Salespersons' Guanxi Orientation,Communication, and Manifest Conflict: An Empirical Study in China

The purpose of this study was to investigate how guanxi orientation, which is one of the personality attributes of Chinese people, influences the behavior of salespersons and the occurrence of manifest conflict. This study also investigates how guanxi‐oriented attitude, which is one dimension of guanxi orientation, influences guanxi‐oriented behavior, the other dimension of guanxi orientation. Data were collected via questionnaire from those selling equipment in the oil industry. The partial least squares method is applied to analyze the collected data. The study finds a positive correlation between salespersons’ guanxi‐oriented attitudes and guanxi‐oriented behavior. Both dimensions of the guanxi orientations of salespersons influence their selection of communication modality under friction events. The use of informal communication is inversely related to the occurrence of manifest conflict, while the use of formal communication is positively related. The guanxi‐oriented attitude of salespersons is negatively related to the occurrence of manifest conflict; however, the collected data did not reveal the expected negative relationship between guanxi‐oriented behavior and the occurrence of manifest conflict. The implications and research limitations are also discussed.     

A Text Mining-Based Review of Cause-Related Marketing Literature

Social networking sites (SNS) have challenged ethical issues about users’ information security and privacy. SNS users are concerned about their privacy and need to control the information they share and its use. This paper examines the security of SNS by taking a look at the influence of users’ perceived control of information over their information-sharing behaviors. Employing an empirical study, this paper demonstrates the importance of perceived control in SNS users’ information-sharing behaviors. Specifically, perceived control has been found to be negatively related to perceived privacy risk and attitude toward information sharing, which in turn has an impact on their information-sharing behaviors. In addition, gender has been shown to be an important factor that moderates the influences of both perceived control and perceived privacy risk on SNS users’ attitudes toward information sharing. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Adolescent perceptions of parent and peer influences on teen purchase: An application of social power theory

This study evaluates parental and peer influences on teen purchase decisions by applying social power theory, which has not been examined in the teen context. The conceptual model examines how family socialization practices might impact teens' perceptions of social power influences from parents and peers. For example, family communication environment may promote teens' reliance on particular bases of social power influence. This study also examines the relationship between the bases of perceived social power and the purchase of different types of products (e.g., luxury/necessity, public/private). Results are generally consistent with predictions, demonstrating that teens from high socio-oriented communication environments are subject to greater perceived peer reward/coercive and referent power, whereas teens from high concept-oriented communication environments perceive greater parental expert and legitimate power. Finally, perceived bases of social power influence differ depending on the type of product purchased. Interpretation of findings and implications are discussed.     

Family firms’ identity communication and consumers’ product involvement impact on consumer response

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the image transfer theory and the elaboration likelihood model can provide a theoretical framework capable of assessing the influence of consumers’ product involvement and family firms’ identity communication through websites on consumer responses. This research conducted an experiment using an eye‐tracking technique measuring attention to family and nonfamily corporate websites. The procedure involved 120 participants. Consistent with the image transfer theory, family firms’ identity through websites positively impacts attitude toward the website and intention to buy. Additionally, the attitude toward the website affects the relationship between family firms’ identity through websites and the intention to buy. In line with the elaboration likelihood model, consumers’ product involvement negatively impacts the relationship between family firms’ identity through websites and intention to buy.     

The role of customization,brand trust,and privacy concerns in advergaming

This study investigates the effects of advergame customization features and trust in the brand advertised in the advergame on players’ brand attitude and personal information disclosure. Moreover, we examine to what extent players’ privacy concerns moderate these effects. Drawing on self-determination theory and uncertainty reduction theory, we developed and tested a game with varying levels of customization features and brand trust. Results show that customization possibilities and brand trust may have a positive influence on advergame persuasion outcomes, but this influence is strongly conditioned by consumers’ privacy concerns. When privacy concerns are low, a game containing customization features leads to a more positive brand attitude. However, when privacy concerns are high, the effect becomes negative. Additionally, we find that different levels of privacy concerns do not affect players’ responses toward high trust brands, but toward low trust brands. For low trust brands, players with high privacy concerns show more negative game responses than players with low concerns. These findings set the boundaries for several theoretical and practical implications regarding advergame effectiveness.     

