An Investigation of Egyptian Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Ethical Issues in Advertising

This article investigates Egyptian consumers’ attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising held by a sample of 306 participants. The subjects completed a 20-item instrument originally designed to measure respondents’ attitudes toward controversial issues in advertising. The study validates the scale in an Arab non-Western context. The results revealed that Egyptian consumers have negative attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. There are significant differences between males’ and females’ perceptions of ethics in advertising. Finally, the study detects a significant difference between Muslims and non-Muslims in Egypt regarding their attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. These results lend strong support to the adaptation hypothesis and suggest that ads produced in one country cannot be standardized or directly translated for use in another, particularly if they are different culturally.     

Counterfeit Luxuries: Does Moral Reasoning Strategy Influence Consumers’ Pursuit of Counterfeits?

Morality, in the context of luxury counterfeit goods, has been widely discussed in existing literature as having a strong association with decreased purchase intention. However, drawing on moral disengagement theory, we argue that individuals are motivated to justify their immoral behaviors through guilt avoidance, thus increasing counterfeit purchase intention. This research demonstrates that consumers’ desire to purchase counterfeit luxuries hinges on (one of) two types of moral reasoning strategies: moral rationalization and moral decoupling. The empirical results show that each strategy increases purchase intention, but respectively through moral judgment and perceived benefit. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed.     

Determinants of Consumers’ Attitudes Toward a Sport Sponsorship: A Tale from College Athletics

Although sponsorship is considered one of the most important revenue sources, there have been surprisingly few attempts to explain how sponsorship works in the mind of a consumer in the nonprofit business segment. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that determine consumers’ attitudes toward sponsorship in college athletics. A conceptual model includes factors related to the sports property/event/team and sponsors. This study also examined the role of a perceived congruence between the sponsor and the sponsored property. A structural equation model test using a convenience sample of 460 students enrolled in a division I-A university suggested that specific characteristics of both the sponsor and the sponsored event are significant determinants of attitudes toward a college athletic sponsorship, and the perceived congruence plays an important part as moderator of a sponsorship perception–attitude link.     

Throwing It All Away: Exploring Affluent Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Wasting Edible Food

The skewed allocation of food across the world population is a major concern, as the result is that some of us live in abundant supply while others spend their life in constant scarcity. While researchers have studied a variety of issues related to the amounts of food being wasted, or the waste of edible food across consumers with different demographic characteristics, less is known about the drivers of attitudes toward food waste. Based on survey data from a sample of affluent Norwegian consumers, we test how subjective food knowledge, environmental concern, age, and income are related to consumer attitudes toward wasting edible food. We find that all variables except income drive consumer attitudes. Implications for theory and public policy are offered.     

Are Consumers Disadvantaged or Vulnerable? An Examination of Consumer Complaints to the Better Business Bureau

Questions have emerged recently about the appropriateness of defining disadvantaged consumers based on their membership in certain demographic categories, such as income, age, education, and race. This study assessed whether these traditional classifications are useful for understanding consumer complaining behavior with the Better Business Bureau. Results of analysis of more than 24,000 consumer complaints filed with a local BBB office during a 13-year period do not provide consistent support for this disadvantaged consumer perspective. Instead, the emerging vulnerable consumer perspective may provide a more promising basis for future research.     

The Effect of Word of Mouth on Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Products and Their Purchase Probability

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of word of mouth on consumers’ attitudes toward the product and its purchase probability. Furthermore, we examine the moderating influence of susceptibility to interpersonal influence, which is a personal characteristic of the receiver of word of mouth information. A quasi experiment was conducted, in which subjects were asked to evaluate a product, while being subjected to positive or negative word of mouth. Our results indicate that negative word of mouth has an impact on consumers’ attitudes and purchase probability, while the influence of positive word of mouth was not significant. Interestingly, susceptibility to interpersonal influence does not play a moderating role. While the experimental design with an unknown word of mouth source and fictitious brand allowed the comparison of results for the positive, negative, and control group, such conditions do not correspond to an actual market setting.     

