Financial Literacy and Self‐Employment

In this paper, we study the relationship between financial literacy and self‐employment. We use established financial literacy questions to measure literacy levels. The analysis shows a highly significant and positive correlation between the index and self‐employment. We address the direction of causality by applying instrumental variable techniques based on information about maternal education. We also exploit information on financial support and family background to account for concerns about the exclusion restriction. The results provide support for a positive effect of financial literacy on the probability of being self‐employed. As financial literacy is acquirable, the findings suggest that entrepreneurial activities might be increased by enhancing financial literacy.     

Contingent Self‐Esteem,Self‐Presentational Concerns,and Compulsive Buying

The present study investigates the influence of contingent self‐esteem (CSE) on compulsive buying tendencies. It is argued that this influence is mediated by the self‐presentational concerns of fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and the importance of social identity (SI). These core propositions are tested using a multimethod approach that includes a survey of 402 US adults and two experiments with 160 and 243 subjects, respectively. Survey results find that CSE's impact on compulsive buying is fully mediated by FNE and SI. The two experiments deepen understanding of this effect. Only under high levels of anxiety do those high in CSE exhibit compulsive buying. High CSE leads to higher FNE and SI regardless of anxiety levels, but only at high anxiety levels do FNE and SI lead to compulsive buying. The study's results increase understanding of the role and process by which CSE impacts compulsive buying in adults of all ages.     

The Long‐Term Impact of Entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Venture Performance

We collected multi‐wave survey data to assess the lagged effects of entrepreneurial self‐efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on firm performance over a five‐year period. The results of our study indicate that ESE and EO are both positively associated with firm performance but in different, and interesting, ways. Entrepreneurially self‐efficacious founder/managers may help improve the performance of very young firms but such benefits dissipate over time. An EO, on the other hand, does not appear to be particularly beneficial to very young firms. However, our results suggest an EO may play an increasingly valuable role as new firms mature.     

Evaluating Advice: Self‐Presentational Biases between High and Low Self‐Monitors

Previous research has demonstrated that high and low self‐monitors sought advice from others who shared their underlying motivational dispositions. Here, three studies extend the prior research by exploring how consumers’ underlying motives direct the type of advice offered and how it is evaluated. In Study 1, high and low self‐monitors were asked to evaluate the advice they gave others. As predicted, high self‐monitors rated their advice more favorably than did low self‐monitors. The underlying motivation that caused high self‐monitors to evaluate their advice more positively was investigated in Study 2. Results indicated that high self‐monitors rated their advice higher because it appeared to be meeting a social‐adjustive function (i.e., self‐presentational needs). In Study 3, high and low self‐monitors created an advertisement that featured their advice on dating for a fictitious online matchmaking service. As expected, advertisements created by high self‐monitors contained advice that addressed social‐adjustive needs while those created by low self‐monitors contained advice that addressed value‐expressive needs. The results of these studies suggest that underlying motivations of the individual play an active role in how advice is crafted and evaluated.     

The Relationship between Entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy and Firm Performance: A Meta‐Analysis of Main and Moderator Effects

Entrepreneurial self‐efficacy (ESE) is an important construct in entrepreneurship research. It captures entrepreneurs’ specific self‐efficacy in accomplishing entrepreneurial tasks. Because various empirical results exist in past studies of the ESE‐firm performance relationship, we employed meta‐analysis to review and synthesize the current literature concerning this relationship and to address moderators that influence it. We meta‐analyzed 27 samples from 26 studies with a total sample size of 5,065 firms and found that the corrected ESE‐firm performance correlation is 0.309. We found that the firm performance measurement is a significant moderator and we suggest scholars to further identify moderators.     

Food Label Use,Self‐Selectivity,and Diet Quality

Food labels provide measurable benefits by improving diet quality of Americans by as much as four to six points on a 100‐point Healthy Eating Index scale. Among nutritional panels, serving sizes, nutrient content claims, list of ingredients, and health claims, the use of health claims on food labels provides the highest level of improvement in diet quality. The data source for this analysis is the 1994 to 1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes for Individuals (CSFII) and the accompanying Diet and Health Knowledge Survey (DHKS).     

