Editorial

In this fourth issue of 2017 of the APJML, we present a series of papers on wine consumption, customer orientation, consumer traits and search behaviour, brand tribalism, cross-cultural marketing and ethical consumption, counterfeits and game theory. This issue, we are proud to present two “Industry Spotlight” papers with consumer insights on two distinct industries – hotel management schools and sports centres.

Opening this issue is a study on wine consumption in Australia. Bruwer and Huang explore wine consumption in South Australia, with a study on how consumer involvement with wine affects their behaviour in bring-your-own bottle wine consumption settings. To evaluate this phenomenon, they develop a scale to ascertain consumers’ wine involvement levels. The findings from this study, and the developed scale, help shed light on an area of wine consumption that is lacking in empirical research. Through this, Bruwer and Huang suggest key strategies that restaurants and wineries could consider to create mutually beneficial partnerships in this growing market.

Next, we present a collection of papers with a consumer-centric focus. First, Johlke and Iyer present a study examining customer orientation as a psychological construct; and develop an understanding of how this affects the performance of B2B salespeople. Surveying salespeople across India, and in a myriad of different industries, their study finds that customer orientation can be operationalised as a psychological construct. Customer orientation has a significant impact on staff performance, and this functions across different cultural and economic settings. Further, their study develops a more intimate understanding of how managers can improve staff performance in B2B sales.

The mobile phone market is highly lucrative, but with consumers being encouraged to upgrade their mobile phones each year, there is a considerable concern with e-waste management. Kumar delves into this issue with a study on consumer selling behaviour, incorporating the theory of planned behaviour to better understand how to improve reverse supply chain processes in India. Through a mixed-methods approach, mobile phone consumers and retailers were surveyed, to understand the demand-supply mechanisms in this market. From this, key strategies are proposed to help manage this issue of mobile phone e-waste. Continuing with smartphones, Sierra, Taute and Lee explore brand tribalism among smartphone users in an Asian context, South Korea. Their study finds that brand tribalism has a significant influence in smartphone consumer circles, and that firms would be remiss to disregard these brand tribes. Further, the study identifies differences in brand tribalism between Asian and western cultures. This could help firms better understand their consumers, and develop new strategies to strengthen and alight their brands with these brand tribes.

Focussing on culture in consumer behaviour, Nguyen, Lobl and Greenland examine Vietnamese consumers’ altruistic values and how it affects their choice of energy efficient appliances. Evaluating consumers’ altruistic values in comparison to their environmental attitudes; their study develops an understanding of some of the determinants of pro-environmental and pro-social behaviours among Vietnamese consumers. Through this, more effective marketing strategies are proposed, to help encourage the use of more energy efficient and environmentally friendly appliances. Staying with Vietnamese consumers, Tuu, Olsen and Cong present a study on Vietnamese consumer buying behaviours of luxury products. It explores how consumers’ openness to experience and power traits affect their purchase decisions on luxury products. The findings from this study have significant implications for the marketing of luxury products in Vietnam; and suggest how brand managers can target these consumer traits to encourage purchases.

Following this, Rahman, Fung, Chen and Gao present a cross-national study on consumer behaviour towards fashion apparel. Comparing consumers from Canada and China, they study how the different consumers react to the product cues such as pricing, brand name, country-of-origin and quality. The findings from this study give significant insight into how apparel manufacturers may be able to better engage consumers from each country.

Consumer search behaviour is an important consideration for brand managers and marketers. Identifying when and how consumers conduct their search, and the key motivational factors can help drive better communication design between firms and their customers. Maheswarappa, Sivakumaran and Kumar examine the relationship between consumers and recommendation agents, and how this affects consumer online search patterns when making a purchase decision. Surveying consumers in different cities across India, their study illustrates how recommendation agents have an impact on consumer decision quality, and how the amount of search conducted by the consumer affects decision confidence and satisfaction even if the choices were not better. The findings help expand the present knowledge on this interplay between consumers and recommendation agents; and develop a greater understanding of the online consumer psyche in India, so that brand managers can better engage this audience.

While counterfeit research is not new, Quoquab, Pahlevan, Mohammad and Thurasamy present a different take on this area of research. Their paper explores the ethical factors affecting consumers’ intention to purchase counterfeit products. Surveying consumers in Malaysia, they examine how consumer religiosity, ethical concern and attitude to lawfulness affect their attitudes and behavioural intentions toward counterfeit purchases. The findings from this research help expand the present knowledge on counterfeit research. Further, policymakers and various institutes can help curb the issue of counterfeit consumption through education and the cultivation of strong ethical values and beliefs.

Shipping is an important aspect of business, and in an increasingly globalised market, it is important to ensure that shipping companies remain competitive. Park and Min conduct an investigation of the highly competitive shipping markets in the Asia-Pacific region; and present a case study of container carriers in this region. Applying non-cooperative game theory, identify factors that influence container carrier effectiveness in the regional markets. Further, based on this theory, they propose logistics strategies that could help carriers develop a more competitive edge.

The first paper in our “Industry Spotlight” section, is a study by Lee, on sports centres across Seoul, South Korea. The increase in competition among sports centres means that these businesses need to develop new strategies to retain customer loyalty. Surveying patrons of sports centres, this study examines how service quality affects customer loyalty, and consumers’ intentions to maintain their exercise regimens at these centres. This study gives insight on some strategies that sports centres could employ to improve service quality to be able to attract and retain customers. The second paper by Goh, Nguyen and Law seeks to understand hotel management students’ attitudes and decisions behind their choosing to study at one of the four leading private hotel management schools in Australia. This qualitative study identified several key attitudes that affect their decision making; and challenges that students faced when deciding to enrol in these private schools. The findings from this study help give insight on key areas that these private schools should address, to attract more students.

As we move into the last quarter of this year, I hope this issue has provided interesting perspectives and unique insights to stimulate future research. I thank the reviewers and EAB for their timely reviews and contribution to the APJML; and the authors for submitting manuscripts of exceptional calibre.