Consumer experience plays an increasingly significant role in influencing the success of most businesses. The concept of ‘consumer experience’ has become an important area of study within the disciplines of marketing and consumer behavior. Regardless of its positive attention, this phenomenon has received in recent years; the clarification of consumer experience quality in online communities has remained unclear and needs a detailed theoretical base. In addition, it has been assumed that there is a relation between consumer experience quality and brand loyalty, nevertheless, there is limited research to confirm this theoretical proposition. The purpose of this study is to gain an in-depth perspective on the concept of consumer experience quality and its dimensions in the online community. The Internet has changed the behavior of consumers significantly where individuals have used online communities to interact with one another. These online communities enable individuals to connect globally in order to communicate effectively since inappropriate communication activities can affect the image consumers have formed with a particular organization from online social networks. As a result, the traditional way of communication is changed using interactive platforms. Data was collected through qualitative and quantitative research using an online blog where consumers shared ideas, experiences and interacted with each other about their experiences of Weightwatchers and Slimming World in the United Kingdom. The qualitative research was done by applying Netnography technique that uses content analysis of consumer reviews of their experiences in the Health and Diet online communities. Using the PLS-SEM, the structural model proposed in this study revealed a significant positive relationship between pragmatic experience and overall quality experience. Thus, the current study maintains the notion that pragmatic experience is a key determinant of overall quality experience. In addition, finding of this study suggests that consumers assess their online experience when participating in “health and diet online communities”. These pragmatic components are reflected in the consumers’ benefits gained during interacting with the online community. Furthermore, it was evident that consumers view the online community as important in relation to their feelings and enjoyment because the forum provides them with the opportunities and preferences to share health and diet information with other community members. Consequently, the participants in the “health and diet online communities” will eventually generate moods, feelings and emotional experiences after interacting with each other in order to develop an affective relationship with a company’s brand and products.

Digital and mobile channels has dramatically changed the retailing environment. New technologies allow companies to integrate information between different channels, in order to create a seamless and personal shopping experience for its customers. This is termed omni-channel retail strategy. In previous research it is discussed that this is the only way for retail companies to survive in the new retail environment. Previous research has focused on customer attitudes and values ​​but not on their actual behaviour. Thus, more research is required on how customers combine different channels during their buying process and how they experience the interaction. The purpose of the thesis is to create an understanding of how the omni-channel customer experiences its interaction with retailing channels. The goal is for companies to be able to use this study to better understand their customers experiences, and thereby improve their omni-channel strategy. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, a theoretical model, S-O-U, has been designed based on the classical Stimulus-Organism-Response model, which  often is used to describe consumer behaviour. The theoretical model has been used as a basis for the study's implementation and analysis. The study has a qualitative research strategy, and the data has been collected through focus groups. The collected data has been analysed based on the theoretical framework of the study, and the result shows that the customer uses different channels during its buying process to maximize their exchange. Furthermore, it has been found that the customer has different needs during the phases of the buying process. At the beginning of the buying process the customer is primarily driven by utilitarian values, while at the end of the buying process it is rather driven by hedonic values. The selection of channel depends on how well the channel can meet the customer's needs. Although the customer is driven by different values during the buying process, the result has clearly shown that both utilitarian and hedonic values ​​are necessary for the customer to have a positive experience of the interaction with different channels.

