Individual responses to firm failure: Appraisals,grief, and the influence of prior failure experience

This paper provides a systematic assessment of how entrepreneurs react to firm failure. We use appraisal theory as an overarching theoretical framework and hypothesize that the more the failure experience is appraised as stressful in terms of its implications for harm or loss, the greater the feelings of grief. To test this hypothesis we developed a unique database of entrepreneurs who recently filed for firm bankruptcy. Our results support that there is great variation in responses to firm failure, and we provide theoretically valid explanations to why this is the case. These findings have substantial implications for how scholars conceive and theorize about entrepreneurial failure.     

Consumption coping strategies and well-being among refugee consumers

This paper aims to provide new insight into refugee consumers' adaptation to stress with a particular emphasis on consumption coping strategies and well-being. Drawing on the appraisal-coping theory, this paper proposes a theoretical framework relating stress to coping responses and refugee well-being. Social support is also introduced in the framework as a moderator. Examining the interplays between these concepts provides a comprehensive view of how changes in consumption patterns occur and how they affect refugee well-being. Insights from this paper suggest that consumption activities could be viewed as responses of adaptation to chronic and acute stress. To adapt to new circumstances and reduce their stress, refugee consumers could engage in adaptive consumption coping or maladaptive consumption coping (i.e., compulsive and impulsive consumption), which in turn affect their psychological and physical, family, and economic well-being. The paper contends that service support moderates the relationships between stress, coping responses, and refugee well-being.     

What online game spectators want from their twitch streamers: Flow and well-being perspectives

Over the last five years, live-streaming platforms, such as Twitch and YouTube, have been dramatically developed and used for individuals' broadcast of digital content, including online video games. Consequently, online game live-streamers have played an important role in the business industry (e.g., advertisements) as well as the online video game industry. By focusing on this context, this study identifies streamer attributes and live-streaming mobile application attributes, and examines how each attribute influences spectators’ flow experience, psychological well-being, commitment, and loyalty toward their favorite streamer. Based on the cognitive appraisal theory and social media influencer literature, the authors classify streamer attributes (i.e., friendship, interaction, and streamer skills) and live-streaming mobile application attributes (i.e., perceived usefulness, technology & functional quality, convenience, and security quality) in the context of Twitch. The data were collected from Twitch users in the United States via two waves. The empirical findings indicated: (1) friendship, technology & functional quality, convenience, and security quality significantly affected flow experience; (2) friendship, streamer skills, convenience, and security quality significantly influenced psychological well-being; (3) flow experience significantly impacted commitment and loyalty; (4) psychological well-being had a significant effect on commitment; and (5) commitment significantly affected loyalty. The empirical findings of this study provide meaningful implications to scholars and practitioners in the social media and online video game contexts.     

Contextualizing experience effects in international business: A study of ownership strategies

Experienced firms act differently than newcomers, yet such differences vary with the context and with the type of experience. This research examines the effects of international experience on multinational enterprises’ (MNEs’) ownership strategy across a range of developed and developing economies. We distinguish competence-building and partner-selection effects of experience, which vary between general international experience and country-specific experience, and across host contexts. This contextualization of the theoretical arguments suggests that the predicted effects hold in some host countries, but not in others. In support of these arguments, our empirical study of subsidiaries of Taiwanese electronics forms finds that general international experience facilitates wholly owned operations in developed economies in Asia and Europe, while country-specific experience facilitates joint ownership in China.     

Trauma's effects on shopper choice confusion: The role of psychological hardiness and retailer strategies as mitigating factors

Retailers must understand how trauma influences the consumer shopping journey and identify ways to mitigate any potential adverse effects. Two studies were conducted to explore trauma in the retail environment. First, a conceptual model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) based on survey data collected from 324 participants. Findings indicate that consumers who report previously experiencing traumatic events feel anxiety while shopping in retail environments, negatively influencing their ability to make purchase decisions. This outcome is due to challenges in adequately assessing stressful environmental stimuli and developing positive coping mechanisms. Consumer propensity for psychological hardiness was found to moderate this relationship. Next, a follow-up qualitative study from 110 consumers who reported experiencing instances of trauma identified potential ways for retailers to help consumers who have experienced trauma feel more comfortable in shopping environments. These findings extend research on trauma and consumer shopping behavior by identifying its impacts on choice confusion and stress appraisal and suggesting how retailers can support shoppers through a trauma-informed approach.     

