An appraisal framework of the determinants and consequences of brand happiness

Recent academic discussions about the concept of brand happiness have introduced brand happiness as a promising new branding asset and a key research area. There is scientific evidence that its strong desirability, its characteristic of greatest emotional fulfillment, and its superior power to influence brand behavior qualify brand happiness as an important brand goal and differentiate it from other emotional‐relational concepts (e.g., emotional brand attachment, customer delight). However, there is no evidence on the effectiveness of brand happiness. To provide essential new insights in this research field, the authors theoretically develop an appraisal framework of the determinants and consequences of brand happiness and empirically verify it in four industry sectors. On the cross‐industry level, brand relationship quality, brand self‐relevance, brand goal‐congruence, and actual and ideal brand self‐congruence are confirmed to be important brand appraisal determinants of brand happiness, and pleasantness, fairness, and certainty are confirmed to be important situational appraisal determinants of brand happiness. The behavioral power of brand happiness was supported by showing that brand happiness strongly predicts five coping strategies; namely, the problem‐focused coping strategies of (re‐)purchase intention and price premium, and the emotion‐focused coping strategies of word‐of‐mouth, brand evangelism, and brand forgiveness. On an industry‐specific level, differences are observed regarding the influence of some of the brand appraisal determinants on brand happiness and regarding the influence of some of the situational appraisal determinants on brand happiness across the four analyzed industry sectors.     

The role of actual,ideal, and ought self‐congruence in the consumption of hedonic versus utilitarian brands

To emotionally attach consumers to a brand and inspire brand loyalty, marketers often target the brand personality towards the consumer's actual or ideal self. The self is not limited to its actual and ideal dimension, however, and motivation to approach a desired self may vary depending on the consumer's personality. Thus, the current research is the first to link self‐congruence to self‐discrepancy theory by incorporating the ought self into the self‐congruence framework and taking into account self‐discrepancies as potential moderators of the self‐congruence effect. Additionally, hedonic brand nature is discussed as important condition for self‐congruence and self‐discrepancies exhibiting their fullest effect. The conducted study focuses on how actual, ideal, and ought self‐congruence influence emotional brand attachment and consequently brand loyalty. For brands of primary hedonic nature, findings confirm actual and ideal self‐congruence as drivers of emotional brand attachment, which in turn increases brand loyalty, while ought self‐congruence influences brand loyalty directly. Moreover, self‐discrepancies moderate the described relations, albeit their effect is contrary to theory‐based expectations. From these findings, the authors derive important implications for business practice and future research.     

An Alternative Approach to the Measurement of Emotional Attachment

Emotional attachment (EA)—the emotional bond connecting an individual with a specific target—has been identified as an important construct within the marketing domain. Despite all the research, there is no consensus on how the construct should be measured. A major factor contributing to this confusion is that current definitions and, consequently, scales of EA focus on describing reactions toward specific referents of attachment rather than on capturing the extent of emotion an individual feels; hence, hindering construct validity. In this article, the authors scrutinized the concept validity of EA. After defining the construct, scale development procedures were followed to propose an alternative one‐dimensional scale that reflects the abstract nature of EA. Three studies support the scale's reliability as well as the discriminant, convergent, criterion, and nomological validity of the measure. The studies tested the scale under different marketing contexts. Moreover, by employing the new measure, the findings showed that EA and self‐concept maintenance (SCM) are related, yet different constructs. Specifically, the results showed that these constructs interact to predict willingness to pay (WTP) for a brand such that when SCM is low, WTP is predicted by EA. However, when self‐concept is high, the effect of EA on WTP is not that strong. This new scale will help researchers extend research on EA to a broader set of contexts, explore the relationship between EA and related constructs, develop nomological networks, and prevent the confounding of terms.     

Efficiency in the Greek Banking Industry: A Comparison of Foreign and Domestic Banks

This study uses a sample of foreign and domestic banks operating in Greece during 1999–2004 to examine the impact of ownership on efficiency. We estimate an input oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) model under variable returns to scale with inputs and outputs selected on the basis of a profit‐oriented approach. The results indicate an average pure technical efficiency equal to 0.7325 showing that the banks in sample could improve their efficiency by 26.75%. Over the same period, scale efficiency was equal to 0.6830. The comparison of the efficiency scores by group of ownership shows that domestic banks have higher pure technical efficiency and lower scale efficiency; however, the differences are not statistically significant. A DEA window‐analysis confirms the results of the cross‐section estimations. We also estimate a Tobit regression model but consistent with the univariate results we find no evidence to support the argument that ownership has a statistically significant impact on efficiency.     

