The influence of personality on active and passive use of social networking sites

Managers are more and more interested in social networking sites because they provide opportunities for strengthening relationships with customers as well as site content and service. Using social networking sites effectively, however, depends on understanding both the psychological attributes and social interactions of participants. This paper addresses these topics by presenting the results of a two‐study inquiry into the importance of two personality traits (consumer innovativeness and expressiveness) to active and passive use of social networks among Italian consumers. In Study 1 ( n = 753) it was found that innovativeness is positively related to active and passive use. Study 2 ( n = 277) revealed that self‐identity expressiveness and social identity expressiveness positively influence only active use. These results suggest that managers need to distinguish bet‐ween, and differentially encourage, joining and browsing such sites on the one hand and actively contributing to them on the other. Managers can also enhance the impact of their social networking sites by taking into account social and self‐identity expressiveness to increase affiliation and market share and by encouraging consumers to use these sites actively. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Competitive Characteristics of U.S Manufacturers in the Machine Tool Industry

This paper examines the competitive characteristics of U.S. manufacturers in the machine tool (MT) industry. After several decades of decline, this industry has recently shown signs of a modest but sustained recovery. Empirical evidence from a national survey of 104 MT producers suggests that the revival of this sector has been driven by a combination of factors, including renewed export involvement, improved customer support, and better product design. Although most MT companies are small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the survey data show that very small SMEs are poorly represented in the recovery thrust of the industry as a whole. Our principal conclusion is that the MT industry has been following an export-led path toward stabilization, but that certain types of small producers are unlikely to thrive for very long. The most serious problems facing small producers include shrinking local markets, import competition, shortages of skilled labor, and cyclical demand.     

Exchange Rate Shocks and the Speed of Trade Price Adjustment

A quantity adjustment cost model is developed in the context of international trade along the lines proposed by Krugman (1987). The model implies that prices adjust dynamically to exchange rate fluctuations. The price adjustment speed is determined as a function of foreign demand responsiveness, the appropriate discount rate, and an adjustment cost parameter. Pass-through is incomplete and increases over time and with the speed of price adjustment. A preliminary empirical analysis finds that the speed of price adjustment from the time series by industry and then in a cross-sectional regression tentatively relates the obtained adjustment speeds to their theoretical determinants.     

Customer evaluation of retail salespeople utilizing the SOCO scale: A replication,extension, and application

Measuring retail salesperson performance is a critical, though relatively neglected research issue. We suggest that the SOCO scale may be an appropriate tool for measuring salesperson performance from the buyer’s perspective. Therefore, a replication of the SOCO scale was undertaken by having consumers evaluate retail salespeople. The SOCO scale items were slightly modified to fit the consumer sample and retail focus of the study. In addition, the number of points on the SOCO response scale was also reduced and the verbal anchors modified to better suit the needs of telephone surveys. Despite these changes, the properties of the scale were found to be strikingly similar to those reported in prior studies. It was recommended that retailers adopt the SOCO scale to measure salesperson performance.     

Travellers under fire: Tourists in the Tibetan uprising

Following the demonstrations in Lhasa in the fall of 1987, tourists who witnessed the events became the principal source of information to journalists denied access to Tibet and gathered material on arrests, torture, and imprisonment for human-rights organizations. A loosely knit network that arose in the first few days following the demonstrations continued to function for more than 2 years, recruiting new volunteers to take the place of those who left. Using material collected as a participant-observer among individual travelers in Tibet during 1987 and 1988, the article examines the growth of this network in terms of the response of different travel cultures to political unrest.