Play Buddies or Space Invaders? Players’ Attitudes Toward In-Game Advertising

This article investigates beliefs that players of digital games hold toward the practice of in-game advertising (IGA), referred to as “attitudes toward in-game advertising” (AttIGA). The hedonic nature of IGA is the strongest, positive predictor of AttIGA. Beliefs about IGA as a means to lower games’ prices contribute positively, and beliefs about fostering materialism contribute negatively to AttIGA. Further, the relative importance of the belief factors determining AttIGA relates to the playing frequency of role-playing games and racing games. The results contribute to theory building and practical considerations of digital games as an important yet underutilized advertising medium.     

Managers’ Attitudes Toward Codes of Ethics: Are There Gender Differences?

As the need for more diversity in business ethics is becoming more pressing in our global world, we provide an historical study of a Fair Trade (FT) movement, born in rural Mexico. We first focus on the basic assumptions of its founders, which include a worker–priest, Frans van der Hoff, a group of native Indians and local farmers who formed a cooperative, and an NGO, Max Havelaar. We then review both the originalities and challenges of the FT movement and its potential contributions to the current theories and practices in business ethics.     

Country of Origin Principle in the EU Market for Audiovisual Media Services: Consumer’s Friend or Foe?

The country of origin principle, the cornerstone of the EU Television Without Frontiers Directive – to become the Audiovisual Media Services Directive – is often criticised as being insensitive to the legitimate national public interest to protect viewers – and consumers – of audiovisual media content. This paper seeks to demystify this pessimistic perception of the country of origin rule from the perspective of the consumer interest. It demonstrates that the possible negative repercussions of the country of origin logic for consumer welfare are mitigated in three ways: by specific derogations possibilities foreseen in the Directive in case of violations of the fundamental rules on protection of minors and of human dignity; through the margin of broadcasting control left to the Member States in the areas beyond those coordinated by the Directive, and by means of a new two-step anti-circumvention procedure introduced by the new Directive.

Virtually Compatible or Risky Business? Investigating Consumers’ Proclivity Toward Online Banking Services

The present research examines online banking services, and it challenges the prevailing assumptions underlying the nomological validity of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Results from 594 Taiwan respondents support a negative relationship between sub-constructs of consumers’ risk propensity and ensuing online banking services (OBS) engagement. The most important contribution is the strong empirical support that both consumers’ positive impact of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are positively related to the adoption of OBS. Furthermore, the results reveal that the assumptive impact of perceived risk construct is negatively associated with OBS adoption. The diminished impact of perceived risk explicitly challenges the predominant underpinnings of the TAM framework. In addition, findings reveal that the perceived risk factor consists of five underlying dimensions: financial risk, performance risk, time risk, psychological risk, and privacy risk.     

The Catch-22 of Responsible Luxury: Effects of Luxury Product Characteristics on Consumers’ Perception of Fit with Corporate Social Responsibility

The notion of “responsible luxury” may appear as a contradiction in terms. This article investigates the influence of two defining characteristics of luxury products—scarcity and ephemerality—on consumers’ perception of the fit between luxury and corporate social responsibility (CSR), as well as how this perceived fit affects consumers’ attitudes toward luxury products. A field experiment reveals that ephemerality moderates the positive impact of scarcity on consumers’ perception of fit between luxury and CSR. When luxury products are enduring (e.g., jewelry), a scarce product is perceived as more socially responsible than a more widely available one and provokes positive attitudes. However, this effect does not appear for ephemeral luxury products (e.g., clothing). The perceived fit between luxury and CSR mediates the combined effects of scarcity and ephemerality on consumers’ attitudes toward luxury products. This study provides valuable insights that luxury brand managers can use to design their CSR and marketing strategies.     

