Xiabing Zheng

Building brand loyalty through user engagement in online brand communities in social networking sites

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of user engagement in the context of online brand communities. A research model is proposed to explain how brand loyalty is developed through user engagement. Design/methodology/approach – The research model was empirically tested with an online survey study of 185 current Facebook users. Findings – Results revealed that user engagement influenced brand loyalty both directly and indirectly through online community commitment. Users tend to focus on the benefits (rather than the costs) derived from the usage when they engage in an online brand community. Research limitations/implications – The selection of respondents is bound to the Hong Kong area, while Facebook members are globally distributed. In addition, this study involved a cross-sectional design instead of investigating the development of brand loyalty from a long-term perspective. Practical implications – The results inform e-marketers the importance of user engagement behaviors for bu...

Online Coopetition between Hotels and Online Travel Agencies: From the Perspective of Cash Back after Stay

In the online marketplace, many hotels are concentrating on increasing their market share by establishing cooperation with online travel agencies (OTAs). Meanwhile，hotel websites and OTAs are marketing the hotel rooms at the same price as a result of the strong competition for the same pool of customers. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the cooperation and competition between hotels and OTAs. This study investigates the online coopetition (cooperation and competition) through an economical game analysis of an online supply chain consisting of a hotel and an OTA. It first provides an optimal solution to determine the unit commission fee of the hotel to maintain the cooperation. Afterwards, it studies the pricing process of the OTA to determine the cash back value for the customers with respect to the OTA’s maximal profit. Moreover, the deeper analysis of the cooperative model demonstrates that a quantity discount contract based on the revenue sharing could eliminate the competition and coordinate the participants in the online supply chain.

Examining e-loyalty towards online shopping platforms: The role of coupon proneness and value consciousness

Existing research has long considered e-loyalty as a key to the success of online shopping. The purpose of this paper is to advance the theoretical understanding of e-loyalty by exploring the roles of coupon proneness and value consciousness in the context of online shopping platforms.,The authors empirically tested the research model using a sample of 537 users of an online shopping platform in a longitudinal setting.,The results provided support to all the hypotheses in the research model; particularly, the authors found that coupon proneness and value consciousness play important roles in explaining e-loyalty. They both exhibited significant moderating effects on the relationship between loyalty intentions and repurchase behaviors. The impact of trust on loyalty intentions was also examined.,The authors believe that this study will shed light for practitioners and enable researchers to deepen their understanding of e-loyalty in online shopping platforms.,The research better explains the gap between two important price-tactics-related variables (including coupon proneness and value consciousness); and further examines their roles in determining customers’ repurchase behaviors in the context of online shopping, which is not well examined in previous studies.

Excessive use of mobile social networking sites

While pervasive technologies, such as mobile social networking sites (SNS), can contribute to increased enjoyment and convenience, their pervasive nature can also result in excessive use and consequently may arise several negative outcomes. We applied cognitive behavioral model and social cognitive theory to explain the negative consequences related to family, personal and professional life of excessive use of mobile SNS. The research model was empirically tested with 490 mobile SNS users. Our findings significantly contribute to the domain of dark side of information technology by theoretically and empirically investigating the negative outcomes of excessive use, and further examining their inter-relationships. We examined the negative outcomes of excessive use of mobile social networking sites.Three types of conflicts (viz. technology-family, technology-personal, and technology-work) were examined.Excessive use enhanced cognitive preoccupation.Excessive use and cognitive preoccupation were associated with the three types of conflicts.The relationships and the roles of these three conflicts on technostress were also examined.

Customer Loyalty to C2C Online Shopping Platforms: An Exploration of the Role of Customer Engagement

With the keen competition in C2C e-marketplaces, C2C online shopping platform providers are finding ways to keep and maintain customer relationship. In this study, a research model that examines the role of customer engagement in customer loyalty to C2C online shopping platforms is proposed and empirically tested with 385 customers who have used Taobao to perform online shopping. The results provide supports to our research hypotheses and illustrate the importance of customer engagement in building customer loyalty to C2C online shopping platforms. Findings of this study are expected to provide useful insights for emarketers to develop loyalty through customer engagement in online shopping platforms as well as for researchers to better understand the relationship between customer engagement and loyalty in consumer-based e-marketplace.

Examination of Restaurants Online Pricing Strategies: A Game Analytical Approach

ABSTRACT This article studies the optimal pricing strategy employed by restaurants in cooperation with third-party websites. Using a mixed game model that consists of a Nash game among multiple restaurants and a Stackelberg game between these restaurants and a third-party website, this paper describes the cooperation and competition among the participants. Results suggest that the restaurants may not always provide price discounts for the third-party website because of the switching behaviors of their offline loyal customers. Moreover, the cooperation between a restaurant and a third-party website is encouraged only when the number of loyal customers is smaller than a threshold, which also depends on restaurant capacity.

Understanding consumers’ continuance intention to contribute online reviews

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to integrate broaden theoretical perspectives in the investigation of the key antecedents of consumers’ continuous review contribution behavior on restaurant guide online opinion platforms (OOPs). Integrating both rational and relational theoretical perspectives with an extension of the investment model, a research model was proposed to explain what factors influence consumers’ intention to continuously contribute electronic WOM (eWOM) on OOPs. Design/methodology/approach The research model was empirically tested with an online survey study of 438 eWOM contributors from a leading Chinese restaurant guide OOP, Dianping.com. Findings The results indicated that satisfaction, affective commitment, and continuance commitment were key determinants of consumers’ continuance intention to contribute eWOM on the platform. Satisfaction was driven by concern for other consumers, social benefits, platform assistance, and venting negative feelings. Quality of alternatives and investment size significantly affected continuance commitment. Research limitations/implications The selection of respondents is bound to the China area within a particular OOP, although the chosen OOP is a leading one in China. In addition, this study focuses on the perspective of commitment, but some social factors are neglected. Originality/value This paper provides an integrated theoretical framework to explore the factors determining consumers’ continuance intention to contribute restaurant reviews on OOPs. From both rational and relational theoretical perspectives, the proposed model reveals the factors that encourage consumers to continue contributing eWOM on OOPs.

E-retailing of restaurant services: pricing strategies in a competing online environment

Establishing online channels and providing online discounts by building business partner relationships with third-party websites have emerged as important and effective marketing strategies in the restaurant industry. This study examines the optimal pricing strategy of restaurants in a competing environment when they participate in this relationship with a third-party website. Results suggest that neither participation nor online price discount should be encouraged for all restaurants. In particular, for a restaurant with a fixed service capacity, participation and online price discount are recommended when the number of offline loyal customers is relatively small. With the increase in the number of loyal offline customers, the optimal online discount rate decreases, whereas the unit commission fee for the third-party website remains constant. When the optimal discount rate reaches zero, the optimal decision for the restaurant is to decrease the unit commission fee. Based on these findings, this study analytically provides the optimal pricing strategies for restaurants and the corresponding boundaries for the strategy set.