Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022 3658406186, 9783658406189

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Peter Schneckenleitner Wolfgang Reitberger Alexandra Brunner-Sperdin   Editors

Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022

Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022

Peter Schneckenleitner · Wolfgang Reitberger · Alexandra Brunner-Sperdin Editors

Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022

Editors Peter Schneckenleitner Marketing & Communication Management; Digital Marketing University of Applied Sciences Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria

Wolfgang Reitberger Marketing & Communication Management; Digital Marketing University of Applied Sciences Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria

Alexandra Brunner-Sperdin Marketing & Communication Management; Digital Marketing University of Applied Sciences Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria

ISBN 978-3-658-40618-9 ISBN 978-3-658-40619-6  (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40619-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer Gabler imprint is published by the registered company Springer Fachmedien Wies­ baden GmbH, part of Springer Nature. The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

Contents

What’s in a Name? Communicating Forms of Toponyms at Greek Wine Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eleni Anagnostou and Theodosios Tsiakis

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Digital Grocery Retailing—The Influence of Product-Related and Personal-Related Factors on the Purchase Decision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katharina Angerer

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Economic Relevance of Data Protection and Ethical Aspects in Affiliate Marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lukas Blunder

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Employer Attractiveness in Alpine Destinations: The Influence of Destination Factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexandra Brunner-Sperdin and Mario Situm

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Nothing Ever Happens, and I Wonder: Dynamic Standstill of PR Between 1984–2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Dietrich, Christoph Hauser and Sascha Leiber

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On the Agenda: Maslow. An Investigation of Hybrid Meetings Based on the Hierarchy of Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lisa Tremmel and Peter Dietrich

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Tourism Enterprises and Their Positioning as Employer Brands via Digital Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lukas Hartleif

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V

VI

Contents

Green, Digital Storytelling: Communicating Sustainable Fashion on Instagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Selina Sommer and Mario Jooss Digital Dialogic Communication: How Does Genuine Dialogue Shape Customer Retention?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Tanja Kostner A Management Model for the Effective and Sustainable Implementation of Operational Excellence Initiatives at Plant-Level—from a Leadership & Communication Perspective. . . . . 139 Horst J. Lechner Social Media Communication in the Tyrolean State Parliament Election Campaign 2022. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Peter Schneckenleitner, Nina Faerberboeck and Philip Kreisern Media Use in the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Analysis Using the Uses-And-Gratifications Approach During the First Lockdown in Austria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Peter Schneckenleitner and André Haller Trends in Communication 2023—A New Methodological Approach . . . . 197 Peter Schneckenleitner and Sonja Lisa Windhager Analysing the Behaviour of Online Daily Newspaper Readers—Tyrolean Case Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Andreas Stöckl, Simone Sandler, Oliver Krauss and Emmanuel Helm The Storyporting Method in the Context of Sports Journalism. . . . . . . . . 233 Torsten Wojciechowski, Susanne Doppler and Rainer Nübel

What’s in a Name? Communicating Forms of Toponyms at Greek Wine Labels Eleni Anagnostou and Theodosios Tsiakis

Abstract

This paper is focused on the wine label interaction with the consumer. We assume that the wine label is a powerful communication tool, with much potential for the increase of the consumer’s engagement. Firstly, the theoretical backround of smart label is presented. The second part is referred to the significance of wine communication. Two basic tools are proposed: the involvement of toponymy on the label and the storytelling technique as a core of the wineries' communication strategy. Additionally, relevant research data on Greek wineries are presented. The last part summarizes the main conclusions of this work.

1 Communicating the Smart Wine Labels In this particular section, basic key factors are presented that set the theoretical background around the perceptions of the receivers (consumers) of wine communication. This paper attempts to opens a wider discussion about new effective ways that will create a communication bridge between the producers’ perception of their wine and the way they will reform it, in order to achieve the maximum perception from the public, through specific communicational tools. These strategies could be E. Anagnostou · T. Tsiakis (*)  International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail: [email protected] E. Anagnostou e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Schneckenleitner et al. (eds.), Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40619-6_1

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useful to the Greek Wineries, in relation to the increase of their extroversion and potentially to the wine industry in general. There is a communicative gap between the consumer’s feedback and what the wineries aim to communicate. Britannica defines toponymy as: “the taxonomic study of place-names, based on etymological, historical, and geographical information” divided into two broad categories: 1) habitation names—a locality that is peopled or inhabited. (Britannica, 2022). 2) feature names—natural or physical features of the landscape. We believe that the use of toponymy as a naming strategy on the wine label could enable many possibilities for the wider extroversion of the wine industry in Greece, in relation to the impact of the wine consumers. Both wine tourism and the wine industry have grown significantly in recent years and will continue to grow, reaching a point where they constitute a calculable niche market worldwide (Bunghez, 2022). Wine is a complicated product, because it is fully related to the senses. The drinker has to consume it, in order to obtain a biomatic experience and form a specific attitude about it. The first step for this idonic experience though is the label, which actually functions like a “forerunner” who delivers a polymorphic message: the terroir, the vines, the places and the wine producer’s perception about his wine. The issue of communicating about wine comprises two parts—how do we understand what others are saying about wine and how do we convey our judgments in an understandable language? These two factors are distinct, although interrelated, as it is our personal and prior verbal categorisation of the components of a wine which informs our ability to assess the impact of those components. The wine language has two aspects that characterize wine communication: the way the receiver understands the messages and the way the receiver conveys these judgments in an compehensive language (Charters & Pettigrew, 2006). A wine label must include the brand name, class of wine (type, vintage date, appellation of origin etc.), place bottled or packed stated as, “bottled by” or “packed by” or “imported by” for imported wine, the net contents, declaration of sulfites, alcohol content declared as “Alcohol _% by Vol”. (Fortin, 2022). The design and organization of information on the label are aspects of visual communication. The consumer-receiver interacts with coded messages (label), which must be decoded by him and then react in a specific way (feedback). Ideally, visual communication has succeeded, when the consumer's reaction is wine purchase. The parameters that contribute to the formation of the coded message are layout and composition, colors, brand typography, illustration theme and illustration style. It is important to underline that codes function in two levels: they express meanings about the product and the consumers, which can communicate tradition, prestige, luxury, elegance among other meanings. Understanding the deeper mean-

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ing of those codes, could predict consumers’ intention and his perception about the brand (Celhay et al., 2013). The color of the label itself seems to influence consumers’ wine choice and especially to the expectations of the wine flavours (Lick et al., 2017). Labels are an informative mean for the consumers in order to proceed with their decision and the wine purchase (Sherman & Tuten, 2011). They have to contain some basic informative aspects towards the consumer, related to the content and the potential use of the product (like food pairing). Labels serve specific purposes: legal, economic, practical and cultural, which have to be accomplished through communication desirability and persuasion, facts that express a complexity on the communicational level (Graddol, 1996). Visual characteristics of packaging, such as colors, are often used to assess their impact on purchase intention or perceived quality (Celhay & Remaud, 2018). The way in which consumers evaluate the credibility of label information remains limited (Rupprecht et al., 2020). Consumers’ perception of quality and purchasing behavior are strongly influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic product elements. Intrinsic indications refer to the elements associated with the product itself. In the case of wine, examples include taste, aroma, and color. Cues are perceived in a particular way by consumers, determined by factors such as age, gender and purchasing power, and cause chain reactions in the accumulation of wine knowledge and engagement with wine (Pickering et al., 2022). Communicating terroir is conducted in three phases: organization, public relations, marketing and media and consumers. Labeling is included in the second stage and it reflects the environmental values, land characteristics, cultural heritage and tourist appeal (Castelló, 2021). Wine choice has become a more complicated issue nowadays, since different trends have arised and increase between wine consumers and are related to sustainability, eco—friendly wines and involvement with local varieties (Capitello et al., 2021). A more complex pattern of engagement with wine is reflected in the profile of the modern consumer. In this profile, the consumer's intention to satisfy needs stemming from his personal value system, such as ecological protection, must also be taken into account (Capitello & Sirieix, 2019). A wine label has the ability to create a communicational window with the consumer, by providing a full communicative context not only with important information, but also with aesthetic instincts and visual stimuli. The communication of terroir is a vast filed with many possibilities which could lead efforts in social media, on—line community and interaction with consumers (Castelló, 2021). The literature has provided enough data to link consumption behavior with the degree of consumer involvement with wine. The patterns of how consumers buy are influenced by how involved they are with the product itself. Also, the degree of involvement is not the

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same for all consumers, which means that different levels of awareness make consumers act differently towards the wine purchase (Capitello & Sirieix, 2019). Sillani et al. (2017) in their research captured the reactions of specific audience categories, regarding the language and information of the labels. Among them are ordinary consumers, wine-related professionals, as well as tourists. After segmenting the audience categories, they focused on comparing their reactions when exposed to the visual language of the labels. The results of their research showed several very useful aspects: the image language is a very strong marketing tool that adds value to the product, landscape, history and culture In relation to the wine production and the grape origin are very important because they affect the consumers and lastly wine producers have to take in mind that the different segments of the audience react differently to specific characteristics of the label such as the textual language or photographs.

2 The Significance of Toponymy as a Communicational Tool of the Greek Terroir This paper attempts to deepen into the communicating analysis of the Greek wine labels and specifically the ones that use the method of toponymy as a naming strategy. There is a communicative gap between the consumer’s feedback and what the wineries aim to communicate. In this paper we analyze the role toponymy to be considered as a tool to establish a connection between wine terroir and tourism and furthermore to create the possibility for the Greek Wineries to become attractive brand name destinations. Toponyms could enable the potential visitors of the Greek wineries to understand the uniqueness of the vineyards, their identity and much more the philosophy of the winemaker’s terroir. The combination of toponymy and place branding reflects properly the communication of wine in terms of capturing the terroir of Greek wineries and eventually transform them into a commodificated symbol. The name of a place is much more than simple collection of words. It is a comprehension used with instinct of the beauty and the truth of a place. Their meaning become part of a social impact and sentimental value, functioning like expressions with the wider region they belong to and their cultural heritage (Mácha, 2020).

