Toward an understanding of online information processing in e-tourism: does national culture matter?

Tourism is undoubtedly among the industries that better reflect the effects of globalization, technological advances (i.e. the Internet) being one of the most relevant drivers. Given the current market saturation of this sector, a better understanding of how tourists from different cultures process online information and forge their attitudes and behavioral intentions is called for. Nevertheless, national culture may have a major influence on the effectiveness of online tourist marketing activities. This study contributes to the extant body of knowledge via the analysis of the influence of perceived risk on how tourists process the information while browsing a tourist destination website, form their attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the destination. The effect of national culture on such antecedents is examined via a cross-cultural research to compare Spanish and British cultures. A theoretical model is proposed to integrate the effect of perceived risk and variables regarding technology acceptance on tourist responses.     

Measuring Executive Education Service Quality: A Construct Validity Study in Latin America

ABSTRACT

This article reports on the development of a measurement tool to assess service quality in an executive education setting. For this purpose, two studies were performed at a Peruvian business school. In the first study, data were collected from 205 executive students to establish the dimensionality of the measurement instrument. The follow-up study, performed a year later with data gathered from 354 executive students, was devoted to examining the stability of the factor structure in addition to the reliability and construct validity of the scale's scores. Results provide strong support for the validity and reliability of the scores on the five EXEQ subscales. The findings also showed that students not only evaluate executive education service quality through five factors but that they also view overall executive education service quality as a higher-order construct that captures elements of all its constitutive dimensions.

RESUMEN. El propósito de este estudio es informar sobre el desarrollo de una herramienta de medición para evaluar la calidad del servicio, en un entorno educacional para ejecutivos. Para lograrlo, se realizaron dos estudios en una escuela de negocios (business schools) de Perú. En el primer estudio, se recopilaron datos provenientes de 205 estudiantes ejecutivos para establecer la dimensión del instrumento de medición. El estudio de seguimiento, a su vez, se realizó un año más tarde con los datos obtenidos de 354 estudiantes ejecutivos, que se utilizaron para examinar la estabilidad del factor estructura, y la confiabilidad y validación constructiva de la clasificación de escala. Los resultados obtenidos respaldaron fuertemente la validación y confiabilidad de la clasificación en cinco subescalas EXEQ. Los hallazgos también demostraron que los estudiantes no sólo evalúan la calidad de los servicios educacionales brindados a los ejecutivos con base en cinco factores, sino que ellos también analizan la calidad de este servicio educacional desde una perspectiva mucho más amplia, que captura los elementos que constituyen sus propias dimensiones y alcance.

RESUMO. Este estudo relata o desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta de medição para avaliar a qualidade do serviço num cenário de formação de executivos. Com esse objetivo, dois estudos foram realizados numa escola de negócios (business school) peruana. No primeiro estudo, dados foram coletados de 205 estudantes executivos para verificar a dimensionalidade do instrumento de medição. O estudo de follow-up, realizado um ano depois com dados coletados de 354 estudantes executivos, dedicou-se a examinar a estabilidade da estrutura de fator e a confiabilidade e validade de constructo dos escores da escala. Os resultados dão fortes sinais da validade e confiabilidade dos escores nas cinco subescalas EXEC. Constatou-se também que os estudantes não apenas avaliam a qualidade do serviço de formação de executivos mediante cinco fatores, mas também vêem a qualidade do serviço de formação de executivos como um constructo de ordem superior, que capta elementos de todas as suas dimensões constitutivas.     

Millennials’ ethical ideology effects on responses to alcohol advertisements: The role of strength of ethnic identification and ethical appraisal of the ad

Abstract

In an extension of generational theory, the present research argues that ethical ideology (i.e. idealism vs. relativism) impacts attitude toward the ad (A_ad), attitude toward the brand (A_brand), and purchase intention (PI). Additionally, this research examines how this relationship is mediated by the ethical appraisal of the ad and moderated by the level of ethnic identification (i.e. high vs. low). The results of this experiment provide additional evidence in support of generational theory which states that each generational cohort holds distinct ethical ideologies. Furthermore, this study identifies differences in the participants’ responses to alcohol ads resulting from their personal values (i.e. in this study we focus on strength of ethnic identification).     

Determinants of the Use of the Internet as a Tourist Information Source

The modelling of usage behaviour of New Information Technologies is of great utility to managers who need to evaluate the probability of success in the introduction of these technologies. The present study empirically contrasts the capacity of Davis's Technology Acceptance Model 1989 to help understand the determinants of the intention to use the Internet to search for holiday information. The findings show that the above theory does explain the intention to use the Internet on the part of the tourist, but it should be expanded to take account of the tourist's satisfaction with previous experiences of searching for holiday information.     

Consumer receptiveness to international retail expansion: a cross-cultural study of perceptions of social and economic influence of foreign retailers

