以人为本的创意新思路

广告活动是从研究受众及其行为开始的,而最终广告目的也是确立品牌在受众心目中的特定形象,并诱发受众购买行为。较之以往,营销人员的行为、洞察力、所传达的声音都应该更加人性化。     

The effect of psychological contract fulfillment on manager turnover intentions and its role as a mediator in a casual,limited-service restaurant environment

Job satisfaction is the most consistent predictor of turnover intention; however, its correlation with turnover intention in most studies is modest. Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) has not proven to be a reliable predictor of turnover intention. Meanwhile, the psychological contract has emerged as a useful framework for understanding the employee/employer relationship. In the present research, which utilizes a sample of managers in a casual, limited-service restaurant environment, a structural equation model is developed in which psychological contract fulfillment serves a mediating role between LMX and turnover intention. Psychological contract fulfillment is also found to be a statistically significant predictor of turnover intention. Findings from the study suggest that management turnover may be mitigated if organizational leaders develop strong relationships with their managers based upon respect, trust and mutual obligation and then utilize these relationships to understand and fulfill the unwritten contract perceived to exist between the firm and its management personnel.     

Does audit report information improve financial distress prediction over Altman's traditional Z‐Score model?

We analyze empirically the usefulness of combining accounting and auditing data in order to predict corporate financial distress. Concretely, we examine whether audit report information incrementally predicts distress over a traditional accounting model: the Altman's Z‐Score model. Although the audit report seems to play a critical part in financial distress prediction because auditors should warn investors about any default risks, this is the first study that uses audit report disclosures for predicting purposes. From a dataset of 1,821 Spanish distressed private firms, we analyze a sample of distressed and non‐distressed firms and develop logit prediction models. Our results show that while the only accounting model registers a classification accuracy of 77%, combined models of accounting and auditing data exhibit considerably higher accuracy (about 87%). Specifically, our findings indicate that the number of disclosures included in the audit report, as well as disclosures related to a firm's going concern status, firms’ assets, and firms’ recognition of revenues and expenses contribute the most to the prediction. Our empirical evidence has implications for financial distress practice. For managers, our study highlights the importance of audit report disclosures for anticipating a financial distress situation. For regulators and auditors, our study underscores the importance of recent changes in regulation worldwide intended to increase auditor's transparency through a more informative audit report.     

Chief executive officer attributes,sustainable performance,environmental performance,and environmental reporting: New insights from upper echelons perspective

This study examines the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) attributes on sustainable performance, environmental performance, and environmental reporting, which are motivated by institutionally driven environmental policies, regulations, and management in the context of Chinese listed firms. With the use of a comprehensive dataset of 2,854 Chinese listed firms over the 2010–2017 period (i.e., making over 16,000 individual firm‐year observations), our findings are fourfold. First, our overall findings reveal that CEOs with research background tend to engage more in activities that improve sustainable performance, environmental performance, and environmental reporting than do those without research background. Second, CEOs with financial expertise are positively linked with increased sustainable performance and environmental reporting. Third, CEOs with foreign exposure are more eager to engage in activities that enhance sustainable and environmental performance than do those without foreign exposure. Fourth, young CEOs tend to take actions that reduce both sustainable and environmental performance than do their older counterparts. We interpret our results within upper echelons theoretical perspective. The results are robust to alternative measures, potential endogeneities, and sample selection problems.     

Profiling consumers based on information use and trust in a developing economy

In the wake of the intense debate about the effect of poultry imports on domestic poultry industries in sub‐Saharan Africa, information campaigns have evolved to encourage the consumption of domestic poultry meat products. Nevertheless, consumers use numerous channels to find information, and thus, the extent to which resources should be allocated to these channels to reach segments of consumers is vital. The purpose of this paper is to identify consumer groups based on use and trust in information sources and then profile the segments using sociodemographic variables, purchase motives, and meat consumption. Face‐to‐face interviews were used to collect data amongst 500 urban consumers in Ghana, which were analysed with factor analysis and two‐step cluster analysis. Results show that consumers frequently use personal sources of information about chicken. Cluster analysis revealed three consumer segments: cautious consumers (18.2%), enthusiastic consumers (53.0%), and optimistic consumers (28.8%). The segments differed significantly regarding the type of information searched for, sociodemographic characteristics, purchase motives, and chicken meat consumption patterns. The findings can aid actors and institutions seeking to increase the consumption of domestic poultry meat in developing targeted communication strategies that suit the characteristics, motivations, and information needs of different consumers.     

Does democracy inevitably imply hierarchy?

A democratic polity is modelled in terms of the two processes of interest growth and the interaction of each interest with every other interest in the community. The stability properties of the system's equilibrium are used to make inferences about the characteristics of a minimal democratic state. A number of observations are also made which reflect upon the role and impact of environmental variability in maintaining democratic stability. The paper concludes with the observation that the dynamic stability of democratic practice is at best tenuously maintained.     

Salesforce support systems: Potential applications to increase productivity

Microcomputer based sales support systems have been held out by meany as a solution to the increasingly high cost of the personal selling effort. Promises of increased productivity through both greater efficiency and effectiveness have been made by many vendors. The author proposes some guidelines which provide sales managers with assistance in deciding when and where such systems can be used to increase the productivity of the salesforce.     

Serving the homeless and low-income communities through Business & Society/Business Ethics class projects: The University of Wisconsin-Madison plan

For several years, MBA students enrolled in a Business & Society/Business Ethics class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been volunteering their services at homeless shelters and in low-income communities. Students also work with low-income residents and relevant stakeholders on evolutionary team projects aimed at improving living conditions in low-income communities. These projects include starting a grocery co-op, credit union, day-care center, job training center and a transportation business. In addition, student groups develop service networks that link low-income communities with student organizations, other university professors and United Way volunteers. This article provides an evolutionary summary of these projects with the hope that other professors will adopt them for their classes. Denis Collins is an Assistant Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has published numerous articles in the areas of business ethics, business and society, social philosophy, participatory management and gainsharing. He is coauthor, with Thomas O'Rourke, of Ethical Dilemmas in Business (South-Western Publishing, 1994) and coeditor, with Mark Starik, of Sustaining the Natural Environment: Empirical Studies on the Interface Between Nature and Organizations (JAI Press, 1995).     

Are nurses less satisfied than other workers?

Are nurses less satisfied than other workers? In this study comparing job satisfaction of baccalaureate nurses with elementary teachers and accountants, the three groups rated many aspects of their jobs similarly. Nurses were not comparatively or pervasively less satisfied with their jobs than these other professionals except in the areas of salary, chance for administrative participation, and job security.