Driving Trucks and Driving Sales? The Impact of Delivery Personnel on Customer Purchase Behavior

This study investigates how and under what conditions delivery persons, specifically truck drivers of a supplier firm, affect customers’ purchase behavior in industrial customer–supplier relationships. Drawing on service quality and customer contact literature, we test a proposed theoretical model that suggests a positive direct effect of personal contact quality (provided by a delivery person) on sales as well as three situational constraints that determine the occurrence and strength of the direct effect.     

The Impact of Cause-Related Marketing on Millennials’ Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

This study, using scenarios, examined the impact of two kinds of cause-related marketing (CRM) efforts (a traditional donation of a portion of sales to a related cause and a more strategic one-for-one donation of donating a product to a related cause when that product was purchased) on millennials’ (those born between 1982 and 2000) attitudes and purchase intentions for four different consumer product categories. The four different consumer product categories selected included a specialty good (laptop), a shopping good (hat), a convenience good (bottled water), and a service (food restaurant). Given the importance of social media to millennials, this research also examined the role of social media on CRM awareness. While millennials had relatively low awareness of CRM campaigns, there was a positive correlation between social media use and CRM awareness. Additionally, CRM efforts may not work for all products as there was no impact on attitude or purchase intention for the product category of laptops. Additionally, the positive attitudes created by marketers’ CRM efforts will not always translate to increased purchase intentions. The use of a strategic one-for-one CRM effort though had a greater impact, specifically for products that deal with needed fundamentals, such as food and water.     

The Indirect Impact of Price Deals on Households’ Purchase Decisions Through the Formation of Expected Future Prices

We examine the indirect impact of price deals, which occurs through the formation of expected future prices, on households’ purchase decisions. Two competing learning processes of households’ formation of expected future deals that lead to opposite predictions are proposed. Under a deal-probability learning process, a current deal on a brand raises households’ expectations of a deal on the same brand in the immediate future, while under a deal-timing learning process, a current deal on a brand lowers households’ expectations of a deal on the same brand. We embed each learning specification within a comprehensive econometric framework that simultaneously examines three purchase decisions – incidence, brand choice and quantity – at the household level, while explicitly correcting for two sources of selectivity bias in discrete quantity outcomes. We estimate the proposed model using scanner panel data on paper towels, and find that (1) the deal-probability learning process better describes how households incorporate the deal information into the formation of future price expectations compared to the deal-timing learning process; (2) the indirect impact of price deals is greater for brand-loyals than for brand-switchers; (3) the indirect impact of price deals is greater for larger families, heavy users, less educated and less employed households, and infrequent shoppers. We also show that ignoring the indirect impact of price deals severely overstates the sales effects.     

The Impact of Integration and Responsiveness on MNC Subsidiaries’ Market Orientation

ABSTRACT

In this study, the author explored the impact of integration and local responsiveness on the market orientation of multinational corporations’ foreign subsidiaries. An investigation of a sample of 250 foreign subsidiaries in the United Kingdom revealed different effects of integration and local responsiveness on market orientation. In specific, integration directly impacts the development of market orientation of multinational corporations’ subsidiaries, whereas responsiveness effects on market orientation are mainly indirect through first affecting the top management emphasis and then the use of market-based reward systems at subsidiaries. Managerial and research implications are discussed.     

The Effect of Word of Mouth on Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Products and Their Purchase Probability

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of word of mouth on consumers’ attitudes toward the product and its purchase probability. Furthermore, we examine the moderating influence of susceptibility to interpersonal influence, which is a personal characteristic of the receiver of word of mouth information. A quasi experiment was conducted, in which subjects were asked to evaluate a product, while being subjected to positive or negative word of mouth. Our results indicate that negative word of mouth has an impact on consumers’ attitudes and purchase probability, while the influence of positive word of mouth was not significant. Interestingly, susceptibility to interpersonal influence does not play a moderating role. While the experimental design with an unknown word of mouth source and fictitious brand allowed the comparison of results for the positive, negative, and control group, such conditions do not correspond to an actual market setting.     

The Impact of Anti-Intellectualism Attitudes and Academic Self-Efficacy on Business Students’ Perceptions of Cheating

College cheating represents a major ethical problem facing students and educators, especially in colleges of business. The current study surveys 666 business students in three universities to examine potential determinants of cheating perceptions. Anti-intellectualism refers to a student’s negative view of the value and importance of intellectual pursuits and critical thinking. Academic self-efficacy refers to a student’s belief in one’s ability to accomplish an academic task. As hypothesized, students high in anti-intellectualism attitudes and those with low academic self-efficacy were least likely to perceive college cheating as unethical. Considering that college cheating has been found as a predictor of workplace cheating, the results urge business instructors to reduce anti-intellectualism among students and to encourage them to put forth their best efforts. The results also serve employers by focusing attention on these two psychological variables during the hiring and promotion processes.

