Consumer intentions to engage in s-commerce: a cross-national study

Social media has reached global proportions; yet, little is known about how consumers engage with firms in ways that lead to social commerce (s-commerce) – an emerging area of importance in the literature. This study addresses this gap and extends previous research by examining factors that influence consumers’ intentions to engage in s-commerce in four countries: Chile, Spain, South Africa and Australia. Specifically, this study develops and tests a model of consumers’ intentions to engage in s-commerce through brands’ Facebook pages incorporating personal variables (involvement in brands’ products and services, satisfaction with brands’ Facebook page), trust variables (message credibility of Facebook posts, trust in firms’ Facebook) and social variables (peer communication, social media dependency, online social interaction propensity) on predicting intentions to purchase products and services through brands’ Facebook pages if s-commerce was available to them. The findings show that the main drivers of s-commerce engagement are message credibility, trust in the brands’ Facebook, involvement, peer communication and online social interaction propensity, as influencers of consumer satisfaction with brands’ Facebook and social media dependency, which in turn drive intentions to engage in s-commerce. Contributing to theory and practice, these relationships are discussed for the four countries involved in the study.     

An estimation of the aggregate educational production function for public schools in Louisiana

Data at the school district level were used to estimate the relationship between basic skills test scores and various school district, family and community educational inputs. The inputs examined in the regression analysis included expenditures per student, student-teacher ratio, years of teacher’s experience, along with other school-related and socioeconomic variables. Expenditures per student are significantly related to basic skills test results in a quadratic manner. Variables measuring family and community structure are shown to be significant to test performance. These results are important for policy-makers who are responsible for the allocation of funds in the education process. A greater reliance on economic incentives is suggested as an alternative to the present system.     

Consumer heterogeneity in the longer-term effects of price promotions

While a significant literature has emerged recently on the longer-term effects of price promotions, as inferred from persistence models, there is very little if any attention paid to whether such longer-term effects vary across different types of consumers. This paper takes a first step in that direction by exploring whether the adjustment, permanent, and total effects of price promotions, and the duration of the adjustment period, differ between consumers segmented based on their usage rates in a product category and their loyalty to a brand. We also investigate whether such consumer segmentation will improve the forecasting performance of persistence models at both product category and brand levels. Expectations are developed based on consumer behavior theory on various effects of price promotions, such as the post-deal trough, the mere purchase effect, the promotion usage effect, and responsiveness to competitor's reactions. Evidence from household-level supermarket scanner data on four product categories is provided. We find substantial differences between consumer segments and provide insights on how managers can increase the longer-term effectiveness of price promotions by targeting each consumer segment with a different promotion program. In addition, consumer segmentation is found to significantly improve the forecasting performance of the persistence model for two of the four product categories. For the other two product categories, consumer segmentation provides forecasting performance similar to that obtained from aggregate-level persistence models.     

Unjustified prices: environmental drivers of managers’ propensity to overprice

Ideally, a product’s price should strike a balance between extracting value for a firm and sharing some of that value with customers. Charging less than what is warranted by a product’s value “leaves money on the table”, but far greater long-run harm to the brand is caused when managers charge more than what is justified by the product’s benefits. This study examines the effect of environmental- and firm-level factors on managers’ judgment when setting prices. Using data collected from brand managers of major consumer goods companies, we found that managers are more inclined to charge unjustified prices in environments with less intense competition and in business units with a strong technological orientation. Brand strength is also positively related to the propensity to overprice, but this relationship diminishes as the brand becomes stronger.     

Measuring service quality in Ghana: a crossvergence cultural perspective

This paper develops an instrument for measuring service quality in Ghana aimed at capturing a crossvergence perspective and to compare the efficacy of the new instrument (GhanQual) with SERVPERF and PAKSERV within the Ghanaian cultural context. Data were collected using SERVPERF and PAKSERV scale items. Using a structured questionnaire, data were collected from a sample of banking and hospital customers in Ghana and analysed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis. The new instrument demonstrated superiority over SERVPERF and PAKSERV and is recommended as the most appropriate instrument for measuring service quality within the Ghanaian cultural context. The study identified the important factors service managers in Ghana can utilise in measuring and managing service quality and is believed to be the first of its kind to propose and develop a crossvergence perspective service quality instrument as well as to compare the efficacy of SERVPERF and PAKSERV in a single study. Extension of this study in other countries is recommended as this study was contextualised within the Ghanaian cultural context. Nevertheless, this study provides a starting point for developing cultural-specific and crossvergence perspective instruments for measuring service quality.     

The Persistent Myths of “Acting White” and Race Neutral Alternatives to Affirmative Action in Admissions

This paper discusses the persistent myths that cloud our understanding of two politically charged themes that have been featured in discussions of the educational outcomes of Blacks: "Acting White" and Race Neutral Alternatives to Affirmative Action in postsecondary admissions. We discuss research that shows that the "Acting White" hypothesis fails both theoretically and empirically to explain differences in educational outcomes between blacks and whites. We provide evidence that race neutral alternatives to admissions in higher education are both less effective and less efficient in producing racially diverse cohorts. Policy recommendations that heed the myths that rather than follow the facts are likely to be injurious to those that they seek to aid.