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2.1 The Involvement of Toponymy in Greek Wine Labels The conducted field research focuses on wineries as dynamic systems, which are influenced by the basic elements of the winery, the activities and its people, as well the interaction of the winery and its products with the consumers. The research includes the collection of quantitative and qualitative data. Data is analyzed through comparisons and the development of descriptive categories. The inductive methodology of data analysis is followed by their interpretation. The research gab is related to the fact that there is lack of communication between the consumer’s feedback and what the wineries aim to communicate. When we refer to wine branding, we do not refer only to the creative of the label and the general packaging (bottle), but to the values, the correlations and in general to the whole “myth” that can surround the wine and give to it a certain status. Consequently, the basic research focal questions are: • how can we bridge this gab? • how could it be more effective to communicate terroir, one of the most crucial factors of the wine identity? • what does the choice of wine label deeply aims to decode: historical concepts, identity or quality? The study of the way in which the wine label communicates through the place name is a continuation of our research effort, regarding the way of rendering the name of a wine on its label. Our research had as its object of study the active Greek wineries, which produce bottled wines. We have adopted the toponymy model of Tent and Blair (2011), which is based on data from databases and allows a quantitative analysis of place names frequency of occurrence. The sample of wine labels we examined was numbered to 3487. The search has been conducted between May 2021 and June 2021. Wine labels had to meet the following inclusion criteria: the wine label name should indicate the reference to vineyard toponymy. After personal, telephone communications and correspondence with the producers, as well as studying their websites, mass media, organizations and related associations we arrived at a sample of 3487 labels. Forty nine (49) of these met the specific criteria we wanted in terms of presenting label information in order to consider our query, which were: • the link of the name of the label with a specific vineyard • the vineyard name had to be integral and not assertive

6 Table 1  Toponymy statistical analysis

E. Anagnostou and T. Tsiakis

Toponymy type

Frequency

Percentage

Descriptive

25

51%

Associative

15

31%

Occurent

2

4%

Evaluative

1

2%

Shift

0

0%

Indigenous

0

0%

Eponymous

6

12%

Total

49

100%

The comparative analysis indicated that over the half of the toponymy labels are descriptive. We consider this element to be the highest among the studied pricing categories of toponymy wines. Consequently by 49 examined names, 25 (51%) are Descriptive, 15 (31%) are Associative, 6 (12%) are Eponymous, 2 (4%) are Occurrent, 1 (2%) is Evaluative, Shift and Indigenous are zero (Table 1). Of particular interest is the fact that only one evaluative name emerged from the data we examined. On the other hand, it seems that descriptive names are chosen with greater frequency, as producers consider that they can convey and render more effectively their message, their culture and their philosophy for their wine. Winemakers desire to improve the recognizability, differentiation and value proposition of their wines in the market. The value of a specific vineyard could be decoded through the specific vineyard names on labels. Using toponymy as a name in their wine label indicate the exceptional value of their wine stemming from that particular plot, since it is the result of careful site and variety matching. Communicating wine tourism is always a constant challenge, especially in terms of the composition and organization of that message that will be able to transfer in the most appropriate way the particular terroir of each vineyard. Toponymy could give us a vast and unexploded field of further research in relation to the development of wine tourism and place branding.

2.2 Why Place is Important to the Wine Label The theory of “sense of place” is related to a specific way of thinking about terroir, which is a basic element of authenticity in wine tourism (Legrand et al., 2022). The implementation of this theory is very important because it contributes

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to the creation of a holistic experience for the visitor, while it differentiates tourism destinations (Haven-Tang & Jones, 2005). There is also a conceptual link between the touristic experience and the wider economical development of the place (Lau & Li, 2019). Land, territory and identity are focal points that endorse the concepti of this theory which is a strong tool for establishing the relationship between people, place and events (Bingley et al. 2014). Places are formats and results of a continuous reborn, of the interaction between the identity people instinctively want to project and the acceptance of the image perception and by this fold wineries may be considered as factors who contribute to sense of place (Sears & Weatherbee, 2019). Wineries as any other business are trying nowadays to reform cultures through strategies that promote a deeper meaning between producers and consumers, using talso the evolution of culture from a local to a global level (Charters, 2022). Destination has a particular power to attract emotions and this quality originates from place’s uniqueness, personality, tangible and intangible aspects (Nogueira & Carvalho, 2022). Our view on the communication of wine through the label and specifically through the toponym is combined with the theory of sense of place and place branding. Through this combination, a specific communication strategy can be built that will strengthen the sustainability and well-being of Greek wine businesses, but at the same time will contribute to the development of wine tourism in the region. In this way, wine companies could achieve better contact with their public. This strategy will also help in the context of predicting consumer’s behavior, which could prove extremely effective for activating businesses, consumers and local society. The place name can be transformed into a communication mechanism which diffuses the wine terroir and the specific character of an area as a brand name destination. In this logic, a wine label should automatically reflect the special aroma, the climatic conditions, the peculiarity of the soil and the indigenous grape varieties, of brand name vineyard, which can become a successful brand destination. The communication strategy must be formulated in such a way that the vine’s name could attract tourist who wish to consume a holistic experience: special features, facilities, activities, entertainment and socializing.

2.3 Storytelling Storytelling is one of the oldest but also the newest techniques, as through the years it continues to fulfill basic needs: people have an instinctive need to communicate experiences and feelings through their stories (Greene, 1996, p. 1).

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Narratives have elements that can be transformed into a database and give important knowledge, while they can be codified. These elements are: plan with aims, action and results, limitations and adversities and “Heroes” who have a specific comprehensible behavior (Mora & Livat, 2013, p. 4). Khaokhrueamuang (2022), has categorized into nine parts that refer to the brand wine products and the e— storytelling strategy. These caterogies are the knowledge-based story, tourism activity—based story, product-based story, history-based story, hospitality-based story, winescape-based story, brand-based story, event-based story, and newsbased story. Khaokhrueamuang’s has indicated that wineries are able to communicate content of all the above categories and customers can interact through sharing posts on social media, so this interacted value leads to the value of co— creation of wines and oenotouristic destinations. The use of the place name on the label could involve the storytelling technique. The choice of this technique is not accidental, as it is a very dynamic communication option that works effectively both at the level of providing information and at the level of emotional involvement on the part of the receiver— consumer. We believe that the storytelling method combines the stigma of the modern era with the promotion of wine tourism areas, the economic and social development of Greek wineries and the development of wine tourism in general. Especially for Greek wineries, it is important to design primary and attractive stories for the entire backround of production (products, events, initiatives), which simultaneously leads to the highlighting of the place, the brand identity and the creation of a strong bond between them (Bonarou et al., 2019). The appropriate communication management of the value of a wine region motivates the wine tourist to analyze the territorial value of the region. This by extension means that the corporate value and identity of the winery will be strengthened. A modern example is the digital storytelling, which gives the opportunity of sharing information about the history of winery. This strategy though is more than a simple use of technology, because it represents an aspect of communication, imagination and integration, so it seems that there is strong link between sharing a winery story and a wine tourism destination (Ramšak, 2022). What needs special attention is organizing the message in such a way that the story is attractive, useful and activates brand awareness. Therefore all elements of storytelling must be combined and captured correctly, composing a complete picture for the building blocks of the label: typeface, logo brand name, color, image, design which are basically nonverbal statements telling though a specific story. Mora and Livat (2013), researched how storytelling adds value to the wines of Bordeaux and demonstrated that communication which originates from winemaking adds value to the product making in more premium. In their case they

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indicated four communication styles which refer to terroir, tradition/modernity, technical process and consumers/culture. Greek vineyards and place names can be distinguished by their authenticity and add value to the local areas and also to the value chain of wine tourism. In order to raise brand awareness about place names we suggest the storytelling technique, because it could be effective through visualizing, personalization, surprising and unexpected experiences and increase this way the degree of engagement and interaction. Especially, the sustainability culture under the new Covid-19 pandemic’s conjuncture has to be considered by the local community, customers, wine tourists, suppliers, customers, universities and government. The basic conclusion is that vineyards have to become attractive for the tourists as brands that decode the particular circumstances of a vine. On the other hand Greek winery industries have to communicate efficiently the joy of a holistic experience. Wine tourists have to understand that by visiting local wineries and vineyards, will have a lifetime experience focused on nature and its gifts. So the focal point is the experience through nature and socializing but always on the basis of a sustainable and ecologically responsible attitude. Each bottle of wine hides a unique world of its own. The consumer who buys such a bottle gets involved to the narration of a certain origin story. He tries to discover the value of the region of origin with all the territorial and climatic conditions prevailing in it. The same thing happens with the wine lovers or tourists, who try to discover and decode the secrets of certain wine areas and their terroir.

3 Conclusions This paper work aims to study the label as a means of communication of the Greek wineries to their public. Reference is mainly made to the role played by the label name using the toponym of the wine regions. We believe that the toponymy can effectively influence the reaction of consumers, because it is a focal point of the peculiarities of each wine region: climatic conditions, soil varieties, aromas. The place name on the label combined with the theories of smart label, place branding and sense of place gives a particularly dynamic strategic approach with many important possibilities, which certainly need further research and analysis. A valuable communication tool in capturing the wine identity of a region on a wine label through the place name is the storytelling technique, which is very promising for the wine industry, as it focuses on the adequacy and effectiveness of the message, the possibility of interaction, interaction and emotional

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engagement with the public. This is important considering that wine is a special and complex product, which to be properly communicated must be combined with experiences and senses. An interesting element is that producers avoid, as the research showed, the use of names with emotional connotations. This fact we believe needs further study, because emotion and experience are largely identified with the use of wine as a product, which is eminently experiential and related to enjoyment, experience and sensations. Consequently this seems to be the appropriate time to blend geographical position and wine tourism expansion through the toponymic naming strategies, because not only geographers but also historians are in the beginning of deepening into the link between toponymy and commerce.

References Bingley, A., Ramsey, A., Weatherall, A., Richards, C., Whitehead, C., Bowers, D. J., ..., & O’Brien, V. (2014). Making sense of place: Multidisciplinary perspectives (Vol. 7). Boydell & Brewer Ltd. Bonarou, C., Tsartas, P., & Sarantakou, E. (2019). E-storytelling and wine tourism branding: Insights from the “wine roads of northern Greece”. In Wine Tourism Destination Management and Marketing (pp. 77–98). Palgrave Macmillan. Britannica. (2022). In Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/search?query=toponymy. Accessed 5. Oct. 2022. Bunghez, C. (2022). Enotourism: Analysis and case study. Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business and Economics, 2022, 1–8. Capitello, R., & Sirieix, L. (2019). Consumers’ perceptions of sustainable wine: An exploratory study in france and italy. Economies, 7(33), 1–20. Capitello, R., Agnoli, L., Charters, S., & Begalli, D. (2021). Labelling environmental and terroir attributes: Young Italian consumers’ wine preferences. Journal of Cleaner Production, 304(126991), 1–11. Castelló, E. (2021). The will for terroir: A communicative approach. Journal of Rural Studies, 86, 386–397. Celhay, F., Folcher, P., & Cohen, J. (2013). Decoding wine label design: A study of the visual codes of Bordeaux Grand Crus. In 7th AWBR international conference. Celhay, F., & Remaud, H. (2018). What does your wine label mean to consumers? A semiotic investigation of Bordeaux wine visual codes. Food Quality and Preference, 65, 129–145. Charters, S., & Pettigrew, S. (2006). How effectively do we communicate about wine. In Proceedings of the 3rd international wine business and marketing research conference, July 6–8, Montpellier. Charters, S. (2022). Business, wine and culture. In The Routledge Handbook of Wine and Culture (pp. 20–26). Routledge. Fortin, N. D. (2022). Food regulation: Law, science, policy, and practice. Wiley.

