Reframing replicative research in advertising

Given the espoused importance of replication by researchers, there is still surprisingly little evidence of its practice in advertising research. In this paper, we apply Berthon et al.’s (2002) replicative research framework to advertising. A conceptualisation of the relationship between replication, extension and generation in advertising research is offered. The framework delineates eight possible research strategies. These are discussed in turn and illustrated with examples from the advertising literature. The paper concludes with a discussion of the factors that influence the selection of a research strategy.     

How do cultural values influence entrepreneurial behavior of nations? A behavioral reasoning approach

Despite an abundance of research, still there is a gap in understanding the underlying cultural mechanisms behind entrepreneurial behavior of nations in the literature. This study contributes to the debate through a new perspective of analysis based on behavioral reasoning theory (BRT). Specifically, this research analyses the role cultural values play in formation of the reasoning behind entrepreneurial behavior. The data and variables are taken from the GLOBE project and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for a multiple regression analysis spanning from 2007 to 2017 for 50 countries. The results show that, with the exception of Institutional Collectivism, all of GLOBE’s cultural dimensions affect the reasoning justifications behind entrepreneurial intentions in various countries. Thus, the novel contribution of the present research is the application of BRT in explaining entrepreneurial intentions. This contribution is substantial to the international entrepreneurship field through clarification of the role of cultural values in the reasoning processes behind entrepreneurial activities of nations. Some findings are surprising with regard to the conventional understandings. These findings are fully discussed in the concluding sections.     

The Advertising Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Reputation and Brand Equity: Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry in Taiwan

This study investigates the persuasive advertising and informative advertising effects of CSR initiatives on corporate reputation and brand equity based on the evidence from the life insurance industry in Taiwan. The study finds, first, policyholders?? perceptions concerning the CSR initiatives of life insurance companies have positive effects on customer satisfaction, corporate reputation, and brand equity. Second, the advertising effects of the CSR initiatives on corporate reputation are only informative. Third, the impacts of CSR initiatives on brand equity include informative advertising and persuasive advertising effects. This study contributes the literature by explicit defining the advertising effects of CSR initiatives. Following the first step made by McWilliams et al. (Journal of Management Studies 43(1):1?C18, 2006), the hypotheses of this study crystallize their conceptual framework. The obtained results in this research first identify the informative advertising effects and persuasive advertising effects of CSR initiatives.     

Propensity to Support Sustainability Initiatives: A Cross-National Model

Businesses and the social sciences are increasingly facing calls to further scholarship dedicated to understand sustainability. Furthermore, multinationals are also facing similar calls given their high profile and their role in environmental degradation. However, a literature review shows that there is very limited understanding of sustainability at a cross-national level. Given the above gaps, we contribute to the literature by examining how selected GLOBE [House et al., Culture, leadership and organizations: The GOBE study of 62 societies. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, 2004] cultural dimensions are related to individuals’ propensity to support sustainability initiatives in 33 countries. We use data from the World Values Survey [World Values Study Group, World Values Surveys and European Value Surveys, 1999–2001. Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, Ann Arbor, 2004] and test our hypotheses using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Results support all but one hypothesis. Specifically, uncertainty avoidance is not related to propensity to support sustainability initiatives. In contrast, performance orientation and assertiveness have the desired negative relationship with our dependent variable while collectivism, future orientation, and human orientation have the desired positive relationship. We discuss the conceptual and practical implications of this study.     

The Nature of Emotional Response to Advertising: A Further Examination

Abstract

We are pleased that our typology of emotional response to advertising (Stout and Leckenby 1986) has generated continuing interest. The comment by Page et al. has raised several important issues. To clarify our point of view, which is in many ways consistent with literature which has appeared since the original article, we first present the fundamental assumptions of our typology. We then address the main points raised by Page et al., questioning the validity of some of their arguments.

