I am a academic/practitioner hybrid. As a professor of marketing and director of research for an internet services company I have interests in the discovery and dissemination of knowledge as well as the use of it.
Russ Merz, Ph.D. Professor of Marketing Eastern Michigan University 734-487-3323 russ.merz@emich.edu /or/ professor.merz@gmail.com Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/russmerzphd Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/russ.merz Twitter: Russ Merz@TokenPHD
Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo é verificar quais aspectos associados à estrutura organizacional ... more Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo é verificar quais aspectos associados à estrutura organizacional e à capacidade de prestação de serviços contribuem para o desempenho de fornecedores logísticos no contexto de relações B2B (business to business) com empresas cliente, configuradas em cadeias de suprimentos (CS). Uma amostra, incluindo 80 empresas fornecedoras de serviços logísticos no sul do Brasil, foi obtida através de uma survey num universo de empresas que desenvolvem atividades logísticas de armazenagem, controle de estoque, transporte, entregas programadas, operações portuárias e desembaraço aduaneiro. O questionário utilizado continha escalas múltiplas para representar as variáveis dos constructos relacionados à estrutura organizacional, capacidade dos serviços e desempenho. As respostas refletiram a percepção que os fornecedores de serviços logísticos tinham de suas atividades em relação ao seu principal cliente na cadeia de suprimentos. Utilizando análise estatística multivariada baseada em modelagem de equações estruturais, LV-PLS (Latent Variable – Partial Least Squares) com procedimento bootstrapping, verificou-se que o único atributo que provoca impacto sobre a obtenção de melhor desempenho do fornecedor de serviço logístico é a sua capacidade de cumprir técnica e operacionalmente o serviço contratado pelo cliente. A capacidade de fornecer serviços logísticos recebe influência positiva e significante tanto de uma estrutura organizacional dotada de autonomia quanto de formalização. Abstract: This study aims to verify what aspects related with organizational structure and service capability contribute to the performance of logistics providers in the business-to-business (B2B) context with client companies in supply chains. A sample of 80 logistics provider companies of the South of Brazil was surveyed, from a universe of companies that develop logistics activities, such as warehousing and inventory control, transportation, scheduled deliveries, port operations and customs clearance. The survey instrument consists of multiple scales to represent the construct variables related to organizational structure, service capability, and business performance. The answers reflect the logistics providers' perception of their work performance for the main customer in the supply chain. Resorting to multivariate statistical analysis based on structural equations modeling – LV-PLS (Latent Variable – Partial Least Squares) with bootstrapping, we found that the sole attribute that contributes for a better business performance of the logistics provider is its ability to meet, both technically and operationally, the service contracted by the customer. The ability to provide logistics service is positively and significantly influenced by an organizational structure endowed with both autonomy and organization.
Because an organization's visibility and decision-making abilities in a supply network is limited... more Because an organization's visibility and decision-making abilities in a supply network is limited by its embeddedness, managing the embedded activities may be affected by non-contractual forms of governance and capability. Whatever the organization cannot see, it can't efficiently control. In this paper, the authors have studied non-contractual governance, dependence, and reliance in a manufacturer-vendor dyad in light of logistics, spill-over customer-centric service, and performance. Relational norms (information sharing and flexibility), trust, commitment, and bilateral dependence were hypothesized to explain manufacturers' logistics capability and customer-centric services. Using SEM-PLS (Structural Equation Modeling using Partial Least Squares) approach, all the hypothesized paths were proven 2 2 with adequate R explained for each construct; R for financial performance was low.
Abstract - The Authors compare the organization structure and market-based capabilities of Americ... more Abstract - The Authors compare the organization structure and market-based capabilities of American and Brazilian Logistics Service Providers in their respective countries. Using the resource based view approach, the authors propose that an LSP’s organization structure influences its service capabilities, which in turn will influence satisfaction and performance. The results indicate that the individual models hold true in their respective countries. Autonomy enhanced LSP’s capabilities in the areas of information sharing, logistics service, and customer service in both models. Formalization improved logistics and customer services in the Brazilian case, but only logistics services in the U.S. case. Unlike the U.S. model, service capabilities did not affect satisfaction for the Brazilian case; satisfaction did not contribute to performance for Brazilians. Paths of the two models are compared as part of the descriptive approach for the study and managerial insights provided.
