The Impact of Social Networking and Learning Orientation on Performance

ABSTRACT

Organizational learning orientation and social networking have been recognized as drivers of innovativeness and performance. The authors’ study extends existing research on these concepts in several ways. First, they posit that innovativeness mediates the effects of social networking and learning orientation on performance. Second, they propose that environmental munificence moderates the hypothesized relationships. Third, data for the study were collected in Pakistan, which represents a novel and as-yet-unexplored context for this type of research. A structural equation model based on 176 small firms in Pakistan supported most of the hypothesized relationships.     

Marketing of risky sports: From intention to action

High-risk sports, such as skydiving, parachuting, and hang gliding, have become increasingly popular in recent years. This article uses expectancy-value theory to integrate previous research on risky behavior and risky sports. The model that is developed relates the expected benefits of risky sports to several antecedents; specifically, thrill and adventure seeking, arousal avoidance, role relaxation, and age. Two samples are drawn to represent the general population, as well as people just joining risky-sports clubs. In the general population, the intention to engage in risky sports is related to the ability to arouse curiosity. Other motives, specifically thrill and adventure seeking, become more salient as an individual moves closer to actually engaging in a risky sport. Aviv Shoham (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is a lecturer of marketing, Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. He has published or has forthcoming articles in journals such as theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Global Marketing, theJournal of International Consumer Marketing, and other marketing journals. He is also a frequent contributor to several marketing conferences. Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an assistant professor of management and marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Global Marketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, theJournal of Applied Social Psychology, Advances in Consumer Research, and other journals and proceedings. Lynn R. Kahle is the James Warsaw professor and department chair of marketing at the University of Oregon. Topics of his research include social adaptation, values, and sports marketing. His articles have appeared in journals such as theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, andChild Development. His books includeSocial Values and Social Change, Marketing Management, andValues, Lifestyles, and Psychographics.     

Opinion leaders and followers: A replication and extension

Opinion leadership has been a central construct in studies of new product diffusion models. Flynn, Goldsmith, and Eastman (1996) introduced the related concept of opinion seeking and documented its measurement properties. This replication and extension paper examines these two concepts, using their original scales and placing them in a nomological model that includes innovativeness and computer and software use as antecedents. The research model is tested empirically using a convenience sample of 123 Israeli consumers, with regression models and a multiple discriminant analysis. Innovativeness and computer usage were found to explain opinion leadership and opinion seeking. Opinion leadership and opinion seeking predicted several computer‐related outcomes. The findings can be used to identify and utilize the differing information search profiles for opinion leaders and seekers. The former use a variety of sources, such as store visits and category‐specific newspapers and magazines. In contrast, seekers rely more on expert advice from opinion leaders. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The economics of agricultural research: Some recent developments

In this non-technical review of agricultural research the author points to the geographical and economic distribution of research efforts, the problems of transfers of knowledge and technologies, consequent adjustment problems, and resource allocation in agricultural research.     

Equilibrium joining probabilities for an M/G/1 queue

We study the customers' Nash equilibrium behavior in a single server observable queue with Poisson arrivals and general service times. Each customer takes a single decision upon arrival: to join or not to join. Furthermore, future regrets are not allowed. The customers are homogenous with respect to their linear waiting cost and the reward associated with service completion. The cost of joining depends on the behavior of the other customers present, which naturally forms a strategic game. We present a recursive algorithm for computing the (possibly mixed) Nash equilibrium strategy. The algorithm's output is queue-dependent joining probabilities. We demonstrate that depending on the service distribution, this equilibrium is not necessarily unique. Also, we show that depending on the service time distribution, either the ‘avoid the crowd’ phenomenon or the ‘follow the crowd’ phenomenon may hold.     

Coupling tourism development and agricultural processes in a dynamic environment

The role of agriculture in the Israeli economy has been declining, and a combination of essential trends has resulted in the emergence of tourism as alternative sources of economic growth in rural areas. These changes have created a new situation, in which tourism-related developments in the rural areas of Israel have become part of the activities of many farm owners. Thus, the Israeli rural environment is a single, tightly coupled system and should be analysed as such. The growth of rural tourism in the Israeli agricultural sector raises several questions, addressing whether rural tourism and farming are synergetic, and the effects of tight coupling between tourism development and agricultural processes. This article presents a simulation model of the coupling effects in which tourism development and agricultural processes are tightly coupled. Our model examined large numbers of different scenarios and the possible outcomes of a decision the farm owner takes in a routine situation of uncertainty. A typical Israeli farm owner embarks on tourism development activities mainly because of stress. Our model shows that adding tourism activities does not increase profit dramatically, but it does increase the variance of profit, which means greater exposure to risks.     

