Antecedents and consequences of customer

inspiration: a framework in the context of

electronic device brands
Martin Hernani-Merino
Department of Marketing and International Business, Universidad del Pacifico, Lima, Peru
Christian Fernando Libaque-Saenz
Department of Engineering, Universidad del Pacifico, Lima, Peru, and
Jorge D
avalos
Department of Business Management, Universidad del Pacífico, Lima, Peru and Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) Network,
Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to propose and empirically validate a framework of antecedents and consequences of customer inspiration.
Design/methodology/approach – This study consisted of a survey administered to consumers who are current users of Samsung or Apple
electronic devices. The survey targeted only users who had some level of university studies to homogenize the sample’s characteristics. The data
were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings – Results support the two-step nature of customer inspiration, with “inspired by” (activation) as the first step followed by “inspired to”
(intention). In addition, the results highlighted the role of brand experience and openness to experience as antecedents to customer inspiration, while
customer satisfaction, brand engagement in self-concept, brand affect, word of mouth and repurchase intention were validated as its consequences.
Originality/value – This study aids understanding of the role of customer inspiration as a conceptual and empirical construct in consumer behavior
by including brand experience as an inspiration stimulus, as well as other constructs that relate to inspiration. This study also describes possible
strategic implications when using brands of electronic devices as sources of inspiration.
Keywords Customer inspiration, Brands of electronic devices, Inspired by, Inspired to, Brand experience, Word-of-mouth, Brand engagement,
Satisfaction
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction as Apple users, 91% of them are engaged with opt-in

Samsung and Apple are among the major brands of electronic
devices, competing not only at the commercial but also at the
inspirational level. Apple possesses a strong brand personality
based on notions of nonconformity, innovation and creativity,
which are captured by its slogan “think different” (Fitzsimons
et al., 2008). On the other hand, Samsung aims to inspire
consumers with its slogan “inspire the world, create the future”
(Samsung, 2020), but with a strategy based on the
diversification of its products. These different user experiences
have led to different behaviors. For instance, Apple users spend
more time with their devices than Android users do, and pay
more for their apps, but only 44% of them opt in to receive
notifications, while its main strength is the ecosystem built
across all its devices, generating an in-app experience somehow
superior to that offered by Android (Nix-United, 2021). For
their part, Android users download twice as many applications
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald
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Journal of Product & Brand Management
32/7 (2023) 1093–1107
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-12-2021-3799]
notifications, and they are more faithful to a particular brand
(including Samsung) than Apple users (Nix-United, 2021).
Hence, in this highly competitive market, brands need to gain
insights on how to strengthen relationships with their
customers to ultimately increase their wealthness.
Customer inspiration has been recognized as a means to
strengthen customer relationships (Böttger et al., 2017; Ki
et al., 2022). Customer inspiration is a type of intrinsic
motivational state that is evoked by an external source and
connected to the carrying out of new ideas (Thrash and Elliot,
2003; Böttger et al., 2017). Brands are external sources that
may significantly influence consumers (Park et al., 2013),
particularly in the case of self-relevant brands (Park and
MacInnis, 2018). Successful self-relevant brands possess an
aspirational quality, symbolizing desirable personality traits
such as sophistication and competence (Aaker, 1997; Aaker
et al., 2001; De Oliveira Santini et al., 2018), which may inspire
goal-oriented behaviors (Lockwood and Kunda, 1997;
Received 30 December 2021
Revised 5 April 2022
18 October 2022
11 February 2023
24 March 2023
Accepted 24 March 2023