Cultural Values and Digital Brand Engagement: A Transnational Exploratory Analysis
Background:
... more Cultural Values and Digital Brand Engagement: A Transnational Exploratory Analysis
Background:
This study empirically examines the relationships between cultural values and a battery of brand measures across 32 countries. Cultural value typologies have been widely used in research studies about consumer behavior (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002, 2011; Frost et al 2010; Luna and Gupta 2001), ecommerce readiness and diffusion (Berthon et al 2008, Gong 2009), international marketing (Soares et al 2007), information technology (Gaspay et al 2008; Barnett and Sung 2006), and macro economic conditions (Basabe and Ros 2005).
There have also been a number of notable studies investigating cross-cultural differences in the content of websites (Singh et al 2005), interactive use of corporate websites (Cho and Cheon 2005), online shopping (Park and Jun 2003; Goodrich and De Mooij 2011), user-interface design (Marcus and Gould 2000), Internet use (Hermeking 2006; Gong et al 2007) and website navigation (Luna et al 2002).
How cultural values and concepts are related to brand perceptions and behaviors, has received some research attention. For instance, topics such as brand positioning (Alden et al 1999), branding strategies (Murphy and Scharl 2007), advertising and brand management (De Mooij 2003; De Mooij and Hofstede 2010; Moeller and Eisend 2010), have been addressed.
However, despite the academic research attention, recent practitioner press articles report a lack of cultural savvy by major brands (WARC 2014) as it relates to brand preferences, brand related consumer behaviors and other brand engagement activities. Given the knowledge gaps it is surprising that no research has addressed the relationship between consumer brand engagement and cultural values. This study makes an initial effort in that direction.
Research Objectives and Questions:
The research objective of this study is to examine how Hofstede’s five cultural values are related to proxy measures of digital brand engagement. Three specific research questions are addressed—How are cultural values related to (1) self directed exposure to digital brand information sources, (2) summary brand attitudes, and (3) the use of digital brand touch points, across countries?
The importance of understanding consumer brand engagement (CBE) is evident by the volume of recent theorizing about the topic (Sprott et al 2009, Brodie et al 2011; Hollebeek 2011a, 2011b) and scale development (Hollebeek 2014). In addition a number of empirical studies have investigated such topics as brand engagement shopping and materialism (Goldsmith et al 2011), and on-line brand community engagement (Brodie et al 2013, Wirtz et al 2013, Baldus et al 2014).
Methodology:
This study uses two sources of secondary data to address the research questions.
First, brand engagement measures from the Global Web Index (GWI 2014) provide the data for 32 countries. The data is collected by GWI in quarterly waves of 40,000 respondents per quarter. Respondents complete an online questionnaire that uses stratified sampling techniques to ensure that they are representative of the Internet population aged 16 to 64 in each country (with correct proportions in terms of gender, age and educational attainment).
Three separate brand engagement measurement batteries from GWI (brand research channels with 20 items, brand attitudes with 7 items and brand engagement touch-points with 20 items) are used in this study. These three sets of measures correspond to the three dimensions of consumer brand engagement (CBE) of cognitive processing, affection, and activation theorized by Hollebeek et al (2014). Second, cultural value indices for each of the 32 countries contained in the GWI data were obtained from The Geert Hofstede Center website (The Hofstede Center 2014). This study used the five country level cultural value dimensions of power distance (PDI), individualism versus collectivism (IDV), masculinity versus femininity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO). As mentioned earlier, the Hofstede cultural dimensions have been widely used for cross-cultural studies (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002, 2011).
The analysis of the combined data utilized standard descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and clustering techniques to explore the nature of the relationships between cultural values and the proxy brand engagement measures raised in the research questions. It should be noted that the use of countries as “units of analysis” for cultural value analysis is not without precedence. Many of the studies referenced earlier were conducted using countries as data points ranging in size from 29 countries (Gong et al 2007) to 47 countries (Barnett and Sung 2006).
