Purpose – It has been suggested that the future success of non-profit organizations lies in ensuring the sustainable involvement of the Millennial generation through social network sites. Facebook is a social media (SM) network that creates new research contexts and methodologies in service management. Organizations must now engage in learning how customer-with-customer interactions in SM could work best for them. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the factors influencing Millennials support for social causes through their autonomous engagement in the public environment of SM. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted two studies of events for social causes (breast cancer and youth homelessness). In each, two Facebook event pages appealing to others-benefits and self-benefits were designed. Participants were randomly assigned the task of examining the appeal pages online. The dependent variables were two sets of intentions in support of the cause (online and offline). The effectiveness of an others-benefit vs a self-benefit Facebook appeal, the influence of empathetic identification with these causes and the direct and mediating effects of autonomous motivation was studied. Findings – The studies provide consistent evidence that, to gain Millennial's support for social causes through SM, it is better to appeal mainly to the benefits others derive than to benefits to the self. Autonomous motivation is a strong predictor of supportive intentions and it also significantly mediates the positive influence of empathetic identification with a cause. Self-reported behavioral data following the youth homelessness event provided empirical evidence that the supportive intentions data were valid predictors of actual behaviors. Originality/value – The paper used innovative experimental and correlational research methodologies to address Millennial's social behaviors within a SM context. The paper also introduced self-determination theory of motivation to this literature. From a practical standpoint, Millennials readily engage in impression management. Therefore, their supportive activities should be publicly lauded. Managers should also identify those Millennials who already empathize with the cause and facilitate their ability to influence other members in their networks. SM are changing at a fast pace and managers should employ Millennials in developing pertinent strategies and practices to keep pace. Taking advantage of marketing “with” Millennials can facilitate the development of new approaches for creating and supporting cause events.
A plethora of studies in psychology, communication and advertising indicate that the first and last phases of an event are predominant in customer evaluations. Many practitioners also argue that the first and the last impressions made by an advisor in a selling context have the most important influence on clients' evaluations. However, few researchers have studied this phenomenon in the marketing literature. We conducted a survey of more than 500 clients. Following structural equation modeling analyses, our results indicate that perceived quality and trust were found to be influenced by the initial impression, whereas satisfaction was mostly impacted by the final impression. Several managerial recommendations and research avenues are presented in this article.
Les caractéristiques relationnelles du site Web ont-elles un impact sur la confiance des clients en ligne ?L'article a pour objectif d'examiner l'effet des caractéristiques relationnelles du site Web sur la confiance des clients en ligne. Un sondage a été réalisé auprès de 227 consommateurs de services financiers en ligne. Des analyses par équations structurelles ont permis de souligner l'impact positif de la qualité de la communication et de la qualité du support sur la confiance en ligne. Cette dernière est cependant influencée négativement par la présence d'une communauté virtuelle sur le site. Des implications théoriques et managériales découlent des résultats et sont présentées dans le texte. Mots clés: confiance en ligne, caractéristiques du site, marketing relationnel, institutions financières, Web 2.0 Do relational characteristics of the Web Site have an impact on customers' online trust?This article aims to examine the impact of relational Web site characteristics on customers' online trust. 227 consumers of online financial services completed a survey. Structural equation analyses underline the positive impact of communication quality and support quality on online trust but a negative influence of the presence of virtual community. Theoretical and managerial implications follow from the results and are presented in the text.
Un très grand nombre d'études en psychologie, en communication et en publicité montrent que les phases d'introduction et de conclusion d'un événement sont prépondérantes dans l'évaluation d'ensemble des consommateurs. Plusieurs praticiens considèrent d'ailleurs que la première et la dernière impression effectuée par un conseiller dans une rencontre de vente constituent les moments qui influencent le plus les évaluations des clients. Pourtant, peu de chercheurs ont étudié ce phénomène dans la littérature en marketing. Nous avons réalisé un sondage auprès de plus de 500 clients. Suivant des analyses de modélisation d'équations structurelles, nos résultats indiquent que la qualité perçue et la confiance sont influencées par l'impression initiale, alors que la satisfaction est influencée par l'impression finale. Des recommandations stratégiques et des opportunités de recherche sont présentées.
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