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Martín Hernani-Merino et al.
Rauschnabel et al., 2019). Hence, understanding how brands
may generate inspiration is a promising idea in the marketing
field because it may facilitate the acquisition and use of the
brand (Roehm and Roehm, 2006).
The potential role of brands for generating inspiration was
recognized previously in iconic commercial brands such as
Microsoft, Nike and Starbucks (Izogo and Mpinganjira, 2020).
Very recent market research has recognized that technology
may also drive customer inspiration (Chuah, 2019; Hinsch
et al., 2020; Riegger et al., 2021), which further motivates the
study of inspiration in the context of brands of electronic
devices (Böttger, 2015; Böttger et al., 2017). The various
features of these devices and the advertising messages they
present have brought different user behaviors. Activities such as
getting weather information, using social networks, listening to
music, doing online banking and watching videos are some of
the top user activities in 2021 (Statista, 2021). Smartphones
have undoubtedly led this user trend, and now exert a
fundamental influence on marketing approaches (Evanschitzky
et al., 2020). Therefore, understanding the role of customer
inspiration in this market is of interest.
A full episode of customer inspiration can serve to increase
brand attachment (Böttger et al., 2017; Ki et al., 2022). As a
result, the intention to (re)purchase a brand increases
(Rauschnabel et al., 2019), generating positive word of mouth
(WOM) and, in turn, a positive long-term impact for a
company (Böttger et al., 2017). Prior studies have focused on
contexts such as wearable technology (Chuah, 2019),
entrepreneurship (Wartiovaara et al., 2019), social media
inspirational content (Izogo and Mpinganjira, 2020), social
media influencers (Ki et al., 2022) and mass-prestige brands
(Das et al., 2022). Despite these efforts, there is still a need to
delve into psychological mechanisms, and to explore constructs
that may capture the temporary motivational state in its
entirety. Brand experience in this study is thus proposed for the
first time as a stimulus that activates the psychological process
of inspiration.
Brand experience refers to responses triggered by stimuli that
come essentially from a brand’s identity, communications and
environment (Brakus et al., 2009). The influence of these
responses (e.g. brand loyalty, brand attitude, brand value and
brand equity) has been studied in brand performance literature;
however, prior studies did not focus on understanding what “an
experience provided by brands” actually is Zha et al. (2020,
p. 288). Brand experience encompasses aspects of all commercial
human experiences (Chevtchouk et al., 2021), inspiring the
customer to interact with brands in different and new ways
(Böttger et al., 2017). It is therefore important to assess brand
experience as an elicitor of a consumer motivational state
(Rauschnabel et al., 2019; Hinsch et al., 2020). Finally,
“customer inspiration is contingent on the kind of inspirational
content under consideration” (Izogo and Mpinganjira, 2020,
p. 449), which suggests that each brand may seek to inspire its
customers in various ways through communication and use of
its products. Therefore, it is also worth assessing the moderation
role of brands in the inspiration process (Rauschnabel et al.,
2019).
The objective of the present study is to propose and validate a
framework of antecedents and consequences of customer
inspiration. Openness to experience and brand experience are
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proposed as its antecedents, whereas brand engagement in self-
concept (BESC), brand affect, customer satisfaction, WOM
and repurchase intention are proposed as its consequences.
This study’s contribution is as follows. For theory, deepening
our understanding of the full episode of customer inspiration in
the marketing context will improve insights into how customers
can derive benefits from enriching and inspirational brands
(Park et al., 2013; Rauschnabel et al., 2019; Ki et al., 2022). For
managers, it is important to understand how brands in the
technology sector seek to inspire their customers through
marketing strategies and thus promote the (re)purchase of their
products.
2. Literature review
2.1 Inspiration
Inspiration is a motivational construct that has been studied in
psychology (Thrash and Elliot, 2003, 2004; Thrash et al.,
2010b) and marketing (Böttger et al., 2017; Rauschnabel et al.,
2019; Hinsch et al., 2020). From a psychological perspective,
inspiration is a general and integrative construct that possesses
three core characteristics: evocation, transcendence and
motivation (Thrash and Elliot, 2003, 2004; Thrash et al.,
2014). Evocation implies that inspiration is not a voluntary
process (Thrash and Elliot, 2003, 2004; Oleynick et al., 2014),
and that it is related to passivity (Thrash et al., 2010b).
Transcendence means that the inspired individual gains
awareness of ideas or possibilities that are new, better or
important (Thrash and Elliot, 2003, 2004; Thrash et al.,
2010a; Oleynick et al., 2014; Thrash et al., 2014). Finally,
inspiration is characterized by motivation (Thrash and Elliot,
2003, 2004; Thrash et al., 2010a, 2010b; Oleynick et al., 2014;
Thrash et al., 2014) in that it energizes and directs behavior
toward something.
Inspiration has also been conceptualized in terms of its
function. For instance, it has been theorized as serving a
transmission function, motivating individuals to express,
actualize or transmit the intrinsically valuable qualities that they
acquire epistemologically from an illuminating stimulus object
(Thrash and Elliot, 2004; Thrash et al., 2010b). In other words,
inspiration is an appetitive motivational state (Thrash and
Elliot, 2003, 2004) in which the individual strives to transmit,
express, or actualize a new idea or vision that has been evoked
(Oleynick et al., 2014; Thrash et al., 2014).
From a marketing perspective, customer inspiration is
defined as a “customer’s temporary motivational state that
facilitates the transition from the reception of a marketing-
induced idea to the intrinsic pursuit of a consumption-related
goal” (Böttger et al., 2017, p. 117). It comprises both “inspired-
by” and “inspired-to” states (Thrash et al., 2010a; Böttger
et al., 2017), which are aligned with the characteristics of the
inspiration (Thrash and Elliot, 2003, 2004). The “inspired-by”
is defined as an epistemic activation state related to a
customer’s reception of a marketing-induced idea (i.e.
evocation) and a shift in awareness toward new possibilities (i.e.
transcendence). In contrast, “inspired-to” is an intention state
related to a customer’s intrinsic pursuit of a consumption-
related goal (i.e. motivation). This state urges customers to
actualize the newly obtained idea (e.g. by purchasing and using
a product) (Böttger et al., 2017; Hinsch et al., 2020).
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Martín Hernani-Merino et al.
The inspiration process is set out as a sequence, in which
“inspired-by” precedes “inspired-to” (Thrash and Elliot, 2004;
Oleynick et al., 2014; Thrash et al., 2014; Izogo and
Mpinganjira, 2020). However, although both component
processes (by and to) are present in a full episode of inspiration,
they can dissociate in some cases (Thrash and Elliot, 2004;
Thrash, 2021). A notable case of being inspired by a successful
role model is that of Michael Jordan. One appreciates the
intrinsic value of Jordan’s performance (i.e. one is inspired by)
and, as a result of this appreciation, one desires to perform at a
similarly high level when practicing sports (i.e. one is inspired
to). However, a person may be inspired by without being
inspired to. In the above example, one may be “moved” by
Jordan’s prowess but not moved to do anything in particular
(Thrash and Elliot, 2004). Therefore, by definition, a full
episode of inspiration is considered present when both the by
and to component processes are activated (Cui et al., 2020).
To fully understand customer inspiration, it is important to
determine its antecedents and consequences. Antecedents have
been found to lie in two categories: source characteristics such as
provision of inspirational content, and individual characteristics,
whereas consequences have been found to lie in three categories:
emotional, attitudinal and behavioral consequences (Böttger
et al., 2017; Das et al., 2022). In the case of antecedents, brand
experience is a relevant concept to be studied for the first time as
inspirational content (stimulus). Hence, this study proposes
brand experience as a source characteristic, and openness to
