Face as a mediator of the relationship between material value and brand consciousness

Although the relationship between materialism and name‐brand consumption has been documented in literature, its relational mechanism is not well addressed. It can hardly explain why people buy brand products without really knowing about the brands. In this case, people may consume brand products not for material possessions but for social needs, such as a desire to have favorable social self‐worth and to be respected in relation to others and social activities, which is defined as face (Ting‐Toomey & Kurogi, 1998). The present study explored how the relationship between materialism and brand consciousness is influenced by face. The role of face was tested both as a moderator and as a mediator. The results showed that face consciousness, material values, and brand consciousness were significantly correlated but did not exhibit significant interaction. Multiple regression analyses support face not as a moderator, but as a partial mediator. The results provide new insights into the mechanisms of how materialism and face influence brand consciousness differently. The theoretical meaning and implications for marketing management are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Co-alignment in the resource–performance relationship: strategy as mediator

Small firms face unique challenges in crafting strategies that best utilize their resource bases. Research shows strategies that combine with resources lead to performance. The entrepreneurship literature finds the contingent effects, or moderating roles, of strategy and external factors, but the relationship between firm strategy and internal factors, such as resources, is less well studied. Based on the contention that the quality of a firm's strategy cannot be judged independently of the resources upon which it is based, we examine the relationship between firm resources, strategies, and performance in a cross-section of 192 small firms. Using a structural equation analysis, we examine the mediating role of firm strategies as they lead to firm performance in small firms operating in traditional industries. Our findings demonstrate that neither resources nor strategies alone explain firm performance, but instead, small firms fit their strategies to their resource profiles. Human and organizational resources in combination with a strategy of quality/customer service enhance firm performance.     

Trust as a mediator of the relationship between leader/member behavior and leader-member-exchange quality

We examined how and why trust between a subordinate and supervisor develops over time from the separate perspectives and experiences of both dyad partners. Integrating the literatures on trust, leader-member-exchange (LMX) and promotion regulatory focus (PRF), we test our model using longitudinal data from a Malaysian subsidiary of a U.S. headquartered corporation. Subordinate's trust in supervisor mediated between supervisor's PRF and subordinate's experience of LMX quality; supervisor's trust in subordinate mediated between subordinate's job performance and leader's experience of LMX quality. Findings are interpreted within the high power-distance, high collectivist, and high performance orientation of Malaysian culture.     

Organizational innovation as an enabler of technological innovation capabilities and firm performance

This study assesses the relationship between organizational innovation and technological innovation capabilities, and analyzes their effect on firm performance using a resource-based view theoretical framework. The article presents empirical evidence from a survey of 144 Spanish industrial firms and modeling of a system of structural equations using partial least squares. The results confirm that organizational innovation favors the development of technological innovation capabilities and that both organizational innovation and technological capabilities for products and processes can lead to superior firm performance.     

Network embeddedness,headquarters entrepreneurial orientation,and MNE international performance

The aim of this paper is to examine the role played by external and internal network embeddedness in the headquarters entrepreneurial orientation of multinational enterprises (MNEs), and the role of the latter in MNE performance. Drawing on responses from CEOs in a sample of 143 European MNEs, our study offers evidence for the antecedent role of network embeddedness on headquarters entrepreneurial orientation on the one hand, and for the positive impact of headquarters entrepreneurial orientation on international performance on the other. Our findings contribute to the network view of MNEs in the international business and international entrepreneurship literature by disentangling the complex phenomenon of entrepreneurship in MNEs, partly explained by its multiple embeddedness in external and internal networks, and by studying its impact on international performance.     

Focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationship between business owners' age and venture growth

Combining upper echelons and lifespan theories, we investigated the mediating effect of focus on opportunities on the negative relationship between business owners' age and venture growth. We also expected that mental health moderates the negative relationship between business owners' age and focus on opportunities. Path analytic findings based on data from 84 business owners (mean age = 44, range 24-74) supported these hypotheses. Findings suggest that focus on opportunities is a psychological mechanism that links business owners' age with venture growth. Our findings also indicate that mental health helps maintain a high level of focus on opportunities with increasing age.     

Dual embeddedness,influence and performance of innovating subsidiaries in the multinational corporation

This study adopts a business network view to study the effects of subsidiary embeddedness on both subsidiary influence within the MNC and innovation-related business performance. Through Structural Equation Modeling we analyze subsidiary relationships connected to 85 innovation projects. The results show that external and corporate embeddedness are complementary contexts, although they affect subsidiary influence and performance differently. Whereas external embeddedness directly affects innovation-related business performance, corporate embeddedness strengthens the subsidiary's influence within the MNC, which in turn positively relates to performance. Moreover, as the study also finds that external and corporate embeddedness are positively associated, it stresses the issue of simultaneously balancing both external and corporate relationships (i.e., dual embeddedness) to nurture innovation projects.     

