Mona Mrad

An adapted TPB approach to consumers’ acceptance of service-delivery drones

ABSTRACT Organisations and marketers have long debated the consumer–brand relationship. Theorising related to this debate led to self-service technologies, which were implemented to both reduce costs and increase productivity by turning customers into co-producers of services or merely to keep up with technological developments. With the emergence of disruptive technologies, it is imperative to discuss the potential shift from a customer co-created value to a customer–technology relationship that could disrupt the value-based relationship model. In line with advancements in service-delivery drones, and based on the theory of planned behaviour framework, this paper pioneers the discussion on consumers’ intention to accept their use based on their related perceived risks, potential functional benefits, and relational attributes, leading to a new type of relationship with the brand – namely, the customer–drone relationship. This discussion opens a new direction for retailers and academics alike to reflect on during the coming years.

Brand addiction: conceptualization and scale development

Purpose This paper aims to develop a definition of brand addiction and a valid brand addiction scale (BASCALE). Design/methodology/approach The authors used focus-group results to define brand addiction and generate items for the BASCALE and validated the BASCALE with survey data collected in the UK. Findings Based on the 11 brand-addiction features found from the focus groups, the authors define brand addition as an individual consumer’s psychological state that pertains to a self-brand relationship manifested in daily life and involving positive affectivity and gratification with a particular brand and constant urges for possessing the brand’s products/services. Based on the survey study, the authors have established a valid ten-item BASCALE. Research limitations/implications Due to the survey’s setting in the fashion context in the UK, the authors do not intend to generalize the results to other product types and countries. Future research should replicate the BASCALE in different product categories and different countries. Practical implications The BASCALE can serve marketers in the behavioral segmentation and assist brand managers to identify brand addict consumers and maintain long-term relationships with them. Originality/value The authors have developed a definition of brand addiction and a valid BASCALE, which one can use for a wide range of theoretical and empirical research in the marketing and psychology fields. The definition and BASCALE also serve to differentiate brand addiction from other consumer–brand relationships and addiction constructs (e.g. compulsive buying, brand love and brand trust).

Brand addiction conceptual development

Purpose Although emerging literature has discussed different consumer–brand relationships and addictive behavior constructs, to date, it has not explored the brand addiction phenomenon. This study aims to undertake a conceptual inspection to better understand the nature of the brand addiction phenomenon, thereby providing a clear and concise conceptual definition. Design/methodology/approach To develop a concise definition of brand addiction, the researcher applies a conceptual development procedure, which identifies potential attributes of brand addiction by assembling a descriptive set of definitions, collecting the construct’s key attributes, generating a preliminary definition of brand addiction, identifying unique and shared attributes of brand addiction with other constructs in related areas and, finally, refining the conceptual definition based on a set of guidelines. Findings This study defines brand addiction as a psychological state that entails an emotional attachment to a particular brand, driven by compulsive urges that generally provide pleasure. This involves dependence, habit formation, loss of control, failure to withstand impulses and tension before starting the behavior related to the addicted brand. In addition, some of the following attributes might also characterize brand addiction: social, mental and behavioral preoccupation with the brand, tolerance development, frequent engagement in activities related to the brand, restlessness or irritability when unable to engage in activities/behaviors related to the addicting brand, repeated efforts to stop the behavior and dismissal of occupational, social and recreational activities to engage in activities related to the addicting brand. Originality/value Since the concept of brand addiction has not been empirically tested, this paper has the potential to append a compulsory conceptual understanding of the concept of brand addiction by developing an accurate definition that serves in discriminating the focal concept from other constructs in related areas, and helps advance subsequent work for theory development.

Sporty, Posh or… What Type of Wearable Fits You? A Conceptual Framework for Consumer’s Adoption of Wearable Devices: An Abstract

Wearables are small computing devices that can be attached to different parts of the human body and offer varied functionality such as activity tracking, mobile phone connectivity, and medical monitoring (Jung et al., 2016). Among the most popular types of wearables are smartwatches, activity trackers, and health monitors. Demand for wearables is estimated to grow, with sales over

Brand Addiction: A New Concept for Understanding Consumer Brand Behavior

50 billion predicted by 2019 (Choi & Kim, 2016).

The roles of brand addiction in achieving appearance esteem and life happiness in fashion consumption: an abstract

This research introduces the concept of “brand addiction” as a new marketing construct. Employing conceptual development, the concept of brand addiction is defined as a psychological state that entails an obsessive relationship between the consumer and a specific brand. To examine the phenomenon of brand addiction, the present research was designed based on partial sequential mixed methods in which a qualitative study was followed by two quantitative studies, a pretest and a main survey. Arguing that research on brand addiction should be built based on an understanding of how consumers experience this phenomenon in reality, the research incorporated a series of four qualitative focus group studies to uncover the possible core features of the brand addiction prototype using discursive psychological perspective.

Brand Addiction Scale

Consumers’ fashion consumption is strongly influenced by their relationship with fashion brands. Early theories conceptualize consumer relationships with brands from non-intense emotions to moderate emotions, friendly emotions, and passionate love to culmination of an addictive obsession (Fehr and Russel 1991). In an early conceptual study of addictive buying, Scherhorn (1990) differentiates compulsive buying from addictive buying in that in the former one feels pressed to do and repeat something even against one’s will, while the latter is driven by an irresistible urge which one experiences as one’s own want or need. Despite ubiquitous studies of compulsive buying and brand-passion-related constructs such as brand love, little has been advanced in conceptualizing and emipirically examining consumer addiction to brands. To shed new lights on the roles of brand addiction in consumers’ experience in appearance esteem and life happiness in fashion consumption, this study focuses on consumer self-image congruence and socially prescribed perfectionism as antecedents to brand love and brand addiction, how brand love leads to brand addiction and how brand addiction leads to positive effects on consumers’ attention to weight, body, and physical attractiveness (appearance esteem) and life happiness in general through fashion consumption.