Twitter Presence and Experience Improve Corporate Social Responsibility Outcomes

Journal of Business Ethics - We investigate the role of social-media-triggered public pressure on corporate social responsibility (CSR) that includes expectations of transparency and accountability...     

The economic burden of tuberous sclerosis complex in UK patients with renal manifestations: a retrospective cohort study in the clinical practice research datalink (CPRD)

Background: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a multi-system genetic disorder in which renal manifestations occur in ～50% of children and 80% of adults. Since these often present alongside other manifestations, renal TSC is likely to incur significant costs. This study aims to quantify healthcare resource use (HCRU) and costs for renal TSC patients in the UK.

Methods: TSC patients in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) linked to Hospital Episodes Statistics were identified from January 1987–June 2013. Clinical data were extracted over the entire history and costs were reported over the most recent 3-year period. HCRU was compared with a matched comparator cohort. Incremental costs were reported and the key cost drivers by primary manifestation category were identified by regression modeling.

Results: A total of 79 renal TSC patients were identified with manifestations including chronic kidney disease stage 3–5 (with prevalence increasing with age) and renal angiomyolipoma. Renal TSC patients consistently reported greater HCRU than the comparator. Inpatient hospitalizations were more frequent for renal TSC patients (3.2 vs 1.6), but length of stay was comparable; however, 70.9% of renal TSC patients recorded no kidney-related procedures ever and averaged <1 test per year in the 3-year period. Average costs for renal TSC patients were nearly 3-fold greater than the comparator (£15,162 vs £5672). Costs increased with additional manifestation categories (£3600: only renal; £27,531: renal with ≥4 additional manifestation categories [25% of patients]). Additional nervous system and dermatology/psychiatric manifestations significantly (p?Conclusions: Renal TSC patients have greater HCRU than the general CPRD population, likely to result from progression of renal disease and additional manifestations; however, surveillance for disease progression appears to be deficient. Inadequate monitoring may contribute to a lack of co-ordinated care and increased healthcare-associated costs. Efforts should be made to follow the TSC guidelines to effectively monitor and treat patients.     

Measurement of Formal Harmonisation in Accounting: An Exploratory Study

Extant research in evaluation of accounting harmonisation has mainly focused on measurement of harmonisation and evaluation of its impact on share market indicators. Within these themes, however, researchers have been studying the impact of formal harmonisation on material harmonisation, and share prices and returns. Given the important role formal harmonisation plays in accounting harmonisation, this study introduces a methodology for the measurement of formal accounting harmony between countries. The methodology introduced in this paper can be used to identify areas of harmony or disharmony for policy-making purposes. It also provides means of gaining valuable insights into the nature of harmony or disharmony between different countries' accounting rules. Finally, it creates new grounds for examining various other aspects of accounting harmonisation.     

A Multi-Attribute Negotiation Support System with Market Signaling for Electronic Markets

Despite the rapid growth of technology and Internet-based markets, many of the current systems limit themselves to price as the single dimension variable and offer, if at all, only minimal negotiation support to the consumer. In the real world, commercial transactions take into account many other parameters both quantitative and qualitative such as product quality, speed, reputation, after sales service, etc. This paper discusses how these multiple attributes can be captured to augment standard negotiation processes in order to support electronic market transactions. Using a combination of utility theory and multicriteria decision-making, we propose heuristic algorithms to discover potential trades. In addition, the approach is included within a larger framework that incorporates market-signaling mechanisms. This not only allows for the systematic evolution of negotiation positions among buyers and sellers but can ultimately lead towards improving both market transparency and efficiency. To illustrate the multiple criteria model coupled with the dynamic market signaling framework, we report in this paper the implementation of a Web-based clearinghouse that serves the real estate market.     

The impact of high-quality firm achievements on shareholder value: Focus on Malcolm Baldrige and J. D. Power and associates awards

