Kirk Plangger

Mobility at work

Innovations in mobile technology shape how mobile workers share knowledge and collaborate on the go. We introduce mobile communities of practice (MCOPs) as a lens for understanding how these workers self-organize, and present three MCOP case studies. Working from contextual ambidexterity, we develop a typology of bureaucratic, anarchic, idiosyncratic and adhocratic MCOPs. We discuss how variations in the degree of organizational alignment and individual discretion shape the extent to which these types explore and exploit mobile work practices and approach organizational ambidexterity. This article concludes with important strategic implications for managing mobile work and practical considerations for identifying, creating, and supporting MCOPs.

Instant Innovation: From Zero to Full Speed in Fifteen Years

ABSTRACT This paper considers the contributions of the Journal of Advertising Research to online research. The authors first identify those articles that contributed to the cumulative knowledge in this domain. A scoping review of the 1,930 papers published in the Journal yielded 126 papers that dealt with online research. Of these, 14 explicitly addressed issues with (and advantages of) online research. The authors summarize their findings, concluding that the Journals foresight in this field has positioned it well for understanding and exploiting the Internet. The authors further posit that the cumulative tradition built will be pivotal in the fields evolution.

iMedical: Integrating Smartphones into medical practice design

Smartphones particularly the iPhone and the multitude of applications that have been developed for users of the device is briefly described. The study investigates what makes Smartphones different from other more common Internet applications (via personal computer), and how these enhance the interactions the practice has with its patients while also increasing efficiency. U-Commerce is suggested as a theoretical framework that best explains the uniqueness of the iPhone. This article considers Smartphones (most notably the iPhone) as a device that can have a valuable impact on the medical practice, particularly from the perspective of the interaction that the practice has with its patients. Practice implications: A process is outlined for identifying apps within the medical practice, ensuring the applications take advantage of the iPhones unique features, and contribute to the efficiency of the practice.

Experiences with Gamification: The MDE Framework

There has been much interest by academics and practitioners in the concept of gamification: the use of game design principles to change people’s behavior in non-game situations. However, there is also much confusion as to what gamification is and is not, and how it can be used by organizations to deliver benefits. In this article we present a framework for understanding how to apply gamification to better engage with and change the behaviors of two key types of people: employees and customers. The framework is based on three interrelated gamification principles, namely mechanics, dynamics, and emotions, which we explain and illustrate using four examples of engagement. To this end, we conclude by presenting five important lessons that serve as heuristics for managers who wish to utilize gamification for engaging employees and customers.

Task Master or Task Novice: An Abstract on a Strategic Decision-Making Experiment

Experienced managers have long been trusted to make important decisions over less experienced staff, yet not all decisions are the same. Some decisions (decomposable tasks, e.g., mathematical problems) can be broken down into smaller parts, but others (non-decomposable, e.g., the quality of artwork) are more difficult to break down into their constituent parts. The literature remains divided over the superiority of expertise in relation to such tasks, especially when individuals are encouraged to use different analytic methods (intuitive, critical, or introspective). This study throws further light on decision-making by conducting an experiment using two samples: (1) senior advertising and marketing managers (experts) and (2) a cross section of consumers (novices). These two samples were set two strategic advertising tasks: print advertisement quality evaluation and advertising channel selection, both common tasks in marketing communications practice. Respondents performed these tasks under experimental conditions manipulating the analysis method. The findings suggest managers have significant advantage when it comes to decomposable tasks, yet they have no advantage over novices with non-decomposable tasks. Also, those afforded an introspective analysis performed poorer in non-decomposable tasks, but this effect disappears with decomposable tasks. We close with some implications for future research.