The Impact of Acculturation on Immigrants’ Business Ethics Attitudes

This study explores to what extent immigrants adopt the business ethical attitudes of their host country and/or maintain those of their country of origin. For countries that have significant immigration, acculturation is an important social issue. An immigrant’s acculturation is influenced through the ability to adapt his/her “ethical culture of origin” by integrating it with the host country’s ethical culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the role of acculturation on immigrant’s ethical attitudes. What happens to individuals, who have developed in one cultural context, when they attempt to live in a new cultural context? Three groups were the object of this study: (1) native students of business administration in Israel, (2) students of business administration in the Ukraine and (3) business students in Israel who had emigrated from the Ukraine. Samples of these student populations allowed the study of acculturation effects on the immigrants as they acclimated to Israeli society. Results showed that students living in the Ukraine had the lowest ethical attitudes, followed by Ukraine immigrants in Israel. Israeli-born students had significantly higher ethical attitudes than either of the two Ukrainian groups. Accordingly, the ethical perceptions of immigrant students showed that they were influenced by both their home and host cultures. According to Berry’s (Appl Psychol Int Rev 46(1): 5–68, 1997) model of acculturation strategies, integration was their preferred strategy. The implications of these results and guidelines for further research are suggested.     

The Impact of Cross-Channel Integration on Retailers’ Sales Growth

The authors propose a conceptual framework to explain whether and under what firm-level conditions cross-channel integration impacts firm sales growth. To test the theory, the authors conduct a qualitative grounded-theory study to build a measurement tool for cross-channel integration at four levels and analyze longitudinal data on 71 publicly traded U.S. retail firms from 2008 to 2011, gathered from multiple secondary sources. The findings reveal that cross-channel integration stimulates sales growth, but that firm online experience and physical-store presence weaken this effect.     

The Impact of Alienation Through Neutralization on Students’ Academic Dishonesty

ABSTRACT

Dishonesty is a phenomenon that is often encountered in educational institutions. It indicates the existence of cheating done by students in the academics. One of the strong assumptions about the phenomenon of dishonesty in students in academics is the existence of alienation that causes students’ self-confidence to be low and encourage students to be dishonest. This article aims to determine the effect of alienation on academic dishonesty of second-grade students in vocational high school accounting skill competence through neutralization as an intervening variable the using General Alienation Scale, Neutralization Scale, and Cheating Scale and a development indicator. Subjects in this study were 218 students with data collection methods in the form of questionnaires and interviews. The results show that alienation does not directly affect student academic dishonesty, but has an indirect effect on student academic dishonesty through neutralization     

The Influence of Business School’s Ethical Climate on Students’ Unethical Behavior

Business schools play an instrumental role in laying the foundations for ethical behavior and socially responsible actions in the business community. Drawing on social learning and identity theories and using data collected from undergraduate business students (n = 318), we found that ethical climate was a significant predictor of unethical behavior, such that students with positive perceptions about their business school’s ethical climate were more likely to refrain from unethical behaviors. Moreover, we found that high moral and institutional identities strengthened the effect of ethical climate on unethical behavior. In addition to novel theoretical contributions to the business ethics and socio-psychology literature, this study offers practical pathways through which business schools can nurture and instill the values and behaviors that ultimately help shape positive organizational ethics. Directions for future research are provided.     

Impact of Shari’ah on Consumers’ Behavior Toward Sales Promotion Tools: Focus on Egyptian Convenience Products

This study measures to what extent compliance with Shari’ah moderates the relationship between different sales promotion tools—namely, price discount, product demonstration and sampling, buy one get one free (bonus pack), sweepstakes/lucky draws, scratch and win offers, and free samples—and three consumer behavioral responses (product trial, stockpiling, and spending more) for buying convenience products from supermarkets in Egypt. A total of 381 selected Muslim consumers/shoppers were surveyed via face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Overall correlation analysis between the six proposed sales promotion tools and consumers’ response behavior in general demonstrated a significant relationship. However, some specific tools did not indicate a significant relationship with specific response behaviors. Furthermore, correlation analysis initially indicated that there is a positive significant relationship between all sales promotion tools and compliance with Shari’ah, with the exception of sweepstakes and scratch and win offers, which demonstrated a significant negative relationship. Furthermore, after running linear stepwise regression, the model was fit (62%), indicating the moderating role of compliance with Shari’ah in the relationship between specific sales promotion tools—namely, sweepstakes/games and scratch and win offers—and Muslim consumers’ behavioral responses. Generally speaking, marketers should consider Shari’ah and ethical principles in Islam before creatively crafting promotional tools to attract Muslim consumers, and new tools could be developed with an Islamic orientation to attract Muslim consumers.     

The Influence of Unethical Peer Behavior on Observers’ Unethical Behavior: A Social Cognitive Perspective

The relationship between unethical peer behavior and observers?? unethical behavior traditionally has been examined from a social learning perspective. We employ two additional theoretical lenses, social identity theory and social comparison theory, each of which offers additional insight into this relationship. Data from 600 undergraduate business students in two universities provide support for all the three perspectives, suggesting that unethical behavior is influenced by social learning, social identity, and social comparison processes. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.     

