Multinational corporate website strategies and influencing factors: A comparison of US and Korean corporate websites

This study, using a content analysis method, explored whether and to what extent multinational corporate websites targeting different markets are standardized. It also tested three organizational factors – country of origin, company size, and product type – for their potential influence on the level of corporate website standardization. A sample of 52 top US-based multinational companies and 52 Korea-based multinational companies was drawn and a total of 104 pairs of websites for these companies were content-analyzed. Overall, the degree of website standardization was not significantly different between companies based in the two countries. The results suggest that both US and Korean multinational corporations tend to maintain their websites in a similar way when targeting the home and foreign markets. Among the three organizational factors, only product type – B2B versus B2C products and durables versus non-durables – was found to be significantly associated with the level of website standardization. This study makes important contributions to the research literature by offering new information on the current state of multinational corporate website strategies and advancing our knowledge about international marketing communications on the Internet and influencing factors.     

Unsolicited Versus Solicited: Credit Ratings and Bond Yields

This paper is the first attempt to analyze Standard & Poor’s unsolicited and solicited ratings by using bond-yield data in Japan. Our findings show that there are differences in firm characteristics between firms seeking solicited ratings and those that receive unsolicited ratings. Firms with solicited ratings have less information asymmetry and are more likely to be owned by foreign investors, generate more revenue from exports, be cross-listed in the US, and have higher firm quality. But, firms with unsolicited ratings pay higher costs for debt, and their bond prices react more strongly to credit-rating changes. Yield spreads for new bonds with unsolicited ratings are higher than those with solicited ratings, because unsolicited ratings have higher information asymmetry, and investors therefore demand higher yields. We find that bond-price reactions to the announcements of unsolicited rating downgrades (upgrades) are negative (positive) and significant, while bond prices do not react significantly to solicited rating downgrades or upgrades.     

Globalisation and technological convergence in the EU

We employ a two-step approach in investigating the dynamic transmission channels under which globalization factors foster technical efficiency by combining a dynamic efficiency analysis in the stochastic frontier framework, and a time series approach based on VAR and spectral analysis. Using the dataset of the 18 EU countries over 1970–2004, we find that both import and FDI are significant factors in spreading efficiency externalities and thus accelerating technology catch-up in the EU. In particular, the impacts of the import are more prominent in the short-run while those of FDI play a more important role over the longer-run. Furthermore, the impacts of the import are pro-cyclical only in the short-run whereas those of FDI are pro-cyclical mostly over the medium- to the long-run. This evidence is broadly consistent with the sample observation that the recent slowdown of the EU productivity has been closely related to the corresponding FDI decline especially after 2000. Hence, any protection-oriented policy will be likely to be more detrimental for the EU.     

Interactions among China-Related Stocks

This paper explores the issue of causalities among five different indices of shares issued by Chinese firms, A and B Shares listed in the Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchanges, and H Shares listed in the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. By measuring cross autocorrelations and conducting Granger causality tests, we found that the causality relationships among the five different indices went through significant changes after early 1996; B Shares became more influential relative to the other shares. B Shares in China have tended to lead H Shares in Hong Kong since 1996. Although A Shares tended to lead B Shares before 1996, such relationships either disappeared or were reversed after 1996.     

The managed heart: The structural analysis of the stressor–strain relationship and customer orientation among emotional labor workers in Korean hotels

This study examined the structural relationships among three different dimensions of workplace stressors (customer-related stressor, CRS; work environment-related stressor, WERS; job-related stressor, JRS), negative affectivity (NA), emotional exhaustion (EE), and the negative effect of that strain on customer orientation (CO) in the context of the emotional labor (EL) of frontline employees in the hotel industry. Data were collected from self-administrated questionnaires distributed among frontline employees in room and F&B divisions in Korean deluxe tourist hotels, where EL is intense. The results of the structural equation analysis indicated a positive association between all three workplace stressors and NA and between NA and EE. There was also a relationship in the opposite direction with EE and CO, as hypothesized. The moderating effect of organizational level on the workplace stressors–NA relationships was also confirmed. In addition, in an alternative model, we found that NA partially mediates the relationship between JRS and EE; whereas, NA fully mediates the relationships between CRS/WERS and EE. Practical implications are discussed in detail and limitations of the study and future research directions are also suggested.     

The effectiveness of fear appeals in ‘green’ advertising: An analysis of creative,consumer, and source variables*

This study focused on the effectiveness of fear appeal messages used to arouse a threat in green advertising. An experiment recruited 175 participants to test the influence of the advertising appeal (fear vs. non-fear appeal), source (for-profit vs. non-profit organizations), and involvement with the environment on attitude toward the ad (A_ad), attitude toward the product (A_p) and purchase intention (PI). Results revealed that a fear appeal in a green ad negatively affected A_ad and A_p and that participants who were highly involved with the environment were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the green ad and advertised green product as well as a stronger intent to purchase it. The source type in the green ad did not affect ad effectiveness and involvement with the environment did not moderate the effects of either appeal or source.     

Antecedents of consumers’ intention to visit food trucks

The food truck industry has become a national phenomenon in the United States by gaining attention and praise. However, there has been limited attention on how and why consumers decide to patronize food trucks. The purpose of the study is to investigate determinants of consumers’ intention to patronize food trucks by applying the model of goal-directed behavior. Structural equation modeling was employed to assess the relationships among constructs in the proposed research model. This study contributes significant theoretical and practical implications by first attempting to examine what specific psychological variables influence the decision-making process regarding consumers’ intention to visit food trucks.     

Servitization of Global Manufacturing Business

This study examines important but understudied issues in the servitization of global manufacturing firms. We begin with a review of the literature that suggests that global manufacturing firms can grow by integrating services into traditional products in a rapidly changing business environment. We fill a gap in the literature by considering exogenous (i.e., country-level and industry-level) and endogenous (i.e., firm-level) antecedents of servitization. We posit that home-country institutional development has a positive effect on global manufacturing firms’ servitization. We also posit that a high level of industry competition is favorably associated with servitization and that a firm’s technological capability and geographic diversification are related to servitization. To test these arguments, we made a comprehensive data set by using the Thomson Reuters database, which provides the financial information of 301 global manufacturing firms in the 2015 Forbes Global 1,000, and by using annual reports published on the websites of the firms.

     

Transformational leadership behaviors,the empowering process,and organizational commitment: investigating the moderating role of organizational structure in Korea

Transformational leadership has received growing attention in leadership studies. However, open questions remain concerning its operationalization and its universal effectiveness. Drawing on transformational leadership theory and leadership contingency theory, this study explores these issues in an Asian context. Survey responses from 491 employees working for foreign subsidiaries in Korea were analyzed. Given their multi-dimensionality, transformational leadership behaviors were framed as a two-dimensional structure: organization-related behaviors (OBs) and person-related behaviors (PBs). Findings showed that both OBs and PBs were mediated by psychological empowerment to determine organizational commitment. More importantly, the findings indicated that the empowering process driven by both leadership behaviors is contingent on organizational structure. Specifically, centralization negatively moderated the empowering process of PBs. Formalization positively moderated the empowering process of OBs and negatively moderated that of PBs. These findings have noteworthy value by virtue of quantitatively revealing the organizational structure wherein the empowering process of transformational leadership behaviors is effectively induced in South Korea. Based on the results, significant theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.