Why Do Responses to Age‐Based Marketing Stimuli Differ? The Influence of Retirees’ Group Identification and Changing Consumption Patterns

This study analyzes how retired consumers respond to age‐based marketing stimuli using survey data from 236 retirees over the age of 60 years. Specifically, it investigates the factors that influence retirees’ intentions to use senior discounts and intentions to accept exclusive offers for seniors (e.g., educational classes for seniors), as well as their evaluation of age‐related labels (e.g., “60+”). The results show that retirees who identify more strongly with other retirees and who generally change their consumption patterns following retirement are more likely to respond positively to age‐based marketing stimuli. Additionally, the data suggest that cognitive age negatively moderates the role of retirees’ identification with other retirees in terms of their responses to age‐based marketing stimuli. However, the influence of these variables differs significantly across the types of stimuli considered. The findings help to explain ambiguities in previous studies that did not consider differences among mature consumers beyond age and age‐group membership or among the types of stimuli. The implications of these findings with respect to effective marketing to retired consumers are discussed.     

Why so Few Women on Boards of Directors? Empirical Evidence from Danish Companies in 1998–2010

This paper analyzes the determinants of women’s representation on boards of directors based on a panel of all privately owned or listed Danish firms with at least 50 employees observed during the period 1998–2010. We focus on the directors who are not elected by the employees and test three hypotheses on female board representation that we denote the female-led hypothesis, the tokenism hypothesis, and the pipeline hypothesis, respectively. We find evidence rejecting the female-led hypothesis. Firms with a female chairperson on the board of directors tend to have significantly fewer other non-employee-elected female board members. We also find clear evidence of a tokenism behavior in Danish companies. The likelihood of enlarging the share of non-employee-elected female board members is significantly smaller if one, two, or more women have sat on the board of directors. Finally, the pipeline hypothesis is partly confirmed. The relation between the female pipeline of potentially qualified directors and female directors is weaker than the similar relation for males. Our findings offer insights to policy makers interested in promoting gender diversity within boardrooms. Our empirical evidence suggests that an important way to increase the female proportion of non-employee-elected board members is that more women reach top executive positions.     

Drawing on “Producer-Tours”: A Technique for Addressing Consumer Uncertainty Surrounding the Consumption of Fair Trade Food Products?

Despite the global increase in both fair trade sales and awareness, actual market shares of some fair trade products remain disappointing. A number of authors have suggested various reasons for this, including the complexity of the situational context affecting actual purchase behavior (Carrington, Neville, &; Whitwell, 2010 Carrington, J. M., Neville, A. B. and Whitwell, G. J. 2010. Why ethical consumers don't walk their talk: Towards a framework for understanding the gap between the ethical purchase intentions and actual buying behaviour of ethically minded consumers. Journal of Business Ethics, 97: 139–158. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the disconnect between producers and consumers (Dickinson, 2001 Dickinson, M. A. 2001. Utility of no sweat labels for apparel consumers: Profiling label-users and predicting their purchases. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 35(1): 96–119. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and the problems associated with the depersonalization of ethics in mainstream distribution (Bezencon &; Blili, 2011). This article introduces the drawing method into the field of research on fair trade consumption. Using this method, this study explores student perceptions of both fair trade consumers and how fair trade works. In doing so, the drawing method unveiled two potential consumer types; namely, the dreamer and the angel. On this, we argue that our study reveals some of the possibilities inherent in the use of the drawing method to explore uncertainty surrounding fair trade consumption.     