The Impact of Power-Distance Belief on Consumers’ Preference for Status Brands

ABSTRACT

We tested the impact of power-distance belief (accepting and expecting power disparity) on consumers’ preference for status brands (brands such as Rolex or Louis Vuitton, which are associated with social status). Our correlational and causal results show that consumers with high power-distance belief tend to have a stronger preference for status brands than those with low power-distance belief. Notably, buying status belief (a belief that buying status brands can enhance one's social status) moderates this effect. Further, this two-way interaction is stronger for people with a relatively lower, rather than higher, self-worth state.     

Consumers’ Shrimp Purchasing Preferences: An Application of Conjoint Analysis

The U.S. shrimp farming industry has been developing in Southern states in response to domestic market demand for shrimp. Shrimp farmers have expressed interest in marketing fresh, whole shrimp directly to consumers. This study employed a mail survey and conjoint analysis to quantify the utility value and relative importance of key, farmer-controlled shrimp attributes: size, refrigeration state, form, and price. Almost all survey respondents (96%) indicated that a member of their household eats shrimp, and 84% purchase shrimp for at-home consumption. The conjoint analysis results suggest that large (26–35 tails per lb. count), fresh, whole shrimp should receive favorable consumer acceptance.     

Interactive Role of Consumer Discrimination and Branding against Counterfeiting: A Study of Multinational Managers’ Perception of Global Brands in China

Prior research has examined consumer intentions to purchase fakes, branding strategies and anti-counterfeiting actions, but little attention seems to have been paid to the role of consumers’ ability to discern fakes and branding strategies against counterfeiting. This article, thus, based on a study of 128 multinational managers’ experience in China, examines these inter-relationships. As a result, we address how knowledgeable and experienced managers in branding, consumer consumption and anti-counterfeiting effort perceive consumers’ ability to discriminate fakes from originals interacts with branding strategies, and how such relationship influences the effectiveness of anti-counterfeiting effort. Our findings suggest that consumer discrimination itself has no significant effect on anti-counterfeiting success. However, it significantly interacts with branding strategies to predict a means to mitigate brand damage. That is, consumers’ ability to discriminate fakes from originals appears to undermine efforts to mitigate brand damage from counterfeiting, at least in China when branding is based on improving product features or advertising and promotion. However, if branding emphasises after sales service, consumers’ ability to discriminate was found to enhance firms’ ability to limit counterfeiting damage to brands. Such interactions, however, did not help stop counterfeiting, except that branding based on reliability appears to have such a positive effect.     

Wrongdoing by Consultants: An Examination of Employees’ Reporting Intentions

Organizations are increasingly embedded with consultants and other non-employees who have the opportunity to engage in wrongdoing. However, research exploring the reporting intentions of employees regarding the discovery of wrongdoing by consultants is scant. It is important to examine reporting intentions in this setting given the enhanced presence of consultants in organizations and the fact that wrongdoing by consultants changes a key characteristic of the wrongdoing. Using an experimental approach, the current paper reports the results of a study examining employees reporting intentions subsequent to their discovery of wrongdoing by a consultant. The results of the study indicate that perceptions about the seriousness of a wrongdoing, personal costs and personal responsibility related to reporting a wrongdoing, and moral-equity judgments are significantly associated with reporting intentions for a normal (non-anonymous) reporting channel. Only perceptions of seriousness and personal costs are significantly associated for an anonymous reporting channel. Lastly, while personal costs for the anonymous reporting channel were lower than the normal reporting channel, reporting intentions were similar across the two channels.Susan Ayers is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of San Diego, where she has been a faculty member since 2000. Previously, she served on the faculty at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University. She has published in journals such as Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory, Accounting Horizons, Information Systems Audit and Control Journal, and ABACUS. She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in Accounting Information Systems. Her primary research interests involve the investigation of judgment and decision making in information systems environments. Steve Kaplan is a Professor of Accounting at Arizona State University, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1981. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He has published widely in journals such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Journal of Business Ethics. He is the previous editor of Behavioral Research in Accounting, a section journal of the American Accounting Association. His primary research interests are behavioral issues, judgement and decision making, and ethics.     

