Do Mexican Companies Culturally Adapt Their Websites?

Although some articles have tried to address the standardization/adaptation strategies of companies on the internet, there is still a lack of guidance on the issue, especially for companies outside of the United States. To help alleviate this shortage of guidance and provide Mexican web designers, web marketers, and IT managers with some insights into web cultural adaptation, this article conducted a comparative analysis of Mexican based companies’ domestic websites and their U.S. international websites, replicating a cultural adaptation framework from prior literature. Thirteen Mexican based Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (2005) companies were evaluated to test for the cultural adaptation of their Mexican and international websites. A content analysis of 26 Mexican domestic and U.S. international websites reveals non-significant cultural adaptation on the web; however, the results of the web content analysis are similar to those of previous research, which consider Mexican culture to score high in power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and high-context cultural dimensions. However, for the collectivistic dimension, the results were opposite to those of previous research, which may suggest a need to develop and test other cultural adaptation frameworks for future research.     

Offline and Online Search in Used Durables Markets

This study examines how different information sources are used by consumers prior to their purchase of used durable goods, specifically used cars. We examine how online and offline search are related. Categories of online sources are dealer websites and resale websites, and of offline sources are print media and dealer visits. Prior research on new car purchases finds that online sources substitute for traditional, offline sources such as dealer visits. We examine whether this theory extends to used-car purchases and distinguish between dealer websites and resale websites (a distinction relevant to used-goods markets) by collecting data from a sample of used-car buyers. Because search in different sources can be interrelated, and due to data censoring, we build and estimate a simultaneous equations Tobit model. In contrast to existing research, we find that online search on dealer websites is complementary to and not a substitute for dealer visits. This complementary effect highlights the importance of dealers’ web presence in used markets.     

A Survey of Managers’ Perceptions of Corporate Ethics and Social Responsibility and Actions that may Affect Companies’ Success

This exploratory study examines how managers and professionals regard the ethical and social responsibility reputations of 60 well-known Australian and International companies, and how this in turn influences their attitudes and behaviour towards these organisations. More than 350 MBA, other postgraduate business students, and participants in Australian Institute of Management (Western Australia) management education programmes were surveyed to evaluate how ethical and socially responsible they believed the 60 organisations to be. The survey sought to determine what these participants considered ‘ethical’ and ‘socially responsible’ behaviour in organisations to be. The survey also examined how the participants’ beliefs influenced their attitudes and intended behaviours towards these organisations. The results of this survey indicate that many managers and professionals have clear views about the ethical and social responsibility reputations of companies. This affects their attitudes towards these organisations which in turn has an impact on their intended behaviour towards them. These findings support the view in other research studies that well-educated managers and professionals are, to some extent, taking into account the ethical and social responsibility reputations of companies when deciding whether to work for them, use their services or buy shares in their companies.     

Adolescents' body‐tanning behaviours: influences of gender,body mass index,sociocultural attitudes towards appearance and body satisfaction

The goal of this study was to identify and examine the various factors affecting adolescents' body‐tanning behaviours. Gender, body mass index (BMI), sociocultural attitudes towards appearance (SATA) and body satisfaction were examined in order to determine how these variables influence both outdoor sun‐tanning and indoor tanning‐bed use. Self‐administered survey data were collected from 155 adolescent boys and 202 adolescent girls with an average age of 14.3. Multivariate analysis of variance and multiple regression methods were used to analyse the data. Adolescent girls tended to engage in both outdoor and indoor tanning. Overall, adolescents' SATA significantly affected their body‐tanning behaviours. However, BMI and body satisfaction revealed a significant effect only on indoor tanning behaviour. Implications for the design of interventions and overall health promotion towards adolescents are discussed with suggestions for future research.     

(Re)Presentations of Gender and Ethnicity in Diversity Statements on European Company Websites