Guided by the work of Samiee (1993 Samiee, S.1993. “Retailing and Channel Considerations in Developing Countries: A Review and Research Propositions.” Journal of Business Research27 (2): 103–129. doi:10.1016/0148-2963(93)90018-K.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Journal of Business Research, 27 (2): 103–129), Sakarya, Eckman, and Hyllegard (2007 Sakarya, S., M.Eckman, and K.Hyllegard. 2007. “Market Selection for International Expansion.” International Marketing Review24 (2): 208–238. doi:10.1108/02651330710741820.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. International Marketing Review, 24 (2): 208–238), and Alexander et al. (2010 Alexander, N., A. M.Doherty, J. M.Carpenter, and M.Moore. 2010. “Consumer Receptiveness to International Retail Market Entry.” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management38 (3): 160–172. doi:10.1108/09590551011027104.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 38 (3): 160–172), a cross-cultural analysis was undertaken to examine consumer receptiveness to domestic market entry by foreign apparel specialty retailers. More specifically, this study explored differences in consumers' perceptions of the influence of foreign apparel specialty retailers on social, cultural, and economic development across three countries: Spain, Turkey, and the USA. Consumer receptiveness was measured as beliefs about the social and economic influence of foreign retailers and perceptions of retailers' brand characteristics and offerings. An intercept survey of 1233 apparel shoppers was conducted in major metropolitan shopping areas in all three countries. MANOVA revealed that Spanish consumers were least concerned about urban growth associated with foreign retailers and least likely to perceive positive employment/business opportunities and socio-cultural well-being from the presence of foreign retailers. Turkish consumers held the strongest perceptions regarding the influence of foreign retailers on urban growth. Paired sample t-tests revealed that Turkish consumers, when compared with Spanish consumers, evaluated U.S. retailers' offerings more positively and were more receptive to the entry of U.S. retailers into their domestic markets. Results of regression analyses indicated that Spanish and Turkish consumers' beliefs about retail brand characteristics and the socio-cultural and economic influence of foreign retailers positively predicted consumers' receptiveness, whereas age negatively influenced receptiveness. Differences in perceptions among Spanish, Turkish, and U.S. consumers may be attributed to the varying levels of economic development among the three countries as well as to the countries' differing policies concerning foreign retailers. Findings provide a basis for the development of a measure of consumer receptiveness to international retail expansion.     

Estimating the effect of the Internet on international trade

In this article, we study the effect of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the responsiveness of Mexican economy to real exchange rate shocks. We argue that, by opening the US and Canadian markets to Mexican goods, NAFTA made it easier for domestic producers to take advantage of the opportunities brought by the depreciation of the real exchange rate. To identify this mechanism, we use plant-level data and compare the behavior of employment, production and investment after two big real exchange rate shocks: the first observed in the mid-1980s, the second the Tequila Crisis of 1994–1995. The evidence indicates that after passage of NAFTA exporting firms exhibited higher growth rates of employment, sales and investment vis-à-vis non-exporters. We confirm our results by analyzing the behavior of a control group of firms, that had complete access to the US market during both devaluations, and we show that they responded in a similar way in both events. Finally, we also provide direct evidence on the relationship between exports and tariff reductions brought by NAFTA. Our results support the view that NAFTA has allowed Mexican producers to respond more quickly to real exchange shocks.     

Analyzing the Market for Imported Cheese in Mexico

Rapid growth of U.S. dairy exports to Mexico began even before the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and has been fueled by rapid population increases coupled with an expanding Mexican economy. This study uses a nonlinear approximate almost ideal demand system (NLAIDS) to estimate own and cross-price elasticities in the Mexican cheese import market to better understand market behavior and to assess the comparative position of the UnitedStates relative to other cheese market participants. Results of this study imply that attributes of cheese play a strong role in the composition of Mexican cheese import market.     

Does the Ethical Leadership of Supervisors Generate Internal Social Capital?

Ethics has recently gained prominence in debates surrounding social capital creation. Despite the significant theoretical progress in this field, it still lacks empirical research. The goal of this study is to empirically explore the ethical leadership of supervisors as an antecedent of the firm’s social capital. We build on social learning theory to argue that employees can learn standards of appropriate behavior by observing the behavior of role models. By displaying and enforcing ethical behavior, supervisors can facilitate the process through which employees learn to feel empathy toward others and establish profound affective relationships with them. Data were collected from 408 Spanish, French, and Portuguese part-time MBA students. Using structural equation modeling techniques, we show that the ethical leadership of supervisors exerts a significant influence on the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions of social capital.     

Internal market orientation and its influence on the satisfaction of contact personnel

To verify the dimensions, reliability and validity of internal market orientation (IMO) as a scale of measurement of internal marketing, and using it to measure the effect of internal marketing on the satisfaction of contact personnel. Interviews were carried out with all the cashiers of the 16 branches of a small, local credit institution. Because of the small sample size, partial least squares were used in the analysis of the data. The results show the validity and reliability of the IMO construct, formed by four of the five dimensions of the original scale. They also corroborate the causal relationships among the four dimensions, as well as the significant influence of the informal dimension of IMO on the satisfaction of contact personnel. The main limitation of this study is that it analyses a single financial entity, with the characteristics and behaviours that the latter has in its relationship with its employees. To achieve their organisational objectives, firms must adopt an orientation towards the employee, or internal marketing, on an equal plane to the traditional consideration of the external market. Also, the measurability of this internal orientation on the basis of the IMO scale makes available a valuable tool of planning and control in its implementation. This article verifies the validity and reliability of the IMO construct, and its influence on the satisfaction of contact personnel, in a different business sector and with a different research subject from those analysed hitherto by the literature. It also demonstrates the sequential type of relationship among the dimensions that form IMO.     

EU‐China Collaboration in the Reform of the International Monetary System: Much Ado About Nothing?

The global financial crisis has shown that the current international monetary system (IMS) suffers from an inherent flaw: it depends on US current account deficits for the provision of global liquidity. Under this arrangement, peripheral countries have to accept periodically the debasement of the US dollar. Thus, there are some mutual incentives for the EU and China to reform the current IMS through cooperation. Both are in favour of stable exchange rates, and both are keen to constrain US macroeconomic profligacy. There have been some efforts towards these objectives in the past, especially during the French presidency of the G20 in 2011. However, there has been no significant progress. On the European side, there is not a united and independent Europe which could act as the primary agent of reform. On the Chinese side, Beijing does not see Europe as a reliable partner because the latter is deemed to have a major vested interest in the current regime. As a result, the French government failed to focus the world's attention on the reform of the IMS during G20 Cannes Summit, and the Chinese government has chosen a more unilateral way to internationalise its own currency.