What Have I Done to Deserve This? Effects of Employee Personality and Emotion on Abusive Supervision

Drawing on victim precipitation theory, we propose that certain employees are more likely to perceive abusive supervision because of their personality traits. Specifically, we hypothesize that subordinates’ emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness will be negatively related to perceived abuse from their supervisor and that negative emotions at work will mediate these relationships. We surveyed 222 employees and found that emotional stability and conscientiousness negatively predicted employees’ self-reports of abusive supervision and that this relationship was mediated by negative emotions. Thus, employees lower in emotional stability or conscientiousness are more likely to experience negative emotions, which in turn is related to higher levels of abuse.     

Do gender identities of femininity and masculinity affect the intention to buy ethical products?

This study shows that gender identity affects ethical intentions. We investigate the intention to purchase ethical products through a survey study among young consumers in Italy. Measures of planned behavior, internal ethics, self-identity, and moral harm, together with proxies for individual gender identities of femininity and masculinity are included in our model of intention to purchase ethically. Results show that femininity significantly increases ethical intent, whereas masculinity has an opposite effect. These findings are robust to gender. In fact, the relations of femininity and masculinity on the intention to consume ethical products hold when the subsamples of males and females are considered. This study relates to the ongoing debate regarding the determinants of ethical decision-making and the feminine stereotype by extending the understanding of the attitude-intention gap in ethical consumption among young consumers in Italy. Finally, implications and avenues for further research are discussed.     

Do Variations in the Strength of Corporate Governance Still Matter? A Comparison of the Pre- and Post-Regulation Environment

Corporate scandals brought the issue of corporate governance to the forefront of the agendas of lawmakers and regulators in the early 2000s. As a result, Congress, the New York Stock Exchange, and the NASDAQ enacted standards to improve the quality of corporate governance, thereby enhancing the quantity and quality of disclosures by listed companies. We investigate the relationship between corporate governance strength and the quality of disclosures in pre- and post-regulation time periods. If cross-sectional differences in corporate governance policies affect the quality of financial disclosures, the quality of information available to analysts varies with such policies. Specifically, higher quality disclosures, produced as a result of strong corporate governance, should lead to more accurate and less dispersed analysts’ forecasts. Our analysis suggests that voluntary implementation of stronger corporate governance enhanced the quality of disclosures in the pre-regulation period; however, exceeding current corporate governance standards does not appear to result in higher quality disclosures post-regulation. These results suggest that SOX and the stronger regulations enacted by U.S. exchanges were effective in reducing variation in the quality of financial information available to investors.     

How is Benevolent Leadership Linked to Employee Creativity? The Mediating Role of Leader–Member Exchange and the Moderating Role of Power Distance Orientation

Previous research has shown that virtuous leader behavior in the form of benevolent leadership has considerable impact on employee creativity. However, little is known as to how and under what conditions these constructs are linked. In the current research, we proposed and tested a moderated mediation model positing leader–member exchange (LMX) as a mediator, and employee power-distance orientation as a moderator of this relationship. Two studies were conducted to test our hypothesized model. In Study 1, repeated measured data collected from 284 Chinese employees in an information technology company demonstrated that benevolent leadership had a lagged effect on LMX. In Study 2, analyses of multisource and lagged data from 391 Chinese employees in 42 research and development teams, and their direct supervisors indicated that benevolent leadership was positively related to supervisor-rated employee creativity via LMX. In addition, the relationship between benevolent leadership and LMX was stronger for employees high in power-distance orientation. Theoretical implications of benevolent leadership’s research and practical contributions concerning promoting creativity in organizations where benevolent leaders prevail are also discussed.     

Do board directors affect the export propensity and export performance of Korean firms? A resource dependence perspective

Using the Heckman two-stage method, this study empirically investigates whether board directors’ work experience in government and multinational corporations (MNCs), as well as the proportion of outside directors affects export propensity and export performance based on a sample of Korean firms. We find that the Korean firms with former government officials on the board are more likely to engage in exporting, although there is no empirical evidence supporting export performance. The findings also show that firms with former MNC employees on the board demonstrate higher levels of export propensity and export performance. Similarly, firms with a higher proportion of outside directors exhibit a higher level of export propensity and export performance. These findings highlight the importance of the board of directors in Korean firms’ first stage of internationalization and provide new insights into which type of board members can benefit their firms in terms of export propensity and export performance.     

