Risking the self: the impact of self-esteem on negative word-of-mouth behavior

Negative word-of-mouth is a pervasive and persuasive force on consumers, yet little is known about the characteristics of the people who decide to share, or not to share, this information. We examine the impact of consumer trait self-esteem on tendencies to share negative word-of-mouth. Prior work has shown that consumer self-esteem moderates the likelihood of sharing positive word-of-mouth, yet extending this theory to negative word-of-mouth behavior results in conflicting predictions. This paper addresses these contradictions by adopting a two-dimensional view of self-esteem (self-liking and self-competence). We suggest that these dimensions will have opposing effects on the sharing of negative word-of-mouth. Two studies show that individuals high in self-competence are less willing to share negative word-of-mouth, whereas individuals high in self-liking are more willing to do so—results that would be disguised by treating self-esteem as a single-dimension construct.     

Do ads that tell a story always perform better? The role of character identification and character type in storytelling ads

The growing use of storytelling as an advertising strategy for brands online poses the question of their relative effectiveness compared to more factual types of ads. In this context, this article focuses on the role of character identification and character type in the effects of narrative transportation that occur from storytelling ads. Using four experimental studies in two different contexts, two brand types, and two character types (human versus animal), the findings present a cautionary tale for the use of storytelling. By generating higher levels of narrative transportation, storytelling video ads can reduce character identification, which results in an overall decrease in positive attitude toward the brand, when using animal characters. These main findings are nuanced in the presence of joyful emotions. Implication for research and practice are discussed.     

RESEARCH ON STRUCTURAL HOLES: AN ASSESSMENT ON MEASUREMENT ISSUES

Social capital theory generally analyses network structures by focusing on the connections between players. However, it has been suggested by several authors that the absence of relations in a network or ‘structural holes’ is meaningful. The aim of our paper is to provide a global survey and appraisal of the academic research on structural holes and discuss its main measurements. We adopt a bibliometric approach and identify a typology of practices, developments, and issues related to structural holes. We highlight a strand of work on operationalization of structural holes, and discuss the various measures they propose. We provide numerical examples emphasizing the respective advantages and limitations of the studied measures. Based on our results, we propose a guide to using existing measures of structural holes according to the type (simple or complex) of network.     

Pressure and Politics in Financial Accounting Regulation: The Case of the Financial Conglomerates in the Netherlands

This article examines the political process of promulgating two controversial laws which pertain to the reporting of Dutch financial conglomerates. Central to the study is the exploration of the lobbying efforts observed during the process, and the interaction between the government, the supervisors of banks and insurance companies, the industry and its associations, and the users and auditors of annual reports of financial conglomerates. Previous studies in accounting-rule development have often ignored influences that do not fall within the formal regulatory procedures. By adopting an inductive research approach, this study explores in some detail the behaviour of participants, including their use of informal lobbying methods. Pluralist theory is used to explain the nature of the political process and the behaviour of interested parties. The findings indicate that the Dutch political process in accounting matters is indeed pluralistic. Although auditors and producers of accounts seem to have greater possibilities to participate, the users of corporate reports are able to voice their opinion effectively. Overall, the users' preferences were acknowledged in the final rules governing the reporting by financial conglomerates.     

Asset divestiture following horizontal acquisitions: a dynamic view

Business acquisition, resource redeployment, and asset divestiture are elements of a dynamic process in which firms change their businesses by recombining internal and external resources. Analyzing 253 horizontal acquisitions, we show that post‐acquisition resource redeployment leads to asset divestiture from the business that receives the redeployed resources, but not from the business that contributes the new resources. Consistent with scale economies rationales, we find that strategic similarity also leads to greater asset divestiture from the target firms. Many theoretical perspectives are skeptical about the positive rationale for acquisitions and many of these believe that asset divestiture is evidence of acquisition failure. Our arguments and analysis help refine the accepted wisdom. In particular, the pattern of resource redeployment and asset divestiture in our analysis suggests that acquisitions provide a means of reconfiguring the structure of resources within firms and that asset divestiture is a logical consequence of this reconfiguration process. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How do firm characteristics affect the subsidies provided by the unemployment insurance system?

The experience-rated method of financing unemployment insurance in the US is incomplete because of the imposition of both maximum and minimum tax rates. The result is a pattern of cross-subsidization to those firms that generate considerable layoffs from those firms that exhibit a stable pattern of employment. Past studies have investigated this cross-subsidization by industries, but have not examined in detail whether or not the characteristics of the firm play an important role. The research presented herein examines the relationship between particular characteristics of the firm – age, size, average wage, and seasonality of employment – and their effect on whether the firm is subsidized or not. Other than the industry classification, age appears to be the most significant determinant of subsidization. It appears that both young and old firms display a higher probability of subsidizing middle-age firms.     

Determinants of Leverage in Slovenian Blue-Chip Firms and Stock Performance Following Substantial Debt Increases

Hypotheses concerning capital structures are some of the most frequently tested in the financial literature. Authors usually discuss different incentives for the use of leverage. Their views can be broadly classified in two main groups. The proponents of the first argue that leverage increases the cash flow available to investors. With the use of debt a firm gains because it uses a cheaper component of capital and since it pays less tax thanks to advantageous debt tax shields. On the other hand, the proponents of the second group stress the importance of minimising transaction costs, and information asymmetry. They point to a pecking order of finance sources. In this article, I explain the most frequently stated drivers that provide incentives for the more extensive use of debt with a focus on an emerging market environment and test whether they are relevant to Slovenian blue-chip firms that emerged from the transition of the last decade.

The second part introduces the owners' point of view. I test whether raised debt levels in fact improve the long-term return to the stockholders of Slovenian firms. This should be expected because of the institution-led capital structure conservatism that firms practised in the past. Three methods are employed to test the relationship between increased levels of debt and long-term stock return. All of them offer a similar conclusion that the expected long-term performance of firms which significantly increased their leverage is no better than the long-term performance of firms that did not. The results are useful for other emerging capital markets in Europe where firms and investors faced similar circumstances tied to their socialist past and transition process.