James E. Richard

Corporate image, loyalty, and commitment in the consumer travel industry

Abstract This article examines the impact and interrelationship of corporate image, satisfaction, and commitment on customer loyalty in the travel industry. A corporate image–commitment–loyalty model was developed and tested. Partial least squares (PLS) was used to test the direct and indirect linkages between the four variables, and an alternative model was proposed. The tourism and travel industry is highly price sensitive and competitive with low levels of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is a valuable asset in highly competitive markets, and understanding factors affecting customer loyalty is important to travel agencies who are seeking ways to maintain a strong customer base. The results of a mail survey conducted in New Zealand indicate that corporate image has a positive significant influence on customer commitment and customer satisfaction. Affective commitment is the focal point in the relationship and contributed most in predicting customer loyalty. The influence of customer satisfaction, on the other hand, contributed a much smaller effect. The key implications for travel agencies are build strong emotional bonds with customers and improve corporate image through trust and service delivery.

Small but sophisticated

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) brand management knowledge. It explores the brand management practices of four entrepreneurially driven market innovators. The authors add theoretical and practical insight by distinguishing the brand management approaches of small- and medium-sized firms. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use purposive sampling to select 15 producers of high or medium value-add from the food and beverage industry. Data include secondary sources and two rounds of in-depth interviews, first, between the project leader and CEO/founder of each company and, second, between members of the project team and functional managers of the organisations. Data were coded, analysed and agreement reached between the co-authors. Findings – Four firms were characterised as having integrated brand orientation (Wong and Merrilees, 2005) and as using market innovation as an EM practise. All four use b...

Publishing success of marketing academics: antecedents and outcomes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between positive incentives (perceived organisational support) and negative incentives (publish or perish), on both academic publication productivity and marketing academics’ quality of life. While publish-or-perish pressure is a common technique to improve academics’ performance, its punishment orientation may be poorly suited to the uncertain, creative work that research entails and be harmful to academics’ life satisfaction and other well-being variables. In particular, it may interfere with family commitments, and harm the careers of academic women. While perceived organisational support may be effective in encouraging research outputs and be positive for well-being, it may be insufficient as a motivator in the increasingly competitive and pressured world of academia. These issues are important for individual academics, for schools wishing to attract good staff, and the wider marketing discipline wanting to ensure high productivity and...

Markets and market boundaries: a social practice approach

Purpose The paper contributes to the debate on a general theory of markets. The purpose of this paper is to develop a market practice model based on social practice theories, and explore new ways of describing market boundaries. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual analysis of contemporary marketing directions and market theorizations provides a basis for defining markets and market boundaries in terms of social practices and their performances by market actors. Findings Based on the market performances held in place by institutional practices that define, contextualize and stabilize a market, this paper defines market boundaries by nine specific categories of practices, described here as parameters. Research limitations/implications This is a conceptual paper. Future research using empirical evidence derived from situated investigations should endeavor to refine the model and practices that define market boundaries. Originality/value The paper provides a new conceptualization of markets and market boundaries from the social practice perspective, and advances contemporary market theorizing that puts services at the center of exchange. The paper offers managerial implications by describing alternative means for analyzing markets and developing corresponding competitive strategies. Furthermore, the conception of market boundaries as nine parameters provides insights beyond the geographic and price boundaries typically used to describe market limits and exchange processes when developing policy.