This study examines how environmental knowledge, environmental concerns, attitudes toward energy conservation, and perceived monetary benefits affect two types of energy conservation behaviors, i.e., curtailment behavior and purchase behavior. Using survey data from 405 consumers, partial least squares structural equation modeling shows that knowledge about energy conservation and concern about energy shortages shape attitude toward energy conservation, leading to curtailment behavior and purchasing energy-efficient appliances (EEAs). Furthermore, attitude and curtailment behavior sequentially mediate the effects of knowledge about energy conservation and concern about energy shortages on EEA purchase behavior, with perceived monetary benefits strengthening the attitude-purchase behavior relationship. While necessary condition analysis identifies general environmental concern as necessary for developing a favorable energy conservation attitude, importanceperformance map analysis suggests that improving knowledge about conservation should be prioritized in policy initiatives. These insights provide implications for policymakers and practitioners, including manufacturers and retailers, by identifying multiple pathways and influencing mechanisms for promoting consumers' energy conservation behaviors through curtailment and EEA purchases.

Extending clothing lifespans is a crucial step in advancing the transition to a circular economy. Past studies have highlighted the need to distinguish between social and technical lifespans of clothing (Laitala et al., 2018), as well as how/when to measure lifespan, whether in number of wears or number of years (Klepp et al., 2020). While research has been conducted on clothing lifespans in European contexts (WRAP 2019) and in Europe, Asia and the USA (Laitala & Klepp, 2020), this area remains underexplored in Australia, which presents a unique cultural and economic landscape. This paper investigates the expected lifespans of clothing in Australian households. Factors such as age, gender, and income can significantly impact how long consumers expect their clothing to last. By examining these variables, this research can provide insights into consumer behaviour and preferences, which can inform targeted interventions and educational campaigns to promote sustainable clothing practices.

New brand launches are notoriously risky, with high failure rates. Yet, most research focuses on the out-of-store factors inherent to their success/failure, overlooking strategies that can be employed in-store. The present research addresses this oversight by examining the influence of two in-store factors, distraction and shelf position, and their impact on a new brand’s visibility on the shelf. We draw on a unique data set featuring a real-life new brand entrant into the Australian market. Using an experimental design in a shopper laboratory, and mobile eye-tracking, we find that the new brand stands a greater chance of being noticed and visually attended to on the shelf when shoppers are distracted. This is attributed to shoppers dwelling longer in front of the fixture, being more open to new-to-the-consumer brands, and by negatively affecting the top-down processing of existing brands on the shelf. We also find that optimising shelf position, which is a common in-store marketing tactic for existing brands, may not produce the same return on investment for a new brand. The findings offer valuable theoretical and practical implications for improving the success rates of new brand launches, including selection of distribution channels, allocation of marketing resources, and the interplay between in-store and out-of-sore factors driving shopper behaviour.

This study investigates key stakeholder factors that contribute to big data organizational culture, leading to the adoption of digitalization strategy in the hospitality industry. It also determines the interaction between big data organizational culture and leader commitment in influencing digitalization strategy adoption. Following a pilot test to ensure the suitability of the measures, a three-wave survey was conducted to obtain data from 438 hotels in an emerging economy. Structural equation modeling results reveal that three stakeholder factors (i.e., customer orientation, supplier cooperation, and employee information technology skills) positively affect big data organizational culture, which in turn enhances the adoption of digitalization strategies. Moreover, leader commitment moderates the link between big data organizational culture and digitalization strategy adoption. These findings advance the extant literature on hospitality digital transformation and digitalization strategy. They also provide important implications for hospitality managers in understanding and promoting big data culture and digitalization strategy adoption.

If social partnerships can lead to favourable outcomes for not-for-profit organisations (NPOs), what steps are managers taking to achieve such outcomes? We address this question by conducting a mixed-methods study in a professional sports social partnership context in Australia. First, a survey with 4,193 sport team fans - a key target audience for NPOs was conducted to understand the impact of contextual factors (i.e. NPO reputation and perceived fit) on the consumer behaviour process, including donation, volunteer, and advocacy intentions for NPOs involved in a social partnership. Following the confirmation of favourable NPO outcomes, interviews with 11 NPO managers were conducted to explore the business practice inputs of their social partnerships. Interviews showed social partnerships were characterised by a power imbalance in favour of the sports organisation leading to a lack of co-creation of value. Further, despite an expressed intention to formalise the partnerships, formality waned as the partnership moved through the different partnership stages. Results across the two studies demonstrate the need for a more deliberate and strategic approach to social partnerships. Theoretically, we build on the limited work addressing the NPO perspective of social partnerships by adopting a dual stakeholder perspective.