The Impact of Corporate Social Performance on a Firm’s Multinationality

Using panel data of 4,244 company years, we examine whether and how corporate social performance (CSP) affects a firm’s capacity to achieve profitable sales in foreign markets. Based on our extension of instrumental stakeholder theory into the international arena, we hypothesized a U-shaped relationship between CSP and multinationality. Results supported our contention that multinational enterprises (MNEs) need to be substantially committed to social performance objectives if they are to recoup the cost of their CSP investments, and improve their capacity to compete in foreign markets. MNEs engaged in intermediate levels of CSP achieve lower levels of multinationality than firms operating at either anchor of the social performance continuum. In addition, this study demonstrates that CSP moderates a well-established relationship in international business literature – the relationship between R&D investment and a firm’s multinationality. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The Impact of Power-Distance Belief on Consumers’ Preference for Status Brands

ABSTRACT

We tested the impact of power-distance belief (accepting and expecting power disparity) on consumers’ preference for status brands (brands such as Rolex or Louis Vuitton, which are associated with social status). Our correlational and causal results show that consumers with high power-distance belief tend to have a stronger preference for status brands than those with low power-distance belief. Notably, buying status belief (a belief that buying status brands can enhance one's social status) moderates this effect. Further, this two-way interaction is stronger for people with a relatively lower, rather than higher, self-worth state.     

Product Touch and Consumers’ Online and Offline Buying: The Role of Mental Representation

As offline retailers struggle to compete with online ones, the importance of a consumer’s ability to touch a product prior to purchase becomes important to study. Prior research has found inconsistent results on whether product touch facilitates consumers’ product-related decision making. Some studies report a positive effect, whereas others do not. The current research reconciles this inconsistency and draws retailing implications. Across three experiments, we show that the effect of product touch on consumers’ purchase intentions and willingness to pay for a product being evaluated is evident when consumers’ mental representation of the product is concrete, but not when abstract. We further show that perceived risk and perceived ownership simultaneously mediate this moderating effect of mental representation. Implications are drawn for both offline and online retailers.     

The Impact of Service Supplier’s Unethical Behavior to Buyer’s Satisfaction: An Empirical Study

In today??s marketing conditions, it becomes really vital for companies to establish an appropriate relationship with suppliers and salesperson based on ethical values in order to survive. Besides, ensuring an effective relationship between the parties would contribute to increase buyer satisfaction along with economic and social satisfaction. In this study, the direct effects of suppliers?? and salespersons?? unethical behaviors on buyer satisfaction, and the moderator effect of communication between buyer?Csupplier relationships are examined. The results of the study have revealed that unethical behaviors of suppliers and salesperson affect buyer satisfaction negatively and the communication variable has moderately affected. The results are providing important advantages for buyers who want to improve the relationships between the suppliers and their salesperson for pharmaceutical enterprises.     

Bad Measures Don’t Make Good Medicine: The Ethical Implications of Unreliable and Invalid Physician Performance Measures

Drawing on the performance appraisal and medical literatures, we examine representative ethical issues involved in current appraisal practices of individual physicians: the use of invalid and unreliable measures; organizational goals conflicting with patient health goals; using individual measures for what are group performance results; making individual attributions for what are systemic causes (and results); and using clinical feedback for organizational purposes. Suggestions for developing more ethical performance appraisals include reflecting upon the multiple purposes and means of appraisals, and the limitations of current practices. Greater understanding of the effects of current appraisal practices on physicians can help minimize its potentially adverse consequences on the delivery of quality healthcare.     

The Impact of Revenue Sources on Marketing Behavior: Examining Web‐Promotion and Place‐Marketing in Nonprofit Organizations

To overcome failure to generate profits from the goods they produce, nonprofit organizations have unique methods to generate and sustain capital flows resulting in distinct exchange relationships. This leads scholars to argue that nonprofit marketing strategies should differ as well. Given the lack of empirical work that investigates this possibility, this article explores how the uniqueness of the nonprofit funding environment shapes the ways in which nonprofits use business principles to market their products and services, asking if the resource acquisition process is the primary mechanism that predicts business‐like marketing behavior. Findings indicate that both the resource acquisition process and institutional relationships are influential in predicting business‐like marketing behavior.     

The Taming of Machiavellians: Differentiated Transformational Leadership Effects on Machiavellians’ Organizational Commitment and Citizenship Behavior

Journal of Business Ethics - This study seeks effective ways for managing employees with a high Machiavellian personality in organizations by identifying how to enhance their pro-organizational...     

Nightmare Bosses: The Impact of Abusive Supervision on Employees’ Sleep,Emotions, and Creativity

In the present study, we examine the process through which abusive supervision impacts employee creativity. Specifically, we test whether abusive supervision is associated with lower levels of employee creativity and if this effect is mediated by employee sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion. Results showed that abusive supervision had an indirect negative relationship with employee creativity via its impact on employee sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the negative effects of abusive supervision on employee creativity and the processes by which they occur.