Adolescents' perceptions of family communication patterns and some aspects of their consumer socialization

This study examined the effects of family communication patterns (FCP) on adolescent consumers' decision‐making styles and influence in family purchase decisions. Two underlying dimensions of FCP (concept‐orientation and socio‐orientation) were measured separately for mother–child communication and father–child communication and regressed on adolescents' use of the selected decision‐making styles and influence in purchase decisions involving durable products and nondurable products for their own use. Results show that only mother–child communication patterns have significant associations with adolescents' decision‐making styles and family purchase influence. Specifically, mothers' concept‐oriented communication was positively linked to children's use of utilitarian decision‐making styles (e.g., careful and deliberate decision making) and social/conspicuous decision‐making styles (e.g., recreational and hedonic decision making) as well as to children's influence in family purchase decisions involving both durable and nondurable products for themselves. On the other hand, mothers' socio‐oriented communication was linked positively to children's use of undesirable decision‐making styles (e.g., confusion by overchoice) and negatively to children's influence in family purchase decisions. This study also investigated the presence (or absence) of a same‐gender effect in the relationships between parent–child communication orientations and children's consumer socialization outcome. If present, a same‐gender effect would be indicated by a greater influence from the same‐sex parent's communication orientations on the adolescent's decision‐making styles and influence in family decisions relative to that of the opposite‐‐ sex parent's communication orientations. Comparisons of the two gender‐group regression results revealed no systematic pattern that suggests the presence of such an effect. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Using the Life Course Paradigm to Explain Mechanisms That Link Family Disruptions to Compulsive Buying

This research examines compulsive buying as an impulse‐control disorder, a form of maladaptive behavior believed to have its roots in early‐in‐life experiences of family adversities. Unlike previous research that has typically studied only the effects of family divorce on compulsive buying, this study examines the effects of disruptive family events within the broader multitheoretical life course framework. A sample of 327 young adults is used to test the hypothesized relationships derived from the main life course perspectives. The results show alternate paths leading to compulsive buying, beyond those uncovered in previous studies. By offering a broader overarching framework, the article shows how previous efforts to study compulsive buying can be improved, pointing to the value of the multitheoretical life course approach in understanding consumption phenomena .     

Long‐Term Oriented Marketing Relationships and Ethical Conduct in Outsourcing Sector

The study evaluates the positive effect of long‐term oriented marketing relationship on ethical conduct from the perspective of the service provider (i.e., the agent‐firm), by integrating the relevant literature from relationship marketing, ethics, and long‐term orientation domains. The paper proposes that service providers that build relationship quality with their clients will display increased ethical conduct toward them. Specifically, the study examines the positive influence of the dimensions of relationship quality (that are relevant to the offshoring services context) that the service provider firm's employees undertake and their impact on ethical conduct. Overall, the results indicate that the commitment‐only full mediation model of relationship marketing variables on ethical conduct is a better representation than both direct‐effects model and other competing mediating models examined in this study. Fundamentally, it means that customer service officers should incorporate long‐term orientation and commitment in their principal–agent relationships that will provide the impetus for undertaking ethical behavior. The article concludes with a discussion and implications of the findings.     

Buyer‐seller relationships: A conceptual model and empirical investigation

Increasing emphasis is being placed by marketing managers on the need to build long‐term relationships between themselves and their customers. Analysis of long‐term buyer‐seller relationships has drawn heavily on the literature of social psychology, especially in making comparisons with family relationships. It has been proposed that buyer‐seller relationships go through some form of life‐cycle, paralleling cyclical relationships in other areas of human activity. However, models of the evolutionary development of buyer‐seller relationships have remained largely theoretical, with little empirical validation of the life cycle concept, or analysis of the changing composition of a relationship as it progresses through a life cycle.

This paper provides cross‐sectional empirical evidence of the existence of a buyer‐seller relationship life cycle within the investment services sector. The elements that buyers perceive as being important in holding a relationship together are dependent on the duration to date of the relationship. In the early stages of development, selling pressure is perceived as being a dominant element in relationship development, giving way to judgements of ethical credibility and empathy as the relationship develops.

From this initial survey of investment services customers, a number of implications for relationship marketing strategies within the services sector are suggested.     

Shopping online for goods vs. services: where do experiential features help more?

