Contracts, norms, and plural form governance

The organization of interfirm exchanges has become of critical importance in today’s business environment. Many scholars have criticized the inadequacies of legal contracts as mechanisms for governing exchange, especially in the face of uncertainty and dependence. Other scholars argue that it is not the contracts per se but the social contexts in which they are embedded that determine their effectiveness. This study investigates the performance implications of governance structures involving contractual agreements and relational social norms, individually and in combination (plural form) under varying conditions and forms of transactional uncertainty and relationship-specific adaptation. Hypotheses are developed and tested on a sample of 396 buyer-seller relationships. The results provide support for the plural form thesis—increasing the relational content of a governance structure containing contractual agreements enhances performance when transactional uncertainty is high, but not when it is low. Implications for theory and future research are discussed. Joseph P. Cannon (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is an assistant professor of marketing at Colorado State University. His areas of research interest include the effective management of business-to-business buyer-seller relationships in domestic and international markets. His research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theAcademy of Management Review, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and other publications. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of theJournal of Marketing. Ravi S. Achrol (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is a professor of marketing and global management research professor in the School of Business and Public Administration at George Washington University. Prior to joining George Washington University in 1991, he served for 10 years on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame. His areas of research interests include interorganization theory and marketing strategy. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Social Science Research, theJournal of Business Strategy, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, and various other publications. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of theJournal of Marketing. Gregory T. Gundlach (Ph.D. J.D. University of Tennessee) is an associate professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame. His areas of research interest include theories of exchange governance, industrial organization, and antitrust policy. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, Antitrust Bulletin, and other publications. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and theJournal of Retailing.     

Contractual governance,relational governance,and the performance of interfirm service exchanges: The influence of boundary-spanner closeness

Academics and managers are confronted with reconciling the social and economic aspects of business-to-business exchanges. In a service context, the authors investigate the relative importance of contractual and relational governance on exchange performance and the influence of the boundary spanner on the implementation of these governance mechanisms and on exchange performance. They test a model of the governance of commercial banking exchanges using interview data with both parties to the exchange (the account manager as the bank’s boundary spanner and the business client). Relational governance is the predominant governance mechanism associated with exchange performance. Contractual governance is also positively associated to exchange performance, but to a much lesser extent. The closeness of the account manager to the client company in terms of information gathering is also positively associated to exchange performance. However, this is mediated through both contractual and relational governance mechanisms with relational governance being the stronger mechanism. Ronald J. Ferguson (rferguson@jmsb.concordia.ca) is an associate professor of management and director of the John Molson MBA at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. During 25 years of research and management in the health field, he published inCirculation, theAmerican Journal of Cardiology, and theAmerican Journal of Physiology. In recent years he has published in theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theInternational Journal of Service Industry Management, Managing Service Quality, and theInternational Journal of Bank Marketing. His current research interests focus on international studies of the effectiveness of relationship marketing and management in the fields of health care, emerging biotechnology clusters, and commercial banking. He was coorganizer of the 2001 International Colloquium in Relationship Marketing. Michèle Paulin (mpaulin@jmsb.concordia.ca) is an associate professor in the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. She has a law degree from Sherbrooke University, an MBA from Concordia University, and a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Quebec at Montreal. Her research focuses on business-to-business relationships; service marketing; and service management in the areas of commercial banking, health services, hospitality, and biotechnology industries in Canada, USA, Mexico, and Europe. She has made presentations at major conferences such as the American Marketing Association, the Industrial Marketing Purchasing group, the European Marketing Association Conferences, and the European Academy of Management. She was coorganizer of the 2001 International Colloquium in Relationship Marketing. Her research has appeared in theEuropean Journal of Marketing, Managing Service Quality, theInternational Journal of Service Industry Management, and theInternational Journal of Bank Marketing. Jasmin Bergeron (bergeron.jasmin@uqam.ca) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Quebec at Montreal. He authored or coauthored four marketing books, 20 case studies, and more than 10 articles in academic journals such as theJournal of Service Research and theJournal of Services Marketing. His research interests are in the areas of services marketing, relationship banking, and research methodology. He also serves as a marketing consultant in professional selling, service quality, and bank marketing.     

