Means-end Approach Research Articles

Source, message and medium? The role of personal values in forming credibility perceptions of non-sponsored product review videos

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate an integrated, holistic assessment of the characteristics by which consumers judge non-sponsored product review video (PRV) source, message and medium components as credible, and how these are linked to personal values for a deeper understanding of multidimensional credibility assessments of PRVs.Design/methodology/approachEmploying a means-end approach, the authors draw on credibility theory and the persuasion knowledge model to analyse data from 21 in-depth semi-structured laddering interviews.FindingsFirst, the authors demonstrate distinctive contributions of the video modality towards PRV credibility assessments and the interplay between specific PRV characteristics, cognitive and socio-emotional consequences, and personal values in an ongoing process of credibility assessment. Second, high persuasion knowledge creates awareness of the potential phoniness of the market, revealing a dark side to PRV use even in non-sponsored PRV seemingly created and shared as an act of benevolent concern between consumers.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper focused on the credibility of non-sponsored PRVs, future studies might investigate motivations and attributes by which users judge sponsored reviews. Also, the roles of specific product categories and existing brand trust on PRVs credibility provide avenues for further research.Practical implicationsThis research offers practical implications for reviewers and brand managers to leverage the unique informational values of video by focusing on the interplay between credibility attributes and customer values.Originality/valueThis work advances credibility theory in the PRV context by examining how non-sponsored PRVs are evaluated as credible, by highlighting consumer persuasion knowledge and scepticism and including the holistic effects of the interplay between source, message and video format characteristics and by linking these to consumers’ goals and values.

MALAYSIAN YOUTH EXPECTATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS (SMI)

The use of social medias has become more common now than before. Attachment to socialmedias has led to the rise of a new kind of ‘celebrity’ known as Social Media Influencer (SMI).The study aims to gain a better understanding of what the Malaysian youth expects from theSMIs. In particular, it explores the attributes of SMIs that attract followers and the underlyingbenefits sought after by them. Data for the study is collected using semi-structured interviews with 31 participants. Soft laddering technique was used to increase depth into the data which is then analyzed using means-end approach and presented in the form of hierarchical value map(HVM). The findings suggest that the consumption experiences of following and interactingwith SMIs are mainly intrinsic and hedonic. Malaysian youth generally follow social media influencers who are genuine, knowledgeable, motivational, relatable, and creative. The valuesgained from following social media influencers are mainly positive values such as trust,personal development, positivity, confidence, inspiration, knowledge, and personal well-being.

Self‐disclosure of Mentally Ill individuals in Private Facebook Groups: The Means‐End Chain Model

ABSTRACTThis study focuses on mentally ill individuals' self‐disclosure in Facebook private groups. The research corpus consists of 30 semi‐structured personal interviews. The study was conducted according to a qualitative paradigm and the means–end approach. The aim of the study was to examine which features of Facebook groups, and which personal values encourage the mentally ill to reveal their personal story in private groups. Results indicate that a sense of personal security in the group, self‐fulfillment and, most importantly a sense of belonging to the group are the three main values that contribute to mentally ill individuals' choice to engage in self‐disclosure on Facebook private groups. This research can assist developers to design better tools that will suit the unique needs of mentally ill people and provide them an appropriate platform where they can express their voice.

Are Luxury Travelers Alike? A Qualitative Means–End Segmentation Approach

This study proposes a qualitative means–end approach that considers both product preferences and personal values in segmenting the emerging luxury travel market. Many studies have treated this market as homogeneous, emphasizing luxury travelers’ common characteristics. However, distinct segments of luxury travelers can be identified using this new approach. Soft laddering interviews with 30 Chinese luxury travelers revealed diverse levels of luxuriousness in travel modes (means) and various personal values associated with luxury travel (ends), such as status and family security. These differences segment the luxury travel market. Despite its limited sample size, this study empirically demonstrated the effectiveness of means–end segmentation. The results of this study provide a solid basis for future larger-scale studies and have practical implications for practitioners in the luxury travel market.

