The Cause Cue Effect: Cause‐Related Marketing and Consumer Health Perceptions

Many for‐profit companies (e.g., Kraft, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Keebler, 5‐Hour Energy) are partnering with health‐oriented nonprofits (e.g., Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Susan G. Komen for Breast Cancer Research, American Red Cross) to make purchase‐contingent donations. Companies use cause‐related marketing to improve brand image and goodwill for their food products and companies. Prior research has examined how food‐related cues can create consumer misperceptions; however, consumer perceptions related to corporate communications (e.g., the use of cause cues) has received little research attention. This research explores consumer reactions to cause cues and finds that adding a health cause to a food package significantly increases product health perceptions, and, usually, product attitude, and purchase intentions (i.e., the cause cue effect) in both a student sample (Studies 1 and 2) and an adult sample on Amazon's mTurk (Study 3). Implications for cueing and inference‐making literature, and for consumer health, and policymakers are discussed.     

Survey of recent developments

The arrival of a new year has brought with it an increased focus on Indonesia's 2014 legislative and presidential elections. While voters may be disillusioned with established political figures, a strong presidential candidate has yet to emerge. Many voters appear to yearn for an experienced and uncorrupt leader with new and proactive policies, which is why Jakarta's new governor, Joko Widodo, is being viewed as a potential candidate.

The Constitutional Court has made two major, controversial rulings in recent months: the first concerned the upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas, the second the international-standard pilot-project schools (Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional, RSBIs). The Court ruled both institutions unconstitutional and called for their immediate disbandment.

In 2012, Indonesia's year-on-year economic growth slowed slightly, to a still healthy 6.2%, owing to continued weak global demand for its exports and a contraction in government expenditure. In contrast, foreign direct investment and portfolio investment were particularly strong, with respective increases of 25% and more than 142%. At 4.3%, inflation for the 2012 calendar year still remains well within the government's and Bank Indonesia's expectations. However, inflation expectations are high for 2013, owing to likely reforms to energy subsidies; the expected effect of bad weather on food prices; and increases in minimum wages, which attracted attention in 2012 because of their magnitude and their apparent disparity among regions. Concerns also exist that these rises in minimum wages will hamper Indonesia's international competitiveness and could discourage investment in labour-intensive industries.

Minimum-wage policy is also controversial because of doubts about its relevance to the genuinely poor sections of society – those in informal employment or with primarily subsistence income, who constitute a large proportion of the population. Indonesia has experienced a steady increase in income inequality in the last decade, indicating that the benefits of strong economic growth have not been shared equally. Potential reasons for this increasing inequality relate to labour-market segmentation amid a growing middle class, weak institutional foundations, and commodity-driven growth.

It appeared in 2012 that Indonesia has also been one of the world's poorest performers in HIV/AIDS prevention in recent years. While prevalence rates are low, the number of new HIV infections in 2011 was more than four times that of any other South Asian or Southeast Asian country, and the infection rate among the working-age population has risen by more than 25% since 2001. Infection rates among high-risk groups are also alarmingly high compared with those of other Southeast Asian countries. Targeted prevention, treatment and support programs among these groups are paramount.     

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.     

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.     

Solidarity, Transfers, and Poverty

There is abundant evidence that inter-vivos transfers are more important in low-income countries than in industrialized countries. The authors use a new specification of altruism to explain this stylized fact. Under this specification, individuals feel altruistically towards other individuals genetically related to them. However, they worry about them only when their relatives' consumption falls below a certain level. Simulation results mimic the stylized facts concerning the relation between inter-vivos transfers and income.     

Export Credit Guarantees, Moral Hazard and Exports Quality

We analyse the role played by export credit guarantees (ECGs) in encouraging exports to developing countries. The existence of moral hazard on the side of the firm is introduced. We show that the inability of the exporter's government to verify the actual quality of the product will limit its ability to encourage trade through ECGs, once the coverage provided goes beyond a certain threshold. This result provides a rationale behind the limited coverage on ECGs.     

Orthogonal expansions for the generalized Cramér-von Mises statistics

We provide a new proof for the representation of Cramér-von Mises statistics under (known) gamma and normal distributions. The new method uses orthogonal polynomials and provides an explicit form of the statistics from which the asymptotic distribution can be calculated.Acknowledgements This research was partially supported by FQM-331, FQM-270, BMF 2001-2378 and BMF2002-04525-C02-02. The authors are thankful to the referees for their suggestions and helpful comments.     

Beyond the audit expectations gap

In seeking to encourage a broader, European dimension to research on auditing and audit expectations, this paper examines the recent history of auditing and its regulation in Spain within the context of international developments in the accounting profession. The more expansive role being assigned to the audit function in Spain following the implementation of the Fourth and Eighth European Company Law Directives is generally viewed by Spanish writers as a progressive step, with largely positive effects. Such views stand in some contrast to the history of auditing in Britain, where the prevalence of an ‘audit expectations gap’ suggests a rather more problematic state of affairs. In exploring both the Spanish context and the nature of the audit expectations gap in Britain, however, the paper reveals a common underlying belief in the potential of auditing. Through this comparative analysis, and by drawing on recent audit research challenging certain long-held assumptions about auditing, a number of questions are asked of the current form and status of auditing and auditing expectations in Britain and Spain. In so doing, the paper raises issues that go beyond the current confines of the audit expectations gap debate, stressing, in particular, the need for greater consideration to be given, through less Anglo-centric analyses, to the varying nature and capabilities of European audit practice.     

Determinants of proactive innovative behaviour in new services: empirical investigation of service versus manufacturing firms

The research performs a complete analysis of the differences between services and products based on factors associated with the innovation process. The research analyses the factors/dimensions and their repercussions that determine firms' capacity to adapt to their environment and observes how the critical dimensions of the innovation process influence the gap generated by the difference in the firm's current level of innovation and the level developed by the competition. The results show that the client's participation in the process of innovation is greater in service firms that possess a larger innovation gap and are more proactive. The opposite is the case for formalization and decentralization, which occur in lower levels in this kind of firm. Further, decentralization and formalization are lower in service than in manufacturing firms.     

An analysis of non-financial factors associated with financial distress

This article examines factors associated with financial distress among 1006 Spanish manufacturings (SMEs), distinguishing high and low technology industries. Financial distress is analysed using industrial organizational theory through the Porter's five competitive forces model (external factors) and the resource based view through strategic variables (internal factors), such as training, planning, innovation, technology and quality. Two different sources of information were used in the study: Qualitative information related to environmental conditions and strategic variables was gathered through a questionnaire addressed to the firm manager. Quantitative information to identify whether the firm was in financial distress was gathered from the balance sheets and earning statements of the firms. Evidence from this study shows that environmental conditions and some strategic variables are associated with financial distress. The results found that young SMEs with low technology and in a highly competitive environment had a higher probability of financial distress. High bargaining power of buyers and high degree of rivalry among existing competitors were positively associated with financial distress. Financial distress in high-technology industries was not affected by external factors. However, firms with a quality certification have better quality control procedures that ultimately improve financial performance of firms in the technology industries.