Technology is becoming more central to people’s lives than ever before, and the most widely embraced technological device on the consumer market are mobile phones. This creates an ever-increasing market place for mobile apps, which during 2016 had revenues amounted to 88.3 billion U.S. dollars. The number is expected to increase, and together is estimated to generate 188.9 billion U.S. dollars in revenues 2020. One of the industries affected by this strong online presence is direct selling, where branded mobile apps have started to be used as a sales tool for sales representatives. The apps aim to facilitate the sales representatives’ daily work and bring new opportunities to engage with the end customers in a more convenient way. However, limited research exists about how the sales representatives experience the branded mobile apps in the industry. The purpose of this paper is to explore the sales representatives’ behavior and attitude towards using branded mobile apps within the direct selling industry. This study has been conducted by a quantitative descriptive and exploratory study using a survey. Sales representatives that placed an order exceeding 100 Euros during the last three weeks in five Western culture countries for one direct selling company were targeted. In total, 460 responses were gathered. The result gave some valuable insights although the initial hypothesized benefits could not be confirmed. The findings instead suggest separate items that contributed the most to sales representatives’ satisfaction and purchase intentions. In order to increase satisfaction among sales representatives, branded mobile apps used in direct sales should 1) facilitate the interaction with the company, 2) be easy to navigate with, 3) provide relevant information, 4) be convenient to shop from, and finally 5) work as a good conversation topic in a social context. Further on, the item identified to have the greatest contribution to purchase intentions is how convenient the app is to shop from, i.e. the same as number 4) above. The future challenge for the direct selling industry and its managers is thus to take advantage of these insights and further study how the attributes more practically can be implemented for their business. By focusing on these actions in the creation and development of branded mobile apps, the direct selling industry can expect to achieve higher satisfaction among their sales representatives and also increase their purchase intentions. / Dagens teknik har blivit en allt mer central del i människors liv, och den vanligaste enheten på konsumentmarknaden idag är mobiltelefoner. Detta har skapat en ständigt ökande marknad för mobilappar, som år 2016 genererade 88.3 miljarder U.S. dollar. Antalet appanvändare framöver förväntas att öka, och tillsammans generera 188.9 miljarder U.S. dollar i intäkter år 2020. En av de branscher som påverkats av denna starka närvaro online är direktförsäljning, där appar har börjat användas som försäljningsverktyg för konsulenterna. Apparna syftar till att underlätta konsulenternas dagliga arbete och ge nya möjligheter att engagera sig med slutkunderna på ett lättare och mer fördelaktigt sätt. Dock existerar det lite forskning och kännedom om hur konsulenterna upplever användandet av appar i branschen. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka försäljningsrepresentanternas beteende och attityd gentemot att använda appar inom direktförsäljningsbranschen. Studien har varit både beskrivande och undersökande, och har genomförts genom en samla in kvantitativ data med hjälp av en enkätundersökning. Kunder som har lagt en order över 100 Euros de tre senaste veckorna i fem västeuropeiska länder för ett direktförsäljningsföretag har studerats. Totalt erhölls 460 svar. Resultatet gav flertalet värdefulla insikter, även om de initiala hypoteserna syftade till att undersöka olika fördelar inte kunde bekräftas. Resultaten föreslår istället separata aspekter med störst påverkan på hur nöjda konsulenterna är, samt deras köpintentioner. För att öka nöjdheten bland konsulenter bör appar som används i direktförsäljning 1) underlätta samspelet med företaget, 2) vara lätta att navigera med, 3) tillhandahålla relevant information, 4) vara bekväm att handla från och slutligen 5) fungera som ett bra samtalsämne i ett socialt sammanhang. Vidare kunde det ses att den identifierade aspekten som bidrar mest till konsultenternas köpintentioner är hur bekvämt appen är att handla från, det vill säga samma aspekt som identifierades för konsulenters tillfredställelse under nummer 4) ovan. Den framtida utmaningen för direktförsäljningsindustrin och dess chefer är således att utnyttja dessa insikter och studera vidare hur dessa aspekter kan lämpas mer i praktiken för deras företag. Genom att fokusera på dessa åtgärder vid skapandet och utvecklingen av appar kan direktförsäljningsindustrin räkna med att erhålla högre tillfredsställelse bland sina konsulenter, samt att även öka deras köpintentioner.