Materialistic cues make us miserable: A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence for the effects of materialism on individual and societal well-being

Consumer-oriented societies are awash with materialistic messages that link happiness and success to wealth and consumption. However, despite extensive research evidence that dispositional materialistic orientations are correlated with lower well-being, the effects of materialistic cues on the well-being of individuals and social groups have not been examined. The present research meta-analytically reviews the experimental evidence for the causal effects of materialism on two dimensions of well-being: (a) individual and (b) societal. We included 27 independent studies that met the inclusion criteria of priming materialism and measuring well-being (N = 3,649), containing a total of 62 effect sizes. Multilevel modeling revealed that materialism has an effect on both individual (δ = −0.39) and societal well-being (δ = −0.41), suggesting that materialistic cues cause lower well-being. Moderation effects suggested that materialistic cues might have a higher effect on interpersonal well-being than on self-evaluation indicators. We discuss the limitations of the current evidence, highlight the research gaps and underdeveloped areas, and provide recommendations such as minimum sample size for future experimental work, since the advancement of this area will help us to gain a better understanding of the impact of consumer-oriented societies on the well-being of individuals and social groups.     

Effects of coping strategies on sociocultural and psychological adjustment of western expatriate managers in the PRC

Western expatriates currently working on the Chinese mainland participated in a mail survey to examine their coping strategies and adjustment to the Chinese work environment. As expected, the results suggest that managers who use problem-focused coping strategies adjust better than those using symptom-focused strategies do. Implications of these findings for Western expatriates assigned to China are discussed.     

The impact of university brand identification and eWOM behaviour on students’ psychological well-being: a multi-group analysis among active and passive social media users

ABSTRACT

Encouraging students to share positive online reviews should not be regarded only as a marketing tool. This study aims to examine (i) the relationship between positive online reviews behaviour for university and students’ well-being; and (ii) the impact of eWOM behaviour on students’ psychological well-being among active (those who share and read information) and passive (those who only read information) social media users. An online survey was conducted to examine the interplay of university brand identification, positive eWOM behaviour, and university life satisfaction on students’ psychological well-being. Results found that students who share positive reviews about university on social media tend to have better psychological health. This study also revealed that active social media users benefit more in terms of well-being through sharing positive online reviews about their universities. Implications for theory and practice of social media marketing in the higher education context are discussed.     

Religion's influence on the financial well-being of consumers: A conceptual framework and research agenda

Religion is an indelible force in society, yet research examining its influence on consumption, particularly in the context of financial well-being is lacking. Thus, this paper presents a conceptual framework of factors influencing, and outcomes associated with, the effects of religion on financial well-being. Specifically, this paper introduces a conceptual framework aimed at understanding how religion influences financial decisions and well-being, both from a consumer and a business perspective. Focus groups were conducted with consumers and financial practitioners to support the development of the conceptual framework. Most novel to this framework is the identification of potential process mechanisms explaining this relationship, including trust, affect, risk propensity, and perceived personal control. The framework concludes with potential interventions targeted at consumers and businesses to improve financial well-being. This propositions-based conceptual framework serves as a research agenda to guide and aid scholars, consumer advocacy groups, policymakers, and marketers in promoting greater financial well-being.     

The relative importance of old and new decision specific experience in foreign ownership strategies: an exploratory study

In this paper, we examine the relative importance of old and recent decision specific experience for MNC's foreign ownership structure decision. Using established procedures to measure decision specific experience construct, we find, from data for Japanese MNCs for the period 1969–1991, empirical evidence that firms tend to rely on both old and recent decision specific experiences for their current ownership structure decision, but that they rely more on recent decision specific experience than on old decision specific experience, contrary to the conventional organizational learning view on the temporal importance of decision specific experience. Sub-sample analysis involving developed and developing countries indicates that both old and new decision specific experience are important for both groups of countries, but old (new) decision specific experience is marginally more important for investments made in developing (developed) countries.     