PurposeThis study investigates how rational, coercive and emotional influence tactics affect key factors in managing relationships between marketing channel members, i.e. knowledge transfer, relational capital and channel conflict management.Design/methodology/approachA three-way time-lagged sample data were obtained from purchase managers of 559 firms across industries in Vietnam. Structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze the data and test hypotheses in the research model.FindingsThe results indicate that rational tactics positively affect knowledge transfer, relational capital and channel conflict management. However, coercive tactics have a contrasting effect and emotional tactics have a mixed impact on these three factors. Moreover, knowledge transfer and relational capital mediate the link between influence tactics and channel conflict management.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the extant literature by clarifying the mechanism through which different types of influence tactics affect the key factors in marketing channel relationship management. The findings highlight various tactics managers can use to foster knowledge transfer, relational capital and channel conflict management.

This research examines a novel reason for service providers withholding aspects of optimal service quality: hesitation. Previous research has shown that physiotherapists often hold back on delivering non-treatment based physical activity (NTPA) advice over concerns that it is not welcomed by patients. Using a survey method (N = 587), we found that users and non-users of physiotherapy find it likely and important to receive NTPA advice; NTPA is also positively linked to satisfaction. This study debates hesitation as a possible disconnect between customer expectations of value that is co-created in the physiotherapy clinic (“joint sphere”) vs. the outside of the clinic (“customer sphere”).

Socially stigmatized service workers (SSWs) like probation officers, social workers, and even aged care workers are often subject to negative media scrutiny when a crisis occurs, leading to public outrage and subsequent high attrition rates. The primary focus of this study is to examine the potential for marketing communication to generate a state of empathic concern amongst the public towards SSWs because an empathic public is less likely to want to punish, despite media calls to do so. A case is presented for the use of marketing communication explained through the lens of narrative execution and the general theory of emotion. Using a content analysis of public service announcements from representative bodies of social workers, in the US, UK and Australia we find little evidence of strategic intent to use narrative format or elicit empathic concern. A call and direction for further research is made in light of this finding.

As professional sports teams commonly partner with multiple charity organizations to achieve corporate social responsibility objectives, the purpose of this research was to measure charity brand awareness among sports fans via unaided recall. Further, this study proposed antecedents to awareness, including; level of fandom, overall season-ticket holder (STH) satisfaction, perceptions of on-field performance, live game viewership frequency, televised game viewership frequency, and digital channel interaction frequency. A survey was used to collect data from STHs across three professional sports teams (n = 8,414). Fan recall of charity partners was low with 1.3% recalling three, 3.5% recalling two, and 9.6% able to recall at least one charity partner. Of the antecedents, overall STH satisfaction and frequency of live game viewership were the most influential while, perceptions of on-field performance returned a significant and negative result. It is advocated sports teams reduce the number of charity partners and charity managers focus communication efforts on more contented STHs who attend live games regularly.

Little is known about how leaders view their role in managing employee mental health (MH). In response, interviews were conducted with 26 Australian CEOs and senior leaders from the private, public, and non-profit sectors across many industries. Qualitative analysis of the interviews identified themes including viewing employee MH as an individual issue, awareness of implicit bias, creating a safe workplace, ignorance of employee MH and best practices, a belief in the value of caring, use of a broad array of programs, and institutional/contextual factors influencing employee MH. A tension-centered approach was used to understand the themes. Tensions found include privacy concerns and managerial ignorance as opposed to employees feeling free to disclose MH information and finding safety and compassion in responses to employee disclosure; that tension can lead to a cycle of ignorance feeding ignorance. Other tensions include whether the organization cannot or can help mental ill health and whether MH is an individual or social/organizational responsibility. Theoretical contributions include identifying potential overlap between various responses to tensions, and caveats regarding the ostensible superiority of one type of response (synthesis). Practical recommendations include the promotion of workplace cultures supportive of disclosure/compassion/safety, and developing metrics to monitor Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs).

Sustainable development practices have become very important for firms to go beyond short-term profitability, towards economic, environmental and social sustainability. This research aims to examine the relationship between a firm's sustainable development practices and its financial performance. Modelled as a multidimensional construct, sustainable development practices are represented by environmental practices, social practices in the workplace and social practices in the community, while financial performance is determined by profitability and growth. Using a mixed method survey, data were obtained from 389 textile firms in Vietnam, where there is a dire need to promote sustainable and environmental practices. Data analysis using partial least squares structural equation modeling demonstrates that sustainable development practices positively affect financial performance directly and indirectly via customer loyalty, employee satisfaction and corporate reputation. The findings also reveal the moderating role of entrepreneurial orientation, whereby the impact of sustainable development practices on financial performance is stronger for firms that are more innovative, proactive and willing to take risks. Taken together, these findings provide support for firms to holistically implement sustainable development practices and adopt an entrepreneurial orientation.