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Graddol, D. (1996). The semiotic construction of a wine label. Redesigning English: New Texts, New Identities, 4, 73–81. Greene, E. (1996). Storytelling: art and technique: Art and technique. ABC-CLIO. Haven-Tang, C., & Jones, E. (2005). Using local food and drink to differentiate tourism destinations through a sense of place: A story from Wales-dining at Monmouthshire’s great table. Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, 4(4), 69–86. Khaokhrueamuang, A. (2022). Branding wine products and wine tourism destinations through e- storytelling: Examining contemporary tourism interpretation. In Routledge Handbook of Wine Tourism (pp. 588–602). Routledge. Lau, C., & Li, Y. (2019). Analyzing the effects of an urban food festival: A place theory approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 74, 43–55. Legrand, W., Hindley, C., Vogels, R., & Levis, A., (2022). The fluidity of terroir: The delusion of sustainability and authenticity in wine tourism. In Routledge Handbook of Wine Tourism (pp. 659–670). Routledge. Lick, E., König, B., Kpossa, M. R., & Buller, V. (2017). Sensory expectations generated by colours of red wine labels. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 37, 146–158. Mácha, P. (2020). The symbolic power of place names: The case of the river Olše/Olza/ Łolza in Northeastern Czechia. Names, 68(3), 169–184. Mora, P., & Livat, F. (2013). Does storytelling add value to fine Bordeaux wines? Wine Economics and Policy, 2(1), 3–10. Nogueira, S., & Carvalho, J. M. (2022). Unlocking the dichotomy of place identity/place image and its impact on place satisfaction for ecotourism destinations. Journal of Ecotourism, 1–19. Pickering, G. J., Duben, M., & Kemp, B. (2022). The importance of informational components of sparkling wine labels varies with key consumer characteristics. Beverages, 8(2), 27. Ramšak, M. (2022). Wine Storytelling. Social impact of wine marketing (pp. 19–21). Springer. Rupprecht, C. D., Fujiyoshi, L., McGreevy, S. R., & Tayasu, I. (2020). Trust me? Consumer trust in expert information on food product labels. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 137, 111170. Sherman, S., & Tuten, T. (2011). Message on a bottle: The wine label’s influence. International Journal of Wine Business Research, 23(3), 221–234. Sears, D., & Weatherbee, T. (2019). Putting Branding in its Place: History, Heritage and Winery Marketing. In Proceedings of the Conference on Historical Analysis and Research in Marketing (Vol. 19, pp. 384–388). Sillani, S., Miccoli, A., & Nassivera, F. (2017). Different preferences for wine communication. Wine Economics and Policy, 6(1), 28–39. Tent, J., & Blair, D. (2011). Motivations for naming: The development of a toponymic typology for Australian placenames. Names A Journal of Onomastics. 59, 67–89. 

Eleni Anagnostou  is a PhD Candidate at International Hellenic University, in the Department of Organization Management, Marketing and Tourism. Her Research focuses on wine communication and its cotribution to the development of the Greek Wineries and the Greek wine tourism. [email protected].

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Theodosios Tsiakis is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Organizations Management, Marketing and Tourism of the International Hellenic University (former Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki). He holds a Bachelor of International and European Economics from University of Macedonia and Ph.D. in Information Security Economics from the Applied Informatics Department at University of Macedonia. His research interests include information security economics, e-business, Enterprise Resource Planning, Information management, value co-creation and innovation. [email protected].

Digital Grocery Retailing—The Influence of Product-Related and Personal-Related Factors on the Purchase Decision Katharina Angerer

Abstract

The digital world offers consumers an increasingly practical, flexible and efficient option for purchasing consumer goods. While clothing and sports equipment represent the most popular products in Austrian online retailing, many consumers still feel insecure about buying groceries online. Due to this uncertainty, it’s essential to identify the key factors in digital grocery retailing that have a major influence on consumer’s trust and behaviour. The aim of this scientific work is to analy se selected personal-related and product-related factors that influence consumers’ online grocery purchase decisions. An online survey is used to test the proposed model. The results show that the product-related factors of guarantee regarding freshness and quality, sustainability, website quality, price level and customer reviews as well as the personal-factor of attitude have a decisive influence on the trust in the retailer and thus on the digital purchase decision among people from the DACH region.

K. Angerer (*)  University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tyrol, Kufstein, Austria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Schneckenleitner et al. (eds.), Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40619-6_2

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1 Introduction Buying consumer goods online is routine for today’s digital society (Schultz, 2020a). Nevertheless, groceries and everyday goods end in the shopping baskets of only around a quarter of the people surveyed (Schultz, 2020b). According to consumers, one of the reasons for the comparatively low use of online grocery shopping is the higher purchasing risk. Unlike in a brick-and-mortar store, the products cannot be touched or smelled (Campo & Breugelmans, 2015; Huyghe et al., 2017). In the digital grocery business, customers largely transfer the responsibility to the providers and they have to trust them in this regard (Utz et al., 2012). In order to strengthen this trust relationship and create clear added value for the customer, it is important that online retailers positively distinguish themselves from competitors through transparency and reliability. A user-friendly website with appealing product images and product descriptions, as well as positive reviews from existing customers, also play a significant role in retaining current customers, attracting “new” consumers and supporting them in their purchasing decisions (Utz et al., 2012). Due to the scepticism that many consumers still have with regard to online grocery shopping, it is important for online retailers to know the needs of their customers and to align their business objectives with their desires (Homburg et al., 2009). In general, online grocery retailing is still a relatively new development. It has only experienced a new upswing in recent years and through Corona especially in the past year. The depth of existing research is therefore still lacking in some areas of food e-commerce (Anesbury et al., 2015). There are many empirical studies that focus on the adoption of online retailing in general (Ashraf et al., 2014; Reinartz et al., 2019) and an extensive amount of research that examines how specific factors, for example product brand or price, affect consumers’ digital purchasing behaviour (Bone et al., 2016; Homburg et al., 2019; Ngwe et al., 2019; Saini & Lynch, 2016). In relation to digital grocery retailing, some studies address the research question of whether consumers buy food differently, healthier or more consciously in the virtual world than in brick-and-mortar shops (Ganesh et al., 2010; Hollis-Hansen et al., 2019; Huyghe et al., 2017). However, there are still few relevant studies that explore the significant factors for customers’ purchase decisions and needs in online grocery retailing more detailed (Benn et al., 2015; Campo et al., 2020). Identifying the key factors in digital grocery retailing that have a major impact on trust building and consumer behaviour is thus essential. Only by properly capturing the relevant purchasing factors, retailers can gain an advantage over the

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competition and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. A further and more indepth investigation of these key factors is therefore relevant in order to be able to establish digital food commerce on the market and to be able to accompany customers up to a positively concluded purchase decision (Homburg et al., 2009). Based on that research gap, the aim of this study is to analyse selected personal-related and product-related factors that influence consumers’ online food purchase decisions. The research in different databases and journals as well as the review of already conducted studies has shown that there is a need for research regarding the relevant factors for the digital purchase decision of groceries. The research area for the consumer survey is limited to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This led to the following research question: “Which personal-related and product-related factors are driving the online food purchase decision of people living in the DACH region?”

2 Theoretical Background 2.1 The Influence of Product-Related Factors on Trust Website quality A first trust-building measure is to offer customers a reputable, high-quality, userfriendly and informative website (Darke et al., 2016). When setting up the website or the online shop, it is of great importance to pay attention to an excellent quality as well as to focus on the website experience of the user. The way the users experience the website visit and the associations that result with the online retailer is a crucial factor for the long-term success of the online retailer, also because past experiences influence the online behaviour in the future (Rose et al., 2012). It’s proven that the impression of the website and all other touchpoints influence the customer’s overall perception and purchase decision (Roggeven et al., 2019). In addition to compliance with all necessary data protection guidelines, the quality of a website primarily includes design (aesthetic factors) and user-friendliness (functional factors). In the digital world, it is important for customers that online grocery retailers provide detailed product descriptions in combination with product images in order to simplify the assessment of goods. The inclusion of visual elements plays a crucial role in online grocery retailing, as the static or dynamic images can minimise the perceived purchase risk and improve the customer experience (Desrochers et al., 2019). Studies have shown that a highquality website increases customer satisfaction and strengthens their trust in the company (Rose et al., 2012; Blut, 2016; Tandon et al., 2017).

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H1a: The higher the quality of the website, the more consumers trust the online grocery retailer. Price level An appropriate price level also plays a decisive role in online purchase decisions. Especially in purchasing situations where consumers have little experience with the supplier and have not yet been able to build up trust, consumers interpret the price level as a first indication for the product quality (Barker & Brau, 2020). According to a survey by the Rogator AG on changing shopping behaviour in Austria in 2020, the price level of food has become an even more important purchasing decision factor for 33% of respondents due to the Corona crisis (Schultz, 2020c). The general price awareness of many consumers is therefore increasing, which is why product price and price fairness play a decisive role in purchasing decisions (Karmarkar et al., 2015). Basically, however, it always depends on whether the pricing is appropriate for the product or not. It is important for companies to compare product prices with other substitutable products and make them fair for customers (Kuester et al., 2015). Consumers accept more expensive prices if a supplier can justify the motive for the comparatively higher price. If the products of the food online retailer are more expensive due to regional origin, organic quality or sustainable packaging materials, customers are willing to pay more for the product compared to other suppliers. Overall, research has shown a strong connection between perceived price fairness, trust-building and completed purchase decisions (Homburg et al., 2019). H1b: The more reasonable the price level of the products, the more consumers trust the online grocery retailer. Freshness and quality guarantee The lack of haptic information options in online retailing results in an increased purchasing risk for many consumers, especially for quickly perishable products such as fresh meat, fruits or vegetables (Campo & Breugelmans, 2015). A consistent transparency regarding the freshness and quality of food is therefore elementary for building consumer trust. When describing the offered products, it must be ensured that the customer is provided with all important product information and labelling in accordance with the Food Information Regulation (LMIV). In this way, the consumer can be ideally supported in the product selection and ordering process (Funke, 2020). H1c: The more transparent the freshness and quality guarantee, the more consumers trust the online grocery retailer.

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Customer reviews Good customer reviews have a positive effect on trust-building and purchase decisions. The enormous effect of online customer reviews is due to their authenticity and credibility. They are perceived as trustworthy and unbiased, as they are written by existing customers who have no expectation of remuneration, in contrast to traditional advertising generated by the company. Overall, customer reviews generate trust, simplify the purchase decision and have been shown to increase sales, which is why they can be considered an important purchase decision factor (Moon et al., 2020; Shaheen et al., 2019). H1d: The better the customer reviews, the more consumers trust the online grocery retailer. Sustainability Another important aspect for the purchase decision of food is the integration of sustainable and environmentally friendly innovations. The shift towards more sustainable consumption is being driven primarily by consumers themselves, who are placing greater value on sustainable products and want to know more and more about the origin and production of the food as well as the ecological, economic and social standards of the retailer (Vadakkepatt et al., 2020). Sustainability plays a fundamental role in the food trade in particular, as the production and consumption of food contributes significantly to the increasing environmental impacts such as the loss of animal and plant species. There is also an urgent need to reduce food spoilage and packaging waste. By offering organic, regional, vegetarian or vegan food, food retailers contribute significantly to reducing environmental impacts in the food sector and to supporting consumers in more sustainable consumption (UBA, 2020). The integration of social, ecological and economic responsibility has been proven to have a positive effect on the consumer’s brand perception and has a positive impact on trust building (White et al., 2019). H1e: The stronger the integration of sustainability, the more consumers trust the online grocery retailer.

