An Empirical Investigation of the Formation and Implications of the Organizational Buyer's Strategic and Tactical Roles

Although research in organizational buying behavior has alluded to the importance of the purchasing agent's enacted role in the development and execution of an organization's procurement related activities, there exists little corresponding empirical evidence. This paper examined the buyer's self-perceived role, factors that affect its formation, and the impact that a buyer's role definition has on various aspects of buying behavior. Cluster analysis is employed to differentiate among purchasing agents based on their perceived participation in various stages of the purchasing decision process. Different patterns of behavior emerge from the five empirically derived clusters. These differences are presented and the managerial implications are discussed.     

Tribute to Colston E. Warne

The daughter of Colston E. Warne reviews the social history of the consumer movement and her father's role in that movement. She speaks of her father's college days, his role as President of Consumers Union (CU) in the pre- and post-war years, CU's role in the beginning of ACCI, and the development of an international consumer movement.     

The role of organizational service climate in generating control and empowerment among workers and customers

Previous studies have found a relationship between service climate and customers’ satisfaction. This paper presents two studies that used structural equation modeling to examine the role of control and empowerment in mediating this relationship. In the first study, questionnaires were administered to 113 pairs of customers and service workers. The results show that service climate is related to a customer's satisfaction through the mediation of a service worker's self-reported control of the service situation. In the second study, the service worker's sense of empowerment was predicted with service climate and the supervisor's empowering behavior. The data was gathered with questionnaires administered to 255 workers in service roles. Service climate was found to have a positive effect on empowering leadership behaviors of the service worker's supervisor which, in turn, enhance the service worker's sense of empowerment. The results are discussed in regard to the role of control and empowerment in service organizations.     

Conceptualizing the Roles of Founder Personality Traits in Startups' Construction of Brand Identity

Founder personality traits (FPT's in short) play unique roles in a start-up organization's brand identity construction (BIC in short) and hence merit more research attention (Miller 2015). Here, startup FPT's are theorized to play three different roles that give rise to three different startup brand identities because of start-ups' BIC.

The first role played by startup FPT's is an indirect one that gives rise to a startup brand identity called a sticky identity. In order to build the sticky identity, we propose that startups focus on innovative product features regardless of FPT. The second role played by startup FPT's is a long-term-oriented direct one that gives rise to a startup identity called a static identity. In order to build the static identity we propose that startups with joiner-cultured FPT's focus on long-term gains such as loyalty. The third role played by startup FPT's is a short-term-oriented direct one that gives rise to a startup identity called a fluid identity. In order to build the fluid identity we propose that startups with non-joiner cultured FPT's focus on short-term gains such as transient, sporadic, but profitable transactions.     

News media and insider trading profitability: An emerging country perspective

We test news media's disciplining by dissemination role and predictive power in insider trading related issues with a large and novel dataset on Chinese firms between 2008 and 2017. We find that more media coverage is associated with significantly lower level of insider trading profitability, which confirms the disciplining by dissemination role of media documented in the developed market. However, as a new evidence to the media and insider trading literature, we also find that media's negative tone has a positive correlation with future insider trading profitability, which is consistent with the media predictive power argument. In addition, we find that media's predictive power is amplified by a firm's good governance structure and low level of information asymmetry. Our study shows news media's effectiveness in predicting opportunistic insider trading in China.     

Examining consumers' continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile applications

This paper examines the variables influencing a consumer's satisfaction and continuous use of a multichannel retailer's mobile application. Drawing upon the Expectation Confirmation Model for Information Technologies, post-adoption literature, and consumer behavior literature, we assess pertinent factors on the continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile apps. Through a sample of 1009 consumers who retained a retailer's mobile app for more than 6 months and conducting Structural Equation Modelling, the findings illustrate that utilitarian variables (perceived usefulness, ease of use, and personalization), hedonic variables (perceived enjoyment), and a brand-related variable (consumer loyalty intention toward the retailer's brand), play a significant role in influencing continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile apps. In contrast to e-commerce research, the study outlines that escapism plays a negative role in both consumer satisfaction and intention to continue to use a multichannel retailer's mobile app. Previous research points to the fact that consumers' retention of retailers' apps is low. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on consumers' continuous use of retailers' mobile apps through enhancing our understanding of technology and non-technology-related variables.     

Local Heroes,Regional Champions or Global Mandates? Empirical Evidence on the Dynamics of German MNC Subsidiary Roles in Central Europe

SUMMARY

In this paper we analyze the influence of a subsidiary's external environment, of its task and of its mode of ownership and its mode of market entry on the development of its role for the case of German subsidiaries in Central Europe. We define a subsidiary's role as a three-dimensional construct, consisting of a subsidiary's tasks, its value chain activities and its respective geographical scope. Drawing on a sample of 99 subsidiaries from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, we find that a subsidiary's host country, its tasks and its mode of market entry influence the development of its role. We find no evidence for the influence of subsidiary's mode of ownership. Especially, “geographical market proximity seeking”-subsidiaries seem to follow a different path of development than subsidiaries where this task is of minor importance as they tend to perform a smaller number of value chain activities and tend to expand these value chain activities with regard to their geographical scope more incrementally.     

