Tipped out: How do gratuities affect restaurant operations?

Tipping is a well-established social norm in North American restaurants. Researchers have given considerable attention to the interaction between consumers and servers, but less so to the relationships within a restaurant and even less so to restaurant managers’ perspectives. Our study, the first of its kind, used interviews and a survey to explore the perspectives of both restaurant managers and servers in identifying operational issues arising from tipping. Inequity and unfairness, loss of control of service quality, and difficulties in succession planning and promotion were identified. There is clearly a need to investigate strategies to mitigate some of these impacts.     

Marketing capabilities and innovation. How do they affect the financial results of hotels?

From the point of view of firms’ managers, the knowledge of the factors which explain their firms’ financial results is considered of great usefulness to propose the most appropriate and profitable marketing strategies and actions. This research sets out from this central idea and proposes a model of relationships that considers the marketing results, the marketing capabilities, and the innovation capability as key factors for achieving good financial results. This model is verified via an empirical investigation carried out among 200 directors of hotel establishments in Andalusia, a region in the south of Spain which is one of the country's main tourist destinations. The results indicate that innovation capability is strongly conditioned by marketing capabilities and resources and that this innovation capability affects the financial results of the firms analyzed. Likewise, it is deduced that a market-oriented management philosophy contributes to the development of these marketing capabilities. The implications for management are considered very relevant as they must lead these firms to invest in the development of marketing resources and capabilities, and apply a market-oriented management philosophy if they wish to improve their financial results.     

How do controversial foreign country images affect consumers?

Research shows that controversial political–economic, social, and environmental country images affect consumer responses to foreign products. This study adds to the existing evidence by examining the contingent role of subjective country knowledge and (domestic vs. foreign) country image congruence in the relationships between foreign country image and two major determinants of country-driven (anti-)consumption: foreign product judgements and consumer animosity. The findings draw on survey data (N = 400) on Spanish consumers' views of China and Chinese apparel products. The results indicate that higher subjective knowledge about social and environmental issues (negatively) affecting the foreign country can lead to attenuated (positive) relationships between such country images and foreign product judgements. Further, more negative foreign product judgements can result from incongruent country images—that is, when consumers are more critical of the foreign than of their home country in political–economic, social, and environmental areas. Instead, there is limited support for the hypotheses involving consumer animosity as an outcome. Implications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed.     

How do bankruptcy laws affect entrepreneurship development around the world?

How do bankruptcy laws as formal institutions affect entrepreneurship development around the world? Do entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws encourage more entrepreneurship development at a societal level? We posit that if bankrupt entrepreneurs are excessively punished for failure, they may give up potentially high-return but inherently high-risk opportunities to start new businesses. Amassing a cross-country database from 29 countries spanning 19 years (1990-2008), we find that lenient, entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws are significantly correlated with the level of entrepreneurship development as measured by the rate of new firm entry.     

Does governing law affect bond spreads?

Controlling for bond and issuer characteristics, bond spreads are expected to be equal across different legal jurisdictions, and differences are expected to disappear through arbitrage. However, an analysis of 490 U.S. dollar–denominated bonds issued by 53 emerging market sovereigns during 1990–2015 reveals that after the financial crisis of 2008, launch spreads of sovereign bonds issued under U.K. law have been higher than those issued under U.S. law, by 130 basis points for BB+ bonds and 175 basis points for B− bonds. This effect was not significant for investment grade bonds. On average, bonds issued under U.K. law had weaker ratings and shorter tenors post-crisis. The post-crisis impact of governing law on sovereign bond spreads is not explained by collective action clauses, or first-time bond issuances. Instead, the difference seems to be related to the perception that U.S. law offers stronger investor protection, and that the investor base for bonds issued under U.S. law is larger than that for bonds issued under U.K. law. The difference in spreads persists in the secondary market even after 180 days, perhaps because of the lack of liquidity, as investors tend to buy and hold these more attractive bonds on a longer-term basis.     

Public interest leaders: Whom do they represent?

