On market mavens and consumer self‐confidence: A cross‐cultural study

Market mavens are attentive to media and important diffusers of marketplace information. This study examines the relationships between cultural individualism, general and consumer self‐confidence, and market mavenism in the context of two distinct cultural systems, the United States and South Korea. The examination of cross‐cultural equivalence of the constructs under study provides evidence for both configural and full or partial metric invariance. The results indicate that cultural individualism is positively related to general self‐confidence, general self‐confidence is positively related to consumer selfconfidence, and consumer self‐confidence is positively related to market mavenism. Additionally, this research shows that these relationships hold in both the U.S. and South Korean samples. The results of this study indicate that market mavenism, and thus levels of confidence about marketplace knowledge and speed of diffusion of such information may be more prevalent among the more individualistic than collectivistic consumers. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The relative importance of specific self‐efficacy sources in pretraining self‐efficacy beliefs

Self‐efficacy is clearly important for learning. Research identifying the most important sources of self‐efficacy beliefs, however, has been somewhat limited to date in that different disciplines focus largely on different sources of self‐efficacy. Whereas education researchers focus on Bandura's original sources of enactive mastery, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and negative emotional arousal, organizational researchers focus on learning, performance prove and performance avoid achievement goal orientations. To date, however, little research has examined the importance of a specific set of self‐efficacy sources after fully accounting for the influence of other sources. Data were obtained from 278 adult trainees who completed online Microsoft Excel training. Results suggest that once accounting for achievement goal orientation, Bandura's sources of vicarious experience and negative emotional arousal are still important contributors to pretraining self‐efficacy beliefs. As such, organizations seeking to maximize training effectiveness may wish to consider pretraining interventions simultaneously targeting achievement goal orientation, vicarious experience and negative emotional arousal.     

Responsible family ownership in small‐ and medium‐sized family enterprises: an exploratory study

The concept of responsible ownership was originally developed with reference to large, publicly held firms. However, the relevance of small‐ and medium‐sized closely held firms, such as family firms, in all economies and the specific governance and organisational characteristics of these firms require further examination of the responsible ownership concept and its operationalisation. Based on the existing literature, we define the construct of responsible family ownership to fill this gap in responsible ownership theory. We propose a scale that can be used to assess the responsible family ownership construct in small‐ and medium‐sized family enterprises. The data used in this exploratory study were collected in an ad hoc survey answered by a representative sample of 84 small‐ and medium‐sized family enterprises. The study contributes to the responsible ownership literature by presenting the responsible family ownership construct, a key driver of balance in family and firm systems that is therefore critical to the health of small‐ and medium‐sized family enterprises. In addition, a scale is proposed as a means to operationalise the construct and to derive practical implications for the governance of this kind of firms.     

Understanding self‐initiated expatriates: Career experiences of Lebanese self‐initiated expatriates in France

Drawing on a field study based on interviews with 43 Lebanese skilled self‐initiated expatriates from the Paris region in France and six policymakers and immigration specialists, the article offers an alternative to theories of management that frame expatriate careers as either organizationally or individually driven. In doing so, we explicate how the international work experiences of self‐initiated expatriates can be captured in ways true to their nature as multifaceted and multilevel phenomena. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A self‐regulatory model of consideration set formation

The goal of this article is to deepen the understanding of the consideration stage in choice processes. The basic questions are: Why do people consider different brands/products in the first place? What cognitive processes lead to the formation of consideration sets? Based on the notion that consumers are volitional decision makers capable of controlling their own behavior according to their goals, a self‐regulatory model of consideration‐set formation is developed. Goals at different levels of abstraction are hypothesized to determine considerationset formation. In contrast to the notion of congruence, which relates the ideal self to consumer choice, the authors focus on the motivational function of the self. Based on a self‐regulatory model, it is shown that the ideal self, as a macrolevel goal, determines desired benefits. Desired benefits, as more specific goals, then determine brand consideration. In contrast to stimulus‐based choice approaches, consideration‐set composition is investigated in a memory‐based, comparable‐choice context of real adult consumers considering the purchase of automobiles. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Measuring self‐regulated learning in the workplace