Examining trying as a mediator and control as a moderator of intention–behavior relationship

This article presents a modified model of the theory of planned behavior by incorporating trying as a mediator and actual control as a moderator of the intention–behavior relationship. The revised model was tested with the use of structural equation models for eight commonly performed activities (N = 240). Results provide general support for the model suggesting that intentions influenced the level of trying, which, in turn, influenced behavior. Correlation analysis employing Fisher's z transformation revealed that actual control moderated the relationship between trying and behavior. Implications of the findings are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

组织政治知觉对员工反生产行为的影响:心理契约破裂的中介检验

组织政治知觉作为个体对组织政治所造成的消极工作环境的主观评价,能够对员工的工作态度和行为产生显著影响.从社会交换的视角,构建了组织政治知觉通过心理契约破裂对反生产行为产生影响的理论模型,并通过435个有效样本对所提假设进行了实证检验.结果表明,组织政治知觉与组织指向和人际指向反生产行为显著正相关,与心理契约破裂显著正相关,心理契约破裂与组织指向和人际指向反生产行为均显著正相关,且对组织指向反生产行为的影响高于人际指向反生产行为,心理契约破裂在组织政治知觉与组织指向反生产行为之间具有部分中介作用.最后,对研究的结论进行了总结,并指出了研究意义、不足和未来研究方向.     

Perceptions of Organizational Virtuousness and Happiness as Predictors of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Moral and financial scandals emerging in recent years around the world have created the momentum for reconsidering the role of virtuousness in organizational settings. This empirical study seeks to contribute toward maintaining this momentum. We answer to researchers’ suggestions that the exploratory study carried out by Cameron et al. (Am Behav Sci 47(6):766–790, 2004), which related organizational virtuousness (OV) and performance, must be pursued employing their measure of OV in other contexts and in relation to other outcomes (Wright and Goodstein, J Manage 33(6):928–958, 2007). Two hundred and sixteen employees reported their perceptions of OV and their affective well-being (AWB) at work (one of the main indicators of employees’ happiness), their supervisors reporting their organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). The main finding is that the perceptions of OV predict some OCB both directly and through the mediating role of AWB. The evidence suggests that OV is worthy of a higher status in the business and organizational psychology literatures.     

Organizational learning as a situated routine-based activity in international settings

A large body of research has extensively studied the mechanisms behind organizational learning processes. However, there have been few studies of the learning process that explore the influences of history, context, and social meaning in international settings. Rather, the focus within the international management field has been on knowledge transfer. This study adopts a situated routine-based view of organizational learning to highlight the influence of national institutional characteristics on the acquisition and enactment of new knowledge. It is based on in-depth case studies that systematically compare the ways in which Japanese parent company knowledge diffuses to subsidiaries in the UK automotive industry. It concludes that organizational learning within the context of multinational corporations is shaped by actors’ enactment of new practices that are embedded in broader institutional contexts, where the links between knowledge transfer and the reinforcement of or change in routines are important in determining the level at which a subsidiary learns.     

International transfer pricing and subsidiary performance: The role of organizational justice

International intrafirm trade is increasingly important in the global economy. Intrafirm transactions are governed by transfer‐pricing policies mandated by parent companies. Economic and accounting theories have long prescribed policies that maximize the parent company's short‐term profits but may have other, unintended outcomes. These outcomes are explored in a single‐case study. Based on this case study and organizational justice theory, a theoretical framework is developed to show how frequently used transfer‐pricing policies, through their impact on subsidiary managers' perceptions of justice, can significantly affect the subsidiary's strategic performance. First, the conditions under which transfer‐pricing policies can be perceived as procedurally, interactionally, or distributively unfair are presented. Second, it is proposed that those justice perceptions have an impact on subsidiary managers' commitment, trust in the parent company, neglect, ethical behavior, productivity, work quality, and compliance, and that the magnitude of this impact is moderated by the quality of relations between the parent company and subsidiary managers. Finally, it is predicted that such attitudes and behaviors may generate important agency and transaction costs that jeopardize the expected outcomes of international strategies of vertical integration. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Organizational performance with a broader focus: The case for a stakeholder approach to leadership

In 2019, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and the other 179 CEO members of the Business Roundtable argued that the purpose of a corporation must reflect not only the fiduciary interests of owners but also the varied interests of all stakeholders: employees, customers, partners, and broader society. This idea challenges a decades-old norm of shareholder primacy, so it is reasonable for organizational leaders to wonder whether doing so is truly in their firms’ best interests, and if so, how to implement this approach to leadership. To answer these questions, we draw on over 200 peer-reviewed articles covering leadership research to demonstrate how servant leadership, a stakeholder-focused approach to management, outperforms other leadership approaches across both shareholder and stakeholder criteria. We leverage case studies of organizational leaders from SAS, Zappos, Starbucks, and Jason’s Deli, financially successful organizations that exemplify how managers provide value and sustainability to stakeholders and shareholders through servant leadership. We also include practical steps managers can take to begin putting this form of leadership into practice.     