2.2 The Influence of Attitudes Attitudes refer to subjective viewpoints acquired over the long term with regard to an object, whereby persons, situations, norms, products, etc. function as the object of adjustment. Overall, attitudes can be seen as dispositions or tendencies that are expressed by the fact that certain situations are evaluated with a specific

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degree of affection or rejection. A person’s behaviour can be positively or negatively influenced by his or her attitude (Akroush & Al-Debei, 2015). According to the theory of planned behaviour, attitude is thus an important predictor of purchase intention and the actual purchase decision: the more positive the attitude towards the product, the more likely a purchase is (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). However, despite this fact, the correlation between attitude and behaviour must be viewed in a differentiated way. Behaviour or other situational aspects also have an influence on attitude and can change it either in a positive or in a negative direction (Kroeber-Riel et al., 2009). In summary, attitude is definitely a personal factor in the online purchase decision, but it can be influenced and changed by various external variables such as an appealing and high-quality website or positive customer reviews (Felser, 2015). H2: The more positive the personal attitude towards online grocery shopping, the better the impact of website quality (a), price level (b), freshness and quality guarantee (c), customer reviews (d) and sustainability (e) on consumer trust.

2.3 Trust and Decision Making Every relationship, especially at the beginning, is characterised by a high level of risk and uncertainty as well as a lack of knowledge or information. These two factors of risk and uncertainty are particularly high in the online industry, as the customer does not have the opportunity to test the physical product or check the quality before purchasing (Coulter & Coulter, 2003; Hult et al., 2019). In addition to this, many consumers are unsure at the beginning of the customer journey or when new products are introduced due to still “little knowledge” and therefore do not want to take the higher risk of making a purchase without personal haptic control options. It is therefore all the more important for companies to take specific measures to strengthen the trust of their customers and minimise uncertainties (Baumbach et al., 2019). Trust is the key factor for a successful, cooperative and mutually beneficial “partnership” and is closely related to purchase decisions, customer loyalty and retention, product acceptance, business capability, high sales, profits and sustainable competitive advantage (Bozic & Kuppelwieser, 2019). H3: The higher the trust in an online grocery retailer, the more likely this will result in a completed purchase decision.

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2.4 Subjective Norm and Purchase Decision The term subjective norm was primarily coined by the two social psychologists Ajzen & Fishbein (1980). It defines the perceived social pressure that a person feels to perform or refrain from performing a behaviour. It refers to a person’s perception of how important reference persons evaluate the behaviour shown (normative belief) and the motivation to act in line with this evaluation. This includes, for example, the perception of how important people to the consumer evaluate the online purchase of food and what they think about buying food online (Yadav & Pathak, 2017). H4: The stronger the customer feels the social pressure of a person relevant to him or her (subjective norm) not to order food via the internet, the less likely a purchase decision will be made despite trust.

2.5 Purchase Decision and Satisfaction The term satisfaction has its origin in social research and describes the emotional reaction of a customer to the performance of a product. It arises from the cognitive comparison of expectations before the purchase and the actual experience with the product after the purchase. Customer satisfaction is thus the result of a comparison process between the perceived product performance and the expectations of the product. The comparison then results either in enthusiasm, satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Holland, 2014). In addition to customer satisfaction, the customer’s willingness to identify with the brand or the company also plays a significant role in building customer loyalty and retention. Customer-company identification (CCI) describes a psychological feeling of attachment of the consumer to the company, which arises through a subjective comparison process between the customer’s own identity and that of the company. Both customer satisfaction and CCI have an impact on sustainable business success (Günther & Günther, 2020). H5: The more consumers’ expectations of food products match their actual experiences with the products after purchase, the more satisfied they are.

2.6 Satisfaction and Loyalty Although customer satisfaction has a positive impact on the company, it does not necessarily influence the consumer’s future behaviour. Rather, it is necessary to

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generate solid customer loyalty, as this ultimately influences the customer’s current and future positive attitudes and behaviours and thus sustainably determines the company’s success (Homburg & Bruhn, 2017). Customers pursue different intentions as to why they bind themselves to a company. Basically, two types of customer loyalty can be distinguished: commitment and tie. In the commitment strategy, customers are satisfied with the product or brand and voluntarily bind themselves to the company. They have built up an emotional bond with the company, which is characterised above all by a good relationship of trust and a high level of CCI. This type of customer loyalty is also referred to as genuine loyalty and is the type of customer loyalty desired by companies. In contrast, tie is understood as the customer’s dependence on a supplier, for example through a contract. A customer’s tie to a company is also referred to as fake loyalty and is considered the undesirable type of customer loyalty (Schneider, 2008). H6: The more satisfied customers are with their purchase decision, the more loyal they are to the online grocery retailer.

3 Conceptual Model and Hypotheses Based on the literature analysis and the theoretical background, the following research model was developed (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1   Conceptual model and interrelationship of hypotheses (adapted from Fishbein & Ajzen, 2015; Woodworth,1929, et al.)

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4 Methodology A deductive approach was chosen for this study, whereby the developed research model and the established hypotheses represented the starting point for the empirical part. The data was collected by means of a partially standardised online survey. All persons living in Germany, Austria or Switzerland define the population of the study. However, this study is not a full survey, but a partial survey. For this purpose, a sample of at least 200 participants from the DACH region was needed. The survey consisted of a total of 23 questions, which were supplemented by four demographic questions. Primarily, the survey aimed to explore the reasons why consumers buy groceries online, which personal and product related factors strengthen their trust in the retailer or are decisive for their purchase, and whether they would buy groceries online again. Different scale levels were used to measure the data collected in the survey. In this study, the nominal scale and the interval scale were used for the closed questions. After the pretest was completed and the questionnaire optimised, the main study was conducted. The online survey was created using SoSci Survey. It was online from 02 to 28 March 2021 and a total of 230 valid data sets were finally collected. The results were exported from the tool and the final evaluation of the data was carried out using SPSS and Microsoft Excel. Both one-sample and two-sample tests were used to examine the hypotheses. Hypotheses 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are tested using the one-sample chi-square test. Hypothesis 4 is tested using the binomial distribution (Jannsen & Laatz, 2017).

5 Results All in all, five out of six hypotheses can be confirmed. Hypothesis 4 must be rejected. The results of the study prove that the lack of product inspection before purchase, the insufficiently integrated sustainability and the existing doubts about the freshness and quality guarantee are the decisive reasons why consumers have not yet ordered food online. What has emerged specifically is consumers’ desire for a transparent freshness and quality guarantee and the integration of sustainability. These factors have a particularly trust-building effect on consumers and thus represent the two most important product related aspects for the purchase decision. It also became apparent that the quality of the website is crucial for the success of online food retailing. A possible reason for the lower rating of the website

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quality compared to the other two factors is that it is taken for granted by the respondents and e.g. the design of the website only has a subconscious effect on the consumers. With regard to the product price, it can be said that this is also less relevant for the respondents than freshness, quality and sustainability. It can be concluded that customers accept higher prices if the online retailer f.e. pays attention to regional production, always offers fresh products or uses sustainable packaging materials. Basically, it can be summarised that price fairness plays a decisive role for customers and that customers are willing to pay more for good quality. Digital customer ratings consistently have the least importance for the survey participants. Despite this finding, it can be assumed that consumers unconsciously come across reviews when searching for online grocery retailers and that they influence the purchase decision. In addition to the five product related factors, customers’ personal attitudes towards online grocery also have an influence on product purchases. Overall, it can be stated that the attitude definitely influences the trust in the retailer and thus the purchase decision, but this can be steered in a positive direction by the productrelated factors. Results show, that the subjective norm has no particular influence on trust and the purchase decision for a large number of the respondents. This finding suggests that this is related to the product “food”. The social pressure to do something wrong in the eyes of important reference persons is relatively low when buying food online compared to other intentions. The situation is different when it comes to high-involvement products and “greater” social pressure from outside.

6 Conclusion In summary the results show that the product related factors of freshness and quality guarantee, sustainability, website quality, price level and customer ratings as well as the personal related factor of attitude have a decisive influence on trust in the retailer and consequently on the digital purchase decision of groceries among people from the DACH region.

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Ganesh, J., Reynolds, K. E., Luckett, M., & Pomirleanu, N. (2010). Online Shopper Motivations, and e-Store Attributes: An Examination of Online Patronage Behaviour and Shopper Typologies. Journal of Retailing, 86(1), 106–115. Günther, M., & Günther, P. (2020). The complex firm financial effects of customer satisfaction improvements.. International Journal of Research in Marketing, in press. Holland, H. (2014). Digitales Dialogmarketing. Springer Gabler. Hollis-Hansen, K., Seidmann, J., O’Donnell, S., & Epstein, L. H. (2019). Episodic future thinking and grocery shopping online. Appetite, 133, 1–9. Homburg, C., & Bruhn, M. (Hrsg.). (2017). Handbuch Kundenbindungsmanagement. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler. Homburg, C., Lauer, K., & Vomberg, A. (2019). The multichannel pricing dilemma: Do consumers accept higher offline than online prices? International Journal of Research in Marketing, 36(4), 597–612. Homburg, C., Wieseke, K., & Bornemann, T. (2009). Implementing the marketing concept at the employee-customer interface: The role of customer need knowledge. Journal of MarketIng, 73(4), 64–81. Hult, G. T. M., Sharma, P. N., Morgeson, F. V., III., & Zhang, Y. (2019). Antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction: Do they differ across online and offline purchases? Journal of Retailing, 95, 10–23. Huyghe, E., Verstraten, J., Geuens, M., & Van Kerckhove, A. (2017). Clicks as a Healthy Alternative to Bricks: How Online Grocery Shopping Reduces Vice Purchases. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(1), 61–74. Jannsen, J., & Laatz, W. (2017). Statistische Datenanalyse mit SPSS. Springer- Gabler. Karmarkar, U. R., Shiv, B., & Knutson, B. (2015). Cost conscious? The neural and behavioural impact of price primacy on decision-making. Journal of Marketing Research, 52(4), 467–481. Kroeber-Riel, W., Weinberg, P., & Gröppel-Klein, A. (2009). Konsumentenverhalten. Vahlen. Kuester, S., Feurer, S., Schuhmacher, M. C., & Reinartz, D. (2015). Comparing the Incomparable? How consumers judge the price fairness of new products. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 32(3), 272–283. Moon, S., Kim, M. Y., & Iacobucci, D. (2020). Content analysis of fake consumer reviews by survey-based text categorization. International Journal of Research in Marketing, in press. Ngwe, D., Ferreira, K. J., & Teixeira, T. (2019). The impact of increasing search frictions on online shopping behaviour: Evidence from a field experiment. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(6), 944–959. Reinartz, W., Wiegand, N., & Imschloss, M. (2019). The impact of digital transformation on the retailing value chain. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 36(3), 350–366. Roggeven, A. L., Grewal, D., & Schweiger, E. B. (2019). The DAST framwork for retail atmospherics: The impact of in- and out-of-store retail journey touchpoints on the customer experience. Journal of Retailing, 96(1), 128–137. Rose, S., Clark, M., Samouel, P., & Hair, N. (2012). Online customer experience in e-retailing: An empirical model of antecedents and outcomes. Journal of Retailing, 88(2), 308–322.