Background: With social media being ever present in today's marketing world, research guiding and aiding this phenomenon is of mount importance. With social credibility and source attractiveness being lucrative schemes on citizen influencers persuasiveness towards target followers on Instagram and ultimately the drive of online purchase intentions, a holistic approach is introduced to understand each key determinant of each phenomena. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of citizens influencers’ persuasiveness and its relationship with source credibility and source attractiveness, as well as determining a consumers’ online purchase intention on the social media platform Instagram. Method: The study was written in a quantitative manner, aiding the need for generalizable data within the field. An exploratory research design was used with web-based surveys sent out to the sample selection for completion. Main Findings: Four out of the five hypothesis regarding source credibility and attractiveness towards the persuasiveness of citizen influencers were rejected, indicating interesting results as it contradicts previous literature. Furthermore, online purchase intention hypotheses were found to have more positive alignments towards citizen influencers. Grounds for theoretical and practical implications as well as future research endeavors were found.

Consumers demand for sustainable and ethical products; products that protect the environment as well protect the well-being of workers in every way. Ethical products are a part of sustainability development where companies are obliged to follow guidelines and provide workers with good daily wages and various possibilities to enhance their life. The thesis focuses on ethical consumption and specifically takes a closer look at fair-trade tea. Fair-trade products are produced in a fair way and follow strict guidelines to make sure every worker is cared and provided a respectful life. Due to increase of sustainable products in the market, consumers have become largely aware of the consequences caused by products to the environment. However, when it comes to ethical products, consumers have a disbelief towards unfair situations workers experience. Some consumers believe labor malpractices are often exaggerated and some consumers believe that the victim actually deserves the situation. Even though some consumers would like to contribute, others tend to turn away with a thought that their purchase would not make any significant difference which leads them to not purchase fair- trade products. The thesis explores how and what factors influence such consumers’ minds, with the focus to increase PCE - Perceived Consumer Effectiveness (consumer’s belief that their purchase contributes to a positive outcome). The thesis further examines if PCE directly influences purchase intentions if Belief in Just World and empowering statements influence PCE. Results show that high belief in Just World negatively influences Perceived Consumer Effectiveness. Empowering statements increase awareness on ethical issues and decreases skepticism towards ethical products. The thesis contributes to the theory of PCE and in-store marketing techniques. Triggering PCE at the stores during the point of purchase influences consumers intentions to buy a certain product.

M.Tech (Marketing, Faculty of Management Sciences) Vaal University of Technology / Given the pervasive use of celebrity endorsements and the high costs involved in this marketing strategy, it is important for marketers to have knowledge of the right set of procedures to follow in selecting an ambassador to market their products. This study draws from the undertones of Ohanian’s (1990:46) Source attributes theory, comprising elements of the Source credibility theory as well as the Source attractiveness theory. Whereas the former (trustworthiness and expertise) influences consumer attitudes and behaviour through a process called internalisation, the latter (attractiveness) influences receivers of marketing communication messages through a process called identification. The theory is useful when applied during the initial phase of selecting which celebrity to use to endorse products, to avoid costly mistakes of choosing celebrities that do not possess the right set of attributes for persuading consumers. The purpose of this study was to apply the Source attributes theory in understanding the key attributes towards consumers’ evaluations of the credibility of an athlete-celebrity endorser. Moreover, the influence of athlete endorser credibility on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards the celebrity endorsed advertisement. A quantitative study comprising a non-probability snowball sample of 456 consumers was conducted in 2016, in and around the five major towns of Southern Gauteng province in South Africa. The structured-self administered questionnaire requested participants to indicate their perceptions regarding the attributes of nominated athlete-celebrity, namely, trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness in endorsing the selected product. In addition, the questionnaire related to consumers’ evaluations of the credibility of the selected athlete-celebrity, consumers’ attitude towards the advertisement where the athlete-celebrity appears and purchase intentions towards the endorsed product. Findings from the study indicated that South African consumers have positive perceptions of the selected athlete-celebrity’s trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness. In addition, the measurement model was verified using statistical accuracy tests, thereby confirming that the purchase intentions model was a six-factor structure comprising trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, endorser credibility, attitude towards the advertisement and purchase intentions. The results of both the confirmatory factor analysis and the structural equation modelling suggest that the three dimensions are valid measures of the overall credibility of the athlete- endorser (R2=0.60). This finding provided support for the scale developed by Ohanian (1990) to be a valid vi measure for selecting celebrity endorsers when applied in South Africa. Moreover, the structural model validated the existence of significant, direct impacts of athlete-endorser credibility on attitude towards the advertisement (path estimate=0.704) and attitude towards the advertisement on purchase intentions (path estimate=0.741). Insights gained from this study will assist both marketing academics and practitioners to understand the perceptions of consumers towards the use of athlete-celebrities in product promotions in the South African market. In this regard, if a determination is made that a celebrity could enhance the marketing campaign, marketers should determine to what extent the celebrity should be used. The correct use of the right celebrity, selected in line with these findings, can help ensure greater consumer persuasion.