In knowledge‐intensive industries, the workplace has become a key locus of learning. To perform effectively, knowledge workers must be able to take responsibility for their own developmental needs, and in particular, to regulate their own learning. This paper describes the construction and validation of an instrument (the Self‐Regulated Learning at Work Questionnaire) designed to provide a measure of self‐regulated learning (SRL) behaviour in the workplace. The instrument has been validated through a pilot study with a cohort of 170 knowledge workers from the finance industry. Results indicate that the five scales of the instrument are reliable and valid, testing a broad range of sub‐processes of SRL. The instrument can be used to identify knowledge workers who demonstrate different levels of SRL in workplace contexts for further exploration through qualitative studies and could also provide the basis of professional development tools designed to explore opportunities for self‐regulation of learning in the workplace.     

Career anchors: A comparison between organization‐assigned and self‐initiated expatriates

In the present study, based on the theory of fit, we have tested hypotheses on a sample of 303 French expatriates, comparing career anchors between assigned and self‐initiated expatriates. We found that lifestyle and internationalism are both very important anchors for assigned as well as self‐initiated expatriates, although most anchors differ among these groups. Furthermore, we have introduced a measure of the internationalism career anchor that presents promising psychometric characteristics. Our results provide important theoretical and practical implications. In particular, they show that both assigned expatriates and self‐initiated expatriates can be engaged in a boundaryless career. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Cultivating greater self‐confidence in African management research

Although strategic management has taken root in many African organizations, much of the existing body of African management research offers little insight into the current state of knowledge and direction in terms of Africa finding its voice within the mainstream research. We draw on a review of the literature to develop a conceptual framework for classifying the contributions in African management research. The conceptual model captures the indigenous (intra‐Africa) and inter‐Africa dimension of macro‐strategy and organizational behavior/human resource research. The accumulated body of research indicates a sign of growing self‐confidence in African management research that must be maintained and revitalized. This article contributes to the literature by developing a unified conceptual model that captures both the indigenous and comparative dimensions of management research. A number of fruitful avenues for future research have been advanced.     

Young consumers’ innovativeness in apparel choices: A model including consumer self‐confidence

In industries with network effects, consumer innovators help to trigger the critical mass needed for a product innovation to be successful. Thus, firms can benefit from actions that increase consumer innovativeness in their target markets. Consumer innovativeness has been associated with variables such as hedonic shopping motivation, impulsiveness and status seeking. There is limited work on the impact on consumer innovativeness of consumer characteristics that reflect consumers’ self‐confident ability to choose. This study proposes and tests a model for consumer innovativeness that incorporates variables from previous research and uncovers the importance of consumer self‐confidence. We collect survey data from 534 Chilean girls, ages 10–15. After building constructs with the help of exploratory factor analysis, we analyze the data with linear regression estimation (via OLS). Our results reveal that consumer self‐confidence is positively and significantly related to consumer innovativeness. Our findings also add evidence ‐from a younger age group‐ regarding the significance of status seeking, impulsiveness and hedonic shopping motivation on consumer innovativeness. Results suggest that companies could leverage consumer innovativeness by taking actions to increase consumers’ self‐confidence. Innovative apparel choices in young consumers could possibly also be strengthened by communicating status achievement and by enhancing shopping enjoyment.     

A structural look at consumer innovativeness and self‐congruence in new product purchases

Consumer innovativeness and new product purchasing literatures are replete with solid yet unrelated theories that have not been considered simultaneously as part of a larger psychological framework. This oversight limits the ability of practitioners to effectively target the valuable consumer innovators market segment. In this study, an approach/avoidance framework of new product purchase intentions is discussed and empirically tested via structural equation modeling. Consumer innovativeness, self‐congruence, and satisfaction play the role of approach mechanisms, while perceived risk acts as an avoidance mechanism. The authors combine a set of related yet disconnected theories, while suggesting a means of appealing to consumer innovators through a specific form of self‐congruence. A sample of 741 students is employed to examine these issues. Several notable findings are highlighted, including verification of indirect relationships between the independent variables and behavioral intent. Model fit is excellent and results are consistent across the handheld devices, home entertainment, and music industries. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Understanding the relationship between holiday taking and self‐assessed health: an exploratory study of senior tourism