Brand Ownership As a Central Component of Adolescent Self‐esteem: The Development of a New Self‐esteem Scale

This article outlines the development of a new scale to measure adolescent self‐esteem. The new scale addresses weaknesses in existing measures that have failed to consider the growth of the consumer society in the Western world and the impact of this on the formation of adolescent self‐esteem. The development of this scale includes extensive qualitative research with over 100 high school pupils, which led to a series of quantitative data collection and analysis processes to develop the scale. In the final stage, data were collected from 889 pupils and analyzed to confirm the validity and reliability of the new measure. The result of this work is a 21‐item self‐esteem scale comprising of four distinct, yet interrelated factors: self‐evaluation, social ability, social comparison effects, and notably, brand ownership. The findings provide an updated and upgraded measure of self‐esteem that takes into consideration the specific audience of adolescents living in a consumer culture. The scale development process demonstrates that when considering the formation of self‐esteem, the influence of the use and possession of commercial brands is as relevant as the traditional factors/components such as academic achievement or sporting prowess.     

“It's MY Service,it's MY Music”: The role of psychological ownership in music streaming consumption

Music streaming services have become today's most popular way of consuming music. These services give their users access to a comprehensive music library without providing legal ownership of that music. However, recent research suggests that music streaming users still continue to experience feelings of ownership. To advance our understanding, this study investigates the role of psychological ownership in music streaming consumption. In particular, based on the theory of psychological ownership, it is analyzed how service‐ and music‐based psychological ownership emerge. The study further investigates the relationship between these two targets of ownership and whether music‐based psychological ownership is positively related to users' intention to switch from a music streaming service's free version to its paid premium version. Using structural equation modeling, the results indicate that service‐based psychological ownership, stemming from users' investment of self into the service, is positively related to music‐based psychological ownership, which is positively influenced by the sense of control over the music accessed. The results also show that music‐based psychological ownership is strongly related to users' intention to switch from free to premium, which highlights the importance of psychological ownership for providers of music streaming services, particularly those operating a feature‐limited freemium model.     

“Seize the Deal,or Return It Losing Your Free Gift”: The Effect of a Gift‐With‐Purchase Promotion on Product Return Intention

The current article sheds light on an important issue in marketing: how marketers can prevent consumers from returning previously purchased goods. This research examines the relationship between a gift‐with‐purchase promotion and consumer product returns, hypothesizing that consumers who purchase products that come with a free gift will be less likely to return the products. Evidence shows that a gift‐with‐purchase promotion reduces consumer product returns and that this relationship is mediated by perceived loss in returning a product. Then, the results indicate that the choice of free gifts reduces product return intention and that this relationship is serially mediated by perceived ownership and perceived loss. The findings further suggest that when consumers with high product involvement can select free gifts among alternatives, they tend to perceive more ownership and loss and thereby are less likely to return the promoted product. Overall, the current research proposes that consumers prefer to seize the deal rather than to return it when they get a gift‐with‐purchase, have a chance to select a free gift, and are highly involved with the product.     

Foreign affiliates' knowledge sourcing from parent firms

This study investigates the factors that influence the extent to which foreign research and development affiliates source knowledge from their parent firms, by developing theoretical hypotheses that predict patterns of foreign affiliates' knowledge sourcing according to their technological capabilities at multiple levels (firm, industry, and country). We use cross‐border mergers and acquisitions and patent citation data from Fortune Global 500 firms to test our theoretical arguments. The findings suggest that a parent firm's foreign affiliate ownership, industry‐level R&D intensity, and home–host country differences in technological capabilities increase foreign affiliates' knowledge sourcing from their parent firms.     

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.     

Exploring the connection between frustration and consumer choice behavior in a dynamic decision environment

This research proposes that frustration during the purchase process for high‐technology durable goods has a significant effect on the probability that consumers will commit to a technology and make a purchase. In order to explore the effects of consumer frustration on the purchase process, a scale is developed that reveals that frustration in high‐technology decision environments is composed of two dimensions, processing frustration and frustration with the pace of technological change. These dimensions of frustration have a significant effect on consumer choice behavior. While processing frustration significantly reduces the probability of commitment to a technology, the probability of making a decision is significantly lower when consumers are frustrated with the pace of technological change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Why buy new when one can share? Exploring collaborative consumption motivations for consumer goods