Priceless time – The UHNWI's most precious possession: implications for international marketing theory and practice

PurposeTraditionally, international luxury marketing highlights possible disparities of cultural and value perception. The context-specific nature of traditional international luxury marketing, which ranges from educational and cultural to financial and offering-based variations, delivers little guidance to managers in the field regarding how to cater best to their highest target segment. The study aims to exemplify the relevance of global consumer culture (GCC) theory for the ultra-high-net-worth-individual (UHNWI) context. The authors' research on UHNWIs maps the DNA, so to speak, of the UHNWI customer experience (CX) by determining what drives UHNWI purchasing behavior independent of background – in other words, what matters most to this exclusive consumer segment.Design/methodology/approachInterviewing 15 UHNWIs using a means-end approach and incorporating the emerging consensus technique (ECT), the authors explored the CX of UHNWIs leading to their purchasing decisions.FindingsThe authors' analysis reveals the three main constituents of the UHNWI CX: the value of time, expectation mismanagement and the utilitarian nature of luxury. The findings highlight that UHNWIs see traditional luxury as a necessity rather than a luxury and value different factors, such as time, much more highly. The findings highlight the UHNWI homogenous nature, connecting GCC to purchasing behavior.Practical implicationsThe authors' study delivers empirical evidence of what matters most to the UHNWI segment and drives their purchasing behavior. The authors are questioning existing luxury segmentation strategies and lay out a clear guidance on how to design and deliver effective and efficient marketing, sales and communications strategies for the elusive UHNWI segment. The research highlights that it is the experience and the three main dimensions, namely expectation mismanagement, luxury as a utility and the value of time. Following UHNWI CX DNA framework will allow luxury companies to build their marketing and client acquisition efforts on a solid understanding of what matters most to the UHNWI target segment.Originality/valueThe study highlights the commonalities of UHNWIs in terms of what matters most to them. Based on this, the authors develop a UHNWI CX DNA. The authors propose that traditional context-specific differences upheld by international marketing researchers might not apply to the UHNWI segment. The authors deliver evidence that UHNWI are an excellent example of the applicability of GCC theory. The only difference in perception the authors noticed was between CX evaluations of self-made UHNWIs and those who inherited their wealth in an otherwise homogenous segment.

Beliefs about food quality attributes, food-related goals and satisfaction with food-related life among the elderly in China: A means-end approach

Life satisfaction is a psychological state of an individual, however, a psychological perspective on how life satisfaction is based on cognitive inference-making has been largely neglected in the extant literature on elderly’s life satisfaction. This paper fills the gap by focusing on the psychological determinants of Chinese elderly’s satisfaction with the food domain of life, i.e. satisfaction with food-related life. Data were collected by personal interviews conducted in Beijing with 452 participants above 60 years old from March to May 2018. Based on means-end theory and the “bottom-up” approach to the concept of life satisfaction, this study confirms the hierarchical relationships between beliefs about food safety, taste, naturalness and freshness, the food-related goals of health seeking, enjoyment seeking and variety seeking, satisfaction with food-related life, and overall life satisfaction among Chinese elderly. All the three food-related goals positively affected Chinese elderly’s satisfaction with food-related life with the goal of enjoyment seeking as the strongest predictor. Positive belief about food freshness was related to the importance of all the three goals. Food naturalness belief was negatively related to the goals of health seeking and enjoyment seeking, while belief about food safety did not have any significant impact on either of the two goals. The food taste belief did not significantly affect the goal of enjoyment seeking but affected the goal of variety seeking. Implications for how to improve Chinese elderly’s satisfaction with food-related life and for future research were provided.

