Entrepreneurs' perceived exit performance: Conceptualization and scale development

Recently, research on entrepreneurs who exit their firms has intensified. Scholars agree that the outcome of such entrepreneurial exits needs to be assessed based on the individual entrepreneur's perception and on multiple dimensions. Yet, to date we lack theory and measures that capture this outcome, which we define as entrepreneurs' perceived exit performance (PEP). This study introduces a theoretical framework for the PEP construct and develops a scale to measure it along four dimensions: personal financial benefits, personal reputation, employee benefits, and firm mission persistence. We discuss the wide applicability of the scale and a variety of research opportunities.     

Shopping value orientation: Conceptualization and measurement

Consumers exhibit diversified shopping value in a highly competitive retail environment, which entails investigating multiple dimensions of consumer shopping value orientation that are important in determining an appropriate retail approach. To capture diverse aspects of consumer shopping value orientation, this study developed a comprehensive measurement which would (1) encompass both benefit and cost components, (2) embrace the domain beyond the boundary of product focus, and (3) comprise both utilitarian and hedonic aspects. Employing an extensive literature review, focus group and personal interviews, and surveys, this study developed the nine-dimensional shopping value orientation (SVO) measure. The measure was validated with multiple tests such as convergent validity, discriminant validity, and nomological validity. Its applicability in the retail setting was demonstrated with cluster analysis accompanied by correspondence analysis. Implications for retailers as well as future research directions are provided.     

Internal brand orientation: conceptualisation,scale development and validation

Internal branding is increasingly acknowledged as a potential route to acquiring sustainable competitive advantage. However, to date no systematic attempt has been made to operationalise from an organisational perspective all imperatives for achieving brand internalisation. To address this omission, we introduce internal brand orientation as a new construct that provides a measurable and more succinct picture of internal branding. Following the literature in measurement theory, we report a series of complementary studies and develop a scale which comprises two dimensions: top management brand commitment and shared brand values. The new scale demonstrates strong psychometric evidence of reliability and validity, facilitating future research in the area. Findings can be used as a guidance by business executives in their effort to turn employees into brand ambassadors and motivate everyone in the organisation towards brand supportive behaviours.     

The perceived role of ethics and social responsibility: A scale development

Marketers must first perceive ethics and social responsibility to be important before their behaviors are likely to become more ethical and reflect greater social responsibility. However, little research has been conducted concerning marketers' perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility as components of business decisions. The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid scale for measuring marketers' perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility. The authors develop an instrument for the measurement of the perceived role of ethics and social responsibility (PRESOR). Evidence that the scale is valid is presented through the assessment of scale reliability, as well as content and predictive validity. Finally, future research needs and the value of this construct to marketing are discussed. Anusorn Singhapakdi is Associate Professor of Marketing at Old Dominion University. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing. His has published in the Journal of Macromarketing, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Business and Professional Ethics Journal, the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He has presented papers at various professional conferences including the American Marketing Association and the Academy of Marketing Science. Scott J. Vitell is Associate Professor of Marketing and holder of the Phil B. Hardin Chair of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing. His work has previously appeared in the Journal of Macromarketing, the Journal of Business Ethics, Research in Marketing, the Business and Professional Ethics Journal and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science as well as various other journals and proceedings. Kumar C. Rallapalli is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Troy State University. His research has been published in the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and the Journal of Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management as well as various national and regional proceedings. His research interests include marketing ethics, health care marketing, international marketing and direct marketing. Kenneth L. Kraft is Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Tampa. He received his DBA in Management. He has published numerous articles on Business Ethics, Organization Design and Strategic Planning in Journals such as the Academy of Management Review, America Business Review and the Journal of Business Ethics. His current research interest centers on the measurement of moral intensity.     

Cross-national invariance of the entrepreneurial orientation scale

This study utilizes data from 1279 SMEs spanning seven countries to assess the cross-national invariance of the Covin and Slevin entrepreneurial orientation scale. We first examine the psychometric properties of the scale across the full sample and each of the individual countries, identifying the optimal model for invariance testing. We then conduct a series of tests for invariance, utilizing the American sample as a reference in each. Study results highlight the optimality of a three-factor, six-item scale, and provide additional information regarding the level of measurement equivalence that exists between the U.S. and each of the other countries analyzed.     

Self-service innovativeness scale: introduction,development, and validation of scale

Consumer innovativeness is a central variable in innovation diffusion and adoption literature. The foremost challenge confronted by investigators involved in innovation diffusion and adoption research is the problem of measuring the innovativeness construct. Furthermore, a scale measuring innovativeness towards self-service technologies (SSTs) adoption is required as SSTs have grown considerably in the last few decades. To this end, this study develops and validates a self-service innovativeness (SSI) scale applicable across a variety of SSTs. The study presents a series of six distinct phases describing the development and validation of a six-item, self-report scale. The innovativeness scale has been validated in different contexts, allowing comparisons across distinct samples (i.e., student vs. non-student sample) and different industries (i.e., retail and hospitality industries). The SSI scale presented in this paper is short, valid, reliable, and easy to administer in service domains.     