The notion of collaborative consumption or sharing economy—where consumers share access to ownership of properties such as cars, clothes and accommodations—has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. Development of communication technologies and peer‐to‐peer communities has enabled consumers to coordinate sharing activities through various online platforms. Collaborative consumption involves sharing of both intangible (e.g., music, space and car rides) and tangible assets (e.g., household items, clothes and furniture). Activities such as renting, swapping, trading and purchasing/selling used consumer goods are included in the latter. Despite increasing academic attention on collaborative consumption, little research has been pursued in the context of consumer goods. The nature of consumption for tangible goods can be entirely different from that of intangible goods because people can exercise greater control over tangible goods, which results in greater psychological ownership than that for intangible goods. To address this gap, the objective of this study is to develop a scale that examines consumer motivations for collaborative consumption of consumer goods. Following Churchill's paradigm of scale development, the procedures of scale item generation, purification and validation were conducted via in‐depth interviews, literature review and surveys. The study identified five underlying dimensions of collaborative consumption of consumer goods: concern‐for‐sustainability, social, variety‐seeking, fun and cost‐saving. Study findings and implications are discussed, and future research avenues are suggested.     

Why some are more equal: Family firm heterogeneity and the effect on management’s attention to CSR

Research at the family firm–Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) nexus lacks agreement about whether family firms are more or less socially responsible than their non‐family counterparts, which leads discussion relating to the bright and dark side of socioemotional wealth (SEW). We add to this ongoing debate in two different ways. First, we build on family firm heterogeneity and argue for a gray side to SEW, located between the bright and dark sides that is dependent upon the kind of family firm ownership. Second, we assume that prior research on a diverse set of CSR behaviors may, to some extent, explain the contradicting results; thus, we propose going back a step and focusing on management’s attention to CSR as an important antecedent of CSR behavior. By analyzing the letters to the shareholders of German HDAX firms from 2003 to 2012, this study finds that family ownership positively affects management’s attention to CSR, mainly driven by founders and family foundations. The research adds to our understanding of the family firm–CSR nexus by scrutinizing the role SEW plays in management’s attention to CSR when it comes to family firm heterogeneity.     

Attachment orientations in business‐to‐business relationships

Attachment theory has produced an impressive body of evidence for explaining individual differences in personal relationship behavior. The current study examines whether attachment theory can be fruitfully extended to business‐to‐business relationships. Hypotheses about the impact of personal attachment orientations on key relationship constructs are developed and empirically tested in two business‐to‐business relationships. Customers who are securely attached in their personal relationships with their romantic partners experience higher levels of satisfaction, trust, and repurchase intent in their business‐to‐business relationships. In addition, an attachment scale that is specifically tailored for a business‐to‐business context is developed. Two dimensions of business attachment are empirically derived: secure business attachment measures the ability and willingness to rely on the business partner, and close business attachment measures the desire to develop personal bonds with a business partner or its employees. The two business attachment dimensions can be used to segment customers with respect to their intrinsic retainability and their preference for personal bonding with their business partners. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consumer Attachments to Human Brands: The “Oprah Effect”

Human brands offer an interesting complement to product brands in that consumer attachments to human brands take on personal relationship qualities that can engender greater affiliation and loyalty. At present, one of the most powerful human brands in the developed world is that of Oprah Winfrey. This research uses the Oprah brand as a context in which to explore and expand the existing model of human brand attachment because of the enduring strength and consistency of how she has cultivated her brand. The existing model of human brand attachment identifies autonomy, relatedness, and competence as the antecedents of attachment strength. However, the expanded model in the current research introduces and validates brand personality appeal (and its sub‐dimensions of favorability, originality, and clarity) as an important moderating factor in the relationship between these antecedents of attachment and attachment outcomes. Two studies utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data investigate the impact of these factors on attachment strength as manifested in emotional attachment behaviors, markers of relationship quality, and marketplace responses in the form of brand loyalty and purchase intentions.     

