Marketing and Smart Technologies

Through this article, the authors discuss the problems arising in connection with the use of cryptocurrencies in payment for tourist services: cyberthreats and information security in online payments of such services. In response to this, a system will be built to the use of reducing the risks of threats arising from the payment with cryptocurrencies for travel services. In addition, it is proved that filling in the indicators of the proposed system will lead to a significant reduction in such risks and an increase in the use of cryptocurrencies when paying for travel services with the high volatility of cryptocurrency and the characteristic significant risks of irretrievable loss of funds due to fraud, hacker attacks, lack of legal protection. The paper proposes an attack threat factor system on the cryptocurrency—a factor system based on which it became possible to identify the factors in the threats of attacks on cryptocurrencies and show possible ways to neutralize the consequences in the implementation of these threats when paying for tourist services with cryptocurrency.

Blockchain and tourism have the potential to become a very advantageous combination, as this technology can provide security and transparency at certain key points. The blockchain can make the transfer and storage of this information easier and more secure, since the responsibility is shared by an entire network. The same goes for payments abroad, which increases the level of trust between all parties. This study aims to make a comparison between these two countries such as Spain and Poland with a significant growth of this technology in tourism. The results of the paper show that blockchain technology is still in an initial phase of its life and that there is a consensus regarding its potential; however, it is still very difficult to know how far it can go and how it will affect tourism.

The present study intends to compare the performance of two Data Base Management Systems, specifically Microsoft SQL Server and PostgreSQL, focusing on data insertion, queries execution and indexation. To simulate how Microsoft SQL Server performs with key-value oriented datasets, we use a converted TPC-H lineitem table. The dataset is explored in two different ways, first using the key-value-like format and second in JSON format. The same dataset is applied to PostgreSQL DBMS to analyze performance and compare both database engines. After testing the load process on both databases, performance metrics (execution times) are obtained and compared. Experimental results show that, in general, inserts are approximately twice times faster in Microsoft SQL Server because they are injected as plain text without any type of verification, while in PostgreSQL, loaded data includes a validating process, which delays the loading process. Moreover, we did additional indexation tests, from which we concluded that in general, data loading performance degrades. Regarding query performance in PostgreSQL, we conclude that with indexation, queries become three or four percent faster and six times faster in Microsoft SQL Server.

Many approaches make use of specific technics to gather trend signals and analyse emerging sociocultural trends, but sometimes, it is difficult for students to explore or determine which is the most relevant information. The need for this research arose due to these issues within current pedagogical methodologies in trend research. There is a broad interest in the literature base for trend methodologies approaching several process paths that impact different areas, including Marketing. We conducted a narrative literature review to gather data on how to analyse trend signals. The results point to the benefit of presenting visual tools to support critical thinking, and for that reason, we present a visual framework named the Coolhunting Canvas. This framework proposal may lead to a better understanding of trend signals in an academic perspective and will help to improve and conduct future research regarding Trend Studies and coolhunting.

Customer segmentation helps the company better understand its target audience, which is vital to optimizing marketing strategies and maximizing the customer value for the company. This paper improves the original RFM model by including the potential loss to the hotel from a customer canceling their reservation in the indicator “Monetary” and adding a new indicator “Bonding” to indicate the degree of customer bonding with the hotel. The proposed model also includes the 2-tuple linguistic model to give hotel managers or decision-makers more easily understandable customer segmentation results. The aggregation of the four indicators (recency, frequency, monetary, and bonding) into a unique value is a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) problem. To generate the weights that can consider the relationship between various indicators and the level of data diversification contained in each indicator, the Entropy method and the CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) method have been integrated. Customer overall values are generated based on the 2T-RFMB model and the integrated Entropy-CRITIC method. Finally, various customer segments are obtained with K-means clustering. This proposal has been evaluated by a real dataset from a hotel in Lisbon. The results show that the proposed model can increase the linguistic interpretability of clustering results. It also demonstrates that the proposed model can provide hotel managers with more realistic customer values to assist them in allocating their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) resources efficiently.

The goal of this paper is to present the essential features of the literature review that relates the intellectual capital and the competitive advantages. On the other hand, it is still an idea, to know if there something that can be interpreted as being particularly noteworthy. In a synthetic way, this idea is that, only one, human capital, of the 3 components of intellectual capital, creates competitive advantages, playing an essential role, training and qualification, together with the innovation and entrepreneurial capacity of the same. If there is more qualification, better management of human capital, more and better competitive advantages will be obtained. The biggest gap in this research is related to the geographic contexts it covers (countries with a lower level of development) and the fact that it concerns with activity sectors of lesser relevance in terms of competitive advantages. Innovation needs further conceptual specification and its relationship with intellectual capital and competitive advantages.

The media in general and the press in particular have to adapt to the exceptional situation caused by COVID-19. The pandemic forced to stop the paper version in favor of the digital version. The new ways of doing media, as well as the routines of readers cultivated in this context, lead us to ask many questions about the future of paper and the type of post-pandemic information consumption. This article analyzes the reading habits in the press at different times during confinement and post-confinement times and makes a comparison between native digital media and digital migrants in Chile. Following a descriptive approach, the article offers an average analysis of five variables out of 22 Chilean newspapers and a detailed analysis of the positioning of ten of them. The data reflect a preferential use of the smartphone device for news consumption, as well as a consolidated influence of Facebook and Twitter in the traffic to the digital press.

This work studies the importance of information visualization and visual analysis, in the decision process, in the context of marketing and its tools. Researchers, marketing strategies, brand positioning, financial analysis, and many other needs, have goals for a better understanding and analysis of data and information for understanding, growth, productivity, and innovation. Consumers and citizens analyze publicly and visually available data such as product specifications and price, via the web, websites, blogs, and online communities to choose the products they will be able to buy, when deciding to answer questions, voting through likes or other qualitative data, forms of voting and the search for related information. InfoVis and visual analytics technologies begin to provide an effective vision for the decisions, to deal with behavior analysis, general and specific patterns, data irregularities, lapses in information, and trends felt by users in society, in their intervention in social media, and in spaces physical and virtual.