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en förståelse för hur ett företags service recovery på social media påverkar e-observatörers köpintentioner. Metod: Då studien syftar till att skapa en förståelse har en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi använts. Empirin utgörs av semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio respondenter. Som underlag för intervjuerna har två olika scenarier använts innehållande olika service recovery strategier. Den empiri som har samlats in har vidare bearbetats utifrån tematisk analys. Resultat & slutsats: Denna studie visar på att ett företags service recovery på social media påverkar e-observatörers köpintentioner. Ursäkt, kompensation och förklaring anses som de allra viktigaste service recovery strategierna på sociala medier. Detta eftersom dessa strategier har visat sig ha en positiv effekt på e-observatörers köpintentioner, medan en avsaknad av dessa strategier indikerar på en negativ påverkan. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien påvisar att e-observatörer påverkas av ett företags service recovery på sociala medier. På vilket sätt företaget svarar en klagande kund kan ha en betydande effekt på den bild som observerande kunder får av företaget, vilket i sin tur påverkar deras köpintentioner. Ursäkt, kompensation och förklaring anses som viktiga faktorer vid företags hantering av klagomål. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Våra förslag på framtida forskning är att studera andra sociala medier än Facebook, för att se om detta kan ha en effekt på hur e-observatörer påverkas av en service recovery-situation. Ett annat förslag är att undersöka vilken inverkan service recovery har på e-observatörer utifrån andra service recovery strategier än ursäkt och kompensation. Vidare kan det vara av intresse att undersöka om åsikter och intentioner skiljer sig åt mellan olika länder, en tvärkulturell studie är därför ytterligare ett förslag. Avslutningsvis ger vi även förslag på att studera en annan subgrupp och åldersgrupp, då vi studerat en specifik ålders- och subgrupp. / Aim: The aim of the study is to increase the understanding of how a company’s service recovery in social media, affects e-observers’ purchase intentions. Method: The aim of the study is to increase understanding, hence a qualitative method has been used. The empirical data was collected by semi-structured interviews with ten respondents. To support the interviews two scenarios has been used, including different service recovery strategies. The empirical data was further processed through thematic analysis. Result & Conclusions: The study shows that a company’s service recovery in social media, affects e-observers’ purchase intentions. Excuse, compensation and explanation are seen as the most important service recovery strategies in social media. This because all of these strategies have shown to positively affect e-observers’ purchase intentions, while a lack of these strategies has an opposite effect. Contribution of the thesis: Our study shows that a company’s service recovery in social media affects e-observers. In what way a company answers a complaining customer can have a crucial effect on the observing customers’ perception of the company, which in turn affects the e- observers’ purchase intentions. Excuse, compensation and explanation are seen as important factors when handling customer complaints. Suggestions for future research: Our suggestions for future studies is to investigate other social media than Facebook to see how e-observers are affected by a service-recovery-situation. Further, we suggest examining the impact of other service recovery strategies, besides excuse and compensation, on e-observers. It could be of interest to examine if opinions and intentions differ between different countries, i.e. a cross-cultural study. Finally, we have examined a specific subgroup (business students) and age group (16-35 years), hence we suggest examining different types of groups.

SAMMANFATTNING Datum: 2020-06-07 Nivå: Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi, 15 hp Institution: Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens högskola Författare: Jonathan Vahlkvist – (97/12/20) Max Gren – (94/02/02) Titel: Vet du ens om att jag finns? – En utredning av studentkårens marknadskommunikation. Handledare: Aswo Safari Nyckelord: Förtroende, engagemang, Mälardalens studentkår, köpintentioner, kommunikationsstrategi, attityd Frågeställning: Vilka faktorer påverkar studenters framtida köpintentioner gentemot studentkåren? Avgränsningar: Faktorer: attityd, engagemang, förtroende, kommunikationsstrategi. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utvärdera påverkan mellan studentkårens kommunikation och studenternas upplevda förtroende, engagemang, attityd och köpintentioner. Därav ämnar denna studie att undersöka Mälardalens studentkårs kommunikation och relation till studenterna, för att bidra till förbättrade kommunikationsmöjligheter, som sedan kan resultera i en bättre studentkår för studenterna på Mälardalens högskola. Metod: Studien använder en deduktiv ansats. Empiriska data är framtagen i form av enkäter riktade till studenter på Mälardalens högskola. Slutsats: De faktorer som påverkar studenternas framtida köpintentioner gentemot studentkåren är förtroende, engagemang samt attityd. De kommunikationsstrategier som lämpar sig bäst för Mälardalens studentkår är de med fokus på att kommunicera regelbundet med medlemmarna, kommunicera med underhållande och kreativ information samt den där kommunikationen är tydlig och korrekt.