Relational benefits in services industries: The customer’s perspective

This research examines the benefits customers receive as a result of engaging in long-term relational exchanges with service firms. Findings from two studies indicate that consumer relational benefits can be categorized into three distinct benefit types: confidence, social, and special treatment benefits. Confidence benefits are received more and rated as more important than the other relational benefits by consumers, followed by social and special treatment benefits, respectively. Responses segmented by type of service business show a consistent pattern with respect to customer rankings of benefit importance. Management implications for relational strategies and future research implications of the findings are discussed. Kevin P. Gwinner is an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business at East Carolina University, North Carolina. His primary research interest centers on improving and managing the performance of frontline, customer-contact employees. His research has been published in theInternational Journal of Service Industry Management, International Marketing Review, and theJournal of Marketing Education. Dwayne D. Gremler is an assistant professor of marketing in the College of Business and Economics at the University of Idaho. His current research interests are in services marketing, particularly customer loyalty and retention, relationship marketing, service encounters, and word-of-mouth communication. His work has been published in theInternational Journal of Service Industry Management, theJournal of Professional Services Marketing, andAdvances in Services Marketing and Management. Mary Jo Bitner is a professor of marketing and the research director for the Center for Services Marketing and Management at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on customer evaluations of service, service quality, and service delivery issues. She has published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing, and theInternational Journal of Service Industry Management. She is coauthor of the textServices Marketing (McGraw-Hill, 1996).     

Export marketing,interfunctional interactions,and performance consequences

Firms with export operations have internal environments that are often geared toward serving the home market. As a result, export marketing and other business functions compete for resources, which thus increases the likelihood of conflict between them. Using survey responses from more than 700 exporting firms, the authors test a model of the antecedents and consequences of two important interaction variables: exporting’s interfunctional connectedness and conflict. The model explains 52 percent and 49 percent of variance in exporting connectedness and conflict, respectively. The authors identify the key drivers of successful interactions as follows: management commitment, organizational training and reward systems, relative functional identification, centralization, and export employee job satisfaction and commitment. The authors also demonstrate that connectedness is most critical for export success when export markets are in a state of turbulence, whereas conflict is most detrimental when the firm’s export environment is stable. John W. Cadogan (j.w.cadogan@lboro.ac.uk), Ph.D., is a professor of marketing in the Business School at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. His primary areas of research interest are international marketing, marketing strategy, and sales management. He has published on these issues in theJournal of International Business Studies, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theInternational Marketing Review, theJournal of Marketing Management, theJournal of Strategic Marketing, and other academic journals. He received his degree from the University of Wales (United Kingdom). Sanna Sundqvist (sanna.sundqvist@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor in international marketing in the Department of Business Administration at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland). Her research interests deal with the international diffusion of innovations, market orientation (especially in an international context), and consumers’ adoption behavior. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, and theAustralasian Marketing Journal. She received her degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Risto T. Saiminen (risto.salminen@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor of industrial engineering and management, especially marketing, in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. His primary areas of research interest are customer relationships and networks in business marketing, pedagogy in industrial engineering and management, and international marketing. He has published on these issues in theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Management, theEuropean Journal of Engineering Education, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, and theAustralasian Marketing Journal. He received his degree from Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Kaisu Puumalainen (kaisu.puumalainen@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor in technology research in the Department of Business Administration at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Her primary areas of research interest are innovation, international marketing, and small businesses. She has published on these issues in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, R&D Management, theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, theJournal of International Entrepreneurship, theAustralasian Marketing Journal, and theInternational Journal of Production Economics. She received her degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland.     

Creating a firm-level dynamic capability through capitalizing on market orientation and innovativeness

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this study addresses the dynamic capability-generating capacity of market orientation on firm performance. Whereas prior literature has examined environmental turbulence as a contextual condition shaping the market orientation-firm performance relationship, this study takes an internal approach by focusing on existing stocks of resources within the firm while controlling for environmental conditions. A conceptual model is developed that explains how market orientation can be transformed into dynamic capability when complemented by transformational (reconfig-urational) constructs, such as innovativeness. The empirical results support the authors— theory that the effect of market orientation on firm performance is strengthened when market orientation is bundled together with internal complementary resources, such as innovativeness. The authors discuss the findings in the context of varying stages of the product life cycle and at different levels of market development. Bulent Menguc (menguc@brocku.ca), Ph.D., Marmara University, is currently an associate professor of marketing at Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada. His areas of research interest include sales force management and internal marketing, strategic orientations, and cross-cultural research methodology. His research has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theEuropean Journal of Marketing, among others. Seigyoung Auh (sauh@yonsei.ac.kr), Ph.D., University of Michigan, is an assistant professor at Yonsei University, South Korea. His research interests are the application of the resource-based view to marketing strategy, the role of top management teams on marketing strategy, and innovation and organizational learning. He has publications in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, and theJournal of Economic Psychology, among others.     

