Riccardo Rialti

Ethical consumption and consumers’ decision making: the role of moral intuition

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the understudied antecedents of moral reasoning and cognitive processes that ultimately shape the ethical consumption. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the socio-intuitionist model are integrated. Holistic, inferential, and affective dimensions of intuition are identified as critical antecedents of environmental concerns that then influence the ethical consumption. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling is used to analyze intuitive judgments and ethical concerns in 256 US undergraduates. The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) is used to measure ethical concerns and the ecologically conscious consumer behavior (ECCB) instrument is used to measure ethical consumption. Findings The results indicate that inferential intuition, but not affective intuition, significantly predicts the ethical concerns (NEP), which in turn significantly influence all five dimensions of ethical consumption behavior (ECCB). Practical implications Managers and marketing strategists should focus on non-rational influences such as moral intuition to effectively promote ethical and responsible consumption. Originality/value The TPB and the intuitionist theory are integrated to reveal empirically how intuitive judgments may affect consumer attitudes and to provide new insights regarding the ethical consumption.

Turnaround management and systemic approach: a historical review of the Florentine management school contribution

Despite the attention given by the international literature to the Italian accounting scholars, management related topics have been scarcely considered. After a short excursus on the evolution of the Italian management discipline, the systemic approach of the Florentine School of Thought is discussed. This little studied stream of research is at the same time quite innovative, especially historically speaking, and has contributed to the diffusion of a systemic approach to management or a viable system theory in Italy. Particularly interesting is to see how the evolution of the school has paid attention to turnaround strategies, blending management and accounting perspectives from a coherent view.

Community Based Social Media Fashion Branding: Do Fashion Brands Heritage and Prestige Affect Consumers’ Brand Loyalty Intention?

This research explores whether fashion brands heritage and prestige perceived by consumers affect their brand loyalty intention. Specifically, the research aims at investigating if heritage and prestige matter in branding strategist based on engaging consumers in social media brand communities. Social media brand communities initiated by fashion brands represent the setting of this research. In fact, it has been assessed that members of brand communities usually are more informed on brands products and value than the average consumer. In order to achieve the aim of the research, a moderated structural equation modeling analysis has been developed and tested. Results show that, on the one hand, heritage has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between consumers’ engagement in online communities and brand loyalty intention; and, on the other hand, prestige showed a positive moderating effect on such a relationship. Managerial implications and suggestions for future researches are discussed.

Social media brand communities and brand value co-creation: Evidences from Italy

This paper aims to demonstrate how consumers’ identification and engagement in social media brand communities are antecedents of brand loyalty intention and electronicword of mouth (E-WOM). Because E-WOM may be considered as a proxy to measure consumers’ propensity to participate in brand value co-creation, the present study assessed which factors influence value co-creation in social media brand communities. A survey was administered online to members of Italian Nike+ runners’ communities. A multiple mediation analysis based on the use of SPSS PROCESS Macro has been selected as that consumers’ identification in social media brand community influences main methodology of this research. The results showed that consumers’ identification in the community influences consumers’ engagement which, in turn, influences brand loyalty intention. Moreover, this relation is moderated by consumers’ trust.

Bricolage and Social Entrepreneurship to Address Emergent Social Needs: A “Deconstructionist” Perspective

Social entrepreneurship is one of the most discussed issues in recent management literature. In partcular, social entrepreneurship has recently gained the atenton of management scholars interested in understanding its sociological and anthropological aspects. This paper focuses on Claude Levi-Strauss’s noton of “bricolage” and the way it can represent a signifcant opportunity to address emergent social needs. Building on a postmodernist philosophical perspectve, namely Jacques Derrida’s “deconstructonism,” we atempt to unpack the bricolage phenomenon within the social entrepreneurship feld. Following the fndings of an in-depth longitudinal case study, we provide a theoretcal conceptualizaton of possible entrepreneurial solutons to social needs, exploring the signifcant role of bricolage that is consequently interpreted as a suitable entrepreneurial opportunity to address partcular types of social needs that we shall defne, in a way, as emergent.

Exploring the link between consumers’ engagement and e-word of mouth in social media brand communities: a path analysis

Recently, marketing researchers have started to explore the impact of Social Media Brand Communities in digital marketing strategies. However, in spite of this interest, scant attention has been paid to the micro-mechanisms stimulating electronic word of mouth (E-WOM) within social media brand community. In this sense, this exploratory research aims to explore how consumers‟ engagement is related with positive E-WOM.

CUSTOMERS’ PERCEPTION OF HERITAGE AND AUTHENTICITY IN LUXURY FASHION BRAND: A STRUCTURAL PATH DIAGRAM

One of the most significant challenges of modern strategic marketers refers to the ability of expressing the authentic value of fashion brand. This is particularly important for luxury goods, which are able to effectively impact on customers’ social attitude and behavior. Hence, pertinent literature is progressively focusing on the role of authenticity as a strategic element for marketing theory. Specifically, three elements have been associated with brand’s authenticity, namely quality commitment, heritage, and sincerity. In the present research we apply a validated empirical instrument concerning brand authenticity and its aforementioned three elements. Precisely, we will present and discuss the results of a survey implemented in the Tuscany region (Italy), thus aiming at investigating possible differences and/or similarities characterizing Tuscan customers’ perception of luxury brand authenticity. A structural equation model will be conceptualized and assessed in order to analyze the existing relationships between brand’s authenticity elements, namely quality commitment, heritage, and sincerity. The results confirm the hypothesized significance of these relationships among variables. Further, we will introduce the notion of mythopoiesis, which will be interpreted as a strategic vehicle able to appropriately communicate the traditional values, culture, and historical symbolic meanings of luxury fashion brand. Actually, marketing mythopoiesis results in being an effective element for translating a historical ‘stock’ of heritage into a strategic ‘flow’ of narrative capabilities by marketing managers.