How to Measure Alignment in Perceptions of Brand Personality Within Online Communities: Interdisciplinary Insights

Considerable research has been done on brand personality as a key factor in brand management, focusing mainly on how it is perceived by consumers, but without much attention to the managerial perspective. However, the latter is crucially important to ensure that the brand personality that consumers perceive actually corresponds to what a company intends to communicate. This study offers an innovative methodology to achieve this dual-perspective objective, integrating notions of marketing and linguistics to investigate brand personality alignment as it emerges from authentic and spontaneous digital environments. Textual data were collected from both company and consumer web communications across a sample of 100 + fashion brands, and then processed with software to extract sets of adjectives as the expression of brand personality. The adjectives were interrelated to calculate ratios that measure (a) the degree of alignment between company-defined vs. consumer-perceived brand personality, (b) similarity in personality between brands and (c) consumer perception of similarity in personality between brands. Varying degrees of alignment were identified, suggesting differences in how effectively the companies communicate their brand personality. The combination of the ratios derived from this research process can be utilized to evaluate the strength of brand differentiation and to redefine brand communication strategies.     

Organizational Ethics: Perceptions of Employees by Gender

As more women enter the work force and assume management positions in corporations, increasing attention is being given to employment diversity. In addition, studies suggest that females have more propensity for ethics than males. However, these results may be debatable and limited data are available to substantiate these claims or assess gender differences among employees. Ethics codes can aid in supporting policies and enhancing corporate diversity. To assist one company in the development of an ethics code, a survey of 4005 employees in one U.S. corporation was conducted to ascertain their opinions of the ethical environment of the company. The survey used the Ethics Environment Questionnaire (EEQ), consisting of twenty items on a 5-point Likert-type scale; reliability on Cronbach's alpha was 0.94. Response rate was 50%, with the sample paralleling the population in proportion of males and females. Respondents reported a profile of 3.18 out of the high of 5.0, but with several significant differences between the male and female employees, including differences on education and position. Males were more in agreement than females that the firm had an ethical environment. On some items, however, males and females were in strong agreement. Comparisons to prior studies were drawn, including suggestions for ways corporations could use an ethics survey to tailor in-service training, enhance diversity in the work force, and support the development of an ethics code.     

Gender Differences in Ethical Perceptions of Salespeople: An Empirical Examination in Turkey

Researchers on gender and ethical decision-making have recently emphasized the differences between men's and women's ethical perceptions. This study is concerned with the perceptions of salespeople working in clothing and medical equipment sectors in Turkey. It regards the perceptions of colleagues of opposing genders in ethically questionable situations. The evaluation of salespeople's responses for 14 ethical scenarios indicates that there is no significant difference in ethical perception based on gender. Each gender predicted that their counterpart's response would be the same as their own. The study also examined the effects of some demographic factors as well as the firm's sector on the salespeople's ethical perceptions and found that there are both differences and similarities in detail between genders of salespeople within ethically questionable situations.     

Country of Production Biases on Consumer Perceptions of Global Brands: Evidence From an Emerging Market

ABSTRACT

Globalization has created significant opportunities of cost reductions for players to take advantage of location specific benefits. Simultaneously, it has presented significant opportunities for countries, such as China, to actively participate in global trade, attract foreign direct investment, and improve the economic wealth of their nations. However, literature cautions marketers about consumers’ biased evaluations of products based on their country of production. Moving production to low-cost countries could potentially harm brand trust, quality evaluations, and purchase intentions due to unfavorable biases for the country of production. The objective of this study is to investigate country of production biases of Turkish consumers for two global brands, Philips and Adidas. Data for the study (N = 1,608) were collected using mall-intercepts from the 17 largest cities of Turkey. Study findings show that brand trust, perceived quality, and purchase intentions declined sharply for both brands when consumers learned that the product was manufactured in China.     

Accounting Student Ethical Perceptions: An Analysis of Training and Gender Effects

This study examined accounting student responses to academic and accounting/business ethical vignettes and examined if gender or formal training in ethics affected their responses. The study also controlled for a student's tendency to respond in a socially desirable manner by including a social desirability response bias instrument as part of the research materials.The results indicate no general differences in responses between the students with and without formal ethical training, or between male and female students. However, comparisons between the academic and accounting/business vignettes revealed that although students perceived the unethical actions discussed in the cases similarly, they indicated they would be more likely to engage in the unethical actions in the accounting/business cases compared to the academic dilemmas.     

