I am who I am: Sharing photos on social media by older consumers and its influence on subjective well-being

We are faced with an aging population whose longer lives need to be lived well. Extant marketing scholarship has largely neglected older consumers' behavior in relation to the social media realm and its influence on well-being. This two-stage qualitative study investigates subjective well-being, exploring whether and how sharing photos on social media increases the dimensions of self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. The findings indicate that photo-sharing is a powerful behavior in augmenting older consumers' well-being as it enables individual self-reflection, self-representation and transforms the individual experience into a collective one. Contributions include, that photo-sharing acts as a bridge in creating, reinforcing but also breaking bonds among older consumers, also a tension exists between the desire for autonomy and the need for relationships with others, and finally that the digital self is a component of subjective well-being in older consumers.     

Mindshift: The mental revolution we are in

It is by now a commonplace to say that today the world is in the midst of a revolution as profound as any we have ever experienced. It is, however, much less of a commonplace to specify precisely of what this revolution consists. The contention of this article is that the revolution is more than a mere shift in our industrial or technological base. Fundamentally, it is a change in underlying mental attitudes—how we conceive of the world. It is thus a shift in our values but at the same time much more basic than this alone.This article describes the nature of the change that is occuring in mental attitudes. However, it does not do so in a traditional way. Primarily, it does it by means of a fable. The reason is that the shift we are experiencing is also in part a shift in our aesthetic vision, that is, in the styles of discourse that we use to describe reality. In short, different conceptions of the world require different stylistic forms. The full nuances of a new era can not be captured by the forms of the past.     

Can clients of economically dependent auditors benefit from voluntary audit firm rotation? An experiment with lenders

This study utilizes a nationwide random selection of 111 lenders in a 2?×?2 between-subjects experiment to determine whether the level of an auditor's economic dependence on a client and type of auditor rotation affect lenders’ independence and reliability perceptions and decisions to lend money to a potential borrower. Previous literature shows that financial statement users use client importance as a measure of audit quality when revenue streams are not equal across clients. This can negatively affect perceptions of independence and financial statement reliability. As United States regulators look for ways to improve audit quality under the current partner rotation mandate, this study explores whether an audited entity that voluntarily adopts a policy of firm rotation can mitigate the negative effects of the auditor's dependence on the client. Findings suggest that lenders view clients of economically dependent auditors (CEDA) as less independent from its auditor and perceive its financials as less reliable than clients without a dependent auditor (non-CEDA). Lenders are less likely to grant a loan to CEDA. However, under firm rotation, there is not only an increase in lenders’ perceptions of reliability of CEDA financials, but also no difference in perceptions of reliability of CEDA and non-CEDA financials.     

Book review

Bayard, Thomas O., and Kimberly Ann Elliott, Reciprocity and Retaliation in U.S. Trade Policy, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1994, 503 pages.

Rugman, Alan M. (Ed.), Foreign Investment and NAFTA, Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1994, xii + 340 pages.

Zahra, Shaker A., and Abbas J. Ali (Eds.), The Impact of Innovation and Technology in the Global Marketplace, Binghamton Haworth Press, 1994, 222 pages.

Connolly, Michael, and Jaime de Melo (Eds.), The Effects of Protectionism on a Small Country: The Case of Uruguay, Washington, DC, The World Bank, 1994, 172 pages.

Andersson, Thomas, Managing Trade Relations in the New World Economy, New York: Routledge, 1993, 183 pages.

Rondinelli, Dennis A. (Ed.), Expanding Sino-American Business and Trade: China's Economic Transition, Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1994, ix + 270 pages.

Chukwumeiue, Okezie, Choice of Law and International Commercial Arbitration, Westport, CT: Quorum, 1994, xii + 218 pages.

Welford, Richard, and Kate Prescott (Eds.), European Business: An Issue Based Approach, 2nd Edition, Philadelphia, PA: Trans Atlantic Publishers, Inc., 1994, 384 pages.

Copeland, Laurence, Exchange Rates and International Finance, Second Edition, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1994, xiv + 455 pages.

Surajaras, Patchara, and Richard Sweeney, Profit-Making Speculation in Foreign Exchange Markets, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992, 280 pages.

Esty, Daniel C., Greening the GATT: Trade, Environment, and the Future, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1994, 319 pages.

Scherer, F. M., Competition Policies for an Integrated World Economy, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1994, xxii + 133 pages.

Safarian, A. E., Multinational Enterprise and Public Policy: A Study of the Industrial Countries, Hants, England: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1993, 581 pages.     

Gossip in the workplace and the implications for HR management: a study of gossip and its relationship to employee cynicism

Gossip is a common phenomenon in the workplace, but yet relatively little is understood about its influence to employees. This study adopts social information theory and social cognitive theory to interpret the diverse literature on gossip, and to develop and test hypotheses concerning some of the antecedents of gossip, with an aim of developing knowledge of the relationship between gossip and employee behaviour in the workplace. The study analysed survey data in a two-stage process, from 362 employees across a range of industries in Taiwan. The findings revealed that job-related gossip predicted employee cynicism and mediated the relationship between psychological contract violation and cynicism, and that non-job-related gossip showed a similar but weaker effect to employee cynicism. The contribution made by this paper is of value to both the academic subject domain and managers in Human Resources. First, we have identified two constructs of gossip, job-related and non-job-related gossip not previously reported and a validated scale has been created. Second, we have confirmed that these different constructs of gossip impact differently on employee behaviour and therefore HR managers should be cautious about gossip in the workplace, as it can cause cynical behaviour amongst employees.     

The Regulatory Crisis of the 1990s—The Problem…

Immense damage to the economy and the destruction of thousands of businesses are caused by over-regulation. An 'avalanche of regulations' has led to the creation of a 'bureaucratic monster' which is almost out of control. It can be stopped - but only by changing people's psychology.     

Conceptualising a digital orientation: antecedents of supporting SME performance in the digital economy

Digital technologies have dramatically changed the organisation and marketing environments. Whether this presents an opportunity or a challenge for small and medium organisations depends on how these organisations approach it, strategically. Specifically, organisations that are guided by a combination of market, learning and entrepreneurial orientations are well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities presented by digital technologies because they adopt attitudes and behaviours that support the generation and use of market insight, proactive innovation and openness to new ideas. We call this combination the digital orientation (DO), and present a set of propositions that facilitate its development. This paper creates value both through the conceptualisation of the DO and the outlining of the implications for strategic marketing management of understanding the strategic factors supporting or hindering the performance of small and medium enterprises in the digital economy.