This paper investigates how specific notions of gender and ethnicity are integrated into diversity discourses presented on 241 top European company websites. Large European companies increasingly disclose equality and diversity policies in statements on websites. Such statements may be used to promote an ethical image of the company in terms of how well it manages diversity and guards against discrimination. In this paper, we argue that diversity statement discourses are important as they play a key part in socially constructing how diversity should be regarded in the company by minority and majority groups, as well as indicating corporate values to external stakeholders (investors, government, community, press etc.). Sometimes, the notions of gender or ethnic diversity are positioned as a liability in need of protection, whilst in others, as a source of competitive advantage. We find evidence of use of discursive tools such as problematisation, rationalisation, fixation, reframing and naturalisation of the notions of gender and ethnic diversity, reinforced by use of symbols, such as statistics, photographs, membership badges and awards. Few statements directly associate gender and ethnic diversity with enhanced corporate performance. We found that diversity statements sometimes appear to reinforce existing business stereotypes of women and people from ethnic minorities, and in a few discourses, create new ones, particularly evident in photographs illustrating the diversity web pages. Val Singh received her PhD from Cranfield School of Management, where she is Senior Research Fellow in Organisational Behaviour. Her research areas include corporate governance and diversity; women directors’ careers, gender and ethnic diversity management, work/life balance, mentoring; role models, networking and impression management. She is Gender Section Editor of the Journal of Business Ethics, Associate Editor of Gender Work & Organization, and has published widely in both academic and practitioner journals. She has been a judge of the UK National Business Awards since 2003. Sébastien Point received his PhD in management from Institut d’ Administration des Entreprises, Lyon, France. He is currently Lecturer in Human Resource Management and International Management at the Université de Franche-Comté(France). He is also Visiting Fellow at Cranfield School of Management (UK). His research interests include diversity managment, organisational discourse and impression managemnt. Current research centers on analysing organisational discourse, through both corporate annual reports and websites, often with cross-national comparisons.     

Do Consumers Acculturated to Global Consumer Culture Buy More Impulsively? The Moderating Role of Attitudes towards and Beliefs about Advertising

This research advances knowledge that can foster understanding of how global consumer culture (GCC) and its elements relate to impulsive buying and sheds light on how advertising attitudes and beliefs interact with this main relationship. Specifically, this study examines the moderating effects of attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising on the relations between consumers’ level of acculturation to global consumer culture (AGCC) and impulsive buying. Consumers who are the most acculturated to GCC, and who have positive attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising, buy the most impulsively. AGCC is related to increased impulsive buying, even when attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising are negative. The article contributes to the development of a theoretical explanation of these understudied relations by employing acculturation theory and congruity theory. Social and practical implications are discussed.     

Internal labour markets as a strategic tool: A comparative study of UK and Chinese hotels

This paper reports how internal labour markets (ILMs), operated by a multinational hotel chain in the UK and China, impact on a range of organisational outcomes. The study examines the effects of three main dimensions of ILMs: job security, training, and opportunities for advancement on the key organisational outcomes of job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and intention to leave, together with employee attitudes to work environment, co-workers, supervisor, service to guests, leadership, communication, and organisational goal achievement. The paper concludes that the operation of an ILM, underpinned by effective human resource management policies and actions, is associated with high levels of work commitment and job satisfaction together with reduced intention to leave. However, the importance of individual ILM variables differs between hotels in the UK and China.     

Key quality factors affecting users' perception of social networking websites

PurposeThe main aim of the present study is to evaluate the quality factors of websites and their effect on users' perceptions about quality in the context of social networking websites.Design/methodology/approachThis is an applied study conducted as a field survey. A conceptual framework of website quality is proposed and empirically tested that combines quality factors and users' overall perception about quality. Based upon conceptual frameworks in the areas of information systems and using responses from 300 users, a seven factors scale has been validated and data were used to test the conceptual model. To test validity of conceptual framework, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted and regression analysis was performed to examine the suggested hypotheses in the conceptual framework.FindingsIn this study, six different significant factors namely efficiency, entertainment, community drivenness, privacy, user friendliness, efficiency and navigability were identified to be significant for the service quality of social networking websites. Using the survey conducted in the statistical sample, only the factor of web appearance was identified as less important for social networking website users.Practical implicationsFindings from this research provide a set of essential and desired quality factors that social networking website developers can use to improve the quality of existing websites in turn increasing its numbers of users, thus bringing benefits to the company. Second, this study shows how perceived quality has a direct and profound effect on the degree of consumer perception about website quality.Originality/valueThis study, expanding a conceptual model, tries to identify the set of service quality factors for social networking websites. The information of these quality factors as a major predictor of consumers' quality perception provides social networking websites management an initial point for making successful quality management practices for their e-commerce.     

An examination of the relationship among consumer lifestyles,ethnocentrism, knowledge structures,attitudes and behavioural tendencies: a comparative study in two CIS states

The objective of this study is to investigate ethnocentric and/or regiocentric behaviour of Azeri and Kyrgyz consumers. In particular, the study focuses on how ethnocentrism explains consumers' attitudes, intentions and actual purchasing behaviour towards products from major sourcing countries. Data for the study were collected through personal interviews in four districts of Greater Bishkek: the capital city of Kyrgyz Republic, and Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. Survey findings lend greater support to earlier studies conducted in the USA, Western and Eastern Europe and Japan. Non-ethnocentric Kyrgyz and Azeri consumers have significantly more favourable belief structures, attitudes, intentions and the resultant purchasing behaviour regarding imported products compared to their ethnocentric Azeri and Kyrgyz consumer counterparts. The findings of the study offer important research, public policy and managerial implications for companies, government agencies and international donor agencies alike who are either operating in the region or contemplating an entry in the future. Foreign companies may use pan-regional marketing strategies and may be able to standardise their products and marketing strategies in the region, since consumers have identical and/or very similar use behaviour and uses for the products and services.     

