Bridging the great divide? Making sense of the human rights-CSR relationship in UK multinational companies

Human rights (HR) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are both fields of knowledge and research that have been shaped by, and examine, the role of multi-national enterprises in society. Whilst scholars have highlighted the overlapping nature of CSR and HR, our understanding of this relationship within business practice remains vague and under-researched. To explore the interface between CSR and HR, this paper presents empirical data from a qualitative study involving 22 international businesses based in the UK. Through an analysis based on sensemaking, the paper examines how and where CSR and HR overlap, contrast and shape one another, and the role that companies’ international operations has on this relationship. The findings reveal a complex and multi-layered relationship between the two, and concludes that in contrast to management theory, companies have bridged the ‘great divide’ in varying degrees most notably in their implementation strategies.     

Training in the UK: does national ownership matter?

We investigate whether UK-owned and foreign-owned firms operating in the UK differ with respect to the quality and quantity of training they perform. A simple theoretical model sets up the basis for the empirical analysis, which utilises the 1990 WIRS/EMSPS data set. It is found that, whereas the intensity of training does not seem to vary systematically with ownership, foreign-owned establishments train significantly more of their employees and seem to provide higher quality training than their UK-owned counterparts. It also appears that ‘poaching’ of trained labour, which is fairly similar by ownership, is not regarded as a major problem by employers.     

Building subsidiary local responsiveness: (When) does the directionality of intrafirm knowledge transfers matter?

The present study focuses on effects of subsidiary internal knowledge-based activities—knowledge transfer and reverse knowledge transfer—and absorptive capacity on local responsiveness. We also examine whether absorptive capacity, shared values, and psychological safety, representing constituents of the motivation-opportunity-ability model of behavior, moderate relationships of subsidiary internal knowledge-based activities with responsiveness. Based on a sample of 173 Chinese subsidiaries, the results suggest knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity facilitate local responsiveness. Shared values moderates positively and absorptive capacity negatively, the relationship between knowledge transfer and responsiveness. Psychological safety strengthens the link between reverse knowledge transfer and local responsiveness.     

When does electronic word-of-mouth matter? A study of consumer product reviews

Online consumer product reviews, a form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), have attracted increased attention from researchers. This paper examines the persuasiveness of eWOM. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the authors propose that the consumption goals that consumers associate with the reviewed product moderate the effect of review valence on persuasiveness. Data from lab experiments and actual online retailers suggest that consumers who evaluate products associated with promotion consumption goals perceive positive reviews to be more persuasive than negative ones (i.e., a positivity bias). Conversely, consumers who evaluate products associated with prevention consumption goals perceive negative reviews to be more persuasive than positive ones (i.e., a negativity bias).     

When does FDI matter? The roles of local institutions and ethnic origins of FDI

How foreign direct investment (FDI) affects a host environment is a much discussed yet less understood topic of salience for international business managers, policy makers and researchers. Using panel data from 287 Chinese cities over the period 1999–2005, our study assesses (1) the multiple impacts of FDI in both positive and negative domains, (2) the role of local institutional development in moderating these impacts, and (3) whether the moderating effects of institutions differ depending upon the origins of the incoming investment (ethnic- versus non-ethnic-linked). Our analysis shows that indeed, FDI is a double-edged sword: it enhances the host city's economic growth, labor productivity and innovation but it also causes employment reduction and pollution in host cities. Moreover, the host city's institutional development is found to enhance the positive impacts of FDI and reduce its negative ones. Interestingly, the moderating effect is smaller for ethnic-linked FDI than for non-ethnic-linked FDI. As the first comprehensive attempt to unravel the role of institutional development in moderating the ambiguous impacts of FDI in multiple domains, this study confirms that a host's ability to absorb the benefits of FDI while curtailing its associated costs is both plausible and pivotal. As our world becomes flatter and FDI more entrenched in a host's economic and social development, this study provides important implications.     

Food choices in Ethiopia: does nutritional information matter?

This article reports results from a framed market experiment conducted to examine whether milk choices are responsive to changes in the nutritional characteristics of milk products. Using a random‐effect Tobit model, we analyzed experimental data collected from 160 participants in urban Ethiopia. It shows that sensory properties play a key role in the acceptance of reduced‐fat milk while the provision of nutrition information has a mixed effect on a price premium. Further, a substantial percentage of participants were found to have a strong preference for whole milk while only 19% of them prefer reduced‐fat milk with 2.8% price premium. The study unveils a heterogeneous preference for the nutritional quality of milk products. Consumers’ health problems and socio‐demographic characteristics influence their preference for the nutritional quality of milk products. The result also shows a nutrition‐taste tradeoff, yet consumers place more value on sensory experience. Contrary to earlier studies, we found that prior belief about milk quality influences how consumers value sensory experience and nutrition information.     

Customer experience and commitment in retailing: Does customer age matter?