Mall Haul Videos: Self‐Presentational Motives and the Role of Self‐Monitoring

Mall haul videos or vlogs are short videos in which young women not only present their fashion and beauty purchases but express their evaluations and opinions as well. The attitudes expressed could help the vlogger reap social rewards from a reference group or demonstrate the consistency between privately held attitudes and publicly expressed ones. In four studies, using the self‐monitoring construct to identify which function an attitude may serve for an individual, the self‐monitoring propensity of mall haul vloggers and the social‐adjustive and value‐expressive functions that posting and watching such vlogs fulfill for the individual was explored. In the first study, those who post and do not post mall haul vlogs were surveyed and results suggested that more high self‐monitors than low self‐monitors posted mall haul vlogs. In Study 2, a content analysis was conducted and revealed that low self‐monitors in comparison to high self‐monitors mentioned more brand names in their mall haul vlog. In Study 3, the valence of the product evaluations conveyed in mall haul vlogs by high and low self‐monitors was analyzed. High self‐monitors generated more positive messages than low self‐monitors. Finally in Study 4, the links between self‐monitoring on individuals’ willingness to watch rather than post mall haul vlogs were examined. High self‐monitors were more likely to watch a mall haul vlog when the retailer mentioned was perceived to possess high status (compared to medium or low status); while low self‐monitors were more likely to watch a mall haul vlog when the retailer mentioned was perceived to possess low status (compared to medium or high status). Across all four studies, results indicated that mall haul vlogs were fulfilling a social‐adjustive function for high self‐monitors whereas they were fulfilling a value‐expressive function for low self‐monitors. Implications for marketing are discussed.     

Self‐regulated learning and training effectiveness

In recent years, training has shifted towards a more learner‐centred perspective. At the same time, rapidly changing workplaces emphasize the importance of self‐regulatory processes in the workplace. In the light of these trends, this research investigates the role of self‐regulated learning in training effectiveness. A theoretical model in which self‐regulated learning plays a central role in training evaluation was developed and validated using the structural equation method with a sample of 137 individuals. The results indicate that self‐regulated learning mediates the relationship between training climate and both transfer motivation and training evaluation. These findings indicate that the concept of self‐regulated learning plays a key role in the relationship between training context variables and organizational outcomes and offer new insights into the way organizations can improve training effectiveness.     

Usefulness,Enjoyment, and Self‐Image Congruence: The Adoption of e‐Book Readers

One challenge when launching new technologies is to overcome consumer resistance to change so as to accelerate market acceptance. This is the case of e‐book readers. The present study investigates individuals’ perceptions of the utilitarian and hedonic values of such devices and their congruence with self‐image as determinants of adoption. Additionally, consumer profile and familiarity with the new technology as a whole influence individuals’ perceptions of this particular technology and its congruence with self‐image. Findings show that perceived enjoyment and self‐image congruence complement perceived usefulness in forging a favorable attitude toward e‐book readers and adoption intention, and that knowledge proves essential in the adoption process. Moreover, people highly involved with reading tend to perceive e‐book readers as useless, which hampers their adoption.     

Cotton Subsidies,the WTO,and the ‘Cotton Problem’

Following an 8‐year‐long dispute over cotton subsidies, Brazil and the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 21 April 2010, effectively paving the way for settling the dispute. This paper argues that cotton subsidies are just the tip of the iceberg while a number of other, perhaps more important, issues require attention and, indeed, political will. Chief among them is the persistent divergence between cotton prices and the prices of other agricultural commodities which reflects, for the most part, the large supply response by China and India, a direct consequence of conversion to biotech cotton varieties in these (and other) countries. Such a response – which kept cotton prices low, compared to other commodities – imposes a competitive disadvantage to nonusers of biotech cotton. The paper also highlights two additional constraints faced by the cotton‐producing countries of West and Central Africa, namely the structural inefficiencies of their primary processing industries (also known as ginning) and the appreciation of the CFAf against the US dollar. Without downplaying the importance of subsidy elimination, this paper concludes that these impediments should receive high priority in the policy agenda.     