Counterfeit proneness: Conceptualisation and scale development

Abstract

Counterfeiting is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world across a wide range of product categories, including music, movies, food, computer software, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, and machinery parts. Prior research focuses on deceptive counterfeiting in which the consumers are not aware about buying counterfeit products, with little attention to non-deceptive counterfeiting in which consumers knowingly purchase counterfeit products. Most of this research is fragmented and exploratory in nature, resulting in mixed or inconclusive findings that leave many important questions unanswered. For example, it is still not clear why some customers are more prone to buying counterfeit products compared to others. We address this important gap by conceptualising counterfeit proneness (CFP), an individual-level psychological trait that relates closely with counterfeit purchase behaviour. We also develop a scale to measure this trait and validate it through a series of empirical studies. Finally, we discuss some limitations of our approach and directions for future research.     

Measuring customer orientation of a salesperson: Modifications of the soco scale

This article addresses modifications made to the Michaels and Day (1985) version of the SOCO (selling orientation customer orientation) scale. Two modifications were made on the basis of pilot interviews conducted with industrial buyers. First, the scale items were changed to refer to a particular salesperson rather than salespeople. Second, the 9-point scale was changed to a more conventional 7-point scale. Further, in order to provide all respondents with the same frame of reference, scale instructions were modified to refer to the respondent's most recent buying situation. Scale properties were evaluated using the updated paradigm suggested by Gerbing and Anderson (1988). Unidimensionality of the scale was insured through the use of a confirmatory factor analysis program. The reliability of the scale is higher than that reported by Saxe and Weitz (1982), and Michaels and Day (1985). Convergent and discriminant validity were also assessed. The scale as modified in this article can be used to assess buyers' perceptions of salespeople and could provide sales managers with a means of assessing long-term aspects of a salesperson's performance. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Experiential value: Multi-item scale development and validation

The present study aims to explore the underlying dimensions of experiential value to provide a holistic view. The study proposes a 16-item scale ‘CEXPVALS’ capturing four distinct dimensions which may be termed as cognitive value, hedonic value, social value and ethical value. The scale items demonstrated that experiential value may be apprehended holistically in terms of quality of services, time, effort and convenience (cognitive value); enjoyment, pleasure and escapism (hedonic value); status, esteem and social approval (social value); trust and privacy (ethical value). Predictive modeling indicated that experiential value predict purchase intention. The extant literature revealed that no study so far has captured a holistic view of experiential value. Thus, this could be seen as a unique and significant contribution to the literature.     

Entrepreneurial visions in founding teams: Conceptualization,emergence, and effects on opportunity development

Prior research on entrepreneurial visions has typically taken a leadership perspective and explored how the founders’ future images of their ventures motivate themselves and followers. Drawing on an upper echelon perspective and longitudinal case studies of eight founding teams, this study finds that founders’ entrepreneurial visions do not only capture the future images of their ventures, but also the future images of the founders’ relationship with it. Taking into account this personal aspect of visions, we show that within a founding team, the members’ visions can be incongruent, i.e., they cannot be realized simultaneously within the current venture. While our data reveal that vision incongruence tends to occurs when all team members perceive to have an equal status, vision congruence emerges when the attributed status in the team is heterogeneous. Founding teams with more congruent visions tend to follow a focused opportunity development path, while those with less congruent visions tend to follow a comprehensive opportunity development path. Depending on the teams’ behaviors in the face of challenging situations either path can lead to successful opportunity commercialization or failure. We discuss the implications of these findings for the literatures on entrepreneurial visions, opportunities, and upper echelons.     

Retail brand equity: Conceptualization and measurement

This article focuses on retail brand equity to understand where this retail brand value stems from and how to measure it. A conceptual framework is defined based on Keller's contributions about brand equity. A qualitative methodology and a confirmatory analysis enable the conception of a model. This one is tested through structural equation modeling with Path-PLS. Results show that retail brand awareness and perceived quality explain the most significantly retail brand equity. Retail brand personalities and retailers with particular managerial values have also a significant influence. Hence, the performance of retail brands depends on the same factors as those of other brands.     

Benevolent Leadership: Conceptualization and Construct Development

This research examines benevolent leadership and makes three key contributions to organizational research. The first contribution is a theoretical one; the development of a theory-grounded conceptual model of benevolent leadership based on four streams of creating common good in organizations: morality, spirituality, vitality, and community. The second contribution is the development of an instrument (Benevolent Leadership Scale) to measure the construct of benevolent leadership. This scale is composed of four dimensions: Ethical Sensitivity, Spiritual Depth, Positive Engagement, and Community Responsiveness. The third contribution is of empirical nature: the exploration of potential outcomes of benevolent leadership in organizations, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior.     

