The Mediating Role of Customer Relationship on the Social Media Marketing and Purchase Intention Relationship with Special Reference to Luxury Fashion Brands

The reach of internet technology and social media has opened abundance of opportunities for marketers as well as for consumers across the globe. To anticipate future purchase behavior of consumers, marketers are not leaving any stone unturned. The main objective of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of social media marketing activities (entertainment, customization, interaction, word of mouth, and trend) on consumers' purchase intentions in luxury fashion brands. This study employed higher order Structural Equation Modeling to test the study model with (n = 243) sample data. We found positive significant impacts of social media marketing and customer relationships on consumers' purchase intentions. In addition, our study model confirmed full mediation of customer relationships in the relationship between social media marketing and consumers' purchase intentions. Based on our research findings, we strongly recommend that marketers of luxury fashion brands engage in social media marketing activities to provide value to customers.     

Moderately thin advertising models are optimal,most of the time: Moderating the quadratic effect of model body size on ad attitude by fashion leadership

The authors hypothesize and find that an advertising model’s body size has an inverted U-shaped relationship with ad attitude in the apparel product category, in which moderately thin advertising models are optimal. They assess the moderating effect of consumers’ fashion leadership on this quadratic relationship, proposing that this moderation may shift the optimum and/or create a flatter inverted U-shape. In the empirical studies, the authors find both types of moderation may occur and that there may be conditions under which slightly larger, intermediate sized models are most effective for fashion followers and that under other conditions model body size seems to be irrelevant for fashion leaders. As expected, the authors find a positive effect of ad attitude on brand attitude and purchase intentions.     

Why Consumers Don't Always Accurately Predict Their Own Future Behavior

There is much theoretical and empirical evidence that consumers' predictions of their future behavior are positively correlated with their actual subsequent behavior. However, consumers are not perfectly calibrated in predicting what they will do in the future. This article examines several factors that moderate the link between consumers' stated purchase intentions and their subsequent purchase behavior. Specifically, we examine how the relationship between purchase intentions and purchase behavior is moderated by (1) factors that affect how accurately respondents can represent their current intentions and (2) factors that affect how accurately respondents can predict whether and how their intentions will change over time. The article summarizes the extant literature and develops propositions for future research.     

Behavioral Factors Affecting Students’ Intentions to Enroll in Business Ethics Courses: A Comparison of the Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Cognitive Theory Using Self-Identity as a Moderator

The current study used both Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Bandura’s social cognitive theory (SCT) to examine the intentions of business undergraduate students toward taking elective ethics courses and investigated the role of self-identity in this process. The study was prospective in design; data on predictors and intentions were obtained during the first collection of data, whereas the actual behavior was assessed 10 days later. Our results indicated that the TPB was a better predictor of behavioral intentions than was SCT. As expected, self-identity served as a moderator in the relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intentions posited by the TPB and in the relationship between outcome expectancy and behavioral intentions posited by SCT. Self-identity was a crucial factor in predicting actual behavior within both theoretical frameworks.     

Transformational Leadership and Follower’s Unethical Behavior for the Benefit of the Company: A Two-Study Investigation

Although the ethical dimension of transformational leadership has frequently been discussed over the last years, there is little empirical research on employees’ ethical behavior as an outcome of transformational leadership. This two-study investigation examined the relationship between transformational leadership and unethical yet pro-organizational follower behavior (UPB). Moreover, mediating and moderating processes were addressed. Our research yielded a positive relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ willingness to engage in UPB. Furthermore, both studies showed employees’ organizational identification to function as a mediating mechanism and employees’ personal disposition toward ethical/unethical behavior to moderate the relationship between organizational identification and willingness to engage in UPB. Altogether, results indicate transformational leadership to entail a certain risk of encouraging followers to contribute to their company’s success in ways that are generally considered to be unethical. Implications regarding the ethical dimension of transformational leadership are discussed.     