For more than five decades, experiences have been a significant concept in both tourism production and research. Creating positive experiences has been described as the essence of the hospitality industry. Personalization allows customers to access customized information more efficiently at any time. From a company’s perspective, personalization gives a way to build strong consumer relationships. The significance of using personalization in smart technology increased with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to present the related literature regarding customer relationship management (CRM) and find the gaps in the literature. Also, we reviewed smart technologies and experience personalization in the hospitality industry context and present some recent techniques for using smart technologies and experience personalization. Most of the literature was limited to countries such as China, South Korea, and Malaysia or one case study such as a hotel in Switzerland. This research finds that the previous results might not be generalizable to all consumers or hotels around the world. Hence, it is important to fill the gap in the literature by examining cross-cultural studies or to expand the case study to multiple cases in order to establish the generalizability of the findings to a larger industry context.

Donation-based crowdfunding rose in popularity in the last five years. Yet the lack of customer provided information crowdfunding platforms challenged segmentation analysis for marketing decision-making. Our study solved a common problem that many donation-based crowdfunding platforms faced in segmentation analysis in the absence of donor descriptive attributes as well as unobserved customer heterogeneity. Using data from the world’s only donation-based crowdfunding charity, we segment online donors’ behavior with machine learning clustering algorithms by combining recency, frequency and monetary values (RFM) metric with donors’ campaign preferences. We identify and compare the optimal number of donor clusters from different clustering algorithms. This segmentation analysis with machine learning, we termed ‘RFMP’ framework, offers a robust and novel approach to parsimoniously segment online behavior using observed and unobserved customer heterogeneity when extant segmentation strategies typically apply RFM metric in combination with demographic and socio-economic attributes to infer and predict customer behavior. The resulting donor clusters inform marketing decision-making in the design and implementation of crowdfunding campaigns for charitable causes. Our project contributes to the application of machine learning in marketing strategy.

Tourism heritage sites benefited in the last years from a consistent attention from scholars trying to explain when, why and how visitors form a destination loyalty. As a result, numerous models and variables in different roles were proposed. This paper aims at critically review the literature and argue for four directions of action. One argues for a need to explore in-depth the nature of the link between certain variables, and explaining the decision of using in new contexts less dimensions of the same construct tested in previous literature, before proposing a new comprehensive model. A second one pertains to building a volume of empirical data and arguments why previous models or variables does not apply to a certain context. Another one championships the idea of creating a taxonomy of categories inside the context of heritage sites more homogenous in nature, followed by the need to build models operating inside the different types of heritage tourism based on different tourists’ satisfied needs, different resources, different motivations to visit and activities proposed at heritage sites. We also bring empirical evidence from visitors of 20 different heritage sites measuring place attachment, destination loyalty and other variables contextual in nature, using correlation and regression analysis to support the theoretical conclusions. Almost half of the variance registered in visitors’ destination loyalty was explained by place dependence (as a functional dimension of place attachment), the level of national identification strength and perceived role of reenactment in enhancing patriotic feelings at heritage sites.

Constitutes the planning of a software development project characterized mainly by the detailed identification of requirements, description of the activities of the process, distribution of efforts and tasks, scheduling of tasks, budget and analysis of risks. The project aims to cover the existing demand in Ecuador for Security Agents, the same ones that cannot currently be covered in the existing Training and Improvement Schools. The EVA Virtual Learning Environment is based on existing Learning Management Systems (LMS) that exploit web 2.0 tools, but with additional innovative and disruptive features such as biometric security and the use of 3D virtual reality environments for teaching and learning. e-learning learning. For total control of the EVA project from the Project Management, the PMBOK Guide was used; In terms of software development planning, Scrum, an agile framework, was used.

The railway is large and complex traffic and business system. That is why solving specific problems in the business and functioning of railways through classic business processes is difficult, expensive, and slow. The development of the Internet of things has enabled the wider social community to identify problems and find solutions in many areas of life, including on the railways. Thanks to this, opportunities were created for the railway to approach the solution of specific problems through open innovation as a more flexible, faster, and cheaper business concept. While foreign railways apply open innovation to improve smart railway traffic in smart cities, this concept has hardly been applied to Serbian Railways until now. The authors of the paper researched railway companies in Serbia to analyze internal stakeholders’ interest and readiness as possible participants in the process of open innovation in Serbian Railways to accept a new business concept and contribute to innovations in this area. The research showed that railway workers lack experience in applying open innovation and that there are unknowns in this area. They are also familiar with the possibilities, advantages, and importance of applying this business concept. With proper information to the employees, good conditions could be created to use open innovations on Serbian Railways successfully. The results of this research represent a reasonable basis for the application of open innovation on Serbian Railways.

Blockchain is one of the vital supportive technologies of smart city services. Thanks to its characteristics, blockchain impacts almost all smart city services. Algorand network started working in 2019. Its speed of transactions and low cost makes it the platform of choice for a smart city blockchain implementation. This paper proposes a model for blockchain auction for renting real estate owned by the municipality. This service is part of the overall smart city services and relies heavily on other smart city governance services like identity information management, land register, and others. Implementing such a system simplifies the process of land and real estate management in the smart city making it more transparent. It lowers the costs and increases the income municipality earns from renting the asset.

Smart mobility has been a subject of great interest among scholars, governments, and business. Although several studies have analyzed smart mobility strategies to develop sustainable cities, a gap has been identified about the effects of these initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to fulfill this gap by identifying the most frequent results on: (i) alternatives to private car; (ii) improvements of existing infrastructure; (iii) urban mobility policies; (iv) smart mobility environmental models. To achieve this purpose, a systematic literature review was performed using Web of science (WOS) database, and a total of 12 articles were reviewed. Results showed that reduction of traffic congestion, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the improvement of life quality of citizens were the most recurrent effects on the promotion of sustainability. The present study has important implications for academics researching on the subject and for policymakers and business managers who can apply the identified outcomes in their context.

