An exploratory study of determinants for restaurant servers’ actual tip earnings: Individual characteristics and work conditions

This exploratory study investigates two different types of determinants for servers’ actual tip earnings (individual characteristics versus work conditions) using readily available organizational data. Unlike previous studies that measured servers’ tips by asking subjects (servers or customers) to report tip amounts, we measure the actual tip earnings of each server extracted from the point of sale system. The results show that work conditions (daily work hours, weekend work hours, and immediate supervisors’ characteristics) have stronger relationships with servers’ tip earnings than servers’ individual characteristics (gender, tenure, and job satisfaction). This study represents an initial attempt to use objective data to measure servers’ tip earnings and explore its potential relationship with work conditions compared to its relationships with individual characteristics which have been frequently examined in previous studies.     

Rewards that undermine customer loyalty? A motivational approach to loyalty programs

Guided by the framework of self‐determination theory (SDT), this study examined the effects of external rewards on undermining customers’ intrinsic motivation to engage in a retail loyalty program. Two experiments revealed that participants who received a salient, controlling reward (i.e., a promise of reward with an explicit requirement and deadline, without options of choice) reported lower intrinsic motivation to use the loyalty program than participants who received a nonsalient, autonomy‐supportive reward (i.e., a promise of reward with a less explicit requirement and no deadline, with options of choice). However, the undermined intrinsic motivation of those who received the salient, controlling reward was enhanced when they were given verbal feedback acknowledging their potential negative feelings associated with using the loyalty program. These findings provide important practical implications for designing a more effective loyalty program.     

Assertive Environmental Advertising and Reactance: Differences Between South Koreans and Americans

In three studies, the authors show that Americans and South Koreans react differently to environmental advertising campaigns featuring assertive messages that threaten autonomous freedoms. The findings uphold their hypothesis that cultural differences determine whether consumers will show reactance to assertive advertising campaigns. Study 1 demonstrates that Americans are less receptive to an assertive recycling message using imperatives such as should, must, and ought and more receptive to a nonassertive message using could, might, and worth. South Koreans do not show the reactance response. Study 2, an energy-saving campaign, conceptually replicates the findings and further shows that perceived threat to freedom mediates the effects. Study 3 uses a realistic setting (i.e., online magazine) to further support the hypothesis that cultural differences affect attitudes toward assertive messages, but adds perceived politeness as an underlying second mediator.     

Development of a scale to measure the quality of mobile location-based services

Mobile location-based service (m-LBS) presents attractive business opportunities for various companies. Recent improvements of technologies have resulted in a dramatic growth of m-LBSs. However, development of scales for evaluating the m-LBS quality has scarcely been addressed. This study aims to develop a new scale applicable to evaluating m-LBS quality. The scale was qualitatively designed at first, and the designed scale was assessed with a total number of 281 responded survey data. As a result, an m-LBS quality scale was developed, which consists of 9 quality dimensions and 29 measurement items. The distinctive characteristic of m-LBS is captured by a newly defined dimension called “localization” and its three measurement items (namely organization, update, and inclusiveness). The proposed scale was shown to be statistically reliable and valid. The results of this study would significantly contribute to providing a valid scale for use in measuring the m-LBS quality.     

Deterring deviant consumer behaviour: when ‘it’s wrong,don’t do it’ doesn’t work

ABSTRACT

Tactics to deter deviant consumer behaviour have received limited attention in the literature despite deviance being an ongoing problem in the marketplace. Across two studies, the findings suggest there is a heterogeneous response to the rules placed on consumers’ behaviour, which manifests from an absence of consensus among consumers on what is right and wrong behaviour undermining the it’s wrong, don’t do it approach to deterrence. Further, risk perceptions of being caught and punished are low, if not absent, undermining the you will be caught and punished approach to deterrence. Alternate underlying mechanisms were tested and found to influence deviant consumer behaviour (perceived prevalence, perceived outcomes and moral identity), which could underpin alternate deterrence tactics, including social proofing, moral triggers and humanising the victim.     

The influence of graphical versus numerical information representation modes on the compromise effect

The current research examines how different types of information representation mode (graphical vs. numerical) influence the compromise effect. We posit that the compromise effect will be relatively stronger in the graphical versus numerical information presentation mode. Four empirical studies reported in this research provide the following: (1) support for these predictions, (2) the moderating role of time pressure, and (3) the moderating role of explicit relational information for the above prediction. The empirical results reveal that individuals employ different kinds of information processing and judgments, depending on the type of information representation mode.     

The impact of public R&D subsidy on small firm productivity: evidence from Korean SMEs

This paper explores the effects of R&D promotion policy on SME performance. We use a large panel data set on public R&D subsidies to Korean manufacturing firms. We control for counterfactual outcomes employing the DID (difference in differences) estimation procedure as well as for the endogeneity of the R&D investment and the R&D subsidy using the 2-stage Tobit/Logit DPD (dynamic panel data) procedure. We find significant evidence for positive effects of the public R&D subsidy on both the R&D expenditure and the value added productivity of Korean manufacturing SMEs. The policy thus appears to have been successful in fostering technological advancement and in promoting economic growth.     

Use of behavioral reasoning theory to examine the role of social responsibility in attitudes toward apparel donation

Drawing on behavioral reasoning theory, this study investigated drivers of young consumers’ apparel donation behavior. By examining the impact of values (i.e., benevolence and power) and reasons (i.e., other‐oriented reasons and self‐oriented reasons) on attitudes, this study highlights the different motivations individuals have for donating clothing. As predicted, benevolence was positively related to other‐oriented reasons for donations and power was positively related to self‐oriented reasons for donations. Both other‐ and self‐oriented reasons for donating influenced attitudes related to apparel donation behavior. These findings offer an overarching explanation for the seemingly disparate reasons for apparel donation previously identified.     

Global retailers and logalization: ‘thinking locally and acting globally’

Abstract

This research provides theoretical rationale to explain how global retailers are able to harvest multiple ideas from diverse host-markets and add relevant new ideas into a standardized retail mix that is rolled out globally. To capture this bottom-up harvesting of local information embedded in host-markets, this study adopted the term ‘logalization’ from the economics literature and applied the absorptive capacity framework. Under the activation of absorptive capacity, host-market subsidiaries play a critical role in acquiring and assimilating relevant knowledge from the host market and disseminating it to headquarters. The home-country headquarters (HQ) then transforms relevant knowledge into an innovative standardized retail mix to exploit at the global level. The concept of ‘logalization’ differs from ‘glocalization’ found in the literature; glocalization incorporates the local context to establish a strategy at the local level, while logalization uses local information as a resource to develop a standardized strategy at the global level. The development of propositions is informed by semi-structured interviews with 10 managers employed by global retailers. By illustrating the logalization orientation, this research describes how global retailers can create an innovative retail mix by exploiting heterogeneous information from various host-markets to create and sustain a competitive advantage in the global market.