The use of immersive technologies has changed the consumption environment in which retailers provide services. We present findings from a study designed to investigate consumer responses toward a $17 million AI-embedded mixed reality (MR) exhibit in a retail/entertainment complex which combines advanced technology entertainment with retail shopping. Findings from our study demonstrate that the quality of AI (i.e., speech recognition and synthesis via machine learning) associated with an augmented object increases MR immersion associated with spatial immersion, MR enjoyment, and consumers’ perceptions of novel experiences. Collectively, these increase consumer engagement, and positively influence behavioral responses—specifically, purchase intentions and intentions to share experiences with social groups. Overall, findings from this study show that interactive AI and MR technology open new avenues to promote consumer engagement.
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Previous investigations of consumer subcultures in the CCT tradition focused primarily on consumer behaviours, feelings, experiences and meanings of consumption. This paper advocates that in order to deeply understand and interpret a particular subculture, researchers in consumer culture should consider more thoroughly the interaction between consumers and producers in consumption markets. This argument is illustrated with a research project on lifestyle sports. From the results of this study it appears that producers play a vital and interdependent role in meaning and interpretation processes. It is argued that processes in which consumers give meaning to activities can not be isolated from the processes in which producers ascribe meanings to activities, settings and markets. In this 'circuit of culture', production and consumption are not completely separate spheres of existence but rather are mutually constitutive of one another (Du Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay, & Negus, 1997).
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In media audience research we tend to assume that media are engaged with when they are used, however ‘light’ such engagement might be. Once ‘passive media use’ was banned as a reference to media use, being a media audience member became synonymous with being a meaning producer. In audience research however I find that media are not always the object of meaning making in daily life and that media texts can be hardly meaningful. Thinking about media and engagement, there is a threefold challenge in relation to audience research. The coming into being of platform media and hence of new forms of media production on a micro level that come out of and are woven into practices of media use, suggests that we need to redraft the repertoire of terms used in audience research (and maybe start calling it something else). Material and immaterial media production, the unpaid labour on the part of otherwise audience members should for instance be taken into account. Then, secondly, there is the continuing challenge to further develop heuristically strong ways of linking media use and meaning making, and most of all to do justice, thirdly, to those moments and ways in which audiences truly engage with media texts without identifying them with those texts.
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Previous research suggests that narrative engagement (NE) in entertainment-education (E-E) narratives reduces counterarguing, thereby leading to E-E impact on behavior. It is, however, unclear how different NE processes (narrative understanding, attentional focus, emotional engagement, narrative presence) relate to different thought types (negative or positive; about the narrative form or about the target behavior) and to E-E impact. This study explores these relations in the context of alcohol binge drinking (BD). Participants (N = 172) watched an E-E narrative showing negative BD consequences, thereby aiming to discourage BD. The main findings were that the E-E narrative had a positive impact on discouraging BD on almost all assessed BD determinants such as beliefs and attitude. It was shown that attentional focus, emotional engagement, and narrative presence were associated with BD-discouraging impact, albeit on different BD-related determinants. No evidence was found that negative thoughts about BD mediated these associations. From this, we conclude that attentional focus, emotional engagement, and narrative presence were important for E-E impact but that negative thoughts about BD did not play a role therein. The study’s empirical and practical implications are discussed.
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In this article, we investigate the relation between customer loyalty and social media engagement. Two dimensions of customer loyalty are considered: affective and conative loyalty. We distinguish two forms of social media engagement: consuming of social media (passive engagement) and contribution to social media (active engagement). In a survey among 1,050 customers of a travel agency, the level of engagement of customers with the company’s social media activities is measured in relation to their degree of loyalty. Results show a partial positive relationship between social media engagement and customer loyalty: only consuming social media is directly related to affective loyalty.
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Het succes van een merk wordt steeds meer afhankelijk van de manier waarop sociale media worden ingezet. Organisaties proberen met behulp van sociale media brand communities te ontwikkelen om informatie te delen, merkwaarden te communiceren en klantrelaties te onderhouden
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For twenty years, typical outdoor lifestyle sports like rafting, snowboarding and rock climbing, which used to be exclusively practised in natural environments, are being offered in controlled artificial settings. This process can be described as 'the indoorisation of outdoor sports'. With this development, questions of authenticity arise. Are these new, commercial forms still authentic lifestyle sports? And can we consider the participants in these indoorised lifestyle sports as authentic? There has been a discussion about authenticity in lifestyle sports since its worldwide popularisation and it is worth to reconsider this discussion against the background of new, commercial versions of lifestyle sports. Therefore, in this paper a qualitative analysis is offered about the consumption of a constructed authenticity in a cultural context increasingly characterized by artificialization.
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Buy Nothing Day is een voorbeeld van 'consumer politics', een nieuwe vorm van politieke actie die beter zou passen bij geïndividualiseerde levenslopen van jongere generaties. Geldt dat in Japan ook?
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The goal of a local energy community (LEC) is to create a more sustainable, resilient, and efficient energy system by reducing dependence on centralized power sources and enabling greater participation and control by local communities and individuals. LEC requires transformations in local energy systems, and strongly depends on the preferences and actions of the local actors involved. The necessity for extensive stakeholder involvement adds complexity to the energy transition, posing a significant challenge for all involved parties. The municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg has committed to the national decision for energy transition. It has taken a strategic approach by proceeding De Heuvel/Amstelwijk as the pioneer in this initiative, leading the way for other neighborhoods to follow. It is crucial to devise strategies that effectively facilitate stakeholder engagement. To this end, a thorough stakeholder analysis is needed. Such an analysis can focus on the identification of key stakeholders, their interests, their influence, and their behavioral characteristics in relation to the energy transition. Additionally, it's crucial to uncover the challenges encountered by these stakeholders and finally develop appropriate strategies to address them hence enhance their engagement. This thesis begins with an introduction to the research background, including a presentation of the case study and a statement of the problem identified in the field, followed by the research questions underpinning the study. A thorough literature review ensues, providing a robust synthesis of existing research relating to stakeholder engagement in LECs, with a view to expediting energy transitions. The literature review not only forms the foundation for the research methods adopted in this study but also promotes in the construction of the conceptual model. Subsequent to the literature review, the research method is detailed. The filed research is conducted in five steps: Step 1 - identification of stakeholders, Step 2 - prioritization of stakeholders, Step 3 - interviewing, Step 4 - data analysis, including stakeholder profiling with mapping and addressing challenges, and finally, Step 5 - proposal of strategies for stakeholder engagement enhancement based on the expected and current levels of stakeholders engagement. This research collects necessary information to understand the profiles of stakeholders in De Heuvel/Amstelwijk, tackle challenges faced by different stakeholders, propose strategies to increase stakeholders engagement. It not only aims to enrich the depth of theoretical knowledge on the subject matter but also strives to aid in the development of a localized energy strategy that is optimally suited for the De Heuvel/Amstelwijk neighborhood as good example for other neighborhoods.
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Hoe zijn nieuwe vormen van politieke actie in Japan te duiden? Wat is er typisch Japans aan?
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