Online anthropomorphism and consumers’ privacy concern: Moderating roles of need for interaction and social exclusion

Online privacy concern has become a critical ethical and managerial issue for online retailing. However, we know limited information about what marketing practices may exacerbate consumers’ privacy concern. This study intends to examine the undesirable intertwining effect of online anthropomorphism and individual features on consumers’ privacy concern and downstream variables. Three experiments were conducted to test hypotheses. The results suggest that consumers who have a low need for interaction in business encounters and who experience social exclusion indicate a higher privacy concern and lower willingness to register online in anthropomorphic (vs. non-anthropomorphic) websites. Moreover, the interactive effect of online anthropomorphism and social exclusion extends to consumers’ online purchase intention, which works via privacy concern as a mediator in this process. The findings suggest that incorporating anthropomorphic elements online may exacerbate consumers’ perceptions of privacy risk and detract their behavioral intention toward the websites and thus individual features should be taken into account. We conclude by discussing the implications, limitations, and directions for future research.     

App Users Unwittingly in the Spotlight: A Model of Privacy Protection in Mobile Apps

Mobile apps are increasingly jeopardizing app users' online privacy by collecting, storing, and sharing personal data disclosed via apps. However, little is known about mobile app users' current privacy protection behavior and the factors that motivate it. Drawing on Roger's Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), this study develops and tests the App Privacy Protection Model among 1,593 Western European app users. The results demonstrate that, on the one hand, increased levels of perceived self‐efficacy, vulnerability, and privacy concern enhance mobile app users' motivation to engage in risk‐reducing behavior, while on the other hand, higher levels of knowledge of the data collection practices of mobile apps, app attitude, and perceived response costs diminish it. Being the first study that applies PMT in the mobile app context, this study offers several important implications regarding privacy protection in mobile apps.     

Saving behaviours: first wave baby boomers

The combination of lower saving rates in the 1980s, high consumer debt, and the impact of the baby boomer generation moving into retirement in an uncertain economic environment creates increasing concern for the financial state of the American household. This study explored the saving behaviours of baby boomers. The family management-systems model was used as the framework for the study. Research questions included whether saving behaviours were related to income, education and presence of dependent children. Data are from the 1983 National Survey of Consumer Finances. The 1980s represent a decade critical to first wave baby boomers and their continued influence on American society. A study of their saving behaviours provides information necessary to help plan for their future needs. Frequency counts and cross-tabulations of demographic data provide a profile of saving behaviours and attitudes toward risk and liquidity. Marital status and presence of children were significantly related to reasons for savings. Income, marital status, education and presence of children indicated a significant effect on net worth and attitude towards risk. Income and presence of children affected attitude towards liquidity. Income level was the strongest predictor of net worth as a measure of saving behaviours.     

Is Current Way of Promoting Sustainability,Sustainable?

Consumer behavior regarding sustainable products has been a complex concept. There is a discrepancy between consumer’s espoused concern towards environment and their purchase of environment friendly products. Past literature suggests greenwashing being a possible reason for this discrepancy. With greenwashing being caused by mismatch between communication and perceived performance, this article focuses on assessment of simultaneous impact of both communication and performance elements on brand attitude. A quantitative study was undertaken to test the hypotheses. This was followed by a qualitative study to understand alternative explanation of hypotheses that was not accepted. The research revealed that a consumer’s attitude toward a green brand is impacted both by his or her general skepticism towards green ads and the credibility that she assigns to the firm’s green message. Perceived value of product also had a positive impact on brand attitude. Findings advance academic literature and support managerial community by highlighting factors for building a positive green brand attitude and resultantly avoiding the trap of being equated with greenwashing.     

Determinants of Consumer’s Willingness to Purchase Gray-Market Smartphones

The study analyzes the influential factors of consumers’ willingness to purchase gray-market smartphones by considering the model of novelty seeking, status consumption, integrity, and perceived risk. Attitude toward counterfeit is used as mediation in the model. The causalities in the model of problematic willingness of consumer to purchase gray-market smartphones are hypothesized. A total sample of 350 respondents with 238 effective samples is collected by interviewing with questionnaires at the service counters of telecommunications operators. Structure equation modeling (SEM) is adopted in the analysis. Consumers’ attitude toward counterfeit goods is found to be positively related to the willingness of consumers to purchase gray-market smartphones, but perceived risk is negatively related to consumers’ willingness to purchase. As for personality constructs, integrity and status consumption are found to be negatively related to consumers’ attitude toward counterfeit goods, but novelty seeking is positively related to the attitude. Further, managerial implications for branded smartphone manufacturers and telecommunications regulators are provided by the research.     

