Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

(Bitner, 1992). Its multifarious effects have been studied extensively in the marketing andmanagement literature. The applications of multisensory marketing are many and diverse andhave been studied in both physical as well as virtual environments. Their applications in webretailing environments (e.g. Manganari, Siomkos and Vrechopoulous, 2009; Cheng, Wu and Yen,2009) show that ambient effects such as light, colour and sound have a noticeable impact uponconsumers‘ moods and their capacity for pleasure and arousal.Environmental variables have noticeable effects on individuals‘ behavior (Mehrabian andRussell, 1974) and affect their propensity to make purchasing decisions (Donovan and Rossiter,1982; Wirtz, Mattila and Tan, 2000; Menon and Kahn, 2001; Eroglu, Machleit and Davis, 2003).Multisensory stimuli such as music (Yalch and Spangenberg, 2000; Wilson, 2003), colors and(Babin, Hardesty and Suter, 2003) and smells, odors and olfactory cues (Spangenberg et al.,1996; Chebat and Michon, 2003) also play a significant role in shaping consumers‘ behavior. Todate, however, there has been no research on how these multisensory cues are used systematicallyas part of a corporate branding and identity programme within organizations.Conceptual Frameworks:Keillor, Hult and Kandemir (2004) used a servicescape construct to study service encounter ineight countries. This study was undertaken in order to understand service encounters on aninternational basis as half the world‘s multinational companies are engaged in service provisions(Lovelock and Yip, 1996) in Keillor, Hult and Kandemir, 2004). This servicescape construct wasbased on Baker‘s servicescape construct which is premised on servicescapes comprising ambient,functional, and social elements (Baker, 1986 in Keillor, Hult and Kandemir, 2004). Keillor, Hultand Kandemir incorporated the Nordic School of Service Marketing‘s (NSSM) ideas on serviceencounter. According to NSSM functional elements (service quality and servicescape) of theservice encounter has an effect on the behavioral intentions of the customers. Based on theNSSM theory they hypothesized that ―servicescape is positively associated with customers‘behavioral intentions.‖ The research was conducted in eight countries across two industries: FastFood and Grocery. In most of the countries they found their hypothesis to be true: the consumers‘behavioral intentions were positively associated with servicescape (Keillor, Hult and Kandemir,2004). In the extant literature there could not be found any study of servicescape research thatwas carried out across different countries except the one done by Keillor, Hult and Kandemir.Thus their servicescape construct was deemed to be robust for assessing consumer behaviour inour study. However, Hightower (2010) found that Keillor, Hult and Kandemir (2004) utilizes theservicescape construct less effectively and their reliance on Baker and Cameron‘s (1996) work as