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Saini, Y. K., & Lynch, J. G. (2016). The effects of the online and offline purchase environment on consumer choice of famiiar and unfamiliar brands. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(3), 702–705. Schneider, W. (2008). Profitable Kundenorientierung ducrh Customer Relationship Management. Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH. Schultz, E. (2020a). Anteil der Online-Käufer an der Bevölkerung in Österreich bis 2020. https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/298302/umfrage/nutzung-von-online-shopping-in-oesterreich/. Accessed 3. May 2021. Schultz, E. (2020b). Meistgekaufte Warengruppen im Distanzhandel in Österreich nach Geschlecht 2019. https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/669040/umfrage/online-einkaeufer-ausgewaehlter-produkte-nach-geschlecht-in-oesterreich/. Accessed 3. May 2021. Schultz, E. (2020c). Einfluss der Corona-Krise auf Einkaufsverhalten bei Lebensmitteln in Österreich 2020. https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1132701/umfrage/einflussder-corona-krise-auf-einkaufsverhalten-bei-lebensmitteln-in-oesterreich/. Accessed 3. May 2021. Shaheen, M., Zeba, F., Chatterjee, N., & Krishnankutty, R. (2019). Engaging customers through credible and useful reviews: The role of online trust. Young Consumers, 21(2), 137–153. Tandon, U., Kiran, R., & Sah, A. N. (2017). Customer satisfaction as mediator between website service quality and repurchase intention: An emerging economy case. Service Science, 9(2), 106–120. UBA. (2020). Nachhaltigkeit im Lebensmittelmarkt. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/ themen/nachhaltigkeit-im-lebensmittelmarkt. Accessed 3. May 2021. Utz, S., Kerkhof, P., & van den Bos, J. (2012). Consumer rule: How consumer reviews influence perceived trustworthiness of online stores. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 11, 49–58. Vadakkepatt, G. G., Winterich, K. P., Mittal, V., Zinn, W., Beitelspacher, L., Aloysius, J., Ginger, J., & Reilmann, J. (2020). Sustainable retailing. Journal of Retailing, in press. White, K., Habib, R., & Hardisty, D. J. (2019). How to SHIFT consumer behaviours to be more sustainable: A literature review and guiding framework. Journal of Marketing, 83(3), 22–49. Woodworth, R. S. (1929). Psychology. Holt. Yadav, R., & Pathak, G. S. (2017). Determinants of consumers’ green purchase behaviour in a developing nation: Applying and extending the theory of planned behaviour. Ecological Economics, 134, 114–122.

Katharina Angerer  is a graduate of the Master’s programme in Digital Marketing at the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tyrol. Her research focuses on customers’ needs and decisive purchase decision factors in digital grocery retailing. Email: kathi.angerer@ hotmail.com

Economic Relevance of Data Protection and Ethical Aspects in Affiliate Marketing Lukas Blunder

Abstract

This paper analyses the influence of cookie-based tracking in affiliate marketing on the reputation of a company considering the ethical data protection. The ethical conflict with the protection of customer data is increasingly being discussed. To answer the research question an online survey was conducted. The findings show that the dutiful handling of customer data has a positive impact on corporate reputation. In addition, consumer fright about the processing of personal data in the form of cookie tracking has an impact on consumer trust. However, consumers are not deterred from further use of cookie tracking.

1 Introduction As early as 2005, affiliate marketing has been described as an emerging marketing strategy in e-commerce that seems to have more than lasting potential, especially due to the win—win situation between advertisers and affiliates (Duffy, 2005). Affiliate marketing is nowadays considered a generally accepted, trustworthy sales channel. It represents a contemporary form of success-based Internet marketing (Gregori et al., 2014). The following paper will address the question

L. Blunder (*)  University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tyrol, Kufstein, Austria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Schneckenleitner et al. (eds.), Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40619-6_3

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whether there is also a win—win situation between advertisers and consumers regarding data protection and ethical aspects. Cookie tracking currently provides affiliate marketing with the technical basis necessary to allocate commissions to affiliates. To date, alternatives have had to take a back seat (Tollert, 2009). In Austria, however, the legally compliant use of cookie tracking is not a clearly regulated matter, since in addition to the contents of the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO), deviating provisions of the Telecommunications Act must be complied with. Furthermore, the EU Cookie Guideline plays a significant role because it influences the legislation in the respective country (WKO Tirol, 2019). In any case, the German Federal Association for Digital Economy (BVDW) demands that the criterion of the necessity of cookie tracking should not be defined solely in technical terms, but that it must be in the context of today’s data-economic reality (BVDW, 2020). Companies are increasingly striving to be perceived as customer-centric in order to achieve competitive advantages (Lee et al., 2015). In this context, the consumer and his interests is placed at the center of corporate considerations (Burmann et al., 2010). There is a need for awareness and the motivation to define minimum requirements for the protection of personal data in the working and living environment. This is necessary in the information age and in the age of possible digitalization (Wienke, 2019). The cornerstone of this research is the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM model), which seeks explanations of how consumers form and change attitudes toward products and services (Bitner & Obermiller, 1985).

2 Consumer Trust and Reputation Having cited consumer trust as an essential component of corporate reputation in the literature, Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002) present a framework for understanding the behaviors and practices of service providers seeking to build trust with customers. They further describe those mechanisms that transform consumer trust into value and loyalty in rational exchange. In their research, Gregori et al. (2014) identified key variables that influence consumer trust in affiliate websites and, as an implication, propose to validate and complement their developed framework in different service industries. Further, they describe that in (tourism-related) affiliate marketing, consumers are not deterred from trusting affiliate website by its commission-based nature. This undefined statement is noted here because it highlights the relevance of this present work and holds out the prospect of a closer look at the data protection ethical aspects. The ELM model mentioned in the

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introduction serves as a framework for the creation of the questionnaire by dividing the subjects in advance into those who are already familiar with the topic of cookie tracking and those who are not. Due to the partial aspects mentioned above, the specific question at this point is whether and how consumers change their behavior knowing that their data is stored and processed by cookie-based tracking in order to subsequently ensure the allocation for the remuneration of commissions to affiliates. We will investigate in detail the influence of data protection and ethical considerations of consumers as an independent variable on the profitable implementation of affiliate marketing as a dependent variable, or more precisely, whether and what influence data protection and ethical considerations have with regard to the corporate reputation of the company using affiliate marketing—in the form of trust. In the context of this study, the following research question should be answered: What influence does the use of cookie-based tracking in affiliate marketing have on the corporate reputation focusing on data protection and ethical considerations of consumers. A study by Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002) will serve as basis, assuming that consumer trust in corporate practices directly influences their loyalty. By answering the research question, there is the opportunity to analyze a possible connection between active data protection and corporate reputation. Further, recommendations for companies can be derived from this. In order to answer the research question, Marzi et al. (2014) should be mentioned at this point, who conclude that the human brain is equipped with a kind of special “toolbox” for the comprehension of trustworthiness and that this comprehension must happen quickly and safely due to evolutionary circumstances. For this reason, this thesis also deals with transactional analysis, which superficially examines the basic principle of human decision making.

3 Methodology The current study focuses on the affiliate advertising medium text link, which can be placed on comparison platforms as in the present case. Key factors of trust and loyalty play an essential role in this study because they operationalize and represent the corporate reputation construct. With the help of adjusted variables, a survey instrument was developed to find out, how consumers feel about the subject of cookie tracking, how they act within the scope of the survey and how this affects trust and loyalty towards the affiliate. Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002) base their research on three main dimensions of trustworthy behaviors and practices in terms of their impact on consumer trust, which they operationalized through pre-

30

L. Blunder

vious interviews and other means. The dimensions of “Operational Competence, Operational Benevolence, and Problem-Solving Orientation” will be adopted accordingly for the present research. Because the research of Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002) relates to services in the retail and air travel industries, items has been modified and adapted to the current study context. However, the basic reference to the research of Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002) still remains useful, because here— as in the present research—trust and loyalty of consumers were measured, which results can subsequently be transferred to corporate reputation (Walsh et al., 2014). The principal-agent theory can be used to explain that negative consumer experiences with comparison platforms (affiliates) also have a negative impact on the reputation of providers (merchants). If the adapted translation of the items of the dimension “Problem-Solving Orientation” is considered, it can be stated in unison with Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002) that further psychometric considerations are needed to develop the trustworthiness construct. Here, Sirdeshmukh et al. make use of existing research. More specifically, the dimensions of Satisfaction, Trust, Loyalty, and Value are further included. The satisfaction dimension has been operationalized according to Spreng et al. (1996) and expressed by Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002), for example, by the question “How satisfying was your last experience with this airline?” Applied to this work, the question is then for example: “How satisfying was your last experience with a comparison platform?”. The Loyalty dimension was operationalized according to Zeithaml et al. (1996). The Value dimension was operationalized according to Dodds et al. (1991) and Grisaffe and Kumar (1998). The Trust dimension was operationalized according to Ganesan (1994) and Morgan and Hunt (1994). Scale levels and the number of scale points were taken from the study by Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002). In the present research, both women and men of different ages were surveyed to draw possible conclusions about age-related differences. The population includes those persons whose personal data are processed online or persons for whom there is at least an intention on the part of the online service providers to do so. The sample is drawn from the basic population in the form of convenience sampling, i.e. in the form of a random selection of test persons. These are further encouraged to distribute the questionnaire and also to forward it to friends and acquaintances for completion. Subsequently, snowball sampling is used to acquire further respondents to complete the questionnaire (Emerson, 2015).

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370 questionnaires have been collected, 333 fully completed questionnaires were included in the study. Five people stated that they were basically unaware of comparison platforms, therefore these questionnaires have been also excluded from the study and thus 328 fully completed questionnaires constituted the sample. The survey period was 6 days in February 2021.

4 Results In the course of the data analysis, a connection of the data with the ELM model was first established and a possible change in attitude of the subjects due to newly gained knowledge about cookie tracking was addressed. In addition, possible differences between the individual age groups were discussed to match this. Subsequently, the connection between affiliate and company reputation was addressed and the influence of cookie tracking on company reputation was discussed.

4.1 Attitude Resistance Even with Newly Acquired Knowledge First and foremost, it was interesting to find out how attitudes change after receiving information about the technology behind cookie tracking in the form of mockups and explanatory text, in both the central and peripheral routes in relation to the question about the continued use of comparison platforms. In the case, the Kruskal—Wallis test shows a non-significant correlation of the answers to the question about knowledge of the cookie tracking technique and the question about the further use of comparison platforms (Table 1).

Table 1   Kruskal—wallis-test relationship attitudinal resistance due to newly acquired knowledge

Further use Kruskal—Wallis H df Asymptotic significance a. Kruskal—Wallis-Test b. Group variable: Knowledge about cookie tracking technique

,144 1 ,704

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L. Blunder

4.2 Link Between Affiliate and Merchant Reputation The next step was to investigate whether the affiliate’s conscientious handling of customer data has a positive effect on the merchant’s corporate reputation. The heterogeneous company reputation (affiliate reputation at this point, because the company reputation will be inferred later) was subsequently defined by variables from the dimensions loyalty and value. Mean values were calculated from the data sets to form a new dependent variable. The questions of the Operational Benevolence dimension were defined as independent variables, which were intended to reflect the subjective impression of the handling of data from the perspective of the end consumers. Subsequently, an analysis of variance was carried out, among other things (Table 2). The evaluation showed a highly significant result (,000).

