Moderating effects of consumer empowerment on the relationship between involvement in eco‐friendly food and eco‐friendly food behaviour

This study investigates the moderating effect of consumer empowerment on the relationship between involvement in and purchase behaviour towards eco‐friendly food. It uses the generalized linear model, with data from the 2017 Research on Food Consumption. The results showed that gender is related only to involvement in eco‐friendly food and this involvement is higher for women than for men. Moreover, involvement in eco‐friendly food, purchase empowerment, engagement empowerment and frequency of buying eco‐friendly food increase as age increases, with the highest increases observed at ages 40–49 and 50–59; the score for those older than these age groups was much lower, resembling an inverted U shape. Groups with high education and income levels presented high scores for involvement in eco‐friendly food, purchase empowerment, engagement empowerment and frequency of buying eco‐friendly food. Regarding the effects of involvement in eco‐friendly food, purchase empowerment and engagement empowerment on the frequency of buying eco‐friendly food, the main effects of involvement in eco‐friendly food and purchase empowerment as well as the interactive effects between involvement in eco‐friendly food and engagement empowerment were statistically significant.     

Women's Perceived Empowerment in Entrepreneurial Efforts: The Role of Bricolage and Psychological Capital

Women's entrepreneurial empowerment—perceived competence, self‐determination, and ability in managing a firm as an entrepreneur—is important to women's entrepreneurship in developing countries. Drawing on a sample of 369 women entrepreneurs from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) located in Gujarat, a western state in India, we find that women's entrepreneurial empowerment is positively associated with firm revenues. Gains from empowerment could be further enhanced for women entrepreneurs managing resource constraints—through bricolage—and meeting the challenges of self‐employment—through psychological capital. The present study contributes to literature on women's entrepreneurial empowerment and SME performance. Women's empowerment and the bolstering effects of bricolage and psychological capital could help government agencies and non‐government organizations devise programs and policies to improve the performance of women‐owned SMEs in developing countries.     

Bridging the intention–behavior gap among organic grocery customers: The crucial role of point‐of‐sale information

Although the interest in organic groceries has increased, actual buying behavior falls short for reasons that are mostly unknown to researchers and practitioners. This paper addresses this so‐called intention–behavior gap by investigating the impact of point‐of‐sale (POS) information on the perception of purchase barriers and behavior. While behavior and interest differ for various product categories, the organic groceries most frequently bought worldwide are differentiated on the basis of product category involvement in a pilot study. A laboratory experiment and a field experiment containing actual purchase behavior and market data revealed the possibility of enhancing organic purchases within low‐ and high‐involvement categories, while exposed to POS information. In low‐involvement product categories, POS information should reveal new product category‐specific organic features. In high‐involvement product categories, the perceived addition of value for money is crucial for purchasing organic groceries. While the effect of POS information on perceived trust and knowledge is higher for health conscious or green consumers in low‐involvement product categories, it is the converse in high‐involvement product categories.     

Gender Characterizations in Entrepreneurship: A Multi‐Level Investigation of Sex‐Role Stereotypes about High‐Growth,Commercial, and Social Entrepreneurs

The purpose of this study is to cast new light on possible gender biases in implicit theories people hold about various forms of entrepreneurial activity. Using social role theory, we delve into sex‐role stereotypes associated with high‐ and low‐growth entrepreneurship and commercial and social entrepreneurship. Predictions were tested with an experimental design using both a between‐subject design to capture group‐level stereotypes and a within‐subject design to capture individual‐level stereotypes. Findings reveal that commercial and high‐growth entrepreneurs are perceived as more similar to men than to women and higher on agency than communality. Conversely, low‐growth entrepreneurs are perceived as more similar to women than men, and higher on communality than agency. Social entrepreneurs are uniquely perceived as similar to both men and women, though they are also considered higher on agency than communality. Interestingly, female, but not male respondents, perceive some overlap between the feminine gender role and high‐growth and commercial entrepreneurship. Notably, those higher on modern sexism perceive less overlap between entrepreneurship and femininity. Taken together, our results suggest that commercial high‐growth entrepreneurship is most strongly male‐typed, which is likely to be problematic for women (and non‐traditional men) wanting to start growth‐oriented ventures. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Pre‐purchase and post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement of female tennis wear consumers