Representing the perceived ethical work climate among marketing employees

This research develops and tests a measurement model representing the ethical work climate of marketing employees involved in sales and/or service-providing positions. A series of studies are used to identify potential items and validate four ethical-climate dimensions. The four dimensions represent trust/responsibility, the perceived ethicalness of peers’ behavior, the perceived consequences of violating ethical norms, and the nature of selling practices as communicated by the firm. Both first- and second-order levels of abstraction are validated. Relationships with role stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are described and discussed. The scale is unique from previous attempts in its scope, intended purpose (marketing employees), the validation procedures, and in that it is not scenario dependent. The results suggest the usefulness of the marketing ethical climate construct in both developing theory and in providing advice for marketing practice. Barry J. Babin (Ph.D., Louisiana State University) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. His research involves behavioral interactions between exchange actors and the environment. Barry’s research appears elsewhere in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Business Research, and other professional publications. He is the immediate past president of the Society for Marketing Advances and the current Marketing Section Editor of theJournal of Business Research. James S. Boles (Ph.D., Louisiana State University) is an associate professor of marketing at Georgia State University. His research concentrates on the multifarious aspects of selling, particularly on job-related attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. His research appears elsewhere in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Business Research, and other professional publications. He is highly involved in sales and creative training. Donald P. Robin (DBA, Louisiana State University) is the J. Tylee Wilson professor of business ethics in the Wayne Calloway School of Business and Accountancy at Wake Forest University. His research appears elsewhere in theJournal of Marketing, theAccounting Review, theJournal of Business Research, theAmerican Business Law Journal, and many other places. He has published in several business ethics journals includingBusiness Ethics Quarterly, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theBusiness and Professional Ethics Journal. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Marketing Advances.     

Determinants of online channel use and overall satisfaction with a relational,multichannel service provider

This study examines what drives customers' use of an online channel in a relational, multichannel environment. The authors propose a conceptual model of the determinants of online channel use and overall satisfaction with the service provider. They then conduct two large-scale studies in different service contexts to test the model. The results show that Web site design characteristics affect customer evaluations of online channel service quality and risk, which in turn drive online channel use. Customers' overall satisfaction with the service provider is determined by the service quality provided through both the online channel and the traditional channel. The results offer insights into the trade-offs that multichannel service providers face as they attempt to influence online channel use while maintaining or enhancing overall customer satisfaction. Mitzi M. Montoya-Weiss (m_mw@ncsu.edu) (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is a professor of marketing in the Department of Business Management at North Carolina State University. Her research interests include new product development and adoption, virtual teams, and knowledge management. Her research has appeared inMarketing Science, Management Science, Decision Sciences, theAcademy of Management Journal, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, and other scholarly journals. She has taught courses in marketing management, product and brand management, and management of technology. Glenn B. Voss (gvoss@ncsu.edu) (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an associate professor of marketing in the Department of Business Management at North Carolina State University. His research interests include relationship and services marketing, creativity and entrepreneurship, and retail pricing strategies. His research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Organization Science, theJournal of Retailing, Marketing Letters, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and other scholarly journal. He currently serves on the editorial review board of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and has served as an ad hoc reviewer for theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of Business Research. He has taught courses in marketing strategy, electronic marketing, and nonprofit management in MBA programs in the United States and Europe. Dhruv Grewal (dgrewal@babson.edu) (Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute) is the Toyota Chair in E-Commerce and Electronic Business in Babson College. His research and teaching interests focus on e-business, global marketing, value-based marketing strategies, and understanding the voice of the customer (market research). He is also co-editor of theJournal of Retailing. He has published more than 50 articles in outlets such as theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing Research, and theJournal of Retailing. He currently serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and theJournal of Product and Brand Management.     