Customer personal values of hygiene product consumption: a means-end analytic approach

PurposeDeodorant, as a hygienic product, becomes a daily necessity product and has significant benefits to its users. Yet, the real motivation for consuming deodorant is not fully understood, and therefore, this study aims to join the extant literature in this context by investigating the effect of personal values.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study using the laddering approach (means-end analytic) was used and 50 college students participated in this study.FindingsThe hierarchical value maps show that achievement, power, security and benevolent personal values are responsible for millennials deodorant consumption behavior. Fragrance, price and antiperspirant are the most important attributes that appeal to such consumption.Practical implicationsThe findings also suggested that three different situational factors generated these different personal values. It includes a pre-career environment, puberty and maintaining self-stability. The strongest attributes that appeal to millennials are fragrance, price, antiperspirant, brand, long-lasting quality and packaging.Originality/valueThis study offers the means-end approach to the framework of millennials deodorant consumption behavior and which can be implemented to investigate millennials consumption decision-making processes.

A means end approach to domestic lead tourism marketing in emerging tourism destinations

This research paper suggests the Means-End Chain theory, has relevant and potential application in domestic tourism research and, as such, should receive wider debate in emerging tourism destinations. It is argued that the theory is particularly useful for understanding personal values as the basis of tourist behavior. This paper argues a personal values approach is a more potent way to understanding domestic tourist participation in contrast to previous survey research findings. A dominate narrative in most developing nations is to target domestic tourist with amenities envisioned for global tourists as a result of failure to generate international tourist demand. The review of literature method was used in this research paper as methodological approach. The study shows the effectiveness of Means End Chain analysis in understanding travel markets and demonstrated the use of motivation chains as a basis for segmenting, positioning, and targeting domestic tourist; The study deduces that means end chain analysis has advantages over quantitative research methods in cross-cultural research given the ability of the approach to reveal unique insights.

Migration and reverse migration: Gulf-Malayalees’ perceptions during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The United Arab Emirates has witnessed an exodus of long-term non-resident Indians, especially Malayalees, due to unforeseen impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The Emirates’ consequent economic setbacks, including a fear of the virus and falling job and financial security, threatened the survival of Indians – the largest expatriate demographic in the world and the Emirates. While apprehensive about their homeland’s ability to accommodate a mass reverse migrant population, the reverse migrants still retained attributes and values they associated with migration to the Emirates. Since the UAE hosts the largest number of Keralites in the world, the sample for this study comprises the first batch of Gulf-Malayalees, who had registered to return to Kerala. Through a means-end approach, this study reviews respondents’ attributes, consequences, and values at the time of migration and compares it with their perceptions during the sudden Covid-19 related reverse migration from the United Arab Emirates.

Why do millennials use Facebook? Enduring insights

PurposeThis study aims to address the following questions: What is enduring about consumer behavior on social media given that digital and social media (DSM) technologies change rapidly? Why do millennials use social media to the extent they do? The authors’ review revealed that a prevailing theoretical approach that may help answer these questions is inadequate. The technology acceptance model (TAM) from information systems was grafted into marketing to explain consumer technology adoption. TAM predicts Facebook adoption effectively, as demonstrated in the authors’ first study, but does not go beyond that in explaining the why’s behind its use. In a second study, the authors used the means-end approach (MEC) complementarily to unearth the why’s of millennials’ use of Facebook.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a mixed-methods design combining the structural modeling of TAM with the probing one-on-one interviews and laddering of MEC.FindingsThe authors found that the laddering process both widened and deepened TAM’s scope. It not only confirmed the importance of the TAM attributes, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, but it also revealed others, in determining adoption. It was also able to dig deeper from these to uncover a mesh of fundamental values that millennials used Facebook to satisfy, such as belongingness, pleasure, social acceptance and inner harmony, in their quest for inner and relational contentment. The authors also found negative aspects that kept consumers away, such as its lack of privacy and the overwhelming nature of unwanted video in its feed, tying these back to important values.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors build on prior exploratory work relating to DSM use and uncover psychological drivers of consumer behavior on social media, by blending TAM in a consumer context, and the MEC approach. The TAM-MEC framework used here offers a technology-independent template for other DSM research, by focusing on how and why consumers use media socially.Practical implicationsManagerially, the authors discuss the building of sustainable marketing strategy on enduring consumer values rather than on transient attributes or technologies. The authors also discuss potential areas of vulnerability for Facebook, such as its increasing use of video and live content, which creates negative consumer sentiment and which may drive consumers to competitors.Originality/valueBy blending the quantitative TAM and the qualitative MEC, something that has not been done before in marketing, this research provides trustworthy answers to the research questions. In so doing, this study also contributes some cohesion to the fragmented DSM research field, as called for recently in prominent journals, by anchoring DSM study in well-established theories in marketing.