Determinants of Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intentions With Regard to Genetically Modified Food – Results of a Cross-National Survey

Previous research has shown consumers to be highly sceptical towards genetic modification in food production. So far, however, little research has tried to explain how consumers form attitudes and make decisions with regard to genetically modified foods. The paper presents the results of a survey which was carried out in Denmark, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom to investigate the formation of consumer attitudes towards genetic modification in food production and of purchase decisions with regard to genetically modified yoghurt and beer. Altogether, 2031 consumers were interviewed in the four countries.Results show that attitude formation and decision-making are more comparable among Danish, German, and British consumers than with Italian consumers. Italian consumers turned out to be significantly less negative towards genetic modification in foods than particularly Danish and German consumers. Across countries, the attitude towards genetic modification in food production was deeply embedded in more general attitudes held by the consumers, in particular attitude towards nature and attitude towards technology. These general attitudes were found to influence perceived risks and benefits of the technology. Purchase decisions with regard to the two product examples were almost exclusively determined by attitudes towards purchasing the products. These were, in turn, significantly influenced by the overall attitude towards genetic modification in food production through their effects on beliefs held by consumers regarding the quality and trustworthiness of the products.The results suggest that attitudes towards genetically modified foods are quite strong, despite their lack of basis in actual product experience. Likewise, the strong relation of product-specific attitudes to the attitude towards using genetic modification in food production suggests that at present consumers reject the technology overall rather than evaluate products on a case-by-case basis. This situation may, however, be changed by a possible increased availability of genetically modified food products on the consumer market.     

Factors that Influence Consumer Adoption of E-government Services in the UAE: A UTAUT Model Perspective

The objective of this research study is to identify the constructs and factors important to the user-centric transformation of e-governments. The research design follows the comprehensive Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model. The primary data for the research were collected from potential and current users of e-government services in the United Arab Emirates. Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract the important constructs from the 19 factors identified from the literature. Regression analysis was used to identify the influence of individual constructs on overall satisfaction, while correlation analysis was used to identify the relationship between Internet usage and user satisfaction. Analysis of variance and t-test were used to identify potential differences among demographic factors and their overall satisfaction with e-government services. This study identifies confidentiality and users’ trust and attitudes toward using technology as key determinants of overall satisfaction and the subsequent adoption of e-government services. The study also identifies significant differences in how different genders adopt the use of e-government services.     

The value of social presence in mobile communications

Texting via mobile devices is used as a primary means for day-to-day communications among an increasing number of consumers and, as a result of this trend, more companies are engaging with consumers and addressing service complaints using social media platforms, such as Facebook. This study addresses the use of two-way mobile texting via Facebook to resolve service complaints with applications from social presence theory. Research shows that marketers’ warm emotions are important in addressing service complaints, yet prior works mainly focus on the significance of human warmth in face-to-face contexts. Therefore, this study uses an experimental design to investigate the value of social presence in mobile texting as a means for providing service recovery. In triangulating the data, we use focus groups in confirmatory analysis. The findings show that social presence cues add human warmth to text messages with respect to two-way communication perceptions, control perceptions, responsiveness perceptions, satisfaction, attitudes, and repurchase intentions. The article concludes with a discussion of the importance of social presence cues in improving customers’ experiences and overall satisfaction.     

Disability users’ evaluation of the web accessibility of SNS

Social network service (SNS) is an effective communication tool for the community of disabled people. However, there is a general paucity of research on web accessibility of SNSs. This study investigates web accessibility of four SNSs that are most popular among disabled people: Facebook, Twitter, Me2day, and Yozm. Eight disabled individuals were selected according to the type of disability: two with total blindness, two with low vision, two with brain lesions, and two with an upper extremity disability. The subjects were asked to perform four navigation-related tasks and ten general tasks for each SNS. The success rate of their performances and user satisfaction levels were then measured. The four SNSs, on average, attained a task success rate of 73 % and a user satisfaction score of 3.1 points (max. = 5), indicating that the disabled participants found the websites generally inconvenient. As a pioneering evaluative study of the web accessibility of major SNS sites for the disabled, this research contributes to both theory and practice.     

The Effect of Organisational Vision on Service Quality Delivery

This study is an attempt to apply the concept of organisational vision to quantitative measures of service operation. Service organisations look at customer satisfaction ensuing from service quality delivery as a source of competitive advantage. To be able to contribute towards this end, vision must exert influence on the key variables job satisfaction and service effort of employees. The results show that organisational vision positively contributes to job satisfaction and service efforts of the participants working in a nationwide fast-food organisation.     