Perception value of product-service systems: Neural effects of service experience and customer knowledge

Digital trends in product-service system (PSS) development focus on developing win-win solutions for both companies and customers, particularly when considering human behavior issues. It is useful for the PSS provider to know the PSS value creation mechanism when customers are buying and utilizing a PSS, particularly in the service-dominant logic (SDL) and cognitive neuroscience perspective. This study solved the PSS implementation that satisfied the demands of both customers and manufacturers and the value cocreation mechanism during product and service configuration with the impacts of consumer learning and the service experience. The proposed neuroscience methodology is based on an ERP (event-related potential) experiment using PSS stimuli, representing the perception value creation process during customer decision making and the PSS configuration process. The effectiveness of the service experience is more important than customer knowledge during PSS value perception due to positive emotions with pleasant memories for the service experience and the conflicting cognition process of customer learning. The combination of service science and neurology may measure and observe human behavior and psychology through the brain science method and effectively solve the human factors in service science. The findings suggest a more objective and personalized understanding of PSS value perception, particularly the practical requirements of a resulted-oriented PSS and an application-oriented PSS.     

Clockwise versus counterclockwise turning bias: Moderation effects of foot traffic and cognitive experience on visual attention

The current research aims to examine how turning bias can affect the attention-capturing of bottom-up factors in endcap displays. In three experimental studies using eye-tracking, this paper contributes to the literature by proposing moderators that shape turning bias effects on retail endcap displays. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that consumers' counterclockwise (vs. clockwise) rotation reduces visual attention on endcap displays. Furthermore, Study 3 indicates that longer trips and higher loop diversion increase the number of fixations for clockwise (vs. counterclockwise) turning shoppers. In addition, higher cognitive anchors and shorter shopping lists boost fixation rates when shoppers rotate in a clockwise (vs. counterclockwise) direction. This research has important theoretical and practical implications for understanding shoppers’ visual attention and cognitive experience in retail settings.     

The effects of a “no-haggle” channel on marketing strategies

As sellers increasingly turn to multi-channel retailing, the opportunity to implement different pricing policies has grown. With the advent of the internet, many traditionally bargained products such as automobiles, jewelry, watches, appliances and furniture are now being offered online at a fixed pre-determined price. We explore the strategy of simultaneously offering two pricing formats (fixed and bargained) via two different channels (online and brick and mortar) and find that in a market where there are two types of consumers—those with a high cost of haggling and others with a lower cost—a dual-pricing strategy is optimal only when there are enough high haggling-cost consumers, but not too many, and when the haggling costs between the two types of consumers are sufficiently different. We also find that it is optimal for the seller to specify a higher-than-cost minimum acceptable price as the price floor of bargaining. By doing so, the seller increases the bargained price by complementing the salesperson's bargaining ability, and also softens the internal competition between the two channels. Finally, we find that, surprisingly, the dual-pricing strategy may serve fewer customers while still being more profitable than a single price structure. The implications for consumer surplus are also explored.     

Interaction effects of formal and social controls on business-to-business performance

Marketing and Strategy studies have treated relational governance as a critical factor of business-to-business (B2B) performance. Extant studies offer contrasting views on whether formal or social control is a better control mechanism, with little known about their interaction effect. In this study, the authors aim to investigate the interaction effect of these two control mechanisms by dividing a B2B contract (formal control) into two provisions (transactional and relational) and to examine the specific interaction effect of social control on each provision. The authors also seek to investigate the moderating effects of environmental dynamism, prior ties, and buyer lock-in. The measure of B2B performance reflects relational quality and financial outcome. The results show significantly different interactions between each provision of the contract and social control depending on the level of environmental dynamism and buyer lock-in, and suggest that the environmental condition of the transactions is reflective of managers' optimal control mechanisms.     