Syfte: Studiens syfte var att öka förståelsens för unga vuxnas förhållningsätt till kreditkort som genomfördes genom att undersöka dess attityder, köpintentioner och kunskaper. Studiens resultat kan vara betydande för banksektorn som har en potentiell lång affärsrelation med kundsegmentet.   För att syftet skulle kunde uppnås ställdes tre olika forskningsfrågor:   Hur kan unga vuxnas attityder till kreditkort beskrivas? Hur kan unga vuxnas köpintentioner till kreditkort beskrivas? Hur kan kunskapsnivån hos unga vuxna gällande kreditkort beskrivas?   Metod: Fallstudie med kvalitativ ansats genom enskilda intervjuer.   Resultat: Studiens resultat visade att det föreligger en korrelation mellan bristfällig kunskap och negativ attityd, som även påverkar köpintentionen. Dessutom visade fallstudiens resultat att rädsla var den betydande attityden mot kreditkort som produkt. Ett fynd var att WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing) påverkade köpintentionen till att teckna kreditkort samtidigt som bankernas marknadsföring inte alls påverkade köpintentionen. / Purpose: This study aimed to find out young adults’ approach regarding credit cards which was done by studying their attitudes, purchase intentions and knowledge towards the product. The results from the study could be of importance for the bank sector which have a potentially long business relation with the youth segment.   The research questions that needed to be answered to reach the purpose was as follows:   How can young adults’ attitudes be described? How can young adults’ purchase intentions be described? How can the knowledge level from young adults’ regarding credit cards be described?   Method: Case study with qualitive approach though separate interviews.   Results: The results from the case study suggested that there was a connection between inadequate knowledge and negative attitude towards credit cards, which in turn effect the purchase intention. Also, fear was the most common attitude against credit card as a product. A finding was that WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing) affected the purchase intention to sign up for a credit card, while the bank marketing did not affect the purchase intention at all.

Background: The expansion of the World Wide Web has presented new challenges for managers. One of these challenges is the shift in power that favors consumers through the uprising of electronic word of mouth (eWOM). This thesis is aimed to the exploration of the effects on consumer purchase intention and brand attitude because of an unsuccessful marketing campaign. Methodology: Interviews have been conducted with a central theme of a case study of Pepsi to gain knowledge on the effects a marketing failure and exposure to eWOM has on students at Luleå University of Technology. Findings: EWOM is indicated to influence consumers’ intention of purchase as well as the attitude for the brand. EWOM is indicated to be influenced by the response to the advertisement in a negative context and may influence consumers to actively share their opinions to others through an electronic medium, thus contributing to the spread of eWOM. The attitude of the brand is indicated to influence the effects of negative eWOM, being of more influence when the brand attitude is bad. Conclusions: Managers and business practitioners need to be aware of the power of eWOM and its effects on purchase intention and brand attitude and should respond quickly to any unwanted spread of negative thoughts regarding the company before it is too late. Research question: How is consumer brand attitude and purchase intention affected by negative eWOM in the context of an unsuccessful online marketing campaigns? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the potential change in customer attitudes and purchase intentions because of negative eWOM communication regarding unsuccessful marketing campaigns

Forskningsfrågor: Vilka faktorer påverkar köpintentioner hos konsumenter vid användning av celebrity endorsement? Vilken av de faktorerna har störst påverkan på konsumenternas köpintentioner? Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka faktorer som har en påverkan på konsumenters köpintentioner till företag vid användning av celebrity endorsement. Studien ämnar att analysera vilken av faktorerna som har större påverkan på köpintentioner.   Metod: Studien baseras på en kvantitativ forskningsmetod och primärdata har samlats in via en webbaserad enkätundersökning. Undersökningen resulterade i 273 svar varav 216 godkända svar. Utifrån en systematisk litteratursökning skapades en teorimodell med tillhörande hypoteser. Resultatet från undersökningen analyserades med hjälp av programmet IBM SPSS-Statistics. En korrelations- och regressionsanalys genomfördes för att få fram eventuella samband.  Slutsats: Resultatet visade att faktorerna, kändisens attraktivitet, förtroende för kändisen samt kändisens förtrogenhet har en påverkan på konsumenters köpintention vid användning av celebrity endorsement. Den faktor som har störst påverkan på köpintentionen är kändisens attraktivitet. Faktorn publicitet kring kändisen visade inga signifikanta eller starka samband till köpintention och det kunde därför inte konstateras om det har en påverkan på köpintentionen. / Research questions: Which factors affect consumers purchase intentions when using celebrity endorsement?  