The design of a multisensory experience at a point of sale is in current times (and markets) essential for the success of a brand. This article aims to verify the influence of the sensory domain on the visual merchandising technique, understand the influence of the visual merchandising technique on consumer behavior, with a special emphasis on consumer satisfaction and loyalty, and finally, evaluate the effect of consumers’ satisfaction on the loyalty felt by the consumer toward the brand. In order to achieve these objectives, a combined approach was implemented—quantitative (questionnaire; 252 respondents) and qualitative methodology (interviews; 10 interviews). As both of the methodologies implemented present identical results, it is possible to note that the sensory domain has a significant role in the visual merchandising technique, and the visual technique has a prevalent effect on consumer behavior, specifically on customer satisfaction and loyalty. As for the last objective, results show that customer satisfaction is a relevant antecedent for consumer loyalty.

The main objective of this study was to understand how the users accepts the change of their operating system. Objectives were defined, like clarifying each of the operating systems, understand the preference of consumers’ choice through a questionnaire and understand whether or not there is difficulty for users to change their operating system. Thus, a questionnaire was carried out to 204 participants aged between 16 and 72 years in the region of Lisbon. The main criteria were being over 12 years old and having a smartphone. Throughout the study, it was possible to understand that most people have a smartphone, that the satisfaction with the operating system they are currently using is quite high, that older consumers have more difficulty in changing operating system, and that product features are what most influences consumers to switch from an Android to an iOS or vice versa.

The number of mobile devices operating worldwide has reached almost 15 billion, and Android has become the most popular operating system. Consequently, massive amounts of user data need to be collected and processed, and mobile applications now have essential roles in knowledge management. Dealing with such an amount of data on a single mobile device running several applications simultaneously may be a challenging task, and database performance has a substantial impact on the global performance and, especially, on response times. While SQLite is extremely popular and used in the mobile industry since its appearance, new promising options are emerging like Room and greenDAO that, still relying on SQLite, were designed to overcome SQLite weaknesses like response time and lack of validation of SQL queries, or ObjectBox and Realm that abandon relational databases and adopt object-oriented and NoSQL approaches that do not require such deep knowledge of SQL. In this article, ObjectBox, Realm, SQLite with Room, and SQLite with greenDAO are reviewed, and a comparative analysis between them is presented alongside results from tests performed on Android. Results revealed that Room and greenDAO have the lowest performance, while Realm has globally better performance regarding select queries when the number of records is exceptionally high, and ObjectBox provides the better performance regarding basic operations like create, update, load, and delete.

The aim of this investigation is to analyze QR codes research main topics and evolution over time. A bibliometric study and content analysis were carried out on the documents published in Web of Science database. The findings show that research after the COVID-19 pandemic has been reinforced. The main topics are related to the willingness to use and buying intentions through the use QR codes in retail, communication, and collaborative supply chains; risks and privacy concerns with QR codes and loyalty programs; mobile payments with QR codes; and other industry-related specific topics. This study contributes to the area by providing scholars with the state of the art and trends in QR codes and can guide future research. From a managerial view, it gives insights on how to use QR codes.

The research examines how consumer perceptions of brand marketing communications influence brand authenticity. During the COVID-19 outbreak, most industries experienced the negative consequences of the pandemic. However, the FMCG market in Indonesia continues to grow and is not negatively affected by the pandemic. One example is the increase in milk purchases which can be seen from the panic buying phenomenon of a milk brand in 2021. People aggressively buy milk products because they believe that the product can cure COVID-19. Hence, the authors chose a specific milk brand as the object of research. The authors investigated the direct effects of brand marketing communication on brand authenticity as well as the mediating effects of clarity of positioning. In addition, the authors analyze by controlling other marketing mix variables. This research uses a quantitative approach with a total of 326 respondents. The data is analyzed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results of this study imply that there is a direct positive influence from brand marketing communications and an indirect influence through the clarity of positioning that can affect brand authenticity. Then, from all marketing mix variables, only brand satisfaction, price deals, and price images show the effect on brand authenticity.

In the context of the SME’s digital transition in the European Union (EU), scientific literature and practice started to give importance to the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), considered to be a true help in testing before investing in digital technologies. The present study assesses an overview of DIHs and the services they provide, in order to identify possible gaps in their service portfolio. Adapting these services to the needs of EU’ economy could enable SMEs to improve their digital development and innovation capabilities by accessing better and faster the DIHs’ services. We analyzed data from the European Commission’s Smart Specialization Platform (S3P) by applying benchmark and multivariate clustering analysis. We focused on understanding what services do DIHs offer mainly for SMEs. We noticed that those related to marketing are not well represented, but have a great potential to be developed in the current digital transformation period. This study is practical, mapping the actual status of DIHs, their expertise and how they are nationally impacting SMEs in various industries and also is adding research to the scientific literature gaps on this subject. By leveraging the results of the study, decision makers can better understand the benefits offered by DIHs services and what countries have untapped opportunities for business and digital ecosystem growth. Research results provide valuable contributions toward the DIHs role in improving SMEs performance in the EU, but also shows where there is space to develop additional DIHs in specific sectors with specific services, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.

Globalization and the pandemic showed the shortcomings that exist in the management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ambato, especially in marketing issues, because they do not allocate the necessary resources to design and implement strategies that allow them to satisfy the demands of consumers who, thanks to the Internet, access large information bases, and that also provides the option to buy products and services from a wide range of companies, whose mission is to differentiate themselves from competitors through the offer of unique experiences. In this sense, the objective is to determine the importance of the integration of communication and distribution channels in improving the customer experience. The methodology used is mixed, because it allows to describe and explain phenomena based on qualitative and quantitative data, which allow to understand reality in a comprehensive way. The results obtained underpin the value of omnichannel and digitalization of businesses, and the creation of company profiles to determine how they can take advantage of this type of strategy and improve consumer satisfaction levels. Finally, it was possible to know that at present, there is a hyper-connectivity of consumers, and therefore, marketing trends focus on strategies in which traditional and digital communication and distribution channels coexist and thus improve the company-customer relationship.