4.3 Aspects of Confidence Building In order to find out more about the aspects of trust building in relation to the present research subject, a question about being frightened about data processing was defined as an independent variable. The reason for this was that a large proportion of respondents (41.6%) stated that they were frightened by the way in which customer data was handled, despite the fact that this large proportion answered another question to the effect that they were aware that cookies defined as part of the survey were stored and read on their end devices. The dependent variables were all defined from the direct dimension “Trust” (Table 3). Again, there was a high level of significance (,000).

Table 2   Analysis of variance corporate reputation

Model 1

Square sum

df

Mean of the squares

F

Sig

Regression

402,254

3

134,085

35,869

,000b

Non-standardized residuals

1211,185

324

3,738

Total

1613,438

327

a. Ependent Variable: Mean values from data Dimensions “Loyalty” and “Value” b. Influencing Variables: (constant), Dimension “Operational Benevolence”

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Table 3   Analysis of variance confidence building

Model 1

Square sum

df

Mean of the squares

F

Sig

Regression

88,000

1

88,000

29,926

,000b

Non-standardized residuals

958,642

326

2,941

Total

1046,642

327

a. Abhängige Variable: Dimension “Trust” b. Influencing Variables: (constant), Fear of data processing

5 Discussion Regarding the change in attitude towards the ethical perception of cookie tracking as a result of newly acquired background knowledge, it can be stated that many consumers who state that they are already familiar with the subject are nevertheless frightened after they have again been informed by experts about the background of the tracking procedure. Nevertheless, there is no significant correlation between the statement that the storage of cookies on the end devices of the end customers is known and the further use of comparison platforms. With reference to the ELM model, it can thus be stated that even people who can be assigned to the peripheral route exhibit quite stable attitudes and presumably switch to the central route after the stage of possible attitude change in the event of successful persuasion. This finding is relevant as it may indicate a general acceptance of cookie tracking or draw attention to the fact that the development of basic ethical values in this regard must progress because of the rapid change in the area of digitalization in our society (mentioned in the literature section). In consequence this must be further defined by knowledgeable people of the central route or changed in their awareness by people of the peripheral route. In summary, the more respectfully personal data in the form of cookies is handled, the better the affiliate reputation. It can also be seen that the stronger the impression that comparison platforms actively strive to protect customer data, the better the affiliate reputation. The more comparison platforms try to place the customer at the center of their efforts, the more positively the affiliate reputation is perceived. At this point, it should be noted once again that the trust construct has been established as the key indicator for a positive affiliate reputation and that the principal-agent theory has been used to infer affiliate reputation from merchant reputation.

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L. Blunder

A further examination of the evaluations shows that the less the handling of data frightens the test subjects, the more trust they have in comparison platforms. By calculating the R-squared value (,084), it can also be stated that the trust construct can be influenced by several more variables. With reference to the literature, this finding can be confirmed in that the trust construct is a very heterogeneously discussed construct and cannot be definitively operationalized even according to Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002). Finally, further research implications should be mentioned. It would be interesting, for instance, to find out whether users recognize differences between data cookies that serve, for example, re-targeting, the improvement of one’s own website, or the cookies addressed in the present research for the exchange of information between several parties. It could also be investigated to what extent the subjective interests in the context of the click decision on an advertising medium cancel each other out, even if the customer knows that he or she has to trade information for personal data. This could be the starting point for research that further explores the intersubjective boundaries of the end customer. A valid research result in this regard could further help legislators to pass practice-oriented laws. However, the willingness to trade data for performance should be monitored in the long term within the framework of cross-sectional studies in order to be able to react to shifts and changes.

References Bitner, M., & Obermiller, C. (1985). The elaboration likelihood model: Limitations and extensions in marketing. Advances in Consumer Research, 12, 420–425. Burmann, C., Meurer, J., & Kanitz, C. (2010). Customer centricity as a key to success for pharma. Journal of Medical Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1057/jmm.2010.30. BVDW. (2020). Datenschutzkonformes Affiliate-Marketing—Eine rechtliche Einordnung. https://bvdw.org/fileadmin/user_upload/BVDW_Datenschutzkonformes_Affiliate_Marketing_2020.pdf. Accessed 17. Dec. 2020. Dodds, W. B., Monroe, K. B., & Grewal, D. (1991). Effects of price, brand, and store information on buyers’ product evaluations. Journal of Marketing Research, 28(3), 307–319. https://doi.org/10.2307/3172866. Duffy, D. (2005). Affiliate marketing and its impact on e-commerce. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 22(3), 161–163. Emerson, R. W. (2015). Convenience sampling, random sampling, and snowball sampling: How does sampling affect the validity of research? Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 109(2), 164–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X1510900215.

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Ganesan, S. (1994). Determinants of long-term orientation in buyer-seller relationships. Journal of Marketing, 58(2), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.2307/1252265. Gregori, N., Daniele, R., & Altinay, L. (2014). Affiliate marketing in tourism. Journal of Travel Research, 53(2), 196–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287513491333. Grisaffe, D. P., & Kumar, A. (1998). Antecedents and consequences of customer value: Testing an expanded framework. Marketing Science Institute, 98–107. Lee, J.-Y., Sridhar, S., Henderson, C. M., & Palmatier, R. W. (2015). Effect of customercentric structure on long-term financial performance. Marketing Science, 34(2), 250– 268. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2014.0878. Marzi, T., Righi, S., Ottonello, S., Cincotta, M., & Viggiano, M. P. (2014). Trust at first sight: Evidence from ERPs. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(1), 63–72. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss102. Morgan, R. M., & Hunt, S. D. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 58(3), 20–38. https://doi.org/10.2307/1252308. Sirdeshmukh, D., Singh, J., & Sabol, B. (2002). Consumer trust, value, and loyalty in relational exchanges. Journal of Marketing, 66(1), 15–37. https://doi.org/10.1509/ jmkg.66.1.15.18449. Spreng, R. A., MacKenzie, S. B., & Olshavsky, R. W. (1996). A reexamination of the determinants of consumer satisfaction. Journal of Marketing, 60(3), 15–32. https://doi. org/10.2307/1251839. Tollert, D. (2009). Die provisionsgestaltung im affiliate marketing. Eine analyse auf der basis der prinzipal-agent-theorie. Kohlhammer. Walsh, G., Bartikowski, B., & Beatty, S. E. (2014). Impact of customer-based corporate reputation on non-monetary and monetary outcomes: The roles of commitment and service context risk. British Journal of Management, 25(2), 166–185. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2012.00845.x. Wienke, A. (2019). Klarstellungen zum Thema Datenschutz. HNO, 67(1), 59–60. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s00106-018-0564-8. WKO Tirol. (2019). Abmahnungen wegen nicht korrektem Einsatz von Tracking-Cookies. Auswirkungen der EuGH-Judikatur auf die Einbindung von Cookies. https://www.wko. at/service/wirtschaftsrecht-gewerberecht/abmahnung-inkorrekter-einsatz-tracking-cookies.html. Accessed 17. Dec. 2020. Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1996). The behavioral consequences of service quality. Journal of Marketing, 60(2), 31–46. https://doi.org/10.2307/1251929.

Lukas Blunder, BA MA is a graduate of the Management Center Innsbruck (Business Administration Bachelor) and the University of Applied Science Kufstein (Digital Marketing Master). He is currently studying in the Master’s program in Business Education at the University of Innsbruck and works as a politician as well as a trainer and self-employed musician. His research focuses on innovation management and digitalization as well as data protection and socio-political issues. You can reach the author per mail to: [email protected].

Employer Attractiveness in Alpine Destinations: The Influence of Destination Factors Alexandra Brunner-Sperdin and Mario Situm

Abstract

This study aimed to understand work motivation and the influence of destination factors on work motivation and employer attractiveness; we used a sample of tourism students and tourism company employees. Referring to Herzberg et al.’s (1959) two-factor theory of work motivation, the dimension “attractors” was explored to capture region- or destination-related factors that drive potential employees to choose a job in tourism companies. We tested the relationships between the study constructs using structural equation modeling. Motivators, hygiene factors, and attractors exhibited statistically significant relationships, confirming the hypothetical assumptions of the study. However, very strong associations were found between hygiene factors and attractors. In particular, factors such as social relationships, which are not directly related to work and are thus not directly provided by the company, were strongly related to destination factors. The tourism company manager needs to consider destination factors as a supplement to hygiene factors to avoid dissatisfaction and increase attractiveness as an employer in tourism.

A. Brunner-Sperdin (*) · M. Situm  University of Applied Sciences, Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria e-mail: [email protected] M. Situm e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Schneckenleitner et al. (eds.), Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40619-6_4

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A. Brunner-Sperdin and M. Situm

1 Introduction The lack of a qualified workforce, which is caused by high fluctuation and the departure of qualified employees to other sectors, has already been discussed in the literature before COVID-19 (Ployhart, 2006; Stamolampros, et al., 2019; von Bergner & Lohmann, 2014). Subsequently, owners of tourism companies have been forced to develop strategies to acquire and retain well-trained and motivated employees (Choy & Kamoche, 2021). The growing lack of (younger) skilled employees mainly results from difficulties in reconciling family and professional life, as well as from the high degree of physical and psychological stress that work in tourism brings about daily (Becic & Crnjar, 2009; Boukis, et al., 2020). Moreover, recent studies show that employees attach great importance to conditions such as the social environment and their perception of the workplace (Lefrid et al., 2022; Wong et al., 2017). Employees particularly evaluate the destination itself as an attracting factor for choosing a job in tourism companies (BrunnerSperdin et al., 2021). Referring to Herzberg et al.’s (1959) two-factor theory of motivation, motivation to work has two factors: the basic survival needs of hygiene factors (salary, working condition, physical workspace, relationship with colleagues and supervisor, quality of the supervisor, politics, and rules) and motivation factors (performance and achievement, recognition, job status, responsibility, advancement, personal growth, and work itself). While hygiene factors are not directly related to the work at hand, but include the conditions that surround performing a job, motivators refer to the work itself. Hygiene factors can create dissatisfaction; when they are not satisfied, they even do not motivate or cause satisfaction. Motivation factors, however, increase satisfaction by fulfilling the individual’s need for meaning and personal growth, thereby enhancing work motivation (Herzberg, 2005). Motivators and hygiene factors might explain actual work experiences for job seekers in the tourism industry (e.g., Čivre et al., 2013; Lundberg et al., 2009; Sobaih & Hasanein, 2020), but they do not necessarily capture the attractiveness of an offered position in a broader context. Attracting factors also depend on the region where the tourism company is located. Thus, we extend Herzberg et al.’s (1959) two-factor theory and include region as an attracting factor. Subsequently, the aim of the study was to understand the factors that motivate (potential) employees in hospitality and tourism settings in their work by adding destinationrelated factors as a third dimension of work motivation and analyzing its interplay with motivators and hygiene factors.

