24 research outputs found
Effect of Perceived Crisis Response on Consumers' Behavioral Intentions During a Company Scandal – An Intercultural Perspective
No full textIn the context of a multi-national company scandal, namely Volkswagen's Dieselgate, we examine the effect of customers' perception of organizational crisis response on their revenge and avoidance intentions in different cultural settings. Using data collected in the US and in Germany, we are able to show that the perception of appropriate crisis response reduces customers' revenge as well as avoidance intentions. However, due to the domestic bias of German respondents, the mechanism linking perception of the organization's crisis response to the respective outcomes differs between Germany and the US. Our results demonstrate for the first time that domestic bias is not always associated with being an amplifier of positive factors; rather, in the context of an organizational scandal, it dampens the effects of organizational crisis response
An Italian perspective of “Dieselgate” related to Volkswagen’s brand image
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the point of view of Italian consumers regarding the emission scandal that involved Volkswagen in fall 2015: the so-called “Dieselgate” scandal.
The following research question is investigated in the paper: What are the main Italian reactions towards the VW brand following the Dieselgate scandal?
After a review of recent academic literature concerning the awareness of the scandal, customer damage and perceived ethical behavior, more than 290 interviews were conducted between September and December 2015. Despite the strong impact of the scandal, Volkswagen has recorded an increase of + 15.8% in its business result on the Italian market for 2015 compared to 2014 . In fact, Italy is a European country with a fully developed import/export car market displaying several typical cultural features of Southern Europe.
The main implication for management is the change of brand image after a global scandal and also following practical steps such as product recalls. Comprehending customers’ reactions to the impact of a scandal is an excellent basis for a better understanding of how to handle a situation of reputation crisis properly. This paper attempts to evaluate the product recall process including company communication as well as the service provided by VW as it is perceived by customers and Italian car drivers in general. The paper will also measure the reaction of consumers regarding the unethical behavior of VW
Effects of Severity and Knowledge of a Scandal on the Perceived Ethical Behavior and Attitude towards a Company: An Intercultural Perspective on CSR Management
No full textOver the last decades, a number of serious corporate scandals have attracted worldwide attention. This study contributes towards understanding the consequences of scandals from a consumer perspective. We use attribution theory to analyze the effects of knowledge of a scandal and personally perceived severity on assessed ethical behavior and attitude towards a company. The recent Dieselgate scandal involving Volkswagen is used as the empirical setting. We test our developed framework using data collected from respondents in the US (the country in which the scandal was initially discovered) and Germany (home country of Volkswagen). Findings show that knowledge of the scandal as well as personally perceived severity of the scandal negatively affect perceived ethical behavior of the company and attitude towards the same, but the results vary between the countries indicating the relevance of a domestic bias in this context. A major implication for management provided by this research is that while a domestic bias mitigates the negative effect of knowledge on consumers’ beliefs and attitudes, it does not mitigate the negative effect of perceived severity
An Italian perspective of “Dieselgate” related to Volkswagen’s brand image
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the point of view of Italian consumers regarding the emission scandal that involved Volkswagen in fall 2015: the so-called “Dieselgate” scandal.
The following research question is investigated in the paper: What are the main Italian reactions towards the VW brand following the Dieselgate scandal?
After a review of recent academic literature concerning the awareness of the scandal, customer damage and perceived ethical behavior, more than 290 interviews were conducted between September and December 2015. Despite the strong impact of the scandal, Volkswagen has recorded an increase of + 15.8% in its business result on the Italian market for 2015 compared to 2014 . In fact, Italy is a European country with a fully developed import/export car market displaying several typical cultural features of Southern Europe.
