Sophisticated but confused: The impact of brand extension and motivation on source confusion

Legal and consumer psychology scholars have focused recent attention on source confusion, which is the likelihood that consumers will be confused regarding the company that is a product's source or sponsor. The authors evaluate two potential antecedents of source confusion: (1) consumer motivation and (2) a brand extension that has been undertaken by a competitor. There have been disagreements in the courts, the scholarly legal literature, and the consumer psychology literature concerning the nature and extent of the impact of these two variables on the likelihood of consumer confusion. Based on schema theory, the authors hypothesize that consumer motivation and brand extension will influence the likelihood of source confusion. An interaction between the two variables is proposed, with consumer motivation having an effect that is opposite to the effect typically identified in the literature and case law. The results of a controlled laboratory experiment support the theoretical predictions. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Toward Greater Validation of Supply Chain Management Theory and Concepts: The Roles of Research Replication and Meta‐Analysis

Although researchers have been working for over three decades to identify, construct, and test the critical concepts and theories that comprise the supply chain management (SCM) discipline, the field’s theoretical basis has yet to be thoroughly vetted through repetitive, rigorous study. Emerging theories in SCM offer great explanatory potential, but if they are to stand the tests of time, place, and reason, research findings must be accumulated and synthesized. For the field to prosper, we advocate the execution of multiple studies that replicate findings across contexts while simultaneously encompassing relevant theoretical extensions. Furthermore, as SCM research streams mature, scholars should then employ meta‐analytic techniques to gain consensus across studies, such that findings can be more confidently extolled to both academic and practitioner constituencies. In this article, we evaluate the progress of replication and meta‐analysis to date within the SCM field and provide some prospects for thematic research that could perpetuate accelerated validation.     

ERP On Demand Platform

Platforms for SaaS-based enterprise applications are prospering and the number of on-demand ERP vendors is increasing. We combine both phenomena for the first time and illustrate how the integration of a sustainability benchmarking service into an on-demand ERP platform provides added value beyond pure cost savings. By applying a qualitative system dynamics approach we identify self-reinforcing mechanisms which allow a faster and more comprehensive market penetration compared to providing these services separately.