Antecedents of Corporate Entrepreneurship in SMEs: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) research has reached a certain degree of consensus around five core internal antecedents that enable CE, but consensus remains focused on large‐sized firms in Western economies. Using institutional theory, we argue that contextual factors may undermine the viability of internal antecedents in emerging economy contexts. Our qualitative study shows that the organization of the internal environments for CE among service sector Kenyan SMEs is much more interactive and complex than currently presented in the literature. Specifically cultural and contextual factors appear to influence the extent to which the antecedents are able to produce CE activity. Our findings provide a more fine‐grained depiction of the internal environment for CE in emerging economy SMEs.     

民族村寨旅游开发实证研究——以昆明市小水井村为例

选择昆明市最大的苗族村寨——小水井苗族村为案例,分析了其发展旅游的资源优势和面临的问题,指出该村寨的旅游开发应定位在"实地旅游民族村"的模式上,这样,可以和现有的、较为成熟的模型化云南民族村进行互补定位,形成单一型民族村和多元化民族村对比,真实型和模型化共存互补的主题民族村格局。并从区域规划的角度,从村寨旅游开发模式、开发步骤、设施建设等方面,提出了系统性的构架及开发思路,包括村寨分区建设的构想、旅游接待设施硬件建设方案,以及健全组织机构、完善村规民约、社区参与等一系列系统化软件工程。     

西部少数民族聚居地区人口新特征及发展趋势——以新疆喀什地区为例

新疆喀什是我国维吾尔族人数最多,比例最高的民族聚居地区,维吾尔族占总人口90.6％.以喀什地区为例,全面分析了少数民族聚居地区人口发展新特征和存在的主要问题,通过建立模型对喀什地区人口发展趋势进行预测,提出了少数民族聚居地区人口发展对策.     

Antecedents of Green Brand Equity: An Integrated Approach

A steady demand for green products from concerned consumers has led companies to introduce new product lines that match or exceed consumer environmental concerns. Nonetheless, not all the organizations were able to achieve significant returns on their investments in green products. These failures are generally attributed towards companies’ inability to overcome consumer scepticism towards the performance of functional and green attributes of their brands to generate a positive green image and green value in consumers mind. Therefore, the question arises that does the success in promoting green brand image and value depend on consumer existing perceptions about the brand quality and credibility? This study analyzes the influence of brand perceive quality and credibility on consumer perceptions towards a brand green image, green value and green equity. A theoretical model with hypothesized relationships is developed and tested to answer these research questions. Data have been collected from the consumers of electrical and electronic goods. The hypothesized relationships were tested with the help of structural equation modeling procedure. The results suggest that brand perceived quality and its overall credibility does have a significant influence on generating a greener image, green perceive value and green brand equity.     

保护民族地区儿童食品安全的对策

我国在《食品安全法》颁布后明确规定了食品生产相关标准和有关程序。但目前对儿童食品还未制定专门的法律法规。而儿童食品安全问题是当今的热门话题,如何在现有机制下保护好儿童身体健康,尤其是保护好我国偏远西北农村少数民族农村儿童身体健康,对我们提出了挑战。因此,本文主要探讨如何在农村加强食品安全,以期保障儿童的身体健康。     

Managerial Perceptions of Country-of-Origin: An Empirical Study of New Zealand Food Manufacturers

This study investigates food manufacturers’ motives for featuring country-of-origin (CoO) symbols, statements, and other indicators on their product packaging and labeling. Unlike the majority of CoO studies that employ survey and experimental methods, a qualitative approach is taken. Sixteen in-depth interviews with key informants of packaged food companies in New Zealand revealed five categories of themes as reasons why manufacturers indicate and often emphasize CoO associations—cognitive function, affective function, conative function, tangible benefits, and intangible benefits. Overall, the findings reveal that managers perceive that CoO associations deliver them benefits, but they do not measure the outcomes of these investments.     

Antecedents of customer loyalty: An empirical synthesis and reexamination

Despite the importance of customer loyalty, no comprehensive, empirical work has attempted to assess the general findings across academic studies. The study intends to fill that void by conducting a meta-analysis of empirical findings on the predictors of customer loyalty. Although findings of this study support all the hypothesized main effects, they indicate stronger effect size for trust than for other determinants of loyalty. The study also tests the robustness of previous findings across various research and measurement contexts. The analysis of moderating effects reveals several interesting findings. For instance, attitudinal loyalty measures seem to be a plausible surrogate for behavioral loyalty measures. The effects of customer satisfaction and trust on loyalty are less prominent when products are purchased on a regular and relatively short (as opposed to an irregular and relatively long) purchase cycle. Factors that largely relate to product performance (e.g., satisfaction, quality) have a weaker impact on loyalty in B2B than in B2C settings. Some relationships (e.g., the effect of quality on loyalty) become stronger over time. Furthermore, our results detect consistently weaker effects from studies using single-item (relative to multi-item) loyalty measures.     

The Antecedents of Prosocial Service Behaviours: An Empirical Investigation

Frontline employee attitudes and behaviours during service encounters influence customers' perceptions of service quality. For this reason, the identification of variables that influence service behaviours is important. Much remains unknown about the factors affecting service behaviours in service settings. This study investigates service employees' attitudinal (job satisfaction and organisational commitment) and behavioural (prosocial service behaviours) responses to management strategies (internal communication, professional development and empowerment). One hundred and eighty-eight service employees contributed data, which were analysed using a structural modelling methodology. The authors found that management strategies influence service behaviours directly but the mediating role of job attitudes is not supported.     

