Maria Ek Styvén

Sensing the scent of service success

Purpose – The intangible character of services makes it difficult for customers to evaluate a service offering before consumption. Scent offers a powerful means of making services tangible. Therefore, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of how scents can be used for services marketing purposes.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an overview of studies, mainly from the area of retailing, indicating how scents can be used in services, and this is followed by a number of examples of such applications.Findings – The paper finds that, although there are examples of service providers utilising scents to tangibilise, enhance and differentiate services, this area has been relatively neglected in marketing literature.Practical implications – By adding the component of scent to their offerings, service providers have the opportunity to create a competitive advantage. When using scents in services marketing, managers should consider the aspects of presence, pleasantness, congruity and mem...

Abstract: Managing Retail in an Omnichannel Environment—Consumer Behavior, Trends, and Challenges

Retailers are facing major changes, including intensified competition, increased internationalization, and technological advances, which are transforming the competitive landscape at a fast pace. Simultaneously we see an emerging paradigm shift in consumers’ buying behavior. Digital devices such as smartphones and tablets allow consumers to search and shop online, irrespective of time and place and without geographical boundaries. While these devices originally were used mainly for information search, mobile purchases are becoming a natural part of many consumers’ shopping habits.

Benefits and barriers for the use of digital channels among small tourism companies

ABSTRACT This study aims to identify and explain perceived benefits and barriers for the use of digital channels by tourism companies in Swedish Lapland. Data were collected through exploratory interviews and an online survey to tourism companies in the region, most of which are small firms. Through factor analysis, we identified four barriers (Financial risk, Time constraints, External environment, and Lack of IT expertise and strategy) and three benefits (Internal efficiency, Marketing and competition, and Financial benefit) connected to the use of digital channels for customer communication. Results suggest that having staff with work time specifically reserved for working with digital channels, rather than trying to manage this alongside other tasks, increases the perceived benefits and decreases barriers related to Information and Communication (ICT) use. Moreover, analysis shows that the most important factors explaining tourism firms’ intentions to use digital channels are the perceived benefits connected to marketing and competition, as well as the perceived financial risk, which works as a barrier. Contrary to expectations, time constraints had a significant positive correlation with the intention to use digital channels. This implies that tourism firms in Swedish Lapland increasingly recognize the necessity of investing time in online communications in order to attract more visitors.

Who am I if you can’t see me? The “self” of young travellers as driver of eWOM in social media

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse factors influencing the propensity to share travel experiences in social media during a trip, across a sample of Millennial and Generation Z consumers in three different countries. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was sent to consumers between 16 and 30 years in Sweden, UK and India. Structural equation modelling and multigroup analysis was conducted to compare results between countries and generations. Findings Young travellers’ need for uniqueness (NFU) and opinion leadership (OL) with regard to travel tends to increase their propensity to share travel experiences in social media during a trip. Reflected appraisal of self is strongly related to NFU and OL and may therefore indirectly influence the propensity to share. Some differences were found between generations and countries. Research limitations/implications Future research could consider comparisons between travellers from younger and older generations. The hypotheses formulated in this study could be tested in other countries. Further adaptions or extensions of existing NFU scales to fit in the travel and tourism context are suggested. Practical implications Millennial and Gen Z consumers will constitute an increasing part of travellers and visitors in the future. Through a better understanding of their behaviour, tourism managers can design strategies to engage them and increase electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Originality/value This study contributes by addressing the lack of research on “self”-related drivers of eWOM in general social media during the trip, and by providing an international perspective through cross-cultural comparisons.

Abstract: Travel Talk, eWOM Across Multiple Cultures

Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is considered the most important, informal means of communication between consumers (Derbaix and Vanhamme 2003). An increasingly important extension of the traditional face-to-face WOM used by consumers is the electronic word of mouth (eWOM), especially with regard to how eWOM is used within today’s online social media outlets (Weisfeld-Spolter et al. 2014). Within the travel and tourism industry, eWOM has become vitally important, as consumers tend to trust information from consumer-generated (social) media more than information from service providers (Ip et al. 2012). This is particularly true for the younger generation of Internet users—the “e-generation,” who are “digital natives” and who have used digital technologies since they were kids. The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding on how today’s e-generation is using eWOM as tourists/travelers, from a multicultural perspective. In order to reach this aim, the following research questions are stated: (RQ1) How are e-generation consumers using eWOM when planning a trip?; (RQ2) How are e-generation consumers using eWOM during and after a trip?