The influence of complementarity, compatibility, and relationship capital on alliance performance

Value creation through alliances requires the simultaneous pursuit of partners with similar characteristics on certain dimensions and different characteristics on other dimensions. Partnering firms need to have different resource and capability profiles yet share similarities in their social institutions. In this article, the authors empirically examine the impact of partner characteristics on the performance of alliances. In particular, they test hypotheses related to both direct impact of partner characteristics on alliance performance and indirect effects through relational capital aspects of the alliance. Empirical results based on a sample of alliances in the global construction contracting industry suggest that complementarity in partner resources and compatibility in cultural and operational norms have different direct and indirect effects on alliance performance. Accordingly, organizational routines aimed at partner selection need to be complemented by relationship management routines to maximize the potential benefits from an alliance. MB Sarkar (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Central Florida. His current research includes strategic alliances, innovation and entrepreneurship, knowledge management, and electronic markets. His research has been published in theStrategic Management Journal, theJournal of International Business Studies, and theJournal of Business Research, among others. Raj Echambadi (Ph.D., University of Houston) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Central Florida. His current research interests include investigation of territorial loyalty issues, management of innovations, and estimation issues pertaining to structural equation modeling and Partial Least Squares. His research has been published in theStrategic Management Journal, Multivariate Behavioral Research, and theJournal of Product Innovation Management. S. Tamer Cavusgil (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is University Distinguished Faculty and serves as the John William Byington Endowed Chair in global marketing at Michigan State University (MSU). He is also the executive director of MSU's Center for International Business Education and Research, a national resource center. His teaching, research, and administrative activities have focused on international business and marketing. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, and theJournal of International Business Studies, among others. His specific interests include the internationalization of the firm, global marketing strategy, and internationalization of business education. He was the founding editor of theJournal of International Marketing, now published by the American Marketing Association. Preet S. Aulakh (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an associate professor of strategy and international business at the Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University. His research focuses on international technology licensing, cross-border joint ventures and strategic alliances and strategies of firms from developing economies. His research has been published in theAcademy of Management Journal, theJournal of Marketing, and theJournal of International Business Studies.     

Managing culturally diverse buyer-seller relationships: The role of intercultural disposition and adaptive selling in developing intercultural communication competence

Given the increase in cultural diversity within marketing organizations as well as within current and potential customer bases, possessing the appropriate communication skills becomes crucial to success in managing culturally diverse relationships. Although marketing researchers have recognized the importance of adaptive selling behavior for successful buyer-seller relationships, the exploration of the intercultural aspects of these relationships has only recently begun. This article examines how adaptive selling behaviors and intercultural dispositions of marketing executives contribute to their perceived intercultural communication competence. Results show that in addition to being adaptive, the intercultural disposition of a marketer is of key importance in developing intercultural communication competence. Theoretical and practical implications for incorporating intercultural communication into the development of successful buyer-seller relationships are discussed. Victoria D. Bush (Ph.D., University of Memphis) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. Her research has appeared in such journals as theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Advertising Research, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theJournal of Services Marketing. Her research interests are in diversity, advertising, and ethics. Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research interests include consumer socialization and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published or has forthcoming articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Marketing, and other journals and proceedings. Faye Gilbert (Ph.D., University of North Texas) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, theJournal of Health Care Marketing, theJournal of Research in Pharmaceutical Economics, theJournal of Applied Business Research, theJournal of Marketing Management, theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and theJournal of Marketing Education, among others. Her work emphasizes the application of consumer behavior theory to health care and to channel relationships. Thomas N. Ingram (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is a professor of marketing at Colorado State University. He has been honored as the Marketing Educator of the Year by Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) and as a recipient of the Mu Kappa Tau National Marketing Honor Society Recognition Award for Outstanding Scholarly Contributions to the Sales Discipline. He has served as the editor of theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management and is the current editor of theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice. His primary research is in personal selling and sales management. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among others. He is the coauthor of three textbooks:Professional Selling: A Trust-Based Approach, Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making, andMarketing: Principles and Perspectives.     