In addition, we have discovered during reanalysis that some of the results presented in our original article were based on data sets which were not properly merged. We present the results of the reanalysis, taking the opportunity to incorporate some of the suggestions made by Page et al. The findings are now even more strikingly significant than in the original article, and are even more consistent with other research and theory in the emotional response literature.     

Cultural Meaning,Advertising, and National Culture: A Four-Country Study

Cultural meaning transfer theory and GLOBE dimensions were employed in this comparative study to examine the extent to which cultural meaning presented in advertisements reflected national cultures of the target countries. Content analysis was applied to advertisements from four countries to investigate whether the use of advertising appeals presented in these advertisements mirrored variations in cultures as described by GLOBE Society Values. Results revealed that, in line with the hypotheses, there were similarities and differences in the use of appeals, and only some of them mirrored the cultural variations. GLOBE Society Values were more likely to predict the use of appeals than GLOBE Society Practices, but not for all appeals. Advertisers can draw on national cultures for cultural meanings to be used in advertisements only to a limited extent. It may be that advertisements mold rather than mirror societal values, or that only certain cultural traits are important for advertisers.     

Assertive Environmental Advertising and Reactance: Differences Between South Koreans and Americans

In three studies, the authors show that Americans and South Koreans react differently to environmental advertising campaigns featuring assertive messages that threaten autonomous freedoms. The findings uphold their hypothesis that cultural differences determine whether consumers will show reactance to assertive advertising campaigns. Study 1 demonstrates that Americans are less receptive to an assertive recycling message using imperatives such as should, must, and ought and more receptive to a nonassertive message using could, might, and worth. South Koreans do not show the reactance response. Study 2, an energy-saving campaign, conceptually replicates the findings and further shows that perceived threat to freedom mediates the effects. Study 3 uses a realistic setting (i.e., online magazine) to further support the hypothesis that cultural differences affect attitudes toward assertive messages, but adds perceived politeness as an underlying second mediator.     

Knowledge Flows Between Advertising and Other Disciplines: A Social Exchange Perspective

Knowledge flows between advertising and other academic disciplines are examined to identify the structure of scientific knowledge, the extent of social exchange and the scientific status of the field. Bibliometric analysis is used to identify who is citing our research and who we cited. Cocitation patterns for the leading advertising journals (Journal of Advertising [JA], Journal of Advertising Research [JAR], International Journal of Advertising [IJA], Journal of Interactive Advertising [JIA], and Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising [JCIRA]) and the top 50 citing and cited journals with citation relationships from 2005 to 2014 were examined. Findings revealed that advertising is citing advertising scholarship the most, followed by marketing, consumer research, psychology, and communication. This suggests a “maturing field” where scholars look within the discipline's body of knowledge. In turn, advertising research is cited by advertising, marketing, business (general), communication, and psychology. The overall citing-to-cited ratio suggests that advertising is more a “receiver” than “provider” of knowledge to other disciplines; however, there is variation across the advertising journals. The positioning of advertising journals in the larger disciplinary framework shows close relationships to consumer research and interactive communication. The most common focus among the top-cited articles is digital media, with few articles focusing on traditional advertising. The implications of our findings for the field of advertising are discussed.     

How Global Are Boundaryless Careers and How Boundaryless Are Global Careers? Challenges and a Theoretical Perspective

Recent discourse in the career studies literature suggests that careers become more boundaryless and more global. The scope of these phenomena and the possible association between them remains unclear. We add to the discussion by suggesting a set of propositions to further develop the global careers discourse and use examples from contrasting global and cultural contexts. Our contribution offers a two‐dimensional framework, where not all global careers are boundaryless, and not all boundaryless careers are global. It will encourage scholars to critically reflect on national, cultural, structural, and regulatory constraints. It challenges individuals and organizations to delve into how individuals interpret their way out of their contextual systems to engage in global careers and how different contextual aspects influence the desire for and the perception of global careers. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Explaining the use and effects of humour in advertising: an evolutionary perspective

