CFP: IJA on Online Advertising & Marketing of Service Businesses

Call for Papers: Special Issue of International Journal of Advertising 

on Online Advertising and Marketing of Service Businesses

 

Guest Editor: Shu-Chuan (Kelly) Chu, schu7@depaul.edu

 

Extended abstract submissions to the “Online Advertising and Marketing of Service Businesses” track at the 2023 Global Marketing Conference at Seoul must be received by January 31, 2023.


Full manuscript submissions must be received by October 15, 2023.


This special issue addresses broad questions regarding online advertising and marketing of service businesses. Service businesses are different from product-oriented businesses as “the service is the primary entity that is sold” (Thomas, 1978). For example, the hospitality, tourism, and travel (HTT) industry has been dominating the service arena, with research indicating the importance of “connecting and communicating with the customer” through advertising and marketing communications for this sector (Stafford, 2020). With the advancement of digital technologies and social media, marketers are trying to harness the power of online advertising and marketing to deliver value to the customer. Among the various forms of online advertising and marketing, online reviews, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), and influencers have become an important part of the marketing communication mix for service businesses given that consumer-generated content plays a critical role in influencing customer decision-making. New technologies such as the Metaverse, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) also provide new opportunities and challenges for service businesses to better engage with the customer. For example, retailers, another type of service providers, have utilized AR and VR to improve conversion rates and make the shopping experience more fun and engaging (Marr, 2021), yet no systematic effort has brought together online advertising and marketing as an essential part of service businesses. 


Therefore, the purpose of this special issue is to examine the impact of online advertising and marketing on the promotional program successes of service businesses. Since digital and new technologies burst into the public consciousness, the use of online advertising and marketing has generated considerable value for service business marketers around the world. What is the current status of research on online advertising and marketing of service businesses? How has online advertising and marketing shaped the service business field? This special issue will seek to answer these questions broadly with academic research on online advertising and marketing.


Topics: For this special issue, topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Online service reviews and their effects on service businesses
  • Product review sites and user-generated content for service businesses (e.g., Tripadvisor)
  • eWOM valence and measurement in service businesses
  • eWOM in virtual communities of service businesses
  • Social media for service businesses (e.g., TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat)
  • The use of artificial intelligence in service businesses
  • Personalized and computational advertising in service businesses
  • New forms of advertising in service businesses (e.g., Metaverse, AR, and VR)
  • Influencers for the HTT industry and service marketing
  • New technology and service businesses
  • Ethical issues of online advertising and marketing for service businesses
  • Cross-cultural research for online advertising and marketing for service businesses
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) issues of online advertising and marketing for service businesses


Submission and Review Process: All submissions, reviews, and notifications of editorial decisions will be conducted electronically through the Global Marketing Conference (GMC) submission page: https://2023gmc.imweb.me . Please submit manuscripts as a PDF document in Times New Roman 12-point font. Extended abstract submissions should follow the 2023 GMC guidelines. Full manuscript submissions should have page numbers and be limited to 20 pages in length for the initial conference submission. References and citations should follow the International Journal of Advertising style. Please place all tables and figures at the end of the manuscript (following the references). The manuscript’s title page should include the corresponding author’s name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Names and contact information for other authors should be included as well. Manuscripts submitted to the special issue should be original contributions and should not be under consideration for any other publication at the same time. Submissions will be evaluated by a double-blind review process.


Only papers submitted to and presented at the “Online Advertising and Marketing of Service Businesses” track at the 2023 Global Marketing Conference (GMC) are eligible. ONLY papers selected by the special issue editor will be considered for this special edition of the International Journal of Advertising on online advertising and marketing of service businesses: check the IJA website (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rina20) for the style.

 

Questions should be sent to the guest editor: Prof. Shu-Chuan (Kelly) Chu, Public Relations and Advertising Program, College of Communication, DePaul University, 1 E. Jackson Blvd., Chicago IL, 60604, USA, schu7@depaul.edu, Tel. +1-312-362-7929.

 

The 2023 Global Marketing Conference (GMC) will be held in Seoul, South Korea on July 20th – 23rd, 2023. For more GMC information, please visit: https://2023gmc.imweb.me/.


References:

Marr, B. 2021. 10 best examples of augmented and virtual reality in retail, Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2021/09/13/10-best-examples-of-augmented-and-virtual-reality-in-retail/?sh=152061666269, Retrieved 6 June 2022.

Stafford, M. R. 2020. Connecting and communicating with the customer: Advertising research for the hospitality industry. Journal of Advertising 49, no. 5: 505-07.

Thomas, D. R. E. 1978. Strategy is different in service businesses, Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/1978/07/strategy-is-different-in-service-businesses, Retrieved 6 June 2022.