From academic research to marketing practice: Exploring the marketing science value chain

We aim to investigate the impact of marketing science articles and tools on the practice of marketing. This impact may be direct (e.g., an academic article may be adapted to solve a practical problem) or indirect (e.g., its contents may be incorporated into practitioners' tools, which then influence marketing decision making). We use the term “marketing science value chain” to describe these diffusion steps, and survey marketing managers, marketing science intermediaries (practicing marketing analysts), and marketing academics to calibrate the value chain.     

Compensating Wage Differentials with Unemployment: Evidence from China

We estimate the economic value of mortality risk in China using the compensating-wage-differential method. We find a positive and statistically significant correlation between wages and occupational fatality risk. The estimated effect is largest for unskilled workers. Unemployment reduces compensation for risk, which suggests that some of the assumptions under which compensating wage differentials can be interpreted as measures of workers’ preferences for risk and income are invalid when unemployment is high. Workers may be unwilling to quit high-risk jobs when alternative employment is difficult to obtain, violating the assumption of perfect mobility, or some workers (e.g., new migrants) may be poorly informed about between-job differences in risk, violating the assumption of perfect information. These factors suggest our estimates of the value per statistical life (VSL) in China, which range from approximately US$30,000 to US$100,000, may be biased downward. Alternative estimates adjust for heterogeneity of risk within industry by assuming that risk is concentrated among low-skill workers. These estimates, which are likely to be biased downward, range from US$7,000 to US$20,000.      

Self-Efficacy Toward Service, Civic Participation and the Business Student: Scale Development and Validation

This paper presents the development andvalidation of new measurement tools to exploreself-efficacy toward service and toward civicparticipation. We developed and administereda survey to 851 students in an AACSB-accreditedcollege of business at a comprehensive publicuniversity located in the Midwest. Traditionalscale development methodologies plusconfirmatory factor analysis and simultaneousfactor analysis in several populations wereused to analyze both a primary sample and aholdback sample. Results strongly support thevalidity and reliability of the surveyinstrument. Future use for the instrumentincludes verification of the effectiveness ofpedagogies designed to increase self-efficacytoward service and motivation for civicparticipation in business students.     

Adding a freight network to a national interstate input–output model: a TransNIEMO application for California

The state of the nation’s infrastructure is the subject of widespread discussion and comment because it is thought to include many deteriorating and unsafe bridges. Ever since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, there has been increasing concern over the extent to which an attack on infrastructure could result in serious economic disruption. This research develops a model to analyze the economic consequences of an attack on a major element of the highway network. We add a freight network to a national multiregional economic impact model and make freight traffic flows endogenous. The use of a sub-national interstate model recognizes that most infrastructure planning is at the state level and most political leaders’ interest is local. We base our approach on the National Interstate Economic Model (NIEMO) and refer to an elaboration that we name Transportation network and the National Interstate Economic Model (TransNIEMO). The new model enables us to study the state-specific and industry-specific economic impacts of some significant changes in the nature of highway freight movements. We tested the model for selected freight movements in and out of California. The results are entirely plausible and encourage us to elaborate and test the model for hypothetical disruptions of freight traffic throughout the US.     

Do missing values exist? Incomplete data handling in cross-national longitudinal studies by means of continuous time modeling

In cross-national longitudinal studies it is often impossible to administer the same measurement instruments at the same occasions to all sample units in all participating countries. This quickly results in large quantities of missing data, due to (a) missing measurement instruments in some countries, (b) missing assessment waves within or across countries, (c) missing data for individual sample units. As compared to cross-sectional studies, the problem of missing values is further aggravated by the fact that missing values are always associated with different time intervals between repeated observations. In the past, this has often been dealt with by the use of phantom-variables, but this approach is limited to simple designs with few missing value patters. In the present paper we propose a new way to think of, and deal with, missing values in longitudinal studies. Instead of conceiving of a longitudinal study as a study with \(T\) discrete time points of which some are missing, we propose to conceive of a longitudinal study as a way to measure an underlying process that develops continuously over time, but is only observed at some selected discrete time points. This transforms the problem of missing values into a problem of unequal time intervals. After a quick introduction to the basic idea of continuous time modeling, we demonstrate how this approach provides a straightforward solution to missing measurement instruments in some countries, missing assessment waves within or across countries, and missing data for individual sample units.     

Market structure and corporate charitable donations: some Canadian evidence for 1976 and 1981

The business of business, not charity.

Say eleemosynary its more confusing.

Whatever, as long as we don't given 'em any cash.

Harv Antione, ‘The Buzz Words of Entrepreneurship’

in Apocryphal Northern Tales

This paper investigates the general determinants of corporate charitable donations in Canada and, in particular, the impact of imperfectly-competitive market structure. We utilize a profit-maximizing model and assume that charitable donations occur only if, by performing an advertising/public relations function, they increase revenue; or if, by acting as a fringe benefit, they result in a reduction in wage costs. In this context, because only firms in imperfect markets generate the rents from which donations can be made, we anticipate a positive relationship between donations and a measure of imperfect competition (concentration). The data is a cross-section sample of 38, 3- and 4-digit SIC manufacturing industries pooled for 1976 and 1981. The major findings are that: the results are generally compatible with the predictions of the model; concentration is a significant determinant of donations although non-linear; the cost of giving (the tax rate) is appropriately positive; and there are significant negative relationships for measures of foreign ownership and wage rates.     

Revisiting the Concept of a Societal Orientation: Conceptualization and Delineation

Marketers have traditionally evaluated products and practices on the basis of whether something could be sold. It is also important to evaluate products and practices from a societal perspective, “Should a product be sold?” The first idea reflects a managerial orientation and what must be done to sell a product; the second idea reflects a societal orientation and the impact of selling a product. In relation to the second idea, the societal marketing concept was introduced in 1972. There has been little advancement in our understanding of a societal orientation since that time. The current study presents a conceptualization of a societal orientation based on a review of literature and qualitative interviews. The construct was conceptualized as “attention to the long-term well-being of individuals and society at large by enhancing positive impacts from and reducing negative effects associated with production and consumption of a product.” Five domains comprising a societal orientation are proposed: physical consequences, psychological well-being, social relationships, economic contribution, and environmental consciousness.