Ingrid O'Brien

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework of customer-mobilized engagement (CME) pathways where customers actively identify, engage, and mobilize hidden (new) actors (and their resources) who are beyond the reach of the focal organization. As a large proportion of value stems from connections with multiple business networks, an organization's customer network becomes an important strategic asset contributing to competitive advantage and survival. Taking a propositional approach, we conceptualize the CME pathway and elaborate on factors critical to CME drawing on two organizations for illustrative purposes. We develop three propositions explaining how customer-mobilized engagement of hidden (new) actors, resources, and engagement platforms connect dynamically via the mobilizing customer. The reinterpreted communicative value proposition increases the contribution of hidden actors and enhances and expands value outcomes for actors within the CME pathway including increased sustainable competitive advantage for the focal organization. Adopting CME adds new resources, in different ways to deliver value to an organization's diverse business streams and grow their business networks. The CME pathway provides industrial marketing managers with an agile tool to guide the design of their offerings which can adapt across business contexts and time as the social, economic, political and technological environment changes.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of CSR initiative preference, customer helping orientation and customer participation on willingness to engage in CSR and to demonstrate the influence this engagement has on their commitment and loyalty to the organisation.
Design/methodology/approach

This study entailed an online survey of customers from a large not-for-profit organisation (n = 210). Choice modelling is used to test a structural equation model of drivers and outcomes of willingness to engage in CSR.
Findings

Results demonstrate the CSR initiative preferred by customers has a stronger impact on their willingness to engage with the CSR initiative (volunteering their time, effort, money) than either customers' helping orientation or customer participation. Furthermore, willingness to engage in CSR influences customer commitment and loyalty to support and recommend the organisation.
Research limitations/implications

The results clearly demonstrate the significant impact that customers' preferences for and willingness to engage in CSR initiatives have on customers' relationship with not-for-profit organisations.
Social implications

The results highlight the importance of taking into account customer preferences for CSR issues to encourage customers to engage in CSR initiatives designed to benefit society.
Originality/value

Traditionally CSR literature has focused on how commercial firms' engagement in CSR creates value for the firm and society. The marketing literature has focused on how customer engagement in brand communities benefits the firm. This study extends the research by exploring customers’ willingness to engage in CSR with not-for-profit organisations. It uses Choice modelling to demonstrate the impact of customer preferences for local and aligned CSR initiatives on customer willingness to engage.

Purpose: Both customer engagement (CE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been linked to customer loyalty. Past studies use service dominant logic and customer value co-creation to explain this relationship. The purpose of this paper is to apply utility theory to develop and test a new theoretical model based on CSR initiative preference to understand the relationship between CE and customer loyalty to the organisation in a CSR platform. Design/methodology/approach: This empirical study uses choice theory in the form of best-worst scaling, and structural equation modelling, to measure the impact of sports club members’ choice preferences for a range of CSR initiatives on their intention to engage with the initiative and subsequent loyalty to the club. Findings: This study highlights the importance of engaging members in the CSR strategy they prefer as it enhances not only the extra value to the organisation via customer loyalty to the organisation, but also CE with the organisation. Furthermore, the study reveals age and gender impact on the relationship between CE in CSR initiatives and customer loyalty. Originality/value: This study extends CE to CSR behaviours and provides empirical evidence for a unique theoretical framework of CE based on utility theory. It also highlights the need to take into account moderating variables such as customer demographics.

Expectations are considered a key component of satisfaction, with student satisfaction a key driver of potential positive outcomes to the university. Little work has considered the teaching mode expectations and dis-confirmation of expectations of students, especially for deeper learning in blended learning and flipped classroom environments. Prior to exposure to a blended learning delivery of online recorded lecture, face-to-face workshop and tutorial in a large class environment, students in a tier 1 research university in Australia were asked to choose their preferences for these various modes, along with other attributes, such as time allocation and the type of materials that should be covered. The same survey was administered at the end of semester. The results showed that post the blended learning delivery, 24 percent of the sample preferred a true blended learning model incorporating online lecture recordings and a total of 39 percent preferred a three-tiered model of some description incorporating lectures, workshops and tutorials. 44 percent of the sample preferred a weaker participation environment post the blended model. The results are positive given the experiment did not control for the students perceptions of the quality of the blended learning delivery.

Purpose - The paper aims to measure and identify customer preference for social issues and understand the importance of customer engagement when service organisations implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.

Design/methodology/approach - Developing a relevancy/scope typology framework, this paper then examines the relationships between social issues preference, engagement and loyalty. The models were estimated to assess the role engagement played in the relationship between CSR issue preference and loyalty. The sample was obtained from customers who used a large national Australian Internet service provider.

Findings - Local and global CSR issues relevant to the organisation were most preferred, while engagement had the strongest, positive effect on loyalty and was a full mediator of the relationship between CSR issue preference and loyalty.

Practical implications - Service organisations should direct their CSR efforts towards addressing social issues that are relevant to their business, and obtaining customer engagement is imperative if they wish to improve loyalty. Social implications - Providing greater clarity on how organisations can improve loyalty from CSR programmes will increase the likelihood of organisations investing their resources towards addressing social issues.

Originality/value - Few empirical studies have identified which social issues are the most preferred by customers. The development of a social issue typology and the testing of the relationships between social issue preference, engagement and loyalty provides empirical evidence of how a CSR strategy can improve loyalty.