Does convergence matter if it takes 100 years? Different scenarios of convergence

This paper attempts to show that the income gap between rich and poor countries cannot be eliminated with the current international policies. Different scenarios are discussed. It would take 130 years for the Congo, 203 years for Eritrea and 103 years for low-income countries to reach to the current average per capita income of Norway. To equalize the overall per capita income levels of high and low-income countries from now until the year 2020, the latter group would have to grow 20 percent. These values show that current economic policies are insufficient to create economic parity among the world's nations. To do so would require radical changes in current domestic and international economic policy.     

Integrating marketing and information services functions: a complementarity and competence perspective

Integrating two disparate functions in organizations—marketing and information services (IS)—has become a critical business concern due to the increasing use of information technology (IT) to find and open new markets, deliver improved services to customers, and streamline internal marketing processes. This study appears to be the first to empirically examine the dynamics of bringing these distinct groups of specialists together. We investigate potential antecedents, consequences, and contingencies of IS-marketing integration, drawing on theories of complementarity and competence. Through a survey of IS and marketing executives, we learn that integration is facilitated by trust between the two functions and the interaction between IT strategic intent and customer orientation; it is impeded by a gap in top management knowledge of IT versus marketing. We also find that integration fosters the much-coveted capabilities of developing and introducing innovations (innovativeness) as well as responding flexibly, swiftly, and adroitly to opportunities (strategic responsiveness). Additionally, we determine integration is bounded by market dynamism. In sum, integration between marketing and IS can be enhanced via managerial efforts, and the relationship is profoundly beneficial to businesses.     

Monitoring by Affiliated Bankers on Board of Directors: Evidence from Corporate Financing Outcomes

Using a hand‐collected data set on boards of directors of large US nonfinancial companies, this paper investigates the effects of the presence of a creditor on a company's board. The results suggest that the presence of a creditor: 1) increases the amount of debt in a company's capital structure via an increase in private debt, 2) decreases the sensitivity of debt financing to the amount of tangible assets that a company holds, 3) decreases the cost of borrowing, and 4) reduces the pledge of collateral and financial covenants in debt contracts.     

Investigating the effects of economies of scope on firms’ pricing behavior: Empirical evidence from the US domestic airline industry

This study investigates to what extent cross-product (belly cargo) output affects (passenger ticket) prices in the US domestic airline industry. The empirical analysis indicates that greater cargo volumes generally result in lower air fares, presumably as a result of the airlines’ realization of economies of scope. This magnitude of this price effect, however, depends on certain firm and route market characteristics. The findings of this study add to extant research on economies of scope, multi-product yield management and airline pricing and provide important insights for policy makers and airline managers alike.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Risk-Taking Channel of Monetary Policy in Turkey

This article investigates the bank-specific characteristics of risk-taking behavior of the Turkish banking sector as well as the existence of risk-taking channel of monetary policy in Turkey. Using bank-level quarterly data over the period 2002–2012 a dynamic panel model is estimated. We find evidence that low short-term interest rates reduce the risk of outstanding loans; however short-term interest rates below a theoretical benchmark increase risk-taking of banks. This result holds for macroeconomic controls and external factors as well. Furthermore, in terms of bank-specific characteristics, our analysis suggests that large, liquid, and well-capitalized banks are less prone to risk-taking.     

Consumer ethics,materialism and material satisfaction: A study on Turkish adolescent consumers

The aim of this study is to reveal the differences among consumer ethics, materialistic attitudes and material satisfaction of the adolescents across the socio‐economic level and gender in Turkey. The sample of the study is formed by randomly selected high schools students (n = 350) in Ankara. The results indicated that consumer ethics, materialistic attitudes and material satisfaction varied according to socio‐economic level (p < .01). Among materialistic attitudes and material satisfaction, only a significant difference is found on consumer ethics across the gender. There is no significant difference among gender on materialistic attitudes and material satisfaction. In general, males’ ethical beliefs were found lower than the females.     

A discourse analysis of pilgrimage reviews

ABSTRACT

This article is the first to provide an account of the discursive features of online consumer reviews of pilgrimage sites. Drawing from pilgrimage studies and narrativity theory in consumer research, the authors explore how consumers communicate the spiritual and material aspects of pilgrimage experiences by examining a corpus of 833 consumer reviews on TripAdvisor of the most sacred pilgrimage sites of the world’s major five faith groups. Pilgrims include analytical discursive features to communicate the material aspect of their consumption experience. They reserve narration for spiritual transformation and the experience of strong emotions. Moreover, review ratings are only reflective of the spiritual aspect of their consumption experience. As such, this research complements previous studies by highlighting the material, physical aspect of this extraordinary consumption experience.     

Chronic illness medication compliance: a liminal and contextual consumer journey

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science - The consumer journey has drawn interest from marketers as an avenue to strengthen sales through managing touchpoints. However, a firm-centric view has...     

The fluent online shopping experience

Consumers increasingly use various Internet-enabled devices for online shopping; thus, a critical topic for both research and practice is the visual characteristics of the information presented in this medium. This study builds on fluency theory within an environmental psychology framework. Specifically, this research examines how consumers' perceived fluency of the verbal online information affects their perceived cognitive effort and positive affect within a choice context. The experimental results show that (1) perceptual fluency affects both cognitive effort and positive affect experienced during online shopping and (2) cognitive effort and positive affect influence judgments about the perceived decision quality of the choice made. This research is notable in its simultaneous (as opposed to consecutive) examination of the relationship among the three dimensions of processing fluency (perceptual fluency, positive affect, and cognitive effort) and their impact on consumers' choice satisfaction with an online shopping task.