Too cute to be bad? Cute brand logo reduces consumer punishment following brand transgressions

Research on brand transgressions has suggested that when a brand is involved in a transgression and perceived as harmful, consumers will punish the brand. The present research seeks to extend this literature by investigating how having a cute brand logo may reduce consumer punishment of a transgressing brand. Across five experimental studies, this research shows that a brand logo with high (vs. low) levels of cuteness associated with a transgressing brand can motivate consumers to protect the brand from harm, thus reducing consumer punishment of that brand. Notably, such motivations to protect the brand are driven by an incremental belief about the brand’s development. Moreover, the cuteness effect is attenuated in the case of repeated transgressions. Theoretical contributions to the literature on cuteness, brand logo, and brand transgression are discussed, as well as practical implications.     

Is the system reliability profitable for retailing and consumer service of a dynamical system under cross-price elasticity of demand?

Retailing strategy is one of the most crucial factors for industries. A proper retailing strategy can help to enhance consumer service and increase the industry's profit. An improved approach to retailing is suggested in this research to deliver superior customer service while maximizing profits in a dynamic system. The study analyzes a retailing strategy for a demand with cross-price elasticity upon the retail price. A product's cross-price elasticity and the system reliability are critical factors in retailing. Understanding the cross-price elasticity of demand between products helps retailers to make pricing decisions that maximize profits by maintaining demand. Imperfect products are produced due to an imperfect production system. The imperfect ones must be adjusted with some costs to make them perfect for better retailing. The system failure rate is crucial for retailing under cross-price elasticity of demand patterns. Production system reliability, cross-price elasticity of demand, and consumer service are all essential factors that can impact a company's success in the market. The production rate is considered time- and system failure rate-dependent. Contradictory to the literature, a dynamical system is proposed for improved retail management, which is solved using the Euler-Lagrange theory. Finally, one can achieve the expected maximum profit for this retail system with optimum selling prices for different products by reducing the system failure rate. Some numerical illustrations with graphical representations are provided to validate the current study. Numerical examples show that applying cross-price elasticity of demand for more than two identical products provides 35% more profit for the retail industry than a single type of product.     

The uneasy alliance of organisational culture and equal opportunities for ethnic minority groups: A British example

Recent statistics suggest that there is a continuing disparity in labour market outcomes between ethnic minority (EM) groups and their White counterparts. However, although there is now an abundance of statistical and anecdotal evidence that speaks to the disadvantage of EM groups, there is less understanding of the intraorganisational dynamics that give rise to the outcomes that are reported. Drawing on postcolonial, cultural capital, and social capital theories, this article argues that the dominant approach through which organisational culture is conceptualised and the ways in which it is commonly managed may encourage labour market inequality and disadvantage for EM groups (defined as access to employment and having opportunities for promotion while in employment). The article explores three intraorganisational interventions that are common in culture management initiatives (leadership, selective recruitment, and internal promotion) to illustrate the arguments. The article concludes by discussing a series of implications and highlighting the pivotal role of the HR academy and practitioners in generating deeper insights and attention into the potential sources of EM disadvantage that are linked to culture and culture management.     

Ownership discrimination and private firms financing in China

This study examines the financing/funding of private firms in China. Our results show that private firms are significantly less funded through formal financing channels such as bank loans than state-owned firms, and hence have to resort to alternative financing such as trade credit. Consistent with the theoretical expectation and literature, there is a substitution effect between trade credit and bank loans for private firms, but this effect is much weaker compared to that of state-owned firms. Moreover, while the univariate comparisons indicate that private firms obtain more notes payable than state-owned firms, the multivariate regression analyses show that the relation between bank loan and notes payable is positive and indifferent between private and state-owned firms.     

From overt to covert: Exploring discrimination against homosexual consumers in retail stores

This research examines discrimination against homosexual consumers in several stores located in a Colombian shopping mall. Further, this research assesses retail conditions in Colombia, which is dealing with conflicts arising from issues related to its legalization of same-sex marriage. In the past, homosexual consumers experienced overt discrimination from retail employees typically in the form of finger pointing, negative stares, laughing, and refusal of service. This research reveals that overt discrimination against homosexual consumers seems to have abated across several indices, primarily in terms of waiting time for assistance from employees. The data reveal that gay male and lesbian couples remain susceptible to covert discrimination by retail employees, compared with their heterosexual counterparts, typically in the form of negative glances, refusal of service, and laughter. This research reveals that homosexual consumers may not realize the full value potential of marketplace exchanges, despite the waning of overt discriminatory practices by retail employees.     

“Going natural”: Black women’s identity project shifts in hair care practices

Hair care, a seemingly mundane consumption practice, is packed with sociocultural meanings and constitutes an important realm of identity work for consumers. Drawing upon existing literature on consumer identity projects, this paper investigates the experiences of urban, Black women in Kenya as they disengage from the normative practice of altering their natural hair texture using chemical straighteners (a practice that conforms to Eurocentric beauty ideals of straight, flowing hair), and adopt the non-normative hair care practice of “going natural,” in which they embrace their natural hair texture and hairstyles. This paper traces the historical, sociocultural, and political events that underpin the normative ideology associated with the identity marker of natural Black hair, and how this ideology influences the women’s “going natural” experience. Findings reveal tensions that emerge in the women’s identity project disengagement and reconstruction process, and how the women navigate their position as they reimagine their embodied identity quest.     

The Importance of Professional Training for Test Writers

The importance of language testing is noticed by more and more people.But the quality of testing,or say,the level of test writers,has been ignored for a long time.This article intends to talk about the importance of professional training for test writ- ers,in order to arouse people＇s attention to the quality of test designers.     

Believing in employment discrimination: The case of Forrest Mims,Scientific American,and title VII protection

This article reviews the law regarding Title VII employment discrimination protection from religious discrimination. The issues surrounding the principal legal protection in this regard are explored in the context of a recent controversial case in which an author, Forrest Mims, was not hired as a regular contributor forScientific American magazine, ostensibly because of his belief in the theory of creation over the theory of evolution. The definition of what constitutes a protected religious belief or practice is seen to have expanded over time. However, a belief in creationism is not necessarily seen as being tantamount to a religious belief under present legal interpretation of Title VII. The implications of this finding for future needed Title VII revision are discussed.     

Factors affecting households’ seafood purchasing decisions in Auckland,New Zealand: an empirical analysis

This paper uses the binary choice model to identify the factors that are significantly influencing the household purchase decisions of seafood products for home consumption in Auckland, New Zealand. It is found that ‘quality’ and ‘cooking easiness’ are the main product attributes that significantly influence households’ choices of seafood in Auckland. Also, the representative household has shown a strong preference for fresh and other alternative seafood products, including processed, smoked and canned, over frozen products. Retail outlets are found to be more attractive to the household purchasing seafood for home consumption. The New Zealand seafood industry may find this baseline study useful as a guide to developing future research structure on the domestic market.     

满意度测评结果分类分析

满意指数已经成为许多国家衡量经济产出质量的重要指标，为宏观经济管理提供了有效的决策参考依据，但是，如何进一步开发利用满意指数调查信息，加大对微观层面的经济组织经营管理活动的指导作用，仍然是满意度研究的重要课题。本文利用真实的用户满意指数测评调查数据，对营销管理中用户类型划分问题进行了分析，结果表明，用户满意指数测评调查数据，可以准确地将用户划分为逃离型、趋利型、受制型和忠诚型。