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Attracting factors determine the attractiveness of employees’ working and living environments and ensure that an industry is perceived as having a desirable working environment. They arouse positive associations in job seekers, who have not yet had any experience with the job in question. Thus, the region as an attracting factor in conjunction with the motivation and hygiene factors represent the three dimensions of employer attractiveness in the proposed model. Grounded on these factors, our research questions dealt with the relationship between motivators, hygiene factors, and attractors and how attractors could support motivators and hygiene factors to increase employer attractiveness in the tourism industry. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In the next chapter, the background of the research is presented, followed by chapters describing the methodology, the scale construction and the obtained results. The study closes with conclusions and implications for practice.

2 Research Background Herzberg et al.’s (1959) two-factor theory of motivation has already been applied in prior tourism-related studies. Ann and Blum (2020) used this theory to test the motivation of senior employees, and based on their empirical results, the applicability and validity of Herzberg’s two-factor theory could still be confirmed even after more than 60 years of its emergence. Lundberg et al. (2009) also confirmed the applicability of Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation for seasonal workers. They state that it is more important for migrant communities of workers to meet new people than it is for resident workers. In a study focused on Slovenian front-line employees working in tourism, Čivre et al. (2013) found that recognition and responsibility—classified as motivators—showed a positive impact on work motivation while hygiene factors were not statistically significant. In our study, the motivators (Herzberg et al., 1959) primarily focus on the leadership and corporate culture. Powerful leadership establishes a positive feedback culture. Above all, positive feedback leads to better self-reflection among employees and thus promotes their sense of responsibility toward the company. The type of leadership style and attitude supervisors have toward employees has a major influence on satisfaction in the company. Maintaining a soft leadership style by setting particularly emotional incentives, such as praise (Tohidi & Jabbari, 2012), promotes self-responsibility and the ability to work independently, thus motivating employees in the process (Kanfer et al., 2008). Corporate culture

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A. Brunner-Sperdin and M. Situm

is a complex phenomenon and product of dynamic social processes. A good corporate culture helps companies attract new talent to apply (Yücel et al., 2013). Building and communicating a positive corporate culture requires organizational behaviors such as warmth, mutual trust, respect, and support between employees and supervisors (Kennerly, 1989). Collaboration orientation is an important characteristic of good corporate culture. Fostering positive collaboration leads to smooth cooperation among employees (Chang et al., 2007; Cheng & O-Yang, 2018). In our study, hygiene factors (Herzberg et al., 1959) were related to social relationships, payment, and benefits. It is particularly important for foreign employees to integrate and get to know people; hence, they become involved in social relationships, as they are often far away from family and friends. This has also been suggested by Lundberg et al. (2009). Consequently, it also improves relationships with colleagues and supervisors and can, in turn, increase employee engagement (Jung & Yoon, 2016). Appropriate and fair payments also play a major role in job satisfaction (Becic & Crnjar, 2009). Options for employees, for example, to work five or six days, promote employee satisfaction. However, money is not always the only reason for a decision. It is also necessary to ensure an intact private life and a certain quality of life. Be it a relationship or a group of friends, both suffer primarily from irregular working hours in the catering industry; as Tan (2020) describes in his study, the personal preferences of employees are not given high priority. Money can be the only reason that employees want to work in a region. On the other hand, they would also like to find a place with a high quality of life to stay there for a longer period of time and start a family. Regional or destination-based factors may be attractive for employees to come to or stay for work. In tourism research, the network-based theory (Baggio et al., 2010; Shih, 2006) has been well researched and is thus included in the current study. As the attractiveness of a destination is an essential criterion for tourists when choosing a destination (Kim, 2018; Prayag & Ryan, 2012), the current study proposes that the same is true for employees. Attraction factors such as sustainability and growth in a destination or region could also motivate employees to work or stay for work (Nukhu & Singh, 2020; York et al., 2021). Subsequently, networks in destinations (e.g., destination management organizations) could enhance the perception of the destination as an attractive place that could influence employees’ perceptions toward employer attractiveness (Baum, 2015). Figure 1 shows the constructs; the constructs’ underlying items; and the hypothetically assumed relationships between motivators, hygiene factors, and attractors.

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3 Methodology and Scale Construction Based on previously conducted focus group interviews (Brunner-Sperdin et al., 2021) and a literature review, a structured questionnaire was designed with a focus on the dimensions (variables) of the attractiveness of a tourism job. Accordingly, we ensured the accuracy and validity of the content (DePoy & Gitlin, 2011, p. 204; Greenstein & Davis, 2013, p. 67). To guarantee understandability and calibrate the measurement instrument, five experts reviewed the questionnaire to ensure high content validity (Hulland et al., 2018). The usage of a questionnaire for this study is suitable as the answers obtained from the respondents can be statistically analyzed (Curran & Blackburn, 2001, p. 74). In total, 587 questionnaires were returned. Incomplete questionnaires were excluded, and only those with complete data were analyzed (Jamshidian, 2009, p. 116). This resulted in a final usable sample of 407 responses (82% female; on average 21.77 years old), which is sufficient to run a structural equation model (SEM) (Ho, 2016, p. 432). Only tourism education students and tourism company employees were asked to participate in the study to ensure study or work experience in a tourism setting. The study variables captured the items displayed in Fig. 1 and were measured on a seven-point (strongly agree/strongly disagree) Likert-type scale. For our first step, internal consistency was assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha (Ho, 2016, pp. 239 and 288). Consequently, we retained 18 indicators for inclusion in the final scale. Regarding validity and reliability, for the average variance extracted (AVE), the value obtained also exceeded the reference cutoff value (≥0.50) according to the literature (Hair et al., 2006). The reliability of the items measuring the same construct was tested using Cronbach’s alpha, and the following results were obtained: • Leadership

(α = 0.743)

• Corporate culture

(α = 0.871)

• Social relationships

(α = 0.833)

• Benefits/Payment

(α = 0.794)

• Attractors (attracting factors of the region)

(α = 0,874)

All alpha values were higher than 0.7; hence, the results were acceptable and internally consistent (Burns & Burns, 2008, p. 417). For the second step, structural equation modeling was applied based on the hypothetical relationship between motivators, hygiene factors, and attractors, as shown in Fig. 1.

42

A. Brunner-Sperdin and M. Situm

Leadership • clear and detailed work assignment instructions • support and positive feedback culture • active problem solving by supervisors Motivators Corporate culture • promotes/improves skill sets • supervisors: trust (discuss problem), competence, and new ideas are welcomed • smooth co-coperation • mutual respect, esteem, and appreciation

• • • • • •

region and local culture (attachment) nature (active, attractive) regionality region is sustainable tourism businesses are sustainable quality of life in the region

Attractors Social relationships • social contacts • close friendship • friendly interaction with colleagues Payment and benefits • appropriate and fair income • payment is important • benefits • quality of life

Hygiene factors

Fig. 1   Hypothetical relationship between motivators, hygiene factors, and attractors

4 Results The results of the measurement model based on SEM can be seen in Fig. 2. Several measures (e.g., root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] and comparative fit index [CFI]) show an acceptable absolute model fit (Foster et al., 2006, pp. 109–110; Ho, 2016, pp. 424–426); hence, further interpretation of the results can be justified (Table 1). As we have learned from results of our analysis of the data, destinationrelated factors in combination with other motivational factors make it possible for a region to be attractive and motivate potential employees to apply for jobs in tourism. Attraction factors have a stronger relationship with hygiene factors than motivators; hygiene factors, such as benefits and quality of life, show a strong relationship with regional and destination-related factors. This is an important implication for practice. Chitiris (1988) and Sobaih and Hasanein (2020), for instance, confirmed that employees are more interested in hygiene factors than motivation factors and indicate that hygiene factors are positively related to job

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Fig. 2   Measurement model. Note: Significances: χ2 = 898.979; df = 367; p = 0.000; RMSEA = 0.060; P-close = 0.001; GFI = 0.866; AGFI = 0.841; CFI = 0.892

satisfaction. An attractive destination, therefore, might be a trigger to emphasize or even amplify the effect of hygiene factors so that employers can increase their attractiveness without inducing additional efforts (resources). This can be used to create a kind of well-being or a “second home,” especially for Generation Y, where employees are attached to their coworkers and superiors and are also able to relax and enjoy their spare time (Wong et al., 2017). It would also enable employees to fulfill their social and affiliation needs (Lee & Way, 2010). In this context, there is also an opportunity for tourism businesses to attract migrant workers from the surrounding area or further afield. Lundeberg et al. (2009)

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A. Brunner-Sperdin and M. Situm

Table 1   Standardized path coefficients

Estimate

S.E

C.R

Supported

REGION

  

Relationship CORPC

0.167***

0.047

3.531

Yes

SOCIAL

  

CORPC

0.341***

0.057

5.936

Yes

REGION

  

SOCIAL

0.314***

0.059

5.297

Yes

REGION

  

LEADER

0.174**

0.060

2.913

Yes

LEADER

  

CORPC

0.588***

0.072

8.208

Yes

SOCIAL

  

LEADER

0.366***

0.071

5.195

Yes

PAYBEN

  

CORPC

0.454***

0.061

7.437

Yes

PAYBEN

  

LEADER

0.382***

0.066

5.832

Yes

REGION

  

PAYBEN

0.133**

0.045

2.923

Yes

SOCIAL

  

PAYBEN

0.390***

0.063

6.192

Yes

Note: Significances: *** = 1%; ** = 5%; n = 407 S.E. = Standard error; C.R. = Critical ratio REGION = Region; SOCIAL = Social relationships; CORPC = Corporate culture; LEADER = Leadership; PAYBEN = Payment and benefits

showed that it is especially important for this target group to have opportunities to know and meet new people. A deeper look shows that there is quite a strong relationship between social relationships (as part of hygiene factors) and the destination (attractor). Successful employer branding of a company in the tourism industry cannot be solely founded on firm-specific characteristics. There is a need to participate with representatives of the region to create a complete picture of the attractiveness for existing and potential employees (Mölk & Auer, 2018). This finding undermines the fact that the resource-based view needs to be coupled with another theoretical framework (as proposed by Arend & Lévesque, 2010; Lockett et al., 2009; Priem & Butler, 2001) to deliver a fruitful theoretical foundation for explaining the research problem for future empirical research; and based on the results of this study, the second framework is the network-based view.

5 Conclusion and Practical Implications As hygiene factors (e.g., social relationships) are strongly related to attraction factors, managers of tourism companies need to consider destination factors as a supplement to hygiene factors to avoid dissatisfaction and increase attractive-

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ness as employers in tourism. Destinations can provide and communicate the local culture, and the active and attractive nature of various destinations and tourism companies might benefit from a broader approach by including destinationrelated factors into communication measures to fill vacancies. Moreover, tourism employees working and living in attractive destinations prefer to stay at the same workplace instead of searching for other positions when they are strongly connected to the region. Accordingly, the embeddedness of tourism small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a destination is considered by extending the resource-based view using network theory. Employees in general expect support, trust, respect, and recognition from supervisors. Generation Z in particular perceives companies as attractive workplaces if management exhibits appreciative behavior toward employees, if it is possible to discuss with superiors at eye level, and if a work–life balance is possible. Managers should use every day working life to exemplify a respectful working relationship with (potential) employees. In an attractive workplace, enthusiasm for interpersonal relationships should be encouraged. To make the best possible use of the positive effect of regional characteristics on the attractiveness of the destination and job satisfaction, resources already available in the region should be used. It is not necessary to invent something new; connections to existing possibilities must often be created. The most obvious point is possibly to employ existing infrastructure, such as sports facilities, to make them accessible to employees. Here, the growing roles of local governments and tourism institutions are evident: They should be strongly integrated into tourism planning and management (Dredge et al., 2011) and transform their role from an information provider to a value enhancer (Formica & Kothari, 2008). To create a positive attitude of potential new employees toward the destination as an attractive employer, these destination-related factors must also be communicated externally. This is not yet the case for all the destinations. However, new employees want to know more about the destination before they come to the region. Thus, good communication with companies should help provide information in advance and on-site. Transparent and authentic communication is of great importance for creating a basis for trust. Otherwise, the job seeker loses confidence and interest in the region (Morgan & Hunt, 1994; Zillifro & Morais, 2004). Uniform communication within a destination must also be guaranteed to avoid confusion. The employee should also be viewed as a local, and both sides should be able to benefit from the advantages. For example, existing club structures can also be used to better integrate new employees into the local population.

