Here or there? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility initiatives: Egocentric tendencies and their moderators

This research examines how consumers react to corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs that vary in geographic focus. Three experiments compare consumers' patronage of a company in response to local and distant CSR initiatives. The extant egocentrism literature suggests that a CSR activity focused locally, and thus, with greater personal relevance, should increase patronage of the company responsible for the CSR activity. Indeed, this egocentric bias, exhibited in the form of increased purchase intentions or actual choices, is found across all three studies. However, these egocentric tendencies are moderated by consumers' superordinate identities. In study 1, consumers' greater intentions to patronize a company whose CSR activity is domestic vs. foreign are moderated by their sense of global identity. In study 2, consumers' increased choices of a company whose CSR activity is in their home state vs. a distant state are moderated by levels of environmental consciousness. Finally, in study 3, increased patronage of a company whose CSR activity focuses in consumers' home city vs. a distant city depends on the salience and level of consumers' superordinate group identity.     

Guilty by stereotypic association: Country animosity and brand prejudice and discrimination

This research tests the proposition that brands suffer prejudice and discrimination due to animosity toward a country with which they have a strong stereotypic association. In the first study, attitudinal data collected across a range of brands that vary in terms of the strength of the brand–country association indicate that brands with strong stereotypic association with a country suffer direct prejudice, in the form of more negative attitudes, related to animosity. When the brand–country association is less strong, the relationship between animosity and brand attitudes is moderated by the strength of the stereotypic association. In the second study, the level of brand–country association is manipulated experimentally to provide additional evidence of its moderating role on the relationship between country animosity and both prejudice toward (more negative brand attitudes) and discrimination against (less choice) a new brand.     

Weg vom negativen Branchenimage — mit Subtyping zur Arbeitgebermarke

Zusammenfassung  Employer Branding, die Positionierung einer Marke auf dem Arbeitsmarkt, wird vor allem von Unternehmen professionell betrieben, die dank positivem Image bei Arbeitnehmern ohnehin schon ganz oben auf der Wunschliste stehen. Unternehmen aus unattraktiven Branchen haben es schwerer: Das wenig attraktive Branchenimage übertr?gt sich oft auf die eigene Marke. Doch auch diese Unternehmen k?nnen eine unverwechselbare Positionierung auf dem Arbeitsmarkt erreichen: Indem sie sich zu einem „Subtype“ des Branchenstereotyps entwickeln und das gezielt kommunizieren. Dipl.-Kommunikationswirtin Antonia Erz Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Center for Innovation am Institut für Marketing und Handel an der Universit?t St. Gallen Dr. Sven Henkel Projektleiter Consumer and Brand Research am Institut für Marketing und Handel an der Universit?t St. Gallen Prof. Dr. Torsten Tomczak Ordinarius für Betriebswirtschaftslehre mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Marketing und Direktor des Instituts für Marketing und Handel an der Universit?t St. Gallen     

The 1996 ICC Report on Extortion And Bribery in International Business Transactions

Extortion and bribery are regularly identified as well–nigh insoluble ethical problems for business, especially on an international scale, yet there are many initiatives being steadily pursued to combat them. One of the most impressive is the work of the International Chamber of Commerce, which published an important Report on the subject in 1977, the first such document prepared by the business community. Now that Report has undergone an in-depth revision which was published last year and is the subject of this study. Professor Argandoña is Secretary General of IESE [the International Graduate School of Management of the University of Navarre], Av. Pearson 21, E–Barcelona, Spain (email: argandona@iese.es), and an Associate Editor of this Review. The article is a revised version of the presentation made to the Nineth EBEN Annual Conference held in Frankfurt in September last year.     

Experiential Reciprocity: The Role of Direct Experience in Value Perceptions

This research proposes experiential reciprocity as the process underlying the relationship between direct experience of a national park and perceived value of the park system and its role in preserving the environment. Cross-sectional data of people's experience and perceptions of the United States National Park Service and their values and beliefs related to the park system indicate that a direct experience of a park increases the intrinsic value of the park, even for those who are already environmentally conscious. Consistent with the norm of reciprocity, direct experience of a park also increases willingness to finance the park directly. Given the role of direct experience of the park in fostering an intrinsic appreciation for its role in preserving the environment, waving access fees is offered as a way to promote experiential reciprocity.     

The Image of Spain as Tourist Destination Built Through Fictional Cinema

Fictional cinema is one of the cultural agents that shapes the international image of each country. It colonizes spectators' imagery, and it can influence their choice of tourist destinations. Spanish cinema's international diffusion has allowed the exhibition of movies that spread and renew the image of Spain in different ways. In this respect, we propose a three‐fold typology of films focusing our attention on their content and the ways in which they build the image of Spain: Icon Films, Pastiche Films, and Tourist Poster Films. These films may stimulate the increase of a cultural tourism very different from the traditional one that inspired many to come to Spain mainly looking for sunny beaches.     

On the user cost and homeownership

This paper studies the differences in the cost of housing services for renters and homeowners and calculates the bias that results when we value owner-occupied housing services using a rental equivalence approach. Our framework is a life-cycle model with endogenous tenure choice with households facing idiosyncratic uninsurable earnings risk and housing price risk. We model houses as illiquid assets that provide collateral for loans. To analyze the impact of preferential housing taxation on the tenure choice and the bias, we consider a tax system that mimics that of the US economy. Namely, owner-occupied housing services are not taxed and mortgage interest payments are deductible. Through simulations, we show that a rental equivalence approach (relative to a user cost approach) overestimates the cost of housing services. The magnitude of the bias is very sensitive to both the income tax rate and the size of adjustment costs in the housing market.