Gender differences in perceived workplace harassment and gender egalitarianism: A comparative cross-national analysis

Using 2015 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data on 38,179 individuals from 36 countries in 9 relatively homogeneous global regions, we analyze the gender differences and the gender gap in perceived workplace harassment (PWH) with particular attention to gender equality's and gender egalitarianism's roles in molding these differences. We find that despite large regional differences, women in most countries are more likely than men to perceive workplace harassment, although this likelihood is higher in countries that score favorably on our gender equality measures. Hence, political empowerment and better economic opportunities alter women's perceptions of workplace harassment, increasing the probability of their experiencing it. Our results also underscore the important roles of values and gender egalitarian practices. Whereas enhanced gender egalitarianism values increase women's perceptions of workplace harassment, concrete practices tend to reduce them. Especially for management, this result highlights the importance of actually implementing gender equality policies at a corporate level, because a discrepancy between corporate values and practices on this issue will only accentuate the perception of harassment.     

Shaping Retail Brand Personality Perceptions by Bodily Experiences

Customer experiences play an important role in retail brand management. This research investigates how bodily experiences in retail environments influence customers’ perceptions of retail brand personalities. Based on research on human personality perception, we propose that bodily experiences transfer metaphoric meaning to customers’ brand perceptions. In a field experiment and a lab experiment we manipulated participants’ bodily experiences (feeling of hardness and temperature) and consistently found a metaphor-specific transfer of experiences to retail brand personality perceptions (on the dimensions “ruggedness” and “warmth”). A third study reveals the mechanism behind the effect and demonstrates concept activation elicited by bodily experiences in customers’ minds.     

Who Is the Loser When I Lose the Game? Does Losing an Advergame Have a Negative Impact on the Perception of the Brand?

Many computer games are based on the principle of competition, making the outcome of the game, namely, the prospect of victory and the threat of defeat, a key element. A lab experiment was conducted to study the effects of a game's outcome on the player's mood, brand attitude, and game attitude as well as the experience of flow (N = 95; between-subject design: game lost versus game won versus no induction of the game outcome). The results show that although winners are not in a better mood after the game, they rate the game as better and assess the brands advertised more positively than before they played the game. They have an increased likelihood of experiencing flow, whereas no significant effects of losing the game could be detected due to the total mediation of the flow experience in the case of the losing condition.     

Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: A Field Experiment on Lifetime Energy Costs and Household Appliances

Providing consumers with information that can lead to more energy-efficient choices can help reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions while reducing costs to consumers. A natural field experiment is conducted in collaboration with an electrical retailer to test strategies for influencing sales of household appliances. The experiment involves two product categories, fridge-freezers and tumble driers. Information on lifetime energy cost of appliances is provided through a label and training of sales staff. For fridge-freezers, the authors find no significant effects. For tumble driers, the combined treatment and training treatment reduce average energy use of tumble driers sold by 4.9% and 3.4%, respectively. The effect is strongest initially, over 12% on average for the first 3 months for the combined treatment but declines over time. The effect is significant at the 5% level for the combined treatment while not significant for sales staff training.     

Brand Identification by Product Design: The Impact of Evaluation Mode and Familiarity

Distinctive product design is a cornerstone of sustainable branding. Ideally, consumers will be able to identify brands by product design without seeing any logos. Once companies have established strong associations between product designs and brands in consumers’ minds, they seek protection against imitation as well as consistency in product lines. This research discusses methods for measuring consumers’ abilities to identify brands by product design. Study 1 shows that brand identification depends on the evaluation mode that the identification task evokes. Compared to a task that presents products side by side (comparative mode), participants are more likely to confuse copycats with an original design when they see only one product (noncomparative mode). Study 2 replicates findings of Study 1, demonstrating some robustness of effects across three countries (United States, Spain, Germany) and across three different product categories (beer, smartphones, cars). Study 2 further investigates how familiarity with the product influences brand identification. Although consumers with high (compared to low) familiarity are more likely to accurately identify an original product in a noncomparative evaluation mode, they are also more likely to confuse a copycat with the original product in this mode. Overall, this research extends knowledge about brand identification by product design and provides information brand managers may need for legal decisions in trademark or design patent cases. This research also provides information for brand managers making decisions regarding new product development, for example, product line extensions.     

Market Power with Interdependent Demand: Sale of Emission Permits and Natural Gas from Russia

With implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, Russia will most likely be able to exert market power in the emission permit market. But, as Russia is also a big exporter of fossil fuels, the incentives to boost the permit price may be weak. However, a significant share of Russia’s fossil fuel exports is natural gas. If a high permit price boosts the demand for natural gas through substitution from more polluting fuels and thus increase gas profits, this may increase the incentives to exert monopoly power in the permit market. Moreover, a large fossil fuel exporter may use its market position to influence the effective demand for permits. Hence, the relationship between permit income and fossil fuels exports runs in both directions. In this article, we explore the interdependence between the revenues from permit and fossil fuel exports both theoretically and numerically. A computable general equilibrium model suggests the fact that Russia as a big gas exporter has small effect on the incentives to exert monopoly power in the permit market. Moreover, Russia’s monopoly power in the permit market has a small, but non-negligible impact on the optimal level of Russian gas exports.     

Playing Cournot although they shouldn’t

Summary. In this note, we experimentally investigate the extended game with action commitment in a Cournot duopoly with asymmetric cost. Risk dominance considerations allow to select a unique equilibrium in which the low-cost firm is the Stackelberg leader. The data, however, do not support the theory as simultaneous-move play is modal. Average output choices are in line with the Cournot equilibrium. This suggests that Cournot is a much more robust predictor for competition in markets than theory suggests.Received: 14 October 2002, Revised: 1 December 2003, JEL Classification Numbers: C72, C92, D43. Correspondence to: Hans-Theo Normann