Submitted by Mario BC (mario@bc.ufrpe.br) on 2016-08-10T14:29:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Flavia Rosa Santoro.pdf: 1115680 bytes, checksum: 425c8ab07e5a860cac3f849ed621f878 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T14:29:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Flavia Rosa Santoro.pdf: 1115680 bytes, checksum: 425c8ab07e5a860cac3f849ed621f878 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-21 / The Utilitarian Redundancy Model (URM) infers about socioecological systems resilience based on an ecological model. According to this model, the redundancy of species with the same utilitarian function ensures systems resilience. Under this perspective, the study about resilience of local medical systems (LMS) allows one to detect essential matters in order to understand how local communities can hold themselves and evolve in specific environments, especially where the access to natural resources and public health is limited. This dissertation aims to investigate the resilience of two LMS in Caatinga and to test some URM predictions. Therefore, our questions are based in features that give LMS resilience which follow the model's predictions: Do medicinal categories have redundancy prevalence? In the same medicinal category, are the redundant species used in the absence of preferred species? Is redundancy bigger in more severe and/or more frequent illnesses? Is information about illness treatment shared? The results show that the medical systems are highly specialized. However, when there is redundancy, the redundant species are the main strategy used when a disturbance occurs. This confirms an URM assumption in which redundancy ensures the maintenance of therapeutic functions. The redundancy of an illness was founded to be related to its frequency of occurrence, what guarantees the maintenance of medicinal functions in usual events. Despite this fact, the low rates of sharing we have found and the little redundancy in severe illnesses evidence points of vulnerability in the system. Based in our data, we might suggest that the studied LMS are mainly structured by means of specialists individual experiences and that the addition of new plants follows the illness dynamics of occurrence and considers life-threatening in the treatment. Under this perspective, the low sharing and the little redundancy in serious illnesses might reflect a system's evolutionary process feature. / O Modelo de Redundância Utilitária (MRU) se inspira em um modelo ecológico para inferir sobre a resiliência de sistemas socioecológicos. Segundo o modelo, a redundância de espécies com mesma função utilitária assegura a resiliência de um sistema. Nessa perspectiva, a análise da resiliência de sistemas médicos locais (SML) pode revelar pontos essenciais para compreender como comunidades locais conseguem se manter em determinados ambientes, principalmente onde o acesso a saúde pública e a recursos naturais é limitado. Esta dissertação visa investigar a resiliência de dois SMLs inseridos na Caatinga e testar algumas predições do MRU. Dessa forma as perguntas levantadas se baseiam em características que conferem resiliência ao SML a partir das premissas do modelo: Há predomínio de redundância nas categorias medicinais? Espécies redundantes são utilizadas na ausência das espécies preferidas da mesma categoria medicinal? Há maior redundância em enfermidades mais graves e/ou mais frequentes? Há compartilhamento das informações sobre o tratamento das enfermidades? Os sistemas médicos se mostraram altamente especializados, no entanto, quando há redundância, as espécies redundantes são empregadas na ocasião de um distúrbio, confirmando uma previsão do MRU em que a redundância garante a manutenção das funções terapêuticas. Foi encontrado que a redundância de uma enfermidade está associada com a sua freqüência de ocorrência, o que assegura a manutenção das funções medicinais em eventos recorrentes. No entanto, o baixo compartilhamento encontrado e a pouca redundância de plantas em enfermidades graves mostram pontos de vulnerabilidade do sistema. Com base em nossos dados, podemos sugerir que os SMLs estudados são estruturados principalmente através de experiências individuais dos especialistas, e que o acréscimo de novas plantas acompanha a dinâmica de ocorrência das enfermidades e considera o risco de vida no tratamento. Sob essa perspectiva, o baixo compartilhamento e a pouca redundância em enfermidades graves podem refletir uma característica do processo evolutivo que o sistema se encontra.

Inom de flesta system, företag och tjänster idag används motivationssystem som belönar brukaren med pengar, befordran, poäng, och beröm. Sådana system kallas utilitaristiska och spelar an på brukarens yttre motivation. I kontrast till yttre motivation har forskare arbetat fram teoretiska modeller för att belysa brukarens inre motivation; hedoniska motiverande system. Inre motiverande faktorer kretsar kring känslor som glädje och nyfikenhet och har under de senaste åren fått stor genomslagskraft inom informationsteknikens värld. Forskarvärlden är dock oense om huruvida utilitaristiska och hedoniska system bör kombineras och vilken effekt det kan få på motivationen. Vissa menar att Gamification kan fungera som en brygga mellan hedoniska och utilitaristiska system då begreppet innehåller båda typen av motiverande faktorer.   För att undersöka om och hur gamification kan kombinera hedoniska och utilitaristiska system har författarna till denna rapport utformat ett gränssnitt som sedan legat till grund för användartester. Användartesterna utfördes, som en del av den parallella fallstudien, på asylsökande ungdomar mellan 13-18 år. Utifrån resultatet av användartesterna kundes slutsatsen dras att man med hjälp av relevanta gamifieringsprinciper kan och bör kombinera hedoniska och utilitaristiska system för att skapa ökad motivation. / In most systems, businesses and services, utilitarian motivation systems, that rewards the user with money, promotion, points, and praise, are currently being used. Utilitarian systems harness the users’ extrinsic motivation. In contrast to extrinsic motivation, researchers have developed theoretical models to illuminate the users’ intrinsic motivation; hedonic motivational systems. Intrinsic motivating factors revolve around emotions such as joy and curiosity and has had a major impact on the information technology world in recent years. The scientific community, however, disagree on whether utilitarian and hedonic motivation systems should be combined and of the effect it could have on motivation. Some argue that Gamification can act as a bridge between the hedonic and utilitarian systems because it includes both types of incentive factors. In order to examine whether and how gamification can combine hedonic and utilitarian systems, the authors of this report, designed a digital interface which formed the basis for usability tests. The usability tests were carried out as part of a parallel case study, on asylum seeking youths between the ages of 13-18. Based on the results of the usability tests the conclusion, that with the help of relevant gamification principles hedonic and utilitarian systems can and should be combined to create greater motivation, were drawn.