Usefulness,Enjoyment, and Self‐Image Congruence: The Adoption of e‐Book Readers

One challenge when launching new technologies is to overcome consumer resistance to change so as to accelerate market acceptance. This is the case of e‐book readers. The present study investigates individuals’ perceptions of the utilitarian and hedonic values of such devices and their congruence with self‐image as determinants of adoption. Additionally, consumer profile and familiarity with the new technology as a whole influence individuals’ perceptions of this particular technology and its congruence with self‐image. Findings show that perceived enjoyment and self‐image congruence complement perceived usefulness in forging a favorable attitude toward e‐book readers and adoption intention, and that knowledge proves essential in the adoption process. Moreover, people highly involved with reading tend to perceive e‐book readers as useless, which hampers their adoption.     

Privacy attitudes and privacy‐related behavior

A significant body of research has arisen over the last few decades describing the causes of observed incongruity between attitudes and behaviors. Recent work in the area of privacy has demonstrated this type of situation, in which people with negative attitudes toward the provision of personal information will disclose this very same infor‐ mation for no apparent benefit. However, little theoretical work has been developed to explain why this paradoxical anomaly exists. This paper suggests that attribution plays a crucial role and should be taken into account with regard to both the assessment of behavioral outcomes and the examination of attitude formation. The purpose of the current work, thus, is to consider the contribution of the two theoretical areas, attitude formation and attribution, in explaining the correspondence between privacy‐related attitudes and behaviors. This represents a critical first step in understanding the antecedents of privacy‐related behaviors and in further developing the under‐ standing of attitude models in general. As such, the paper suggests a framework and a set of propositions to guide future research and theoretical development. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Can we find the right balance in cause‐related marketing? Analyzing the boundaries of balance theory in evaluating brand‐cause partnerships

Cause‐related marketing (CRM) refers to the phenomenon where brands partner with causes, such as nonprofit organizations. Consumers may see some CRM partnerships as less compatible than others, however the level of perceived compatibility differs from one consumer to another. We know a great deal about how perceptions of compatibility affect attitude and behavior toward CRM partnerships, but we know less about how to predict a consumer's perception of compatibility. Therefore, our purpose was to investigate the boundaries in which balance theory could be used to make predictions about consumers’ responses to CRM partnerships. This is the first study to consider the construct of attitude strength (vs. attitude alone) when considering balance theory. We found that a consumer's attitude toward a brand, along with their attitude toward a cause, predicts their perceptions of CRM compatibility. We also found that CRM triadic balance could be predicted when attitude strength was included in the models, and that balance theory allowed us to observe preliminary evidence of attitude and attitude strength spillover effects in CRM triads. Practitioners can use these insights to determine which organizations to partner with, as well as determine how advertising these partnerships may affect acceptance of these partnerships.     

Attitude Toward the Viral Ad: Expanding Traditional Advertising Models to Interactive Advertising

As a form of advertising, viral video (VV) advertising is distinct in that its communication medium is the social connections between individuals instead of formal media. After viewing VV advertising, people are engaged in two independent but interrelated processes, i.e., video sharing and embedded brand information processing. Previous research has not examined the interaction between the two processes. This study expands on the mediation of attitude toward the advertisement model proposed by MacKenzie, Lutz, and Belch (1986). Experimental results from three viral video advertisements show that attitude toward the VV advertisement is the major factor affecting video sharing, but attitude toward the brand also has a significant impact on sharing activity. Affect transfer hypothesis (ATH) and its extended models are optimal in explaining viral video advertising, which is different from prior research on non-viral advertising that suggests dual mediation hypothesis as the optimal explanatory theory.     

Investigating the marketing impact of consumers’ connectedness to celebrity endorsers

Consumers enjoy following famous media personalities, discovering details about their habits, food preferences, or designer brands that they wear. Consumers model their consumption behaviors based on their favorite celebrities’ preferences. Marketers are aware of such celebrity admiration and frequently use celebrities as part of marketing communication strategies. Grounded in parasocial relationship and social connectedness theories, this study tests a model of connectedness to the celebrity, attitude toward the celebrity, receptivity toward the celebrity‐endorsed message, and purchase intentions of the celebrity‐endorsed market offering. These relationships were investigated using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate an individual's level of connectedness to their favorite celebrity is positively linked with both their receptivity toward the celebrity‐endorsed message and purchase intentions of the celebrity‐endorsed market offering. On the theoretical side, the integration of parasocial relationship and social connectedness theories explain the processes through which celebrity endorsements impact consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. On the practical side, the findings suggest marketers should carefully choose the best celebrity endorsers for advertisements after considering how constituents from within their key target markets are likely to connect with the chosen celebrity. However, beyond consumers’ connectedness to the celebrity, the findings also suggest that receptivity toward the celebrity‐endorsed message is an essential link to purchase intentions of the endorsed offering.     