Online Shoppers' Perceptions and Use of Comparison-Shopping Sites: An Exploratory Study

Comparison-shopping sites currently offer online shoppers various combinations of free services such as price comparisons, merchant ratings, links to e-tailers’ websites, and/or customer reviews in the search results page(s). The utility and market values of shopping comparison sites have attracted Internet giants such as eBay, Google, and Yahoo to the extent of developing or acquiring such sites. Scholarly research on comparison-shopping sites has focused on (1) trust in online recommendation agents, and (2) methods used by electronic agents to produce the recommendations. Our study explored how online shoppers’ attitudes toward comparison-shopping sites impact perceived credibility and usefulness of these sites. We also examined online shoppers’ merchant selection criteria and their likelihood to continue using comparison-shopping sites. One interesting finding from our study was that merchants need to be strong on site ratings and brand awareness to appeal to a wide online market. The finding dispelled the notion that e-tailers presented by shopping comparison sites need to compete, basically, only on price.     

Gender Differences in Online Customer Satisfaction: The Asymmetric and Nonlinear Effect

ABSTRACT

The article aims to determine the extent of gender-related differences in user satisfaction with websites with a focus on the asymmetric and nonlinear effects of customer satisfaction. An experiment was conducted with 15 men and 15 women who undertook a typical task (scenario) on 44 websites. Overall, 1,320 evaluations of website quality attributes were obtained and analyzed. The results reveal that men and women differ in their website quality assessment. Marketing professionals should consider their target audience's gender when designing a quality website, or even devise ways of approaching both gender groups through distinct means.     

Student Perceptions of Earnings Management: The Effects of National Origin and Gender

Earnings management is the practice of makingdiscretionary accounting choices or timingoperating decisions to move reported earningstoward a desired goal. Prior research revealswide disagreement among both students andbusiness executives regarding the ethicalacceptability of earnings management. Thisstudy investigates whether gender and nationalorigin influence accounting students'perceptions of earnings management. Male andfemale accounting students from the U.S. andfive Asian countries evaluated thirteenvignettes describing earnings managementpractices. Very few differences were detectedbetween the responses of the male and femalestudents or between the students from the U.S.and the Asian countries, indicating that thepractice of earnings management was perceivedsimilarly across all the groups of studentsstudied.     

How Much You See Is How You Respond: The Curvilinear Relationship Between the Frequency of Observed Unethical Behavior and The Whistleblowing Intention

Journal of Business Ethics - This article uses a sample of 3076 employees working in the USA to examine the relationship between the frequency of unethical behavior that employees observe in their...     

Internet Seals of Approval: Effects on Online Privacy Policies and Consumer Perceptions

The use of Internet seal of approval programs has been touted as an alternative to potential legislation concerning consumer-related online privacy practices. Questions have been raised, however, regarding the effectiveness of such programs with respect to maintaining privacy standards and aiding online consumers. The authors examine these issues in a series of three studies, the first of which is an exploratory application of Federal Trade Commission privacy standards to various online privacy policies in an effort to determine the ability of seal of approval program participation to act as a valid cue to a firm's stated privacy practices. The second and third studies are experiments designed to ascertain how online firm participation in Internet seal of approval programs affects consumers. Implications for consumer policy are discussed.     

Consumers' Perceptions of Online and Offline Retailer Deception: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This research examines the effects of consumers' perceptions of retailers' deceptive practices on their evaluations of online and offline retailers. Results from two samples of consumers (shopping in online versus offline channels) show the direct and indirect influence of consumers' perceptions of retailers' deceptive practices on consumers' evaluations, including product satisfaction, retailer satisfaction and word-of-mouth. Perceptions of deception influence retailer satisfaction through product satisfaction, and word-of-mouth through retailer satisfaction. These mediated effects are further moderated by the online vs. offline purchase channel. Implications for theory and management are discussed.     

Board Composition and Financial Performance: Uncovering the Effects of Diversity in an Emerging Economy

We examine the key elements of board diversity (or heterogeneity) amongst listed companies operating in an emerging economy (Mauritius) and the extent to which these influence financial performance. Specifically, we ask whether there is evidence of tangible benefits in pursuing a strategy of board diversity in terms of gender-, age-, educational background and independence in a corporate context which has long been dominated by family-led and ‘closed’ boardrooms. In light of recent corporate governance developments which appear to foster greater diversity, we examine data from the 2007 annual reports of all 42 companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. We find that (i) women remain poorly represented on boards (ii) there is a relatively satisfactory level of heterogeneity in terms of educational background, age and independence in relation to developed countries. We also find significant regression coefficients for all four variables in terms of their impact on short-term performance. However, these relationships are characterised by both negative and positive impacts thereby leading to discussions on the validity of a strict heterogeneous or homogeneous board composition in the context of a developing economy.     