The main implication for management is the change of brand image after a global scandal and also following practical steps such as product recalls. Comprehending customers’ reactions to the impact of a scandal is an excellent basis for a better understanding of how to handle a situation of reputation crisis properly. This paper attempts to evaluate the product recall process including company communication as well as the service provided by VW as it is perceived by customers and Italian car drivers in general. The paper will also measure the reaction of consumers regarding the unethical behavior of VW
Investigating Consumer Responses to Brand Activism and Artificial Intelligence-driven Tools
No full textCurrent political and technological trends have enormous impact on marketing strategy and consumer behavior. To guide marketing managers and advance theoretical and practical knowledge in these turbulent times, this dissertation focuses on two highly relevant and cutting edge issues, by investigating consumer responses to brand activism (paper 1 and 2) and artificial-intelligence driven tools (papers 3-5).Many societies around the globe experience an increasing political polarization and many consumers expect brands to engage in brand activism, i.e., publicly taking a stand on divisive socio-political issues (Mukherjee & Althuizen, 2020). As a response, brands increasingly advocate for controversial issues such as Black Lives Matters, gun laws or LGBTQIA-rights. Although it seems tempting for brands to actively influence public opinion and to differentiate themselves from competitors at the same time, managers need to be aware about possible backlashes from those consumers who disagree with their stance. Extremely negative consumer reactions might follow, such as people burning their Nike shoes as response to the brands engagement for Black Lives Matter. Empirical evidence has already established that brand activism is a risky strategy (Bhagwat et al., 2020) and scholars call for research to help managers understand the psychological mechanisms influencing the effects of brand activism on consumer responses. Consequently, paper 1 of this dissertation investigates the role of moral emotions (such as anger or gratitude) as mediating factor shaping their reactions when they (dis-)agree with the company’s stance. Thereby, we focus on both company- and issue related responses. Moreover, paper 2 examines the role of consumer-brand identification (CBI) and political ideology related to consumers’ responsiveness to brand activism. In addition, we assess perceived marginalization as further relevant mediating factor, which explains consumer reactions in case of their disagreement with the brand’s position.
As further mega-trend in marketing, the proliferation of Artificial intelligence (AI) driven tools is strongly transforming marketing activities and customer experiences (Longoni & Cian, 2022). Both scholars and practitioners acknowledge the immense and often even disruptive potential of AI-infused applications such as self-driving cars, precise customer-screening and demand-forecasting tools, or service robots (Davenport et al., 2020; Osburg et al., 2022). As one of the most pervasive and prevalent examples, the release of the AI-driven content-generation tool ChatGPT has triggered a real hype. In just five days, it has attracted more than 1 million users, making it the fastest diffusion of a new technology ever recorded (Anderson & Rainie, 2023). Several research studies (including our study in paper 3 which relies on the predecessor model of ChatGPT) revealed that AI-generated content is hardly discernible from human-authored content. Given this high performance and expected efficiency gains for marketing automation, managers are increasingly tempted to use AI as an autonomous content creator. However, the understanding of consumer expectations and responses to AI as a content author remain limited in the marketing domain. Therefore, using the example of a highly relevant marketing text related to talent attraction, paper 3 of this dissertation compares a human-authored text with an AI-generated text. Our research
3
investigates potentials of AI-authored texts for branding activities and explores readers’ reactions to AI disclosure. Moreover, the impact of matched or violated expectations on the company’s image as an employer and the role of feelings of betrayal as a mediating variable are examined.
Studies in various contexts and the results of paper 3 revealed that people tend to have an algorithm aversion, leading to negative effects when AI is disclosed. However, as transparency is going to be a mandatory legislative requirement (e.g., as regulated in the European AI Act (European Parliament, 2023)), managers are increasingly faced with the question how to use AI without risking negative consumer reactions. As a possible solution, paper 4 investigates whether human-AI collaboration could serve as an escape from consumers’ algorithm aversion. Furthermore, this research examines the effectiveness of two distinct collaboration forms (i.e., “AI supporting a human author” vs. “AI author controlled by a human”), and the moderating impact of people’s (general) morality perceptions of a company’s AI use.
ChatGPT and similar tools could also be integrated as digital conversational agents to fully automate various consumer-firm interactions and service processes. Despite an increasing prevalence and high potential for efficiency gains, these chatbots still often fail and recovery strategies are urgently needed. Consequently, paper 5 evaluates the effectiveness of two prominent failure recovery messages to maintain consumer satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, effects of situational factors such as different failure attributions or a double failure are taken into account
Effects of Severity and Knowledge of a Scandal on the Perceived Ethical Behavior and Attitude towards a Company: An Intercultural Perspective on CSR Management
No full textOver the last decades, a number of serious corporate scandals have attracted worldwide attention. This study contributes towards understanding the consequences of scandals from a consumer perspective. We use attribution theory to analyze the effects of knowledge of a scandal and personally perceived severity on assessed ethical behavior and attitude towards a company. The recent Dieselgate scandal involving Volkswagen is used as the empirical setting. We test our developed framework using data collected from respondents in the US (the country in which the scandal was initially discovered) and Germany (home country of Volkswagen). Findings show that knowledge of the scandal as well as personally perceived severity of the scandal negatively affect perceived ethical behavior of the company and attitude towards the same, but the results vary between the countries indicating the relevance of a domestic bias in this context. A major implication for management provided by this research is that while a domestic bias mitigates the negative effect of knowledge on consumers’ beliefs and attitudes, it does not mitigate the negative effect of perceived severity