Export Premium,Self‐selection and Learning‐by‐Exporting: Evidence from Chinese Matched Firms

This study empirically focuses on examining the hypotheses of export premium (exporters are more productive than non‐exporters), selection‐into‐exporting (more productive firms are ones that tend to become exporters) and learning‐by‐exporting (new export market entrants have higher productivity growth than non‐exporters in the post‐entry period). The propensity score matching method is used to adjust for observable differences of firm characteristics between exporters and non‐exporters, allowing an adequate ‘like‐for‐like’ comparison. We also use the difference‐in‐difference matching estimator to capture the magnitude of different productivity growth between matched new export market entrants and non‐exporters in the post‐entry period up to two years. Drawing on 2,340 Chinese firms in the period 2000–02, we find evidence for export premium and self‐selection, and once the firm has entered the export market there is additional productivity growth from the learning effect, in particular in the second year after entry.     

Health Insurance,Job Lock,and the Supply of Self‐Employment

Unlike most wage earners, self‐employed Americans have limited access to health insurance and face higher costs. Thus, social commentators and policymakers argue that many potential entrepreneurs are “locked” into their current jobs for fear of losing their health coverage even though they could be more productive in self‐employment. Using a large data set for the period 2000–2008, we find the availability of employer‐provided health insurance to be negatively correlated to the likelihood of self‐employment in the long run, but the effect to be mediated by individual and family health status. However, we find employer‐provided health insurance to have no significant effect on the probability of switching in the short run. Finally, we find differences in the magnitude of the effects between our samples of husbands and wives.     

Make it Your Own: How Process Valence and Self‐Construal Affect Evaluation of Self‐Made Products

Self‐production, participation of consumers in the production process of products for their own consumption, leads to consumers’ enhanced evaluations of the self‐made products. Three experimental studies investigate how and why self‐production affects consumers’ product evaluations and reveal that not all production experiences create additional value for all consumers. In particular, Studies 1 and 2, using hypothetical stories and real experiences, show that only positive (vs. negative) production experiences enhance evaluations of self‐made products over products made by others. Positive (but not negative) experiences decrease the psychological distance between the self and the product and strengthen identification with it. Study 3 manipulates self‐construal (independent vs. interdependent) to investigate its role on evaluation of self‐made products and products made with close others as a group (i.e., group‐made). Consumers with independent self‐construal evaluate self‐made (vs. other‐made) products more favorably only if the process is positive. However, consumers with interdependent self‐construal evaluate self‐made products more favorably even if the process is negative. Additionally, consumers with interdependent (vs. independent) self‐construal exhibit more favorable evaluation of group‐made products. Finally, even if consumers know how another person feels while making a product, other people's process emotions do not affect consumers’ product judgments as strongly as their own experienced process emotions.     

The Direct and Indirect Effects of Self‐Efficacy on Salespeople's Emotional Exhaustion and Work‐Family Conflict: A Study Using the Job Demands‐Resources Model

This study integrates Social Cognitive Theory with the Job Demands‐Resources Model to examine self‐efficacy in relation to emotional exhaustion and work‐family conflict (WFC) in a sample of 192 employees. The results obtained through structural equation analysis show: a negative association between self‐efficacy and both work overload and emotional exhaustion; a positive relationship between work overload and both emotional exhaustion and WFC; that work overload mediates the relation between self‐efficacy and both emotional exhaustion and WFC; that role ambiguity moderates the relation of self‐efficacy with work overload; and that tenure in the sales territory moderates the relation of work overload with WFC. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effects of Financial Education on Short‐Term and Long‐Term Financial Behaviors

This study investigates how financial education in high school, college, or in the workplace affects the short‐ and long‐term financial behaviors of adults using the 2015 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) data. Financial education appears to have generally insignificant effects on short‐term behaviors for which there is regular feedback and penalties, and thus greater opportunity for learning by doing. If consumers do not pay off their credit card bill, they get a monthly statement showing interest charges and penalties. Financial education appears to have more positive and stronger effects on long‐term behaviors with less timely feedback, and for which the adverse consequences are not fully realized until later in life, so learning by doing may not work. Not saving enough money for retirement cannot be easily or quickly corrected, if at all. The benefits to financial education may differ based on the time horizon for the financial behaviors.     

