'Interactions and Paradigm Shifts' - MU faculty present their latest research at the 43rd meeting of the European Marketing Academy

Astrid Dickinger and Lidija Lalicic from the Department of Tourism and Service Management recently headed to Valenica, Spain to attend the 43rd European Marketing Academy (EMAC), hosted by the University of Valencia.

The EMAC is a professional society for people involved or interested in marketing theory and research, with the aim to serve as the core of a communication network for disseminating information and promoting international exchange in the field of marketing.  With a membership of over 1000, the annual conference attracts international academics from high-standard universities. The program runs different parallel sessions with a variety of topics ranging from advertising to product innovation to tourism marketing.

This year’s conference theme was 'Interactions and Paradigm Shifts' concentrating on the current changes in the field of marketing due to ICT development and new forms of interactions. Astrid and Lidija presented their work in the form of a a poster titled ‘’Service Recovery Through Social Media: An Analysis of Manager Response to Online Reviews, ‘’ which addressed how services failure by customers posted in social media spaces are handled by managers.

The study analyzed reviews by tourists and subsequently the management responses posted on TripAdvisor, observing service recovery strategies applied. It further illustrated the need to consider social media platforms as an integral part of complain handling process, and further development of adequate strategies.

Lidija was impressed with her first EMAC conference, ‘’it was a great experience to meet different academia from the marketing field, we were able to discuss interesting current and future research issues that marketing field is facing.’’

In addition to a fruitful exchange of ideas at the conference, the social program gave participants the opportunity to discover Spanish culture and explore vibrant Valencia.

Next year’s conference will be held in Leuven, Belgium and MODUL University Vienna will certainly be there!