Findings:
The key findings of this study are the following. First, the cultural values of power distance (PDI) and individual versus collectivism (IDV) show consistently strong correlations with all three levels of brand engagement. The cultural values of uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO) are weakly related, and the masculinity versus femininity (MAS) dimension has virtually no correlation with any brand engagement measure. However, subsequent sub-group analysis showed that UAI and MAS became more prominent for some subgroups of countries.
A Presentation to the Fifth Tricontinental Conference on Global Advances in Business Communicatio... more A Presentation to the Fifth Tricontinental Conference on Global Advances in Business Communications (GABC), Antwerp, Belgium May 29th-31st 2013
Abstract is attached with presentation deck in pdf format.
Despite its acknowledged contribution to local, national, and global economies, there is no conse... more Despite its acknowledged contribution to local, national, and global economies, there is no consensus as to exactly what is meant by the term sports marketing. This conceptual paper attempts to address this deficiency via the development of a new framework that is based upon two key dimensions: type of product and level of sports integration. By categorizing goods and services as either sports products or nonsports products and by differentiating between traditional strategies and sponsorship-based strategies, four sports marketing domains are identified. They are the theme-based, product-based, alignment-based, and sports-based strategic domains. The underlying principles for developing the framework are delineated in this article, and many examples for each strategic domain are provided as a means of illustrating their conceptual differences and how they are implemented.
This paper reports the results of an exploratory empirical investigation into how website experie... more This paper reports the results of an exploratory empirical investigation into how website experiences of users with three aspects of a website, impact the perceived brand image of the website, and the subsequent satisfaction and loyalty levels towards the website. The approach used is unique because it takes the perspective that for pure-play websites, the overall brand im-pression is formed by the direct experiences that users have with the characteristics of the web-site. While this perspective has been articulated in the past, no empirical work has been done to verify a causal linkage. In addition, how the experiences and perception of brand image influ-ences overall user satisfaction and future usage intentions is also evaluated in the context of a comprehensive causal framework. This study focused on the investigation of three research questions. (1) Is there evidence that the website brand image is differentially affected by various website experiences? (2) Is there evidence that website brand image is related to customer satis-faction and levels? (3) How useful is brand image for predicting satisfaction and loyalty levels? The website used in this study was a branded internet portal that provides a full range of services to users such as shopping assistance, access to information sources such as news and sports, on-line games, e-mail, etc. The measures used in the study included multi item measures of brand image, website experience (design, functionality and security), customer satisfaction, and loyalty collected via an internet survey. The data were obtained from randomly selected website visitors (n= 3,127). The hypotheses and proposed model were tested using categorical PCA, exploratory factor analysis and latent variable partial least squares (LV-PLS). The findings supported the basic hypothesized structure (website experiences-->website evaluations-->behavioral intentions). All three web experience measures were significant predictors of brand image (R2=.26), and to-gether with brand image significantly explained website satisfaction (R2=.69). Finally, brand image and customer satisfaction significantly explained the future behavioral intentions of the visitors (R2=.71). The results provide evidence for the role of the website in building meaningful and satisfactory brand-customer relationships. Future studies need to expand the types of experiences explored and their effects on brand development.
Very few export studies have measured the effect of relationships norms on marketing performance ... more Very few export studies have measured the effect of relationships norms on marketing performance resulting from developing such sequentially-related norms. The purpose of this study is to examine U.S. manufactures and export distributor relationships and their impact on market performance. A sample was obtained using mail surveys and pre-notification via phone calls of U.S. manufacturers that export using middlemen. Key informant data were gathered to study causal linkages between behavioral norms (monitoring, information sharing, and flexibility), signaling norms (dependence and commitment) and export performance using Dependence and Transaction Cost Economics framework. The results indicate that there is a strong positive causal relationship between the signaling norms of dependence and long term commitment. The behavioral norms are also causally related, with both monitoring and flexibility having an independent positive effect on information sharing. The behavioral variables and signaling variables are related, with information sharing and flexibility positively affecting commitment. Finally, both the signaling variables (dependence and commitment) and two of the behavioral norms (monitoring and information sharing) positively affect export marketing performance. The results of this study strengthen the notion that close working relationships with distributors are an effective method of competing in foreign markets. Irrespective of why actors become dependent on each other, one way to manage this dependency is to signal a long-term commitment to the relationship. The positive relationship between relationship norms and levels of performance support the applicability of the Transaction Cost Economics to theory development in exporting activities. Relationship is also a development of stages and manufacturers should be cautious on how much and when to use of each of these norms.
Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo é verificar quais aspectos associados à estrutura organizacional ... more Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo é verificar quais aspectos associados à estrutura organizacional e à capacidade de prestação de serviços contribuem para o desempenho de fornecedores logísticos no contexto de relações B2B (business to business) com empresas cliente, configuradas em cadeias de suprimentos (CS). Uma amostra, incluindo 80 empresas fornecedoras de serviços logísticos no sul do Brasil, foi obtida através de uma survey num universo de empresas que desenvolvem atividades logísticas de armazenagem, controle de estoque, transporte, entregas programadas, operações portuárias e desembaraço aduaneiro. O questionário utilizado continha escalas múltiplas para representar as variáveis dos constructos relacionados à estrutura organizacional, capacidade dos serviços e desempenho. As respostas refletiram a percepção que os fornecedores de serviços logísticos tinham de suas atividades em relação ao seu principal cliente na cadeia de suprimentos. Utilizando análise estatística multivariada baseada em modelagem de equações estruturais, LV-PLS (Latent Variable – Partial Least Squares) com procedimento bootstrapping, verificou-se que o único atributo que provoca impacto sobre a obtenção de melhor desempenho do fornecedor de serviço logístico é a sua capacidade de cumprir técnica e operacionalmente o serviço contratado pelo cliente. A capacidade de fornecer serviços logísticos recebe influência positiva e significante tanto de uma estrutura organizacional dotada de autonomia quanto de formalização. Abstract: This study aims to verify what aspects related with organizational structure and service capability contribute to the performance of logistics providers in the business-to-business (B2B) context with client companies in supply chains. A sample of 80 logistics provider companies of the South of Brazil was surveyed, from a universe of companies that develop logistics activities, such as warehousing and inventory control, transportation, scheduled deliveries, port operations and customs clearance. The survey instrument consists of multiple scales to represent the construct variables related to organizational structure, service capability, and business performance. The answers reflect the logistics providers' perception of their work performance for the main customer in the supply chain. Resorting to multivariate statistical analysis based on structural equations modeling – LV-PLS (Latent Variable – Partial Least Squares) with bootstrapping, we found that the sole attribute that contributes for a better business performance of the logistics provider is its ability to meet, both technically and operationally, the service contracted by the customer. The ability to provide logistics service is positively and significantly influenced by an organizational structure endowed with both autonomy and organization.
Because an organization's visibility and decision-making abilities in a supply network is limited... more Because an organization's visibility and decision-making abilities in a supply network is limited by its embeddedness, managing the embedded activities may be affected by non-contractual forms of governance and capability. Whatever the organization cannot see, it can't efficiently control. In this paper, the authors have studied non-contractual governance, dependence, and reliance in a manufacturer-vendor dyad in light of logistics, spill-over customer-centric service, and performance. Relational norms (information sharing and flexibility), trust, commitment, and bilateral dependence were hypothesized to explain manufacturers' logistics capability and customer-centric services. Using SEM-PLS (Structural Equation Modeling using Partial Least Squares) approach, all the hypothesized paths were proven 2 2 with adequate R explained for each construct; R for financial performance was low.
Abstract - The Authors compare the organization structure and market-based capabilities of Americ... more Abstract - The Authors compare the organization structure and market-based capabilities of American and Brazilian Logistics Service Providers in their respective countries. Using the resource based view approach, the authors propose that an LSP’s organization structure influences its service capabilities, which in turn will influence satisfaction and performance. The results indicate that the individual models hold true in their respective countries. Autonomy enhanced LSP’s capabilities in the areas of information sharing, logistics service, and customer service in both models. Formalization improved logistics and customer services in the Brazilian case, but only logistics services in the U.S. case. Unlike the U.S. model, service capabilities did not affect satisfaction for the Brazilian case; satisfaction did not contribute to performance for Brazilians. Paths of the two models are compared as part of the descriptive approach for the study and managerial insights provided.
Cultural Values and Digital Brand Engagement: A Transnational Exploratory Analysis
Background:
... more Cultural Values and Digital Brand Engagement: A Transnational Exploratory Analysis
Background:
This study empirically examines the relationships between cultural values and a battery of brand measures across 32 countries. Cultural value typologies have been widely used in research studies about consumer behavior (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002, 2011; Frost et al 2010; Luna and Gupta 2001), ecommerce readiness and diffusion (Berthon et al 2008, Gong 2009), international marketing (Soares et al 2007), information technology (Gaspay et al 2008; Barnett and Sung 2006), and macro economic conditions (Basabe and Ros 2005).
There have also been a number of notable studies investigating cross-cultural differences in the content of websites (Singh et al 2005), interactive use of corporate websites (Cho and Cheon 2005), online shopping (Park and Jun 2003; Goodrich and De Mooij 2011), user-interface design (Marcus and Gould 2000), Internet use (Hermeking 2006; Gong et al 2007) and website navigation (Luna et al 2002).
How cultural values and concepts are related to brand perceptions and behaviors, has received some research attention. For instance, topics such as brand positioning (Alden et al 1999), branding strategies (Murphy and Scharl 2007), advertising and brand management (De Mooij 2003; De Mooij and Hofstede 2010; Moeller and Eisend 2010), have been addressed.
However, despite the academic research attention, recent practitioner press articles report a lack of cultural savvy by major brands (WARC 2014) as it relates to brand preferences, brand related consumer behaviors and other brand engagement activities. Given the knowledge gaps it is surprising that no research has addressed the relationship between consumer brand engagement and cultural values. This study makes an initial effort in that direction.
Research Objectives and Questions:
The research objective of this study is to examine how Hofstede’s five cultural values are related to proxy measures of digital brand engagement. Three specific research questions are addressed—How are cultural values related to (1) self directed exposure to digital brand information sources, (2) summary brand attitudes, and (3) the use of digital brand touch points, across countries?
The importance of understanding consumer brand engagement (CBE) is evident by the volume of recent theorizing about the topic (Sprott et al 2009, Brodie et al 2011; Hollebeek 2011a, 2011b) and scale development (Hollebeek 2014). In addition a number of empirical studies have investigated such topics as brand engagement shopping and materialism (Goldsmith et al 2011), and on-line brand community engagement (Brodie et al 2013, Wirtz et al 2013, Baldus et al 2014).
Methodology:
This study uses two sources of secondary data to address the research questions.
First, brand engagement measures from the Global Web Index (GWI 2014) provide the data for 32 countries. The data is collected by GWI in quarterly waves of 40,000 respondents per quarter. Respondents complete an online questionnaire that uses stratified sampling techniques to ensure that they are representative of the Internet population aged 16 to 64 in each country (with correct proportions in terms of gender, age and educational attainment).
Three separate brand engagement measurement batteries from GWI (brand research channels with 20 items, brand attitudes with 7 items and brand engagement touch-points with 20 items) are used in this study. These three sets of measures correspond to the three dimensions of consumer brand engagement (CBE) of cognitive processing, affection, and activation theorized by Hollebeek et al (2014). Second, cultural value indices for each of the 32 countries contained in the GWI data were obtained from The Geert Hofstede Center website (The Hofstede Center 2014). This study used the five country level cultural value dimensions of power distance (PDI), individualism versus collectivism (IDV), masculinity versus femininity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO). As mentioned earlier, the Hofstede cultural dimensions have been widely used for cross-cultural studies (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002, 2011).
The analysis of the combined data utilized standard descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and clustering techniques to explore the nature of the relationships between cultural values and the proxy brand engagement measures raised in the research questions. It should be noted that the use of countries as “units of analysis” for cultural value analysis is not without precedence. Many of the studies referenced earlier were conducted using countries as data points ranging in size from 29 countries (Gong et al 2007) to 47 countries (Barnett and Sung 2006).
Findings:
The key findings of this study are the following. First, the cultural values of power distance (PDI) and individual versus collectivism (IDV) show consistently strong correlations with all three levels of brand engagement. The cultural values of uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO) are weakly related, and the masculinity versus femininity (MAS) dimension has virtually no correlation with any brand engagement measure. However, subsequent sub-group analysis showed that UAI and MAS became more prominent for some subgroups of countries.