敢做还是要做：伦理型领导对员工揭发意愿的影响

虽然有助于减少组织不道德行为,但源于各种担心和顾虑,致使人们往往对揭发行为持比较消极的态度。文章从社会学习等理论视角对中国情境下伦理型领导如何影响员工揭发意愿进行了探讨。基于339份调查数据的实证分析结果表明,伦理型领导正向影响员工的揭发意愿,道德勇气正向影响揭发意愿,责任分散负向影响揭发意愿,道德勇气和责任分散在伦理型领导与揭发意愿关系中分别具有部分中介效应。最后,对研究结论、意义、不足与未来研究方向进行了讨论。     

Analyzing Customers' Switching Intentions in the Telecom Sector

ABSTRACT

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has not only affected customers' behavioral patterns, but also increased competition among telecom operators. Against this backdrop, the study examines the relationship between customers' switching intentions and attitude towards MNP, customer loyalty, and switching barriers. It also investigates the impact of these intentions on actual switching or staying behavior of customers. Data were collected from a sample of 260 telecom customers comprising university students. Findings reveal that customers' switching intentions would largely depend upon switching barriers perceived by them. Switching intentions predict both actual staying and switching behavior. Our understanding of switching barriers is limited to those involved in switching from a current service provider to a new service provider. Future research can examine the barriers associated with returning to the original provider and the effect on the decision to leave in the first place, especially in the case of contractual agreements such as BSNL. The present study will help practitioners and telecom service providers in understanding the factors affecting customers' switching intentions to prevent switching.     

Moral attentiveness as a boundary condition: Servant leadership and the impact of supervisor affiliation on pro-group unethical behavior

Based on social exchange theory, this research aims to develop and test a model in which supervisor affiliation mediates the impact of servant leadership on employees’ pro-group unethical behavior a highly competitive intergroup environment. Using a sample of 239 employees from 39 groups in four foreign-owned engineering enterprises, we found that supervisor affiliation mediated the positive relationship between servant leadership and employees’ pro-group unethical behavior. Our results also revealed that employees’ moral attentiveness weakened the positive impact of supervisor affiliation on pro-group unethical behavior. The current study contributes to business ethics research by advancing our understanding of antecedents of pro-group unethical behavior as well as how servant leadership leads to employees’ unethical behaviors. Implications for theory, practice, and directions for future research are discussed.     

How fashion cewebrity influences customer engagement behavior in emerging economy? Social network influence as moderator

Social media provides opportunities for individuals to become cewebrities by gaining fame via their presence on different platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. But, how cewebrities are engaging consumers is an under-developed research area that needs researchers' attention. Therefore, this research aims to determine the influence of fashion cewebrity on opinion leaders and customer engagement behaviors in the apparel fashion industry. Also, the moderating role of social networking influence in the relationship between opinion leadership and customer engagement is tested. The data was collected from 472 consumers following fashion cewebrities of five luxury apparel brands, and hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. The results confirmed the validity of the newly established scale of fashion cewebrity and endorsed the fashion cewebrity's impact on opinion leadership while opinion leadership mediates the fashion cewebrity – customer engagement behavior relationship. This study proposes that the managers should involve fashion cewebrities during all product development and promotion stages and establish collaboration to reap profit and create strong brand equity.     

Incorporating consumers' motivations into the theory of reasoned action

Consumers are motivated to engage in activities for many varied reasons. The present study broadens the theory of reasoned action model to include three variables reflecting motivations: hedonic involvement, self‐expressive involvement, and self‐concept congruity. It is suggested that eagerness to engage in a behavior encapsulates emotional commitment, and including this affective variable would further broaden the cognitive approach taken to model a consumer's intention to engage in a behavior. A model that links hedonic involvement, self‐expressive involvement, self‐concept congruity, subjective norm, and attitude toward the behavior to both intentions and eagerness is proposed. In addition, eagerness is posited as a mediator linking these three new variables to intentions. The models are tested with the use of data from 717 adults. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exploring Attitudes and Affiliation Intentions toward Consumers Who Engage in Socially Shared Superstitious Behaviors: A Study of Students in the East and the West

Existing literature on superstitious beliefs focuses on consumer purchasing behavior. However, little is known about how superstition‐based consumption behaviors are socially perceived. This paper investigates students’ attitudes toward consumers who engage in socially shared superstitious behaviors. Two studies show that students from Eastern and Western countries have negative attitudes and lower affiliation intentions toward consumers engaging in socially shared superstitious behaviors. As predicted by social judgment theory, this effect is driven by perceived low competence but not by perceived warmth. These negative attitudes and lower affiliation intentions are moderated by the student's superstitiousness. The managerial implications of social perceptions regarding consumer superstitious behavior are discussed.     

