms.