The market value of global influencer marketing has more than doubled since 2019 (Statista, 2021)... more The market value of global influencer marketing has more than doubled since 2019 (Statista, 2021). The emergence of the so-called virtual influencers (VIs) has redefined the boundaries of possibilities in this "industry" attracting the interest of many brands and raising several questions about their development, ethics, purpose in marketing and perspective. These 'new' social media celebrities have also attracted the attention of the scientific community but research has yet to explore how VIs are likely to reshape the practice of marketing. This study aims to better understand the attitudes and reactions of Generations Y and Z (the most attractive target group for influencers) towards VIs-in particular, to find out how VIs are perceived by younger customers and whether VIs can effectively persuade them to buy certain products. Two focus groups were conducted to facilitate an initial response to a relatively new phenomenon, and to gain a social, contextual view of the issue. Our results showed that human influencers still outperform the virtual ones for a number of reasons, ranging from the impossibility of identifying with digital creatures, the inability of the latter to demonstrate the efficacy of the products on themselves and the impossibility, expressed by many respondents, of empathising with entities that appear soulless and largely manipulated by those who-anonymously, behind their backs-are only interested in selling products.
This paper aimed to investigate consumer scepticism towards third-party sustainability labels in ... more This paper aimed to investigate consumer scepticism towards third-party sustainability labels in the context of food products, evaluating its role in the formation of the customer's buying behaviour. A covariance-based structural equation model (CB-SEM) was developed, and it included the customer's socio-environmental concern, scepticism toward sustainability labels, reported use of the socio-environmental commitment declared by the producer, and purchase behaviour of sustainably-labelled food products. The model was tested on a sample of 311 Italian high-educated young consumers, a group of sustainability-conscious individuals. The findings highlight that purchase behaviour is positively influenced by two reciprocally-related variables: socioenvironmental concern and the reported use of the socio-environmental commitment declared by the producer. While other studies have ascertained that scepticism is an antecedent of purchase behaviour, this study findings highlight it can also be considered a mediator of the relationships between purchase behaviour and other antecedents considered in this model. In addition to advancing the study on the role of scepticism in the formation of purchasing decisions for food products, drawing on signalling theory, this study provides insights for practitioners and policymakers, highlighting the absolute necessity to reassure consumers about the credibility of third-party sustainability labels and providing them with the instruments needed to distinguish the truth from the fluff in sustainability communication.
This study provides insights into young consumers’ responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on si... more This study provides insights into young consumers’ responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on signaling theory, the article studies how third-party labels (TPLs) act and interact with company-level claims, trying to better understand their impact on young consumers’ perceptions and willingness to buy (pay for) a chocolate bar. A between-subjects factorial experiment—conducted by manipulating third-party sustainable labels (presence/absence of the labels) and self-declared claims (absence of the claim, formal claim, and friendly claim)—was used to test: (a) the effect of TPLs and self-declared claims on consumers’ perceptions, purchase intention, and willingness to pay, (b) whether this effect was mediated through the perceived credibility of the sustainability message, and (c) what kind of tone-of-voice adopted in the company’s claim was more effective. Data were collected via an online survey among a sample of 315 consumers (age range: 18–39 years) in South Italy. We found that th...
In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helpi... more In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helping to generate product innovations and to update brand meanings. Drawing on the online community and co-creation literature, this paper aims at contributing to exploring the main intra-organizational challenges of online customer co-creation for innovation, from the viewpoint of middle managers. The intent is to broaden the existing conceptual understanding of the main internal factors hindering customer co-creation but also of the practices that could be adopted to best manage the related challenges. The study adopts a qualitative approach and is based on the results of eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews with digital and marketing managers, working closely with co-creation initiatives in the Italian food industry, with the aim of exploring intra-organizational challenges perceived by those who are directly involved in co-creation implementation. The results complement existing l...
In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helpi... more In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helping to generate product innovations and to update brand meanings. Drawing on the online community and co-creation literature, this paper aims at contributing to exploring the main intra-organizational challenges of online customer co-creation for innovation, from the viewpoint of middle managers. The intent is to broaden the existing conceptual understanding of the main internal factors hindering customer co-creation but also of the practices that could be adopted to best manage the related challenges. The study adopts a qualitative approach and is based on the results of eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews with digital and marketing managers, working closely with co-creation initiatives in the Italian food industry, with the aim of exploring intra-organizational challenges perceived by those who are directly involved in co-creation implementation. The results complement existing literature by 1) offering a more longitudinal vision of the implementation process-and the related internal hurdles, 2) identifying the most appropriate coping strategies and 3) formulating some hypothesis that could support an interpretative model of the capabilities needed to start the process and managing it in a strategic perspective.
This study provides insights into young consumers' responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on si... more This study provides insights into young consumers' responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on signaling theory, the article studies how third-party labels (TPLs) act and interact with company-level claims, trying to better understand their impact on young consumers' perceptions and willingness to buy (pay for) a chocolate bar. A between-subjects factorial experiment-conducted by manipulating third-party sustainable labels (presence/absence of the labels) and self-declared claims (absence of the claim, formal claim, and friendly claim)-was used to test: (a) the effect of TPLs and self-declared claims on consumers' perceptions, purchase intention, and willingness to pay, (b) whether this effect was mediated through the perceived credibility of the sustainability message, and (c) what kind of tone-of-voice adopted in the company's claim was more effective. Data were collected via an online survey among a sample of 315 consumers (age range: 18-39 years) in South Italy. We found that third-party labels, "alone" were not effective in influencing consumers' perceptions and willingness to buy/pay, while a self-declared claim, especially if characterized by a formal tone of voice, had a much more relevant impact. The combination of TPLs and self-declaration affected most consumers' willingness to pay when the copy claim was informal. The perceived credibility of the sustainability message mediated the relationships between self-declared claims and the majority of the dependent variables, while, with reference to the relationship between TPLs and dependent variables, it did not act as a mediator.
... una sinergia da valorizzare. Titolo Rivista: ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO. Autori/Curator... more ... una sinergia da valorizzare. Titolo Rivista: ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO. Autori/Curatori: Sergio Sciarelli, Carla Rossi. Anno di pubblicazione: 2007 Fascicolo: 2 Lingua: IT Numero pagine: 28 Dimensione file: 135 KB. ...
... una sinergia da valorizzare. Titolo Rivista: ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO. Autori/Curator... more ... una sinergia da valorizzare. Titolo Rivista: ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO. Autori/Curatori: Sergio Sciarelli, Carla Rossi. Anno di pubblicazione: 2007 Fascicolo: 2 Lingua: IT Numero pagine: 28 Dimensione file: 135 KB. ...
Il lavoro, fondendo diversi filoni di ricerca - di cui i più centrali sono quelli relativi alla c... more Il lavoro, fondendo diversi filoni di ricerca - di cui i più centrali sono quelli relativi alla consumer agency, alla collaborative e open innovation, alle comunità online e neo-tribù di consumo - legge e interpreta, anche alla luce dell'analisi di alcuni significativi casi empirici, le modalità attraverso le quali i consumatori sono coinvolti nei processi di creazione dei brand, delle esperienze ad essi associate, delle strategie di marketing e, talvolta, nello stesso processo di sviluppo di nuovi prodotti, cercando di evidenziare le implicazioni (le sfide manageriali) e i limiti della co-creazione online.
Even though safety and security have always been central concepts to tourism (and to the wider wo... more Even though safety and security have always been central concepts to tourism (and to the wider world), in the aftermath of the September, 11 2001 tragic event, these concepts (and their relationship with tourism) have gained substantial global interest. The paper aims to: discuss the concept of crisis management and its relevance to tourism at a 'macro' level (the destination); focus on the destination marketing management of prolonged crisis, caused by non-sporadic events, in particular those related to destination safety and security problems; assess, on the basis of international case-histories, the specific difficulties that arise when crisis management is 'embedded' in a fragmented and multi-faced industry as tourism is. How tourist destinations react to crisis? Which measures are taken and what impact do they have? When (under what circumstances ) these measures show greater effectiveness? How can a destinations accrue its readiness to face such crisis situatio...
Purpose -Focusing the attention on firm-hosted online consumers communities, this paper will anal... more Purpose -Focusing the attention on firm-hosted online consumers communities, this paper will analyze the managerial challenges that companies have to face to leverage consumers' creative talent involving them in innovative collaboration processes. Methodology approach -A detailed case history, whose reconstruction was based on nonparticipant observation. Findings -The paper clarifies some of the "soft" issues that firms have to manage when trying to support effective learning processes with their customers, focusing on the efforts that companies have to made in order to remove all the stumbling blocks that could prevent an ongoing and effective dialogue with their customers. Research implications -The paper suggests an interpretative model of pre-conditions needed to enact online collaborative product innovation, in particular focusing on: -barriers to be removed and competences that firms need to develop, in order to promote, maintain and increase customer's engagement in the exchange; -benefits that have to be offered to customer in order to maintain the right level of motivation and participation. Practical implications: The paper specifies some of the main community management activities the firms should learn to governate in order to accrue the probability of their blogs' success. Originality/value: A contribution to the debate on co-creation, whose results can not be taken for granted, requiring, instead, a gret managerial effort.
The paper aims to outline the managerial challenges faced by the organizations interested in leve... more The paper aims to outline the managerial challenges faced by the organizations interested in leveraging knowledge and creative talent embedded in online customers' communities to sustain innovation in b-2-c industries. Through a detailed case-study analysis of a leading food producer who launched an online open collaborative platform to gather users' idea for new productsthe paper aims to highlight the transformational effort that firms have to make in order to leverage knowledge absorption from customers in the context of innovation. The paper suggests potential strategies for conventional companies to engage consumers in knowledge (co-creation) and collaborative innovation processes, formulating some hypothesis that could support an interpretative model of the capabilities needed to develop, maintain and increase customer's engagement in the exchange. On the basis of the case analyzed, the paper suggests some managerial actions that could be adopted to facilitate customers' engagement in processes of collaborative learning and innovation, outlining the potential barriers (in primis the managerial reluctance) that could prevent a successful result. The case contributes to the literature on co-creation, demonstrating how it can be progressively achieved and improved, trough a combination of management and marketing strategies, addressed not only to accrue users' motivation but also managerial commitment.
The market value of global influencer marketing has more than doubled since 2019 (Statista, 2021)... more The market value of global influencer marketing has more than doubled since 2019 (Statista, 2021). The emergence of the so-called virtual influencers (VIs) has redefined the boundaries of possibilities in this "industry" attracting the interest of many brands and raising several questions about their development, ethics, purpose in marketing and perspective. These 'new' social media celebrities have also attracted the attention of the scientific community but research has yet to explore how VIs are likely to reshape the practice of marketing. This study aims to better understand the attitudes and reactions of Generations Y and Z (the most attractive target group for influencers) towards VIs-in particular, to find out how VIs are perceived by younger customers and whether VIs can effectively persuade them to buy certain products. Two focus groups were conducted to facilitate an initial response to a relatively new phenomenon, and to gain a social, contextual view of the issue. Our results showed that human influencers still outperform the virtual ones for a number of reasons, ranging from the impossibility of identifying with digital creatures, the inability of the latter to demonstrate the efficacy of the products on themselves and the impossibility, expressed by many respondents, of empathising with entities that appear soulless and largely manipulated by those who-anonymously, behind their backs-are only interested in selling products.
This paper aimed to investigate consumer scepticism towards third-party sustainability labels in ... more This paper aimed to investigate consumer scepticism towards third-party sustainability labels in the context of food products, evaluating its role in the formation of the customer's buying behaviour. A covariance-based structural equation model (CB-SEM) was developed, and it included the customer's socio-environmental concern, scepticism toward sustainability labels, reported use of the socio-environmental commitment declared by the producer, and purchase behaviour of sustainably-labelled food products. The model was tested on a sample of 311 Italian high-educated young consumers, a group of sustainability-conscious individuals. The findings highlight that purchase behaviour is positively influenced by two reciprocally-related variables: socioenvironmental concern and the reported use of the socio-environmental commitment declared by the producer. While other studies have ascertained that scepticism is an antecedent of purchase behaviour, this study findings highlight it can also be considered a mediator of the relationships between purchase behaviour and other antecedents considered in this model. In addition to advancing the study on the role of scepticism in the formation of purchasing decisions for food products, drawing on signalling theory, this study provides insights for practitioners and policymakers, highlighting the absolute necessity to reassure consumers about the credibility of third-party sustainability labels and providing them with the instruments needed to distinguish the truth from the fluff in sustainability communication.
This study provides insights into young consumers’ responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on si... more This study provides insights into young consumers’ responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on signaling theory, the article studies how third-party labels (TPLs) act and interact with company-level claims, trying to better understand their impact on young consumers’ perceptions and willingness to buy (pay for) a chocolate bar. A between-subjects factorial experiment—conducted by manipulating third-party sustainable labels (presence/absence of the labels) and self-declared claims (absence of the claim, formal claim, and friendly claim)—was used to test: (a) the effect of TPLs and self-declared claims on consumers’ perceptions, purchase intention, and willingness to pay, (b) whether this effect was mediated through the perceived credibility of the sustainability message, and (c) what kind of tone-of-voice adopted in the company’s claim was more effective. Data were collected via an online survey among a sample of 315 consumers (age range: 18–39 years) in South Italy. We found that th...
In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helpi... more In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helping to generate product innovations and to update brand meanings. Drawing on the online community and co-creation literature, this paper aims at contributing to exploring the main intra-organizational challenges of online customer co-creation for innovation, from the viewpoint of middle managers. The intent is to broaden the existing conceptual understanding of the main internal factors hindering customer co-creation but also of the practices that could be adopted to best manage the related challenges. The study adopts a qualitative approach and is based on the results of eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews with digital and marketing managers, working closely with co-creation initiatives in the Italian food industry, with the aim of exploring intra-organizational challenges perceived by those who are directly involved in co-creation implementation. The results complement existing l...
In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helpi... more In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helping to generate product innovations and to update brand meanings. Drawing on the online community and co-creation literature, this paper aims at contributing to exploring the main intra-organizational challenges of online customer co-creation for innovation, from the viewpoint of middle managers. The intent is to broaden the existing conceptual understanding of the main internal factors hindering customer co-creation but also of the practices that could be adopted to best manage the related challenges. The study adopts a qualitative approach and is based on the results of eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews with digital and marketing managers, working closely with co-creation initiatives in the Italian food industry, with the aim of exploring intra-organizational challenges perceived by those who are directly involved in co-creation implementation. The results complement existing literature by 1) offering a more longitudinal vision of the implementation process-and the related internal hurdles, 2) identifying the most appropriate coping strategies and 3) formulating some hypothesis that could support an interpretative model of the capabilities needed to start the process and managing it in a strategic perspective.
This study provides insights into young consumers' responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on si... more This study provides insights into young consumers' responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on signaling theory, the article studies how third-party labels (TPLs) act and interact with company-level claims, trying to better understand their impact on young consumers' perceptions and willingness to buy (pay for) a chocolate bar. A between-subjects factorial experiment-conducted by manipulating third-party sustainable labels (presence/absence of the labels) and self-declared claims (absence of the claim, formal claim, and friendly claim)-was used to test: (a) the effect of TPLs and self-declared claims on consumers' perceptions, purchase intention, and willingness to pay, (b) whether this effect was mediated through the perceived credibility of the sustainability message, and (c) what kind of tone-of-voice adopted in the company's claim was more effective. Data were collected via an online survey among a sample of 315 consumers (age range: 18-39 years) in South Italy. We found that third-party labels, "alone" were not effective in influencing consumers' perceptions and willingness to buy/pay, while a self-declared claim, especially if characterized by a formal tone of voice, had a much more relevant impact. The combination of TPLs and self-declaration affected most consumers' willingness to pay when the copy claim was informal. The perceived credibility of the sustainability message mediated the relationships between self-declared claims and the majority of the dependent variables, while, with reference to the relationship between TPLs and dependent variables, it did not act as a mediator.
... una sinergia da valorizzare. Titolo Rivista: ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO. Autori/Curator... more ... una sinergia da valorizzare. Titolo Rivista: ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO. Autori/Curatori: Sergio Sciarelli, Carla Rossi. Anno di pubblicazione: 2007 Fascicolo: 2 Lingua: IT Numero pagine: 28 Dimensione file: 135 KB. ...
... una sinergia da valorizzare. Titolo Rivista: ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO. Autori/Curator... more ... una sinergia da valorizzare. Titolo Rivista: ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO. Autori/Curatori: Sergio Sciarelli, Carla Rossi. Anno di pubblicazione: 2007 Fascicolo: 2 Lingua: IT Numero pagine: 28 Dimensione file: 135 KB. ...
Il lavoro, fondendo diversi filoni di ricerca - di cui i più centrali sono quelli relativi alla c... more Il lavoro, fondendo diversi filoni di ricerca - di cui i più centrali sono quelli relativi alla consumer agency, alla collaborative e open innovation, alle comunità online e neo-tribù di consumo - legge e interpreta, anche alla luce dell'analisi di alcuni significativi casi empirici, le modalità attraverso le quali i consumatori sono coinvolti nei processi di creazione dei brand, delle esperienze ad essi associate, delle strategie di marketing e, talvolta, nello stesso processo di sviluppo di nuovi prodotti, cercando di evidenziare le implicazioni (le sfide manageriali) e i limiti della co-creazione online.
Even though safety and security have always been central concepts to tourism (and to the wider wo... more Even though safety and security have always been central concepts to tourism (and to the wider world), in the aftermath of the September, 11 2001 tragic event, these concepts (and their relationship with tourism) have gained substantial global interest. The paper aims to: discuss the concept of crisis management and its relevance to tourism at a 'macro' level (the destination); focus on the destination marketing management of prolonged crisis, caused by non-sporadic events, in particular those related to destination safety and security problems; assess, on the basis of international case-histories, the specific difficulties that arise when crisis management is 'embedded' in a fragmented and multi-faced industry as tourism is. How tourist destinations react to crisis? Which measures are taken and what impact do they have? When (under what circumstances ) these measures show greater effectiveness? How can a destinations accrue its readiness to face such crisis situatio...
Purpose -Focusing the attention on firm-hosted online consumers communities, this paper will anal... more Purpose -Focusing the attention on firm-hosted online consumers communities, this paper will analyze the managerial challenges that companies have to face to leverage consumers' creative talent involving them in innovative collaboration processes. Methodology approach -A detailed case history, whose reconstruction was based on nonparticipant observation. Findings -The paper clarifies some of the "soft" issues that firms have to manage when trying to support effective learning processes with their customers, focusing on the efforts that companies have to made in order to remove all the stumbling blocks that could prevent an ongoing and effective dialogue with their customers. Research implications -The paper suggests an interpretative model of pre-conditions needed to enact online collaborative product innovation, in particular focusing on: -barriers to be removed and competences that firms need to develop, in order to promote, maintain and increase customer's engagement in the exchange; -benefits that have to be offered to customer in order to maintain the right level of motivation and participation. Practical implications: The paper specifies some of the main community management activities the firms should learn to governate in order to accrue the probability of their blogs' success. Originality/value: A contribution to the debate on co-creation, whose results can not be taken for granted, requiring, instead, a gret managerial effort.
The paper aims to outline the managerial challenges faced by the organizations interested in leve... more The paper aims to outline the managerial challenges faced by the organizations interested in leveraging knowledge and creative talent embedded in online customers' communities to sustain innovation in b-2-c industries. Through a detailed case-study analysis of a leading food producer who launched an online open collaborative platform to gather users' idea for new productsthe paper aims to highlight the transformational effort that firms have to make in order to leverage knowledge absorption from customers in the context of innovation. The paper suggests potential strategies for conventional companies to engage consumers in knowledge (co-creation) and collaborative innovation processes, formulating some hypothesis that could support an interpretative model of the capabilities needed to develop, maintain and increase customer's engagement in the exchange. On the basis of the case analyzed, the paper suggests some managerial actions that could be adopted to facilitate customers' engagement in processes of collaborative learning and innovation, outlining the potential barriers (in primis the managerial reluctance) that could prevent a successful result. The case contributes to the literature on co-creation, demonstrating how it can be progressively achieved and improved, trough a combination of management and marketing strategies, addressed not only to accrue users' motivation but also managerial commitment.
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