This study investigates how the type of offer sold online (goods vs. services) moderates the relationships between perceived experiential values and customers' attitudes towards the website. A sample of 107 e‐shoppers of services and 110 e‐shoppers of physical goods responded to a survey on their most recent e‐shopping experiences. Results support the majority of hypotheses. It was found that although offering experiential values on the site improves customers' attitudes for both physical goods and services websites, the impact is much stronger in the case of services. Theoretical and managerial contributions are discussed.     

Perceived values,platform attachment and repurchase intention in on-demand service platforms: A cognition-affection-conation perspective

The rapid growth of on-demand services and the increasing competition among platforms make the repurchase behaviors of experienced clients an urgent and important problem. Drawing on the cognition-affection-connation framework, this study proposes a research model to examine how clients' repurchase intentions are shaped in the context of on-demand services by focusing on the service client-platform relationship. The model was tested with a sample of 519 respondents collected from experienced clients of the largest on-demand service platform in China, Meituan, via the questionnaire survey method. Our findings suggest that the three value constructs (i.e., cognition) derived from the service consuming experience, including utilitarian value, hedonic value and interactivity value, significantly contribute to the establishment of platform attachment (i.e., affection), which in turn drives repurchase intention (i.e., conation) toward on-demand services. This research outlines an attachment-based framework to gain an insightful understanding of client loyalty behaviors in the on-demand service context. It also makes contributions to the existing research by extending the cognition-affection-connation framework to online contexts and by illustrating the essential role of platform attachment derived from the client-platform relationship in driving clients' repurchase behaviors in platform-based businesses.     

Maximising business returns to corporate social responsibility communication: An empirical test

Based on a classic conceptual model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, we developed an empirical research study to test how several aspects of CSR message content (i.e., issue importance, impact, motives, fit, commitment) are associated with external support responses (i.e., purchase, advocacy). We also tested the moderating role of stakeholder‐ and company‐specific factors (i.e., issue support and industry, respectively) in the proposed model. Data were collected from 302 participants who evaluated the same CSR information displayed in the websites of a fictitious bank and a fictitious restaurant chain. The findings suggest that better perceptions on how the CSR message reinforces issue importance, corporate CSR impact and altruistic motives lead to higher purchase and advocacy intentions. CSR fit is related only to advocacy, while CSR commitment does not have any significant impact on participants’ responses. Some new interdependence relationships are also identified among issue importance, motives, fit, and commitment. The moderating role of issue support and industry is confirmed.     

Who really cares about the environment? CEOs’ military service experience and firms’ investment in environmental protection

Prior literature suggests that the chief executive officer (CEO) plays a significant role in a firm's environmental performance or voluntary pro‐environmental behaviors; we extend this line of research to examine the effect of CEOs’ military service experience on firms’ investment in environmental protection. Drawing upon the insights of imprinting theory, we argue that military service experience may instill in CEOs pro‐environmental values such as duty, self‐discipline, self‐sacrifice, and sense of community, which motivate them to adopt pro‐environmental behaviors such as investing more resources in environmental protection. However, we argue that the effects of pro‐environmental values imprinted on CEOs through military service are likely to vary across regions. In regions where the market is more developed and the local value system has experienced greater exposure to the impact of foreign values, and in regions where firms are more concerned about profit, this effect is likely to be attenuated. An analysis of three waves of a nationwide survey of private firms in China using the Tobit regression model supports these predictions. This study makes a unique contribution to the existing literature by linking a firm's pro‐environmental behaviors (i.e., environmental protection investment) to its CEO’s experiences in early life (i.e., military service experience).     

The Role of Ad‐Evoked Consumption Visions in Predicting Brand Attitudes: A Relevancy Principle Model

This study examined ad‐evoked consumption visions to argue that when people are concerned about consumption experiences, they consider consumption visions relevant in formulating brand attitudes. To the degree that consumers perceive consumption visions as relevant, they should significantly influence brand attitudes. This research proposed a relevancy principle model to show that three possible factors likely enhance the relevancy of consumption visions and thus increase their influences on brand attitudes: product characteristics (i.e., hedonic nature), ad characteristics (i.e., consumption ad copy), and consumer characteristics (i.e., processing styles).     