Antecedents and consequences of cross-effects: An empirical analysis of omni-coupons

As the modern retail industry evolves from multi-channel to seamless omni-channel retailing, retailers are increasingly adopting omni-channel strategies, such as the usage of omni-coupons. A consumer may obtain an omni-coupon from a digital (catalog) channel and purchase either online or via the telephone channel. Past studies have not examined such cross-channel effects at the purchase incidence level. Using customer transaction data from an omni-channel retailer, we investigate the key drivers of cross-effects, and the impact of such cross-effects on two consumer purchase outcomes (purchase value and cross-buying). We specifically study two types of cross-effects, a) catalog-to-online and b) digital-to-telephone, and find that the effect of time variables and individual characteristics on them is asymmetric. We also show that the impact of such cross-effects on purchase outcomes depends on whether the omni-coupon was sourced digitally or from a catalog. Retailers aiming to increase cross-buying should prioritize catalog coupons, while those aiming to increase purchase value should prioritize digital coupons.     

Antecedents of Online Reviews' Usage and Purchase Influence: An Empirical Comparison of U.S. and Korean Consumers

We propose a model linking consumer characteristics (consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence and Internet shopping experience), attitude toward online reviews (perceived usefulness), and the outcome of online reviews (usage frequency and purchase influence). We advance hypotheses on the interrelationships among these factors and on the moderating effects of national culture on some of the relationships. We test the hypotheses on survey data collected from U.S. and Korean consumers. The results show that national culture has important moderating effects on the relationships among online reviews and its antecedents. The results suggest that an attitude-oriented marketing communication strategy is more effective for Korean consumers while a behavior-oriented strategy is more effective for U.S. consumers.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Buying Center Leadership: An Emergent Perspective

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a new model of buying center leadership. It draws upon the theory of emergent leadership to explore the potential for a relatively low-ranked member of a buying center to rise in stature and emerge as the group's de facto leader. It provides a theoretically-based analysis of the antecedents to such a role including communications, negotiating skills, power, and procedural control. It also reviews how these elements may be used to provide the group with two essential leadership functions–relational support and task support. It then examines how these functions, in turn, provide the individual with enhanced influence within the buying center. In this way, this paper provides a new conceptual framework for understanding buying center behavior.     

Antecedents and outcomes of digital influencer endorsement: An exploratory study

The advertising and marketing literature have established that celebrity endorsements constitute an effective way to enhance attitudes toward brands and increase purchase intents. However, there are no relevant studies on digital influencers. This study addresses the research gap by examining the effect of digital influencers' attractiveness and the effect of the congruence between a digital influencer and a brand on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. By applying structural equation modeling to a sample of 307 followers of digital influencers, a model was tested and group analysis was performed for two categories (“entertainment & video games” and “fashion & beauty”). The results show that both brand attitudes and purchase intentions are influenced by the digital influencer's attractiveness (which includes both likeability and familiarity) and by the congruence between the digital influencer and the brand. This study makes several contributions to both theory and practice, which are highlighted in this paper.     

Ethical Judgments Across Cultures: A Comparison between Business Students from Malaysia and New Zealand

This study compares the attitudes to ethical dilemmas of first year business students in Malaysia and New Zealand by using a series of scenarios or vignettes. Between subject manipulations were made to the scenarios given, based on expected cultural differences suggested in the literature. In particular, Hofstede's (1980, 1983 and 1991) work was used as a framework to identify dimensions based on differences in national culture. The results indicated some differences in responses based on both nationality and ethnic origin. Differences were also found as a result of the manipulations within the scenarios. However, a lack of any interaction effects between the manipulations and both nationality and ethnic origin indicated that cultural differences did not lead to different responses to the manipulations.     

Online Customer Experience in e-Retailing: An empirical model of Antecedents and Outcomes

The theoretical understanding of online shopping behavior has received much attention. Less focus has been given to the formation of the customer experience (CE) that results from online shopper interactions with e-retailers. This study develops and empirically tests a model of the relationship between antecedents and outcomes of online customer experience (OCE) within Internet shopping websites using an international sample. The study identifies and provides operational measures of these variables plus the cognitive and affective components of OCE. The paper makes contributions towards new knowledge and understanding of how e-retailers can provide effective online experiences for customers.     

社会比较倾向和群体认同对群际信任的影响——对品牌群危机过程的实证研究

不同于以往对于品牌危机及其溢出效应的机理解释,文章关注于品牌群危机中的社会心理过程,依据群际关系理论,分析了危机中消费群体的社会比较倾向和群体认同对群际信任的影响。实证研究发现,在产品伤害或服务失败事件的启动下,消费群体成员的社会比较倾向和群体认同都会提高群体相对剥夺感,由此激化消极群际情绪特别是愤怒情绪,并破坏群际信任,引发群际关系冲突。社会比较过程成为除了群体认同之外,可以解释集体行动的另一理论路径。所得结论有助于拓展品牌群危机研究的理论边界,并启示管理方发展应对策略时应注意其中的社会心理变量。     

Ethnic Enclaves to Diaspora Entrepreneurs: A Critical Appraisal of Black British Africans' Transnational Entrepreneurship in London

In this article, the author examines the transition from ethnic enclave to diaspora/transnational entrepreneurship by Black African ethnic entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom through interview/case study approaches. Key issues at stake are whether diaspora/transnational entrepreneurship is a kind of adaptive process in self-actualization, economic empowerment, or competitive advantage or a strategy of reintegration with the country of origin. Leveraging duality of opportunities results in subjective successful business performance and personal contentment of the diaspora entrepreneurs. Transnational entrepreneurship is crucial to business growth in Africa. This is particularly true with diaspora transfers to Africa playing a significant role in social, economic, and business developments.