Translating Environmental Ideologies into Action: The Amplifying Role of Commitment to Beliefs

Consumers do not always follow their ideological beliefs about the need to engage in environmentally friendly (EF) consumption. We propose that Commitment to Beliefs (CTB)—the general tendency to follow one’s value-based beliefs—can help identify who is most likely to follow their environmental ideologies. We predicted that CTB would amplify the effect of beliefs prescribing environmental stewardship (e.g., new ecological paradigm), or neglect (e.g., economic system-justification), on corresponding intentions, behavior, and purchasing decisions. In two studies, CTB amplified the positive and negative effects of relevant EF ideologies on EF purchase decisions (Study 1), and consumption and conservation attitudes, intentions, as well as future behavior (Study 2). In each study, only people with higher levels of CTB demonstrated the most ideologically consistent consumption and conservation intentions and behavior. These findings clarify who is most likely to align their decisions and lifestyles according to their sustainable consumption ideologies. The amplification effect of CTB, and the CTB variable itself, present new contributions to consumer behavior research and the domains of sustainable or ethical consumption in particular and offer wide-ranging potential for marketing practitioners and researchers.     

The Influence of CSR and Ethical Self-Identity in Consumer Evaluation of Cobrands

In a multi-source study, we examine how frequent change interacts with ethical leadership to reduce turnover intentions. We argue that ethical leaders enhance employees’ state self-esteem, which explains the moderating effect of ethical leadership. Results from 124 employee-coworker-supervisor triads revealed that ethical leadership moderated the relationship between frequent change and turnover intention such that the relationship was positive only when ethical leadership was low. The moderating relationship could be shown to be mediated by employees’ state self-esteem.     

Why Forward Viral Fashion Messages? The Moderating Roles of Consumers’ Fashion Traits and Message Orientation

Businesses are now using social media as platforms for viral marketing. However, little is known about the motivations, attitudes, and behaviors of fashion consumers who engage with this marketing instrument. This study examines the factors that influence consumers’ use of social media and their behavioral intentions to forward viral fashion messages. An attitudinal model was proposed through the integration of uses and gratification theory and the elaboration likelihood model. Individuals’ fashion trait and message orientations were specified as moderating factors. An online survey was administered to collect data, and 381 college students participated in the study. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings showed that individuals’ intention to forward a message was affected by favorable functional and expressive attitudes towards the message, while motivations of using social media had only slight effects on individuals’ attitudes. Group comparisons showed significant moderating effects from identified individuals’ fashion trait and message orientation.     

Gender,fashion consumer group,need for touch and Korean apparel consumers' shopping channel preference

Shopping preferences are affected by the culture in which an individual grows up as well as by individual differences in consumers such as differences in gender, fashion leadership and need for touch. The current study examined the influence of consumers' need for touch and fashion leadership on preference for shopping outlets (e.g. touch and non‐touch shopping channels) between genders and within a particular culture. The purpose of this study was to examine gender, fashion consumer group, need for touch and Korean apparel consumers' shopping channel preference. Participants were a convenience sample of 262 Korean college students who were recruited in Changwon, South Korea. A questionnaire was compiled that included a request for demographic information, the Need For Touch scale, the Measure of Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership, and items assessing preference for touch and non‐touch shopping channels for clothing. Women and men did not differ in overall need for touch or instrumental need for touch. Fashion change agents and fashion followers did not differ in their preference for touch and non‐touch shopping channels. Preference for touch shopping channels was more greatly affected by variables such as need for touch, gender, and fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership than preference for non‐touch shopping channels. Preference for non‐touch shopping channels was virtually unaffected by the variables examined in the current study. Implications for theory and research are provided.     

The moderating effect of environmental dynamism on the relationship between entrepreneur leadership behavior and new venture performance

This article outlines a model of when, why, and how the influence of entrepreneur leadership behavior on new venture performance is likely to be moderated by the level of environmental dynamism. The model is tested using a sample of 66 new ventures. The results indicate that environmental dynamism has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and new venture performance, and a significant negative moderating effect on the relationship between transactional leadership and new venture performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

The Bright and Dark Sides of Religiosity Among University Students: Do Gender, College Major, and Income Matter?