In this issue, Focus on Books offers an essay on public interest leaders and the movements they have founded. Our reviewer, Alfred A. Marcus, discusses one book in particular, Jeffrey M. Berry's Lobbying for the People, and also provides a bibliography of significant publications about the public interest movement that have appeared in the last fifteen years-indeed, since the inception of this allegedly neopopulist resurgence in the United States. In his essay, Marcus reflects on the conclusions of Berry, a sympathetic observer of so-called public interest leaders who nevertheless acknowledges that their constituencies are in fact an elitist minority.     

How do accounting standards and insiders' incentives affect earnings management? Evidence from China

Chinese listed companies recently experienced two important institutional changes: split share structure reform (SSSR) and the mandatory adoption of IFRS-convergent new accounting standards (NAS). We find that the introduction of NAS significantly increased earnings management. Although we do not find evidence that SSSR directly decreased earnings management of the average firm, the increase in earnings management surrounding the introduction of NAS is negatively related to the reduction in non-tradable shares. These results suggest that accounting standards are the more important factor associated with the level of earnings management. Insiders' incentives affect earnings management given a specific set of accounting standards.     

How do personality interactions affect service quality? the perspective of processing efficiency theory

Conscientiousness and emotional stability are important independent predictors of service outcomes. However, previous studies have not investigated the effects of their interaction on service outcomes. Thus, this study adopted processing efficiency theory to investigate how the interaction between conscientiousness and emotional stability affects service quality. This study adopted a cross-sectional design, used questionnaires to collect data. The results indicate that the interaction of conscientiousness and emotional stability influences service quality. Additionally, the study found that the conscientiousness of emotionally stable service personnel was positively related to service quality.     

Recording discrepancies in Nielsen Homescan data: Are they present and do they matter?

We report results from a validation study of the Nielsen Homescan consumer panel data. We use data from a large grocery retailer to match transactions that were recorded by the retailer (at the store) and by the Homescan panelist (at home). The matched data allow us to identify and document discrepancies between the two data sets in reported shopping trips, products, prices, and quantities. We find that the discrepancies are largest for the price variable, and show that they are due to two effects: the first seems like standard recording errors (by Nielsen or the panelists), while the second is likely due to the way Nielsen imputes prices. We present two simple applications to illustrate the impact of recording differences, and we use one of the applications to illustrate how the validation study can be used to adjust estimates obtained from Nielsen Homescan data. The results suggest that while recording discrepancies are clearly present and potentially impact results, corrections, like the one we employ, can be adopted by users of Homescan to investigate the robustness of their results to such potential recording differences.     

Managerial assessments of export performance: What do they reflect?

Export performance is often measured by managers’ subjective assessments, but little is known about what such assessments reflect. This article addresses this gap in the literature by analyzing the association between subjective and objective measures of export performance. We examined which aspects managers take into consideration when subjectively assessing the export performance of their firm. We also examined whether managers’ assessments had any predictive power concerning the future development of their firm’s export sales.Our empirical evidence is based on Norwegian small and medium-sized enterprises operating mainly in business-to business markets. Our analyses show that managers’ subjective assessment of export performance at the firm level is significantly associated with the percentage of the total firm sales that are exported. This is true for assessments of economic as well as non-economic performance. Subjective assessments, however, were not associated with actual export sales levels or with export growth.     

How do work-family balance practices affect work-family conflict? The differential roles of work stress

This paper investigates the relationship between employees’ perception of work-family balance practices and work-family conflicts. It examines the role of challenge stress and hindrance stress as moderators. Based on survey data collected from 841 civil servants in Beijing, we found that perceived work-family balance practices may reduce work-family conflict, while challenge and hindrance work stresses were positively related to work-family conflict. In addition, challenge and hindrance stresses differentially moderated the relationship between perceived work-family practices and work-family conflict. When challenge stress is high then work-family balance practices will reduce work-family conflict. However, under high hindrance stress, work-family balance practices will serve to reduce work-family conflict less. More detailed analysis of the configurational dimensions of work-family balance practices (work flexibility, and employee and family wellness care) are also tested. This study provides additional insight into the management of work-family interfaces and offers ideas for future research.     