In a highly competitive and at the same time very volatile market, it is essential for brands not only to be able to win more customers, but to keep current and profitable ones. Thus, it is imperative to develop positive relationships with customers and that they are long-term. This investigation aims to identify the factors that precede satisfaction and how it influences brand loyalty in the Portuguese market for personal hygiene products. The methodology used was based on a literature review on relationship marketing, brands, satisfaction and loyalty. Subsequently, an online survey distributed through social networks was applied. There were 608 valid responses. The results show that there are three factors that precede satisfaction and that influence it in a positive way. It was also found that there is a very strong and positive relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. Finally, the main conclusions of the work, limitations of the study and guidelines for future research are presented.

Influence marketing on social networks is a strategy that has emerged in recent years, especially in Instagram. Communication through digital channels is more effective than traditional advertising, influencing individuals’ purchasing decisions and thus representing a great opportunity for companies. The micro-influencer is defined as an individual with a great impact through the word-of-mouth method in digital media. Micro-influencers are not considered traditional celebrities, but individuals who are exclusively dedicated to categories of true knowledge, passion, and authenticity, in addition to being seen as reliable sources when recommending purchasing situations, usually tend to generate more impact than the average expert by the power of dissemination of information and impact more consumers. This research aimed to explore the perspectives of adolescents as receptors of commercial messages. It also aims to understand and investigate the position of adolescents’ parents, whose role can be decisive in this scenario. A quantitative study was carried out through an online survey of adolescents aged between 10 and 19 and a qualitative study through individual interviews with the parents of adolescents. The results obtained confirm the influence of digital micro-influencers on teenagers’ choices, who often follow their suggestions and consumption patterns, as well as their lifestyle. This proximity is because micro-influencers appear several times to use the product they promote, giving more credibility. The results show weaknesses in parents’ control of adolescents’ social networks these days because they believe their children can recognize these types of advertising.

The luxury sector has aroused more and more interest, this fact is not only due to the economic importance, and it has in some countries but also due to its growth trend in emerging markets. Through the bibliographic analysis it is verified that the assets have a high degree of intangible, psychological and social values. Increasing the competitiveness of markets and internationalization requires that brands are increasingly oriented toward the market, with the analysis of consumer behavior being the most effective method to generate more value for the customer and in this way, attract and retain them.

The present paper aims to analyze the impact of YouTubers and TikTokers influencers in the customer journey phases, among Generation Z users. To do so, a quantitative deductive empirical study was carried out. The respective data collection was made via an online questionnaire survey, obtaining a valid sample of 529 participants. The results show that both type of influencers might influence the customer journey, but mainly in the first stages of the process. It was also found that YouTubers tend to have a higher influence in each of those stages than TikTokers. Although the topic of social media influencers has already been studied in several research papers, no study was found addressing separately the stages of the customer journey decision-making process, neither comparing influencers of both platforms in that context.

The current research aims to analyze the relational marketing application in higher education institutions. Quantitative descriptive research was done, composed of two variables and ten indicators that explain these effects. The results describe the level of relation and student service contentment through digital marketing tools and communication channels for students enrolled in face-to-face and online classes. It has been determined that the digital tools with a more significant relation level to online students in academic matters are Instagram and YouTube. In the communication field, the Facebook tool and web portals show the highest percentage as significant, on the other hand, the most used communication channels to establish a relationship with the university during pandemic times were: Call Center, WhatsApp, virtual rooms, and every online service.

The purpose of this research is to analyze how # YoDecidoCuando campaign on TikTok is perceived as an educational communication for teenage pregnancy prevention in Peru. A qualitative case study methodology was applied. Using the homogeneous sampling technique, 15 semi-structured interviews were carried out with young women aged 16–19 years, who had a smartphone and followed gynecologists accounts on TikTok. As a result, we observed that this type of campaign on TikTok encourages people to become aware of health issues, because it generates interest and motivation to learn more about sex education. In this sense, the findings serve as a starting point for applying educational communication strategies on TikTok by institutions and organizations looking for new strategies to target a young audience.

Despite organizational interest in leveraging participation in social media, the impact of the social media manager in its success has been neglected in scholarly research. Through a moderated mediation process, this research examines the impact of value congruence of the social media follower with the brand social media presence on his/her willingness to pay premium price, considering the mediating role of the social media manager’s perceived authenticity and the moderating role of perceived task competence. This study employs data from 327 social media brand followers. The results support the model and show that social media followers’ value congruence influences perceptions of social media manager’s authenticity, and eventually the followers’ willingness to pay a premium price. Finally, social media managers’ perceived task competence enhances the relationship between the value congruence and perceived authenticity and between perceived authenticity and willingness to pay a premium price. These findings highlight the need for social media managers to learn about the values of their target audience before engaging with them and, once they have done so, to align the social media messages and content to these values. This value congruence will result in superior judgments and behavioral intentions.

This study intends to be a further contribution to the growing academic research on hybrid entrepreneurship. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the current status of hybrid entrepreneurship. In order to achieve this objective, a computer-assisted bibliographic search was performed on 28 July 2022. This search included all publications in the scientific areas of Business, Management and Accounting and documents of the “Article” type, available in the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases. The search was based on the words “hybrid entrepreneurship”. The articles that include groups of individuals who combine business activities with salaried work were considered. Subsequently, for each article, it was collected information about authorship and publication date, country where the study took place, type of study, sample size, methods, objectives of the study and findings. Twenty articles were selected. The publications aimed to explore the reasons that lead individuals to be hybrid entrepreneurs, the influence of passion around this career, the uncertainty associated with salaried work, the conflict of roles between salaried work and hybrid entrepreneurship, the factors that promote or hamper the transition to hybrid entrepreneurship and/or full-time entrepreneurship, the risk attitudes of hybrid entrepreneurs, the methods of entry into hybrid entrepreneurship and the identification of determinants for hybrid entrepreneurship and its effects.