Prior reviews have outlined the state of research of humour in advertising and showed that some findings deserve further explanations. This paper makes the point that evolutionary psychologists’ explanations of the functions of humour can provide new or alternative explanations for these findings and suggest new research avenues. The evolutionary functions of humour have been widely discussed in the literature, but advertising researchers have neglected biological nature and biological evolution as additional or alternative explanations for humour in advertising. The paper contributes to the advertising literature and broadens perspectives for research on humour in advertising by reviewing research on the evolutionary functions of humour, by showing how these functions can explain the use, effects, and moderators of humour in advertising beyond the explanations provided in prior literature, and by suggesting new propositions for future research on humour in advertising.     

Professionals' views of comparative advertising and the scholarly research literature: A review and synthesis

Comparative advertisements that contrast identifiable, competing products or services may be among advertising's most important tactical weapons. Despite nearly a century of use in the USA, growing use by advertisers in many other countries, and decades of scholarly research, some researchers continue to argue that the status of empirical knowledge regarding comparative advertising's effectiveness remains equivocal. This study addresses this equivocality with a review of the research literature and comparisons with the findings of a recent survey of US advertising creative executives. The findings reveal substantial agreement among the beliefs of academic researchers and advertising professionals in regard to when and how comparative advertising will likely be effective. In addition to offering confirming evidence that academic researchers and advertising professionals do sometimes arrive at the same destination in regard to their shared understandings of advertising effects, the findings also point the way toward important directions for future research on comparative advertising.     

International diversity of authorship in advertising research

Although advertising is a global discipline, several of the world's regions remain under-represented in the leading advertising journals, with North American dominance of review boards and authorship in these journals. Introducing this special issue of the International Conference on Research in Advertising (ICORIA), this paper assesses the international diversity of authorship in advertising research by looking at the nationalities of author teams of articles published in the leading advertising journals over the last 10 years. Among advertising journals, international diversity of authorship is clearly greatest in the International Journal of Advertising (IJA), and the even greater international diversity of this ICORIA special issue highlights the Journal's international orientation. The fact that diversity of authorship also relates to article citations and therefore to research performance further emphasizes the need for more international diversity of authorship in advertising research.     

An Analysis of the Effect of Culture and Religion on Perceived Corruption in a Global Context

This study examines the role of both religion and culture [as measured by the cultural clusters of countries in the GLOBE study of House et al. (Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, 2004)] on the levels of perceived corruption. Covering the period from 2000 to 2010, the study uses three different measures of perceived corruption: (1) the World Bank’s Control of Corruption measure, (2) Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, and (3) Heritage Foundation’s Freedom from Corruption Index. A system of three simultaneous equations is used, with the jointly endogenous variables being (a) perceived corruption, (b) perceived government legitimacy, and (c) perceived government effectiveness. The results show that both cultural and religious differences are incrementally related to perceived corruption, even after controlling for other economic and political factors. Specifically, relative to the Protestant Christian religion, the non-Protestant Christian religion, the Islamic religion, and Other Religion/No Religion are positively associated with higher corruption (or negatively with anti-corruption), but the Buddhist and Hindu religions appear to be not significantly different from the Protestant Christian religion. On the cultural side, compared to the Anglo-Saxon cultural tradition, the other European clusters are incrementally positively associated with higher corruption, but this tendency is offset by more effective political governance, thus leading in the case of the German and Nordic cultures to levels of corruption not statistically different from the Anglo cluster. All the non-European cultural clusters are associated with significantly higher corruption tendencies, but the overall effect is mitigated partially by either greater perceived political legitimacy (Latin-American, Middle-Eastern, Caribbean, and Pacific Islander), or greater political effectiveness (Confucian and South-East Asian).     