Firm Resources and Host‐Country Factors Impacting Internationalization of Knowledge‐Intensive Service Firms

In the era of the global economy, knowledge‐based services are becoming important sectors of the service industry. Services offered by a university are knowledge‐based services. Universities are in the service business, and they play a key role in creating and disseminating knowledge through teaching, research, and related services that cross domestic borders. The current research focuses on the internationalization of US MBA programs. The internationalization of US MBA programs refers to the delivery of knowledge‐based services beyond the domestic borders. The main objective of our research is to examine the effect of an organization's (e.g., a US business school) resources and a host country's attractiveness on the internationalization of knowledge‐based services offered by a firm (a US business school). Using data gathered from MBA programs of US colleges and universities, theÊstudy findings show that internationalization is influenced by human capital, prestige and reputation, management's willingness, and foreign market attractiveness. The results of this study offer practical insights for US business school leaders. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Providing a critical service today for tomorrow's consumers: A relational model of customer evaluations and responses in the child care industry

Based on data collected in the important and rapidly expanding child care services industry, this study develops and tests a model that examines the relationships among customers’ evaluations of service performance dimensions, their satisfaction with and trust in the organization, as well as their word-of-mouth intentions and also investigates the role of social status in the proposed relationships. The results show that non-interpersonal (i.e., hard) service quality attributes have a greater impact on customer satisfaction while interpersonal (i.e., soft) service quality attributes have more influence on trust. Word-of-mouth intentions are primarily driven by trust and the hard dimension of service performance. Social status is shown to act as a moderator of many of the relationships in the model. The findings of the study offer important implications for providers of child care and other consumer services that are high in credence qualities.     

Performance implications of institutionalization process in family-owned businesses: Evidence from an emerging economy

This paper attempts to understand the role of two highly relevant founder family characteristics, harmony among family members and the degree of democratization in decision-making, in the institutionalization and adaptive capability development processes of family firms in Turkey as an exemplar of an emerging market. The paper examines how institutionalization and adaptability jointly drive firm-level differences in quantitative (i.e., sales growth, market share, and return on investment) and qualitative performance (i.e., quality of goods/services, new product development, employee satisfaction) components. Data were collected from 436 respondents in 132 family firms through structured questionnaires administered to at least three respondents from each firm. Findings indicated that among the institutionalization dimensions, transparency had the strongest effect on both quantitative and qualitative firm performance, whereas adaptability influenced qualitative performance only. Harmony in family relations increased efforts for institutionalization, whereas democracy in decision-making enhanced adaptability. Implications of these findings are discussed and several future research directions are suggested.     

Free trade agreement and transport service trade

This study investigates the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on trade in transport services using OECD data from 2003 to 2006. Our analysis found that FTAs had a positive overall impact on transport services for multiple countries (i.e., 26 home and 56 partner countries). The resulting positive overall impact assures that, even with the challenges associated with different layers of services and the obstacles formed by generally low trade openness in the sector, the provisions in FTAs (e.g., national treatment and market access for goods and services) promote transport service trades. Our findings suggest that the provisions in FTAs encourage economic agents to increase engagement in transport services because of expanded openness of the physical movement of goods across international borders.     

Improving product instruction compliance: “If you tell me why,I might comply”

Although prior research into product instructions has been limited to investigating the effect of warnings such that people might avoid possible product dangers by heeding warnings, this research considers methods of improving consumer product instruction compliance when noncompliance with a product instruction does not necessarily lead to a hazardous situation. In particular, this research investigates the impact of providing instructions that specify the process by which compliance with the instructions will lead to the desired end state (e.g., product outcome), called process‐cause information. The results of a first field experiment indicate that intention to comply with product instructions is enhanced when people are told how compliance with the instructions will lead to the desired outcome (i.e., when process‐cause information is included in a product instruction). This finding is substantiated by results of a follow‐up laboratory experiment where subject compliance with an instruction‐based behavior was observed. The importance of the present research is discussed in terms of the potential impacts on customer satisfaction, service recovery, product returns, product liability, and warranties. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals.     