experience as an individual characteristic. In the case of
consequences, it is relevant to study engagement as it may
guarantee the purchase and use of the brand. This study proposes
BESC, which lies in the emotional category of consequences.
Figure 1 Customer inspiration framework
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BESC refers to a close relationship of a brand with its consumers,
which represents a positive emotion generated by the brand
(Mazzoli et al., 2019). Brand affect is also proposed in this
category because it is one dominant dimension of mood (Böttger
et al., 2017). As an attitudinal consequence (enduring evaluative
judgments that are more stable than emotions) this study
proposes satisfaction (Böttger et al., 2017). Finally, as behavioral
consequences, WOM and (re)purchase intention are considered
due to their importance for a brand’s positioning over time.
To understand the sequence of the antecedents and
consequences of inspiration, this study found support in prior
literature suggesting that personal traits (i.e. individual
characteristics) may lead to different responses to stimuli
(Mowen and Spears, 1999). The stimulus is brand experience
(source of inspiration), and thus it may be influenced by
openness to experience (personal trait). In the case of
consequences, the theory of planned behavior suggests that
attitudes lead to behaviors (Ajzen, 1991). Hence, satisfaction
(attitudinal consequence) is proposed as an antecedent of both
behavioral consequences: WOM and (re)purchase intention.
Finally, prior literature has also recognized (re)purchase
intention as an effect of WOM (Bulut and Karabulut, 2018).
This sequence is set out in Figure 1(a).
2.2 Antecedents
2.2.1 Openness to experience
Openness to experience is a psychological trait that applies to
individuals who are curious, original, imaginative, unconventional
and creative (Piedmont, 1998; Costa and McCrae, 2008;
Barbosa-Camacho et al., 2020). High scorers in this trait tend to
appreciate beauty in art and nature, consider new ideas and values
 Antecedents and consequences
Martín Hernani-Merino et al.
and have unconventional views (Costa and McCrae, 2008;
Barbosa-Camacho et al., 2020). Consequently, individuals who
have high levels of openness to experience are highly tolerant of
ambiguity, which leads them to explore the unfamiliar (Piedmont,
1998; Costa and McCrae, 2008). They actively seek out and enjoy
experiences and activities that provide novelty and variety,
preferring complexity (Costa and McCrae, 2008; Olsen et al.,
2016). In addition, they are more aware of their own thoughts,
feelings and impulses, and have the ability to hold them
simultaneously, which provides them with a more intense
experience (McCrae and Costa, 1997; Costa and McCrae, 2008).
As a construct, openness to experience is composed of six
facets (Costa and McCrae, 1992; Piedmont, 1998): fantasy,
which is related to having a vivid and active imagination;
aesthetics, which is associated with a deep appreciation for art
and beauty; feelings, which involves receptiveness to inner
feelings and emotions and their consideration as an important
part of life; actions, which is a disposition toward engaging in
new tasks; ideas, which equates to an active intellectual
curiosity and openness to new and unconventional ideas; and,
finally, values, which is an inclination to reevaluate social,
political and religious values. Both the aesthetics and ideas
facets are relevant for marketing and consumer behavior. For
example, in an effort to identify personality traits that lead to
compulsive buying behaviors, Mowen and Spears (1999)
validated an openness-to-experience scale that included the
aforementioned facets.
Openness to experience could directly affect experiences
with a brand (Brakus et al., 2009; Tarka et al., 2022), as this
trait represents an intrinsic need that may mean consumers are
more prone to seeking and enjoying novel experiences with a
greater degree of intensity (McCrae and Costa, 1997; Costa
and McCrae, 2008; Olsen et al., 2016):
H1. “Openness to experience” is positively related to “brand
experience.”
2.2.2 Brand experience
Experiences, in consumer behavior are the result of
consumption of products and services (Arnould et al., 2002;
Brakus et al., 2008). In general, the literature highlights three
main types of experience: product experiences, shopping and
service experiences, and consumption experiences (Brakus
et al., 2009). First, product experiences relate to consumer
interactions with products, such as searching for and evaluating
them (Hoch, 2002). Second, shopping and service experiences
relate to the interactions between a consumer and a store’s
physical environment (Hui and Bateson, 1991). And third,
consumption experiences relate to the consumption and use of
products (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982).
For a better understanding of the consumer experiences
provided by brands, a broad “brand experience” construct is
found in the literature, which is defined as a consumer’s
subjective and internal responses triggered by direct or indirect
interactions with brand-related stimuli (e.g. colors, logos,
slogans and names) (Brakus et al., 2009; Schmitt et al., 2015).
Andreini et al. (2018) and Chevtchouk et al. (2021) have noted
that the definition of brand experience proposed by Brakus
et al. (2009) is one of the most widely used in research, because
it clearly illustrates the dimensions that are present in terms of
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experience in the marketing field. The present study
conceptualized “brand experience” as a superordinate
construct, taking the lead from Brakus et al. (2009). A
superordinate construct represents an overall concept (higher-
order) that underlies its dimensions (lower-order) (Edwards,
2001). In these cases, it is the higher-order construct that
causes the lower-order constructs, and thus the relationship
flows from the higher-order construct to the lower-order
constructs (Pavlou and Fygenson, 2006). Accordingly, the
dimensions are expected to correlate highly with each other
(Law et al., 1998; Polites et al., 2012).
Brand experience has four dimensions (lower-order
constructs): sensory, affective, intellectual and behavioral
(Brakus et al., 2009; Andreini et al., 2018). First, this
multidimensionality approach is based on the fact that these
dimensions have different characteristics than each other.
Although the four are manifestations of a partial and one-way
interaction, each one reveals a different part of brand
experience. The sensory dimension refers to the visual,
auditory and tactile stimulation that a brand provides; the
affective dimension describes the emotional stimulation
generated by that brand; the intellectual dimension describes
the cognitive stimulation generated by the brand; and the
behavioral dimension refers to actions and behaviors that a
brand stimulates in consumers (Andreini et al., 2018). Second,
if one of these dimensions is dropped, the domain of brand
experience will be severely limited. Although there may be
differences in the intensity of these dimensions, theoretically,
the four of them are manifestations of an overall consumer
experience with the brand (Brakus et al., 2009). Third, the
present study argues that these dimensions are manifestations
of an underlying construct that gives rise to them, rather than
being constitutive characteristics of the brand experience
concept (Brakus et al., 2009).
Brand experience can elicit a motivational state in consumers
(Rauschnabel et al., 2019; Hinsch et al., 2020). For example, in
a study on augmented-reality apps, Rauschnabel et al. (2019)
found that experiences generated through brand interaction
can inspire consumers and, as a consequence, affect their
attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, a motivational state that
could be affected by brand experience is customer inspiration,
since exposure to diverse experiences in the consumption
environment could inspire customers to interact with brands in
new ways (Böttger et al., 2017). Customer inspiration can be
understood as a transmission process that connects a stimulus
(such as brand experience) with inspiring ideas (such as
planning to purchase a product) (Böttger et al., 2017; Kwon
and Boger, 2020; Cao et al., 2021):
H2. “Brand experience” is positively related to “inspired by.”
2.3 Consequences
2.3.1 Brand engagement in self-concept
The concept of engagement has gained increased attention in
the marketing literature over the last decade (Brodie et al.,
2011; Hollebeek et al., 2014). One related concept is BESC, an
individual difference that represents consumers’ general
tendency to include important brands as part of their self-