Effect of Perceived Crisis Response on Consumers' Behavioral Intentions During a Company Scandal. An Intercultural Perspective
No full textIn the context of a multi-national company scandal, namely Volkswagen's Dieselgate, we examine the effect of customers' perception of organizational crisis response on their revenge and avoidance intentions in different cultural settings. Using data collected in the US and in Germany, we are able to show that the perception of appropriate crisis response reduces customers' revenge as well as avoidance intentions. However, due to the domestic bias of German respondents, the mechanism linking perception of the organization's crisis response to the respective outcomes differs between Germany and the US. Our results demonstrate for the first time that domestic bias is not always associated with being an amplifier of positive factors; rather, in the context of an organizational scandal, it dampens the effects of organizational crisis response
Consumer responses to human-AI collaboration at organizational frontlines: strategies to escape algorithm aversion in content creation
No full textAlthough Artificial Intelligence can offer significant business benefits, many consumers have negative perceptions of AI, leading to negative reactions when companies act ethically and disclose its use. Based on the pervasive example of content creation (e.g., via tools like ChatGPT), this research examines the potential for human-AI collaboration to preserve consumers' message credibility judgments and attitudes towards the company. The study compares two distinct forms of human-AI collaboration, namely AI-supported human authorship and human-controlled AI authorship, with traditional human authorship or full automation. Building on the compensatory control theory and the algorithm aversion concept, the study evaluates whether disclosing a high human input share (without explicit control) or human control over AI (with lower human input share) can mitigate negative consumer reactions. Moreover, this paper investigates the moderating role of consumers’ perceived morality of companies’ AI use. Results from two experiments in different contexts reveal that human-AI collaboration can alleviate negative consumer responses, but only when the collaboration indicates human control over AI. Furthermore, the effects of content authorship depend on consumers' moral acceptance of a company's AI use. AI authorship forms without human control lead to more negative consumer responses in case of low perceived morality (and no effects in case of high morality), whereas messages from AI with human control were not perceived differently to human authorship, irrespective of the morality level. These findings provide guidance for managers on how to effectively integrate human-AI collaboration into consumer-facing applications and advises to take consumers' ethical concerns into account
Seeking empathy or suggesting a solution? Effects of chatbot messages on service failure recovery
No full textChatbots as prominent form of conversational agents are increasingly implemented as a user interface for digital customer-firm interactions on digital platforms and electronic markets, but they often fail to deliver suitable responses to user requests. In turn, individuals are left dissatisfied and turn away from chatbots, which harms successful chatbot implementation and ultimately firm’s service performance. Based on the stereotype content model, this paper explores the impact of two universally usable failure recovery messages as a strategy to preserve users’ post-recovery satisfaction and chatbot re-use intentions. Results of three experiments show that chatbot recovery messages have a positive effect on recovery responses, mediated by different elicited social cognitions. In particular, a solution-oriented message elicits stronger competence evaluations, whereas an empathy-seeking message leads to stronger warmth evaluations. The preference for one of these message types over the other depends on failure attribution and failure frequency. This study provides meaningful insights for chatbot technology developers and marketers seeking to understand and improve customer experience with digital conversational agents in a cost-effective way
Consumer responses to human-AI collaboration at organizational frontlines: strategies to escape algorithm aversion in content creation
No full textAlthough Artificial Intelligence can offer significant business benefits, many consumers have negative perceptions of AI, leading to negative reactions when companies act ethically and disclose its use. Based on the pervasive example of content creation (e.g., via tools like ChatGPT), this research examines the potential for human-AI collaboration to preserve consumers' message credibility judgments and attitudes towards the company. The study compares two distinct forms of human-AI collaboration, namely AI-supported human authorship and human-controlled AI authorship, with traditional human authorship or full automation. Building on the compensatory control theory and the algorithm aversion concept, the study evaluates whether disclosing a high human input share (without explicit control) or human control over AI (with lower human input share) can mitigate negative consumer reactions. Moreover, this paper investigates the moderating role of consumers’ perceived morality of companies’ AI use. Results from two experiments in different contexts reveal that human-AI collaboration can alleviate negative consumer responses, but only when the collaboration indicates human control over AI. Furthermore, the effects of content authorship depend on consumers' moral acceptance of a company's AI use. AI authorship forms without human control lead to more negative consumer responses in case of low perceived morality (and no effects in case of high morality), whereas messages from AI with human control were not perceived differently to human authorship, irrespective of the morality level. These findings provide guidance for managers on how to effectively integrate human-AI collaboration into consumer-facing applications and advises to take consumers' ethical concerns into account