Chinese tourists’ motivations of visiting a highly volatile destination: a means-end approach

ABSTRACTThis study examines Chinese outbound tourists’ motivations of visiting Israel, as a highly volatile destination. Employing means-end theory and its associated laddering technique, the study identified 6 means-end patterns (including 14 dominant means-end chains) to illustrate tourists’ motivations at three levels of attributes, consequences, and values. Prominent destination attributes that motivated Chinese tourists to visit Israel include the local people (Jews), local culture, history, well-known places, religions, and geographical location, which converge on three end values of life enrichment, self-esteem and achievement. The study contributes to the motivation literature by clarifying Chinese tourist motivations of visiting a highly volatile destination in a means-end value chain structure. Destination marketing implications are provided based on the findings.

The Implied Powers of the United States

The conventional understanding of McCulloch v. Maryland is that an act of Congress must be within the scope of specified enumerated powers or an appropriate means to carry those specified powers into effect. This now classical doctrine rests on a misunderstanding of McCulloch. It is also incomplete in failing to account for important exercises of national power that cannot readily be tied to specific enumerated powers or justified as means to effectuate those powers. Several distinguished scholars, arguing that the classical means-ends approach is incorrect, assert that Congress possesses an expansive power to legislate for the national general welfare, or, as sometimes articulated, to address all national necessities or exigencies. They rely, inter alia, on the General Welfare Clauses of the Preamble and Article I, Section 8; conceptions of inherent national sovereignty; the actions of the Constitutional Convention concerning Resolution VI of the Virginia Plan; and the three provisions of the Necessary and Proper Clause. Although these scholars present valuable insights, their arguments for a national general welfare power are overbroad when evaluated according to constitutional text, structure, and history. This Article advances a theory, original to the literature, of how the enumerated powers of the national government should be construed and applied in determining the scope of national power. The Constitution vests four great aggregate powers in the government of the United States–providing for the common defense; conducting foreign relations; preventing and resolving disputes between the States and the United States, and between the States themselves; and creating and maintaining a national economic union. Virtually all of the specific enumerated powers of the three branches are contained in these four clusters of power. These aggregate powers are “ends” of the national government, and legislation that carries these powers into effect are appropriate “means” of congressional authority. The framework presented in this Article is based on construing the Constitution as a whole and not as the collection of unrelated parts; the historical origin of the enumerated powers in the long-standing distribution of powers between the imperial British government and the colonial assemblies that was carried forward into the Constitution; Hamilton’s arguments on the scope of national power in Federalist 23 and the opinion on the Bank of the United States; Marshall’s adoption of those arguments in McCulloch and Story’s in his Commentaries; and Congress’s authority to carry into execution not only specified enumerated powers but also “all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States.” This framework explains the validity of national powers that are outside of the classical means-ends model. It respects federalism by giving Congress plenary authority over four discrete areas that are essential to the Union, while allowing for extensive legislative authority in the States and the people. And it has implications for the separation of powers and the extent to which Congress may expand the jurisdiction of the federal courts beyond the categories enumerated in Article III.