This study examined the relationship among pre‐purchase and post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement of women who participated in tennis. As women's activities in sports, including tennis, are growing, it is necessary to investigate their clothing needs in order to meet consumers’ needs. A final sample consisted of 124 women who attended a Cortec United States Tennis Association Women's Pro Tournament. The questionnaires were personally distributed and collected during the tournament. The theoretical base for this study was the Engel, Blackwell, and Miniard model on consumer decision making. There was a positive significant relationship between pre‐purchase satisfaction and post‐purchase satisfaction (P < 0.01). There was a positive significant relationship between pre‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement (P < 0.001). Also, there was a positive significant relationship between post‐purchase satisfaction and fashion involvement (P < 0.001). Comfort was identified as the most important clothing attribute and fit the second most important for women to achieve satisfaction before and after purchasing tennis apparel. Seventy‐two percent of the women indicated the need for improved fit of tennis wear. Women of all ages reported garment length as a problem for each garment type. Two major reasons for not purchasing tennis clothing were high prices and inappropriate sizes.     

Consumer involvement in research using oral history: ‘What are people's experiences of health and well‐being in Halton?’

The purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative oral history case study that involved consumers in research and followed a collaborative approach in the north‐west of England. This study had two aims: (1) to increase local voluntary groups research capacity through active involvement in research; and (2) to explore the community's historical perceptions of health and well‐being. The research team included four lay researchers from local voluntary groups supported by an academic researcher. Data collection used semi‐structured interviews based on oral history life stories that focused on health and well‐being. Thematic data analysis and mind maps were used to create a collective narrative. This paper will provide a brief synopsis of the findings from the main themes of health and well‐being, and reflect on the process of consumer involvement in research using oral history. Outputs have included dissemination at a local and national level, increased knowledge and confidence in the research process, and involvement in other related initiatives, such as Local Involvement Networks, partnership working with local libraries and collaboration with the regional archivist.     

The Relationship Between Top Management Team–Outside Board Conflict and Outside Board Service Involvement in High‐Tech Start‐Ups

Corporate governance research has extensively studied the relationship between outside board characteristics and outside board involvement. We add to this literature by investigating the extent to which interactions between outside board members and the top management team (TMT) affect the functioning of the outside board. Building on conflict theory, our study shows that conflict between TMT and outside board is an important antecedent for outside board service involvement. Specifically, drawing from a hand‐collected data set of 70 high‐tech start‐ups in Belgium, we find that TMT–outside board task conflict is both directly and indirectly, that is, through TMT–outside board relationship conflict, related to outside board service involvement.     

Female Entrepreneurs,Work–Family Conflict,and Venture Performance: New Insights into the Work–Family Interface*

Existing theory is extended to predict the effectiveness of strategies for structurally reducing work–family conflict by manipulating roles, given the salience of work and family roles and resources available to the female entrepreneur. A conceptual framework based on the constructs of role involvement and role conflict is used to examine whether high‐growth female entrepreneurs choose more appropriate strategies for reducing work–family conflict than their less successful counterparts. Three basic strategies for manipulating roles are discussed: (1) role elimination; (2) role reduction; and (3) role‐sharing. The following propositions are advanced: (1) work–family management strategies are a significant determinant of venture growth; (2) women who develop high‐growth businesses more effectively reduce work–family conflict by choosing strategies better matched with their internal needs and access to external resources than less successful women; and (3) role‐sharing strategies are preferred because they allow women to enjoy the enhancement of both work and family roles while reducing the level of inter‐role conflict. As a result, the high prevalence of team‐building and participative management practices observed in women‐owned businesses may be driven by the need for female entrepreneurs to manage work–family conflicts as well as genetics or socialization.     

Addressing privacy predicaments in the digital marketplace: A power‐relations perspective

The utilization and governance of the internet and adjacent disruptive technologies have created numerous challenges to ensuring consumer online privacy. This study employs the power–responsibility equilibrium theory to explore emerging online privacy issues in the data‐driven marketplace. This exploratory study, based on semi‐structured interviews, explains why online shopping consumers are increasingly worried about their privacy and why they behave in a manner that could be detrimental to the consumer–vendor relationship. The findings suggest that deficiencies of corporate privacy responsibility and regulatory protection have deprived consumers of privacy empowerment. These deficiencies have also accentuated perceived privacy contract violations to trigger privacy concerns and subsequent defensive responses. We identify enhancement of consumer privacy empowerment and assuagement of privacy contract violations as two separate mechanisms of addressing online privacy issues. We also highlight the importance of addressing power and responsibility dynamics for maintaining a healthy information‐exchange environment.     