Antecedents of Taiwan Chinese Consumers’ Purchase Intentions Toward U.S.- and Japanese-Made Household Appliances

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to understand the factors influencing Taiwan's Chinese consumers’ purchase intentions toward U.S. and Japanese household appliances. The authors attempt to develop and test a comprehensive model linking such purchase intentions to several constructs including Taiwan Chinese consumers’ openness to foreign cultures, consumer nationalism, product familiarity, traditional cultural values orientation, and product-country image. The result of analysis using structural equation modeling shows that consumer nationalism has a strong indirect effect on purchase intention via the product-country image construct. Taiwan Chinese consumers’ traditional cultural values orientation and openness to foreign cultures have direct effects on consumer nationalism and, hence, are important antecedents in explaining the purchase intentions toward foreign-made goods by Taiwan Chinese consumers. With the growing importance of the Chinese domestic market, this study provides international marketing managers with practical implications in important areas such as market segmentation, branding strategy, and market research and practices in the Chinese consumer market.     

Leadership Spiritual Behaviors Toward Subordinates: An Empirical Examination of the Effects of a Leader’s Individual Spirituality and Organizational Spirituality

This study notes three research requirements in workplace spirituality namely; need for conducting empirical studies, building on the existing research, and linking spirituality to organizational topics in general and leadership in particular. It also notes that the existing literature indicates a requirement for examining the spiritual sources of a leader’s spiritual behaviors toward subordinates. To address these research requirements in workplace spirituality, this study conducts an empirical examination of the effect of two spiritual factors—leader’s individual spirituality and organizational spirituality—on leadership spiritual behaviors toward subordinates. It specifies and empirically examines a direct effects model hypothesizing direct effects of these two variables on a leader’s spiritual behaviors toward subordinates. It also specifies and empirically examines a moderating effect model hypothesizing that organizational spirituality will moderate the relationship between a leader’s individual spirituality and the leader’s spiritual behaviors toward subordinates. The results of this study provided support for the direct effects model but not for the moderating effect model. Specifically, in the direct effects model, a leader’s individual spirituality accounted for statistically significant variance in leadership spiritual behaviors toward subordinates but organizational spirituality did not.     

CEO Turnover in Dual-Path Career: An Examination of Followers’ Power

This paper highlights the internecine struggle within the top management team in listed companies in China. Drawing on a power perspective, we longitudinally examine the antecedents of CEO dismissal followed by inside succession in dual-path CEO career. It examines the influence of followers’ power on the dismissal of incumbent CEO and demonstrates the liability of newness and outsiderness, which is strengthened by the power of followers. It also highlights conflicts of interest and competition within the top management team and the joint effects of followers’ power on both the liability of newness and outsiderness.     

Friend or Foe? On the role of institutional reforms in the investment development path of Central and East European economies

Many existing studies on emerging markets and firms have concentrated on the separate effects of institutional reforms and quality of the institutional infrastructure for attracting inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and fostering outward FDI. We argue that both these perspectives should be considered in an interplay, as there are links between inward and outward FDI in a country's economic development, which is captured by the investment development path (IDP) concept. Moreover, while predominant attention has been paid to emerging markets, little has so far been done to evaluate the sustainability of the institutional development, including later post-transition stages. We extend the IDP with insights from the institutional theory and conduct a comparative analysis of the effects of institutional reforms on IDP paths of ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) post-communist European Union (EU)-members. We find that while most of the studied post-transition economies follow a quadratic relationship between the net outward investment (NOI) position and each country's economic development, the role of institutional reforms is not in all cases accelerating the movement through the stages of the IDP. We attempt to explain the ambiguous role of institutions in an ensuing detailed discussion of the investigated countries.