Customer value,satisfaction, loyalty,and switching costs: An illustration from a business-to-business service context

Although researchers and managers pay increasing attention to customer value, satisfaction, loyalty, and switching costs, not much is known about their interrelationships. Prior research has examined the relationships within subsets of these constructs, mainly in the business-to-consumer (B2C) environment. The authors extend prior research by developing a conceptual framework linking all of these constructs in a business-to-business (B2B) service setting. On the basis of the cognition-affect-behavior model, the authors hypothesize that customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between customer value and customer loyalty, and that customer satisfaction and loyalty have significant reciprocal effects on each other. Furthermore, the potential interaction effect of satisfaction and switching costs, and the quadratic effect of satisfaction, on loyalty are explored. The authors test the hypotheses on data obtained from a courier service provider in a B2B context. The results support most of the hypotheses and, in particular, confirm the mediating role of customer satisfaction. Shun Yin Lam (asylam@ntu.edu.sg; fax: 65-6791-3697) is an assistant professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Lam received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario and has research interests in a number of areas including retail marketing, customer loyalty, and customers’ adoption and usage of technology. His work has appeared inMarketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, andAdvances in Consumer Research. Venkatesh (Venky) Shankar (vshankar@rhsmith.umd.edu) is Ralph J. Tyser Fellow and an associate professor of marketing in the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. His areas of research are e-business, competitive strategy, international marketing, pricing, new product management, and supply chain management. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theStrategic Management Journal, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, andMarketing Letters. he is co-editor of theJournal of Interactive Marketing; associate editor ofManagement Science; and serves on the editorial boards ofMarketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of Academy of Marketing Science. He is a three-time winner of the Krowe Award for Outstanding Teaching and teaches Marketing Management, Digital Business Strategy, Competitive Marketing Strategy, and International Marketing (http://www.venkyshankar.com). M. Krishna Erramilli (amkerramilli@ntu.edu.sg) is an associate professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has undertaken many studies on marketing strategy issues in service firms, particularly in an international context, and has published his work in journals like theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of International Business Studies, theColumbia Journal of World Business, and theJournal of Business Research. He has presented numerous papers at international conferences. His current research interests center on the international expansion of Asia-based service firms. Bvsan Murthy (abmurthy@ntu.edu.sg) is an associate professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Prior to turning to the academe a decade ago, he had 20 years of international industry experience. He has published in journals likeThe Cornell H.R.A. Quarterly and theInternational Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and has also written industry white papers/monographs and chapters in books. His current research interests center on strategic services marketing/management and customer value management.     

Driving organizational citizenship behaviors and salesperson in-role behavior performance: The role of management control and perceived organizational support

Interest in management control approaches and organizational factors associated with higher levels of salesperson performance is reflected in research streams concerned with behavior-based control strategies and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). This study makes two distinct additions to the literature relating to control, organizational citizenship behaviors and salesperson performance. First, the study distinguishes between salesperson in-role behavior performance and outcome performance to model in-role behavior performance as a mediator between OCB and outcome performance. Second, the work supports sales manager control as an antecedent to OCB. A second model introduces perceived organizational support (POS) as an additional antecedent to salesperson OCB, and more important, as a consequence of sales manager control. This construct has not been included in prior salesperson OCB studies. Results show sales manage control has a stronger impact on OCB through POS, than directly, and POS has a strong impact on salesperson OCB. Nigel F. Piercy (Nigel.Piercy@wbs.ac.uk) is a professor of marketing in the Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wales and a higher doctorate (D.Litt) from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. His current research interests focus on strategic sales and account management. His work has been published in many journals including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of International Marketing, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He is coauthor to David Cravens onStrategic Marketing (8th ed., Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2006). David W. Cravens (D.Cravens@tcu.edu) holds the Eunice and James L. West Chair of American Enterprise Studies and is a professor of marketing in the M. J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas. He has a doctorate in business administration from Indiana University. His areas of specialization include marketing strategy and planning, sales management, and new product planning. His research has been published in a wide range of journals including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theInternational Journal of Marketing. Nikala Lane (Nikala.Lane@wbs.ac.uk) is a senior lecturer in marketing in the Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wales and was previously a senior research associate at Cardiff University. Her research interests are focused on gender and ethics issues in sales and marketing management. Her work has been published widely in the international literature and includes articles in theJournal of Management Studies, theBritish Journal of Management, the Journal of Business Ethics, and theJournal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. Douglas W. Vorhies (dvorhies@bus.olemiss.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Mississippi. His primary research interests are in the areas of marketing strategy, marketing resources and capabilities, the links between innovation, strategic market management and performance, and professional selling and sales management. His other work has been published in many journals including theJournal of Marketing, Decision Sciences, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management.     