A Presentation to the Fifth Tricontinental Conference on Global Advances in Business Communicatio... more A Presentation to the Fifth Tricontinental Conference on Global Advances in Business Communications (GABC), Antwerp, Belgium May 29th-31st 2013
Abstract is attached with presentation deck in pdf format.
Despite its acknowledged contribution to local, national, and global economies, there is no conse... more Despite its acknowledged contribution to local, national, and global economies, there is no consensus as to exactly what is meant by the term sports marketing. This conceptual paper attempts to address this deficiency via the development of a new framework that is based upon two key dimensions: type of product and level of sports integration. By categorizing goods and services as either sports products or nonsports products and by differentiating between traditional strategies and sponsorship-based strategies, four sports marketing domains are identified. They are the theme-based, product-based, alignment-based, and sports-based strategic domains. The underlying principles for developing the framework are delineated in this article, and many examples for each strategic domain are provided as a means of illustrating their conceptual differences and how they are implemented.
This paper reports the results of an exploratory empirical investigation into how website experie... more This paper reports the results of an exploratory empirical investigation into how website experiences of users with three aspects of a website, impact the perceived brand image of the website, and the subsequent satisfaction and loyalty levels towards the website. The approach used is unique because it takes the perspective that for pure-play websites, the overall brand im-pression is formed by the direct experiences that users have with the characteristics of the web-site. While this perspective has been articulated in the past, no empirical work has been done to verify a causal linkage. In addition, how the experiences and perception of brand image influ-ences overall user satisfaction and future usage intentions is also evaluated in the context of a comprehensive causal framework. This study focused on the investigation of three research questions. (1) Is there evidence that the website brand image is differentially affected by various website experiences? (2) Is there evidence that website brand image is related to customer satis-faction and levels? (3) How useful is brand image for predicting satisfaction and loyalty levels? The website used in this study was a branded internet portal that provides a full range of services to users such as shopping assistance, access to information sources such as news and sports, on-line games, e-mail, etc. The measures used in the study included multi item measures of brand image, website experience (design, functionality and security), customer satisfaction, and loyalty collected via an internet survey. The data were obtained from randomly selected website visitors (n= 3,127). The hypotheses and proposed model were tested using categorical PCA, exploratory factor analysis and latent variable partial least squares (LV-PLS). The findings supported the basic hypothesized structure (website experiences-->website evaluations-->behavioral intentions). All three web experience measures were significant predictors of brand image (R2=.26), and to-gether with brand image significantly explained website satisfaction (R2=.69). Finally, brand image and customer satisfaction significantly explained the future behavioral intentions of the visitors (R2=.71). The results provide evidence for the role of the website in building meaningful and satisfactory brand-customer relationships. Future studies need to expand the types of experiences explored and their effects on brand development.
Very few export studies have measured the effect of relationships norms on marketing performance ... more Very few export studies have measured the effect of relationships norms on marketing performance resulting from developing such sequentially-related norms. The purpose of this study is to examine U.S. manufactures and export distributor relationships and their impact on market performance. A sample was obtained using mail surveys and pre-notification via phone calls of U.S. manufacturers that export using middlemen. Key informant data were gathered to study causal linkages between behavioral norms (monitoring, information sharing, and flexibility), signaling norms (dependence and commitment) and export performance using Dependence and Transaction Cost Economics framework. The results indicate that there is a strong positive causal relationship between the signaling norms of dependence and long term commitment. The behavioral norms are also causally related, with both monitoring and flexibility having an independent positive effect on information sharing. The behavioral variables and signaling variables are related, with information sharing and flexibility positively affecting commitment. Finally, both the signaling variables (dependence and commitment) and two of the behavioral norms (monitoring and information sharing) positively affect export marketing performance. The results of this study strengthen the notion that close working relationships with distributors are an effective method of competing in foreign markets. Irrespective of why actors become dependent on each other, one way to manage this dependency is to signal a long-term commitment to the relationship. The positive relationship between relationship norms and levels of performance support the applicability of the Transaction Cost Economics to theory development in exporting activities. Relationship is also a development of stages and manufacturers should be cautious on how much and when to use of each of these norms.
