Reconsidering the Role of Fit in Celebrity Endorsement: Associative‐Propositional Evaluation (APE) Accounts of Endorsement Effectiveness

This study is designed to fill any explanatory gaps that have been traditionally underexplored when considering the interplay of implicit/automatic/unconscious and explicit/deliberate/conscious attitudes in the context of celebrity endorsement. The main experiment employed single target‐implicit association test as a measure of implicit attitudes. The key finding of the study is that the experimental condition where the fit between the celebrity and the endorsed product was low induced favorable implicit and explicit attitudes, similar to the condition where the fit was high. The explanation for this finding was that dissonance enhanced the association strength of the attitude object through biased attention and elaboration, which provided a basis for favorable propositions. In propositional reasoning, retroactive confirmation of the favorable implicit attitudes resolved dissonance. This study seeks to go beyond the existing endorsement and sponsorship literature developed based on matching principles such as source models, match‐up hypothesis, the congruity theory, and associative network models. The authors recommend that managers search for more creative and novel partners in addition to image‐matching ones.     

Legal and Institutional Determinants of Factoring in SMEs: Empirical Analysis across 25 European Countries

Weak protection of the rights of financiers intensifies agency problems in SME financing, inhibiting the optimal provision of credit necessary to grow and innovate. We use a survey data set of 4,348 SMEs from 25 European countries to analyze whether the use of factoring as a form of SME financing is less dependent on low quality of laws and institutions. We do so analyzing whether the use of factoring by SMEs differs across countries due to differences in the legal protection of creditors. Our findings indicate that firms operating in countries with legal environments that weakly protect the rights of creditors, with political instability or high enforcement costs, are more likely to use factoring. Managers of riskier and opaque companies operating in such inefficient environments can use the results of this study to better understand that there are suitable options to complement bank financing. Managers who seek loans can use the results to diversify their financing structure through the use of factoring. Since factoring can be used as a complement to bank loans or as a substitute for bank financing, it is important that policy makers take our results into account when revising policies concerning access to external financing.     

Comparison of benefits of radio frequency identification: Implications for business strategic performance in the U.S. and Korean retailers

This study explores a model to compare the benefits of RFID technology on supply chain management by focusing on retail industry. A path model was estimated to examine structural relationships among technological infrastructure, RFID benefits, and business strategic performance in the U.S. (n = 70) and Korean samples (n = 87). Result showed that technological infrastructure was required to more improve inventory management, store operation and demand management, leading to business strategic performance. Especially, data system automation was perceived as a prerequisite for improving inventory management for both countries. Hardware/software application was significantly related to the RFID benefit of inventory management for U.S. retailers, whereas, it was related to the benefits of efficient store operation and demand management for Korean retailers. Business strategic performance was significantly determined by RFID benefit factors (e.g., inventory management and demand management) for U.S. retailers and Korean retailers. The managerial implication for business to business strategic performance in the U.S. and Korean retail industries was discussed from a retailer's perspective.     

Employee Participation in Cause-Related Marketing Strategies: A Study of Management Perceptions from British Consumer Service Industries

The purpose of cause-related marketing (CRM) is to publicise and capitalise on a firm??s corporate social performance (CSP) by enhancing its legitimacy in the eyes of its stakeholders. This study focuses on the firm??s internal stakeholders ?C i.e. its employees ?C and the extent of their involvement in the selection of social campaigns. Whilst the difficulties of managing a firm that has lost or damaged its legitimacy in the eyes of its employees are well known, little is understood about the extent to which managers and their social partners listen to and involve their employees in the legitimation process. Through telephone interviews with non-profit organisations and senior managers of service sector firms, the extent of employee involvement in CRM campaigns and the perceived benefits of doing so are investigated.?Amongst other things, we find that (i) the extent of employee participation varies significantly across firms; (ii) larger CRM campaigns tend to be managed centrally with relatively less employee participation than smaller ones and (iii) financial services firms are more likely to make CRM decisions centrally, with relatively less employee participation than retail services firms.     