Export channel design: The use of foreign distributors and agents

Because many manufacturers are unable to integrate vertically into global distribution, the nonintegrated market entry modes of foreign distributor and agent are frequently used. Unfortunately, little is known about choosing efficiently between distributor and agent because research has only partially examined the importance of transaction and production costs in determining institutional arrangements. To specify efficient channel design, this article develops and tests hypotheses linking the characteristics of export exchange to the cost-minimizing mode of export channel governance. Based on a sample of 269 manufacturers, results suggest that market diversity, type of transaction-specific asset, and production cost economies all affect the choice between foreign-based agents and distributors. The article concludes with the implications of these results for export management and future export research. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. His research interests include distribution strategy and international marketing. He has published in theJournal of Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, andJournal of Advertising. He serves on the editorial review boards of various professional journals including theJournal of Marketing and theJournal of Business Research. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Her research interests include buyer-seller relationships and business-to-business marketing. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Global Marketing, and in the proceedings of various professional conferences.     

A three-component model of customer commitment to service providers

Although research into the determinants of service provider switching has grown in recent years, the focus has been predominantly on transactional, not relational, variables. In this research, the authors address the role of consumer commitment on consumers’ intentions to switch. Drawing from the organizational behavior literature, they build on previous service switching research by developing a switching model that includes a three-component conceptualization of customer commitment. Structural equation modeling is used to test the model based on data from a survey of 356 auto repair service customers. The authors’ results support the notion that customer commitment affects intentions to switch service providers and that the psychological states underlying that commitment may differ. As such, future marketing research should consider these different forms of commitment in understanding customer retention. The implications of this model for theory and practice are discussed. Havir S. Bansal (hbansal@wlu.ca) is an associate professor of marketing at Wilfrid Laurier University. He earned his Ph.D. from Queen’s University in 1997. His research interests are focused in the area of services marketing with emphasis on cuctomer switching behavior, word-of-mouth processes in services, and tourism. His research has been published in theJournal of Service Research, theJournal of Quality Management, andPsychology and Marketing and has publications forthcoming in theJournal of Services Marketing andTouris Management. He has also presented at and published articles in the proceedings of various national and international conferences. P. Gregory Irving (girving@wlu.ca) is an associate professor of organizational behavior at Wilfrid Laurier University. He received his Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Western Ontario. His research interests included commitment and work-related attitudes, psychological contracts, and organizational recruitment and socialization. His research has appeared in a variety of journal including theJournal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, theJournal of Organizational Behavior, theJournal of Management, Human Performance, andBasic and Applied Social Psychology. Shirley F. Taylor (Ph.D., University of British Columbia) (staylor@business.queensu.ca) is an associate professor in the School of Business at Queen’s University, where she teaches and conducts research in the area of services marketing. Her research interests include service provider loyalty and switching, customer commitment, and perceptions management of service delays. Her work has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, theJournal of Service Research, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, and theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing. She currently serves on the editorial boards of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, and theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences.     

Customer relationship dynamics: Service quality and customer loyalty in the context of varying levels of customer expertise and switching costs

As customer-organization relationships deepen, consumers increase their expertise in the firm’s product line and industry and develop increased switching costs. This study investigates the effects of customer investment expertise and perceived switching costs on the relationships between technical and functional service quality and customer loyalty. Technical service quality is hypothesized to be a more important determinant of customer loyalty than functional service quality as expertise increases. Both technical and functional service quality are hypothesized to have a reduced relationship with customer loyalty as perceived switching costs increase. Three-way interactions between the main effects of service quality, customer expertise, and perceived switching costs yield additional insight into the change in relative importance of technical and functional service quality in customers’ decision to be loyal. Six of eight hypotheses receive support. Implications are discussed for customer relationship management over the relationship life cycle. Simon J. Bell (s.bell@jims.cam.ac.uk; Ph.D., University of Melbourne) is a university lecturer in marketing at the Judge Institute of Management, the business school of the University of Cambridge. His research has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, andMarketing Theory, among others. His.areas of research interest include organizational learning, sales force management and internal marketing, services and relationship marketing, and corporate social responsibility. Seigyoung Auh (sauh@brocku.ca; Ph.D., University of Michigan) is an assistant professor of marketing at Brock University, Ontario, Canada. His research has been published in theJournal of Economic Psychology, theJournal of Business to Business Marketing, theJournal of Services Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Management, Industrial Marketing Management, and others. His research interests are in application of a resource-based view to marketing strategy, top management team diversity and marketing strategy, customer orientation (customer satisfaction) and loyalty, interface between marketing and entrepreneurship, and services and relationship marketing. Karen Smalley (B.Comm. Hons, University of Melbourne) is an honors graduate in marketing at the University of Melbourne.     

