Australasian Marketing Journal

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) interactions continue to grow in volume in the marketplace. Consumers interact on online platforms to socialise, exchange digital content and information, and trade. Yet, conceptualisations of engagement in marketing contexts are dominated by models based on consumer-brand or consumer-firm interactions, often conceptualised from the perspective of S-D Logic. Alternative frameworks are required to understand engagement in C2C contexts. This paper reports the results of a qualitative investigation of consumer engagement in one C2C context, the online C2C auction, reflecting an experiential view of the consumer. The research sought to conceptualise engagement in a C2C context, explore the relationship between consumer value and consumer engagement in this context, and the role that consumer engagement might play in encouraging ongoing participation in the consumption activity. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 users of online C2C auctions. Three contrasting approaches to analysis were applied to the qualitative dataset – phenomenological analysis of stories of consumption, thematic analysis of interview transcripts, and content analysis to identify words and phrases expressing engagement. A conceptualisation of consumer engagement as a motivational construct in C2C contexts is developed. A cycle of engagement is identified: consumer engagement is seen to arise from consumption experiences that provide value to the consumer; engagement prompts ongoing consumption activity; the cycle of engagement continues as long as value is derived from the consumption experiences. Applications of this conceptualisation of consumer engagement are explored.

The recent wave of luxury ventures in China has created an important need to understand luxury brand-building in China. A critical component of this research domain is the concept of country-of-origin (CoO). Chinese ventures use multiple country associations which makes the country one of the most suitable places to study the new phenomenon of hybrid brands. This marks a new stage in the evolution of CoO research. Findings stemming from a conceptual research and an explorative study are used to develop a conceptual model for managing CoO affiliations for hybrid brands within the context of Chinese luxury brands. Practical implications will help brand managers to understand which CoO facets make a luxury brand ‘Chinese’ and, on the other hand, how to improve brand prestige with Western CoO cues.

The impact of health risk behaviours on the social and economic fabric of society is of concern to social marketers and policy makers. Current research suggests social capital, that is, the positive benefits gained from a relationship with others in the community, plays a key role in addressing health risk behaviours. The current literature on social capital and health is fragmented, and the field has yet to produce an up-to-date synthesis of past findings to help researchers understand the current status of this research area. This article fills this gap with an integrative review of empirical research based on rigorous criteria. Boolean search was used to limit the search to only those articles containing the keywords ‘social capital’ and ‘health risk’ but no limits were applied for country or population of interest or publication start date. Two researchers screened through the title, abstract and introduction of every retrieved article independently according to the inclusion criteria. A total of 105 articles were eligible for further analyses. This article contributes by: (1) providing a structured overview with an aim to disentangle the findings of varied past studies addressing the theme; (2) identifying important gaps in current knowledge; (3) presenting a research agenda that flows logically from the theoretical gaps identified; and lastly (4) proposing a theoretical framework upon which social capital interventions can be designed and executed to mitigate health risk. We hope that the key issues and new directions presented in this paper will provide new impetus in this area of research.

The present research demonstrates how the ownership and authenticity of the money can affect people's behavior to accept or provide help. Through three experiments (N = 260), this research illustrates novel explanations of some inconsistencies in the literature on money and helping behavior. In particular, this research shows that ownership increases (decreases) one's willingness to accept help with a problem-solving task when participants are primed with fake (real) money (Studies 1 and 2). However, the willingness to help others decreases (increases) when participants are primed with fake (real) money of their own (Studies 2 and 3). Further, this research shows that money's authenticity has an impact on purchase intentions as well as a desire to donate money to a not-for-profit organization (Study 3). Finally, results demonstrate that the pain of payment mediates this effect. Our findings suggest some (but not all) types of money reminders improve prosocial behavior.

The agricultural, industrial, and post-industrial service economy consumption patterns of the late 19th and 20th centuries have given way to the experience economy. Qualia addresses the inner needs of consumers’ hearts by providing them with the value of happiness and being gratified, e.g. the frenzy for Apple products. To achieve this, a relevant Consumer Qualia Scale (CQS) scale will be developed in three steps. Firstly, the literature review and five in-depth interviews of experts and content analysis were employed to generate the initial items. Secondly, three factors and eight sub-factors were extracted from the exploratory factor analysis based on 817 samples. Thirdly, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed to identify the validity of the qualia scale. The results showed that the 3-factor and the 52-item qualia scale were reliable and valid. This study expands the current knowledge of brand marketing and addresses the scarcity of the qualia literature, and therefore provides new perspectives to a variety of applications made feasible by CQS, which serves as a framework for further empirical research in this field.

In a mediation model the effect of a dependent variable (DV) on an outcome is (partially) due to the DV's effect on one or multiple mediator(s) that consequently have an effect on the outcome. The use of such models as the theoretical background guiding empirical studies is widespread. Mediation models are fundamentally causal models that specify causal sequences. Unfortunately, the necessary causal assumptions are in practice often violated. In the current paper, we discuss possible improvements of causal mediation analyses, and highlight some potential pitfalls. We discuss the benefits gained by analyzing indirect effect between latent variables specified with measurement models. The validity of statistical findings can also be improved by using experimental designs. We discuss the cross-over design and the cross-over encouragement design, and how they can help improve causal conclusions. We also discuss recent advances on sensitivity analyses in the context of mediation models. Specifically, we explain how this analysis can be used to argue for the severity of unobserved confounding. Lastly, we discuss the practice of reversing the direction of the arrow between variables in a mediation model. We argue that if such reversals result in equivalent models, this practice cannot be recommended.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is extensively used in marketing research. For some years now, there has been a somewhat heated debate among proponents and detractors of the use of the partial least squares (PLS) method for SEM. The classic PLS design, originally proposed by Herman Wold, has a number of advantages over covariance-based SEM; e.g., minimal model identification demands. However, that design does not base its model parameter recovery approach on the estimation of factors, but on composites, which are exact linear combinations of indicators. This leads to adverse consequences, primarily in the form of unacceptable levels of type I and II errors. Recently a new factor-based method for SEM has been developed, called PLSF, which we discuss in this paper. This method has the advantages of classic PLS, but without the problems inherent in the use of composites. For readers interested in trying it, the PLSF method is implemented in the SEM software WarpPLS.