We develop a theoretical model involving religiosity [intrinsic (I), extrinsic-social (E _s), and extrinsic-personal (E _p), Time 1], Machiavellianism (Time 2), and propensity to engage in unethical behavior (Time 2) to investigate direct and indirect paths. We collected two-wave panel data from 359 students who had some work experiences. For the whole sample, intrinsic religiosity (I) indirectly curbed unethical intentions through the absence of Machiavellianism, the bright side of religiosity. Both extrinsic-social (E _s) and extrinsic-personal (E _p) directly, while extrinsic-social (E _s) indirectly, exacerbated unethical intentions, the dark side of religiosity. Multiple-group analyses across gender, college major, and income showed that the bright side existed directly for low-income students, but indirectly for males and females, business majors, and low-income students. Our novel finding showed that E _p undermined unethical intentions indirectly for females. For the dark side, E _s incited unethical intentions directly for males, business students, and low-income individuals, but indirectly for females, psychology majors, and low-income people. The Machiavellianism–unethical intentions relationship was the strongest for high-income participants. Religiosity had the highest number of significant paths for low-income individuals and the strongest dark side for males and high-income students, but the highest bright outcome for females. Our novel, original findings foster theory development and testing, add new vocabulary to the conversation of religiosity and unethical intentions, and improve practice.     

Business Students' Choice of Short-Term or Long-Term Study Abroad Opportunities

Recent years have seen a proliferation of short-term study abroad opportunities. Although they are both supplementing and replacing semester-long study abroad programs, research has focused primarily on semester (long-term) programs. We draw on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore factors that predict why students choose long-term and short-term programs. Results indicate that students perceive more social pressure to engage in short-term programs, and higher barriers limiting participation in long-term programs. All TPB factors significantly predicted students' intentions to study abroad in both short-term and long-term programs with one exception; perceived behavioral control did not significantly predict intentions to participate in short-term programs. These findings can be used to improve marketing of short-term and long-term programs by addressing student concerns specific to each type of program, potentially increasing the number of students choosing to study abroad.     

Investigating consumer attitudes and intentions toward online fashion renting retailing

Due to growth of access-based consumption businesses, it is important to understand how consumers perceive online fashion renting services. Based on two theories, the Theory of Reasoned Actions and expectancy-value approach, this study aims to examine the influence of consumers' attitudes and subjective norms on their intentions to participate in online fashion renting, and to investigate behavioral beliefs that may cause them to form favorable intentions toward online renting. In order to do this, a total of 300 sample surveys were collected from U.S. consumers. To assess the respective measurement model, confirmatory factor analyses were performed, and a structural path analysis was performed to verify the hypothesized relationships. This study empirically asserts that attitudes and subjective norms are key predictors of consumers' intentions to participate in online fashion renting. Consumers' attitudes toward online fashion renting were determined by assessing their perceptions of its relative advantages, compatibility, ownership, and ecological value. While acknowledging the influence of subjective norms and previous fashion rental experience, online fashion rental platforms are also advised to engineer strategies to engage consumers in this practice and to encourage peer referrals. This study sheds light on the determining factors that shape consumers’ attitudes towards and intentions to participate in online fashion renting, from which appropriate business strategies could be devised to enhance consumer engagement and expand the online fashion rental market.     

威权型领导是否会引发员工的越轨行为？来自心理契约违背和个体自尊的解释

较之此前的越轨行为，数字经济发展背景下的越轨行为呈现出与数据结合、损害更为严重的特点。基于情感事件理论，文章通过344份企业员工数据，探讨威权型领导对员工越轨行为的作用机制和边界条件，验证了心理契约违背的中介作用，以及个体自尊的调节作用。结果表明：个体自尊既可以调节威权型领导与员工心理契约违背之间的关系，也可以调节心理契约违背与员工越轨行为之间的关系。当个体自尊水平较高时，威权型领导对心理契约违背的正向影响增强，而心理契约违背对员工越轨行为的正向影响减弱。研究结果拓展了对威权型领导影响效应的认识，为理解威权型领导与员工越轨行为的关系提供了新的视角，推动了个体自尊动态研究的发展，并为企业实践提供参考。