Do Consumers Discriminate Against Foreign Companies Even When They are Green?

The international business literature has long investigated the role of corporate environmentalism, or “going green,” in business. However, this research has been limited regarding the dynamics of a firm's eco-friendly image and consumers' intention to purchase the firm's products in light of the consumer's complex social viewpoint and how that eco-friendly image is perceived. This limitation is due in part to the complex nature of the eco-friendly image-purchase intention relationship, especially when taking into account the consumers' identification with the firm, as well as the role of consumer ethnocentrism. Through the use of an experimental survey, we found differences between countries and the role of the firm's eco-friendly image and consumer ethnocentrism. In particular, an eco-friendly image was positively related to identification with the firm in a German company sample. The findings also show that this identification mediates the effect of eco-friendly image on purchase intention. Consumer ethnocentrism significantly moderated the effect of this identification on purchase intention as well in the Chinese company sample. Implications for managers of multinational enterprises are discussed, as are avenues for future research.     

The globalization of Chinese enterprises

The question of how and why Chinese firms globalize is one of the most pressing issues for businesses today. China's globalization process is nothing less than remarkable. The twenty‐first century will feature a developing country as the leader of the global economy by 2020, when, by most estimates, China's purchasing power parity (PPP) gross domestic product (GDP) surpasses America's. With China's new role on the world's stage, global economic and political institutions are likely to change. China's foray into Latin America, for example, has changed the traditional role that America has played in its “backyard.” While the Chinese government was given much credit for China's globalization, Chinese private‐ and family‐owned businesses have also propelled China outward. Our research stream and annual China Goes Global conference at Harvard has attempted to frame the questions associated with China's globalization. This special issue is another important step in this direction. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Female consumers as agents of change for transforming the environmental sustainability landscape

Faith in others (FIO; governments and businesses) can be seen as society's predisposition to handle environmental problems. The article examines whether women, who undertake a large majority of household purchases, can influence change in consumption practices so as to contribute to sustainability initiatives. Understanding women's character in this manner is informative, it helps us to consider how a women's role as a household purchasing agent is an important nexus to environmental sustainability. The study found that FIO has an influence on women's purchasing decisions. The study provides additional support to strengthen women's role in environmental matters. Not all women were found to be sustainability‐minded. In the challenges faced by women with respect to their influence, evidence from this research suggests that if women have more faith in governments and businesses it would make them more eco‐savvy to act as agents of change for transforming the environmental sustainability landscape.     

Affirming Communication's Primary Role in a Manufacturer-Retailer Context

Contrary to most extant relationship research which has relegated communication to a minor relational role, we found communication to be a central relationship variable. Communication's importance arose in a qualitative stage of our research which involved four manufacturer-retailer case studies. To affirm communication's central relational role, we tested the link between relationship governance and communication in a quantitative study of 280 retailers of the manufacturer's product, and found a positive link. Additionally, to aid future research in this area, this study brought together measures of communication from several U.S. studies and tested them in their totality.     

The Taiwan hat industry: Pre-war roots of the post-war miracle

Taiwan's pre-war hat industry was a precursor of the export-oriented living-room factory industries which played a leading role in Taiwan's post-1960 economic miracle. After World War I, success in the global hat trade required quick reaction to ever-changing fashion. Taiwan's hat industry was based on a flexible subcontracting system which could respond quickly to fashion change and ramp up production at short notice. Taiwan's early hat industry has been overshadowed by its larger agricultural exporting industries, but the hat industry itself was, by many standards, large and influential. Evidence suggests that Taiwan's early experience in the hat trade was a key factor behind Taiwan's later post-war success.     

From mercantile strategy to domestic demand stimulation: changes in China's solar PV subsidies

Through scrutinizing China's industrial subsidies towards its solar photovoltaic (PV) sector from a theoretical perspective constructed by Michael Porter on the government's role in forging national comparative advantages, this study tries to capture recent dynamics in China's state capitalism, which has been evolving from a mercantile stage in which most subsidies were designed to influence factor conditions and supporting industries, to a new stage of domestic demand with more subsidies aimed at reshaping domestic demand conditions to absorb redundant manufacture capacity. China has emerged as the world's largest solar panel producer, but compared to its fast-expanding wind power market that has congenital advantages in attracting policy support, China's domestic solar PV market has been underdeveloped and failed to absorb a large part of its inflated production capacity. Empirical evidences have shown that in sync with the state's recent policy shift to domestic demand from export-orientated mercantile strategy, the government's role in supporting the solar PV industry has been transforming from subsidizing the production side to subsiding the demand side. As solar PV power generation is approaching the breaking point of grid parity with existing subsidies and feed-in tariffs, China could witness its PV installed capacity grow exponentially in the near future.     