Marketing of risky sports: From intention to action

High-risk sports, such as skydiving, parachuting, and hang gliding, have become increasingly popular in recent years. This article uses expectancy-value theory to integrate previous research on risky behavior and risky sports. The model that is developed relates the expected benefits of risky sports to several antecedents; specifically, thrill and adventure seeking, arousal avoidance, role relaxation, and age. Two samples are drawn to represent the general population, as well as people just joining risky-sports clubs. In the general population, the intention to engage in risky sports is related to the ability to arouse curiosity. Other motives, specifically thrill and adventure seeking, become more salient as an individual moves closer to actually engaging in a risky sport. Aviv Shoham (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is a lecturer of marketing, Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. He has published or has forthcoming articles in journals such as theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Global Marketing, theJournal of International Consumer Marketing, and other marketing journals. He is also a frequent contributor to several marketing conferences. Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an assistant professor of management and marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Global Marketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, theJournal of Applied Social Psychology, Advances in Consumer Research, and other journals and proceedings. Lynn R. Kahle is the James Warsaw professor and department chair of marketing at the University of Oregon. Topics of his research include social adaptation, values, and sports marketing. His articles have appeared in journals such as theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, andChild Development. His books includeSocial Values and Social Change, Marketing Management, andValues, Lifestyles, and Psychographics.     

Family structure,materialism, and compulsive buying: A reinquiry and extension

The present study represents a reinquiry and extension of Rindfleisch, Burroughs, and Denton's (1997) foundational study concerning the impact of family structure on materialism and compulsive buying in young adults. In addition to reexamining the relationships specified in the Rindfleisch et al. study, the authors of this study also examine additional and/or different relationships. The findings of their reinquiry include the following: (1) family structure is positively related to the happiness dimension of materialism; (2) the predicted direct effect of family structure on compulsive buying was not supported, suggesting that divorce may not affect compulsive buying until early adulthood; and (3) the mediating roles of family stressors and family resources, and the moderating role of socioeconomic status may require additional investigation. Directions for future research in this nascent area of inquiry are offered. James A. Roberts (jim_Roberts@baylor.edu) (Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is the W. A. Mays Professor of Entrepreneurship and associate professor of marketing at Baylor University. He has had articles published in numerous journals including theJournal of Consumer Affairs, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, Business Horizons, Psychological Reports, theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice, theJournal of International Consumer Marketing, theJournal of Social Behavior and Personality, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Managerial Issues, theEducation Review, theJournal of Marketing Management, and various conference proceedings. Areas of research include selling and sales force management, compulsive buying, socially and ecologically conscious consumer behavior, and advertising-related issues. Current research efforts focus on the marketing/entrepreneurship interface. Chris Manolis (manolis@xavier.edu) is an associate professor of marketing at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, and his research interests include the study of psychological and behavioral processes of exchange participants and various methodological/empirical research issues. His research has appeared in a number of journals, including theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Consumer Marketing, theJournal of Services Marketing, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, andStructural Equation Modeling. Joh F.(Jeff) Tanner Jr. (jeff_tanner@baylor.edu) (Ph.D.,University of Georgia) serves as associate dean at Baylor University. His research interests are the use of marketing technology to promote responsible behavior and customer relationship management. He has published research in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and others.     

Building corporate associations: Consumer attributions for corporate socially responsible programs

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often used as a key criterion in gauging corporate reputation. This research examined the influence of consumers’ attributions on corporate outcomes in response to CSR. Researchers and managers have considered consumers’ beliefs about CSR initiatives to be simplistic, serving either economic ends or reflecting sincere social concerns. The results of two studies established that consumers’ attributions were more complex than traditionally viewed, mirroring many of the motives ascribed to companies by managers and researchers. Rather than viewing corporate efforts along a self- or other-centered continuum, consumers differentiated four types of motives: self-centered motives that are strategic and egoistic and other-centered motives that are values driven and stakeholder driven. Consumers responded most positively to CSR efforts they judged as values driven and strategic while responding negatively to efforts perceived as stakeholder driven or egoistic. Attributions were shown to affect purchase intent as well as mediate the structure of an offer. Pam Scholder Ellen (pellen@gsu.edu) is an associate professor of marketing at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on perceptual biases in the way consumers respond to marketplace offers, particularly in the public policy arena. In addition to theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, her research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Affairs, and theJournal of Retailing. Deborah J. Webb (dwebb@westga.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at the Richards College of Business at the University of West Georgia. Her research interests include consumers’ responses to prosocial corporate behaviors, marketing and society issues, and donation behavior. Her research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Affairs, andMarketing Education Review, among others. Lois A. Mohr is a retired associate professor of marketing from the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. Her research interests focus on consumer responses to corporate social responsibility and services marketing. She has published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal ofBusiness Research, the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Affairs, and theJournal of Services Marketing.     