Who Uses Facts Up Front? A Baseline Examination of Who is Using Standardized Front‐of‐Package Nutrition Disclosures

The Facts Up Front front‐of‐package (FOP) nutrition system is currently displayed on packaged foods in the United States. This initiative is being implemented by more than 50 manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers in the United States on their branded and private‐label packaged food products. The in‐store presence of Facts Up Front is supported by a recently launched consumer education campaign. This study employs a sample of 1,400 female primary household shoppers with children, with oversamples of Hispanic and African American ethnic subgroups, to examine initial awareness and evaluations of Facts Up Front. Results show that Hispanics are more aware of and engaged with Facts Up Front than Caucasians. African Americans report higher levels of engagement and understanding of Facts Up Front vs. Caucasians. Importantly, Hispanic and African American mothers also report using this FOP system to make decisions. Based on these findings, important implications are offered for consumer welfare and public policy.     

Do They Have Your Number? Understanding the Moderating Role of Format Effects and Consumer Numeracy for Quantitative Front‐of‐Package Nutrition Claims

Front‐of‐package (FOP) nutrient content claims are often used by food manufacturers to promote the nutrition levels of their products. In this research, two studies examine the influence of the numerical format (either percentages or absolute numbers) presented on FOP‐reduced nutrient content claims and the moderating influence of consumers' numeracy levels (i.e., consumers' ability to interpret numbers). Low numerate consumers are more strongly influenced by the label's numerical format, but results differ across nutrition attributes linked to cardiovascular disease risk. For saturated fat, low numerate consumers had more favorable evaluations of the product that had a label presented in a percent format compared to an absolute unit format. In contrast, the moderating effect of numeracy had little effect on the format of reduced sodium claims. Implications are offered for policymakers, consumer researchers, and food manufacturers .     

Do We Follow the Leader or the Masses? Antecedents of the Willingness to Pay Extra for Eco‐Products

This paper reports on an experiment that tests for the existence of peer effects in consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainable products. More specifically, we investigate whether the premium for an eco‐labeled laundry detergent is sensitive to receiving information about the premium paid by other members of one's social group. The information manipulations in the experiment test for two distinct types of social influence, i.e., conformist and payoff‐biased transmission. We find strong empirical evidence for a conformist transmission. Participants informed about the positive premium paid by the majority of their peers reported a higher premium than individuals not receiving any information. This result shows that previous studies on the WTP for sustainable products, which explain premiums by attitudinal measures and sociodemographic traits, unwarrantedly provide an under‐socialized account. The inclusion of social influence variables significantly increases the explanatory power of the model.     

Who Do Start‐Up Firms Imitate? A Study of New Market Entries in the CLEC Industry

Institutional theory contends firms imitate other firms with ideal traits, whereas the strategic groups literature on imitation suggests firms imitate similar firms. We address this debate by studying 1,067 market entries by founder‐managed start‐ups in the U.S. Competitive Local Exchange Carrier industry from 1996 to 2004. In support of the strategic groups literature, start‐ups imitate entry decisions of and gravitate toward markets that are densely populated by other start‐ups. Though start‐ups avoid markets already densely populated by corporate ventures, they imitate the market entries of corporate ventures. Our discussion of these and other findings provide insights for start‐ups navigating new industries.     

Do All Emerging‐Market Firms Partner with Their Acquisitions in Advanced Economies? A Comparative Study of 25 Emerging Multinationals’ Acquisitions in France

Emerging multinationals’ acquisitions in advanced economies are a growing phenomenon that remains relatively unexplored. Although there is now a consistent body of knowledge concerning multinationals from major emerging countries such as China, empirical data encompassing a larger array of countries of origin are still lacking. This article contributes to a better, contextualized understanding of commonalities and differences among emerging multinationals in terms of how they manage their developed‐region‐based acquisitions. Adopting a comparative international management perspective, we discuss recurrent hypotheses about such multinationals’ management styles (e.g., their partnering or light‐touch integration approach following upmarket acquisitions) with empirical data on acquisitions in France by multinationals from 13 countries. While confirming some hypotheses, we refine the definition of the partnering approach and identify a new, previously overlooked integration mode. We also discuss the antecedents of integration approaches, highlighting the influence of administrative heritage and contextual factors on emerging multinationals’ international management practices. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

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.