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Papers by Russ Merz
Background:
This study empirically examines the relationships between cultural values and a battery of brand measures across 32 countries. Cultural value typologies have been widely used in research studies about consumer behavior (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002, 2011; Frost et al 2010; Luna and Gupta 2001), ecommerce readiness and diffusion (Berthon et al 2008, Gong 2009), international marketing (Soares et al 2007), information technology (Gaspay et al 2008; Barnett and Sung 2006), and macro economic conditions (Basabe and Ros 2005).
There have also been a number of notable studies investigating cross-cultural differences in the content of websites (Singh et al 2005), interactive use of corporate websites (Cho and Cheon 2005), online shopping (Park and Jun 2003; Goodrich and De Mooij 2011), user-interface design (Marcus and Gould 2000), Internet use (Hermeking 2006; Gong et al 2007) and website navigation (Luna et al 2002).
How cultural values and concepts are related to brand perceptions and behaviors, has received some research attention. For instance, topics such as brand positioning (Alden et al 1999), branding strategies (Murphy and Scharl 2007), advertising and brand management (De Mooij 2003; De Mooij and Hofstede 2010; Moeller and Eisend 2010), have been addressed.
However, despite the academic research attention, recent practitioner press articles report a lack of cultural savvy by major brands (WARC 2014) as it relates to brand preferences, brand related consumer behaviors and other brand engagement activities. Given the knowledge gaps it is surprising that no research has addressed the relationship between consumer brand engagement and cultural values. This study makes an initial effort in that direction.
Research Objectives and Questions:
The research objective of this study is to examine how Hofstede’s five cultural values are related to proxy measures of digital brand engagement. Three specific research questions are addressed—How are cultural values related to (1) self directed exposure to digital brand information sources, (2) summary brand attitudes, and (3) the use of digital brand touch points, across countries?
The importance of understanding consumer brand engagement (CBE) is evident by the volume of recent theorizing about the topic (Sprott et al 2009, Brodie et al 2011; Hollebeek 2011a, 2011b) and scale development (Hollebeek 2014). In addition a number of empirical studies have investigated such topics as brand engagement shopping and materialism (Goldsmith et al 2011), and on-line brand community engagement (Brodie et al 2013, Wirtz et al 2013, Baldus et al 2014).
Methodology:
This study uses two sources of secondary data to address the research questions.
First, brand engagement measures from the Global Web Index (GWI 2014) provide the data for 32 countries. The data is collected by GWI in quarterly waves of 40,000 respondents per quarter. Respondents complete an online questionnaire that uses stratified sampling techniques to ensure that they are representative of the Internet population aged 16 to 64 in each country (with correct proportions in terms of gender, age and educational attainment).
Three separate brand engagement measurement batteries from GWI (brand research channels with 20 items, brand attitudes with 7 items and brand engagement touch-points with 20 items) are used in this study. These three sets of measures correspond to the three dimensions of consumer brand engagement (CBE) of cognitive processing, affection, and activation theorized by Hollebeek et al (2014).
Second, cultural value indices for each of the 32 countries contained in the GWI data were obtained from The Geert Hofstede Center website (The Hofstede Center 2014). This study used the five country level cultural value dimensions of power distance (PDI), individualism versus collectivism (IDV), masculinity versus femininity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO). As mentioned earlier, the Hofstede cultural dimensions have been widely used for cross-cultural studies (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002, 2011).
The analysis of the combined data utilized standard descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and clustering techniques to explore the nature of the relationships between cultural values and the proxy brand engagement measures raised in the research questions. It should be noted that the use of countries as “units of analysis” for cultural value analysis is not without precedence. Many of the studies referenced earlier were conducted using countries as data points ranging in size from 29 countries (Gong et al 2007) to 47 countries (Barnett and Sung 2006).
Findings:
The key findings of this study are the following. First, the cultural values of power distance (PDI) and individual versus collectivism (IDV) show consistently strong correlations with all three levels of brand engagement. The cultural values of uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO) are weakly related, and the masculinity versus femininity (MAS) dimension has virtually no correlation with any brand engagement measure. However, subsequent sub-group analysis showed that UAI and MAS became more prominent for some subgroups of countries.
Abstract is attached with presentation deck in pdf format.