While the customer experience (CX) concept has rapidly gained traction in recent years, its effect on customer brand commitment and loyalty remains tenuous. Moreover, while customer age has been identified as an influential driver of consumer behavior, little is known about its effect on the customer's brand experience. Addressing these gaps, we develop a model that examines the relationships between CX, commitment, and loyalty, while using customer age as a moderator in the proposed associations. A total of 423 valid responses was collected from branded retail customers. Structural equation modeling results reveal a positive effect of (a) CX on customers' affective/calculative commitment, and (b) customer commitment on brand loyalty. Moreover, multi-group analysis results reveal that while customer ages moderates the association between CX/affective commitment, it does not significantly moderate the relationship between CX/calculative commitment. We conclude with key implications that arise from this research.     

SME internationalization: How does the opportunity-based international entrepreneurial culture matter?

We employ the opportunity-based international entrepreneurial culture (IEC) comprehensive notion that draws upon the opportunity-based view (OBV). The OBV supports the idea that entrepreneurs mold the organizational behavior and characteristics of their firms to pursue opportunities abroad. We set out to explore possible attitudinal differences as regards exploitation of opportunities within firms in each of three internationalization dimensions that are previously identified in the literature, notably time to internationalization, country market presence and international mode. We perform eighteen case studies on high-performing internationalized small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in knowledge intensive sectors. The evidence refines the OBV as it manifests how three IEC characteristics (namely risk attitude, market orientation and networking propensity) matter for firms in the three internationalization dimensions. The study further adds to the international entrepreneurship literature that has until now myopically focused on international new ventures as if they were the sole opportunity-driven group of internationalized SMEs.     

When does the internationalization process begin? Problematizing temporal boundaries in international business

Recently there has been greater interest among international business researchers in studying processes and their temporal dimensions. We examine one such dimension by problematizing when processes are deemed to commence or end. Reperiodizing the start and end points of a process under study affects the theoretical conclusions about the process itself. We develop a methodology for reperiodization and apply it to an empirical study into the internationalization process of a type of new venture: the spinoff firm. Our conclusions specify the theoretical insights gained through reperiodization, demonstrating how this research strategy can be used to study processes in international business.     

When does Ethical Code Enforcement Matter in the Inter-Organizational Context? The Moderating Role of Switching Costs

Drawing on signaling theory, we suggest that a supplier’s enforcement of ethical codes sends signals about the supplier that affect a buyer’s decision to continue their commitment to the supplier. We then draw on side-bet theory to hypothesize how switching costs influence the importance of a supplier’s enforcement of ethical codes in predicting a buyer’s continuance commitment to a supplier. We empirically test our model with data from 158 purchasing managers across three manufacturing industries. Results confirm the connection between ethical code enforcement and continuance commitment, but suggest that a supplier’s enforcement of ethical codes matter less when switching suppliers is perceived as too costly.     

R&D investment of start-up firms: does founders’ human capital matter?

This article examines whether founders’ human capital affects not only actual investment but also required investment in research and development (R&D), using the original data of Japanese start-up firms. The estimation results indicate that higher levels of founders’ human capital, especially their education levels, increase both actual and required investment in R&D and thus do not necessarily contribute to reducing the funding gap for R&D.     

Thinking of exporting?: Export management companies could be the answer

With the interest in globalization, many domestic manufacturing companies are anxious to export their products. Lacking the resources and experience to sell effectively abroad, manufacturers often rely on export management companies (EMCs) to act as their export departments. How successful have these arrangements been? Haigh reports that the performance of EMCs is below the expectations of manufacturers more than half the time, but concludes that EMCs can be a very effective strategy for entering foreign markets if care is taken to select an appropriate company.     

When does an ethical attribute matter for product evaluation? The role of warm-glow feelings for low-rated products

Research on the effects of ethical attributes has recently gained traction. However, limited research has addressed consumer response to ethical attributes in the current context where product ratings have become of primary importance to make decisions. Specifically, this study examines the relative effect of ethical attributes on product evaluations across different product ratings. Building on cue consistency theory and the negativity bias, we suggest that ethical attributes gain weight when consumers evaluate a low-rated product. This process leads consumers to anticipate more warm-glow feelings, generating better evaluations for such low-rated products featuring an ethical attribute (vs. another type of attribute). Two experiments provide consistent empirical support for this prediction, and demonstrate that, compared to other attributes or no attribute, an ethical attribute increases product evaluations to a larger extent when the product received low (vs. higher) ratings. We show that this effect occurs because of warm-glow feelings: when product ratings are low, consumers anticipate more warm-glow feelings from purchasing a product with an ethical attribute (vs. another type of attribute), leading to better product evaluations. These findings have direct managerial and ethical implications for practitioners.     

How does R&D internationalization in multinational firms affect their innovative performance? The moderating role of international collaboration in the energy industry

This paper examines the effects of the degree and geographic diversification of a firm’s R&D internationalization on its innovative performance. We use an unbalanced panel dataset of 401 observations from 110 multinational firms operating in the energy industry over a period of six years to support the argument that both the degree and the geographic diversification of a firm’s R&D internationalization have an inverted U-shaped relationship with a firm’s innovative performance. Our results also show that collaboration among R&D units located in different countries moderates this relationship by reducing both the positive effects and the challenges of the degree of R&D internationalization. This paper extends the emerging innovation focus in the headquarters–subsidiary literature by contributing to our understanding of the implications of the international R&D activities of firms and supports the utilization of social exchange theory in order to identify the moderating influence of the collaboration among a firm’s R&D units located in different countries.     