How do virtual streamers affect purchase intention in the live streaming context? A presence perspective

The rise of live streaming commerce has attracted attention from scholars and practitioners as a new opportunity to reach consumers. However, few studies have focused on the role of virtual streamers in this context. Based on the stimulus organism response framework, we explore the impact of three characteristics of virtual streamers—likeability, animacy, and responsiveness—on social presence, telepresence, and purchase intention. We use partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis with online survey data from 378 consumers concerning their experiences of viewing virtual streamers. The findings indicate that likeability, animacy, and responsiveness enhance social presence and telepresence, which then promote purchase intention. Likeability and responsiveness directly increase purchase intention, but animacy does not. Multi-group analysis reveals differences between the effects of humanoid and zoonotic virtual streamers on social presence and telepresence. These results shed light on the role of virtual streamer characteristics and contribute to the literature on live streaming commerce, presence, and virtual humans.     

How does customer recognition affect service provision?

We examine how channel members’ ability to recognize repeat and new customers affects service provision, profits, and welfare. In decentralized channels, when only retailers can recognize customers, customer recognition increases service levels. However, in centralized channels or decentralized channels when both manufacturers and retailers can recognize customers, customer recognition reduces (increases) service levels if service investment persists (diminishes) sufficiently over time. Moreover, in centralized channels, customer recognition reduces firm profits and consumer surplus, whereas in decentralized channels, when manufacturers and retailers can recognize customers, customer recognition increases channel members’ profits but decreases consumer surplus.     

Jobs. How do you rate?

Only 47% of respondents to R&I's 23rd annual Job$ Survey reported satisfaction with their last raise--that's down 10% from last year. Leading reasons for the drop: According to survey verbatims, belt-tightening companies froze salaries and delayed promotions, but increased responsibilities. To get at the prevailing attitudes of foodservice professionals about their jobs, our special report employs demographic profiles and personal interviews.     

How do relational bonds affect user engagement in e-commerce livestreaming? The mediating role of trust

E-commerce livestreaming depends heavily on user engagement. However, the effect of relational bonds (i.e., financial bonds, social bonds, and structural bonds) on user engagement in e-commerce livestreaming has not been well understood. Our study develops a conceptual model to investigate the impacts of relational bonds on user engagement and addresses the mediating role of trust. We collected data from users of the DianTao App. The results show that social bonds and structural bonds positively affect user engagement, while financial bonds have no direct impact on user engagement. Financial bonds, social bonds, and structural bonds are positively related to trust in the broadcaster. Similarly, financial bonds, social bonds, and structural bonds are also positively associated with trust in the platform. Furthermore, trust in the broadcaster and trust in the platform directly affects user engagement, fully mediating the impact of financial bonds on user engagement, while partially mediating the impacts of social bonds and structural bonds on user engagement. In addition, we find that experience moderates the mediating effects of trust between relational bonds and user engagement. The findings of this study provide useful insights for operators who should invest in building relational bonds and user trust to improve user engagement in e-commerce livestreaming.     

What risks do corporate bond put features insure against?

Corporate bond prices are known to be influenced by default and term structure risk in addition to non‐default risks such as illiquidity. Putable corporate bonds allow investors to sell their holdings back to the issuer and may thus provide insurance against all of these risks. We first document empirically that embedded put option values are related to proxies for all three. In a second step, we develop a valuation model that simultaneously captures default and interest rate risk. We use this model to disentangle the reduction in yield spread enjoyed by putable bonds that can be attributed to each risk. Perhaps surprisingly, the most important reduction is due to mitigated default or spread risk, followed by term structure risk. The reduction in the non‐default component is present but rather small.     

How do destination social responsibility strategies affect tourists’ intention to visit? An attribution theory perspective

Destination social responsibility (DSR) initiatives have recently received increasing attention as an effective way for destinations to maintain sustainable tourism development and competitive advantages. Through the lens of attribution theory, this study divided DSR strategies into proactive and reactive approaches and explored their influences on tourists' attribution and intention to visit a destination. This study also investigated the moderating role of information sources on the relationship between DSR strategies and tourists' attribution. The results of two experiments indicated that tourists' altruism attribution and visit intention tended to be higher when a destination applied the proactive (vs. reactive) DSR strategy. Tourists who got a reactive DSR message from an internal (vs. external) information source tended to generate stronger visit intention. The findings provide important implications for destinations to adopt appropriate DSR strategies and information channels for inducing tourists’ visit intention.