The senior market is particularly attractive to the tourism industry. Alongside evidence of a growing propensity to travel and spend, consumption is often deliberately linked to low seasons, balancing out the peaks and valleys for tourism suppliers. Health is one variable which is particularly significant to this consumer. Personal health influences all patterns of consumer behaviour regardless of age, although the full extent to which this models senior tourism activity is unclear. An exploratory qualitative study was undertaken in the spring of 2005, with 22 senior consumers (aged 55 years plus) interviewed. Utilizing the earlier work by Zimmer et al.into self‐assessed health as a framework, travel propensity, the perceived effects of travel and factors inhibiting full participation were questioned. Conclusions drawn outline both a senior tourism typology and areas for future research. Notably the relationship between caregiving and tourism consumption is singled out for further investigation.     

A Model of motivated cognition to account for the link between self‐monitoring and materialism

Drawing on previous theorizing about the development of materialistic values, a model of motivated cognition is proposed to account for the positive association between self‐monitoring and materialism. The model suggests that self‐monitoring is associated with individual differences in belonging motivation, that belonging motivation shapes people's beliefs about buying as a means of belonging within valued groups, and that buying‐is‐for‐belonging beliefs shape the degree to which people value wealth and luxury. Results from two studies supported this model and suggested that the self‐monitoring results are not better attributed to extraversion, social self‐confidence, or shyness. The proposed model emphasizes that traits associated with a strong need to belong may predispose people toward materialism. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Gender differences in the importance of personality traits in predicting leadership self‐efficacy

Our goal in this study was to investigate antecedents to formation of leadership self‐efficacy (LSE) for men versus women. We used a relative importance analysis, which allows more precise identification of important predictors without concern of multicollinearity effects on R². Using a sample of 325 business students, we found that extraversion, conscientiousness and openness to experience each explained significant variance in LSE. Conscientiousness and openness to experience were stronger predictors of LSE for women than men, whereas extraversion was a stronger predictor of LSE for men than women. We provide a literature review with hypotheses, methods and analysis. We discuss the results with respect to the role congruency and leadership self‐perceptions and provide implications for future research and practice of leadership development.     

The moderating role of self‐efficacy in the organizational culture–training transfer relationship

This paper aims to examine the combined effects of self‐efficacy and organizational culture on employees' transfer of knowledge/skills acquired through training. The questionnaires were distributed to 252 newly hired employees working in a service organization in Greece. Each of the independent variables examined added incrementally to the prediction of training transfer. Moreover, self‐efficacy was found to act as a moderator in the organizational culture–training transfer relationship. High self‐efficacy was found to strengthen both achievement culture–training transfer as well as humanistic culture‐training transfer relationships, whereas low self‐efficacy weakened these relationships. The study has practical implications by providing insights into ways of engaging employees in transferring the skills acquired during training. This investigation extends previous research by demonstrating that self‐efficacy acts as an accentuating factor in the relationship between organizational culture orientations and new hires' transfer of training.     

Trust,authentic pride,and moral reasoning: a unified framework of relational governance and emotional self‐regulation

This conceptual article introduces behavioral perspectives into the governance arena and undertakes a psychological assessment of managerial decision making in organizations by elaborating on the treatment of trust and (authentic and hubristic) pride in the extant literature. While trust is conceived by governance scholars as a device for monitoring relationships with others, we argue that authentic pride, contrary to hubris, could operate as an attribute of emotional self‐regulation allowing corporate leaders to govern the social behavior of their own self. Contrasting the features of trust and authentic pride, we advance several propositions to capture their relevance and simultaneous importance as viable governance mechanisms in light of a manager's level of cognitive moral reasoning. Our study builds a unified theoretical framework of governance which integrates human agency, psychological states, and moral judgment to foster a deeper understanding of complex self‐regulatory processes that are activated by decision makers in the execution of their roles.     