Are they willing to work for you? An employee-centric view to employer brand attractiveness

PurposeThe present study aims to propose a novel employee-centric framework for the study of employer brand attractiveness. This framework disentangles the role of employer attributes, employee benefits and employee perceived value in the study of employer brands to better develop policies for talent attraction. Additionally, this study formulates a research agenda to help advance an employee-centric view of the employer’s brand management by following the tradition of customer-centric research and identifying benefits and forms of value that are yet unexplored.Design/methodology/approachThis paper performs a systematic and critical review of the literature on employer brand attraction from the lens of means-end chains to examine how the notions of “employer attributes”, “employee benefits” and “perceived value” have been addressed in past studies and what relations have been established among these three concepts.FindingsThe results unveil the existing conflation among attributes, benefits and value in the conceptualization of employer brand attractiveness. By proposing an employee-centric framework following the tenets of current consumer-centric paradigms, this paper disentangles the notions of attributes, benefits and value in the creation of attractive employer brands; establishes a hierarchical relationship among them; and suggests studying the multiple paths of relationships between attributes and benefits. These conditions should help organizations understand how to create successful strategies to ultimately ensure that they are selected as employers of choice.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed to clarify the domains in which the already studied empirical relations hold. This could be achieved by conducting a laddering process based on a means–end chain approach. Additionally, the impact of this framework on the construction of effective value propositions and employee market segmentation should be further explored.Originality/valueThis paper has revisited the construct of employer brand from a means–ends approach to propose an employee-centric view guiding employer brand strategies. As competition for the best employees sharpens, understanding how employer brand traits are valued in the eyes of different segments of employees and applicants may help organizations to develop more effective strategies to attract the best talent.

LÝ DO CẢN TRỞ KHÁCH HÀNG SỬ DỤNG DỊCH VỤ NGÂN HÀNG TRỰC TUYẾN (INTERNET BANKING) - MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI TP. HCM

LÝ DO CẢN TRỞ KHÁCH HÀNG SỬ DỤNG DỊCH VỤ NGÂN HÀNG TRỰC TUYẾN (INTERNET BANKING) - MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI TP. HCM

The attributes of leftovers and higher-order personal values

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the inter-relationships between peoples’ perceptions of the attributes of leftover food and how they lead to higher-order values in relation to food waste. Design/methodology/approach The method involved an online, text-based, qualitative survey of 112 panel members from a market research firm. The data were examined using thematic analysis and framed using a means-end approach. Findings Findings show that leftover foods take on both positive and negative attributes and benefits, as shown in four themes—tasty foods, dangerous foods, images of spoiling and used or second-hand—leading to consequences, identified as creating time, Time to binning and repurposing. Additionally, how individuals in a household speak of themselves based on their higher-order values, termed as states of being, can determine whether such foods are repurposed or consigned to the bin. These states of being are reflected in the three themes: the responsible ones, the virtuous ones and the blameless ones. Originality/value This study provides more focussed insights on the interplay between the attributes and benefits of leftovers and how household members position themselves towards these foods, particularly in their transition to waste.

Translating means-end research into advertising strategy using the meccas model

This paper illustrates the translation of actual research data of a meansend analysis into concrete advertising strategies using the so called conceptualization of the components of advertising strategy - commonly referred to as model. In this case, an underlying study examined buying motives of male German recreational athletes with regards to anabolic supplements using the means-end approach. By applying the meccas model, i.e. translating the different layers of the cumulated means-end chains of this study into elements of advertising, six print-advertising strategies were developed in cooperation with a professional graphic studio. Practical applications of the meccas model with regards to its original intent of developing advertising strategies have been conducted very rarely in a scientific context. This case study will pose an illustrative example for researchers and marketers alike and also lay basis for further scrutiny of means-end theory in general.