Queer Citizenship Branding: Brand Opportunities and Risks of Social Movements (An Extended Abstract)

In the last decade, the marketplace has become increasingly crowded escalating the competition between brands, and the pressure on brands to adhere to and exceed consumers’ expectations has never been higher. As some consumers actively use consumption strategies to further particular social issues or political causes, brands have become pressured to engage in brand citizenship—the notion that brands should and must act responsible citizens in society in all social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental regards (Willmott 2003). This research looks at the case of the queer social movement and, specifically, the queer consumer to explore how brands can play an active part in social movements. Initial findings point to valuable opportunities for brands that arise from increases in loyalty and also the potential consequences if brands fail to recognize and incorporate prevalent social issues.

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Privacy Services

To alleviate consumer privacy concerns, governments have introduced privacy regulations to manage excessive consumer privacy intrusion by organizations (Solove 2008; Bennett 2008). Yet research shows that these regulations are not sufficient in reducing consumer privacy fears as privacy concerns vary in magnitude from consumer to consumer (Mattison Thompson 2007) and the law can only protect against privacy intrusion on a uniform level. Despite the extensive body of research investigating the variance in consumer privacy concerns within the context of legislative boundaries (e.g., Milne et al. 2004; Milne et al. 2006; Shilton 2009; King and Raja 2012; King and Jessen 2010), little has been done to understand whether consumers would be willing to pay for additional privacy services offered by organizations to protect their privacy above and beyond the protection the law provides. Since consumers vary in their privacy needs, one solution that firms could adopt to reduce their customers’ privacy concern is to offer privacy as an individualized, personalized service or “Privacy Services” that cater to the higher privacy needs of some customers. Privacy services involve a customer paying an additional fee to receive privacy protection above what is offered to other customers, thus potentially mitigating the customers’ privacy concern for transactions they have with that firm.

Nugget Notes: A Simple Teaching Tool

Post-secondary instructors have many demands on their time, however student learning in their classes is one of their most important responsibly. We introduce Nugget Notes, a new teaching tool, that recognizes the time and effort demands felt by professors, busy markers, and of course overwhelmed students. With Nugget Notes being only 100 words, students are compelled to engage with course material, synthesize pertinent information, and apply that knowledge to a real life situation or problem. Student and instructor exploratory surveys support the primary learning goals of Nugget Notes.

The Customer Fishbowl: Strategic Approaches to Customer Privacy

Customers are living in a fish bowl, where they are open to regular personal information surveillance by firms that threatens their privacy. This customer surveillance includes the collection, usage, and storage of customers’ personal information, such as for example personal identification details, consumption habits, and financial data. Due to advances in digital technology (e.g., optical scanners, location-tracking devices, computerized databases, web crawlers), one or more firms are often tracking the consumption decisions and behaviour of customers. Firms face a struggle to maintain the delicate balance between customer personal information surveillance and protecting the customer-firm relationship. In the short term, a firm is compelled to seek personal information from its customers in order to construct more attractive market offerings that enable a competitive edge against competitors. However in the long-term the implications of a surveillance activity by a firm may bring a negative reputation among customers and thus may decrease the attractiveness of that firm’s goods. Therefore firms need to manage their customer surveillance activity in a way that protects customer privacy. This article seeks understanding of how firms view customer privacy and how it is currently managed using in-depth interviews with 25 key managers in a large financial services firm. In doing so, it proposes a typology of customer privacy strategies and offers implications for practice and further academic study.

Willingness to Participate: Understanding Consumer Participation Online

Companies strive, through branding and other efforts, to push their message out and create a high willingness to pay (WTP) where consumers feel there are few or no substitutes for what these companies are selling. Social Media, however, are making push-based marketing anachronistic. Users of social media typically eschew professional communications pushed at them by faceless, impersonal organizations in favor of more personal conversations. They seek greater engagement with their preferred brands, and involvement, with or without the company’s approval, in creating brand personalities. Their affinity for these preferred brands might well auger the dawn of a new WTP – willingness to participate. This paper presents a model of consumer engagement through social media and argues for re-conceptualizing WTP by using a series of examples showing how companies that engage consumers through social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube stand to reap the benefits of long-term competitive advantages.