The Role of Culture in Creative Execution in Celebrity Endorsement: The Cross-Cultural Study

ABSTRACT

In advertising literature, an area rarely explored is cross-cultural studies on celebrity endorsements. A good deal may be learned from understanding how a culture's communication style can shape the type of advertising most effective for that culture. This study examines the creative styles (creative executional factors) found in the advertising of Korea and America. The two countries represent two distinct cultures—Korea being a collectivistic culture and the United States being individualistic. Both cultures affect the norms and rules that guide their inhabitants’ behavior, directly affecting communication styles. The study finds that embedded in the use of celebrity endorsement are cross-cultural characteristics. The details of these findings will be useful to international advertisers executing celebrity endorsement campaigns in different cultural settings.     

Consumer Culture Plots in Television Advertising from Nigeria and South Africa

The goal of this study is to respond to Taylor's recognition of the dearth of cross-national advertising and globalization studies in emerging markets. To fill this theoretical gap in the literature, we employ semiology to evaluate the plots and stories used in promoting global consumer culture in television advertisements from the two major economic powers in sub-Saharan Africa: Nigeria and South Africa. Unlike previous cross-national advertising and globalization studies that suggest that advertising is a reflection of cultural and global consumerism values, our findings suggest that advertisements reflect a romanticized view of middle-ground politics promoted by political establishments both at the national and the international level. We also found that the reflection of middle-ground politics in advertisements may be more prevalent in countries undergoing major ideological change.     

Predictors of export performance in developing economies: a longitudinal analysis of Moroccan SMEs

Purpose: To help increase understanding of the export performance, we investigate the influence of firm size, research and development (R&D), advertising expenditures and network relationships, and develop a conceptual model to increase export intensity. Design/methodology/approach: The research involved a four-year longitudinal study of export performance of 168 exporting SMEs in Morocco (672 observations). The two-stage least square estimation (G2SLS) was used to test the hypotheses. Findings: The findings of the two-stage least square estimation (G2SLS) suggest that export sales and domestic sales are interdependent and influence each other. R&D expenditures and network affiliation have positive and significant impact on export sales, while advertising expenditure has a negative and significant influence on export sales. Research limitations/implications: Readers should use caution in generalizing the findings unless verified in other developing contexts. Practical implications: The findings of this study are useful for managers and export policy makers in developing countries. A proper understanding of the predictors of export performance may help them encourage the growth and diversification of exports that is so vital for developing countries. Originality/value: Export performance is a key element in the field of international marketing. Unfortunately, the literature exhibits a lack of empirical studies in developing countries, particularly in Maghreb regions. The empirical testing of the theoretical model in a developing economy is a significant contribution to fill the needed gap in the literature toward generalizing findings.     

On the Potential for Advertising to Facilitate Trust in the Advertised Brand

The Viewer Response Profile (VRP) scale is often used in commercial advertising research, and frequently used and cited in the academic advertising literature. This paper describes an investigation of the psychometric soundness of the Schlinger scale among a very large sample of respondents (N = 4,800) who each view a single ad from a large set of ads. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provides an alternative parsimonious 20-item version of the scale that is found to exhibit superior psychometric properties. Managerial and research implications are discussed and suggestions for further improvement of the scale are offered.     

Ethical leadership across cultures: a comparative analysis of German and US perspectives

This paper examines beliefs about four aspects of ethical leadership –Character/Integrity, Altruism, Collective Motivation and Encouragement– in Germany and the United States using data from Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) and a supplemental analysis. Within the context of a push toward convergence driven by the demands of globalization and the pull toward divergence underpinned by different cultural values and philosophies in the two countries, we focus on two questions: Do middle managers from the United States and Germany differ in their beliefs about ethical leadership? And, do individuals from these two countries attribute different characteristics to ethical leaders? Results provide evidence that while German and US middle managers, on average, differed in the degree of endorsement for each aspect, they each endorsed Character/Integrity, Collective Motivation and Encouragement as important for effective leadership and had a more neutral view of the importance of Altruism. The findings are reviewed within the social‐cultural context of each country.