Marketing managers face increasing pressure to justify any strategic action with financial metrics that facilitate comparative evaluations with alternative options. Using event study method, the authors focus attention on the impact of high-profile quality achievement awards on the stock prices of the award-winning firms. Two types of awards are investigated: the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) and J. D. Power and Associates Awards (JDPAA). Previous event studies found no major impact of MBNQA announcements on the stock price of MBNQA winners; in contrast, this study’s results show that these awards generate significant shareholder value for MBNQA winners. With respect to the JDPAA, the authors— analyses did notfind any such impact in the Automotive, Travel, and Finance categories. Multiple regression analyses suggest that firms with higher amounts of intangible assets are more likely to create shareholder value. Implications of the results for different decision horizon perspectives are derived. Siva K. Balasubramanian (siva@cba.siu.edu) is the Henry J. Rehn Professor of Marketing in the College of Business Administration at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. His research investigates the impact of marketing strategies on shareholder value, new product diffusion, marketing communications, and methodological issues in measurement. His publications have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, theJournal of Consumer Affairs, Review of Agricultural Economics, theJournal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, AgBioForum, and theBritish Food Journal. Ike Mathur (imathur@cba.siu.edu) is a professor of finance at Southern Illinois University (SIUC). He has served as interim dean for the College of Business and chair of the Department of Finance, all at SIUC. He is the author or coauthor of more than 100 articles and 14 books. He has published in theJournal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Journal of Banking and Finance, theJournal of International Money and Finance, theJournal of Futures Markets, Economic Letters, the Journal of International Business Studies, the Journal of Business Research, theJournal of Business, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Advertising Research, and the Journal of Macromarketing. He serves on the editorial board of a number of journals and is the editor of theJournal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, and theJournal of Multinational Financial Management. Ramendra Thakur (ramendra@siu.edu) is an assistant professor at Utah Valley State College. His research interests are in customer relationship management, e-commerce, high-tech marketing, and marketing models. He has published in theMarketing Management Journal, the International Journal of E-Business Research, and theJournal of Website Promotion. In addition, his scholarly works have been published in several national and international conference proceedings. He is also on the editorial board ofIndustrial Marketing Management.     

The effects of expertise,end goal,and product type on adoption of preference formation strategy

The global preference formation model identifies several preference formation strategies (i.e., own-based, other-based, or hybrid) that consumers use to select among alternative product offerings. This article examines how consumers’ expertise level (novice vs. expert), their end goals (satisficing vs. optimizing), and product type (search vs. experience product) collectively influence the preference formation strategy likely to be adopted. Results from an experiment indicate that the adoption of a given strategy is influenced by interactions between subjects’ expertise level and their end goals and the product type. Novice satisficers employed a higher proportion of own-based strategies than novice optimizers, but expert satisficers used a lower proportion of own-based strategies than expert optimizers. When compared to novices choosing a search product, novices selecting an experience product used a lower proportion of own-based and a higher proportion of other-based strategies. Similarly, when compared to experts choosing a search product, experts selecting an experienced product used a lower proportion of own-based strategies, but this was accompanied by a higher proportion of hybrid strategies. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Her current research interests include consumer choice processes, electronic decision aids, and measurement issues in marketing. His research interests include consumer information search, marketing communications, and measurement issues.     

Health claims and consumers’ behavioral intentions: The case of soy-based food

This research evaluates the impact of two soy-specific health claims (highlighting FDA approval along with scientific results and simply describing scientific results) on stated behavioral intentions toward soy-based food using a survey administered by Ipsos-Observer to a nationally representative web panel in the summer of 2007. Our research design randomly assigned respondents to a health claim. Three ordered probit models (non-soy users; infrequent soy users; regular soy users) show that non-soy users and infrequent soy users who were exposed to either FDA health claim or general health claim are significantly more likely to eat soy-based food products. FDA or general health claim, however, did not change the behavioral intentions of regular soy users. These results suggest that soy consumption status moderates the impacts of health claims on behavioral intentions. However, the impact of FDA health claim did not differ from that of general health claim, indicating that the word ‘FDA’ did not add any additional information to consumers beyond the general health claim.     

Attitudes and related perceptions about product placement: a comparison of Finland,Italy and the United States

The primary goal of our study is to explore cross-national differences in attitudes and perceptions about product placements, after investigating measurement invariance. Our cross-national focus includes three countries that have not been compared previously: Finland, Italy and the USA, which differ significantly in terms of the evolution/maturity of product placement markets, regulatory structures and cultural contexts. Motivated by earlier studies, we investigate the cross-national measurement invariance of scales to measure four research constructs related to the product placement domain (attitude toward credibility of advertising, attitude toward advertising-in-general, attitude toward placement-in-general and attitude toward regulation of placements). Our research also extends earlier work focused on similar constructs from a cross-national perspective. Results from multi-group analyses using a structural equation modeling approach indicate important and statistically significant differences in latent means between the three countries for all four constructs of research interest. Substantive explanations of these differences and their implications for future practice and research are discussed.     

Consumer valuation of health attributes for soy-based food: A choice modeling approach

Given that soy foods possess health-promoting attributes that offer the promise of reducing heart-related chronic diseases, this article employs choice experiments to estimate marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for soy attributes including taste, contents of soy protein, and health claim. Random parameter logit (RPL) models were estimated in consideration of potential heterogeneity across individuals in their preferences for soy food. Standard deviation parameters in the RPL models are highly significant, indicating that individuals have widely varying preferences for soy-based food products. Results suggest that, while taste is the dominating attribute that drives consumers’ WTP for soy food products, consumers do respond to the information provided in the health claim. Yet, consumers do not seem to be recognizing soy protein as the link to health benefits of soy foods.