concept definition (Sprott et al., 2009; Razmus et al., 2017). On
this basis, self-concept is defined as a set of self-schemas that
 Antecedents and consequences
Martín Hernani-Merino et al.
represent stable knowledge about the self and that help people
organize information to make sense of themselves in their
environment (Markus, 1977; Razmus et al., 2017). Sprott et al.
(2009) argued that BESC refers to a set of self-schemas related
to brand-relevant information, providing a comprehensive view
of the person–brand connection.
Customer inspiration may influence the self. As such,
inspiration has been proposed as a state that leads to the
discovery of the self (Thrash and Elliot, 2004). This theoretical
proposal was supported by prior research, which found self-
determination to be a consequence of inspiration (Thrash and
Elliot, 2003). Therefore, customer inspiration may positively
influence the self’s relationship with brands (i.e. impact on
BESC):
H3. “Inspired by” is positively related to “brand engagement
in self-concept.”
2.3.2 Brand affect.
Brand affect describes consumers’ evaluation of a brand’s
associations (Keller, 1993). Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001)
defined brand affect as “a brand’s potential to elicit a positive
emotional response in the average consumer as a result of its
use” (p. 82). Prior studies have shown that brand affect can be
predicted by various variables, some of the most important of
which are affective constructs.
Brand affect is predicted by consumers’ perception of the
hedonic value of a brand or product – that is, the intangible
benefits associated with a brand or product that generate a
positive emotional response in the consumer (Chaudhuri and
Holbrook, 2001; Huaman-Ramirez et al., 2019). In addition,
consumers’ emotional brand-choice risk positively predicts
brand affect (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2002). These variables
may share similar characteristics with the customer inspiration
construct, as inspiration possesses a motivational–affective
component (Thrash and Elliot, 2003, 2004). As such,
customer inspiration may operate as another predictor of brand
affect.
Although the literature review yielded no studies linking
customer inspiration and brand affect, research in psychology
has shown a consistent and strong positive relationship between
inspiration and positive affect (Thrash et al., 2010a, 2010b).
For example, Thrash and Elliot (2004) used a measure of
positive affect as a proxy for establishing the “inspired to”
component of inspiration. Furthermore, in the marketing
domain, Böttger et al. (2017) conceptualized positive affect as a
consequence of customer inspiration, finding that positive
affect correlates positively with both the “inspired by” and the
“inspired to” components of inspiration:
H4. “Inspired to” is positively related to “brand affect.”
2.3.3 Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction refers to individuals’ emotional and
favorable evaluation of their experience associated with
consumption behavior (Oliver, 1980; Gonzalez, 2019). It has
an affective element that is experiential (Ostrom and Iacobucci,
1995; White and Yu, 2005), and occurs when the balance
between rewards and costs meets customers’ expectations
(Maxham, 2001).
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Inspiration is both theoretically and empirically linked to
positive affect (Thrash and Elliot, 2003, 2004), which may be
related to customer satisfaction, as this construct yields
affective responses from positive consumption experiences. For
example, Thrash et al. (2010a) found that inspiration promotes
hedonic well-being (i.e. intrinsic motivation), a construct that
includes positive affect (Watson et al., 1988). Customer
inspiration is also a specific type of intrinsic motivation that
means personally relevant consumption goals are in place
(Böttger et al., 2017), while prior research has found that
intrinsic motivation leads to an increase in satisfaction (Ryan
and Deci, 2000; White, 2015):
H5. “Inspired to” is positively related to “customer
satisfaction.”
2.3.4 Word of mouth.
WOM consists of informal communication among consumers
about the ownership, usage or characteristics of goods, services
or their sellers (Westbrook, 1987; Verma and Yadav, 2021).
The way individuals influence one another is an important
subject in the marketing domain due to its effects on firm
reputation (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Considering that the
internet allows people to easily access others’ opinions – for
instance, about brands, products or services – WOM poses
both new challenges and possibilities for marketers (Gerdt
et al., 2019).
Previous studies have explored WOM as a consequence of
customer satisfaction (Weun et al., 2004; Babin et al., 2005;
Gerdt et al., 2019). While satisfied consumers tend to engage in
positive WOM communication (Ranaweera and Prabhu, 2003;
Jung and Seock, 2017), individuals left unsatisfied with their
consumption experience participate in negative WOM (Collier
and Bienstock, 2006). In the context of electronic devices,
satisfaction with the smartphone experience, for instance, has
been positively linked to WOM referrals (Yazdanparast and
Tran, 2020):
H6. “Customer satisfaction” is positively related to “word of
mouth.”
2.3.5 Repurchase intention
Repurchase behavior entails the repeated consumption of
products or services (Chang et al., 2014). It is defined as
individuals’ subjective judgment about buying a product or
service again, taking into account their current situation and
likely circumstances (Hellier et al., 2003; Chen and Chen,
2017). In other words, it is the intention to repeatedly purchase
a particular product or service, and to maintain the relationship
with the retailer (Chiu et al., 2009; Chang et al., 2014).
As part of the search for better understanding of the
relationship between consumers and retailers, customer
satisfaction has been empirically linked, across different
contexts, to repurchase intention. For example, in a study
focused on a leading global telecommunications company
operating in 19 countries in Asia and Africa, Srivastava and
Sharma (2013) found that customer satisfaction was an
important driver of repurchase intention. Likewise, in the
e-commerce domain, Fang et al. (2011) obtained evidence in
 Antecedents and consequences
Martín Hernani-Merino et al.
support of this relationship, in a study that used customer data
from a Taiwanese online retailer:
H7. “Customer satisfaction” is positively related
“repurchase intention.”
WOM has also been empirically and positively linked to
repurchase intention across different contexts. For example, in
a study on Airbnb consumers, Liang et al. (2017) found that
electronic WOM had a positive impact on repurchase
intention. Similarly, Bulut and Karabulut (2018) examined
online shopping behavior among Turkish consumers, and
found that electronic WOM influenced their decision to
repurchase. Therefore:
H8. “Word of mouth” is positively related to “repurchase
intention.”
Figure 1(b) shows the proposed customer inspiration framework.
3. Method
Customer inspiration has only recently received attention in the
marketing realm, and the relationships in the present study are
correlational in nature. This study aims to empirically validate
the relationship between customer inspiration and its potential
antecedents and consequences identified through a literature
review.
3.1 Apple and Samsung as sources of inspiration
Apple and Samsung compete in the market with different
innovation approaches. Apple is a US-based brand that used
the slogan “think different.” Apple designs, produces and
markets various products (e.g. iPhone, iPad) and services (e.g.
iTunes Store, iCloud). This company’s success lies in its
constant innovation, which offers differentiation and
exclusivity to its customers (Khan et al., 2015). At present,
Apple’s strategy, including a focus on value generation for its
customers, is what sets it apart from its competitors (Khan
et al., 2015).
Samsung is a South Korea-based company with the slogan
“inspire the world, create the future” (Samsung, 2020).
Samsung’s success relies on product diversification. For
example, the company produces medical equipment, digital
appliances, mobile communications, networking equipment,
among other products. In addition, Samsung builds its own
parts (e.g. chips), while Apple does not. Through this strategy,
Samsung aims to retain customers by satisfying all their needs.
When it comes to smartphones, Apple has long led the
market in terms of innovation, but Samsung has made steady
gains in this regard and today has strong innovation
capabilities. The rivalry between the two companies has taken
