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With channels of distribution changing rapidly and multichanneling becoming increasingly widespread, studies of consumers will need to focus not just on understanding product choice, but also on understanding the reasons for channel choice. Although the choice of individual channels and the adoption of new channels has been researched, there is little to suggest that we have a more general understanding of why consumers, although purchasing essentially similar products, use some channels rather than others. Using the example of financial services, where multi-channeling has been the norm for some time, this paper reports on an exploratory study to identify those factors which influence channel choice. Based on the results of focus group discussions, the paper argues that channel choice in financial service can usefully be conceptualised as being determined by consumer, product channel and organisational characteristics, with product-channel interactions and consumer-channel interactions being particularly important.

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Purpose -Extant research has examined consumer acceptance of the internet in various contexts mainly as a dichotomy (adoption/non-adoption), thus ignoring the process underlying adoption. This paper aims to provide insights into factors determining the extent to which an innovation is adopted. Design/methodology/approach -The paper reviews the literature on the technology acceptance model (TAM), and justifies the use of this model to explore the factors contributing to the extent to which consumers use the internet as a distribution channel for financial services (FS). Data are collected through telephone interviews with 300 UK consumers responding to a questionnaire. Findings -The application of the TAM model is helpful but additional links need to be included.The key drivers of extent of use are past experience with the internet as a purchasing channel (for non-FS) and attitudinal aspects, i.e. positive emotions towards the internet as a distribution channel for FS. Insecurity about this channel does not appear to be an obstacle and perceived usefulness is not directly linked to extent of use but fully mediated via attitude towards the channel. Consumers with computer access from home, those with an active interest in FS, as well as consumers who have general online purchasing experience tend to find this channel easy to use, which, jointly with perceived usefulness, leads to a positive attitude toward this distribution channel.Research limitations/implications -The findings are limited to the FS online retail context and may not be generalisable beyond this context. Future research should be considered using a longitudinal approach. Practical implications -FS retail providers should consider prior experience with the internet as a distribution channel and product category involvement as segmentation bases, and also provide more opportunities for consumers to try and observe the internet as a distribution channel. Originality/value -This research explores the determinants of consumer acceptance of online retailing from a process-based rather than a binary view of adoption of an innovation.

Contemporary branding literature views brand identity as socially constructed through complex interactions between multiple stakeholders. Despite extant work on how brand communities and individuals contribute towards brand identity formation, our understanding of management-led processes constituting part of the wider process of a socially constructed brand identity is still under-developed. Drawing on in-depth interviews with senior executives of a luxury automotive company and a netnography of its online brand community, we develop a process model of corporate brand identity co-creation, comprising three management-led processes: 'nurturing brand passion', 'bridging' corporate brand identity meanings and 'partnering', and associated activities through which management contribute to the wider process of corporate brand identity formation with community members and other stakeholders. By highlighting the interlinked and recursive nature of these processes and activities in the resulting model, the study offers a deeper understanding of the ways in which management are involved in co-creating corporate brand identity. Keywords: Corporate branding; brand identity; co-creation; online brand communities stakeholders in relation to their individual and collective identities. The concept of cocreation, which is viewed as the process by which firms and consumers collaborate and participate in value creation (Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004), thus becomes critical to our theorisation of the brand identity as "meanings" (Csaba and Bengtsson 2006; da Silveira et al. 2013; Lucarelli and Hallin 2014; von Wallpach 2017). However, the relevance of the cocreation process in brand building remains under-theorised (Ramaswamy and Ozcan 2016; Csaba and Bengttson 2006). So far, only a few studies within the stakeholder-and processoriented branding literatures have offered empirical insights into the reciprocal co-creation of brand and stakeholder identities (von Wallpach et al. 2017;Black and Veloutsou 2017;Kornum et al. 2017;Vallaster and von Wallpach 2013). Nevertheless, more is known about how consumers and brand communities engage in co-creating brand identity compared to brand managers. Consequently, the nature and implications of how managers interact with other stakeholders in this dynamic social process of nested meanings of brand identity remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to explore how brand managers contribute to the process of corporate brand identity co-creation with members of brand communities.The study is based on a single case study (Yin 2009) of Aston Martin, an iconic luxury automotive manufacturer with a strong corporate brand. Five in-depth interviews with senior marketing managers and netnographic data collected from the firm-hosted online brand community over a period of six months, resulting in 215 posts and 35,000 aggregated comments including replies, form the basis for our analysis. The key contribution of this paper is the development of a process model, which demonstrates the dialectical relations...