Wenyu Dou

Social Factors in User Perceptions and Responses to Advertising in Online Social Networking Communities

ABSTRACT With the advent of popular Web destinations such as MySpace and Facebook, online social networking communities now occupy the center stage of e-commerce. Yet these online social networking communities must balance the trade-off between advertising revenue and user experience. Drawing on the sociology and advertising literature, this study investigates the impacts of social identity and group norms on community users’ group intentions to accept advertising in online social networking communities. By outlining how this type of group intention could influence community members’ perceptions and value judgments of such advertising, this study delineates possible mechanisms by which community members may respond positively to community advertising. The authors test the proposed theoretical framework on a sample of 327 popular online community users in China and obtain general support. Implications for the prospect of advertising in online social networking communities are discussed.

Using brand websites to build brands online: A product versus service brand comparison

ABSTRACT This study analyzes important content, function, and design elements of brand sites along six dimensions: text information, multimedia information, interface design, loyalist support, promotion synergy, and interactivity. A total of 219 brand websites for a product category (i.e., drinks and candies) and a service category (i.e., accounting firms) are examined. Results indicate that accounting firms treat their brand sites as corporate-image building vehicles and virtual information sources while drinks and candies firms use entertaining design elements to build customer relationships through greater interaction. Companies may be underutilizing elements related to interactivity, cultivating loyal customers, and supporting cross-channel promotions.

A structural analysis of business-to-business digital markets

Abstract Digital markets allow sellers and buyers to conduct transactions electronically and are becoming major driving forces in business-to-business e-commerce. This article explores the theoretical and managerial foundations of digital markets. This study first investigates the structure and components of digital markets. A comprehensive sample of 196 digital markets is then examined to uncover the structural dimensions and success factors of digital markets. The findings of this study provide important managerial insights into various issues that are pertinent to the functioning of digital markets, such as how the nature of founding companies may affect the dominant function chosen for a digital market and what factors may affect the market-making mechanisms used by the digital markets.

How Smart Are ‘Smart Banners’?

ABSTRACT Smart banners, or keyword–activated banners that are tied to internet user search keywords, are becoming increasingly popular with major search engines and their advertisers. Understanding how smart banners work best is a challenge facing the online advertising industry. This paper examines how specificity in the meaning of search keywords may affect the accuracy of banner matches. Through analysis of banner matches obtained from 12 major search engines, the authors found that as search keywords became more specific, search engines returned fewer exact banner matches and more general banner matches. Implications of these findings for search engines and their advertisers are discussed.

The Effect of Agency Creativity on Campaign Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Market Conditions

This study examines the effect of agency creativity on campaign outcomes as moderated by different levels of market dynamism and competitive intensity. Using data from matched interviews of advertisers and agency creative teams in China, the study reveals complicated relationships among agency creativity, market conditions, and campaign outcomes. The impact of agency creativity on campaign outcomes is positive but the impact of excessive creativity is negative, and agency creativity is more powerful in high rather than low competitive intensity and in low rather than high market dynamism. Theoretical and managerial implications as well as directions for future advertising creativity research are derived from findings of the study.

The Interactive Effects of Sales Force Controls on Salespeople Behaviors and Customer Outcomes

Although studies have examined the antecedents and consequences of sales force control (SFC) systems, little research investigates how different SFC elements interact or work together to affect salespeople behaviors and customer outcomes. Drawing on a diverse literature, this study hypothesizes interactive influence of three formal control elements (i.e., output, activity, and capability) on two customer-directed sales behaviors (i.e., problem solving and opportunism), which subsequently affect customer relationship outcomes. Using data collected from matched business-to-business buyer–seller dyads in China, the authors find that output and activity controls reduce both problem solving and opportunism when used together. Output and capability controls synergistically enhance problem solving and reduce opportunism, whereas activity and capability controls interact to reduce problem solving and increase opportunism. In addition, sales behaviors have significant effects on customer relationship satisfaction, which in turn affects customer share of wallet.

Advertiser Risk Taking, Campaign Originality, and Campaign Performance

Originality is an important characteristic of effective advertising, but what contributes to advertising originality is far from clear. This research examines the effect of the advertisers creative risk-taking propensity on campaign originality. We draw on agency theory and the creativity literature to develop two behavioral strategies that risk-taking advertiser can employ (i.e., creative qualification and trust in agency) to enhance advertising originality. We find the advertisers risk taking increases its creative qualification effort and its trust in the chosen agency, and it is through qualification and trust that advertiser risk taking contributes to campaign originality and performance.

Consumer patronage of ethnic portals

The emergence and diffusion of the Internet has prompted a surge in web portal sites that are designed to meet the specific needs of ethnic Internet users who are not native English speakers. These ethnic portal sites may be set up by global portal giants (e.g. Yahoo!) or by local entrepreneurs (e.g. netease.com in China). Often, because of the different origins of these sites, they tend to have different operating philosophies and varying appeals to ethnic Internet users. In this study, we first analyze the differences and similarities among different types of ethnic portals. We then propose a conceptual model concerning the factors that affect the patronage of ethnic portals by ethnic Internet users. An empirical study was designed to test the conceptual model with data collected from Mainland Chinese Internet users. Finally, implications of the study results for ethnic portals are presented.

Exploring the effectiveness of consumer creativity in online marketing communications

Purpose – This research aims to investigate effect of consumer creativity on their evaluations of brands. Consumers’ creative participation is often used by online retailers as a promotional tool nowadays. The authors propose that consumer creativity exerts a positive impact on brand attitudes by affecting their attitudes toward the creative activity itself. Furthermore, consumer creativity moderates the effect of consumers’ perceived level of fit on their acceptance of brand extensions, such that creative consumers will show a higher level of acceptance of distant brand extensions. Design/methodology/approach – The authors test their hypotheses in three laboratory experiments. Study 1 examines the effect of consumer creativity on brand evaluations. Study 2 explores the moderating effect of consumer creativity on perceived level of fit on acceptance of brand extensions. Study 3 replicates the authors findings in Studies 1 and 2 using a better representative sample and a different type of creative task. Fi...

The Internet of Things and interaction style: the effect of smart interaction on brand attachment

ABSTRACT With the rising popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT), increasingly more customers are enjoying personalised, autonomous, and optimised services provided by smart and connected objects. Drawing on the stereotype content model and brand attachment literature, we examine the effect of interaction style (e.g. friend-like and engineer-like communication) on consumers’ brand perception using two laboratory experiments. The results indicate that a friend-like interaction style (1) produces more positive brand warmth than the engineer-like style, (2) enhances brand competence as much as the engineer-like style does, and (3) has a positive effect on users’ brand attachment, which (4) is mediated by brand warmth and brand competence. Furthermore, (5) the style of smart interaction and brand positioning have interaction effects on brand warmth, brand competence, and ultimately brand attachment.