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.     

Barbara Adam,Karlheinz A. Geißler, & Martin Held (Eds.): Die Nonstop-Gesellschaft und ihr Preis [The Non-Stop Society and Its Price]

Journal of Consumer Policy -     

Innovation management in service firms: a research agenda

This article suggests an agenda for further research on innovation management in service firms. It investigates differences and similarities between issues identified by previous academic research and issues brought up by practitioners within the area of innovation management in service firms. The results show that there are some major differences; for instance, researchers stress a need for formalized processes for development work, while practitioners focus on facilitating innovation in everyday operations. The main conclusion is that in order to bridge the gap between research and practice we would encourage further research on innovation in service firms to (1) conduct micro studies of innovation work, (2) view innovation in the context of everyday operations and (3) focus on co-workers’ innovative potential.     

The impact of outward FDI on the home country's labour demand and skill composition

The present paper adds to the literature investigating the effects of outward FDI on the home country employment and skill composition. Considering the “industrial region” as the unit of the analysis, we capture both direct and indirect effects of foreign production on the parent company and its environment. The empirical evidence refers to the internationalisation of production by Italian firms throughout the period 1996–2002, and it shows that foreign activities have a negative impact upon the demand for low skilled workers in the parent company's “industrial region”, but also on the demand for high skilled workers when FDI are addressed to high income countries.     

Principles and Visions of a New Consumer Policy: Discussion Paper by the Scientific Advisory Board for Consumer,Food, and Nutrition Policy to the German Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection,Food, and Agriculture

Journal of Consumer Policy -     

Social responsibility as a unique dimension of brand personality and consumers' willingness to reward

Consumers expect organizations to behave in a responsible fashion and want to be informed about those actions. The current research examines the extent to which consumers are willing to reward brands for their socially responsible behavior. Two studies are reported in which social responsibility (SR) was conceptualized as a unique dimension of brand personality. Participants in both studies were presented advertisements in which the personality dimensions of ruggedness, excitement, and SR for a fictitious brand were manipulated. The results indicate that SR is a distinct brand personality dimension and that willingness to reward moderates the effect of SR on attitudes toward the product, advertisement, and brand. Specifically, in all but one case across both studies, the positive effect of SR on attitude was greater for those most willing to reward. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Transport biofuels in the European Union: The state of play

The implementation of the Biofuels Directive (2003/30/EC) in 25 member states is assessed here. Implementation problems are identified and analysed for the purpose of suggesting a way forward for biofuels policy in the European Union. Three main patterns are observed: effective implementation, formal compliance and weak implementation. Problems encountered in the policy process are both of a practical and more fundamental nature, i.e., due to a lack of consensus on the priority of competing policy objectives and disagreement on the suitability of first-generation biofuels for reaching the objectives. In this situation, stronger enforcement of targets does not appear to be a constructive way forward. Based on our analysis, we argue that the European Union should instead, and in agreement with the principle of subsidiarity, allow member states more flexibility.     

The Internet and Sustainable Consumption: Perspectives on a Janus Face

In the industrialized world, Internet use has grown exponentially to become a global communication and business resource. For the time being, both theoretical and empirical research on consumption and the Internet are still in their infancy. This paper discusses the possible influence of the Internet on sustainable consumption. In absence of a solid empirical data base, the approach is a conceptual one. The paper investigates the role of the Internet in the development of consumption patterns and lifestyles, looks at the Internetös role in developing public awareness of environmental and social issues, and discusses its potential contribution to support strategies for sustainable consumption such as sufficiency, efficiency, consistency, and political consumption. It concludes with implications for consumer policy and questions for further research.     

Efficiency of football teams from an organisation management perspective

The aim of this paper is to assess the efficiency of football. Our contributions to the literature are the use of the resource-based theory and the strategy-structure-performance perspective as the study's framework, efficiency has been considered as the result of the qualities of the productive resources in football teams and efficiency is calculated in every area in the field of play. The results show that the entire team's efficiency is positively related to sporting success and the efficiency of attacking and ball recovery areas is directly related to the sport result and the efficiency of the team as a whole.