ABSTRACT This study aimed to examine the complex forces that influence the adoption of marketing analytics in the ready-made garments (RMG) industry in an emerging country context. The forces for change and those that impede the adoption of marketing analytics in the industry were explored. We used Lewis’s Force Field Analysis framework to inform the research. Semi-structured interviews with managers, technology experts, and government officials were conducted using face-to-face and virtual meetings. The results reveal that RMG buyers’ demand, competitors, lack of employee performance, and climate change issues are central forces pushing for implementing marketing analytics in the industry. However, the lack of knowledge, interest, and technology-skilled people, high cost, employee resistance, privacy issues, high employee turnover, and government policies are significant impediments to marketing analytics adoption in the RMG industry. The theoretical, organisational, policy, and professional implications are then discussed. Theoretically, this study contributes by creating a conceptual framework using Lewin’s Force Field Analysis. In practical terms, this study suggests that marketing analytics in the Industry 4.0 era offers significant opportunities for businesses and policymakers to increase their flexibility, competitiveness and responsiveness.

ABSTRACT Data analytics and digital leadership are rapidly gaining importance in this disruptive digital era. This study examines the role of digital leadership, as an antecedent, and organisational evidence-based management (EBM) as a moderator in the relationship between data analytics and organisational performance. Data were collected from 519 employees in India and structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The study revealed the positive relationship between digital leadership and digital analytics. Also, the relationship between digital leadership and organisational performance is found to be positive and significant. Likewise, the mediating role of digital analytics in the association of digital leadership and organisational performance also found significant. The moderating roles of access to technology (with digital leadership and digital analytics association) and EBM (digital analytics association and organisational performance) were supported in the study. These findings hold potential implications for both theory and practice. The study also discusses the future scope of the research.

ABSTRACT Information governance is crucial for firm performance. Marketing managers have been actively engaged in data analytics and information management for decision-making. Because of the role both marketing and information technology units play in information and data management, information governance needs to be well-defined in a firm. Using structure-strategy-process theory as the foundation, the authors define information governance as consisting of three dimensions: strategy, structure, and process. Based on a survey of 147 marketing managers, we demonstrate that strategy and process result in improved information quality, which enhances firm performance. IT/marketing collaboration further enhances the relationship between information strategy and information quality. The detailed analyses, results, and implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT Rollover contracts are agreements that automatically renew, or ‘roll over’, when the contracted term is completed, unless the customer has previously given notice to terminate the agreement. Although ubiquitous, academic examination of this contract model is scarce, and it is not known the extent to which rollover contracts influence consumer satisfaction and individuals’ subsequent behaviors. A conceptual model was developed and tested using structural equation modeling. The data were obtained from a survey of 994 service consumers in the United States. Perceived value emerged as the strongest enabler of consumer satisfaction with rollover contracts, followed by convenience, while consumer confusion – e.g. caused by lengthy and complex contracts – has the strongest negative effect on consumer satisfaction. The strongest relationships in our model are between satisfaction and staying intentions, word of mouth, and future rollover acceptance with other firms and products. The paper presents important theoretical contributions and managerial implications.

ABSTRACT Despite tobacco manufacturers’ social responsibility claims about switching to less harmful products and strict marketing regulations, smoking is still being heavily promoted in emerging markets. This strategic paradox is highlighted by this research that provides fresh insights into young adult smokers’ exposure and reaction to unrestricted tobacco marketing in Vietnam. A survey with 440 responses tested a conceptual model relating the impacts of unregulated tobacco promotion on emotional responses (i.e. pleasure, arousal and dominance – PAD), and subsequent smoking approach behaviours. This model, tested using partial least square structural equation modelling, proved appropriate and well-explained by most constructs. The results demonstrated significant positive impact of tobacco marketing on young smokers’ emotions, particularly pleasure and arousal that increased smoking approach behaviours, such as smoking, tobacco purchase intention, seeking tobacco-related information and communicating with others about smoking. The need for more enforced evidence-based marketing regulations is highlighted and future research avenues discussed.