Parenting Orientations as Antecedents of Children's Violent Videogame Play

The study investigates caregiver influence on children's playing of violent videogames. Based on theory, the investigation develops and tests a model that links parental socialization tendencies to children's violent videogame play. Results from a national sample of 237 caregiver–child dyads suggest that while the primary caregivers' tendencies toward warmth and restrictiveness likely lessen children's play levels of violent videogames, their predispositions toward anxious emotional involvement tend to increase play. Moreover, results suggest that these relationships are mediated by caregiver mediation of videogames.     

Effects of personalized e-mail messages on privacy risk: Moderating roles of control and intimacy

New communication platforms have enabled firms to collect personal data on their consumers and provide more personalized services. Personalized service facilitates interpersonal communication and interactions based on consumers’ personal and preference information, and therefore constitutes a way to improve firm–customer relationships. However, such personalized services may be vulnerable to privacy issues. This study investigates the effects of personalized e-mail messages (an archetypal example of personalized service) on consumers’ risk perceptions and two moderating variables: consumers’ control and message intimacy. In three experiments, we show that an increase in the level of personalization in e-mail messages increases consumers’ privacy risk perceptions. However, giving consumers more control over their personal information and adding intimate cues to e-mail messages moderate the negative effects of personalized e-mail messages on their privacy risk perceptions. The study provides important implications for both academics and managers in developing and employing personalized service in new media communication.     

Factors affecting attitudes and behavioural intention towards social networking advertising: a case of Facebook users in South Korea

This study examined factors (e.g., ad values and social networking advertising characteristics) influencing consumers' attitudes and behavioural intention towards three types of social networking advertising (SNA) on Facebook – home page ad, social impression ad, and organic impression ad. Findings demonstrate that peer influence had the most significant impacts on attitude and behavioural intention across all types of SNA. The significant interaction term of invasiveness and privacy concern indicates that both attitude and behavioural intention were diminished, particularly when perceived invasiveness and privacy concern were high simultaneously. In addition, results suggest that attitudes towards the ad played a mediating role between SNA characteristics and behavioural intention. Lastly, among the types of SNA, consumers preferred organic impression ads that featured friends' names on their newsfeed more than paid ads located on the sidebar of their Facebook pages.     

Personality traits and complaining behaviors: A focus on Japanese consumers

Despite the fact that personality is thought to be one of the main factors that may explain unhappy consumers’ behavior, very little is known about how it affects their attitudes and complaining strategies. This is particularly true in the case of Japanese consumers where scant research has been conducted on their complaining behaviors. Hence, the main objective of this study is to investigate the roles of three personality traits (i.e., self‐confidence, aggressiveness, and altruism) of Japanese consumers in explaining their attitudes toward complaining, perceived likelihood of successful complaints (PLSCs), and complaining behaviors. On a sample of 263 respondents, a univariate general linear model (GLM) analysis is performed to assess the moderating roles of personality traits on complaint‐related variables. The results show that, on the one hand, in contrast to self‐confidence, the levels (i.e., high vs. low) of aggressiveness and altruism have significant impacts on attitudes toward complaining and PLSCs. However, the level of self‐confidence appears to have the most significant impacts on public complaining behaviors. On the other hand, altruism is found to be the only personality trait that may explain consumers’ private complaining behaviors. Additional analyses reveal interactive effects of the personality traits on complaining attitude and behaviors.     

Protecting children's privacy online: How parental mediation strategies affect website safeguard effectiveness

Concern toward children's safety in an online environment has resulted in demands for safeguards to protect their online privacy when involved with a wide variety of commercial websites. Unfortunately, little academic research has examined how effective safeguards are in limiting children's disclosure of information. We fill this void by examining how proposed safeguards may interact with various types of parental involvement in limiting children's willingness to disclose information online. The results of two studies involving preteen, young teen, and older teen children show that safeguard effectiveness depends on both the type of parental mediation and the particular age group. Implications are presented for retailers, educators, and parents.