The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty: A mediator analysis

This study proposes a multiple mediation model to analyze the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. The study's contribution to the literature is to examine, empirically, the main antecedents and determinants of this endogenous variable in greater depth. Thus, the research fills a gap in the literature through its analysis of the mediating role of perceived switching costs and the perceived lack of attractiveness of alternative offerings. This study applies variance-based structural equation modeling via partial least squares to a sample of 785 customers from 74 insurance companies in the service sector. The results show that perceived switching costs – to a greater extent – and the perceived lack of attractiveness of alternative offerings – to a lesser extent – are significant mediators in the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty.     

Mediating role of customer forgiveness between perceived justice and satisfaction

The relationship between perceived justice facets and satisfaction is well discussed in literature. The aim of this study is to test the mediating impact of customer forgiveness between justice facets and satisfaction in the context of Pakistan's banking industry. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the proposed hypotheses by using the data of 453 bank customers of domestic banks in Pakistan. Results of the study indicate that customer forgiveness mediates the relationship between justice facets and satisfaction. However, the direct impact of procedural justice on satisfaction was insignificant. Such findings have implications to theory and practice. In theory, it proposes and tests new linkages. In practice, managers need to consider that not only the justice facets but customer forgiveness is also an important predictor of satisfaction.     

The moderating role of local embeddedness on the performance of foreign and domestic firms in emerging markets

This paper examines the impact of the firm’s degree of local embeddedness on its performance in emerging markets using the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey Manufacturing Sector Module data on 15,715 firms covering 78 emerging markets. We use the degree of localization of sourcing and sales to measure the degree of embeddedness in the host country market. We argue that since embeddedness brings the firm into closer interaction with local firms and institutions, the costs of embeddedness should be lower for local firms than for MNE subsidiaries, since local firms can be assumed to be better able to decipher local institutions. We find that both dimensions are subject to a reversed U-shaped function. That is, by extending the degree of local sales and local sourcing up to a certain percentage, a firm can realize positive performance growth by becoming more embedded into the emerging market, but beyond this point, the performance impact is negative. We also find that foreign firms involved in local sales seem to lose part of their ability to exploit their ownership advantages as compared to foreign firms that export their production.     

A Study of Deviance as a Retaliatory Response to Organizational Power

In a time when ethical scandals are commonplace in the media, one begins to wonder just what organizations are doing wrong. This article analyzes the Fall 2006 boardroom spying scandal at Hewlett–Packard to determine whether the workplace deviance observed can be linked to a retaliatory response to organizational power. A summary of the events leading up to, during, and the fall-out of the scandal is reported.     

冗余资源、董事会结构与上市公司业绩波动性的实证关系研

冗余资源对企业的价值评判,不应该只停留在公司的绩效的水平上,对企业的风险控制也同样值得我们去研究。本文以公司业绩波动性为因变量,考察董事会结构、冗余资源对公司业绩波动的影响,拟通过对上市公司的数据进行实证研究,表明:冗余资源存量能够降低企业的业绩波动性;董事会规模、独立性以及CEO权力可以调节冗余资源与业绩波动之间的相关关系。本文从企业风险控制角度探讨了冗余资源对业绩波动的作用,为研究冗余资源的问题提供了新的途径。     

Organizational identification as a determinant of customer orientation in service organizations

The marketing literature suggests that frontline employees are the central determinant of how customer-oriented a service organization is perceived to be by its customers. However, little is known about the contingencies of employees’ customer orientation (CO) beyond personality traits and broadly construed work attitudes. Based on the social identity approach, the present article develops a multilevel model whereby CO is the result of identity-based management of frontline employees. Two empirical studies in the travel industry show that employees’ CO depends on employees’ organizational identification and their leaders’ acting as role models of CO.     

基于领导—成员交换视角的组织公平与组织认同关系研究

目前,组织认同已经被越来越多的学者和企业家所关注.然而,对于其形成机制的研究还有待进一步的扩展.文章选取组织公平这一角度来研究组织认同形成的机理.检验了在中国情境下组织支持感在组织公平与组织认同关系中的中介作用,尤其重点探讨了公平感与组织认同关系链中领导-成员交换的调节效应和直接效应.文章以北京市6家企业的294名员工作为样本收集数据,进行统计检验.研究结果发现:组织公平促进员工组织支持感的形成,进而培育起员工的组织认同;领导-成员交换质量高时,组织公平更容易形成组织认同;领导-成员交换质量的改善会直接促进组织认同的形成.最后,讨论了文章研究的理论意义和对当前管理实践的启示和建议.