No Vehicle Means No Aid—A Paradigm Change for the Humanitarian Logistics Business Model

The growing interest in humanitarian logistics is witnessed by an increasing focus of researchers and practitioners on that topic. Transportation in particular is emphasized as key to disaster relief. Despite its relevance, it suffers from a number of drawbacks, creating inefficiencies and limited effectiveness of aid. This article describes a paradigm change for fleet management in humanitarian organizations based on access‐based consumption. It further evaluates a case study among small‐scale producers in rural India, showing their acceptance for sharing vehicles. The newly created business opportunities will increase income and contribute to poverty alleviation. Taking part in the proposed vehicle‐sharing system can release them from ownership responsibilities and increase vehicle utilization, as well as improve vehicle availability, increasing the speed of aid from the perspective of humanitarian organizations. This article highlights the applicability of business models relying on the idea of access‐based consumption to not‐yet‐considered research fields, especially the transfer to rural areas of developing countries. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

浅议“三技”与科技成果转化——基于技术转移体系视角

科技成果转化效果是影响科技与经济融合发展水平的重要因素,技术开发、技术服务、技术咨询是科研院所利用其科技成果为各类主体提供服务、推动其科技成果流向有需要主体的重要方式,实践中存在科研院所因对“三技”与“科技成果转化”二者关系把握不准,而在适用相关政策时无所适从的问题。本文在回顾我国技术市场发展历程、深入分析相关法律法规和政策文件的基础上,结合笔者在科研机构工作经历和调研走访情况,基于技术转移体系视角提出科技成果转化是目的,“三技”活动是手段,并不能想当然认为“三技”就是科技成果转化的观点;最后指出科研院所要充分用好科技成果转化政策发挥“三技”对创新的激励作用,应聚焦合理划定纳入科技成果转化范围的“三技”活动这一问题,进一步完善科技成果转化相关管理制度。     

Institutional ownership and technological relatedness: A test of endogeneity

Building on the previous literature on corporate diversification, institutional ownership and firm innovation, this study proposes an endogenous relationship between institutional ownership and corporate technological relatedness. Technological relatedness is the degree to which a set of industries in which a firm operates its businesses demand similar technological knowledge. A Vector Autoregressive analysis of data from U.S. manufacturing firms shows that firms enhancing technological relatedness attract more institutional investors and as predicted, this pattern is particularly strong for pension fund ownership. In contrast, the analysis fails to show that institutional investors cause a firm's business portfolio to increase in technological relatedness.     

I love the product but will you? The role of interpersonal attachment styles in social projection

Individuals often have a need to predict the preferences of others (e.g., offering a recommendation, gift giving). In doing so, it is not uncommon that individuals project their attitudes and preferences onto others. Extant consumer research literature related to social projection focuses largely on particular situational variables that influence social projection. The current research adds to a smaller body of consumer research which focuses on specific characteristics of consumers’ selves that may drive an individual's tendency to project his/her attitudes onto others. Specifically, the present paper explores an individual‐level moderator of social projection, namely, interpersonal attachment style. Across five studies, interpersonal attachment style, and attachment anxiety, specifically, is shown to influence social projection. In addition, the mechanism underlying this relationship is demonstrated. The results show that high (vs. low) anxious attachment individuals tend to naturally consider more counter‐valence attributes of a product, that is., liked attributes of a disliked product and disliked attributes of a liked product, and this availability of counter‐valence attributes lowers social projection. Important theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

企业所有权分享主体的探讨

企业所有权分享主体的安排存在两种不同的理论流派:一种是"物质资本股东至上"理论,强调企业所有权由物质资本所有者单方面拥有;另一种是基于人力资本理论,认为企业所有权应该由物质资本和人力资本所有者共同分享。随着知识经济时代的到来,技术资本在企业中的重要性日益突出,我们提出了由物质资本、人力资本、技术资本所有者共同分享企业所有权的理论。     

The Impact of Origins of Reverse Technology Transfer on MNC Home‐Country Product Development

Reverse technology transfer (the transferring of multinational corporation [MNC] subsidiaries’ technological knowledge to their home country) deserves more executive attention since the source of competitive advantage of MNCs resides in their capabilities to leverage knowledge from different units across borders. This article examines three salient “origins” of reverse technology transfer—headquarters, local constituents, and subsidiary research and development (R&D) activity—and their impact on MNCs’ home‐country product development. We argue that reverse technology transfer from subsidiary R&D activity is more likely to have a positive impact on MNC home‐country product development than the other two origins because reverse transfer from local constituents requires high integration cost, and transfer from headquarters adds little technological novelty. We also develop two contingency hypotheses for the latter two origins to increase their likelihood of positive impacts on home‐country product development. Using a data set of 1,331 Taiwanese MNCs, our empirical evidence provides two important messages to managers: (1) a subsidiary whose technology mainly relies on its R&D would be an ideal target for reverse transfer; and (2) reverse transfer from local constituents and headquarters can be effective when they fit with an appropriate organizational mechanism, such as governance mode and absorptive capacity. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.