Which of the factors has the greatest impact on the customers purchase intentions? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine which factors have an impact on consumers purchase intentions when companies are using celebrity endorsement. The study intends to analyze which factor that has the largest impact on purchase intentions. Method: The study is based on a quantitative research strategy were the primary data has been collected via a web-based survey. The survey got 273 answers and resulted in 216 approved answers. Based on a systematic literature review a theoretical model was created with associated hypotheses. The result from the study was analyzed with the program IBM SPSS-Statistics. A correlation- and regression analysis was made to discover eventual relations. Conclusion: The result showed that the factors; celebrities’ attractiveness, trust in the celebrity, and celebrities’ familiarity have an impact on consumers' purchase intent when using celebrity endorsement. The attractiveness of the celebrity is the factor with the largest impact on purchase intention. The publicity of the celebrity did not show any significant relation to consumers' purchase intention.

While consumers are shifting towards online clothing purchases globally, South Africa, a developing economy with well-developed infrastructure, is lagging in this regard. This research highlights significant drawbacks that may jeopardise the growth of online shopping despite the multiple advantages that consumers and retailers could benefit from. The key to the issue is that a consumer is not physically present in the store, and that online consumers’ experiences are limited to the technological capabilities of existing digital platforms. Inevitably, consumers’ online experiences would be framed in terms of what they are accustomed to in physical stores, therefore, sensory-rich, captivating environments. Creating well-designed mobile phone applications, which incorporate multiple sensory cues, is consequently crucial to capture online shoppers’ attention, and to ensure online retailers’ success. Millennials, the largest generational consumer group presently worldwide, is particularly important to online clothing retailers due to their potential buying power, interest in clothing as a product category, as well as their extensive use of mobile technologies. This study was conducted in the context of an emerging economy and aimed to examine the real-time influence of visual and auditory cues - that could viably be incorporated with available technology into a custom-designed mobile phone application for a fictitious clothing retailer - on millennials’ sensory experience and purchase intentions when purchasing clothing online. Clothing is a rather complex product category where sensory cues in combination with a range of extrinsic and intrinsic product characteristics are highly relevant during product evaluation. To accommodate the realities of physical store experience, three moderating influences were examined within the chosen stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theoretical framework, namely, the effects of telepresence, customisation, and available clothing product information. A positivistic, quantitative, descripto-explanatory, cross-sectional study was designed, presenting a two-phase electronic survey. It presented a vignette design that exposed respondents to the capabilities of the custom-designed mobile phone application before completing a questionnaire. Convenient, online snowball sampling through social media produced a sample size of 842 millennial respondents, from the Gauteng province in South Africa. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, covariance-based structural equation modelling, moderation analyses, and multivariate analyses of variance. The findings confirmed the significant influence of visual and auditory cues on millennials’ online sensory experience, as well as the significant positive moderating role of telepresence and customisation respectively, in facilitating millennials’ purchase intentions when shopping online. Failure to affirm the moderating influence of product information on consumers' purchase intentions, may be ascribed to the absence of intrinsic product characteristics such as fit, feel, and comfort, which are highly relevant but can not yet be incorporated into an online platform. This elevates the importance of how existing sensory cues are presented, and how they could counteract shortcomings of online shopping encounters. Considering what has been achieved by the gaming industry, in terms of visuals and sound when playing online, retail store mobile phone applications have not yet optimised their potential. Gender differences in online shoppers’ sensory experience, purchase intention and use of product information suggest that millennial men's purchase decisions may be more rational inclined compared to their female counterparts. The study indicates how millennials’ online clothing purchase endeavours could be enhanced in developing countries like South Africa, where online shopping has not yet reached first-world levels. Empirical evidence is also provided on how online sensory experiences and effective mobile phone app designs could enhance clothing retailers’ online apps to boost online sales. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / PhD / Unrestricted