Social media firestorms pose a significant challenge for firms in the digital age. Tackling firestorms is difficult because the judgments and responses from social media users are influenced by not only the nature of the transgressions but also by the reactions and opinions of other social media users. Drawing on the heuristic-systematic information processing model, we propose a research model to explain the effects of social impact (the heuristic mode) and argument quality and moral intensity (the systematic mode) on perceptions of firm wrongness (the judgment outcome) as well as the effects of perceptions of firm wrongness on vindictive complaining and patronage reduction. We adopted a mixed methods approach in our investigation, including a survey, an experiment, and a focus group study. Our findings show that the heuristic and systematic modes of information processing exert both direct and interaction effects on individuals’ judgment. Specifically, the heuristic mode of information processing dominates overall and also biases the systematic mode. Our study advances the literature by offering an alternative explanation for the emergence of social media firestorms and identifying a novel context in which the heuristic mode dominates in dual information processing. It also sheds light on the formulation of response strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts resulting from social media firestorms. We conclude our paper with limitations and future research directions.
PurposeThis study aims to develop an understanding of how customers of a physical retail store valuate receiving location-based mobile phone messages when they are in proximity of the store. It proposes and tests a model relating two benefits (personalization and location congruency) and two sacrifices (privacy concern and intrusiveness) to message value perceptions and store visit attitudes.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a vignette-based survey to collect data from a sample of 1,225 customers of a fashion retailer. The postulated research model is estimated using SmartPLS 3.0 with the consistent-PLS algorithm and further validated via a post-hoc test.FindingsThe empirical testing confirms the predictive validity and robustness of the model and reveals that location congruency and intrusiveness are the location-based message characteristics with the strongest effects on message value and store visit attitude.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the underexplored field of store entry research and extends previous location-based messaging studies by integrating personalization, location congruency, privacy concern and intrusiveness into one validated model.
MULTIFILE
Although it appears increasingly important yet potentially challenging to attract customers to physical stores, location-based messaging, i.e., delivering mobile phone messages using data about the recipient's location when that recipient is near the sender, has been said to enable such attraction. Still, existing studies offer very limited insight into which particular location-based persuasion approach retailers should use. Drawing on persuasion theory, this exploratory study aims to investigate and compare the potential of two discrepant persuasion techniques (scarcity and social proof) to influence customers' experiences and thereby stimulate them to visit the retailer's physical store. A factorial survey design was applied to test the research model. Data were collected from a sample of actual customers of a Dutch fashion retailer (n = 579). The results suggest that scarcity is a more effective persuasion technique in the studied context than social proof; scarcity-focused messages appear to be experienced as more informative, more entertaining and less irritating, seem to be valued more because of this, and are thus more likely to incline customers to visit the store. We discuss these findings and their implications for theory as well as for practice.
MULTIFILE