领导信任影响下属任务绩效的双路径模型研究

领导信任对绩效的影响作用得到了普遍的关注,但是其影响机制尚不明确.从特征观与关系观的角度,提出了对领导的认知与情感信任影响员工任务绩效的双路径模型.通过结构方程模型分析287对上下级配对样本数据,结果表明,对领导的认知信任并不直接影响任务绩效,而是通过影响员工的注意聚焦间接影响任务绩效;对领导的情感信任一方面直接影响员工的任务绩效,另一方面通过影响员工的情感承诺间接影响任务绩效.     

Gender-Based Differences in Customer Perceptions of Frontline Employee Performance

Abstract

This study investigates which aspect of a service (core or relational) is more instrumental in inducing higher customer satisfaction and more positive behavioral outcomes among male and female bank customers. A large-scale survey of the customers of a national bank in New Zealand serves as the study setting. Results are presented and their implications to induce greater customer satisfaction and favorable outcomes are discussed. Avenues for future research are offered.     

Web Perception and Young Consumers: An Empirical Investigation of Factors Influencing Perceptions of Online Companies

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to identify and empirically test factors important to building a positive Web perception among young consumers. Factors that affect Web perception are divided into Web design, vendor, and product/service groups. Based on regression analysis we found that Web design and product/service characteristics play the most important roles in developing a positive Web perception among young consumers. More specifically, online vendors must provide a vast selection of products that are of high quality, and their sites must be fast, easy to navigate, contain relevant information, and allow ease of ordering.     

Perceptions of High Integrity Can Persist After Deception: How Implicit Beliefs Moderate Trust Erosion

Scholars have assumed that trust is fragile: difficult to build and easily broken. We demonstrate, however, that in some cases trust is surprisingly robust—even when harmful deception is revealed, some individuals maintain high levels of trust in the deceiver. In this paper, we describe how implicit theories moderate the harmful effects of revealed deception on a key component of trust: perceptions of integrity. In a negotiation context, we show that people who hold incremental theories (beliefs that negotiating abilities are malleable) reduce perceptions of their counterpart’s integrity after they learn that they were deceived, whereas people who hold entity theories (beliefs that negotiators’ characteristics and abilities are fixed) maintain their first impressions after learning that they were deceived. Implicit theories influenced how targets interpreted evidence of deception. Individuals with incremental theories encoded revealed deception as an ethical violation; individuals with entity theories did not. These findings highlight the importance of implicit beliefs in understanding how trust changes over time.     

Further Evidence on the Role of Gender in Financial Performance

Using a sample of 160 sole proprietors and controlling for other determinants of performance, we hypothesize and find support for the view that gender is not a significant direct explanation of financial performance differences among small accounting practices. The control variables we employ are practice characteristics, motivations, and individual owner characteristics. Our results indicate that although financial performance appears to be significantly different for females' and males' sole proprietorships, these performance differences are explained by several variables other than gender directly. At the same time we find that gender moderates the effects of other practice and personal characteristics on financial performance. One of the more interesting results is that women with a stronger motivation to establish a public practice to balance work and family experienced more positive financial outcomes, while for men the same motivation reduced financial performance.     

Linking Order Fulfillment Performance to Referrals in Online Retailing: An Empirical Analysis

Referral management for online retailers is a strategically important activity, as referrals offer a highly cost‐effective method of customer acquisition. In fact, online customers mention referrals as the second‐most common reason for choosing to shop at a particular retailer, second only to search engine suggestions. However, while online retailers are able to improve their visibility on search engines through focused keyword insertions, they are often unable to pinpoint the drivers of referral behavior among their customers. The current research examines the relationship between two key dimensions of online retailing: order fulfillment cycle times and referral behavior. Employing a theory of customer appraisal and empirically testing the ensuing model using structural equation modeling, we find that excellent order fulfillment is instrumental in generating referrals for the online retailer, even after factoring in product quality.     

M(Art)Worlds: Consumer Perceptions of How Luxury Brand Stores Become Art Institutions

Through an ethnographic study of how consumers perceive and experience Louis Vuitton flagship stores, we show that luxury stores are becoming hybrid institutions, embodying elements of both art galleries and museums, within a context of exclusivity emblematic of luxury. We create the term “M(Art)World” to capture the essence of this aesthetically oriented strategy. Participants take note of the company's sleekly elegant architecture, interior design, and adroit use of lighting that are modelled after those of museums housing world-class exhibits. The store's merchandize is artisanal, often produced in collaboration with artists. Objects for sale are displayed alongside actual art, rendering both products equivalent. Employees function as curators, offering guidance and knowledge, as well as goods for sale. We analyze how luxury consumers experience and evaluate the ways in which luxury stores operate as contemporary art institutions, and extrapolate those insights into managerial implications for other retail venues.