A psychometric evaluation of a revised version of the Lennox and Wolfe revised self‐monitoring scale

Self‐monitoring has developed over the past decade or so to where it has become an important construct in both psychology and consumer behavior. Even though there is now a considerable literature largely in psychology, concern still remains at both a theoretical and measurement level about this construct. This article attempts to address some of the concerns raised in the literature about measuring self‐monitoring. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to explore the robustness and fit of a revision of the Lennox and Wolfe (1984) revised self‐monitoring scale and to test differences in variables across respondents' degree of self‐monitoring. The findings from a data set of 450 respondents indicate a factor structure similar to that found in previous studies, but with improved reliability and fit to the data. The results were sufficiently strong to warrant continued use of this instrument. The results also indicate significant differences in key consumer behavior variables, consumer confidence, subjective knowledge and concern for image across self‐monitoring. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Cross‐cultural perceptions in the leadership process: Theoretical perspective on the influence of culture on self‐concepts and manager‐worker attributions

This article examines the influence of culture on the way managers and workers perceive causes of success and failure in organizational tasks. The author argues that selfserving and actor‐observer biases, as well as other attribution errors, will be moderated by culture. Specifically, managers and workers with a sociocentric self‐concept from high‐context cultures may be biased toward external attributions, while managers from low‐context cultures with an idiocentric self‐concept have a tendency to make more internal attributions. These variations in attributions have consequences that affect both managers and workers. Theoretical propositions and implications for international management practices are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consumer food safety perceptions and self‐reported practices in Greece

A substantial proportion of foodborne illness is associated with food prepared in households. The primary understanding of how foods are handled in private homes comes mostly from questionnaire based studies and direct observation. The aim of this survey was to examine consumers' perceptions and knowledge of safe food handling practices in Greece. More specifically, their attitudes, opinions and self‐reported practices were studied. Data were collected from a total of 399 consumers living in Greece by the use of a self‐administered on‐line survey. The questionnaire consisted of four positive and five negative statements according to the 5‐point Likert scale, which grouped into three constructions using principal component analysis in order to investigate food safety perceptions of consumers. Furthermore, the survey included 11 demographic questions, two close‐ended questions (type yes/no) and four questions that are related to self‐reported food‐handling practices. The results showed that the most commonly known bacterium causing food‐related illness according to respondents' knowledge is Salmonella (99.7%), followed by Escherichia coli (73.9%) and Listeria (58.4%). The overall consumers' score concerning food safety was 32.8 ± 5.37 (full score was 45). No significant differences to the mean score of food safety knowledge were found according to gender, age or the incidence of foodborne illness over the past 12 months. Knowledge and awareness of safe food handling practices was enhanced at higher education levels, while homemakers were found to have deficiencies at this level. Information obtained from consumers can be used to shape educational programs and determine where food safety educational efforts would be most effective and the needed content of the messages.     

Clean laundry with pure conscience—A study on laundry practices among Finnish consumers

The previous study concerning laundry practices in Finland was published 16 years ago. Since that time, many pro‐environmental debates have been going on and sustainable actions have been implemented in many areas of individual lives and households. The purpose of this study is to investigate the textile laundering practices of Finnish consumers and their attitudes toward clothing care procedures. This study discusses how laundry habits could be developed into a more sustainable direction. The data for this research were gathered through an online enquiry that consisted of structured multiple‐choice questions. The data were obtained from 1,841 persons of whom 97.5% were women (n = 1,795). The data were analyzed by statistical means using the SPSS program. The data show that, despite media attention and debate about textile care procedures, there still are factors in laundering that burden the environment. From a sustainability point of view, some improvements exist when comparing to the situation 16 years ago, but washing machines still are seldom filled to their full capacity and consumers, being unaware of water hardness, administer excessive amounts of detergent. The current life situations of the household members seem to be major factors influencing laundry habits and sustainable actions. Especially, young people and families with children would benefit from information and instructions on laundry practices. Topics could contain knowledge about water hardness and proper dosing of detergent, filling the washing machine, washing temperatures, drying methods, and saving energy. Furthermore, general promotion of gender equality is important because household work and laundering is strikingly women‐performed work.