Consuming digital technologies and making home

Recognizing digital technology's dislocating impact on home, this paper focuses on an underrepresented consumer, the female head-of-household. This interpretive research study of army men's wives elucidates three issues: the digital home's structure, technology's roles, and women's technology consumption. First, the study introduces the center–periphery model of home. Second, the results go beyond technology's tool role to building a support system. Finally, this study sheds light on the neglected area of women's play with digital technology.     

The Role of Japan in Korea's Acquisition of Technology

Many developing countries suffer from shortages of technical capabilities which can provide a greater handicap to economic development than shortages of capital. The remarkable success of Korea has attracted much interest in how Korea acquired the requisite technology for its rapid industrial development. The few studies on Korea's technology acquisition tend to credit ‘internal’ factors such as the government's role in purchasing licenses, providing incentives and training. This article adopts a more holistic approach by considering some of the ‘external’ factors, in particular the role of Japan. It analyses first the various channels of technology transfer and shows the strong influence of Japan. Second, it analyses the motives behind Japan's transmission of technology. The article concludes by stressing that, although the role of the government was important, more attention should be given to the interests of the major donor, Japan in order to understand Korea's technological acquisitions.     

One-click at a time: Empowering mothers for their adolescent children's educational expenditures through social media usage

Mothers play a significant role in deciding their adolescents' educational expenditures. They increasingly rely on the Internet for information search and building online support networks to enhance their confidence. Thus, we use the psychological empowerment theory in this study to examine the association between social media use and educational expenditures. Through two studies, we show how a mother's use of social media (active/passive use) significantly impacts adolescent children's educational expenses via dimensions of psychological empowerment. We further demonstrate that the two dimensions of psychological empowerment differentially drive this relationship: intrapersonal (relying on the self) and Interactional (leveraging the community) empowerment. We discover that active (passive) social media use increases mother' intrapersonal (interactional) empowerment. We also find that cross-cultural differences play a role in psychological empowerment's effect on educational expenditures, where intrapersonal empowerment is vital in the United States, and interactional empowerment is more relevant in India. Our key contributions to literature are three-fold: we establish the relationship between a mother's social media use and educational expenditures for their adolescent children, identify predictors of different dimensions of psychological empowerment, and present evidence for cross-cultural differences in the empowering role of social media.     

Painting Your Point: The Role of Color in Firms' Strategic Responses to Product Failures via Advertising and Marketing Communications

Color plays a significant role in firms' strategic marketing communications and advertising. This research examines how color (red versus blue) in advertising and marketing communications that follow a firm's failure dynamically influences consumers' interpretations of negative firm information and sensitivity to the firm's response to the failure. We find that the color red used in postfailure advertising and firm marketing communications narrows the scope of consumers' conceptual attention on the firm failure and makes consumers less sensitive to a firm's response to the failure. In contrast, exposure to the color blue expands the scope of consumers' conceptual attention and makes them integrate the firm's response in their firm evaluations. In addition, the negative effect of red is mitigated via the use of a more benign cue, leading to the broadening of the scope of conceptual attention and integration of a firm's response that are consistent with blue cues.     

When push comes to shove: How coach versus student athlete misconduct affects event attendance intentions

Though onand off-the-field misconduct is common among U.S. college athletic programs, little is known regarding the ramifications that may result. Drawing on social learning theory, the current research suggests consumers intentions (e.g., likelihood of attending a game) differ depending on violator's team role. Across one qualitative and five experimental studies, we demonstrate that consumers' intentions are influenced by violator's team role, such that likelihood of attending a game is lower when a coach (vs. student athlete) misbehaves, an effect driven by evaluation of the academic institution. This effect is robust across both winning and losing records and moderated by perceived fairness of the university's actions toward the violator.     

Customer experience in the B2B area: The impact of age-related impressions

Services are dyadic experiences and many of these experiences require personal relationships for service provision. The co-acting parties' early impressions shape their unique expectations regarding, for example, appearance, behavior, and age. In a business-to-business (B2B) context, for example, younger employees might create a favorable impression in design-related tasks, while older employees might create a favorable impression in engineering tasks. The business partner subsequently contemplates the impression made by the individual's age (hereafter referred to as age impression) and ascribes certain competences to the individual.This paper emphasizes the role of the others' age impressions in a working context. More specifically, a qualitative study's results highlight the impact of age impressions on service expectations and perceptions. The results identify several dimensions of age impressions that allow for adapting service personnel to a B2B context. This paper fills a void in the age-related marketing literature because it focuses on the others' age impression rather than the individual's perception. The paper also contributes to recent customer experience (CX) literature, as it emphasizes the context factors' role in the service encounter. Furthermore, this paper is one of the rare CX studies in a B2B context and enriches research in the CX's adaptability in such contexts.