Mar'21

The IUP Journal of Brand Management

Focus

The first paper, "Silence Is Silver, but Speech Is Golden: Intelligent Voice Assistants (IVAs) and Their Impact on a Brand's Customer Decision Journey with a Special Focus on Trust and Convenience - A Qualitative Consumer Analysis in the Netherlands", by Karien Oude Wolbers and Nadine Walter, explores how IVAs can be used in different stages of a brand's consumer decision journey, based on a qualitative study carried out in The Netherlands. It is found that IVAs have an influence during all stages of the purchase cycle. However, advertisements on IVAs are not received with much confidence. Further, IVAs are used more often to guide purchases of low-value and low-risk items. Other routes continue to play a major role in the decision journey for the purchase of big ticket items.

The second paper, "The Influence of Diversity Climate on Employer Branding: 2020 and Beyond", by Cassandra Wells, Rubina F Malik and Vickie Cox Edmondson, is about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Employer brands with a positive diversity reputation have a higher propensity to attract prospective employees from traditionally excluded groups. This paper is set in the context of the US, and explores how using diversity as a parameter in employer branding affects predominantly white organizations. It also proposes a framework for deploying diversity and inclusion initiatives for employer branding.

The influence of social media on tourists' perceptions about tourist spots is the subject of study of the third paper, "Social Media as a Credible E-Source of Information: A Study of Tourists' Perception", by Sabari Shankar R. Tourists use social media at three stages-during planning, during the trip itself and later on to post their feedback. Providing trustworthy information on social media is extremely important for marketersof tourist destinations.

We end this issue with a caselet on Kama Ayurveda-"Kama Ayurveda: Globalizing the Ancient Ayurveda" by Nitu Saxena-which has achieved success as a luxury Ayurvedic brand by adopting natural ingredients and eco-friendly practices. It has a chain of more than 50 stores spread across the length and breadth of India, along with a strong online presence.

-R Harish
Consulting Editor

Article   Price (₹)
Silence Is Silver, but Speech Is Golden: Intelligent Voice Assistants (IVAs) and Their Impact on a Brand's Customer Decision Journey with a Special Focus on Trust and Convenience - A Qualitative Consumer Analysis in the Netherlands
100
The Influence of Diversity Climate on Employer Branding: 2020 and Beyond
100
Social Media as a Credible E-Source of Information: A Study of Tourists' Perception
100
Kama Ayurveda: Globalizing the Ancient Ayurveda
100
Articles

Silence Is Silver, but Speech Is Golden: Intelligent Voice Assistants (IVAs) and Their Impact on a Brand's Customer Decision Journey with a Special Focus on Trust and Convenience - A Qualitative Consumer Analysis in the Netherlands
Karien Oude Wolbers and Nadine Walter

Intelligent Voice Assistants (IVAs) have become a new phenomenon in Marketing. The paper analyzes how IVAs can be used in different stages of a brand's consumer decision journey. Since trust and convenience are seen as major drivers for usage adoption, their impact on IVAs is investigated. For this purpose, primary in-depth interviews with eight IVA users in the Netherlands were conducted in July/August 2019. The results show that IVAs have a significant impact on all stages of a brand's consumer decision journey. In the pre-purchase stage, consumers refuse to be exposed to advertisements over IVAs, but find recommendations helpful. For gathering information about products and services, the phone or laptop is still preferred to the IVA because voice-proof SEO is still seen as inferior. When it comes to purchase, consumers can imagine buying simple, lower-price, daily-use items over an IVA, such as groceries, personal care products, food delivery and transportation. Customers do not trust their IVA yet with more expensive or complex products (e.g., electronics) because they see a higher risk if the IVA does not interpret the order correctly. Also, products that require visualization (clothes, hotel) are less considered for conversational commerce. Regarding payment, consumers hardly have any trust issues with providing an IVA personal information or payment details. In the post-purchase step, informational services (such as information on delivery times, the return process or warranty) and providing reviews are identified as key functionalities of IVAs. The most potential for conversational commerce currently lies in the repurchase of products or services customers have already bought. At this point, the customer saves time and effort through a simplified decision journey.


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Article Price : Rs.100

The Influence of Diversity Climate on Employer Branding: 2020 and Beyond
Cassandra Wells, Rubina F Malik, and Vickie Cox Edmondson

Employer branding of a positive diversity reputation creates the expectation that an organization is a good place to work for traditionally excluded groups. Due to today's racial animus in the US and accompanying beliefs towards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives (DEI), employees are apt to pay close attention to the messages that leaders in Predominantly White Organizations (PWOs) send to prospective and current employees. Not only are organizations apt to reflect upon their commitment to DEI (Feintzeig, 2020), but employees from traditionally excluded groups may rethink their participation in DEI and their commitment to helping a company build a brand and develop products when their contributions may be questioned. Conservative employees from higher status groups may make demands on their leaders that defy their current DEI practices (Sonnemaker, 2020). The paper examines employer branding of diversity practices in PWOs in the US and contributes to the existing DEI research in two primary ways. First, we outline the problem that using diversity in employer branding poses in PWOs with low diversity climates. Then, we propose a framework that extends our understanding of DEI that can be used by management and human resource professionals to facilitate employer branding.


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Article Price : Rs.100

Social Media as a Credible E-Source of Information: A Study of Tourists' Perception
abari Shankar R

The study examines the tourists' perception about the credible information available on social media about the destinations and whether respondents' sociodemographic profile impacts their perception. Literature review found the supporting facts from research on the information aspects available on social media about the tourist spots. With convenient sampling technique, this empirical research was conducted. A structured questionnaire containing the necessary study factors was distributed to 226 tourists through Google form. The acquired data was analyzed through MANOVA technique of SPSS. MS Excel was also used for preparing charts to classify the respondents' demographics. It has been found that, age, occupation and income of tourists did not have any impact on the perception whether the information available on social media was authentic. Suggestions were provided for the marketers and limitations were also indicated.


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Article Price : Rs.100

Caselet - Kama Ayurveda: Globalizing the Ancient Ayurveda
Nitu Saxena

Kama Ayurveda Private Limited was co-founded by four individuals who believed in the ancient healing power of Ayurveda. They created products with natural ingredients and launched a range of herbal products in partnership with the 100-year-old Arya Vaidya Pharmacy of Coimbatore. Their products come from lush green gardens and are paraben and sulphate-free. They do not use artificial coloring and fragrances. Moreover, they do not use animal testing. This company ensures social sustainability by engaging forest communities, small-scale farmers and artisans. The company's total tally of physical stores is around 55 with a strong online presence. The company resorts to social media marketing to attract the young and affluent customers. Their annual turnover is close to 75 crores. The luxury Ayurveda brand found a partner in Puig, a Barcelona-based beauty house which has pledged to invest 100 crores in the business. With top brands investing in their business, it is an opportunity for the Kama Ayurveda to expand globally. The key global markets which they wish to venture into are the US, UK and Japan.


© 2021 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Article Price : Rs.100