Mobile applications have allowed football clubs to conduct marketing and sales activities. The purpose of this paper is to present the mobile application as a tool that allows for building lasting relationships between the football club and its fans, which translates into an increase in sales of the services and products offered, using the example of football club in Poland. Building relationships with fans is part of the process of running a sports club, and social media is the most popular mass medium that makes this possible. An attempt was made to show how they are used for these purposes by Polish football club. An example of a mobile app that directly impacts increasing the revenues of a football club and simultaneously allows building lasting relationships with fans is presented. Based on the research, attention was paid to how the mobile app increased the company's revenue.

Bullying and cyberbullying are widely recognized as complex problems that have serious negative repercussions for the health and society of children and adolescents. Bullying can take place in-person at school, home or work, irrespective of age, gender, or role. Cyberbullying can take place on messaging platforms, social media platforms, gaming platforms, or marketing platforms. For example, posting embarrassing photos or videos of someone on social media sending hurtful or spreading lies, as well as abusive or threatening messages, images, or videos through messaging platforms. Offenders impersonate someone and send malicious messages to others in their name or through fake accounts. In this sense, the use of short videos based on the principles of microlearning is scented as a proposal to understand and prevent bullying and cyberbullying. The objective of this article is to analyze how video clips are used on social platforms to raise awareness of bullying and cyberbullying and to propose the creation of new video clips as resources for an awareness-raising MOOC. The methodology followed a phase of analysis of videos on the TikTok and YouTube networks, in order to have a baseline prior to the creation of new video clips by twelve students of the Digital Design and Multimedia career. The content of the videos was evaluated by a psychologist to finally select the appropriate ones for a marketing campaign of an awareness MOOC.

Nowadays, digital transformation in business seeks to maximize the efficiency of its own processes through automation. These changes will be successful if the process of adaptation and change management is properly carried out. One of the main tools to achieve these transformations is the chatbot. This key technology will help embrace these changes and transformations; however, there have been processes in which their interactions show bias, as inclusive interaction is missing. This research focuses on two main points: first, to identify whether the user is capable of recognizing any bias variables in chatbots and second, to analyze if these variables have an impact when there is an adoption of new technologies in any digital transformation and business goals. The faster and more in depth a company understands the bias and its impact in the target audience, the better automation will be adopted. As a result, chatbots will be properly used to achieve and increase business goals. Some undoubtable chatbot uses in marketing are personalized service, facilitate sales, and trigger client’s satisfaction. Most importantly, gathering valuable data for analysis, predictive business models and trends into virtually for any product or service intended to promote. After consulting +150 chatbot users, it can be concluded that it is a proven fact that gender bias is present, also, there is a high trend and acceptance of chatbots with female voices and characteristics, which can be balanced if there is awareness around this topic among developers and change management teams seeking adoption of new technologies.

During the pandemic, many Peruvian productions within the traditional form faced various obstacles in the realization of open signal television series. Nonetheless, new content creators saw the opportunity to explore new methods of production and distribution within the social network (Arboleda in Revista Universidad EAFIT 52:122–125, 2017 [1]). The digital transformation accelerated by the pandemic has provoked content creators to develop their ability to overcome constraints and find new ways to produce. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify the strategies that have been implemented in the production, exhibition, and promotion of Peruvian web series. It is indispensable to understand the processes, creation, and promotion that can help others to generate more content. To carry out this objective, an interpretative investigation with qualitative data methodology was carried out. The selected categories were digital platforms, production, and exhibition. This study involved 20 interviews with professionals in the audiovisual sector and the team of the web series: Miitiin, Monster Brigade and Leo in Space. From the perspective of the specialists, it has been identified that the most relevant strategy in these processes is to disseminate the project on all possible platforms. In addition, it is important to keep the consumer expectant with different universes that finally help them to reach to the series. Finally, knowing the processes of audiovisual production is of vital importance not only for the learning of the creators but also for the audience.

An attempt has been made to address the difficulty of identifying and measuring the benefits derived from investment projects and capturing capital gains for an organization, focusing on developing and implementing a management model and realizing benefits for a leading company in its activity sector. Thus, the objective is to understand how it is possible to achieve the expected benefits of an investment project: A model characterized as generalist was developed (applied to all areas of the company), with the objective of optimizing the realization of benefits, measuring them and thus create value for the organization. Among the methods used, we highlight, in a first phase, the research of some existing Frameworks, which later enabled the development of a proposed framework, validated internally using the existing Business Intelligence platform. Subsequently, based on a satisfaction questionnaire about the framework proposed to users, data related to its development and implementation were collected, with the aim of understanding its acceptance among the users and employees of the company. With the data from this questionnaire, an artifact was developed: a PowerBI dashboard that reflects the benefits identified and captured. In summary, the artifact made it possible to identify, measure, and achieve the benefits generated by the project in question, but also to motivate its use in other existing investment projects, by adapting it to each of the other ones.

