Understanding customer conversations in social media support interactions: divergent sentiments in material and experiential brands

Meltem Kiygi-Calli is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey. She graduated from Marmara University in 1999 and gained BSc in Environmental Engineering. She received her MBA Degree from Istanbul Technical University in 2001 and her Ph.D. degree in Marketing from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2011. Her research particularly covers innovative contributions to advertising research, forecasting and operations management, based on the application of hierarchical models to high-frequency data. She has publications in top-ranking international journals such as the Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing and International Journal of Forecasting.

Ezgi Merdin-Uygur (PhD, MBA, BA Hons) is a Lecturer in Digital Marketing within the Marketing Division at Brunel University of London. Her primary research interest focuses on robotic services, virtual experiences and the social influence effects in those settings. Her recent works look at the role of algorithmic and robotic services′ impact on consumers and desired marketing outcomes. She frequently collaborates across disciplines and is the recipient of prestigious funds such as the British Academy/Leverhulme and Marketing Trust and the Best Paper Award at the AMA Winter Conference. She currently serves on the Editorial Review Board of Psychology and Marketing.

Abdullah Onden is an Assistant Professor at Istanbul University, Department of Computer Engineering, specializing in management information systems and next-generation technology solutions. With a PhD in management and over 15 years of experience in software development and business management, he brings extensive expertise to both academia and industry. As the founder of Fabrikod, a tech company known for delivering innovative and customized tech projects, he leads a team of talented developers, designers and marketers. This team has successfully completed over 250 tech projects, ranging from web and mobile applications to e-commerce platforms and social media solutions, all driven by a shared vision of creating value and impact through technology.

Maryam El Oraiby is a PhD candidate and research assistant in Business Administration at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey. After she graduated from the School of Information Sciences in Rabat, Morocco, Maryam received a Master’s degree in Information Technologies from Kadir Has University in 2016. Her research focuses on the intersection between marketing and data science. Her published papers in international peer-reviewed journals include Telecommunications Policy, Electronic Markets and Organic Agriculture.