The service quality–loyalty relationship in retail services: does commitment matter?

The marketing literature has produced two schools of thought on the cause of customer loyalty in services industries. The service quality perspective puts forward that service quality evaluations substantially drive customer loyalty in services industries. The relationship marketing perspective puts forward that customer commitment to the service provider substantially drives customer loyalty in services industries. In addition, commitment is a complex construct with at least two forms, one based in liking and identification (affective commitment) and one based in dependence and switching costs (continuance commitment). These positions were examined in an integrated model of retail–service relationships. It was found that affective commitment and continuance commitment were mainly partial mediators of the service quality–loyalty relationship. It was also found that affective commitment to the retailer had a positive impact on customer loyalty while continuance commitment in marketing relationship had a deleterious effect on customer loyalty.     

Do they matter? The role of non-academics in the internationalization of academic spin-offs

Internationalization and academic entrepreneurship have been receiving a lot of attention not only in academic research but also in policy practice. While academic spin-offs suffer from limited resources and lack of entrepreneurial skills, they often penetrate international market through their innovative products and technology since the very early years of their establishment. In the literature, little attention has been paid to explicitly examine the internationalization process of academic spin-offs as well as the role of non-academics. In order to investigate the impact of non-academics on the performance of spin-offs, we carried out an empirical analysis of 126 Spanish spin-offs which were divided into two market categories, international and domestic market. With regard to the percentage of non-academics in founding team, we found that their impact was more relevant to the performance goals than to innovativeness. On the other hand, the size of non-academic networks contributed significantly not only to the performance goals but also to innovation. However, we did not find a significant relationship between the strength of non-academic networks and the performance goals and innovativeness of the international spin-offs. Overall, we concluded that the role of non-academics was crucial for supporting the internationalization of the spin-offs.     

Assessing the impact of public venture capital programmes in the United Kingdom: Do regional characteristics matter?

This article analyses whether and how the impact of publicly backed venture capital (VC) funds varies across regions, depending on their level of innovation intensity and in comparison with private VC funds. Building on agency and human capital theories, the authors distinguish public VC funds into regional and governmental types, to assess potential differences in the performance of their portfolio companies. The analyses rely on a sample of 628 VC-backed companies in the United Kingdom during 1998–2007, and they confirm that regional characteristics matter for rigorous assessments of the effectiveness of public VC programmes.     

Building a competitive advantage based on transparency: When and why does transparency matter for corporate social responsibility?

Customers today are increasingly demanding transparency from firms. This article discusses the concept of performance transparency and explores when and why transparency plays a key role for a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) effectiveness. In doing so, it addresses consumer skepticism as the logic of the transparency-CSR interaction and presents empirical evidence of the effect. It also discusses key principles for managing performance transparency effectively. Companies should monitor and track performance transparency regularly, initiate consistent transparency practices along with CSR activities, pay attention to the types of information made available, and adapt the transparency practices to the involvement level.     

Impulsive purchasing in grocery shopping: Do the shopping companions matter?

Impulsive purchasing occurs when consumers succumb to urges to make purchases without careful evaluation. Unlike research examining personal factors as the predictors of impulse purchase behavior, our study incorporates internal and external factors by exploring the interpersonal influences of different types of shopping companions. A survey was conducted with 791 participants who indicated the types of companions they accompany when grocery shopping and reported how each type influences their purchase decisions. Results show that parents and spouses are the most common shopping companions and the most influential on the shoppers' impulse purchase decisions compared to other types of companions (e.g., significant others, colleagues, children, friends, and other shoppers). Additionally, the effect of different shopping companions varies based on the shoppers' internal characteristics and the social distance between the shopper and the shopping companion. Finally, while individual factors (e.g., age, gender, income, education, impulsivity, and emotional susceptibility) significantly affect shoppers’ impulse purchase decisions, the magnitude and direction of the effect of these factors differ significantly based on the type of shopping companion.     

Modeling the Effects of Sponsorship-Linked Marketing: When Does Memory Matter?

The current study examined the mediating and moderating roles of sponsorship-linked marketing on the relationships among cognitive, affective, and behavioral sponsor evaluations. A panel of National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) fans (N = 249) participated in an online survey, and the survey included multi-item scales including sponsor-brand recognition, consumer perceptions of property-based articulation, sponsorship-themed advertising, sponsorship-themed promotion, sponsor attitude, and purchase intention. Visit to sponsors' exhibits experience was incorporated as a moderator. This study provides empirical support for the full mediating role of sponsorship-linked marketing efforts in leveraging high levels of sponsor brand recognition into more desirable brand outcomes.