Nowadays, social media are inevitably part of people's daily lives. Thus, political communication should also go through digital communication channels, particularly on social media. In such channels, it is important to define a digital marketing and communication strategy to attract new voters and consecutively more votes. As in offline communication channels and also in digital communication, one of the indispensable points in political communication is the candidate’s image. This image must show its own style and differentiate the candidate from his opponents. The main objective of this study is to understand the influence of social media on Portuguese voters’ decision-making process. Throughout the study, different research questions were also analyzed to access which social media are the most used to follow the online political campaign and which criteria influence the voting decision-making process. To achieve this purpose, exploratory research was carried out through questionnaire surveys. Three surveys were conducted based on the Portuguese presidential elections of January 24, 2021. The surveys were distributed before, during, and after the end of the electoral campaign, and 106 people were questioned and answered all 3 surveys. With the results of this study, it was possible to conclude that only 11% of respondents changed their voting intention due to the political communication made by political parties on social media during this electoral campaign. The social media most used by respondents was Facebook, which is also the one they consider the safest and most trustworthy to follow political communication in online media.

The importance of advertising on social networks has been growing, and the use of videos has become a more present reality. Understanding the narrative is not always understood by consumers. Closely associated with advertisements on YouTube are influencer marketing and the use of influencers by brands to produce content and narratives about brands, generating greater trust, engagement, and more positive emotional responses. In this sense, understanding how consumers see the narrative and how the video ad generates emotional responses for consumers is still an unexplained issue. This study seeks to fill this gap and studies how video ad elements contribute to positive emotional responses. Through a cross-sectional investigation, data were collected from a group of consumers of a telecommunications brand that were analyzed through structural equation modeling. Therefore, this investigation understands that the endorser is a constituent element of the narrative that promotes narrative transportation and emotional responses.

This study intends to understand whether hotels should choose to surprise through a discount or a surprise gift. The experiment consisted in identifying whether there were differences in satisfaction and delight, according to the associated treatment (no surprise, surprise discount, or gift). With this purpose, a fictional hotel website was created for participants to simulate a reservation. Through the analysis of the experiment, the impact of surprise on customer satisfaction was confirmed. It was also found that, in the hospitality industry, a gift has a higher impact on satisfaction than a discount. When analyzing the guest delight, the results differ from what is stipulated in the literature (which points to the significant impact of surprise in this measure). It was concluded that between the two promotion tools, only the gift can significantly increase customer delight. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding the concept of surprise according to different industries. It also points to the importance of identifying the best methods to surprise customers, as different methods may lead to different results.

With the growth and development of Instagram, it is more possible to see brands using this platform, not only to show and promote their products and services but also to collaborate with various influencers to increase visibility with their target audiences. These partnerships are based on hiring people with some influence on Instagram, with intrinsic and brand-like characteristics, for them to disclose the products and services to their followers. This research seeks to understand the social and financial impact of influencers on brands from the point of view of influencers and consumers. A mixed, quantitative and qualitative methodology was used to elaborate this work. The quantitative data were obtained through a questionnaire to Instagram users. The results were analysed to understand the perception of digital influencers and consumers, in relation to the social and financial impact of marketing strategies on social networks, by the influencers in the dissemination of products and services of brands. Qualitative data were obtained through interviews with nine influencers. The results obtained allowed us to realize that there are several characteristics inherent to the influencers and their work that positively influence the consumer's purchasing decision, namely the proximity between influencer and follower, opinion about brand or product, recognition/credibility of the influencer and brand, number of followers of the influencer and constant communication. It was also possible to conclude that recognition/credibility positively affects the collaboration between brands and the influencer and the financial impact of brands.

The first decade of the current century witnessed the emergence of fashion blogs. Although initially bloggers were sawn as interlopers by established fashion journalists, the power of the large audiences of the former imposed their acceptance in the fashion industry, pushing changes in the status quo. The early 2010s were bloggers’ golden age, but then social networks emerged with hordes of ad-lib content co-creators, culminating in the indistinguishable Instagram influencers and Instagrammers. At the beginning of the 2020s, it is questionable if there is still a place for fashion bloggers and their blogs. We conducted semi-structured interviews with fashion consumers in Portugal, aiming to capture their perspective, rationale and prognoses for this sector of the digital marketing arena. Data is analysed under the thematic analysis method. Results are interpreted under the modernity / postmodernity paradigm. Although the media differ, fashion journalists and professional fashion bloggers do not differ in their essence. They inscribe in the modernity paradigm. Their creations are well-structured and receive important investments in their production. Authors speak backed by authority, aligning with the Foucauldian “regimes of truth”. Influencers and Instagrammers inscribe in the postmodernity paradigm. Fragmented lives consume (and produce) fragments of everything. The subject is decentred and is comfortable with the hype(r)-reality, and the producers are the images and the products of their authors. It is unlike that there will be a place for bloggers again as postmodernist fluidisation is underway… until one rupture relieves the tensions.

Sustainability (environmental, social, or economic) has become an increasingly present theme in our daily lives. This issue has been mobilising society and organisations to opt for more sustainable, ecological, fair and transparent behaviours. The E-commerce (EC) has experienced exponential growth in the last year and has become an activity that impacts environmental, economic and social sustainability. Through a case study methodological approach, the impacts of e-commerce on sustainability were analysed, considering the activity of a multinational company. We conclude that the impacts of e-commerce on sustainability can be both positive and negative and that they are related to several dimensions that are interdependent, such as packaging, logistic and product development. Companies have a self-interest to get compromised with sustainable development, as confirmed by the company under study, as they can shape, guide and report on their strategies, goals and activities, capitalising on various benefits. On the other hand, e-shoppers are more sustainability-conscious and demanding on issues such as transport (environmentally friendly delivery options) and packaging (sustainable packaging solutions). The study also concluded that the impacts of e-commerce on sustainability will be more positive the more committed companies are, with defined plans, goals and metrics.

Social commerce was established with the growing commercial use of social media platforms, centered around e-commerce features and actors (buyers, influencers, and sellers) which provide user-generated content through recommendations on products and services. Important factors are both the utilization of social media platforms as trusted sources by users and the trusted content from users posting their experiences and opinions. This study focuses on Swiss consumers (9 out of 10 Swiss residents are active online) and their usage of social media, e-commerce, and social commerce as a source of trusted product information and platforms to share their own product experiences. While social media usage in Switzerland is high (almost all online users are using some form of social media), only one-third are using social media (primarily YouTube) as a source of information that guides decision-making. Merely one in ten respondents post their experiences—satisfaction or recommendations for products and services—on social media at least once a month. Our research data show that in Switzerland, social commerce is an underdeveloped marketing concept as to available e-commerce features and the degree of trusted user-generated content about products and services on social media platforms.