To Your Health: Health Insurance,Self‐Employment Exit,and Older Entrepreneurs

Drawing on a sample of 5,238 individuals in the Health and Retirement Study, we examined the relationship between having one's own health insurance and exit from self‐employment to employment. Our results indicate that individuals who have health insurance are less likely to exit self‐employment. When self‐employed individuals have their own health insurance, males, relative to females, are more likely to exit self‐employment. Additionally, when self‐employed individuals have their own health insurance, those who do not have health problems that limit work are more likely to exit. We discuss the implications that these findings have on the literature and policymakers.     

Ad–self‐congruency effects: Self‐enhancing cognitive and affective mechanisms

This article explores how the drive for self‐enhancement influences responses to ads depicting images that are self‐congruent along the dimensions of femininity and individualism/collectivism. Participants' schematics on the portrayed dimension were found to exhibit higher levels of cognitive self‐referencing and positive affect when the ad image was congruent with their ideal self‐schemata than when it was not. Greater self‐referencing and positive affect were found, in turn, to promote more favorable ad attitudes, thereby resulting in more positive brand attitudes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Understanding How Goal‐striving,Goal Orientation,and Shame Influence Self‐perceptions after Exposure to Models in Advertising

Marketers frequently use advertisements featuring thin models to promote the goal of self‐improvement to consumers. However, many of these appeals lead to detrimental effects on the self‐perceptions of the females who view them. This paper integrates components of goal‐striving theory and social comparison theory to explain consumer response to these advertisements and investigates how goal attainability may mitigate the negative effects of these ads. Additionally, this work investigates how a promotion‐focus goal orientation moderates the effects of the goal‐striving process and provides evidence of the mediating effects of shame. Finally, this work addresses a gap in the literature by examining how the interplay of model size and goal attainability impacts male consumers’ self‐perceptions. Study 1 reveals that high levels of perceived goal attainability mitigate the negative effects of exposure to thin models on self‐perceptions for females. Study 2 demonstrates that a high promotion‐focus goal orientation can lead to more favorable self‐perceptions for female participants exposed to a thin model with attainable goals, but it does not isolate participants from feelings of shame, which mediates the effects of goal attainability on self‐perceptions. Study 3 reveals similar findings for male consumers, but notably finds that shame does not play a significant role in understanding the comparison process for male consumers, suggesting key differences in the comparison processes between sexes.     

Brand‐Situation Congruity: The Roles of Self‐Construal and Brand Commitment

The present research examines the moderating roles of self‐construal and brand commitment in brand‐situation congruity effects in persuasion. Self‐construal refers to how individuals perceive themselves in the context of relationships with others (Singelis, 1994). Individuals with independent self‐construal, who emphasize autonomy and assertiveness, value consistency regardless of social contexts, whereas people with interdependent self‐construal value their relationships with others and adapt with flexibility to social situations. Commitment is a psychological state that globally represents the experience of dependence on a relationship and denotes a long‐term orientation, including a feeling of attachment to a relational partner and a desire to maintain a relationship (Rusbult, 1983). In the same vein, brand commitment refers to emotional or psychological attachment to and dependence on a brand (Beatty & Kahle, 1988x). Experiment 1 demonstrated that brand‐situation congruity, for which brand preference increases when the brand personality is congruent (vs. incongruent) with social situational cues, was stronger for interdependent (vs. independent) self‐construal individuals. Experiment 2 provided further support for the moderating role of self‐construal, when primed, in situation congruity effects as well as evidence for another moderator, brand commitment. That is, the moderating effect of self‐construal on brand‐situation congruity was stronger when consumers held weak (vs. strong) commitment to the target brand.