Do real payments really matter? A re-examination of the compromise effect in hypothetical and binding choice settings

Numerous empirical studies have confirmed the existence of the compromise effect, which stipulates that options positioned between extreme alternatives in a product space are perceived as more attractive, hence becoming more likely to be chosen by consumers. However, literature on the topic frequently addresses the limited realism of prior work due to the artificial designs that were used. In a laboratory-based replication study, we examine the compromise effect across several categories in a more market-like scenario, in which experienced consumers make unforced decisions between real brands. In particular, we investigate whether the compromise effect varies in strength across the choice settings, depending on whether a hypothetical choice setting or a binding setting (in which subjects face buying obligations in terms of real payments for products) has been applied. While our results prove the robustness of the compromise effect for both choice frames, its strength differs significantly. Specifically, the compromise effect is evidently not as strong when real payments are introduced in binding choice settings. In addition, analysis of moderating factors confirms that compromise effects are stronger for categories where subjects are more in agreement about the relative quality of the options.     

When Do Relationships Pay Off for Small Retailers? Exploring Targets and Contexts to Understand the Value of Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing has taken on a significant role in both retail practice and academic study. However, from the introduction of the concept of relationship marketing into the literature scholars have noted that relationship building may not be beneficial to all firms under all conditions. In this study, we investigate this issue attempting to gain a greater understanding of the value of relationship marketing activities across targets (i.e., customers and suppliers) and within contexts (i.e., competitive intensity and three elements of market dynamism) on a retailer's ability to develop the capability of market responsiveness. Our findings, based upon a sample of 172 small retailers, demonstrate that differences do in fact exist in the value delivery to retailers from relationships with different targets and across different contexts in which the retailer operates. As such, the results of this study extend the extant relationship marketing literature, refining our understanding of the value of relationship marketing. Implications for academics and practitioners are discussed.     

Do Cultural and Generational Cohorts Matter to Ideologies and Consumer Ethics? A Comparative Study of Australians,Indonesians, and Indonesian Migrants in Australia

We explore the notion that culture influences people’s values, and their subsequent ideologies and ethical behaviors. We present the idea that culture itself changes with time, and explore the influence of culture and generational markers on consumer ethics by examining differences in these ethical dimensions between Australians, Indonesians, and Indonesian Migrants in Australia, as well as differences between Generation X versus Generations Y and Z. The present study addresses the need to investigate the role that culture plays in consumer ethics, and the interaction between culture and generational attitudes in determining consumer ethics. Results established a distinct multiculturality in our three cultural samples, including a generational cohort differences. This suggests that culture and generational markers influence ethical beliefs, ideologies, and consumer ethics. It further indicates that Indonesian Migrants have acculturated to Australian society both in terms of their values and consumer behaviors, illustrating a crossvergence effect; scores indicate that these Migrants have the highest cultural intelligence among our samples. Implications of the findings for consumer ethics theory and practice are considered and future directions identified.     

Do barriers to export vary for born globals and across stages of internationalization? An empirical inquiry in the emerging market of Turkey

Although the literature on export barriers has been growing, this issue of whether barriers to export exhibit significant differences among firms has not been addressed. In particular, the question of whether these impediments are uniform for born globals – a new breed of exporting firms that initiate exporting soon after inception – is unresolved. Similarly, barriers to export are thought to vary across different stages of internationalization. Therefore, the present work explores this fundamental issue. The empirical study is carried out in the context of an emerging market, Turkey, providing an opportunity for examining the stability of earlier findings (carried out largely in advanced economy settings) for rapidly developing economies. Results suggest that perceived barriers differ mainly for firms in the domestic marketing stage, pre-export stage and for born global firms.     

A race to lower standards? Labor standards and location choice of outward FDI from the BRIC countries

Scholars argue that multinational corporations tend to locate their investment in countries with lower labor standards, but empirical results are highly inconsistent. In this paper, we investigate the effect of differential labor standards on the location choice of outward greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) from Brazil, Russia, India and China (i.e. the BRIC countries). We find robust evidence that while there is a tendency toward the attraction of FDI by lower labor standards in developed countries, such a “race” is absent in FDI directed to developing countries. Location choice is highly path dependent upon previous trading relations between the home and the host country, which hampers the MNCs’ ability to arbitrage. Conversely, capital mobility at the industry level is found to intensify the race to lower standards.     

Cogs in the Wheel or Spanners in the Works? A Phenomenological Approach to the Difficulty and Meaning of Ethical Work for Financial Controllers

Journal of Business Ethics - The aim of this paper is to propose a new perspective on the difficulty and meaning of ethical work for financial controllers. This is achieved by drawing on concepts...     

Do consumers who conduct online research also post online reviews? A model of the relationship between online research and review posting behavior

The purpose of the research is to investigate whether consumers who conduct online product research also more likely to post online product reviews. An information theory-based classification algorithm is used to estimate the likelihood of a consumer posting an online review conditional on having conducted online product research. Data from a nationally representative probability sample of American internet users are used to estimate the model. The results indicate that the characteristics of consumers who have a greater propensity to conduct online product research but a lower tendency to post online product reviews differ substantially from those who are more likely to post online product reviews but less likely to conduct online product research. The research is important because the degree to which consumers who conduct online product research are similar to those who post online product reviews can be used to track the effectiveness of online word-of-mouth marketing campaigns.     

