The Increasing Importance of Ethics in Computer Science

"The potential dangers of ignoring ethical issues exist for all business computer professionals". Drs Langford and Wusteman, of the Computing Laboratory, The University, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, reflect on their experience of teaching ethics to computer scientists and on the problems to be encountered in this new field of applied ethics.     

The Effects of Negatively Valenced Emotional Expressions in Online Reviews on the Reviewer,the Review,and the Product

The authors examine the effects of negatively valenced emotional expressions (NVEE; e.g., intense language, all caps, exclamation points, emoticons) in online reviews and reveal important boundary conditions for their effects. Specifically, Study 1 showed that NVEE directly promote review helpfulness and damage attitude toward the product when used by experts. In contrast, for novices, their use of NVEE was considered a poor reflection on them and failed to directly affect attitude toward the product. Further, attributions of reviewer rationality and trustworthiness were positively associated with review helpfulness and attitude toward the product. Interestingly, language complexity is a trigger to reverse the effects, as found in Study 2. For novices (experts), the adverse effect on trustworthiness is eliminated (introduced) but the adverse effect on attitude toward the product is introduced (eliminated) when they include more complex language accompanied by NVEE in their online reviews. Both studies uncover when source discounting is active for experts and novices, making them equally influential in some cases. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.     

The greening of music festivals: motivations,barriers and outcomes. Applying the Mair and Jago model

Events are a growing sector, often attracting tourists to destinations. There is increased emphasis on achieving sustainability in event management; some festivals, particularly large outdoor music festivals, are leading in greening their events. This paper explores the drivers of, and barriers to, greening festivals and considers how events might be a vehicle for promoting sustainable behaviour. The application of the Mair and Jago model is tested. Long interviews were conducted with managers of six UK and Australian festivals that have won awards for their “green” performance and an organisation that encourages the greening of festivals. Findings suggest that managers of these festivals act both as a champion and a steward of greening and that the key drivers of festival greening are the personal values or ethos of the manager and/or the organisation, demand for greening from stakeholders and a desire to educate and act as an advocate of green issues. Barriers to greening festivals included the financial costs, lack of time and control over festival venues and the inability to source appropriate suppliers or supplies. Further research could explore these issues in other events contexts and examine whether events leave a lasting legacy in terms of influencing environmental behaviour.     

Relationship Quality and Performance Outcomes: Achieving a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

As firms strive to develop a sustainable competitive advantage, the relationships formed among supply chain parties become a critical consideration. Firms seek to establish relationships that can provide the desired level of performance and competitiveness. Relationship quality provides a global measure of buyer–supplier relationships and can be used to assess the types of relationships a firm has within its supply chain. This research examines the impact of relationship quality on supply chain operational performance and satisfaction with strategic performance while considering both buyer and supplier perspectives and collaborative and arm’s length types of relationships.     

Cause-Relating Marketing: The Effects of Purchase Quantity and Firm Donation Amount on Consumer Inferences and Participation Intentions

A conceptual model for a cause-related marketing (CRM) campaign, which examines the effects of purchase quantity and firm donation amount on consumer perceptions of the firm (i.e., firm motive and corporate social responsibility) and participation intentions, is developed and tested in three separate studies. In Study 1, we find the positive effect of firm donation amount on participation intentions was fully mediated by consumer inferences about the firm and the negative effect of purchase quantity on participation intentions was only partially mediated by these inferences. In Study 2, and consistent with the persuasion knowledge model, we demonstrate that the effects of purchase quantity on firm inferences and subsequent participation intentions are moderated by consumer participation effort where higher participation requirements (e.g., mail-in proof-of-purchase) yield more negative purchase quantity effects. We extend the model in Study 3 to incorporate multiple exchange mechanisms and find that although purchase quantity does affect participation intentions by social exchange, the effects of purchase quantity are primarily the result of the economic exchange. Recommendations for the design of cause-related marketing campaigns and for future research are discussed.     

Measuring Vertical Specialization: The Case of China

The explosive growth of Chinese trade may be due to international production fragmentation, but few have assessed these phenomena together, in part, because it is difficult to measure the vertical specialization (VS) of China's trade. Unique features of China's processing trade cause both identification of imported inputs and their allocation across sectors to vary by trade regime. This paper estimates the VS of Chinese merchandise exports, addressing these two challenges. A new method to identify Chinese imported inputs is developed, and used to calculate VS by sector and destination. VS estimates based on the official Chinese input–output table are contrasted with those based on a split table, capturing processing and normal exports separately. Last, the paper tests whether Chinese “export sophistication” can be explained by VS.     

Challenges for the boundaryless career odyssey

The boundaryless career, which challenges the assumptions of the traditional hierarchical career, has proved to be a remarkably popular and influential concept. However, we argue that it remains theoretically and empirically undeveloped, which limits its explanatory potential. We draw on some New Zealand empirical research highlighting the issue of who gets studied. Focusing on women's career experience, local ethnic groups and collective cultures we argue that these experiences represent a challenge to boundaryless career theory. Some of the theoretical assumptions on which boundaryless careers have been built are also interrogated: freedom from boundaries, individual volition and minimal influences from societal structures. We conclude that the boundaryless career story/odyssey is in danger of becoming a narrow career theory applicable only to the minority, if there is no engagement with theoretical and empirical critiques.     

Lexical interference in semantic processing of simple words: Implications for brand names

This study provides evidence for a Stroop‐like interference effect in word recognition. Based on phonologic and semantic properties of simple words, participants who performed a same/different wordrecognition task exhibited a significant response latency increase when word pairs (e.g., poll–rod) featured a comparison word (poll) that was a homonym of a synonym (pole) of the target word (rod). These results support a parallel‐processing framework of lexical decision making, in which activation of the pathways to word recognition may occur at different levels automatically and in parallel. A subset of simple words that are also brand names was examined and exhibited this same interference. Implications for word‐recognition theory and practical implications for strategic marketing are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Development of a Process for Evaluating Marketing Sponsorships

Despite the increasing resources being allocated from marketing budgets to sponsorship, effective evaluation is relatively rare, and sponsorship evaluation methods are often proprietary in nature. This paper reports on a research project designed to develop a process model for evaluating sponsorships. An initial version was conceived from agency theory, the evaluation literature, and sponsorship writings. This draft was then assessed by sponsorship experts during a series of 14 in‐depth interviews. Based on these analyses, a final version of the process model was proposed. The revised version was then adopted to evaluate—as a demonstrative example—a specific sponsorship. Results of this case and recommendations for future research and practice in sponsorship evaluation are presented. Copyright © 2011 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.