Modes of goods acquisition in deprived neighbourhoods

The aim of this paper is to show that the extent to which British consumers acquire their goods new through formal retail outlets is not as all-pervasive as some might believe. Analysing how 200 households in relatively deprived areas of Southampton last acquired six goods (furniture, DIY tools, clothes, fridge, cooker and car), it finds that a large proportion of goods were acquired either informally and/or second-hand, especially amongst households excluded from the formal labour market, due to their financial circumstances. Given this reliance on informal and second-hand modes of goods acquisition, it concludes that public policy should seek to develop initiatives for the distribution of such goods, especially electrical goods, in a more regulated environment. Without such developments, the socially excluded will remain dependent on modes of acquisition in which there is little or no regulation of the quality of the products.     

Local integration and co‐evolution of internationalizing Chinese firms

This study investigates the integration of internationalizing Chinese firms into local host markets. We explore the market‐driven investment of a new wave of Chinese private and local state‐owned firms in Australia since 2012, which has replaced the initial large‐scale investment in resources by central state‐owned enterprises. Using an in‐depth analysis of nine Chinese firms operating in various sectors of the Australian market, we argue that market integration, adaptation, and bilateral institution‐building through co‐evolution and empowerment of local subsidiaries of Chinese multinational enterprises results in entrepreneurial autonomy and characterizes a new generation of Chinese investors. We propose that Chinese multinational subsidiaries have transferred domestic practices to the Australian market and have reconfigured domestic and host market resources to gain a competitive advantage in their original investment industry and new industries. Our study advances middle‐range theory building and provides a practical understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese investors, their potential to disrupt local markets, and their responsiveness to market‐oriented institutional guidance. The results of this study suggest that the bilateral institution‐building and resource reconfiguration capabilities of Chinese enterprises can be transferred to other developed and developing markets, including Belt and Road Initiative countries.     

An investigation into the perceptions of Chinese consumers towards the country‐of‐origin of dairy products

The dairy incident in 2008 influenced Chinese residents’ attitudes towards domestic and foreign brands in the market. This paper highlights the strong consumer perceptions existing in the Chinese dairy market towards the country of origin of dairy products. Chinese residents generally believe dairy products from foreign countries are superior than those from China. A new theoretical framework is developed to explore the driving factors of country‐of‐effects and its corresponding impacts. Consumers’ image of different countries and national stereotypes, consumer ethnocentrism and animosity, product familiarity and experience, product involvement and some cultural value differences were found to drive country‐of‐origin effects. These effects directly impact on consumer's perceived quality, brand awareness, brand association and loyalty towards the related goods in the market, then influence the brand equity of products from different countries. This study provides a better understanding of country‐of‐origin effects on consumer behaviour, and will help relevant domestic and foreign firms improve their business strategies in China.     

Something in Adland doesn’t add up: It’s time to make female creatives count

The increased visibility of gender issues in society has inspired a trend among marketing companies: female empowerment. Marketers are working with clients and developing advertising that advocates equality for female consumers. Yet, despite this trend for femvertising, little progress has been made toward gender equality for the women working inside the creative advertising industry. This article looks at the inequality problem and considers whether it stems from women’s thwarted attempts to establish a leadership identity within the strongly-gendered cultures in which they are subject to established practices. Thirty female creatives from the U.S., U.K., and mainland Europe were interviewed and, based on these findings, I present three overarching themes: vision, voice, and visibility. Together, they represent the challenges women experience in developing a leadership identity but also inspire opportunities for agencies to increase the influence of female creatives. If the advertising industry’s claims to represent society are to be taken seriously, it must move beyond empowering female consumers to also empowering its female creatives.     

A Gender‐Aware Study of Self‐Leadership Strategies among High‐Growth Entrepreneurs

We apply a gender‐aware framework to examine the self‐leadership strategies men and women early stage high‐growth entrepreneurs employ as they develop innovations. Utilizing a matched‐pair sample of early stage entrepreneurs operating firms in high‐technology business incubators, our results suggest that female and male entrepreneurs have significantly different self‐goal‐setting and self‐cueing behaviors. Results also suggest male entrepreneurs who use stronger goal‐setting behaviors increase their intellectual property development to a greater extent than female founders. Further, for female entrepreneurs who use greater self‐cueing, the negative relationship realized with intellectual property development is lower than for male entrepreneurs.     

Toward Financial Capability—Empowering the Young

The importance of enhancing financial capability is widely recognized. However, the learning outcomes from educational programs directed at young people are mixed, indicating that we may not yet have discovered the best practices. Previous studies have established that merely providing information is not the most effective way to help consumers. This study examines empowerment thinking through the dimensions of financial empowerment as a top‐down and bottom‐up approach. The article highlights two routes toward empowerment, context change, and cognition change, and their roles and potential in improving financial capability among the young. This study suggests a novel framework for promoting financial capability that is based on the dimensions of empowerment and offers tools for increasing financial capability. The study employs data from focus groups and interviews to illustrate the possible strengths and problems of empowering young people in the Finnish context.     