them to tribunals over cases of patent violation. For example, in
August 2012, Samsung had to pay Apple over US$1bn for
infringing six of Apple’s software and design patents (Cecere
et al., 2015).
Finally, in terms of brand recognition, Apple came out on
top of the Best Global Brands 2021, while Samsung was ranked
sixth (Interbrand, 2021). Thus, each company’s different
innovation characteristics vis-a-vis the other may inspire its
customer base in different ways.
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3.2 Measurement instrument
Openness to experience was measured using the six-item scale
developed by Mowen and Spears (1999). Brand experience
to was measured using the scale proposed by Brakus et al. (2009),
with three items each of its first-order variables (sensory,
affective, intellectual and behavioral). In the case of customer
inspiration, the two components (inspired by and inspired to)
were measured by way of five items each, using a scale adapted
from Böttger et al. (2017). BESC was measured using an eight-
item scale adapted from Sprott et al. (2009), and brand affect
using a three-item scale adapted from Chaudhuri and
Holbrook (2001). As for customer satisfaction and WOM, each
of them was measured using a three-item scale adapted from
Maxham (2001). Finally, repurchase intention was measured
through a three-item scale adapted from Putrevu and Lord
(1994). All these items are reflective and were measured using a
seven-point Likert scale.
3.3 Data collection and analysis
This study mostly targeted consumers from Peru, Brazil and
the USA who are current users of Samsung or Apple electronic
devices. Users who had some level of university studies were
targeted to homogenize the sample’s characteristics. The data
were collected between July and September 2020 via
SurveyMonkey. The respondents were contacted via social
media and other online platforms.
The survey was administered in English and divided into
three sections. The first section included questions about users’
favorite electronic device, its brand and their use of it. These
questions enabled confirmation of whether the potential
respondents fitted the target sample. The second section
included all the items relating to the theoretical variables.
Considering that a respondent may have more than one
electronic device, and that these devices may be from different
brands, these items were framed around each participant’s
favorite device and its brand to guarantee consistency in the
responses along the survey. Finally, the third section gathered
respondents’ demographics.
To reduce careless responses, the respondents were
informed that participation was voluntary and that their
answers would remain anonymous. In addition, to detect these
responses, the survey included three attention questions and
four reverse-coded items. After a revision process, 591 valid
responses were obtained. Finally, this study used Mplus as an
analytical tool to implement the structural equation modeling
technique to assess the relationship between variables.
3.4 Sample characteristics
The 591 respondents were almost equally distributed between
males (50.76%) and females (49.24%). Around half of the
respondents were under 25 years old, and most were from Peru
(35.19%), the USA (29.61%) and Brazil (23.01%). About
78% of the participants had been using their preferred
electronic device for at least one year. Most of the devices were
smartphones (84.43%), followed by laptops (9.81%) and
tablets (4.40%). Finally, the respondents’ brand preferences
were Apple (59.90%) and Samsung (40.10%).
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4. Results
4.1 Common method bias
Given the self-reported survey tool used for data collection, this
study assessed the likelihood of common method bias (CMB)
in the sample’s responses. Harman’s single factor was used for
this purpose (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). Accordingly, all
measurement items were entered into a single exploratory
factor analysis and the unrotated solution was analyzed. The
results show that the first extracted factor accounted for
39.29% (less than 50%) of the variance in the data, suggesting
that CMB is not present in the sample.
4.2 Convergent validity and reliability
To assess the model’s reliability, this study checked the standard
composite reliability (CR) indicators (see Table 1). The
reliability of the second-order construct (brand experience) was
calculated with respect to the explained variance in its first-order
observed items, in line with Raykov (2012). Every construct
exhibits a CR indicator above the recommended threshold
(>0.7), thus confirming the reliability of each.
The values of AVE were estimated for every factor, and it was
verified that they all exhibited magnitudes above the usual
threshold of 0.5 (see Table 1). These results were further
checked with reference to the highly statistically significant
loadings (>0.7) of the implied confirmatory factor analysis
(CFA) model (see Table 1).
4.3 Discriminant validity
This study used the heterotrait-monotrait heteromethod
correlation ratio (HTMT) to assess the discriminant validity of
the constructs. This ratio relates the item’s correlation within a
given factor (numerator) to the correlations with respect to
other factors’ items (denominator). A ratio lower than 0.85
provides evidence of discriminant validity (Kline, 2011).
Because the model includes a second-order factor (brand
experience), the discriminant validity of their reflective (first
order) factors would partly depend on the discriminant validity
of this second-order factor. Thus, a separate CFA that omitted
the reflective factors of brand experience was run, and their
implied HTMT ratios were assessed. The resulting matrix
(Table 2) confirms the discriminant validity of brand
experience and any other factor, as no HTMT ratio lies over
the recommended threshold of 0.85.
The reflective factors of brand experience may correlate
directly with other factors, thus threatening discriminant validity.
To verify discriminant validity resulting from this correlation, this
study omitted the second-order factor and ran a separate CFA
whose HTMT ratios are presented in Table 2. Sensory, affective,
intellectual and behavioral factors confirmed the discriminant
validity as shown by the low HTMT ratios with other factors.
The same applies to the remaining constructs.
4.4 Structural model
The results of the path analysis show that customer inspiration
is positively predicted by brand experience (H2, b = 0.801, p <
0.001). In turn, openness to experience has a positive impact
on brand experience (H1, b = 0.423, p < 0.001). For its part,
customer inspiration has a positive effect on BESC (H3, b =
0.570, p < 0.001), brand affect (H4, b = 0.757, p < 0.001) and
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customer satisfaction (H5, b = 0.464, p < 0.001). Customer
satisfaction, on the other hand, positively impacts WOM (H6,
b = 0.716, p < 0.001) and repurchase intention (H7, b = 0.152,
p < 0.05), while WOM has a positive effect on repurchase
intention (H8, b = 0.645, p < 0.001). Figure 2 presents these
results graphically (it also includes the results by subsample –
Apple and Samsung – and multigroup analysis).
To assess the explanatory power of the proposed structural
model, the R2 values of the endogenous variables were
analyzed, and presented in Figure 2.
4.5 Brand’s moderating role
To perform statistical inference on the moderation role of the
brand (Apple or Samsung), this study implemented a multigroup
analysis. Under the null hypothesis, the structural relationships
are assumed to be identical between both groups. The test builds
on the comparison between the Chi-squared statistics that result
from the structural model (under Ha) and its constrained version
(H0). Specifically, the Satorra–Bentler scaled test statistic
(Satorra and Bentler, 2010), which does not impose any
distributional assumptions on the items’ measurement errors,
was implemented.
The result of this test shows that the constrained (x2 =
3,943.071) and unconstrained models (x2 = 3,905.970)
present a significant difference (Dx2 = 37.101, Ddf = 9, p-value
< 0.001), which provides evidence of the moderating role of the
brand on the structural relationships. As Figure 2 shows, both
groups’ structural relationships are also statistically significant
at a 0.001 level, except for Apple’s relationship between
customer satisfaction on repurchase intention, which is
nonsignificant (this relationship is statistically significant at a
0.01 level for the Samsung sample). A closer look at the
differences between the structural parameters of both groups
(Figure 2) shows that the following paths are statistically
heterogeneous:

customer inspiration on customer satisfaction (higher for
Apple);

customer satisfaction on repurchase intention (higher for
Samsung);

customer satisfaction on WOM (higher for Samsung); and

brand experience on customer inspiration (higher for
Apple).
5. Discussion and implications
The objective of this study is to propose and validate a
framework of antecedents and consequences of customer
inspiration. Considering that technology may drive customer
inspiration, electronic device brands (Apple and Samsung)
were used as potential sources of inspiration. The results show
that the proposed framework meets the criteria of convergent
and discriminant validity. In addition, the structural model’s
coefficients support the eight associated hypotheses, which
explain the triggers, process and attitudinal and behavioral
effects of customer inspiration.
5.1 Theoretical contributions
First, customer inspiration is a hybrid construct containing two
components (by and to) that describe the inspiration process as
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Martín Hernani-Merino et al. Volume 32 · Number 7 · 2023 · 1093–1107

Table 1 Reliability, convergent validity and R-square values

Latent variable l
Sensory (SEN) ! CR = 0.810, AVE = 0.681
a

SEN1: [Brand] makes a strong impression on my visual sense or other senses 0.826
SEN2: I find this [brand] interesting in a sensory way 0.824
Affective (AFF)a ! CR = 0.780, AVE = 0.640
AFF1: [Brand] induces feelings and sentiments 0.824
AFF3: [Brand] is an emotional brand 0.776
Intellectual (INT)a ! CR = 0.738, AVE = 0.587
INT1: I engage in a lot of thinking when I encounter [brand] 0.691
INT3: [Brand] stimulates my curiosity and problem-solving 0.835
Behavioral (BEH)a ! CR = 0.850, AVE = 0.739
BEH1: I engage in physical actions and behaviors when I use [brand] 0.828
BEH2: [Brand] results in bodily experiences 0.891
Openness to Experience (OE)a ! CR = 0.842, AVE = 0.573
OE1: I frequently feel highly creative 0.873
OE2: I am imaginative 0.735
OE5: I find novel solutions 0.712
OE6: I am more original than others 0.696
Inspired by (CIB)a ! CR = 0.900, AVE = 0.643
CIB1: My imagination was stimulated 0.786
CIB2: I was intrigued by a new idea 0.829
CIB3: I unexpectedly and spontaneously got new ideas 0.786
CIB4: My horizon was broadened 0.834
CIB5: I discovered something new 0.771
Inspired To (CIT)a ! CR = 0.924, AVE = 0.710
CIT1: I was inspired to use my [brand] device 0.833
CIT2: I felt a desire to use my [brand] device 0.850
CIT3: My interest to use my [brand] device was increased 0.863
CIT4: I was motivated to use my [brand] device 0.895
CIT5: I felt an urge to use my [brand] device 0.767
Word of mouth (WOM)a ! CR = 0.902, AVE = 0.755
WOM1: How likely are you to spread a positive word of mouth about [brand]? 0.765
WOM2: I would recommend [brand] to my friends 0.943
WOM3: If my friends were looking for a new electronic device, I would tell them to try [brand] 0.889
Repurchase Intention (BUY)a ! CR = 0.817, AVE = 0.602
BUY1: It is very likely that I will buy another electronic device from [brand] 0.862
BUY2: I will purchase [brand] the next time I need an electronic device 0.820
BUY3: I will definitely try another electronic device from [brand] 0.624
Brand Affect (BA)a ! CR = 0.897, AVE = 0.743
BA1: I feel good when I use [brand] 0.818
BA2: [Brand] makes me happy 0.913
BA3: [Brand] gives me pleasure 0.853
Customer Satisfaction (CS)a ! CR = 0.893, AVE = 0.736
CS1: How satisfied are you with the quality of [brand]’s electronic devices? 0.860
CS2: I am satisfied with [brand]’s electronic devices 0.868
CS3: In my opinion, [brand]’s electronic devices satisfy me 0.846
Brand Engagement in Self-Concept (BESC)a ! CR = 0.962, AVE = 0.762
BESC1: I have a special bond with [brand] 0.753
BESC2: I consider [brand] to be a part of myself 0.885
BESC3: I often feel a personal connection between [brand] and me 0.898
BESC4: Part of me is defined by [brand] 0.889
(continued)

