Why People Do Not Always Follow the Doctor's Orders: The Role of Hope and Perceived Control

The lack of adherence to medical advice is a widely recognized health care concern with important implications for consumer well‐being. This study advances a model for better understanding adherence behaviors by incorporating the positive emotion of hope and consumer perceptions of control. Empirical testing of the model in the context of type 2 diabetes, a lifestyle‐changing chronic illness, shows that hope generates more patient adherence. Furthermore, individuals have higher hope when they believe they are capable of performing the actions their treatment requires, and/or that their health outcomes are under their physician's control. The results indicate that health care providers can play an important role in encouraging adherence behaviors by cultivating hope and customizing their interactions with patients. Interventions aimed at increasing patient self‐efficacy or promoting patients' beliefs that health outcomes are under their physician's control are two routes to building hope. Health initiatives aimed at increasing diabetes treatment adherence should consider alternatives beyond asking patients to “take control” of their diabetes.     

Antecedents of cognitive age: A replication and extension

Cognitive age has been an important construct in studies of older consumers. The present study builds upon previous research by providing theory‐based antecedents of cognitive age. The results suggest that differences in cognitive age do not merely reflect differences in chronological age, and that a person's cognitive age is influenced by his or her experiences of life events that serve as markers of transitions into social roles people are expected to enact at different stages in life. In addition, the experiences of health‐related events, such as chronic conditions, make people aware of their aging, affecting their cognitive age. The influence of cognitive age on consumer‐behavior variables is also examined, and directions for future research are suggested. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An empirical assessment of cross‐cultural age self‐construal measurement: Evidence from three countries

This study investigated which age measures, independent or interdependent, were better for cross‐cultural consumer research. Specifically, it assessed the fit between the “actual” and “ideal” self‐concept model within the framework of self‐construal theory by examining the actual and ideal self‐attributed age identity across South Korea ( n = 480), China ( n = 207), and France ( n = 338) using both independent and interdependent age identity scales. Multivariate analyses revealed differences for individuated self‐schemata across the three countries for actual and ideal age self‐construal, as well as for actual other‐referent interdependent age self‐schemata. However, the reverse occurred too: The ideal interdependent ages showed a lack of difference across the three different cultures. Overall, the results indicate that interdependent decade scales are better than independent age scales for cross‐cultural consumer behavior studies. Though such scales are more complex, they are easy to translate and to administer, and simple to analyze and to interpret. Evidence also suggests that such scales are reliable and robust across disparate samples in the countries studied. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Do‐It‐Yourself Projects as Path toward Female Empowerment in a Gendered Market Place

The role of women as homeowners and heads of households are changing the dynamics in which women engage in do‐it‐yourself (DIY) behavior. Because there is limited extant theory associated with female involvement in DIY behavior, a qualitative study using in‐depth interviews was conducted. Through grounded theory analysis several themes emerged during the coding process, and the themes of empowerment were especially relevant to the informants in this study. Five dimensions of empowerment were identified: empowerment through project initiation, production mastery, adding economic value to goods and services, unleashing creative potential, and empowerment through ownership. The findings show women's involvement in DIY behavior and the consumption of DIY‐related goods is closely tied to the concept of female empowerment.     

The impact of 3d virtual haptics in marketing

Tactile input plays a key role in consumers' evaluation of products' substance properties. Utilization of haptic interfaces and force feedback devices that enable consumers to feel and manipulate three‐dimensional (3D) virtual products is a promising but under‐explored area in marketing and consumer behavior research. This study investigated 3D virtual touch created by Novint Falcon haptic interfaces and its impacts on consumer behavior in the interactive marketing of automobiles. It was hypothesized that consumers' instrumental Need for Touch (NFT) plays a significant moderating role in haptic interfaces. Results from a 2 (nature of tactile stimuli: haptic input with force feedback versus no force feedback) × 2 (haptic orientation: high NFT versus low NFT) full factorial between‐subjects experiment indicated that consumers high in instrumental NFT evaluate products more positively, enjoy the test‐driving experience more, and show stronger brand–self connection when there are force feedback haptic stimuli as opposed to when there is no force feedback. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Emotions,deliberations, and end‐of‐life products