Web banner ads in online newspapers: a cross-national comparison of India and Korea

A cross-national content analysis was performed on 449 web banner ads taken from the online editions of leading Indian and Korean daily newspapers. There are substantial differences between Indian and Korean ads in terms of the types of products advertised, the presence of price cues and the types of appeals used. Korean newspaper websites are starting to attract a diverse mix of advertisers, while Indian newspaper websites attract ads targeted mainly towards expatriate non-resident Indians. The observed differences between the two countries are probably attributable more to differences in internet diffusion rather than to cultural differences.     

Key drivers of services website loyalty

The ease of website comparison and strong price competition encourage users to constantly switch tourism service providers. The present work analyses how satisfaction, trust, and commitment can help to strengthen loyalty towards websites selling accommodation services. Moreover, special attention is paid here to evaluate the moderating effects of gender on the relationships between these variables. Structural equation models were used to test the hypotheses on a sample of 230 Mexican Internet users, online purchasers of tourist accommodation services. The results show significant differences between men and women's post-purchase behaviour with a higher influence in women of trust on commitment and of commitment on loyalty towards accommodation services websites. Managerial implications for accommodation websites are provided.     

Assessment of Leading Apparel Specialty Retailers’ CSR Practices as Communicated on Corporate Websites: Problems and Opportunities

Despite the increased attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and regulatory changes in recent years, little is known about how apparel companies are implementing and communicating CSR practices to their stakeholders. To fill the gap, this study investigated the range and strategies of leading apparel specialty retailers’ CSR practices as communicated on their websites over a longitudinal period of 1 year. In total, 17 apparel specialty retailers were included in the analysis. The companies’ websites were content-analyzed in-depth using the coding criteria focusing on labor and environmental issues developed for this study. The initial data were collected in November 2011 and the study was replicated in December 2012 to examine any changes in the CSR practices. As of 2011 only nine companies addressed CSR issues on their websites at different degrees despite their leadership positions in the industry. Environmental issues were addressed by only five companies, with different ranges of practices. In 2012, all 17 companies addressed labor issues on their websites with varying degrees of specificity. In terms of environmental issues, six companies (an increase of one company from 2011) addressed environmental initiatives on their websites with wider ranges of practices. Discussed are problems and opportunities, as well as the role of the government and stakeholders, for the effective communications of CSR policies and initiatives for the apparel industry.     

Economic influences on perceived value,quality expectations and customer satisfaction

Consumer research has extensively analysed psychological determinants of customer satisfaction. As macro‐level customer satisfaction data were not available until recently, researchers have only taken first steps towards analysing economic determinants of customer satisfaction. Based on a more complex conceptual framework and on data from Germany and Japan, this article examines how economic processes influence the perceived value of goods and services, quality expectations and customer satisfaction. Using principal component analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modelling, this study finds that perceived value is positively influenced by both economic growth and lagged economic expectations. Customer satisfaction is positively influenced by economic growth and negatively by current economic expectations, with half of the impact mediated by perceived value. Economic expectations positively influence expectations regarding the quality of goods and services. These results imply that consumer researchers should no longer ignore economic influences on consumer attitudes. Marketing managers are advised to be cautious not to misinterpret economic‐induced variations in customer satisfaction as caused by corporate performance.     

Behavioral Model of Younger Users in M-Payment Systems

This article contributes to the research area concerned with behaviors of young users in virtual environments. More specifically, we study their purchasing behaviors on the Internet and the acceptance of the new mobile payment tools that are being used. To perform this research, a web experiment involving a new short-message-service (SMS) mobile payment system is performed. Data from young users who participate in the experiment are used to analyze a behavioral model of factors potentially influencing intentions to adopt the new mobile payment system. The analysis shows how trust, ease of use, and risk are key elements of the intention to use the new tool by persons in a young-user population. Findings and their implications for management provide companies with alternatives to seize this new business opportunity in light of new technological developments. This article is an initial study of behavioral intention with SMS mobile payment, especially among younger users.     

Attitudes Towards Product Website Design: A Study of the Effects of Gender

The research of the Internet2 project has resulted in the introduction of new technologies and has set the stage for another round of Internet growth. These technologies will enhance interactivity and allow for the delivery of greater amounts of information through richer communication. With these new options, World Wide Web‐based retailers must now rethink the design of their sites, the amount of information to deliver and the degree of media richness to provide. This article sets forth an overview of the evolution of the Internet, presents relevant media richness theory, gives a review of the literature with regard to gender and the Internet and presents an empirical illustration of the effects of gender on attitudes towards website design. The results suggest that, overall, males have more positive attitudes than females with regard to both rich and lean websites. The study details the development of an experimental instrument for measuring user attitudes and discusses the impact of the results.