Digital marketing is nowadays the most common and acclaimed used method for marketers to survive in the markets. In fact, digital marketing has broken out after the twenty-century revolution on technology, creating a new era for the business in general. Digital market encompasses a set of strategies and tools using Internet and electronic devices, making it possible for companies to connect with prospective and actual customers. Also, these new tools and strategies have created a new world for communicating in a personalized way with customers and on a global scale. Besides, in this highly competitive world, customer’s loyalty has become a business survival concern, and companies do strive for improving its relationships with customers on a permanent basis. And so digital marketing is being used as a communication strategy to foster customer loyalty. To better recognize this trend, this paper explores a real situation. A case study is employed as the methodology, and the use of communication tools in the digital environment by the enterprise Trigénius is explored. After the work developed in order to increase loyalty specially within digital marketing channels, and the implementation of several operations within different web marketing tools, it was possible to see the increase of loyalty by the company actual customers.

Augmented reality (AR) virtual try-ons (VTO) have emerged as an important decision-making tool because of the highly realistic experience. For instance, AR enables users to virtually try-on sunglasses by placing the virtual product on their face. Research increasingly emphasizes the importance of spatial presence in the realistic AR experience. However, prior research on AR presence remains scant and overlooks social and self-presence. To fill this gap, we review literature on presence in the context of prior immersive technologies and propose a future research agenda on the impact of AR presence dimensions on product-relevant outcomes. This article starts by presenting AR spatial presence definition and proposing definitions for AR social and self-presence by drawing parallels between AR apps features and the presence dimensions of prior immersive shopping technologies. Thereafter, our review uncovers how each presence dimension leads to positive consumer outcomes. Then, we propose a research agenda for future studies of AR presence in marketing that outlines the need for a multidimensional perspective of presence to help uncover their unique impact on consumer responses. In addition, future research should investigate which contextual factors (marketing channels, for instance, in store and online as well as the types of products displayed in AR for instance makeup and sunglasses) might explain differences in the outcomes of presence. Our study has several limitations as it only considers the type of presence dimensions relevant to current AR-VTO experiences.

This research aimed to understand the digital behavior of Portuguese consumers of garment and/or beauty products purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic; to verify if gender is a differentiator factor of the intention of repeating the purchase at the same store/brand and its frequency; and to correlate the intention of repeating the online purchase with age, education level, time of Internet use and frequency of online purchase. For this, a cross-sectional research based on a non-probabilistic snow ball type sample of 1521 consumers was carried out. Most consumers were female students with secondary education from the North of Portugal. They have been using the Internet for more than 5 years, and in the last 6 months, have shopped online garment and/or beauty products for 2–5 times. Among those who shopped online in the last 6 months, the most searched store was Zara. The main reason given by consumers for choosing the online purchase was comfort. The most used device to make the purchase was the mobile phone and the most payment methods used were the ATM and credit card. It was found that the intention of repeating the online purchase at the same store/brand was statically higher for women than for men. Also, women were the ones who most often made online purchases of this type of products. Furthermore, age was negatively correlated with the intention of repeating the online purchase at the same store/brand. On the contrary, the education level and the number of years of Internet use were not correlated with the same variable.

Voice commerce is a new trend in e-commerce and it is boosted by the growing number of equipment connected to the Internet with voice recognition capability. There is an increasing number of users who use their smartphones to perform voice searches when shopping in online stores, especially inside their homes. If voice commerce has gained over the last years importance in marketing and in the e-commerce world, it is necessary to understand what factors are affecting this loyalty and acceptance over voice commerce. The purpose of this scoping review was therefore to provide a broad synopsis of pertinent studies in a structured and comprehensive way over two years (2021 and 2022). In doing so, the findings from 19 studies were analyzed and suggestions were made for future studies. The results not only synthesize existing empirical evidence of the factors of acceptance and loyalty, but also identify some knowledge gaps in the literature to guide future studies.

Companies are increasingly focusing on audiovisual content as part of their strategy, and YouTube being a massive video hosting platform that makes content sharing possible has been the most successful platform for reaching their consumers products and services. Researches have proven that user-generated content impacts brand engagement, loyalty and firm revenue. Therefore, it is necessary to determine what factors stimulate the creation of consumers perceived value from user-generated content, on social media. We analyze the driving factors of user-generated content on YouTube and its influence on consumers perceived value. The sample data consists of 282 YouTube users’ responses collected through an electronic survey. This research contributes toward the digital content marketing literature by complementing existing research exploring consumer behavior on social media, assessing the driving factors of user-generated content and its impacts on customer perceived value. The study findings provide academic contributions and several challenges for firm and user-generated content, on actions they can tackle. Finally, based on the study limitations, we discuss future research in generated content in social media, providing insights for future research directions.

In last few years, the fast development of digital technology and e-commerce has changed the spending and saving behavior, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been a strong evidence in the literature that establishes a relationship between digital literacy and financial literacy. According to this, the study intends to present a descriptive analysis about financial literacy and digital financial literacy among Portuguese adults. The data were collected using a questionnaire made available through the Google Forms platform. The questionnaire consists of two main sections of questions, and there were received 311 valid responses. The sample is distributed almost identically between both genders, but more than a half belongs to the age cohort between 36 and 66 years old. Respondents are highly educated, about 70% holding an academic degree, and about a half are in intermediate income levels. The results allow us to identify, generally speaking, a good level of financial literacy, both in objective terms and in terms of perception. Moreover, a vast majority of respondents use mobile phones to make payments (65.9%), and use digital means in their financial transactions. In addition, differences in actual financial literacy level are significant for gender, while no significant differences were found between genders, both in terms of perceived financial literacy levels and in the use of mobile phones and other digital devices.