A First Tour of Wulong Pool——Nanjing city, the ancient capital of six dynasties, had kept lots of interesting places and historical relics for us to explore.

Last October, the Nanjing-based aiwan, Hongkong, Macao and verseas Chinese Literature Society went to Wulong Pool. Zhang Chao, vice-chairman of the society, invited me to go to see the place with him. We went eastward out of Longpanli along bustling and seething Guangzhou Avenue. by the side of the high Suolong Bridge, we found a garden gate with flower-     

Do firms with more alliance experience outperform others with less? A three‐level sigmoid model and the moderating effects of diversification

Whether firms with more alliance experience perform better than those with less and whether the alliance strategy interacts with diversification strategy to shape firm performance are two critical but underexplored questions. To address these queries, this study develops a three‐level sigmoid framework built upon a marginal analysis that contrasts alliance benefits and alliance costs, and considers the moderation of diversification that often closely works with the alliance in shaping firm performance. Empirical results obtained from firms in two alliance‐populated industries support first that the alliance experience‐performance relationship is S‐shaped in that the linkage is negative to alliance novices, positive to alliance experts, and negative again to alliance overusers; and second, that the shape of this sigmoid curve varies systematically between high‐ and low‐diversified firms. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Catalytic Effect: Do IMF Agreements Improve Access of Emerging Economies to International Financial Markets?

We investigate whether countries have access to loans with better conditions after an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement. We conduct an empirical analysis which takes into account both the maturity and the interest rate of public and publicly guaranteed private debt. A two‐stage least squares estimation method is used to avoid selection bias problems. Panel data covering 116 countries between 1984 and 2007 and two other subsets of this panel data are used. The results indicate an improvement in access to international financial markets when an IMF programme is announced. The improvement increases as the sample consists of better‐performing countries. We conclude that, the catalytic effect may lower the level of commitment, political will and ‘ownership’ of the programme of the borrower country. On the other hand, borrower countries should consider the catalytic effect in determining the amount of financial assistance from the IMF.     

Does Ethical Leadership Lead to Happy Workers? A Study on the Impact of Ethical Leadership,Subjective Well-Being,and Life Happiness in the Chinese Culture

Business ethics has been emphasized throughout the past decade and organizations are aware of the influence it has on the organization’s performance. As a result, ethical leadership is important as it influences the employees profoundly. This study aims to address this issue and explore the influence ethical leadership has on employees by examining job satisfaction, subjective well-being at work, and life satisfaction. Two groups of independent data were collected and a multi-group analysis was conducted before pooling together for a two-step structural equation modeling test. The results revealed that ethical leadership has a negative direct effect on employee well-being which offers significant findings for the meaning of ethical leadership in the Chinese culture. Useful managerial implications are provided for managers and supervisors at the end of this study.     

Do We Fully Understand the Critical Success Factors of Customer Satisfaction with Industrial Goods? - Extending Festge and Schwaiger’s Model to Account for Unobserved Heterogeneity

This paper extends Festge and Schwaiger’s (2007) model of customer satisfaction with industrial goods by accounting for unobserved heterogeneity. The application of a novel response-based segmentation approach in partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) - the finite mixture partial least squares (FIMIX-PLS) methodology - opens the way for the effective identification of distinctive customer segments. In comparison to previous studies in this field, group-specific path model estimates reveal each customer segment’s particular characteristics as well as other differentiated findings. Hence, this contribution demonstrates that structural equation modeling studies on the aggregate data level can be seriously misleading and makes a strong case for segment-specific customer satisfaction analyses.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Is it ‘who I am’, ‘what I can get away with’, or ‘what you’ve done to me’</Emphasis>? A Multi-theory Examination of Employee Misconduct

Research on detrimental workplace behaviors has increased recently, predominantly focusing on justice issues. Research from the integrity testing literature, which is grounded in trait theory, has not received as much attention in the management literature. Trait theory, agency theory, and psychological contracts theory each have different predictions about employee performance that is harmful to the organization. While on the surface they appear contradictory, this paper describes how each can be integrated to increase our understanding of detrimental workplace behaviors.Deborah L. Kidder is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Towson University, in Towson, MD, USA. Her Ph.D. is in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesta. Her research interests involve issues of trust and equity, perceptions of (un) fairness at work, and the consequences of (un)fair treatment for employees and organizations. She teaches courses in Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior, Leadership, and Negotiation.