Background:
This study empirically examines the relationships between cultural values and a battery of brand measures across 32 countries. Cultural value typologies have been widely used in research studies about consumer behavior (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002, 2011; Frost et al 2010; Luna and Gupta 2001), ecommerce readiness and diffusion (Berthon et al 2008, Gong 2009), international marketing (Soares et al 2007), information technology (Gaspay et al 2008; Barnett and Sung 2006), and macro economic conditions (Basabe and Ros 2005).
There have also been a number of notable studies investigating cross-cultural differences in the content of websites (Singh et al 2005), interactive use of corporate websites (Cho and Cheon 2005), online shopping (Park and Jun 2003; Goodrich and De Mooij 2011), user-interface design (Marcus and Gould 2000), Internet use (Hermeking 2006; Gong et al 2007) and website navigation (Luna et al 2002).
How cultural values and concepts are related to brand perceptions and behaviors, has received some research attention. For instance, topics such as brand positioning (Alden et al 1999), branding strategies (Murphy and Scharl 2007), advertising and brand management (De Mooij 2003; De Mooij and Hofstede 2010; Moeller and Eisend 2010), have been addressed.
However, despite the academic research attention, recent practitioner press articles report a lack of cultural savvy by major brands (WARC 2014) as it relates to brand preferences, brand related consumer behaviors and other brand engagement activities. Given the knowledge gaps it is surprising that no research has addressed the relationship between consumer brand engagement and cultural values. This study makes an initial effort in that direction.
Research Objectives and Questions:
The research objective of this study is to examine how Hofstede’s five cultural values are related to proxy measures of digital brand engagement. Three specific research questions are addressed—How are cultural values related to (1) self directed exposure to digital brand information sources, (2) summary brand attitudes, and (3) the use of digital brand touch points, across countries?
The importance of understanding consumer brand engagement (CBE) is evident by the volume of recent theorizing about the topic (Sprott et al 2009, Brodie et al 2011; Hollebeek 2011a, 2011b) and scale development (Hollebeek 2014). In addition a number of empirical studies have investigated such topics as brand engagement shopping and materialism (Goldsmith et al 2011), and on-line brand community engagement (Brodie et al 2013, Wirtz et al 2013, Baldus et al 2014).
Methodology:
This study uses two sources of secondary data to address the research questions.
First, brand engagement measures from the Global Web Index (GWI 2014) provide the data for 32 countries. The data is collected by GWI in quarterly waves of 40,000 respondents per quarter. Respondents complete an online questionnaire that uses stratified sampling techniques to ensure that they are representative of the Internet population aged 16 to 64 in each country (with correct proportions in terms of gender, age and educational attainment).
Three separate brand engagement measurement batteries from GWI (brand research channels with 20 items, brand attitudes with 7 items and brand engagement touch-points with 20 items) are used in this study. These three sets of measures correspond to the three dimensions of consumer brand engagement (CBE) of cognitive processing, affection, and activation theorized by Hollebeek et al (2014).
Second, cultural value indices for each of the 32 countries contained in the GWI data were obtained from The Geert Hofstede Center website (The Hofstede Center 2014). This study used the five country level cultural value dimensions of power distance (PDI), individualism versus collectivism (IDV), masculinity versus femininity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO). As mentioned earlier, the Hofstede cultural dimensions have been widely used for cross-cultural studies (De Mooij and Hofstede 2002, 2011).
The analysis of the combined data utilized standard descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and clustering techniques to explore the nature of the relationships between cultural values and the proxy brand engagement measures raised in the research questions. It should be noted that the use of countries as “units of analysis” for cultural value analysis is not without precedence. Many of the studies referenced earlier were conducted using countries as data points ranging in size from 29 countries (Gong et al 2007) to 47 countries (Barnett and Sung 2006).
Findings:
The key findings of this study are the following. First, the cultural values of power distance (PDI) and individual versus collectivism (IDV) show consistently strong correlations with all three levels of brand engagement. The cultural values of uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO) are weakly related, and the masculinity versus femininity (MAS) dimension has virtually no correlation with any brand engagement measure. However, subsequent sub-group analysis showed that UAI and MAS became more prominent for some subgroups of countries.
Abstract is attached with presentation deck in pdf format.