This research aims to develop and validate a scale to measure website service quality in the hotel industry, namely HWebSQ. It also establishes the predictive power of the new scale by examining its relationship with an expected outcome, i.e. customer purchase intention. The research employs a detailed scale development process: domain specification, item generation, scale refinement, purification and validation. Data were collected from tourists who stayed at 4-to-5-star hotels in Vietnam. The findings confirm HWebSQ to be a valid and reliable measure of hotel website service quality containing 34 items with 7 dimensions. These include website functionality, website design, response time, ease of use, information quality, interactivity and security. Each of these dimensions is positively associated with customer purchase intention. The newly developed HWebSQ scale would be valuable to managers of hotels and other accommodation services who are interested in designing and managing websites aimed at attracting and retaining customers.

Retailers often face pressure from stakeholders to address social and environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of retailer corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' perceptions and behavior. Drawing on the theoretical foundations of social identity theory and signaling theory, this study presents and validates a unique model which examines the mediating effects of perceived consumer effectiveness and consumer trust on the relationship between retailer CSR and consumer citizenship behavior. Using a sample of 407 consumers in China, results of structural equation modeling show that retailer CSR is positively associated with consumer citizenship behavior. Additionally, perceived consumer effectiveness and consumer trust positively mediate this association. Taken together, these findings provide support for retailers to develop CSR programs that remind and reinforce consumers’ perceptions about socially responsible behaviors.

Questions: Do Australian adults think that physiotherapists are likely to provide physical activity (PA) advice, general health advice, and physical interventions? Do Australian adults think it is important for physiotherapists to provide each of these services? What factors are associated with adults' expectations of receiving these services from physiotherapists? Design: Online nationwide cross-sectional survey. Participants: Australian adults aged, 18 years who have or have not had a physiotherapy appointment before. Outcome measures: The survey instrument included questions asking respondents if it was both important and likely that a physiotherapist would provide services pertaining to PA and general health-related advice as well as physical interventions. Responses were measured on a 6-point Likert scale. Results: Full responses were obtained from 587 respondents. Most respondents reported that it is likely (40%) or extremely likely (29%) and important (47%) or extremely important (29%) that a physiotherapist provides advice to help them increase their PA levels. This was similar to the percentage of respondents reporting that it is likely (46%) or extremely likely (19%) and important (43%) or extremely important (24%) that a physiotherapist provides advice to help them improve their general health. A similar number of respondents also reported that it is likely (37%) or extremely likely (29%) and important (42%) or extremely important (26%) that a physiotherapist provides massage. The odds of respondents expecting physiotherapists to provide PA advice were higher for those who were older (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.5), chose to see a physiotherapist to feel better and receive a home exercise program (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.0 to 3.9), and felt that physiotherapists met their expectations (OR 4.5, 95% CI 2.2 to 9.3). Conclusion: Australian adults believe it is likely and important that physiotherapists provide PA and general health advice in addition to specific physical interventions. (C) 2019 Australian Physiotherapy Association. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which consumer purchasing behaviour is influenced by advertised information that a product is made with renewable energy. It also seeks to identify why some consumers might respond more favourably. Design/methodology/approach Three experiments were conducted using two samples of university students enroled in Australia. The first experiment tested the main effect of this research, the second tested the potential amplifying effect of locus of control and the third tested the temporal orientation. Findings Consumer respond favourably to products promoted as made with renewable energy. The possible explanation for this is that future temporal orientation (FTO) influences attitude towards the brand, attitude towards the advertisement, purchase intention and willingness to pay a premium for brands. The observed interaction effect between perceived greenness of the advertisement and FTO is also robust to scepticism. Research limitations/implications Results presented here are also derived from responses made by students at a regional Australian university. Although atypical in their profile with most over 30 years of age, findings cannot reliably be generalised to the larger population. Determining how much importance a renewable energy appeal has when it is positioned among other green appeals would reveal the relative usefulness of the focal promotion to marketers. Practical implications Promoting a firm’s use of renewable energy presents an important opportunity to achieve desirable outcomes, and the efficacy of this is magnified within individuals that habitually focus on the future. Social implications These findings benefit society because they contribute towards increasing the frequency of sustainable business practices. It should also encourage policy-makers to implement policy changes (e.g., removing subsidies that prevent renewable energy from attaining cost parity with non-renewable sources of energy), which can result in beneficial economic outcomes. Originality/value This research is the first of its kind to be conducted in an Australian context, providing findings that assist both firms’ and policy-makers’ decision-making.