Internet has changed the way people and brands communicate, produce, share content on social media and buy products or services. Several interaction platforms emerged, making it easy for individuals to exchange information. Facebook and Instagram are the most used networks all over the world; Instagram, in particular, has become one of the social networks with the higher number of followers/users, across different ages. The Internet has promoted changes not only in terms of communication, but also in terms of consumer buying behavior. Individuals started buying more online, so it is now essential to clearly understand the consumers’ behavior and perceptions. To buy, they no longer use just websites or marketplaces; social networks that have been updated and allow them to complete a purchase are being widely used. Instagram, due to the exponential growth in the number of followers, is now used as a source of inspiration for the purchase of various items, highlighting decorative items, the subject of this study. We aim to understand the importance of social networks on purchasing decisions, focusing on Instagram commerce, more specifically on buying intention on decoration products in Brazil. The study uses quantitative and descriptive methods. Data collection was carried out through a questionnaire, built on the basis of the literature review carried out. According to the data obtained, it was observed that most women, aged between 25 and 34 who shop online, do access Instagram several times a day, being influenced by the content that is shared on this social network. The study proves the growing importance of Instagram for brands, specifically those that offer articles and services in the area of home decoration.

The following investigation aims to study the consumer behavior, more specifically of digital communication media and Online Consumer Shopping Journey. In this exploratory-natured study of quantitative methodology, the collection of data was obtained through a questionnaire where 166 valid answers were processed. This study resulted in important contributions, namely the construction and validation of the assessment instrument that combines the constructs of online shopping journey and digital media. In addition, it contributed as a step to solving a need of the MO Online, the company in which the internship took place—to know more about e-commerce—and where and how the brand’s potential consumers were present in an online environment. The obtained findings helped to build a digital communication plan for the internationalization of MO’s e-commerce, according to the profile and digital behavior of its target audience. It was found that digital media shape the online shopping journey. This is a study that can serve as a premise for future investigations but, above all, it is focused on a real need of the fashion retail market—knowing how to reach its potential consumers more effectively. It also has value on a practical level, as it presents very relevant insights for fashion marketing managers, providing them with relevant information that they can adopt daily on their digital platforms.

The objective of this research was to develop an indexed database on electrical appliances marketed in the city of Ibarra, Ecuador, using web scraping in order to optimize the search time of consumers for these products. It is an applied research, where the survey technique was applied to determine the marketers and the products to be considered. The results of the survey led to directing the study in the marketers Todohogar, Almacenes Japon and La Ganga and to the products: televisions, kitchens and refrigerators. The web scraping process contemplated three phases: search and inspection of the web page, data extraction and cleaning and transformation and storage of final data, for which the Python program and the Request and Beautiful Soup libraries were used. The Data Access Object (DAO) design pattern was used to separate the logic layer from data access, and the connection to the MySQL database was defined with the Python programming language using the mysql.connector library. For the automatic and indexed storage of the data extracted and refined from the pages of the marketers, some databases called product table, characteristic table, brand table were built. As a result, there is a web page that makes use of the web scraping program developed to show the user the summarized and updated information of the three products offered by each of the marketers analyzed.

The internet massification and e-commerce growth that have been driven by “millennials” and the coronavirus pandemic cannot remain indifferent to luxury brands. These brands have had to adapt to e-commerce and develop an online shopping experience which satisfies its customers, so that they repeat purchase. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to understand the main impacts of shopping experience on luxury brand websites on satisfaction and loyalty. A model which analyzes the relationship between the three constructs was developed and information was gathered through an online survey, from which resulted 356 valid answers. Through the analysis of data collected and using a structural equation model, using SmartPLS software, we realized that online shopping experience is positively related to satisfaction. Loyalty, in turn, is positively affected by brand satisfaction. This study makes an important contribution to luxury brands and to people in charge of marketing and online platforms selling luxury goods. It helps brands understand that enhancing online shopping experience can positively impact satisfaction and loyalty levels.

This work investigates the use of Food Delivery Applications (FDAs) by restaurants. It aims to understand the main perceived impacts, from the perspective of restaurant managers, of this technological innovation on the ecosystem, on the relationship between restaurants and their customers and on the value proposition of restaurants. Recently, an expressive number of studies investigated the motivations for the use of FDAs by users. However, the literature has devoted little attention to the perception of restaurant managers regarding the impact of these platforms on the restaurant ecosystem. To achieve the proposed objectives, we used qualitative research, based on semi-structured interviews (case study) with entrepreneurs and restaurant managers. The results of this investigation suggest that FDAs represent a new channel for restaurants and can be considered a facilitator to leverage sales. However, from the perspective of restaurant managers, there is a trade-off; the practices, policies, and strategies implemented by these platforms cause (1) loss of control over restaurant sales (dependence), (2) changing customer behavior and expectations, (3) greater difficulty in managing and retaining consumers, and (4) negatively affect the value proposition of restaurants. To practitioners, we suggest that managers and restaurant owners are aware of the implications of these platforms for their businesses. Ideally, we recommend that they seek differentiation through a “unique” value proposition, avoiding exclusive dependence on this channel, working on strategies to improve customer relationships and loyalty.

This paper will examine a survey conducted on participants to aim to understand how digital marketing campaigns and a company’s branding efforts are affected by esthetics and demographics. The esthetic variables that will be examined include color, font, and staging and the participant’s perception of them. The demographic variables that will be included are gender, age, and employment from participants. Discussions of these survey results will use statistical tests such as t tests and correlation tests in order to determine which esthetic and demographic variables are the most important to consumers. From these results, companies can understand which variables are the most significant to implement in their digital marketing campaigning.