Aggressive driving: A consumption experience

In this paper, the literature on aggressive driving tendencies as a consumption experience is reviewed. Two studies test a comprehensive model that includes personality, attitudinal, and value antecedents to such behavior. The research supports the role of most of the antecedents. However, personality and attitudinal constructs were found to be stronger predictors of aggressive driving than values. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that aggressive driving tendencies increase incidences of law breaking. Suggestions for future research and practical implications are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

National culture and national savings: is there a link?

We study the effect of national culture on economic decisions, focusing on GLOBE cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and future orientation. Specifically, we study the effect of divergence between cultural values and practices (societal aspirations), on the aggregate savings decision. Using the life-cycle model of savings as our basic model, we find that societal aspirations are important in explaining national savings behavior. In particular, we show that societal aspirations relating to future orientation and uncertainty avoidance have a positive effect on the rate of savings. We interpret our findings to indicate that such societal aspirations lead to mistrust in the societal arrangements and institutions, and induce savings as a means of securing the future and reducing uncertainty. To substantiate this interpretation, we utilize the microfinance industry; showing that high societal aspirations are associated with preference for savings through member-owned microfinance institutions (MFIs) over savings through non-member-owned MFIs.     

Extending the competitive marketing strategy paradigm: The role of strategic reference points theory

The purpose of this article is to extend and integrate the new strategic reference points theory (SRP), developed in the strategic management area, into the discipline of strategic marketing management. The major new tenets of the theory are the inclusion of cognitive, organizational processes and benchmarking simultaneously. First, the authors describe the impact of the marketing SRP on marketing strategic choice behavior captured in the tradeoff between risk and return (risk avert vs. risk lover) as was proposed by prospect theory. Then, they explore the performance consequences of integrating the newly formed stages while considering organizational process and implementation issues of reference points such as content, configuration, consensus, and change. Aviv Shoham is a senior lecturer of marketing at the William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa. Avi Fiegenbaum is an associate professor of management at the William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa.     

Innovativeness,exploratory behavior,market mavenship,and opinion leadership: An empirical examination in the Asian context

The market maven construct, developed by Feick and Price (1987), has been used in empirical studies in the USA, South Africa, Germany, Poland, and Hungary. This study extends previous research by being the first to use the general mavenship concept in an Asian country (Israel). Furthermore, the study examines market mavenship and opinion leadership as outcome concepts arising from exploratory behavior or innovativeness tendencies. Additionally, the impact of a three‐dimensional exploratory behavior concept is compared to the impact of a unidimensional innovativeness concept on opinion leadership and market mavenship. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the two nomological models based on a sample of 142 adult Israeli consumers. Although both exploratory behavior and innovativeness affect market mavenship and opinion leadership, the impact of the former is stronger. Additionally, the impact of the “new brand trial” facet of exploratory behavior on market maven was comparable to that of innovativeness, whereas its impact on opinion leadership was weaker than the impact of innovativeness. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Flow experiences and image making: An online chat‐room ethnography

Chat rooms are a relatively new phenomenon. They provide a unique experiential locale, much like a community. They have become a popular replacement for oft‐diminishing communities of yore. Qualitatively building on three overarching themes, chat rooms are put at the nexus of three diverse theoretical themes: community, flow experiences, and image management—the latter two being explored in this article. Chat rooms provide flow‐like experiences to participants and allow chatters to manage and enhance their images. Given that chatters are highly involved and frequent visitors to their online community (specific chat rooms), they provide a unique opportunity to study this relatively new phenomenon, which has far‐reaching, multidisciplinary implications. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Simple search methods for finding a Nash equilibrium

We present two simple search methods for computing a sample Nash equilibrium in a normal-form game: one for 2-player games and one for n-player games. Both algorithms bias the search towards supports that are small and balanced, and employ a backtracking procedure to efficiently explore these supports. Making use of a new comprehensive testbed, we test these algorithms on many classes of games, and show that they perform well against the state of the art—the Lemke–Howson algorithm for 2-player games, and Simplicial Subdivision and Govindan–Wilson for n-player games.     

Gadget Loving: A Test of an Integrative Model

Following the seminal work of Bruner and Kumar (2007) on gadget loving, this paper views gadget loving as the attachment individuals have toward advanced electronic items and how such an attachment relates to actual use (i.e., actual gadgets ownership). It extends existing research in two important ways. First, it provides a retest of the reliability and validity of the gadget‐loving scale in two new countries (Israel and Sweden), thus adding to the generalizability of the scale across cultures. Second, it develops and tests an integrative model that includes gadget loving as a central construct as well as several antecedents and consequences proposed as important topics for future research in the extant literature. The results show that inherent novelty seeking, technological innovativeness, and technical curiosity predict the gadget‐loving trait, which in turn affects technological opinion leadership and gadget ownership. These findings have theoretical and practical implications.     

Born global firms: The differences between their short- and long-term performance drivers

Globalization has triggered the emergence of a new breed of firms called “Born Globals” (BGs), firms that become international soon after inception. Unlike previous research, the present study distinguishes between BGs’ short- and long-term performance and argues that different drivers affect each type of performance. Data from 107 Israeli BGs shows that their short-term performance is impacted mostly by environmental (external) factors. In contrast, over the long run, internal factors become more crucial to BGs’ survival and success. These time-based differences have important theoretical and practical implications.     

The global recession issue: Introduction—Part II

The global economic crisis clearly highlighted that a multinational enterprise (MNE) must understand the national environment no less than its core business. Articles in this part deal with the impact of the crisis on five national economies: two small (Iceland and Israel), two developing (China and India), and one extremely poor (Bangladesh). This introduction also contains empirical research on the most important variable in the global crisis, the saving rate. Differences in savings between countries are not adequately explained in the current economic literature. As we show, culture variables from the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) study help explain the difference between saving rates in various countries. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.