An Integrated Model of Quality for Mass Services in the Context of the Ghanaian Retail Banking Sector

This study draws upon the service literature and operationalizes the investment model in the services domain to examine factors that contribute to customers’ desire to maintain service relationships with firms (i.e., retail banks) in an emerging economy in sub‐Saharan Africa: Ghana. We empirically test the explanatory power and robustness of the investment model using 218 customers of various banking institutions in Ghana. Results from partial least squares—structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM)—reveal that (1) service quality is positively associated with customer satisfaction, investment size, and customer commitment; and (2) while customer satisfaction is positively associated with customer commitment, both investment size and quality of attractive alternatives are not associated with customer commitment. Interestingly, we found investment size to have a positive association with customer commitment only when fully mediated by customer satisfaction. Our model reveals that service quality and customer satisfaction predict 79.3% of the variation in customer commitment toward maintaining a service relationship with their retail banks. Discussion and managerial implications conclude the article. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Influence of Children on Family Life Cycle Spending Behavior: Theory and Applications

This study examines the effect of children on family consumption decisions during different stages of the life cycle. An empirical model that incorporates both continuous measures of adult equivalence and a flexible functional form is used. Results indicate that durables, food eaten (purchased) away from home, and adult clothing are luxury goods for two-child families. Economies of scale are noted for food and shelter expenditures. Two-child families substitute out of expenditures for meals eaten away from home, adult clothing, and other goods and services to meet increased demand due to the children's presence.     

Cues of credibility and price performance of life insurance comparison Web sites

An array of Web sites is available to help consumers find the best deals on products and services. While these sites have the potential to save time and money by directly comparing alternatives, consumers still have the task of assessing the credibility of these comparison sites. Experts recommend that consumers look for certain key disclosures or “cues” to assess a site's credibility (e.g., a site's identity, the currency and authoritativeness of its information, its sponsors and business relationships, and its privacy practices). Focusing on 32 life insurance comparison Web sites, this research found that these recommended cues are often not present on Web sites and, when they are, do not seem to predict a site's ability to deliver the lowest‐priced quotes for term life insurance policies.     

The Eurasian Landbridge and China's Belt and Road Initiative: Demand,supply of services and public policy

Rail links between China and Europe are typically analysed in the context of China's Belt and Road Initiative, focusing on China's economic rise and the implications for international relations. This paper argues that establishment of the China–Europe Landbridge predated the BRI and has been market‐driven, as service providers identified and responded to demand for efficient freight services along pre‐existing railway lines. Governments' role was trade facilitating, that is reducing delays and costs at border‐crossing points, rather than investing in hard infrastructure. Service providers responded by linking European and Asian value chains (e.g., in automobiles and electronic goods) and reducing costs for traders shipping between China and Europe. The Eurasian Landbridge provides a case study of servicification as a component of increased trade in the twenty‐first century.     

‘I click,therefore I am (not)’: is cognition ‘distributed’ or is it ‘contained’ in borderless e‐learning programmes?

This paper will problematise the notion of distributed cognition in courses across cultural learning borders, by presenting a narrative case study of six learners’ journeys to online learning. I will argue that although distributed cognition is a widely acceptable theory in e‐learning, it is based on an assumption that the ‘distribution’ of cognition is reciprocal between toolmakers, texts and users, when perhaps, in certain instances, it excludes the life (and learning) world of local learners in the global, borderless environment. In these instances the cognition that is assumed to be distributed is, in contrast, ‘contained’ in the narrative‐in‐action that is familiar to the learners, whose situated knowledge is embedded and embodied in a non‐global discourse ( Henning et al., 2000 ).     

School and family environments promote adolescents' financial confidence: Indirect paths to financial literacy skills in Finnish PISA 2018

This study investigates the associations of adolescents' financial socialization factors—financial education in school and families—with financial confidence (i.e., confidence in using financial and digital financial services). In addition, we examine how financial socialization factors indirectly relate to financial literacy skills through financial confidence and the role of demographic factors (adolescent gender, grade level, parental education, family wealth) on financial socialization, financial confidence, and financial literacy scores. We used data on the 4328 Finnish 15-year-olds participating in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We measured financial literacy by cognitive test items and assessed financial socialization and financial confidence by adolescent questionnaires. First, the results showed that financial education in school positively predicted adolescents' confidence in using financial and digital financial services. Second, financial education at schools and in families indirectly predicted students' financial literacy through confidence in using digital financial services. Third, older adolescents were more exposed to financial education at school and in families, whereas adolescents from wealthier families and girls (vs. boys) were exposed to a more frequent discussion of financial matters with parents at home. Furthermore, the boys were more confident in using financial services than the girls, although the financial literacy score did not differ by gender; older adolescents were more confident in using financial services and achieved better financial literacy than younger ones. Finally, higher parental education in the family related to higher financial literacy but not to higher financial confidence, whereas family wealth was related to higher financial confidence but not financial literacy.