The thesis gives comprehensive overview on the topic of sales promotions. The special focus is devoted to activities of Procter & Gamble on the Czech market. With increasing importance of sales promotions on the Czech market, the thesis aims to introduce main academic findings concerning sales promotions and test them on brands of Procter & Gamble. The next goal is to find out whether sales promotion strategies of Procter & Gamble provide a competitive advantage for the company on the Czech market. Using statistical and comparative methods, the thesis brings valuable conclusions for both marketers and academics. It was found out effects of Procter & Gamble sales promotions are in line with academic theories and its sales promotion strategies provide competitive advantage for the company.

Sport event marketing is an important issue within the research area of business. The purpose of this study was to analyze how service quality, hedonic value and utilitarian value influence the spectators’ attitude and subjective norm towards the behavioral intention of visiting the cross-country skiing event Vasaloppet. The study was based on the theory of reasoned action as well as the constructs of service quality, hedonic value, and utilitarian value, which were added as antecedents. A quantitative research approach with a face-to-face survey at the event and an online questionnaire was pursued. The findings show that in connection to the Vasaloppet event subjective norm correlates the strongest with behavioral intention compared to attitude. However, hedonic and utilitarian values have a significant correlation to attitude, but not towards subjective norm. Due to the type of event, no connections with service quality were detected. In regards of the international component there is no significant difference present between Swedish and non-Swedish spectators. Organizations can use these findings to further enhance the social aspects of visiting sport events when performing sport event marketing.

No description available.

Objective: The objective of the study is to learn how the customer’s willingness pay after a price increase differs given different product conditions. Specifically, how it differs between high and low involvement products and hedonic and utilitarian products. The objective is also to understand what value drivers it is that affect the customers willingness to pay after a price increase. Methodology approach: An online survey was distributed through social media. The research study was conducted using multiple linear regression and one-way ANOVA using data from 270 participants. Research limitation: The survey used in the study uses scales that have been revised. This means that other important value dimensions that were a part of the original scales have been neglected. Results/conclusion: No significant difference was found between the different product groups. The variables; product quality, service quality were both found to have a positive impact on the outcome variable customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. The variable transaction cost had on the other hand a negative impact on the outcome variable. Future recommendations: The results of the study indicate that lowering the transaction cost can increase customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. It also indicates that increasing the product quality and service quality can increase the customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. Previous research has showed the significant profitability firms can make when they adapt to value-based pricing. Therefore, further studies to investigate the customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase may be of interest.

Marketing research is lacking in the study of how SES influences consumption choices beyond access to purely economic resources, which merely represent purchasing power without explaining consumer preference. The first essay of this dissertation addresses this gap by examining an understudied social resource known as cultural capital—internalized knowledge, skills and behaviors reflecting cultural competence—that can influence the types of products consumers choose. The second essay examines low SES politically conservative consumers' desire to use consumption choices as signals to attain more status. Together, this dissertation extends our understanding of how SES influences consumer preferences for hedonic (vs. utilitarian) products, as well as their preference for product acquisition via access-based consumption (vs. ownership). Furthermore, the psychological processes underlying these effects and the conditions and personality differences moderating these effects are uncovered. Managerial and theoretical implications are provided.

This thesis supports the Master of Fine Arts exhibition entitled A Blending of Purpose at East Tennessee State University, Carroll Reece Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee, November 4 – 22, 2004. It discusses the artist’s desire to create exceptionally crafted functional work which focuses on both compelling aesthetics and strong utilitarian considerations. Topics include the artistic validity of functional works, aesthetic and functional qualities, tactile sensation as a consideration, machine-made works versus hand-made works, a characteristic described as the Life Quality, and the piece’s completion in use. The artist examines her influences including work ceramists Dan Finnegan, Nick Joerling and Ken Sedberry, as well as form and design elements found in the art and architecture of India. Practical application in form and process of these ideas and influences is discussed.