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic threatened people’s lives and livelihoods, which induced an existential hapax, changing their consumption choices. The unexpected disruption in physical retail due to the measures to control the pandemic, and changes in consumer preferences have forced organized retailers to leverage technology and adopt omnichannel strategies. However, small, unorganized retailers, popular in emerging markets like India, do not have state-of-the- art digital technologies to compete with online and organized retail. Thus, they need consumer insights to devise effective marketing strategies for sustaining. This research uncovers post-pandemic consumer values that drive preference for fragmented unorganized retailers, based on qualitative data collected from 32 respondents using in-depth interviews. The findings highlight that the altered consumer values of spiritualism, minimalism, self-transcendence, altruism, reciprocity, and hedonic shopping orientation guide preference for unorganized retailers. Small retailers’ can leverage these consumer values by providingpersonalized products and services, communicating relevant store values, and adapting their operations to harness the opportunities in the new normal to revive and grow their businesses.

ABSTRACT The study argues on how digital technologies and digital transformation challenge exporting firms across the globe. To respond upon this challenge, present study attempts to solve multi-fold problems. The constructs that influence the digital transformation process are conceptualized. The empirical results of the study are based on 285 responses collected from export and international managers from Indian manufacturing exporting firms. The proposed hypotheses are tested by applying structural equation modelling (SEM). The results reveal that the technology, environment, ethics, and business process organization impact the ‘digital transformation adoption’, thereby increasing efficiency. The results confirm that the performance of exporting firms is correlated with advanced digital technologies, digital transformation capabilities, and strategic imperatives. The study offers critical decision variables and a complete transformation roadmap to exporting firms, especially those aspiring to digital transformation.

ABSTRACT There is increased attention around employer brand in the marketing domain, as firms appreciate the strategic imperative of attracting and retaining quality employees (internal customers). This study provides the first empirical assessment of internal customer perceived value (ICPV), a multi-dimensional construct relating to monetary, functional, emotional, and social value. Specifically, this study examines the socio-structural and social exchange elements upon which ICPV is derived, in the creation of the ICPV model which identifies crucial sources of value creation. The findings show that sources of value were the firm’s material resources, authoritative resources, implicit rules, and relational exchanges, with differing results amongst full-time and part-time employees. Isolating the sources of value provides a rich opportunity for marketing managers, in better understanding how to emphasise ICPV in internal marketing communications. The findings prompt future research opportunities on how ICPV knowledge can grow from this infant stage and provide key considerations for marketing managers.

ABSTRACT The growth of private labels and digital marketing brings new challenges to manufacturers. However, within these challenges, manufacturers can discover strategic opportunities to uphold a competitive advantage in the market. This study considers two scarce topics in the literature: the private label business from a supplier’s perspective and the inclusion of the digital strategy in the B2B segment. Data collected from 203 manufacturers interviewed are tested against the research model using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that the digital strategy of the manufacturers influences their network capacity and the performance of the private label supply. Network capability also influences the performance of private labels. Digital strategy is a key element in the development of the private label supply business. Furthermore, the study mentions that companies with lower export levels tend to have less competence in private label performance. Consequently, the global presence of manufacturers has been acknowledged as a driving factor for the success of private brands, facilitating entry into international markets and expanding the customer base. The findings of this study have important practical implications for private label manufacturers.

ABSTRACT As a fledgling marketing strategy that allows consumers to shop and enjoy a random experience at the same time, probabilistic selling has attracted much attention. It can tap into consumers’ buying potential and swiftly increase product sales, which is favorable for merchants, particularly in e-commerce. However, little empirical research has looked at consumers’ repurchase intentions of probabilistic goods in the context of e-commerce, as well as the underlying mechanism of this marketing strategy. This paper builds on expectation confirmation theory (ECT) to examine the impact of probabilistic goods characteristics (aesthetics and scarcity) and probabilistic selling characteristics (randomness and autonomy) on consumers’ repurchase intention. The model was empirically tested through a survey of 182 online consumers. Interestingly, the results reveal that product characteristics plays a more significant role than selling characteristics, and it can positively enhance consumers’ two types of repurchase intention (old series repurchase intention and new series repurchase intention) through the mediation mechanism of perceived value and confirmation. This paper empirically examined the consumer’s repurchase intention for online probabilistic goods and has practical implications for online retailers.