The relationships of financial literacy with both financial behavior and financial well-being: Meta-analyses based on the selective literature review

This study conducted meta-analyses of the relationships between financial literacy and both financial behavior and financial well-being. Peer-reviewed articles published on financial literacy in the field of consumer studies were collected by July 29, 2020. Fourteen articles were eligible for the meta-analyses. The results showed positive relationships of financial knowledge with desirable financial behavior and financial well-being. Our comparison of objective and subjective financial knowledge indicated that subjective knowledge had stronger relationships with both financial behavior and financial well-being than objective knowledge. These two types of knowledge also had different paths to financial well-being in that subjective knowledge had both direct and indirect effects on financial well-being through financial behavior, whereas objective knowledge only had an indirect effect. The relationship between financial knowledge and financial behavior appeared stronger in cross-sectional data than in longitudinal data. The implications of these results and possible directions for future consumer science research were discussed.     

The Yin and Yang of entrepreneurship: Gender differences in the importance of communal and agentic characteristics for entrepreneurs' subjective well-being and performance

This research examines gender differences in the relationships of entrepreneurs' agentic and communal personality characteristics with measures of subjective well-being and new venture performance. Results from a stratified national (USA) random sample of founding CEOs (N = 303) demonstrate the advantages of an agentic characteristic (creativity) for women and a communal characteristic (teamwork) for men, with regard to the respective abilities of such persons to achieve high levels of subjective well-being and new venture performance. These relative advantages for women and men were mediated by perceptions of person-work fit.     

The social significance of AI in retail on customer experience and shopping practices

This paper draws on practice-informed, ethnographic research to develop an understanding of the novel social consequences and opportunities afforded from consumers' interactions with AI digital humans as part of the in-store shopping experience. We reveal and interrogate consumers’ experiences with AI digital humans in an exploratory study undertaken during the launch phase of an in-store kiosk digital store greeter in a flagship store of a large national technology and appliance chain. Our findings contribute to understanding the social significance of AI in retail on customer experience (CX) and the managerial implications of consumers interactions with AI digital humans are described and discussed.     

Influence of customer application experience and value in use on loyalty toward retailers

This study aims to explain the mechanism by which user experience with retailer applications could lead to loyalty toward retailers. The data were collected through a survey in Indonesia (n = 717). The results support the positive impact of customer experience (i.e., sensorial experiential state, affective experiential state, interactivity, and relative advantage) on value in use. Value in use mediates the effects of customer experience on satisfaction and loyalty toward retailer application. In turn, these two constructs increase loyalty toward the retailer. These findings contribute to the theoretical and practical understanding of the impact of retailer applications on the customer-retailer relationship.     

The perception of self‐efficacy in coping with economic risks among young adults: an application of psychological theory and research

The present study was prompted by the paucity of research about the perception among young people of their ability to cope with economic risks of contemporary society. The variables used in this exploration were attitudes to money. The variable of emotion management was included on the rationale that stress and negative emotions tend to arise from demands to manage economic aspects of life. The links between a sense of economic self‐efficacy and these variables were examined using a questionnaire filled out by 120 respondents. The findings revealed considerable correspondence between economic self‐efficacy and the notion of adhering to meticulous saving plans as well as firmer self‐control of emotions. Profiles that successfully discriminated between low and high sense of economic self‐efficacy were identified. The results further our understanding of the interplay between psychological factors and the self‐perception of efficacy in dealing with economic change.     

The shape of premiumness: Logo Shape's effects on perceived brand premiumness and brand preference

Logos are the brands’ visual identity, which can influence brand positioning and contribute to brand success. However, little is known about the effect of logo shape on brand premiumness perception. Thus, we conducted four studies, including one archival dataset analysis, to examine this issue. Results revealed that consumers perceive angular-logo brands as more premium than circular-logo brands. Such logo shape effect is driven by perceived psychological distance between the brand and consumers. We further identified the downstream consequences of perceived brand premiumness. To express status, consumers are more likely to choose angular-logo brands, which are perceived as more premium. However, consumers unmotivated by status-expressing goals will be unaffected by such perceptions. These findings have theoretical implications regarding brand logo and positioning, and practical implications for logo design.