This article presents an examination of the gender wage gap among tourism and hospitality employees in Australia. Data from the household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (hILDA) Survey—covering the period 2001 to 2014—are used to estimate earnings functions for prime age (25–54) male and female workers. Conventional human capital functions are estimated using a random-effects regression model. The principal findings suggest that, after controlling for an extensive range of sociodemographic characteristics, female tourism and hospitality employees, on average, earned 8.5% and 7.5%, respectively, less than their male counterparts. Although human capital variables like education and work experience play a role in the determination of wages, an employee's gender still continues to be a significant factor in the wage received.

Codesign allows a design team to combine two sets of knowledge that are key to service design: Customer insights into latent user needs and in-house professionals' conversion of promising new ideas into viable concepts. While some studies highlight the potential of codesign, others are more skeptical pointing to a lack of clarity over how the involvement of customers affects the design process and outcomes. This article addresses this knowledge gap by reporting on a real-world comparison of design concepts generated by codesign teams with those generated by an in-house professional team and a team solely made up of users in the course of a library service ideation contest. The comparison indicates that codesign teams generate concepts that score significantly higher in user benefit and novelty but lower in feasibility. However, these outcomes are only possible in cohesive teams that develop design concepts collaboratively. In contrast, in teams where individuals dominate, conflict, less collaboration, and diminished innovation outcomes are more likely. The findings add to a better understanding of the value of codesign and shed light on the complex relationship between design team composition, intrateam factors, and innovation outcomes. Service designers obtain recommendations for selecting customers, assembling teams, and managing intrateam dynamics to enhance codesign success.

The nature of brand intimacy in the context of social media-based brand communities (SMBBCs) remains unclear. This paper aims to explore whether reciprocal factual and emotional self-disclosure can lead to brand intimacy in such a community; whether brand intimacy generates valued marketing outcomes, including attitudes, intentions and behaviours; and what external and internal factors motivate and enable reciprocal factual and emotional disclosures on social media platforms. A review of the relevant literature suggests that reciprocal disclosure may lead to brand intimacy in this context. For marketers, brand intimacy is important for strengthening resistance to negative information, and enhancing positive word-of-mouth, loyalty intentions, purchase intentions and brand passion, as well as developing effective marketing strategies. The degree of anonymity and the special interactivity features of SMBBCs are key external enablers of disclosure. In situations where community members internally seek relations and/or emotional support from other members, they tend to disclose their emotions. Members who internally seek social validation and/or self-expression tend to both disclose, factually and emotionally. Such a conceptual understanding of the importance of brand intimacy, paired with a number of propositions for empirical work, can serve to guide future research into this important field.

Purpose Many firms use customer co-creation practices with the aim of benefiting from their customers’ knowledge, skills and resources. This paper aims to explore co-creation processes which involve users with different background characteristics and motivational drivers. Design/methodology/approach The study builds on an analysis of data from six teams in which users collaborated with in-house professionals for the development of new service concepts. Observations and open-ended questionnaires provided insights into the teams’ development processes. Independent experts rated the generated concepts. The data were analysed using cross-comparison matrices. Findings The findings suggest that the co-creation process and outcomes can be influenced by numerous intra-team factors, including relationship and task conflicts, participation style, team bonding, team identity and cohesiveness and intra-team collaboration. Their occurrence and influence seem to be linked with a specific team composition. A conceptual co-creation process model and six propositions are used to describe the complex relationships between team composition, intra-team factors and key innovation outcomes. Research limitations/implications Research that investigates user involvement in teams needs to consider the complexity of intra-team factors affecting the development process and outcomes. The findings are limited to a specific setting, design task and user sample. Future research should replicate this study in different sectors. Practical implications Key to customer co-creation is the systematic recruitment of users based on their background characteristics and motivational drivers. For instance, the involvement of users with very specific innovation-related benefit expectations can cause conflict, leading to narrowly focused outcomes. This, however, can be mitigated by the form of facilitation and roles adopted by in-house professionals. Understanding intra-team dynamics can allow the firm to assemble and facilitate customer co-creation so that generated outcomes can align with set innovation targets. Originality/value This paper provides original insights into the “black box” of the customer co-creation process and the complex relationship between team composition, intra-team factors and key innovation outcomes.