The effects of company offshoring strategies on consumer responses

This paper develops a unique theoretical framework for explaining consumer reactions to corporate offshoring by testing the impact of the decision to offshore or to maintain domestic activities on two dependent variables: consumer attitudes toward the company and word-of-mouth communication. We conduct two controlled experiments administered in the field with adult consumers. Study 1 analyzes the processes underlying consumer reactions to corporate offshoring from the perspective of the perceived moral harm and good that offshoring produces. Results verify the mediating role of positive and negative moral emotions (i.e., gratitude and righteous anger) felt by consumers. Study 2 demonstrates the moderating role of consumer perceived risk of offshoring on the linkage between company offshoring and the same moral emotions and through these moral emotions on consumer attitudes toward the company and word-of-mouth communication. An unexpected finding is the mediation of the positive moral emotion of elevation on consumer attitudes.     

Using a choice experiment to estimate the benefits of a reduction of externalities in urban areas with special focus on electrosmog

Traffic noise, air pollution and electromagnetic pollution (i.e. nonionizing radiation, also called electrosmog) are typical negative local externalities in urban areas. They are side effects of human and economic activities (e.g. road transport, telecommunication) and they affect individuals’ well being negatively without compensation. In recent years, the increased number of mobile phone antennas in residential areas, and thus the increased intensity of radiated power, has aroused public concern, discussions and protests. The view of an antenna is annoying an increasing number of inhabitants. In this article, the stated Choice Experiment (CE) is used to estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) residents in the cities of Zurich and Lugano place on the reduction of these three environmental loads. Estimation results reveal that there is a positive and significant WTP for a reduction of air pollution and traffic noise levels to those limit values fixed by the government. Respondents also show WTP for reducing electrosmog and removing mobile phone antennas from their view, however to a lesser extent. In addition, this is the first study that estimates the benefit of a reduction of electrosmog using a CE.     

TASTE FOR VARIETY,TASTE FOR NOVELTY AND PRICE BEHAVIOUR

In this paper we propose a formulation of preferences that exhibit both love for variety and love for novelty. This enables us to investigate the effects of ageing on imperfect substitutes, as they became progressively old‐fashioned, due to the obsolescence of their aesthetic features. First, we assume that the industry is divided into several submarkets, each dominated by a monopolist producing a variety of a given vintage. We show that prices decrease, and the evolution of demand determines the equilibrium number of varieties at the point where the oldest vintage firm earns zero profits. Second, under a free entry condition assumption, the lifetime horizon of each variety will be characterized by decreasing prices accompanied by increasing demand levels.     

»Unterhaltungsslalom« bei der WWW-Nutzung: Ein Feldexperiment

Zig-zagging towards entertainment refers to a particular pattern of media use: generally preferring entertainment contents in various channels over information. This study starts with the assumption that a person’s mood affects the choice of media content and causes the zig-zagging towards entertainment, and that informative content may also regulate mood. Hypotheses are developed from mood management theory and tested for the use of world wide web content. In a field experiment, 74 subjects were first put in good, medium or bad mood. Then they used a web portal (in what appeared to them a second study). The contents of the portal had been preclassified either as entertainment or information with either positive or negative valence. Selective attention to websites was automatically recorded for a given period. Finally, subjects filled in a questionnaire. Results show that entertainment is generally preferred, but especially when people are in a relatively bad mood. A bad mood also leads to higher attention to positive contents.     

»Informational Utility«

The experiment examined factors that influence the selective exposure to media information. Earlier research has shown that dimensions of the informational utility model — magnitude of perceived consequences, perceived likelihood of their materialization, and perceived immediacy — govern selective news exposure. This approach is extended by the dimension of efficacy to predict the recipients’ selection of information. In an experimental procedure, two online newsmagazines with either positive or negative news only were presented. The 2x3x2 design varied efficacy (low vs. high), the established information utility dimensions (magnitude, likelihood, and immediacy) and the level of their intensity (low vs. high). Findings show that efficacy, as well as the established utility dimensions, foster the selection of news in recipients. The impacts of the dimensions is additive and applies to both positive and negative news.     

Optimal hedge ratio under a subjective re-weighting of the original measure

In this article we study a risk-minimizing hedge ratio with futures contracts, where the risk of the hedged portfolio is measured through a spectral risk measure (SRM), thus incorporating the degree of agent’s risk aversion. We empirically estimate the optimal hedge ratio (OHR) using a long time series of UK and US equity indices, the EURUSD and EURGBP exchange rates and four liquid commodities (Brent crude oil, corn, gold and copper), to represent different asset classes. Comparing the results with common OHRs (such as the minimum variance and the minimum expected shortfall), we find that the agent’s risk aversion has a material impact, and should not be ignored in risk management.     

Reducing Organizational Politics in Performance Appraisal: The Role of Coaching Leaders for Age‐Diverse Employees

We examined whether a supervisor's coaching leadership style predicts the perception of organizational politics in performance appraisal (OPPA) reported by the collaborators. Additionally, we drew on social cognition and motivational life‐span development theories to hypothesize age‐related differences in perceived OPPA and its link with the coaching leadership style. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) on a sample of 576 employees and 112 leaders, we found that coaching leaders are perceived as less manipulative in their performance ratings, especially by older employees. This article includes a discussion of the implications these results have for performance management of an age‐diverse workforce. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Key drivers of services website loyalty

The ease of website comparison and strong price competition encourage users to constantly switch tourism service providers. The present work analyses how satisfaction, trust, and commitment can help to strengthen loyalty towards websites selling accommodation services. Moreover, special attention is paid here to evaluate the moderating effects of gender on the relationships between these variables. Structural equation models were used to test the hypotheses on a sample of 230 Mexican Internet users, online purchasers of tourist accommodation services. The results show significant differences between men and women's post-purchase behaviour with a higher influence in women of trust on commitment and of commitment on loyalty towards accommodation services websites. Managerial implications for accommodation websites are provided.     

Tariff Liberalisation and the Growth of World Trade: A Comparative Historical Analysis of the Multilateral Trading System

The aims of this study are to assess the relationship between tariff barriers and world trade growth from a comparative and historical perspective, and to derive some useful indications for evaluating the effectiveness of the current multilateral trading system for promoting world trade. The novelty of this work is the complex reconstruction of a historical tariffs and trade series for the period 1870–2000, for 23 countries; this constitutes a good proxy for world trade (accounting for over 60 per cent) in this period. The effect of tariff liberalisation on trade growth is analysed empirically using panel data and time series. The results, while confirming the existence of a world level long‐term relationship between tariff reductions and trade growth, demonstrate how this substantial and significant relationship pre‐World War II gradually diminished in importance and significance after 1950. This result does not conflict with the key role of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization system in trade liberalisation; however, it underlines the importance of a formalised multilateral trading system, not so much for tariff liberalisation, but for building a virtuous process of international coordination of trade policies and ensuring fuller participation in world trade.