“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.     

Financial Knowledge and “Don't Know” Response

We investigate the effect of group characteristics and educational interventions on young respondents' objective financial knowledge level. We examine six questions about personal finance and covariates selected from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study. Because these questions include “Don't Know” or “Refuse” (DK/RF) responses, a simple regression model could cause researchers to reach misleading conclusions if DK/RF responses are not random. Thus, we suggest a binomial‐latent regression model to evaluate the effect of educational interventions and group differences that are hidden in DK/RF responses. The estimation result shows that rejecting financial education opportunities is disadvantageous to obtaining proper financial knowledge. In addition, both formal and informal financial education are less effective in improving objective financial knowledge in our preferred model. We also find few or no gender, income, and age differences in young adults' objective financial knowledge level after controlling for financial education interventions.     

Using “Rapid Response” as a competitive tool

New technology allows companies to respond quickly to customer demands that differ from country to country. In the international arena, time and flexibility are competitive weapons.     

Advertising “like a girl”: Toward a better understanding of “femvertising” and its effects

This paper investigates the impact of femvertising (female empowerment advertising). More specifically, it hypothesizes that femvertising (vs. traditional portrayals of females in advertising) will reduce ad reactance among a female target audience, and that this in turn will enhance ad and brand attitudes. The results of three experimental studies indicate that this is indeed the case, and that the results hold across print and digital media, for five different product categories, and for femvertising focusing on challenging female stereotypes in terms of physical characteristics as well as the roles and occupations used to portray women in advertising. Although previous studies of the effects of female portrayals tend to focus on social comparison and self‐identity, the current paper considers the role of psychological reactance to (more or less) stereotypical portrayals in explaining these effects. The results suggest that marketers have much to gain from adapting a more proactive and mindful approach to the female portrayals they use in their ads.     

The “Ethics of Social Ideas” Versus The “Ethics of Marketing Social Ideas”

Can the public make a distinction between the “ethics of social ideas” versus the “ethics of marketing social ideas”? This question was empirically assessed via a survey research design. The evidence strongly suggests that individuals cannot totally separate the social idea from the marketing technique used to promote the idea. Also it was found that some social issues are more likely to foster strong ethical concerns than others. The implications of this research are discussed.     

“Going global” and FDI inflows in China: “One Belt & One Road” initiative as a quasi‐natural experiment

This paper investigates the impact of “One Belt & One Road” as an exogenous policy shock on the utilisation of foreign capital in China in the short term. Based on provincial panel data for the years 2003–15, the empirical study is conducted with difference‐in‐differences design. The first difference is whether a province is an OBOR province, and the second is whether “One Belt & One Road” initiative has been proposed. The empirical results suggest the utilisation of foreign capital in OBOR provinces has decreased significantly compared to non‐OBOR provinces after the initiative has been proposed. The study has further shown that the OBOR construction not only means factor movements and projects but also stands for policy shock. Its impact on utilisation of foreign capital cannot be simply captured by the commonly quantifiable “going global” indicators, namely outward direct investment, overseas contracted projects or overseas labour services. The negative impact of the initiative on foreign capital utilisation is strongly reflected in the OBOR provinces with low levels of economic development, heavy fiscal burdens and high proportions of state‐owned economy. In the short term, the negative impact of the initiative on foreign capital utilisation may be due to its role in resource competition and signal delivering. The former means that the OBOR initiative may induce resource competition between “going global” and “bringing in,” and the latter suggests that this initiative is likely to be regarded as a “signal” by foreign investors that “going global,” not “bringing in,” has become the priority of the government.     

“Brexit”: A Case Study in the Relationship Between Political and Financial Market Uncertainty

This letter explores a single research question: How does political uncertainty, outside of the election cycle, influence financial market uncertainty? Using the UK (Brexit) referendum on EU membership as a novel event to examine this question, I identify a positive and well defined relationship between political and financial market uncertainty. Implied volatility in both UK and German financial markets rises as uncertainty around the polling result increases. Political uncertainty is most important for investors as the polling date draws near and in the instances when opinion polls indicate the outcome is particularly close. This result has implications for firms making financing and investment decisions, and investors making portfolio choices, around the time of important political events.     

Considerations on “Research on non-market actions: A commentary essay”

This commentary is in response to the commentary, “Research on Non-Market Actions: A Commentary Essay” [Wang, C-J. Research on Non-Market Actions: A Commentary Essay. J Bus Res (2008)] on the paper, “First come, first served: How market and non-market actions influence pioneer market share” [Usero B, Fernández Z, First come, first served: How market and non-market actions influence pioneer market share. J Bus Res (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.07.005]. The commentary responds directly to Wang's [Wang, C-J. Research on Non-Market Actions: A Commentary Essay. J Bus Res (2008)] comments and proposes further lines of research that integrate the competitive dynamic approach with studies of non-market actions.     

Children's relationships with brands: “True love” or “one‐night” stand?

Group and individual interviews were conducted to examine relationships developed between children and brands in the family setting. Children's stories about brands suggest that they develop relationships with a wide range of brands and these relationships are imbedded in the social environment where children live and grow. Interpersonal relationship metaphors were utilized to describe different forms of child–brand relationships. The article concludes that children's relationships with brands serve important functions in their lives and have significant implications for marketers. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Restructuring of Market Socialism in China: The Contribution of an “Agency” Theoretical Perspective

Most discussions of the development of market socialism in China adopt an “institutional approach” in which socioeconomic and political organizations are described as a complex set of arrangements determined by the policies and role of the Communist Party. Such institutions are often seen to be little more than passive forces responding to the imperatives and stipulations of the party. However, the character and continuing development of market socialism is far more complex than this. It is made up of interacting forces that are the outcome of the purposive actions of economic agents that, although created and nurtured by the party, create tensions within the socioeconomic structure and thereby shape the direction of societal change. It is these that constitute many of the defining characteristics of market socialism. There are, the tensions between the imperatives of an emerging market economy and the political imperatives of the party. But there are others that are determined by the goals and values of a diversity of agents within both the state‐owned and privately owned sectors of the economy. For an understanding of these, we argue in this article for the need to adopt an “agency approach,” that is, one that focuses on the key roles of actors and agencies in shaping institutional arrangements of the sort that constitute present‐day market socialism. This, we argue, does not displace an “institutional” theoretical perspective but complements it, thereby offering a more complete insight into the generic character of a socioeconomic structureÑin this case, Chinese market socialism. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The ethical consequences of “going dark”

The adoption of hyper‐strong encryption for mobile devices, such as the iPhone, has reignited debate about the need for exceptional access and the relative priority of privacy rights. Many software programs and algorithms are not neutral but “value‐laden,” and unbreakable encryption software virtually absolutizes the right to privacy, though it has justified limits in ethics and law. High tech companies have resisted any exceptional access solutions and generally opposed cooperation with law enforcement agencies for the sake of protecting the data of their customers. We argue that this strategy is ethically flawed based on the priority of the right to physical security over the right to privacy along with the need to ensure peace and order in the name of the common good. To support this line of reasoning we amplify the undifferentiated conception of the common good presented in the literature and sketch out the grounds for limiting rights based on the need to conform to the just requirements of the public order in a democratic society. The discussion culminates in a proposal for an exceptional access scheme that has the potential to minimize risk to innocent users.     

The “Brain Drain” from Hong Kong

At one time, the top jobs in subsidiaries of Western companies located in Hong Kong were held by Westerners. Only recently have companies moved to fill professional positions with local talent. But as the localization process has speeded up, the once plentiful supply of talent is shrinking dramatically. Hong Kong Chinese professionals are leaving from fear of what repatriation with the PRC will bring.