Market Microstructure and Real Estate Returns

This paper examines the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) market microstruc-ture and its relationship to stock returns. When compared with the general stock market, REIT stocks tend to have a lower level of institutional investor participation and are followed by fewer security analysts. In addition, REIT stocks that have a higher percentage of institutional investors or are followed by more security analysts tend to perform better than other REIT stocks. Our results seem to confirm Jensen's ( 1993 , p. 868) proposition that ownership structure (that is, who owns the firm's securities) affects the value of the firm. Our findings also have implications about the well documented phenomenon that the financial performance of Commingled Real Estate Funds (CREFs) is better than that of REITs.     

Optimal Comparable Selection and Weighting in Real Property Valuation: An Extension

Vandell (1991) recently developed a rigorous minimum variance technique for selecting and weighting comparables in real estate appraisal. This article extends Vandell's methodology in three areas: (1) an alternative objective function; (2) an approach that explicitly recognizes the non-negativity constraint on comparable weights; and, (3) a more robust comparable inclusion process. Using Vandell's data, we show how our methodology modifies Vandell's results.     

Comparative analysis of experience-oriented customer needs based on the Kano model: an empirical study

Based on the concept of experience economy, this study starts off by proposing that goods, services, and experiences are dimensions of experience-oriented service functions, illustrating an integrated approach which adopts the basic Kano model and customer satisfaction coefficients matrix to categorize and prioritize experience-oriented service functions. An empirical study was then conducted to explore customer need attributes for digital television (DTV) applications. As a result, 445 samples in Taiwan are collected and analyzed, showing different segments have different need attributes. In addition, a comparative analysis of experience-oriented customer needs for experienced and inexperienced users was applied in order to provide differentiated and continuous competitiveness during different stages of the product life cycle; then the result was used as a reference for future development of experience-oriented service functions.     

Clustering of cultural industries in Chinese cities

This study is the first empirical research on understanding the determinants of the concentration of cultural industries (CIs) in cities in China. What factors of the urban environment are important for attracting the location of CIs? How is the development of CIs in a city influenced by its neighbouring cities and its early development? To answer these questions, three types of spatial panel models – the spatial lag model, the spatial error model and the spatial dynamic panel model – are employed using the urban statistics for China from 2003 to 2009. Human capital, diversified industrial structure and transportation and communication infrastructure are significant factors contributing to the development of CIs. The empirical findings reveal the presence of positive spatial spillovers among cities, which suggests that promoting CIs in one city benefits other cities. Also, the evidence suggests the presence of temporal spillovers, implying that the early concentration of CIs in a city tends to attract more CIs in that city.     

Charity Retailing in the United Kingdom: A Managerial Capabilities Perspective

Nonprofit organizations are venturing into commercial activities due to the intense competition for the limited government funds and declining availability of donor funds for third‐sector organizations that address social problems. Charity retailing, a popular choice of commercial activity for nonprofit organization, has filled vacant premises in the high streets of the small towns and suburbs of large cities in the United Kingdom. Successful charity retail operation requires distinctive capabilities necessary to manage organizations' resources in commercial environment. Using 60 in‐depth elite interviews, we introduce the concept of managerial capabilities for charity retailing. Research propositions and management implications are discussed.     

ECB monetary policy and commodity prices

We assess the impact of ECB monetary policy on global aggregate and sectoral commodity prices over 2001–2019. We employ an SVAR model and separately assess periods before and after the global financial crisis. Our key results indicate that contractionary monetary policy shocks have positive effects on commodity prices during both conventional and unconventional monetary policy periods, indicating the effectiveness of unconventional monetary policy tools. The largest impact is documented on energy (fuel) and food commodities. Our results also suggest that the effect of ECB monetary policy on commodity prices transmits through the exchange rate channel, which influences European market demand.