What Does this Gift Say about Me,You, and Us? The Role of Adolescents’ Gift Giving in Managing their Impressions among their Peers

This study examines adolescents’ gift giving using a qualitative methodology, based on impression management theory. Gift‐giving motives and the characteristics of the chosen gifts indicated that adolescents use gift giving instrumentally to manage and protect their impressions among their peers. The study extends the literature on adolescents’ gift giving, and provides evidence regarding different types of gifts such as joint, neutral, and twofold gifts. Additionally, some gifts are aimed at strengthening similarity and bind the extended selves of givers and receivers.     

The power of international marketing functions: antecedents and consequences

Purpose: This paper addresses intra-organizational power of international marketing (IM) functions. While IM functions play an important role in firms that operate in continuously changing international environments, their power has been under-explored. Importantly, IM managers need to understand their function’s power and its implications for business performance.

Methodology/approach: Drawing on resource-dependency and interaction theories, we contend that IM functions’ power is affected by the power of non-marketing functions and coordination and conflicts with them. Additionally, IM functions’ power should affect international performance. However, contingency factors may change this effect. The empirical study uses data from senior managers of B-to-B international firms. The model is tested using multiple regression analysis and extensive post-hoc tests.

Findings: While IM functions are powerful, their power is enhanced by coordination with other functions and is reduced by the power held by non-marketing functions. Surprisingly, conflicts with other functions increase IM functions’ power. Finally, IM functions’ power enhances international performance but its effect is weakened by intra-IM conflicts and differs across hi- and low-tech firms.

Research implications: This study provides insights about drivers and outcomes of IM functions’ power based on their relationships with non-marketing functions. Performance consequences of IM power are dependent on contingencies. The study extends knowledge on the under-researched phenomena of marketing power in a B-to-B international context.

Practical implications: IM managers should manage sources of relative functional power and unique intra-firm interactions to sustain or promote their power and thus benefit their firms’ international performance. Practitioners recognize mechanisms to control IMs’ power.

Originality/value/contribution: The study is the first to focus on the interactions of IM functions with non-marketing functions in B-to-B firms and thus complements prior research on IM, general marketing, and non-marketing functions.     

Cooperation in the Moshav

The moshav is a cooperative village in which members own and operate their farms individually. The moshav supervises cooperative marketing of most of the farms' products. But its most important function is as financial intermediary since its members are handicapped when acting by themselves in the credit market. Despite occasional internal conflicts about the cooperative marketing, in the long run the moshav enhances capital accumulation and income. This paper reports an empirical study of cooperative marketing, credit, and capital in the moshav. A dynamic model is developed and estimates are presented.     

Explicating the Reverse Internationalization Processes of Firms

ABSTRACT

Reverse internationalization (RI) is a crucial phenomenon in a world of globalization; however, research on RI remains scarce. In light of the 2008–2009 economical global crises, many internationalizing firms worldwide have deinternationalized. Given that scholars and functionaries have been sending warning signals about imminent global crisis, revisiting the RI domain and its drivers is a timely and important research area.

This study uses a qualitative approach with a prime objective of exploratory work and theory development of RI. The study explicates the RI phenomenon further, proposes a broader RI conceptualization and an operational definition, and develops propositions and a model to direct future research and assist managers. Grounded in data emerged from field in-depth interviews of senior managers, findings show that RI emerges as a multifaceted formative construct reflecting a reduction in firms’ activities on one or more explicit dimensions. Various internal and external factors foster RI. Since firms apply sophisticated forms of international involvement, RI domain should address its wide-ranging forms with a clearer and richer view that facilitates its conceptualization. Managers learn to pay attention to likely scenarios where episodes in internationalization may arise and lead to RI and of ways to approach them.