Why do you drink? A means-end approach to the motivations of young alcohol consumers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the motivations of young consumers of alcoholic beverages in order to supply information for the definition of corporate and social marketing strategies. The target of young consumers was chosen because of its association with the choice of consumption behaviours often resulting in health and social issues related to alcohol. The focus on motivations, on the other hand, is justified by the need to assess the contents of appropriate and efficient communication campaigns for both producers and public institutions.Design/methodology/approachA means-end approach was used on a sample of young consumers from Tuscany via face-to-face interviews. The interviews were carried out with students who were completing their last year of high school. The results were processed using an MEC analyst software for the construction of the hierarchical value maps and cognitive maps showing the links between products and consumers.FindingsThe results highlighted the perception of a “socialisation” attribute that is stronger when linked to the consumption of beer and spirits; however, wine is still perceived as a non-friendly beverage. The aspect of socialisation underlines both the pleasure of sharing consumption experiences and the dangerous binge drinking behaviour. Thanks to this approach, the study identifies the main elements in the cognitive structure that, if used to define a communication strategy, may guarantee a high degree of efficacy.Originality/valueThe findings of the study constitute valuable information that can be used to prepare stages of communication plans within larger corporate and social marketing strategies. The wine sector can benefit from understanding the motivations that prevent young people from drinking wine and can attempt to fill the psychological and cognitive gap between young consumers and the product. Public institutions, on the other hand, may benefit from understanding the motivations that lead young people towards dangerous drinking behaviours. In turn, the institutions may be able to send appropriate messages within their communication activities aimed at containing such behaviours.

Middle East Tourists' Behaviour Towards Malaysian Gastronomy and Dining Experience in Malaysia

The global Muslim tourists' expenditure on gastronomy products is on the rise. However, to date few studies were conducted to empirically determine the behaviour of the Muslim tourists' especially from the Middle East countries towards Malaysian gastronomy. Therefore, the key purpose of the present study was to empirically determine the Middle East tourists' behaviour towards their dining experience in Malaysia by employing the basis of means-end model approach. The proposed conceptual model of this study was tested using structural equation modelling analysis. The findings revealed that gastronomy attributes, dining quality and overall satisfaction of dining experience were significant positive predictors of the Middle East tourists' behavioural intention. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and this paper ends with some suggestions for future research.

Ladders to m-commerce resistance: A qualitative means-end approach

Although mobile commerce is predicted to be the next megatrend with steadily increasing buyer rates, some industries are struggling to adopt this trend and face strong consumer resistance. This particularly concerns complex, service based products such as insurance. The long sales tradition in this area, with a network of agents, brokers and bank advisors, has caused a perceived divergence between the characteristics of the established and the emerging channels. This article aims to identify the sources of resistance to mobile insurance by uncovering the relationship between the values of consumers and the conflicting attributes of the mobile channel. Therefore, insurance consumers with existing knowledge about mobile insurance, but inherent resistance were interviewed. A laddering interviewing technique was used to retrieve chains of attribute, consequence and value relations. This provides a profound understanding of the consumers' cognitions by mapping and structuring the sources of resistance. The results mainly highlight an insufficiency of the service, and system components as key barriers to adoption. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Planning pre-launch positioning: Segmentation via willingness-to-pay and means-end brand differentiators

Brand positioning is effective only to the extent that it aligns with prospects’ needs and interests and is viewed as worth spending their money on. Accordingly, marketing needs research tools that are capable of identifying the criteria that consumers use when choosing a brand in a given category. Yet all too often, studies ask consumers to rate brands with pre-specified attributes and benefit lists that may be at variance with the standards that come to mind naturally without cued prompting. Moreover, such methods may fail to capture the elusive – yet crucial – salient higher-order social and psychoemotional reasons that lend importance to an individual’s decision and willingness-to-pay. This research builds on and extends the means-end approach to brand positioning that looks at brands through consumers’ eyes by developing a latent class segmentation model that examines preference heterogeneity and identifies segment-level differences in decision themes and reservation prices. Using data from an empirical field study, the model detects three distinct segments of potential high-end adopters of a next-generation cellphone with innovative design features. The results offer insights to guide go-to-market branding strategy, and related product line, pricing, and positioning decisions. Implications for customer value assessment, benefit-based market segmentation, and innovation management are discussed.