Impulse buying tendencies among online shoppers in Sweden

The purpose of this study is to characterize consumers with high impulse buying tendency (IBT) by comparing them with low-IBT consumers in an online shopping context.,Data were collected through a postal survey to a random sample of Swedish citizens, resulting in 144 responses, which were analysed statistically..,Results indicate that high-IBT consumers, compared to those with low IBT, are on average younger, more likely to be female and more frequent online shoppers with higher levels of trust in the internet. However, they seem more likely than low-IBT consumers to abandon their online shopping carts before completing the purchase, often because of need uncertainty.,The findings can give retailers a better understanding of consumers with high IBT and thereby increase the possibility to target and communicate with them more effectively. This is an interesting opportunity as both multi-channel shopping and impulse buying behaviour is likely to become even more common in the future.,The study contributes to the understanding of impulsive consumers, as it addresses the role of situational and socio-demographic attributes of high-IBT consumers compared to low-IBT consumers. The differences in online purchases, intentions to buy fashion online, shopping cart abandonment and trust in the internet suggest that even if IBT is a relatively stable and general personal trait, the tendencies to act on buying impulses may be more context-specific.

There’s a Silver Lining: Information Quality, Trust, and Positive Meaning After a Crisis

Communication and public relations play a pivotal role in crisis management (Tirkkonen and Luoma‐aho 2011). Due to the high levels of uncertainty created during a crisis, stakeholders have a strong need for fast and accurate information (Seeger and Griffin Padgett 2010). For public sector organizations, crisis communication is perhaps even more challenging and complex, given that government agencies have democratic obligations to serve and communicate with all citizens (McCoy 2014). A main goal of crisis communication is to restore reputation and regain customers’ trust (Utz et al. 2013). It seems likely that individuals have different perceptions of the information quality of crisis communication, which in turn may influence their trust in government. We also suggest that the level of perceived information quality is related to the extent to which people find positive meaning in a crisis (Fredrickson et al. 2003), and to their level of crisis involvement (Claeys and Cauberghe 2014). In this chapter, we identify segments of citizens based on their perceptions of the information quality of local governments’ crisis communication, and assess whether there are differences between these segments in terms of their post‐crisis trust in government, perceptions of positive meaning, and crisis involvement.

From Crisis to Control - All About Communication?

The supply of drinking water is a crucial and vulnerable element of the Swedish infrastructure. In the past few years it has suffered several crises due to contamination and waterborne diseases. Therefore, management of water crisis has become a highly topical issue for the countrys municipalities, particularly after two recent outbreaks of cryptosporidium. This protozoan parasite is often spread through contaminated water and causes a parasitic disease that affects the intestines and typically causes an acute short-term infection. The largest known outbreak of cryptosporidium in drinking water occurred in 1993 in Milwaukee, US, where more than 400 000 people were infected. In Sweden, two large outbreaks have occurred during the past few years. The drinking water in Ostersund, a mid-sized city with around 59 000 inhabitants, was infected with cryptosporidium in November 2010. The number of people infected reached approximately 27 000, and the outbreak lasted for 12 weeks. Just a few months afterwards, Skelleftea, with 71 000 inhabitants, had a similar experience. At least 20 000 people were infected in an outbreak lasting 20 weeks. This type of crisis affects many people for a long time, and effective communication, therefore, is essential to limit the impact of the crisis.

You know you've got to, express yourself : A comparative study of self-expression through brand, women in six Asian nations

Consumers express themselves in a multitude of ways; one expression mechanism is brand consumption. Self-expression can be an important driver of consumer preference and choice. Despite the importance of self-expression, additional research is needed as to how brands are used as a means of self-expression. Previous studies indicate that the importance of brands for self-expression can differ across cultures. This study explores how female consumers in six Asian nations differ in the extent to which they express themselves through the use of their favorite brands.