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Martín Hernani-Merino et al.
Table 1
Latent variable
BESC5: I feel as if I have a close personal connection with [brand]
BESC6: I can identify with [brand] in my life
BESC7: There are links between [brand] and how I view myself
BESC8: [Brand] is an important indication of who I am
Brand Experienceb ! CR = 0.814, AVE = 0.666
Sensorya
Affectivea
Intellectuala
Behaviorala
Notes: l = Loading; CR = Composite reliability; AVE = Average variance extracted; aFirst-order variable; bSecond-order variable;  p-value < 0.000
Source: Author’s own work
a sequence, in which “inspired by” precedes “inspired to.” For
example, during the inspiration process, individuals may be
inspired by print ads for a brand of electronic devices, which
results in they being inspired to buy and use the same brand’s
products. Therefore, a full episode of customer inspiration
requires the presence of both components (by and to), as they
are deeply related to each other and cannot be separated
(Thrash and Elliot, 2004; Thrash et al., 2010a; Cui et al.,
2020). This study verified the existence of a strong relationship
between “inspired by” and “inspired to” for the total sample as
well as for both Apple and Samsung samples independently,
demonstrating that a full episode of inspiration is manifested by
the coexistence of both components (by and to). This finding
opens further possibilities for understanding consumer
behavior – that is, understanding the possible benefits of
consumer interactions with inspiring brands – by focusing on
the antecedents and consequents of the inspiration construct.
Second, this study proposed well-established constructs as
either antecedents or consequences of customer inspiration,
which informed the attempt to capture the temporary
motivational state in its entirety. The relationships between
customer inspiration and its related constructs were validated.
The sensory cues (stimuli) that the brands generate are linked
to the overall brand experience, and this reflects the customer
senses (Krishna et al., 2017). This situation leads not only to
understanding the brand experience, but also to studying the
individual characteristics of their consumers (Böttger et al.,
2017). On one hand, this study proposed brand experience and
openness to experience as antecedents, based on the
observation of Böttger et al. (2017) that the emergence of
inspiration is dependent on the characteristics of both the
source (in this case, brand experience) and the recipient (in this
case, openness to experience) of inspiration. On the other hand,
for the consequences, brand affect and BESC were proposed as
emotional constructs, satisfaction as an attitudinal construct,
with WOM and repurchase intention proposed as behavioral
constructs. The validated relationships in this study are similar
to the antecedents and consequences of the nomological
network that Ki et al. (2022), Thrash and Elliot (2003) and
Wartiovaara et al. (2019) explored empirically. Specifically, the
identified antecedents facilitate the temporary motivational
state of customer inspiration, and the identified consequences
have an enduring impact on customers’ motivation and
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l
0.925
0.869
0.887
0.867
0.783
0.865
0.858
0.753
goal-oriented behavior (Thrash and Elliot, 2003; Böttger et al.,
2017).
In addition, it was shown that the components of inspiration
(by and to) and their related marketing constructs are activated
in a broad episode of inspiration in the case of brands of
electronic devices. Therefore, in line with the suggestion of
Rauschnabel et al. (2019), the present study evaluated the
effects of inspirational relationships by using “brand” as
moderator, comparing the Apple and Samsung samples. The
results presented some differences. In the case of Apple, the
relationship between “inspired to” and “consumer satisfaction”
was higher than in the Samsung sample, suggesting a greater
attitudinal response for the Apple brand. In the case of
Samsung, the relationships between “consumer satisfaction”
and both “repurchase intention” and “word of mouth” are
higher than in the Apple sample. Thus, greater behavioral
responses are identified with Samsung than with Apple.
Specifically, these results highlight brand experience as one of
the differentiating drivers of customer inspiration, stressing the
need to deepen understanding of this construct (Böttger,
2019). In addition, inspiration as a psychological mechanism
underlying consumer responses (Chuah, 2019) must be taken
into account to achieve a strong emotional, attitudinal and
behavioral differentiation to promote new ideas that influence
consumer response to offerings (Böttger et al., 2017).
5.2 Managerial contributions
Understanding and managing the full episode of inspiration
involves generating insights (inspired by) and directing them
toward a customer motivational response (inspired to)
(Oleynick et al., 2014; Böttger et al., 2017). Therefore,
managers should focus on the generation and interpretation of
insights oriented toward specific actions of their customers
such as attitudinal, emotional and behavioral responses (e.g.
purchase and use of products/brands). These actions lay the
foundation for providing consumers with a memorable
experience when interacting with the brand, which implies
positioning the brand and its related attributes, and highlights
the importance of harmonizing the cues (stimuli) of the brand
(Eklund et al., 2022). These insights are important to produce
optimized market offerings and their associated returns (Said
et al., 2015), based on an effective use of organizations’
economic resources in communication campaigns.
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Martín Hernani-Merino et al. Volume 32 · Number 7 · 2023 · 1093–1107

Table 2 HTMT ratios

Variable SEN AFF INT BEH OE CIB CIT WOM BUY BA CS BESC
Without brand experience as second-order factor
SEN 1.000
AFF 0.813 1.000
INT 0.588 0.754 1.000
BEH 0.508 0.679 0.696 1.000
OE 0.363 0.290 0.347 0.236 1.000
CIB 0.605 0.559 0.728 0.604 0.427 1.000
CIT 0.620 0.643 0.663 0.546 0.241 0.787 1.000
WOM 0.507 0.459 0.406 0.330 0.150 0.453 0.504 1.000
BUY 0.459 0.419 0.358 0.260 0.110 0.376 0.430 0.768 1.000
BA 0.687 0.682 0.637 0.499 0.236 0.609 0.768 0.583 0.505 1.000
CS 0.469 0.352 0.382 0.240 0.197 0.387 0.413 0.723 0.598 0.525 1.000
BESC 0.542 0.721 0.650 0.634 0.281 0.593 0.580 0.393 0.374 0.618 0.290 1.000
Without first-order reflective factors of brand experience
BEX N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.369 0.697 0.720 0.515 0.464 0.753 0.445 0.725
Notes: SEN = Sensory; AFF = Affective; INT = Intellectual; BEH = Behavioral; OE = Openness to experience; CIB = Inspired by; CIT = Inspired to; WOM =
Word of mouth; BUY = Repurchase intention; BA = Brand affect; CS = Customer satisfaction; BESC = Brand engagement in self-concept; BEX = Brand
experience; N/A = Not applicable
Source: Author’s own work

Figure 2 Evaluation of structural model

In general, customer inspiration and its related constructs may
aid managers in developing brand positioning strategies for
electronic devices. In the case of the antecedents of customer
inspiration, brand experience was identified as a significant
cause of customer inspiration. Marketing managers should
develop strategies that enhance the sensory and intellectual
dimensions of brand experience by focusing on the physical
(e.g. texture and size) and functional (e.g. model and design)
attributes of electronic devices. Likewise, they should enhance
affective and behavioral dimensions of brand experience by
focusing on the symbolic (e.g. communicating an adequate
brand personality) and experiential (e.g. brand interactions
with augmented reality) attributes of brands of electronic
devices. In addition, the results verified that openness to
experience indirectly influences customer inspiration by
affecting the way in which consumers process brand-related
stimuli. Thus, marketing managers should consider the
openness to experience construct as a segmentation variable.