Death is inevitable; yet, not all consumers prepare for death by purchasing end‐of‐life (EOL) products. Using the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the dual‐process model framework, this study aims to examine the role of emotions and cognitions in influencing consumers' decisions to engage in planning for death. A mixed methodology design was used. Study 1, a qualitative study, uncovered positive and negative emotions and deliberative reasoning that comprise consumers' EOL purchase decision process. Study 2, a quantitative study, confirmed that emotions and deliberations independently and jointly influenced consumers' EOL attitude and behavior and that emotions affected deliberations for both prepaid funerals and wills. Subjective norms outperformed attitude in predicting both products' purchase behavior. These finding supported the dual‐process model of behavior and the TRA in the EOL research context and contributed to the EOL literature by investigating the effects of emotions and deliberations concurrently; thus validating the important role of emotions in influencing EOL planning and purchase. In light of our findings, marketers could, after due cognizance of the morbidity and sensitivity of the topic, develop actionable promotional and segmentation strategies for EOL products and other emotion‐laden, unsought products and service.     

The Impact of Food‐Related Values on Food Purchase Behavior and the Mediating Role of Attitudes: A Swiss Study

Personal values and attitudes can help to explain food choice. This study confirmed a hierarchical organization of the value–attitude–behavior chain: Food‐related values influence attitudes, and these, in turn, impact behavior. Contrary to previous findings, values are only partially mediated by attitudes: Some food‐related values are fully mediated, whereas others are partially mediated, and still others have exclusively direct effects on purchase behavior. Questionnaire data from a roughly representative sample of 851 adults living in Switzerland was complemented with actual food purchase behavior measured by a loyalty card of a Swiss retailer over the period of one year. Four theoretically derived structural equation models were compared across eight different food product categories (organic, fair trade, low‐budget, fresh convenience, ready‐to‐eat, light, functional foods, fruits and vegetables). The results question central assumptions of the theory of planned behavior and emphasize the role of food‐related values in food consumption. Implications for marketing and future product developments of food companies are discussed.     

Personality and balanced psychological contracts: The mediating roles of epistemic curiosity and rule‐following behavior

This study extends prior research on the relationships between personality constructs and types of psychological contracts by exploring how the Big Five traits predict balanced psychological contracts. Further, we determine whether epistemic curiosity and rule‐following behavior are key mediators of the proposed relationships. We tested our proposed hypotheses using three‐wave time‐lagged data from 469 respondents. The results indicated that openness to experience was positively associated and both conscientiousness and neuroticism were negatively associated with balanced contracts. Extraversion and agreeableness were not associated with balanced contracts. We also established the mediating role of epistemic curiosity in the relationships between personality traits and balanced contracts, but there was no support for the mediating role of rule‐following behavior in the present study. These findings have important implications for managers and organizations in terms of selecting the right person for a job (person‐job fit) and ensuring employee retention (person‐organization fit), hence having a bottom‐line effect on firm performance. Future research directions are also discussed.     

THE ROLE OF LOGISTICS IN MARKET ORIENTATION

In today's increasingly competitive environment, survival depends on two key aspects of being market‐oriented ‐ understanding the external environment and executing decisions based on that understanding. Logistics personnel are uniquely positioned to play a key role in creating and maintaining a market‐oriented organization as they are progressively gaining more responsibilities in integrating cross‐functional processes and implementing supply chain strategies. This paper explores how logisticians participate in market orientation behaviors and how a market‐oriented logistics function impacts logistics and business performance. Based on a qualitative field research study involving in‐depth interviews with seventeen logistics personnel that draws and builds upon the logistics, market orientation, knowledge management, organizational behavior, information processing, and strategic management literatures, a theoretical model of logistics market orientation and its effect on logistics and business performance is developed and propositions are presented. Findings highlight logistics' central role in generating, disseminating, reaching a shared interpretation of, and responding to market intelligence.     

Organizational environmental orientation and employee environmental in‐role behaviors: A cross‐level study

Amid the growth of scholarly research on environmental workplace behaviors, two limitations stand out. First, there has been scant research on the cross‐level effects of organizational‐level determinants on individual employee environmental behaviors using a methodologically appropriate multilevel analytic approach. Second, there has been an overwhelming focus on voluntary, as opposed to task‐related, employee environmentally friendly behaviors. In addressing these limitations, this field study (N = 615 U.S.‐based employees nested in 51 organizations) makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the literature, specifically by linking the dimensions of organizational‐level environmental orientation with individual‐level employee environmental in‐role (i.e., task‐related) behaviors using multilevel analysis. The results indicate that organizational internal environmental orientation is positively related to employee recycling behavior. Managerial status exerts a moderating effect, such that the positive relationship between internal environmental orientation and energy‐saving behavior is stronger among managers than among non‐managers. Furthermore, an organization's external environmental orientation has an unequivocal positive relationship only with employee energy‐saving behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Leadership integrity and the role of human resource management in Greece: Gatekeeper or bystander?