Measuring service content: A scale development

This research presents the development of an instrument for measuring the service content (the degree of intangibility, perishability, simultaneity, and heterogeneity) characterizing a firm's output. Service characteristics are acknowledged to be important strategic variables, and the characteristic of intangibility has been studied extensively. The scale presented here is an improvement over previous methods. In contrast to previous methods that have relied on various categorizations, or that have examined only intangibility or service quality, the scale presented here can provide a numerical measure of all four of the most important service characteristics. This can be used in future research efforts to examine the influence of service characteristics on firm internationalization, firm strategies, and performance. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Internet media personality: scale development and advertising implications

This study explores the personality of Internet media and develops a multidimensional measurement scale to assess personality across diverse entities, including social networking sites, search engines, portals, and shopping sites. Through a series of qualitative and quantitative methods, including exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, the present study identifies a set of 30 personality traits that represent five unique dimensions of Internet media personality: Intelligent, Amusing, Convenient, Sociable, and Confusing. This study found that different pairs of brand and Internet media personality dimensions yield different effects on attitude toward advertising brands. Practical implications for marketers and advertisers, as well as theoretical implications for advertising researchers, are discussed.     

Brand love: development and validation of a practical scale

Batra et al. (Journal of Marketing 76, 1–16, 2012) created a new conceptualization of brand love but did not develop a pragmatically useful measure for studies where questionnaire length is a constraint. The current research develops a more parsimonious brand love scale, with three nested versions of 26, 13, and 6 items, respectively. This research also validates the scales, and in so doing conducts several important validity tests not considered by Batra et al. The 26-item scale is able to predict consumer loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance to negative information, with an R ² of .90, after correcting for measurement error.     

Gandhian values and consumption behavior: scale development and validation

Researchers have long been interested in the measurement of human values. Gandhi was a leading figure in the independence of India and also in the fight against racialism in South Africa. His teachings are invaluable and have inspired generations all over the world. Following standard procedure for scale development, we aim to identify the various Gandhian values that can be imbibed by an individual. We validate the applicability of the instrument by assessing its relationship with potentially related constructs like socially responsible consumption behavior and consumer frugality. We also assess its relationship with a negatively valenced construct of materialism. To develop the Gandhian values scale, we used a mix of both qualitative and quantitative methods. We conducted three data collection rounds corresponding with four separate phases of scale development. We ensured the stability of the Gandhian value scale across different contexts by testing and validating it across three different sets of sample. To the best of our knowledge, our scope of research is second only in the line of similar research like the Confucian values. Our primary contribution is the development and testing of a parsimonious Gandhian values scale that captures the value system of individuals.     

Speed of internationalization: Conceptualization,measurement and validation

To better manage and understand the speed at which firms internationalize, managers and scholars need an appropriate conceptualization and a reliable and valid measure of speed of internationalization. The literature, however, adopts a limited temporal perspective and usually conceptualizes and measures it as the time it takes the firm to start to internationalize. This unidimensional view neglects the central aspects of internationalization that create speed. Our purpose is, therefore, to propose a new, theory-driven – embedded in the main concepts of the original Uppsala model – and multidimensional conceptualization and operationalization. The main contribution is that we develop this conceptualization and measure.     

Global convergence of consumer spending: Conceptualization and propositions

The convergence versus divergence debate has persistently presented a puzzle in the scholarly literature. Forces of globalization created a wave of convergence. Yet, the recent worldwide events have changed the course of globalization, slowing its seemingly unavoidable forward direction. It is, therefore, incumbent upon international business scholars to reexamine the convergence versus divergence debate in the contemporary world economy. Despite the central role that global convergence plays in international business decisions, the literature is lacking a conceptualization of the convergence construct in terms of consumer spending behavior. Offering a new perspective derived from the convergence-divergence-crossvergence (CDC) framework and the coevolution theory, the authors define and conceptualize the convergence construct associated with consumer spending behavior. The proposed conceptual framework is comprehensive, offers refinements to the convergence phenomenon, and leads the way for further development of new theories in the international marketing domain.     

The influence of innovation orientation in human resource management on new product development: The moderating role of innovation type

Despite substantial prior research on new product success, there are still high failure rates. Why might this be the case? This paper argues that (1) the most important determinants of new product success involve managerial behavior and therefore a need exists to examine the influence of innovation orientation of human resource management (IO-HRM) on these determinants, and (2) these relationships are moderated by the type of innovation, product versus service. Data from 275 product innovation projects suggest that IO-HRM is a significant predictor of not only new product success but also its prime determinants: the proficiency of development activities, product advantage, marketing synergy, and top management support. Further, the linkage between IO-HRM and new product success and marketing synergy is found to be stronger in service than in product innovation projects.