Comparing Innovation Capability of Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: Examining the Effects of Organizational Culture and Empowerment

This study analyzes the impact of organizational culture and empowerment on innovation capability, and examines the peculiarities of these effects. The study's hypotheses are tested by applying both individual and firm‐level analyses to survey data collected from 743 employees from 93 small and medium‐sized firms located in Turkey. For medium‐sized enterprises on both the individual and firm level of analysis, results suggest that collectivism and uncertainty avoidance are positively associated with empowerment, whereas power distance is negatively related to empowerment. Assertiveness focus has no relations with empowerment and innovation capability, yet among cultural dimensions, only uncertainty avoidance is related to innovation capability. For small‐sized enterprises, findings suggest that both power distance and uncertainty avoidance are linked to both empowerment and innovation capability on the individual level, whereas two new paths between collectivism and innovation capability and between assertiveness focus and empowerment are found on the firm level. Also, empowerment is found to be positively related to innovation capability for both small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) on both the individual and firm level. In terms of managerial practice, our study helps clarify the key role played by cultural dimensions in the process of shaping an empowering and innovative work environment. Findings also reveal that managers should focus on participative managerial practices (e.g., empowerment) to promote innovation capability of SMEs.     

Advertising “like a girl”: Toward a better understanding of “femvertising” and its effects

This paper investigates the impact of femvertising (female empowerment advertising). More specifically, it hypothesizes that femvertising (vs. traditional portrayals of females in advertising) will reduce ad reactance among a female target audience, and that this in turn will enhance ad and brand attitudes. The results of three experimental studies indicate that this is indeed the case, and that the results hold across print and digital media, for five different product categories, and for femvertising focusing on challenging female stereotypes in terms of physical characteristics as well as the roles and occupations used to portray women in advertising. Although previous studies of the effects of female portrayals tend to focus on social comparison and self‐identity, the current paper considers the role of psychological reactance to (more or less) stereotypical portrayals in explaining these effects. The results suggest that marketers have much to gain from adapting a more proactive and mindful approach to the female portrayals they use in their ads.     

Modes of production in home maintenance: accounting for the choice between formality,off the books and self‐provisioning

Households depend on the existence of a home, and therefore, maintenance plays an important social and economic role. Formal outsourcing is often overestimated here and alternative modes, such as informal outsourcing and do‐it‐yourself (DIY), are overlooked. This paper estimates and accounts for the choice of one mode of production in Flemish households. First, the different modes of production are quantified according to two different methods. Further, an explanation of the choice made is constructed. The complexity of maintenance work has an impact as well as the dimensions of social and cultural capital. Factors such as dexterity, occupational acquaintance with maintenance work, social trust and social contacts play a role. Finally, a model of a sequence of decisions is tested. This ramification mechanism shows that the primary choice is formal commissioning or not, inspired by technical complexity. The second choice between off‐the‐books outsourcing and DIY is influenced by the capital resources of the households.     

SCALE‐INDEPENDENT TECHNOLOGICAL‐KNOWLEDGE BIAS,HUMAN‐CAPITAL ACCUMULATION AND GENDER INEQUALITY

We present a dynamic, non‐scale general‐equilibrium model with female and male human capital where Schumpeterian R&D and human‐capital accumulation are the engines of growth and gender wage inequality. Gender wage inequality is encouraged by changes in relative supply and relative demand of both human‐capital types. Relative supply restricts the levels of employed human capital. Relative demand is affected by the technological‐knowledge bias, which is driven by the price channel and is affected by human‐capital accumulation. In particular, the female‐premium per unit of human capital and per worker increases when the observed discrimination against women decreases or is removed.     

Understanding consumption in social virtual worlds: A sensemaking perspective on the consumption of virtual goods

Virtual consumption involves consuming virtual goods in cyberspace. Virtual consumption activities are evolving into an essential activity in social virtual worlds. Despite the growing importance of this activity, little research examines this phenomenon. The current study investigates the fundamental question of how users understand the consumption of virtual goods. Using the theory of social representations and core-periphery analysis, this study elicits and analyzes the social representation of virtual consumption. Study participants are 154 Second Life users. Results identify 32 concepts and relationships representing the collective perceptions of virtual consumption in this social virtual world. Social representation map interpretations point to several key themes that provide a foundation for future investigations of virtual economy consumption behavior.