The role of affect in attitude formation: A classical conditioning approach

This study investigates the role of affect in attitude formation. Two experiments, using established conditioning procedures, assessed the impact of affect on attitude formation. The results of Experiment 1 indicate that affect can influence attitudes even in the absence of product beliefs. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that affect plays as important or more important a role than the belief mechanism in attitude formation, depending on the number of repetitions. Implications of the results for understanding the role of affect in advertising are discussed. John Kim is an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at Oakland University. He earned his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Cincinnati. His research interests include consumer decision making, advertising effectiveness, and brand equity. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of Business Research. Jeen-Su Lim is Interim Chair and a professor of marketing at the University of Toledo. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Indiana University. His work has appeared in many journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, International Marketing Review, Management International Review, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of Health Care Marketing, among others. His research interests include consumer inference processes, new product development and competitive strategy, and export marketing. Mukesh Bhargava is an assistant professor in the Department of Marketing and Management at Oakland University. He has a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Texas, Austin, and several years of practical experience in advertising and marketing research. His research includes areas such as advertising effectiveness and evaluation of marketing strategy in business and nonprofit organizations. His work has appeared in theJournal of Advertising Research, Marketing Letters, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among others.     

The role of relationship quality in the stratification of vendors as perceived by customers

Companies implement preferred supplier programs to reduce their vendor relationships to a reasonable few. Consequently, vendors who do not effectively manage their customer-based relationships are strong candidates for deletion from a customer’s list of long-term suppliers. The emergence of preferred supplier programs suggests that businesses are beginning to formally recognize and reward differences between their qualified vendors. Vendor stratification is proposed as a framework for understanding the evolution of preferred vendor programs. With the growing interest in relationship marketing, a study was conducted to empirically examine the extent to which businesses use relationship quality perceptions to differentiate their qualified vendors. The findings support the notion that relationship quality is a higher-order construct that can be used as a basis for developing vendor stratification systems. The article concludes with a discussion of the managerial and research implications of the study findings. Michael J. Dorsch (Ph.D., University of Arkansas) is an associate professor of marketing at Clemson University. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, among others. His research interests include issues concerning relationship marketing and marketing research methods. Scott R. Swanson (Ph.D., University of Kentucky) is an assistant professor of marketing at East Carolina University. He previously spent 9 years as a purchasing executive and his research interets include issues related to services marketing, atmospherics, and marketing ethics. His research has been published in theJournal of Business to Business Marketing, theInternational Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, AMA Educators’ Proceedings, andRetailing: Theories and Practices for Today and Tomorrow. Scott W. Kelley (D.B.A., University of Kentucky) is an associate professor of marketing. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, among others. His research interests include issues concerning services marketing and marketing ethics.     

Domestic country bias,country-of-origin effects,and consumer ethnocentrism: A multidimensional unfolding approach

This study uses a multidimensional unfolding approach to examine the preference patterns of U.K. consumers for domestic products and those originating from specific foreign countries for eight product categories. Results indicate that the observed variability in preferences is linked to consumer ethnocentrism. However, the latter's capability in explaining consumer bias in favor of domestic products is dependent both on the specific country of origin and the particular product category. Implications of the findings are considered and future research directions identified. George Balabanis (g.balabanis@city.ac.uk) is a senior lecturer at City University in London. He has published articles in several journals including theJournal of International Business Studies, theBritish Journal of Management, International Marketing Review, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, andInternational Business Review. Adamantios Diamantopoulos (a.diamantopoulos@lboro. ac.uk) is a professor of marketing and business research at Loughbough University Business School, United Kingdom. His main research interests are in international marketing and research methodology. His work has been published, among others, in theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of International business Studies, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theInternational Jorunal of Forecasting, and theJournal of Business Research.