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Martín Hernani-Merino et al.
For instance, they could target consumers with low openness to
experience by devising inspiring ad campaigns that highlight
traits related to imagination, creativity and innovation, thus
facilitating new ideas that motivate consumers.
In the case of the consequences, customer satisfaction and
WOM were identified as important constructs that affect
repurchase intention. Therefore, marketing managers of
brands of electronic devices should consider implementing
specific communication strategies on their platforms. For
example, in the case of seeking to achieve repurchase, they
could post videos on social media that promote empathy with
consumers, which could encourage the latter to share their
positive experiences with the brand. In addition, to successfully
implement WOM-related strategies, Filieri (2015) noted the
importance of actively managing the information quality of
customers’ reviews. To this end, managers could implement
rating systems that allow customers to identify those reviews
that are helpful to create a ripple effect.
Brand affect was also identified as a consequence of
customer inspiration, which can lead to positive emotional
responses in consumers. Marketing managers should
communicate inspirational messages (e.g. brand personality
in ad campaigns) to evoke positive emotional responses in
consumers that reinforce the brand’s hedonic value, which means
constructing an experiential value proposition based on brand-
related stimuli to enable consumer interaction, and that bring as a
result the generation of memorable experiences, sentiments and
feelings (Eklund et al., 2022). In addition, customer inspiration
has a significant influence on BESC, implying that inspiration
evoked by electronic device brands enhances their self-concept
(Thrash and Elliot, 2003, 2004). Hence, marketing managers
should understand the ways in which consumers’ self-schema is
influenced by how their brand of electronic devices inspires them
in their day-to-day interactions.
To deepen understanding about the development of specific
brand positioning strategies for electronic devices, this study
compared the validated inspiration framework for the Samsung
and Apple brands, finding the following differences. First,
brand experience has a significant relationship with “inspired
by” for both brands. However, in the case of the Apple sample,
this relationship was stronger than in the case of Samsung. This
result indicates that the various stimuli provided by Apple (e.g.
slogan, ads, design) generate responses that lead consumers
more strongly to a state of inspiration than do those of
Samsung. Second, “inspired to” has a significant relationship
with customer satisfaction for both brands, but this path is
stronger for the Apple sample than for the Samsung one. This
result means that the inspiration evoked by Apple tends to lead
consumers more strongly to positive evaluations of their
consumption experience than in the case of Samsung users.
Third, although customer satisfaction has a significant effect on
both WOM and repurchase intention for both brands, these
relationships are stronger for Samsung users than they are for
the Apple sample. These results indicate that in the case of
Samsung, the satisfaction generated by the brand’s electronic
devices prompts certain behavioral responses to a greater extent
than Apple. Therefore, marketing managers should foster
informal communication via their social media and other
platforms about consumers’ satisfaction with the brand they
use, with the aim of boosting the repurchase rates of electronic
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Volume 32 · Number 7 · 2023 · 1093–1107
devices. Managers could further combine the best practices of
both brands studied to further boost positive responses from
their customers in terms of emotions, attitudes and behaviors.
5.3 Limitations and directions for future research
First, specific countries in North and South America made up
the full sample. In this regard, the sample might represent
certain specific cultures and the exclusion of others, so the
results might not be generalizable to other regions. Likewise,
the sample only included undergraduate and graduate
students. Accordingly, the proposed model might be applied to
other countries and to a more diverse population to extend the
external validity of the results. Second, although some
antecedents and consequences of customer inspiration were
identified in the literature, the results also indicate that other
constructs could be studied as part of a nomological network.
For instance, it would be interesting to include other source
characteristics (e.g. brand personality) and individual
characteristics (e.g. creativity), as well as other consequences
(e.g. brand loyalty, brand trust). Third, this study used brands
as sources of inspiration, but is limited to the context of
electronic devices. Future research could investigate brands
active in other product categories to apply the proposed model
to different consumer behavior contexts. Finally, future
research may also focus on the best practices from the brands
studied to determine specific recommendations to improve
brand experience and, in turn, customer inspiration and its
associated positive consequences.
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About the authors
Martin Hernani-Merino is an Associate Professor of the
Department of Marketing and International Business at
Universidad del Pacífico (Peru). He received his BS degree in
Business Administration from Universidad de Piura (Peru), his
MSc degree in Business Administration with major in Marketing
from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and his
PhD degree in Business Administration – Marketing from
Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil). Professor Hernani-Merino
worked in the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status
(Peru). He is a member of the Peruvian Institute of
Competitiveness and the Peruvian Marketing Society. Professor
Hernani-Merino’s lines of research focus on consumer behavior,
global brands, marketing capabilities and international marketing.
His articles have been published in indexed journals such as Cross
Cultural & Strategic Management, European Business Review, Food
Science and Technology as well as in international conferences.
Christian Fernando Libaque-Saenz is Associate
Professor of the Department of Engineering at Universidad
del Pacífico (Peru). He received his BS degree in
Telecommunications Engineering from the National
University of Engineering (Peru), and his MA and PhD
degrees in Information and Telecommunication Technology
from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and
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Technology (KAIST). Before starting his studies at KAIST,
Christian worked for the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and
Communications. Christian’s research interests include
digital divide, privacy, ICT strategy and human–computer
interaction. His publications have appeared in journals such
as Telecommunications Policy, Information & Management,
Behaviour and Information Technology, Telematics and
Informatics, Government Information Quarterly, Service
Business, Industrial Management & Data Systems, as well
as in international conferences. Christian Fernando
Libaque-Saenz is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: cf.libaques@up.edu.pe
Jorge D avalos is Associate Professor at Universidad del
Pacífico in Lima, Peru and Research Fellow of the
Partnership for Economic Policy Network. His research
focuses on applied labour econometrics, international
migration, trade and labor market outcomes and
environmental economics. He was an econometrician at
ILO’s Regional Office for Latin America & the Caribbean.
He collaborated in consultancy projects with the World
Bank, the ILO and other financial institutions. His research
has been published in Energy Policy, The European
Agricultural Economic Review, Oxford Development Studies
among others. Jorge holds a PhD in econometrics from the
University of Geneva.