With ethical misconduct commonplace in organizations and with the touting of competitive advantage associated with ethical organizational practices, considerable attention has turned to leadership integrity. Leaders are uniquely situated to influence the behavior of organizational members, and integrity has been shown to be instrumental in supporting ethical behavior and decision‐making. This article explores the role and influence of human resources management (HRM) in supporting leadership integrity among a group of large organizations operating in crisis‐stricken Greece. Although the institutional and cultural context of Greece appears to exacerbate role tensions confronted by human resources (HR) professionals, its forces are not deterministic; findings from in‐depth interviews with 12 HR directors indicate that the HR potential to secure ethical influence at the top level is primarily contingent on the nature of the organization's culture. Cultures of integrity enable HR executives to influence integrity and ethical behavior in top management teams (TMTs). In contrast, compliance‐based organizational cultures appear to breed a fickle HR presence: fostering integrity and ethical behavior for the middle and lower levels of an organization, while turning a blind eye to integrity violations at the top.     

A new full‐nest classification approach

This study conceptually and empirically develops an improved approach for classifying full‐nest households. Unlike existing life‐cycle models, this study separates traditional full‐nest couples who marry and have children at a young age from those who delay marriage and childbearing until their 30s. Nontraditional delayed full‐nest spouses held nontraditional sex role norms and values and experienced greater work and time pressures. They also consumed more healthy foods and beverages, avoided convenience and junk foods, but consumed more meals prepared away from home, as well as alcoholic beverages, than their traditional counterparts. While extant life‐cycle approaches use age of head of household to separate school‐age and older full‐nest families, this study uses the transitions of the youngest child to school age, and then to teenage years. This distinction more effectively captures life‐style and consumption differences than does the traditional life‐cycle approach. Overall, this new full‐nest classification scheme outperforms existing life‐cycle approaches in identifying unique sex‐role norms and values profiles as well as household food and beverage consumption patterns. It also captures meaningful and significant differences, in dollar values of home entertainment devices and furniture and of major durable assets not uncovered by previous research. Based on these findings, it is recommended that this full‐nest classification approach be incorporated into extant life‐cycle models. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Assessing shared understanding of economic exchange among children and adults

Research into children's understanding of economic exchanges has been conducted within two major purviews. Psychologists and sociologists have examined children's understanding via age‐related developmental theories, and economists have focused upon measures of economic literacy. Anthropologists and sociologists have included noneconomic factors in examining the economic‐exchange practices of adults, but the role of such social or moral influences has not been examined within the context of children as consumers. With the use of this research foundation, the current research is one of the first reported attempts to include children and adults in the same study to determine if there is a shared understanding of economic exchanges. As such, the role of noneconomic factors as a part of the everyday economic‐exchange behavior of children was also examined. Study findings suggest that past research has underestimated children's understanding of the economic world, as the current research found that children, ages 7–12 years, exhibited many of the same facets of intuitive economic understanding as adults from their own community group. The findings also suggested that the influence of noneconomic variables becomes greater as children grow into adulthood. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Entrepreneurial Attitudes as Drivers of Managers’ Boundary‐Spanning Knowledge Ties in the Context of High‐Tech Clusters

This study investigates the role of entrepreneurial attitudes for small and medium‐sized enterprise managers' tendency to create knowledge acquisition ties with managers of other organizations in the context of an institutionalized high‐tech cluster. We examine how innovation orientation, perceived personal control, need for achievement, and self‐esteem influence boundary‐spanning tie creation as a crucial facet of entrepreneurial behavior in the cluster context. Applying exponential random graph models to survey data collected in a German biotech cluster, we find that innovation orientation and perceived personal control positively affect managers' tendency to rely on interpersonal ties to gather knowledge. In contrast, need for achievement and self‐esteem are negatively related to knowledge tie creation.     

