Customer-Company Identification: A Study of Relational Consequences in the Non-Profit Sector (original) (raw)
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Consumer-company identification: development and validation of a scale
BAR. Brazilian …, 2010
This article builds on theories of consumer-company identification and aims to develop and validate a scale that measures the cognitive component of the consumer identification with the company. Working from 218 questionnaires the scale development used and Rossiter (2002) as a theoretical basis: a) Item generation -from existing scales and in depth interviews; b) purification -using a exploratory factor analysis. Afterwards, the validation effort was conducted on 387 questionnaires. The structural model developed was considered acceptable. The uncovered taxonomy shows that consumer identification with company is a four-faceted phenomenon consisting of shared characteristics with other consumers, solidarity to the company, construction of the selfconcept and shared characteristics with the company. This taxonomy and its formalization are proposed to be useful by other researchers tracking a better explanatory power of consumer behavior related phenomenon.
European Journal of Marketing, 2011
Purpose -By drawing on theories of social identity, attraction, social comparison and consumer identification, this research seeks to examine how consumers' perceptions of other customers of an organisation (the other customer effect) may have an influence on corporate image and consumer-company identification. This study aims to test a model integrating these constructs in two contexts, i.e. products and services. It also seeks to investigate the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of a favourable corporate image in order to provide more insights to the argument that a corporate marketing approach helps to enhance marketing performance. Design/methodology/approach -A survey of a convenience sample of 383 adult consumers is conducted. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is employed in order to test the proposed model. An alternative model is examined both in products and in services contexts. Findings -The results indicate that perceptions about other customers influence customers' affective and behavioural reactions towards a company for both products and services. This finding suggests that corporate-level marketing activities aiming to increase interaction among consumers lead to favourable corporate image and higher consumer-company identification and hence desirable marketing outcomes. Furthermore, results show that for services the other customer effect is more prominent than for product offerings. Originality/value -This study extends the concept of other customer effect to the context of corporate image and consumer-company identification studies. It provides evidence that shifting towards corporate-level marketing gives organisations another avenue for gaining a distinct position in the minds of consumers. Furthermore, by addressing both service and product contexts, it shows that other customer effect may exist beyond services studies.
Customer–Organization Relationships: Development and Test of a Theory of Extended Identities
Journal of Applied Psychology, 2012
We develop a theory of personal, relational, and collective identities that links organizations and consumers. Four targets of identity are studied: small friendship groups of aficionados of Ducati motorcycles, virtual communities centered on Ducatis, the Ducati brand, and Ducati the company. The interplay amongst the identities is shown to order affective, cognitive, and evaluative reactions toward each target. Hypotheses are tested on a sample of 210 Ducati aficionados, and implications of these multiple, extended identities for organizations are examined.
How Does Organizational Identification Form? A Consumer Behavior Perspective
This article takes a consumer behavior perspective to investigate how constituents come to identify with organizations. Using longitudinal and cross-sectional interview data collected in two contexts (one consumer and one employee), the data illustrate that constituents engage with two conduits, one formal and one informal. These conduits provide opportunities for sensegiving, which features normative elements particular to an organization, and sensemaking, an integrative process in which productive consumption plays a key role. Three paths (epiphany, emulation, and exploration) leading from these conduits to identification are defined and explored. Second, this article reveals dynamic consequences of identification for both customer and employee constituents, including changes in their consumer values and behaviors extending beyond organizational concerns. Finally, this article defends the merit of softening hard conceptual distinctions drawn between consumers and employees, as the findings show that identification forms in parallel fashion with similar outcomes across a consumer-to-firm and an employee-to-firm context.
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2015
This article offers a new perspective on customercompany identification (CCI) by focusing on CCI's underlying self-motives: self-uncertainty and self-enhancement. More precisely, an operationalization is proposed in which cognitive (CCI Cog ) and affective (CCI Aff ) dimensions of CCI are driven by different self-motives: CCI Cog by self-uncertainty and CCI Aff by self-enhancement. Focusing on these self-motives reveals that CCI Cog and CCI Aff affect some customer attitudes and behaviors in opposite ways but affect other attitudes and behaviors similarly. A cross-sectional survey that examines outcomes of CCI Cog and CCI Aff supports the proposed conceptualization of CCI and suggests the dimensions differ in how each impacts customer-company relationships. Furthermore, the study suggests that combining the dimensions together in higher order constructs or examining only one dimension can lead to misleading conclusions.
Objective –This study sets out to examine the conceptual framework and empirical test of CCI toward on the PDAM Tirta Khatulistiwa Pontianak, West Kalimantan Indonesia. It is also keen to explore how customers identify the company and what the antecedents and consequences of the identification which will give impact on customer relationships. This study contributes to the practical and scientific marketing that the identification of customers to the company can be used by company to make products that match customer expectations. Furthermore, the presence of CCI can be used by the company to establish marketing relationships with the customers. Methodology –This study is explanatory approach, 210 customers from three service areas were recruited as participants. The study used SEM inferential statistical approach where Smart PLS program was used as the analysis technique. Findings –Results of this study showed that: Customers of PDAM Tirta Khatulistiwa identify companies based on five dimensions, including; external company image, employee in services, company's products, characteristics of the company and the technology used by the company. In addition consequences of CCI is positive for relationship marketing. Finally, employee in services, products the company, and technology used by the company has contributed to the development of CCI. Novelty – The study put emphasize with its original data on building resource-based strategy (RBV).
Identity studies: multiple perspectives and implications for corporate-level marketing
European Journal of Marketing, 2007
The concept of identity provides the platform by which many corporate-level concepts can be understood such as corporate branding, corporate communications, corporate image and corporate reputation. As such, it can be viewed as providing the foundation to the nascent field of corporate marketing. This article breaks new ground by marshalling the literatures that underpin the major disciplinary strands that inform identity studies and that respectively focus on the concepts of corporate identity (marketing) and organisational identity (organisational behaviour). Our review of the literature makes an advance on extant reviews of the literature by highlighting not only the importance of identity and its potential to reveal the organisation (and thereby providing a foundation for the management and comprehension of corporate marketing activities such as corporate branding, communications, reputation etc) but also throws light in terms of the various identity perspectives (five are identified) which differ in terms of conceptualisation, locus of analysis and explanandum. Our analysis of the literature also revealed a degree of synergy and integration between the two disciplinary strands of thought relating to identity. Moreover, our analysis of the literature facilitates a more comprehensive analysis of the implications of identity studies for the nascent field of corporate marketing.