Value-based pricing is potentially beneficial for relationships in business markets, but customers may also perceive this pricing approach as unfair. Drawing on the dual entitlement principle, we find that pricing norms play a role in fairness perceptions of value-based pricing. We find that fairness perceptions of value-based pricing can be enhanced by transparent and consistent sharing of customer value. Explicitly applying the identical value-sharing rule when promising customer value ex-ante and achieving it ex-post significantly increases price fairness perceptions. We find the same effect when applying the identical value-sharing rule for the focal customer and other customers, even if this leads to higher prices for the focal customer. This study shows specific ways how the dual entitlement principle forms price fairness perceptions.

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Luxury retailers are increasingly considering the introduction of service robots in their stores to enhance the value proposition and reshape the dynamics of both the service encounter and the customer experience. Although the literature recognizes the social presence of robots in service encounters, little empirical research compares humans and service robots related to luxury. In addition, further research is needed to investigate the emotional responses of young customers, like Generation Z, to a technology-infused servicescape and to explore the value of service robots as a social presence in luxury stores. A 2×2 mixed methods experimental design was developed to test the research hypotheses. The study was conducted in a laboratory with 116 participants randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: approaching vs. non-approaching behavior with a service robot or a human sales assistant. Self-reports and neurophysiological responses (skin conductance) were collected to measure their responses during the service encounter. The results show that a human or a service robot approaching the customer can lead to greater positive affective states and emotional responses than a human or a service robot not approaching. In addition, we found that young customers do not differentiate between human sales assistants and service robots. However, the customers’ level of immersion in the flow, understanding of the message, and happiness are higher with a human sales assistant. Finally, the absence of any interaction (non-approaching) during the service encounter leads to a negative reaction to a human sales assistant compared to a service robot, showing the importance of personalized and deep connections in luxury service.

Commoditization refers to the process by which a product or service becomes standardized and interchangeable with similar products or services on the market, resulting in a reduction of its perceived value and a focus on price competition. The extant literature lacks a validated scale to assess product commoditization from a consumer perspective. The current research conceptualizes the construct of product commoditization and develops a self-assessment scale that evaluates commoditization as expressed by the four dimensions of brand importance, ease of switching, price sensitivity, and product homogeneity. Four studies using multiple methods confirm the reliability and validity of the product-commoditization construct.

Companies have short lives – most start-ups are no longer in business ten years after their foundation. Numerous studies have investigated the factors that have a life-prolonging effect. What has been ignored so far is the influence of the company name. It is one of the very first marketing activities, indispensable for registration, for finding investors, and for addressing customers, and it is also the most persistent element of corporate branding. Our study of some 1,300 new companies shows higher survival probabilities for firms with explanatory and/or easy to process names. This opens new perspectives for branding research, in which survival analyses have not yet found their way in.

This study examines the mechanisms of cognitive appraisal theory in the context of dynamic pricing. The aim is to investigate the differences in cognitive appraisals by comparing dynamic pricing and simpler forms of price differentiation, as well as differences in appraisals between goods and services. The reactions examined in one qualitative and one quantitative study are the customers’ feelings of being exploited, price complexity perceptions, and intentions to spread online word-of-mouth (eWOM). The qualitative results indicate that customers are less aware of dynamic pricing for goods than services and that there is a strong feeling of being exploited, which can lead to negative word-of-mouth. The quantitative results support these findings as customers react more negatively to dynamic pricing than to simpler forms of differential pricing. For goods, intentions to spread eWOM are mainly driven by feelings of being exploited, while for services, the main effect runs through price complexity perceptions.

This study emphasizes the interplay between thought experimentation (Felin and Zenger 2009) and actor engagement (Brodie et al. 2019) in the pre-seed phase of the business model design process for new ventures (Snihur and Zott 2020). The review on entrepreneurial learning and action revealed that, while the experiential learning benefits of experimentation are largely undisputed, we know little about cognition and thought experimentation in business model innovation. This aspect, however, is crucial to new ventures, which are particularly vulnerable to uncertainty and financial constraints. Experimentation needs to be considered at a more profound level of analysis. This study draws on qualitative interviews with founders to uncover three forms of thought experimentation: purposeful interactions, incidental interactions, and theorising. We perceive thought experimentation as a process by which entrepreneurs cognitively and through interactions with other actors, evaluate their business model. The study also specifies six roles of engagement behaviour, including teaching, supporting, mobilising, co-developing, sharing, and signalling, by which actors influence the three forms of thought experimentation.

Health-related services shared through social media are enjoying considerable growth, particularly among young people, yet they have potentially detrimental outcomes for consumer well-being. This research undertakes an examination of literature pertaining to health-related social media use in an effort to explore its relationship with disordered eating in particular. In line with objectification theory, Study 1 affirms that viewing images and videos posted on health-related social media is positively associated with the level of people’s disordered eating. Furthermore, Study 2 clarifies that this relationship is mediated, as expected, by social physique anxiety, and it also is unexpectedly moderated by general social media use. That is, the relationship between viewing health-related images and videos and disordered eating is stronger among consumers who exhibit low and medium social media use rather than those with high social media use. The implications of these findings are relevant for both health-related service research and public policy.