External Determinants and Financial Outcomes of an Eco‐friendly Orientation in Smaller Manufacturing Firms

With the significant growth of problems relating to the natural environment, an increasing number of firms are engaged in environmentally friendly activities. This paper reports the results of a study conducted among 153 small‐sized manufacturing units located in Cyprus, focusing on the external drivers and financial outcomes of their eco‐friendly orientation. The findings confirmed the instrumental role of environmental regulations, environmental public concern, competitive intensity, and market dynamism in harnessing an eco‐friendly orientation within the small firm. They also underline the critical role of this orientation in enhancing the firm's financial results, although this link was found to be stronger when the firm possesses adequate resources and capabilities committed to environmental activities. Our study contributes to the literature by putting together, in a theoretically anchored, integrative, and causal fashion, concepts and ideas that touch upon important aspects of small firms' environmental behavior that have been only tangentially studied in the past, namely the role of external forces in stimulating sensitivity to green issues, the dynamics of forming an ecological orientation within the organization, the positive link between eco‐friendly thinking and financial performance, and the importance of supporting ecological actions with appropriate organizational resources/capabilities. Critical implications for small business managers and public policymakers are also derived from the study findings.     

Product involvement in organic food consumption: Does ideology meet practice?

This study assesses the level of consumers' felt involvement in four distinct product categories of organic food (coffee, bread, fruit, and flour), and examines the role of felt involvement in the broader context of organic food shopping behavior. It is shown that the reason why consumers do not buy organic food regularly despite their positive attitudes is that such ideologically formed attitudes are not present in habitual, low‐involvement shopping activities with limited problem‐solving needs as in food shopping from grocery stores. The statistical analysis of an empirical sample of 200 consumers gives substantial support to the hypothesized new organic food buying behavior model. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Drivers and Outcomes of Green Tourist Attitudes and Behavior: Sociodemographic Moderating Effects

This article reports the findings of a study, conducted among 234 foreign tourists who visited Cyprus, that aimed to identify the drivers and outcomes of eco‐friendly attitudes and behavior. Using structural equation modeling, the authors confirmed that deontological status, law obedience, and political action of tourists positively influence the adoption of an environmentally friendly attitude. In turn, these effects are conducive to eco‐friendly behavior, which ultimately enhances tourist satisfaction. Certain sociodemographic characteristics of tourists—namely, gender, age, education, and income—had a moderating effect on the link between deontological status, law obedience, and political action on the one hand and eco‐friendly attitudes on the other hand. Tourist nationality also had a control effect on tourist eco‐friendly attitudes.     

Pride in my past: Influencing sustainable choices through behavioral recall

Emotional appraisal research has demonstrated that recalling a past behavior and its associated emotions can influence future behavior. However, how such recalled emotions shape sustainable consumer choice has not been examined. This study examines the role of recalled pride and guilt in shaping sustainable purchase intentions and the mediating role of anticipated pride and guilt. A conceptual model is proposed for motivating sustainable purchase intentions through the emotions associated with the behavioral recall. The model is applied in two experiments with online consumers examining purchase intentions of low carbon cars. Recalling feelings of pride associated with a past sustainability‐related behavior increases sustainable purchase intention, as compared with a neutral recall. This effect occurs through the mediation of both anticipated pride at the prospect of a sustainable behavior choice and anticipated guilt if the future choice is not sustainable. Similar hypotheses relating to recalled guilt at past unsustainable behavior were not supported. The study contributes to research on sustainable consumption, revealing an emotional route by which past behavior can influence future behavior. It also adds to emotional appraisal research by showing the role of specific self‐conscious emotions in forming this route, as prior research has focused more broadly on emotional valence.     

Children's understanding of television advertising: A grounded theory approach

The study investigates children's understanding of television advertising, with emphasis on differences between children of different ages (6‐ to 11‐year‐old children). Forty‐two focus groups were conducted and grounded theory analysis was employed to discover, analyze, and discuss the findings and their implications. Findings suggest that children view advertising as more complex than has been suggested by perspectives employed by previous research. Overall, a positive relationship was found between age and understanding of the aims of advertising. None of the 6‐ to 7‐, only a few of the 8‐ to 9‐, and most of the 10‐ to 11‐year‐old children understood the role of television advertising. Topics such as sponsorship or the source of television advertising seemed to confuse children in all age groups. Only a minority of children in the older age group recognized the persuasive intent of television advertising. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Geographic export diversification: Determinants and their link with export performance

This study examines company‐specific factors that may help explain the choice of an export‐market strategy and explores how the selected export strategy contributes to explaining company's export performance (XP). Concentrating on a specific area within a broad spectrum of export behavior analysis has enabled us to examine these factors in greater depth. The results of our research, which was carried out using a sample comprising Spanish exporting companies, show a firm's size, a firm's age, and a firm's greater foreign ownership in its share capital are all determining factors for adopting a strategy geared to export‐market diversification. A greater level of investment in R&D and greater international commitment are also important in this regard. We suggest reinforcing these two factors because there is evidence of a better XP among firms that have a wider range of foreign markets.