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6 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research This study provides the first empirical insights connecting hygiene factors and motivators based on Herzberg et al. (1959), with attractors capturing selected features of a destination. The characteristics of the respondents (sample) corresponded well to the characteristics of the general population, and representative results were obtained (Bortz & Döring, 2006, p. 397). However, this study has a limitation. There is an unequal distribution in sex between men and women, and between tourism students and employees. The presented results represent a general view of the population without granulation for sex or type of participant. Thus, there are sufficient possibilities for future research in this area. For example, in the current study, only the selected items constituting the attractor were used. Future empirical studies could expand this aspect by analyzing additional variables to detect potential influences characterizing the destination on hygiene factors and motivators. Another relevant aspect is the role of (tourism) institutions and how they can contribute to increasing destination attractiveness.

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Prof. (FH) Dr. Alexandra Brunner-Sperdin  is a Vice-Director of Studies and Professor at the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein. E-Mail: alexandra.sperdin@fh-kufstein. ac.at Prof. (FH) DDr. Mario Situm  is Director of Studies and Professor at the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein. E-Mail: [email protected]

Nothing Ever Happens, and I Wonder: Dynamic Standstill of PR Between 1984–2020 Peter Dietrich, Christoph Hauser and Sascha Leiber

Abstract

Over the last four decades, the PR industry tried hard to develop from an operational practice into a full strategic management function. Analyzing the submissions for the Austrian-PR-State-Award (1984–2020) shows no significant changes in the perception and treatment of PR problems in this period. A symbolic-interpretive mode is more often practiced than a dialogue-oriented management mode. The main focus is on gaining internal influence, and the improvement of the actual performance is neglected. Hence, due to this imbalance, the possibility of professionalization efforts through a mutually reinforcing dynamic of increase between performance and influence cannot be fully exploited.

1 Problem When the band Fools Garden released their song “Lemon Tree” in 1995 it quickly entered the charts all over the world. As it perfectly addressed the situation of the so-called Generation X, feeling uncomfortable with itself and the entire world as

P. Dietrich (*) · C. Hauser · S. Leiber  University of Applied Sciences, Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria e-mail: [email protected] C. Hauser e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Schneckenleitner et al. (eds.), Conference Proceedings Trends in Business Communication 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40619-6_5

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such, expressing a vague but growing feeling of uncertainty, pledge dependence and loss of self-efficacy with phrases like: “I wonder how, I wonder why (…) I'd like to change my point of view (…) I'm sitting here, I miss the power”. Being unsure where this feeling comes from and therefore unable to strategically change for the better. And so, it comes to the fatalistic conclusion: “But nothing ever happens, and I wonder”. At this point we try to draw a connection to Public Relations and the communication industry as such. Observing the industry over the last decades it is striking that PR tries to professionalize in different ways but seems stuck in this process. Still PR suffers a bad reputation in public, of which PR professionals are quite aware, as exemplified by the fact that 52.4% of PR practitioners across Europe complain about the “[p]oor reputation of professional communication and PR in society” (Zerfass et al., 2012, p. 38). This dubious image of public relations goes hand in hand with a public impression that depicts prototypical representatives of the field as friendly smiling but naive “PR- ladies” or so called “earls-of-sandwiches” on one side and on the other side as reckless and sleeky spin doctors of public opinion. This negative public image might be something you just have to accept, when your first aim is to hone the interest of your own company. In addition to facing a devastating reputation, PR departments also experience a challenging position as a functional area within their own organization: “A large majority of the respondents state (…) a lack of understanding of communication practice within the top management (84%) and difficulties of the profession itself to prove the impact of communication activities on organisational goals (75%)” (Zerfass et al., 2012, p. 37). Again in 2022, Linking Business Strategy and Communication maintains being one of the most urgent issues over the years (Zerfass et al., 2022, p. 74) Additionally, Röttger emphasizes that PR has a “lack of problem-solving competence”, which leads to empirically verifiable “encroachment effects” (2010, p. 21, translated by authors). This means that managers from outside the field (e.g. lawyers or engineers) are often more likely to be entrusted with the execution of PR tasks than trained PR managers (Dees & Döbler, 1997; Dozier, 1988; Nothhaft, 2011; Röttger, 2010; Wienand, 2003). These impressions and their effects are fatal for a relatively young industry like PR and provide the framework for this study. The goal is to shed more light on how PR practitioners deal with communication issues and what accents have been set in the past to solve these problems better, i.e. more professionally.

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2 Theoretical Foundation Three main strategies point out how the PR industry deals with those challenges: 1. Semantic positioning: Academics, PR and communication professionals, professional associations, agencies, and consultants are constantly trying to redefine the function mainly via coming up with different labels that should help to broaden the field and expand the area of responsibility (Dietrich, 2018, 10 et sqq.). Grunig and Hunt set the most common definition when stating, “Public relations […] is the management of communication between an organization and its publics (1984, p. 8); From thereon terms such as Communication Management, Integrated Communication, Organizational Communication, Corporate Communication, came up and as the latest example the discussion of the branch circulates around the label Strategic Communication. 2. Gain internal influence: PR are striving to be recognized as a management function and are trying “to unlock the boardroom“ (Bütschi & Steyn, 2006, p. 108) and get access to the C-Suite (Nothhaft, 2011, p. 212) or Dominant Coalition (Grunig & Hunt, 1984, 120 et seq.). This Management-Shift (Wehmeier, 2008) is driven by the idea of positioning the PR department as an indispensable function of organizations and playing a stronger role in the internal Management game (Simcic Brønn et al., 2016) to gain more influence on superior corporate strategy decisions. 3. Improve actual performance: PR work on their actual performance of what is done, and which results can be expected. In other words, improving the main mode of PR, in terms of delimited problems which PR is responsible for, strategies of how to cope with those problems and actual measures which are realized, when PR comes into play. All three strategies try to pave the main path PR tries to walk to develop as a profession: “For decades now, communication management and public relations is transforming itself from an operational practice of preparing, producing and disseminating communication materials into a full strategic management function, which includes speaking as well as listening, consulting as well as executing.” (Zerfass et al., 2012, p. 43). According to general objection on fashion in management (Kieser, 1997), the first mentioned strategy (semantic positioning) is not suitable to provide substantial changes, as numerous authors have rejected these initiatives of redefining PR via finding new labels. Theis-Berglmair (2013) argues for sticking to Public Relations

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as all communicative activities are subsumed sufficiently. And Röttger et al. too prefer the term Public Relations as it still suits all challenges of the communication industry best. They define Public Relations as “all managed communication internally as well as externally, to support the interests of the organization and help to gain public legitimacy” (2018, p. 7, transl. by authors). The second strategy (gaining internal influence) and third strategy (improving actual performance) are theoretically founded much better and broader and are dominating the discussion of the practical field over the last decades: “The profession is striving for a strategic position at the decision-making table in order to become a part of the strategic management of an organisation (…).” (Zerfass et al., 2014, p. 83). The whole Grunig-Paradigm (Macnamara, 2012, p. 367) is to be subsumed with the term Management-Shift (Dees & Döbler, 1997; Raupp & Klewes, 2004; Wehmeier, 2008) and shall be discussed in more detail in the following.

2.1 Excellent PR—The Grunig paradigm Grunig and Hunt (1984, p. 22) first drew a distinction between four different models of public relations: Publicity, Public Information, Two-Way-Asymmetrical and Two-Way Symmetrical (Table 1). In the context of the famous Excellence Studies (Grunig et al., 2002) those four models were subsumed in two different modes or approaches of practicing public relations: symbolic-interpretative and strategic management paradigm.

Table 1   Characteristics of four models of public relations—own presentation based on, grunig and hunt (1984, p. 22)

Model Characteristic Publicity

Public Infor- Two-Way- Asymmation metric

Purpose

Propaganda

Dissemination Scientific persuasion Mutual underof Information standing

Nature of Communication

One-way; truth Two-way; imbalOne-way; anced effects complete truth important not essential

Communication Model

Source - > Receiver

Source - > Receiver

Two-Way- Symmetric

Two-way; balanced effects

Source  Receiver Group  Group (Feedback)

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Symbolic-interpretative oriented Communication believes in PR as a bufferingfunction. The main goal is to influence publics and gain interpretative sovereignty over important topics, issues and images. “Such organizations believe favorable impressions created by public relations can obscure their decisions and actions and, in turn, that they can behave in the way that managers with power want without interference from publics.” (Kim et al., 2013, p. 201). PR, based on a strategic management approach, on the other hand, is conceptualized as a boundary-spanner or bridging-function. It strives to create opportunities and platforms for exchange, collaboration, and Co-Creation to enable win-win-situations where all involved stakeholders get the maximum benefit. PR departments claiming to be a bridging-function, need to have access to the C-Suite (Bütschi & Steyn, 2006, p. 108; Nothhaft, 2011, p. 212) to be able to proactively shape the strategy of the whole organization rather than acting like an announcer who transports messages from the organization to the public and ensures that the public receives and accepts the organization’s positions. Grunig states, that PR of course is realized in all four models and both of the two approaches, but he points out that excellent PR departments more often focus on a management approach: “The Excellence study concluded, therefore, that public relations make an organization more effective when it identifies the most strategic publics of the organization as part of strategic management processes and conducts communication programs to cultivate effective long-term relationships with those publics (Kim et al., 2013, p. 200).

2.2 Excellent PR—Revisited Zerfass and colleagues have taken the discussion around excellence in Public Relations further and developed the Comparative Excellence Framework (Zerfass et al., 2016) which allows identifying excellent PR departments on the following characteristics: “Excellence is conceptually based on the internal standing of the communication department within the organisation (influence) and external results of the communication department’s activities as well as its basic qualifications (performance).” (Zerfass et al., 2022, p. 89) This is based on the variables advisory and executive influence as well as success and competence (Table 2). Excellent departments must achieve maximum values (6–7) in all four dimensions. (Zerfass et al., 2021, 85 et seq.) It is striking that the departments in the area of influence (22.5% and 22.7% respectively have the maximum value of 7) perform significantly better than in the area of performance (only 9.8% and

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Table 2   Excellent communication departments 2022 (Zerfass et al., 2022, p. 91, own presentation)

no manifestation (1)—strong manifestation (7) Influence

1

2

3

4

5

6

7