Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 2021
Interest in the application of phygital marketing to retail commerce has increased in recent year... more Interest in the application of phygital marketing to retail commerce has increased in recent years. Implicit in this excitement is the notion that physical experiences provide unique value above and beyond what can be offered via digital means, and therefore that combining the two can galvanize sales. However, the specific sources of this marketing potential remain undertheorized and the factors determining the appropriateness of such implementations remain unclear. Based on an extensive review of relevant literatures, we begin by considering a particularly important potential source of phygital marketing’s power. Specifically, we bring together findings from consumer psychology and neuroscience to provide a mechanistic account explaining how the combination of reduced “pain of payment”, facilitated by digital purchasing technologies, and the product attachment generated by real or simulated product experiences prior to purchase holds the potential to increase sales. We then propose...
–The Asian Conference on Business and Public Policy 2020: Official Conference Proceedings, 2020
Academic discussion about the ethics of marketing typically focuses on the role such practices ca... more Academic discussion about the ethics of marketing typically focuses on the role such practices can play in undermining human autonomy through manipulation of the consumer's decision-making processes (cf. Arrington). However, researchers have not explored these issues from the perspective of those who may be targeted by such messages. In this study we employ an experimental approach to selectively probe consumer attitudes towards manipulative marketing, focusing specifically on how their views on the use of manipulative marketing tactics may change depending on how they feel about the consequences these tactics will bring about. In study 1, we isolate the selective impact of two specific variables on the evaluation of marketing tactics: 1) the persuasiveness of a marketing campaign, and 2) the consequences of the marketing campaign. Our results indicate that people are generally consequentialist in their evaluation of marketing advertisements, and that the persuasiveness of a given campaign only impacts it's ethical judgment when it produces negative consequences. We also discuss ongoing and future work, which aims to build upon, and extend these findings by directly examining how perceived manipulation influences ethical judgments.
Political CSR scholars argue that multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) should be designed to faci... more Political CSR scholars argue that multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) should be designed to facilitate deliberation among corporations, civil society groups, and others affected by corporate conduct for their decisions to be considered democratically legitimate. However, critics argue that decisions reached within deliberative MSIs will lack democratic legitimacy so long as corporations are granted a role in helping to make them. If the critics are correct, it leads to a paradox. Corporations must be excluded from holding decision-making authority within MSIs if they are to function as democratically legitimate regulatory institutions at a global level. However, this risks severely diminishing the incentive of corporations to support and participate within MSIs, which often depend heavily for their success on the visibility provided them by corporate participants. In this paper, I argue that this apparent paradox should be considered irrelevant to the future study of MSIs since it ...
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 2021
Interest in the application of phygital marketing to retail commerce has increased in recent year... more Interest in the application of phygital marketing to retail commerce has increased in recent years. Implicit in this excitement is the notion that physical experiences provide unique value above and beyond what can be offered via digital means, and therefore that combining the two can galvanize sales. However, the specific sources of this marketing potential remain undertheorized and the factors determining the appropriateness of such implementations remain unclear. Based on an extensive review of relevant literatures, we begin by considering a particularly important potential source of phygital marketing’s power. Specifically, we bring together findings from consumer psychology and neuroscience to provide a mechanistic account explaining how the combination of reduced “pain of payment”, facilitated by digital purchasing technologies, and the product attachment generated by real or simulated product experiences prior to purchase holds the potential to increase sales. We then propose...
–The Asian Conference on Business and Public Policy 2020: Official Conference Proceedings, 2020
Academic discussion about the ethics of marketing typically focuses on the role such practices ca... more Academic discussion about the ethics of marketing typically focuses on the role such practices can play in undermining human autonomy through manipulation of the consumer's decision-making processes (cf. Arrington). However, researchers have not explored these issues from the perspective of those who may be targeted by such messages. In this study we employ an experimental approach to selectively probe consumer attitudes towards manipulative marketing, focusing specifically on how their views on the use of manipulative marketing tactics may change depending on how they feel about the consequences these tactics will bring about. In study 1, we isolate the selective impact of two specific variables on the evaluation of marketing tactics: 1) the persuasiveness of a marketing campaign, and 2) the consequences of the marketing campaign. Our results indicate that people are generally consequentialist in their evaluation of marketing advertisements, and that the persuasiveness of a given campaign only impacts it's ethical judgment when it produces negative consequences. We also discuss ongoing and future work, which aims to build upon, and extend these findings by directly examining how perceived manipulation influences ethical judgments.
Political CSR scholars argue that multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) should be designed to faci... more Political CSR scholars argue that multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) should be designed to facilitate deliberation among corporations, civil society groups, and others affected by corporate conduct for their decisions to be considered democratically legitimate. However, critics argue that decisions reached within deliberative MSIs will lack democratic legitimacy so long as corporations are granted a role in helping to make them. If the critics are correct, it leads to a paradox. Corporations must be excluded from holding decision-making authority within MSIs if they are to function as democratically legitimate regulatory institutions at a global level. However, this risks severely diminishing the incentive of corporations to support and participate within MSIs, which often depend heavily for their success on the visibility provided them by corporate participants. In this paper, I argue that this apparent paradox should be considered irrelevant to the future study of MSIs since it ...
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Papers by Rob Barlow