Emotions, store-environmental cues, store-choice criteria, and marketing outcomes

This study integrates extant research relating to store-related cognitions, customer emotions (arousal and pleasure), satisfaction, and loyalty into one framework. The researchers administer a survey to 274 customers in four coffee shops of a major chain. Using these data, the researchers test the hypotheses and model with structural equation modelling. The findings suggest that (a) store-related cognitions differentially affect emotions and customer outcomes (satisfaction and loyalty) and (b) the two emotions of arousal and pleasure differentially mediate the relationships between store-related cognitions and customer outcomes.     

The product innovation process and GDP dynamics

In this paper, we explain GDP dynamics through an analysis of the forces that modify the structure of the economy. These forces are represented by the entry of new firms and product innovations. Our model is inspired by Bak’s sand pile model, and the entry of a new firm or innovation is comparable to dropping a grain of sand in Bak’s model. The resulting model involves the insights of both Keynes and Schumpeter. It could be defined as Keynesian because the aggregate output is demand driven. That said, the model can mainly be labeled as Schumpeterian for several reasons: (i) innovations have a key role, (ii) credit is involved in supporting the innovation process, (iii) innovations partially destroy old industries, and finally (iv) without innovations, the system gradually approaches its stationary state. In this simple model, the change in the number of sectors (products) of the economy is the decisive factor with the following results: (1) the aggregate production has an increasing trend; (2) fluctuations are asymmetric; (3) recessions have a “creative destruction” explanation; (4) “classical” cycles are gradually replaced by “growth” cycles.     

Being a JBR reviewer

Publishing academic research in influential journals is at the heart of modern knowledge economies. However, submitting to a top-tier journal such as JBR can be a challenging experience for some authors. In this piece I share my experience as a JBR reviewer and offer my thoughts on how authors should approach submissions and resubmissions to JBR.     

Extra- and intra-organizational drivers of workplace deviance

Workplace deviance is an employee behavior with detrimental effects on the organizational bottom line, which makes it of great interest for services management research. The author develops and estimates a model for understanding the relationship between extra- and intra-organizational antecedents and job satisfaction, which relates to workplace deviance. The model is tested using a sample of more than 270 occupationally diverse service employees. Results show that perceived customer unfriendliness, role ambiguity and service climate predict job satisfaction, which negatively affects workplace deviance. These results suggest implications for service management research and practice.     

Maximax Apportionments

The method of apportionment proposed in this paper reverses the approach of classical methods, where techniques for the assignment of electoral seats are developed, and then the fairness criteria which are met by this technique are established. In this paper, however, an order of priority of the criteria is first established and then a "customized" solution is developed for each individual case following the approaches of Balinski and Young. By using suitable relations of dominance between seat distributions and Cooperative Game Theory, it is possible to obtain a "minimax apportionment", i.e. a distribution which minimizes the gravest possible distorsions. This method can also be easily applied to multiordered apportionments.     

Does relationship quality matter in e-services? A comparison of online and offline retailing

The quality of the relationship between customers and service firms has been found to be a major driver of customer loyalty in traditional (i.e., offline) service contexts. The increasing use of electronic services, or e-services, raises questions concerning the extent to which the relationship quality-customer loyalty link holds in an e-service context. Based on an extended model of relationship quality and by applying the social information processing perspective, this research tests the relevance of relationship quality for online relationships and explores differences of the relationship quality-loyalty link between online and offline retailers. To test the model, a large-scale study is conducted on both online and offline relationships for two service contexts (media and travel retailing). Using multi-group structural equation modeling, the authors identify differences between the online and offline environment in both service contexts. Results show that (1) relationship quality is similarly important for retaining customers online and offline and (2) differences in the impact of relationship-quality dimensions strongly depends on the service context.     

The Banking Relationship's Role in the Choice of the Target's Advisor in Mergers and Acquisitions

We analyse the factors influencing the target company's choice of bank advisor in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We first examine the choice of hiring an advisor, which is nontrivial, since in one‐third of transactions our sample target companies did not hire one. We also analyse the choice to hire as advisor a bank with a strong prior relationship with the company (i.e., the main bank). Using data on 473 European M&A transactions completed in the period 1994–2003, we find evidence that the decision to hire an advisor depends on three main factors: (i) the intensity of the previous banking relationship, (ii) the reputation of the bidder company's advisor, and (iii) the complexity of the deal. We also investigate the impact of the bank advisor on shareholder wealth. We find that the abnormal returns of target company shareholders increase with the intensity of the previous banking relationship, thus indicating a ‘certification role’ on the part of investment banks.