Julie Robson

Addressing the research needs of the insurance sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on HEIF4 funded research exploring the important areas of research currently being conducted by insurance research practitioners and to identify the key challenges they face when conducting this research.Design/methodology/approach – Empirical data was collected via ten in‐depth telephone interviews and two separate round table group discussions with research practitioners in the general insurance sector.Findings – Three key challenges were identified: over‐researching and respondent fatigue; the increasing use of incentives and the emergence of professional respondents; and the problem of ensuring research credibility. The findings reveal the need to update research practices, to take account of the changing context within which research is undertaken, discussing research methodologies and social issues as well as the evolving and ever changing nature of research.Research limitations/implications – The study focused on the general insurance sector. The cha...

Selective demarketing : when customers destroy value

Selective demarketing is a strategic option for a firm to manage customers who are or are likely to be a poor fit with its offering. Research has investigated related areas such as customer profitability and relationship dissolution but, as yet, studies have not offered a robust conceptualization of selective demarketing. Based on research into value co-destruction, this study argues that these customers effectively destroy value by misusing or misunderstanding how to integrate their operant resources with those of the firm. As firms exist within a wider service system, this failure to integrate resonates throughout the system. To demarket selectively, firms should develop and deploy higher order operant resources to disengage with or discourage these customers. This study develops a conceptualization of selective demarketing through adopting a firm and systems perspective derived from value destruction.

Understanding the strain of inter-personal relationships on employees

Purpose Using role theory, this paper aims to focus on business-to-business inter-personal relationships and the strain such relationships can have on the individual. How is this strain expressed, and what are the implications for the future of these relationships? Design/methodology/approach Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with experienced account managers. The relationship under scrutiny was the inter-personal relationship that exists between the account managers of UK insurance brokers and their business customers. Findings The study found account managers use a range of resources to support their inter-personal relationships. Where there was a mismatch in the perception of relationship closeness, this did result in role strain for the account managers. In particular, resentment was expressed over time being taken from their working day and their personal life and the impact this had on their work–life balance. Practical implications Identification and an understanding of role strain in inter-personal relationships enables firms to provide support, guidance and training to their employees on how best to manage such relationships. Identifying when and in what ways strain can occur enables firms to identify and take steps to avoid relationship disintegration. Originality/value This is one of a few papers to provide empirical evidence of the role strain in inter-personal relationship from an individual employee’s perspective. Identification of the personal resources used in inter-personal relationships may prove useful for other researchers working in this under-researched area. In addition, the in-depth interviews highlighted the often overlooked subtleties within relationships and issues that can trigger relationship strain.

Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust: A Comparative Study of Consumer Trust in Islamic Banks—A Structured Abstract

In Peter Pan, all the world is made of faith, trust and pixie dust. Words that could perhaps be equally applied to the world of financial service marketing, particularly Islamic banking where trust and compliance with the Islamic faith are considered to be important to consumers. But do customers trust Islamic banks to comply with the Shariah principles where money cannot be made from money? Trust is multilayered and dynamic, changing according to context. The aim of this study is to explore how and in what form trust, in this case in an Islamic bank’s compliance with Shariah law, occurs in two distinctly different contexts, namely England and Pakistan, and how this in turn influences banking behaviour. The results identify similarities and differences in cognitive, affective and behavioural trust between the two countries and suggest that not all consumers, and particularly those in non-Muslim countries, trust the promises Islamic banks make to them.

Working up a debt: students as vulnerable consumers

ABSTRACT Students are recognized as vulnerable consumers where financial matters are concerned, particularly with reference to indebtedness. This study examines student indebtedness in order to initiate wider debate about student vulnerability. We consider vulnerability as dynamic and temporal, linked to an event that renders the consumer susceptible to becoming vulnerable. Using data collected from a relatively small-scale survey of UK university students, the key findings are: reasons for debt are many and varied, typically linked to changes associated with study year; the placement year is a critical time for student debt in response to changes in circumstances and specifically lifestyle expectations; students are not accessing the best sources of advice to help them with financial decisions; and the findings suggest student insouciance towards debt with potential long-term consequences. This study extends existing knowledge of consumer vulnerability and calls for greater efforts to be made to raise awareness about student indebtedness.

The Interplay of Life Events, Religion, and Consumption in Islamic Banking

Since marketers first entered the financial services arena they have sought to explain consumer purchasing behavior. To this end, a wide range of approaches have been utilized over the years, with mixed results. Many have attempted to profile consumers through the use of sociodemographic, psychographic, and other means [see for example, Branca (2008)]. The results, however, often had limited use for practitioners wanting to know not only who will buy and why, but also more importantly, when. The family life cycle (FLC) model went some way to resolve this, but, family patterns have changed and attempts to modernize the FLC have not always improved predictive ability (Wagner and Hanna 1983). Life events, which can provide an indication of FLC and identify a point in time when an event triggers changes in behavior, appear to provide a potential solution, and indeed are widely used by financial services practitioners. However, the life event concept has also been challenged, in particular, whether it is the life event itself that triggers a change in behavior or whether it is changes associated with the life event (such as an increase/decrease in disposable income) that result in the changed behavior.

Academy of Marketing conference 2014 – marketing dimensions: people, places and spaces

Understanding the behaviour of people, be they consumers, managers, individuals, groups or businesses, is a challenge that all marketers face. A challenge made more complex as behaviour changes depending on the place and context in which people are located; and the physical, or virtual, space in which they are being examined. The 2014 Academy of Marketing (AM2014) conference, hosted by Bournemouth University, adopted this challenge as their conference theme. Marketing Dimensions: People, Places, Spaces asked how has marketing as an academic subject addressed the complexities of People, Places and Spaces and what guidance can we give to practitioners to help them address this core challenge? The papers selected for this special issue represent an integration of these three core themes in a range of different contexts. AM2014 received over 430 submissions across 25 different tracks. Reflecting the increasing international nature of this conference, papers were received from authors located in more than 40 different countries. Our thanks go to all the reviewers and track chairs without whose help the conference would not have been the success that it was. With so many papers submitted, competition for inclusion in this special issue was high. More than 50 papers were long listed, and after a rigorous review process, I am pleased to present the final 11 papers for this special conference issue of the Journal of Marketing Management. The first two papers address the People, Places and Spaces theme in the context of emotions. We begin with Hurmerinta and Sandberg’s paper on an extremely negative emotion (death) and the challenges of innovation adoption when consumers are in this difficult place in their lives. Drawing on the case of a glass headstone, they find that innovation needs to be gradual and barriers related to social norms, cultural traditions and individual differences in experiencing and expressing emotions need to be addressed for consumer adoption to take place. The second paper examines emotions in a virtual space context. Antonetti, Baines and Walker’s conceptual paper examines the negative emotional appeals that are used frequently in social marketing. Their focus is on the use of guilt and fear appeals and how these can change consumption behaviour over time. The authors develop a conceptual framework integrating how emotions are communicated with how they are experienced during decision-making. Our next set of papers examines our theme using the construct of trust, fairness and self-enhancement. Susila, Dean and Harness’s paper investigates trust in a political context in Indonesia. Using an intergenerational perspective, the differences between parents who are familiar with the previous political system and their children who have only been exposed to a new democratic system are identified. This paper identifies how trust influences electoral behaviour. Our Journal of Marketing Management, 2015