On the optimal number of scale points in graded paired comparisons

In market research, it is common practice to measure individuals’ brand or product preference through graded paired comparisons (GPCs). One important decision concerns the (odd) number of scale points (e.g., five, seven, nine, or eleven) that has to be assigned to either brands or products in each pair. Using data from an experiment with 122 students, we assessed the extent to which GPCs with a higher number of scale points (requiring more cognitive effort) really outperform GPCs with a smaller number of scale points (requiring less cognitive effort). Our data analyses have shown that one may reduce the (odd) number of scale points from eleven to nine or seven, depending on what minor compromises one is willing to make. The detailed psychometric results presented in this paper are useful to applied researchers as they help them in making well-informed decisions on the number of scale points in a GPC task.     

Modelling consumer responses to an apparel store brand: Store image as a risk reducer

To make informed private label (PL) strategy decisions, retailers must understand the factors influencing consumer's brand choices. Previous PL studies have investigated grocery products, and ignored unique features of different types of own brands. We investigate attitudes towards buying a retailer-endorsed brand, or store brand (SB), in apparel retailing. Customers of a Finnish department store were surveyed. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Perceived value and quality of SB apparel appear to be the main drivers of purchase intentions. Perceived risk reduces SB value and purchase intentions. Store image affects purchase intentions indirectly, by reducing perceived risk and increasing SB quality perceptions.     

Human resource management on the line?

The prospects for devolving HR activities to the line are examined in this article. Evidence drawn from a wider study of HRM in practice suggests that, while line manager involvement is possible, their practices tend to be inconsistent in implementation and uneven in quality. A number of constraints on line management practice were identified. First, there is limited reinforcement of practice through institutional forces. Secondly, the short-term nature of managerial activity means that a greater priority is placed on the achievement of the numbers rather than the achievement of numbers through people. Finally, downsizing and delayering place tremendous pressures on the time which line managers could allow for people matters generally. These findings challenge much of the rhetoric associated with the idea of giving HRM back to the line by arguing that the quality of line management practice may distort the overall impact of HR policies.     

Development and validation of the casino service quality scale: CASERV

With intensifying competition among casino operators, consumers are demanding better services. This research conceptualizes casino service quality as a second-order, four-dimensional construct which assesses casino patrons’ perceptions of service delivery, service environment, food service, and service product. Based upon a rigorous psychometric process of scale development and validation through three studies in the casino setting, the authors propose the CASERV scale as a comprehensive instrument for measuring casino services that is reliable, valid, and distinct from other service quality measures. The paper concludes with discussion of managerial implications and future research directions.     

Identifying the moderating influences of external environments on new product development process

Few studies have attempted to investigate the following: (1) whether the firm's core capabilities or resources and routines (e.g., integration among functions) for product development, in the presence of environmental dynamics, become incumbent inertia or core rigidities? and (2) how environmental dynamics affect the influence of a project team's implementation capabilities in the new product development (NPD) process on new product launch performance? This study approaches these questions by addressing the three most indispensable NPD process components (i.e., marketing, technology, and organization) and incorporating new moderators, namely pace of technological change and competitive intensity, within a single study. It specifically examines the extent to which the latter two external environmental variables moderate the impact of NPD practices on new product launch outcome. Data obtained from a survey of NPD projects developed and launched by Korean manufacturers suggest that environmental dynamics would reduce the contribution of functional-specific sources of advantage (resources) and project-specific sources of advantage (e.g., integration among functions) to organizational implementation capabilities (i.e., a project team's proficiency in executing NPD activities). Moreover, the research also shows that market dynamics may increase the contribution of organizational implementation capabilities to NPD project performance.     

RETAKING IN HIGH STAKES EXAMS: IS LESS MORE?

Placement, both in university and in the civil service, according to performance in competitive exams is the norm in much of the world. Repeat taking of such exams is common despite the private and social costs it imposes. We develop and estimate a structural model of exam retaking using data from Turkey's university placement exam. Limiting retaking results in all agents gaining ex ante and most gaining ex post. This result comes from a general equilibrium effect: Retakers crowd the market and impose negative spillovers on others by raising acceptance cutoffs.     

Marking high-technology market evolution through the foci of market stories: the case of local area networks

Previous research suggests that changing consumer and producer knowledge structures play a role in market evolution and that the sociocognitive processes of product markets are revealed in the sensemaking stories of market actors that are rebroadcasted in commercial publications. In this article, the authors lend further support to the story-based nature of market sensemaking and the use of the sociocognitive approach in explaining the evolution of high-technology markets. They examine the content (i.e., subject matter or topic) and volume (i.e., the number) of market stories and the extent to which content and volume of market stories evolve as a technology emerges. Data were obtained from a content analysis of 10,412 article abstracts, published in key trade journals, pertaining to Local Area Network (LAN) technologies and spanning the period 1981 to 2000. Hypotheses concerning the evolving nature (content and volume) of market stories in technology evolution are tested. The analysis identified four categories of market stories—technical, product availability, product adoption, and product discontinuation. The findings show that the emerging technology passes initially through a 'technical-intensive' phase whereby technology related stories dominate, through a 'supply-push' phase, in which stories presenting products embracing the technology tend to exceed technical stories while there is a rise in the number of product adoption reference stories, to a 'product-focus' phase, with stories predominantly focusing on product availability. Overall story volume declines when a technology matures as the need for sensemaking reduces. When stories about product discontinuation surface, these signal the decline of current technology. New technologies that fail to maintain the 'product-focus' stage also reflect limited market acceptance. The article also discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of the study's findings.     

Joint Employer Status in Triangular Employment Relationships

The article examines the question of who should be considered the legal employer in triangular employment relationships. It is argued that outsourcing of employer responsibilities to temporary work agencies is illegitimate with regard to long‐term employees and must be curtailed; further, that even in the case of short‐term (‘traditional’) employment through agencies, there is reason to place some employer responsibilities with the user firm. The suggested solution supports regulations directed at preventing agency employment abuse, as currently exist in some European countries, but at the same time would place employer responsibilities with both agency and user firm, jointly and severally.     

International capital flows and U.S. interest rates

Foreign purchases of U.S. government bonds have an economically large and statistically significant impact on long-term interest rates. While the dramatic reductions in both long-term inflation expectations and the volatility of long rates contributed much to the decline of long rates in the 1990s, more recently foreign flows have become important. Controlling for various factors, we estimate that absent the substantial foreign inflows into U.S. government bonds the 10-year Treasury yield would be 80 basis points higher. Our results are robust to a number of alternative specifications.     

Public Credit Guarantee Schemes and SMEs’ Profitability: Evidence from Italy

The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the Italian State Credit Guarantee Scheme (Central Guarantee Fund). The paper analyzes the impact of the program on SMEs’ profitability considering the firm size and sector. The analysis is performed using propensity‐score matching estimators and the Difference in Differences regressions on a proprietary sample of about 38,000 SMEs in the period 2007–2009. Overall, the Central Guarantee Fund generated an increase in the profitability of guaranteed firms during the period of economic downturn. However, significant differences emerged across firms by size and sector. The effect is positive and robust only for micro‐ and small‐sized firms, and the most relevant improvement in the profitability is recorded for firms operating in the manufacturing sector. This implies that more customized programs are necessary to reach a higher value for money in entrepreneurial policies.