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1 – 10 of 726Dania Mouakhar-Klouz, Alain d’Astous and Denis Darpy
The aim of the research presented in this paper is to enhance our understanding of self-gift giving behavior. Self-regulatory theory is used as a conceptual support to achieve…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the research presented in this paper is to enhance our understanding of self-gift giving behavior. Self-regulatory theory is used as a conceptual support to achieve this objective. The main idea that is explored is that consumers’ self-gift purchase intentions vary across contexts and situations to the extent that these are compatible or not with their self-regulatory mindset, whether it is chronic or situational.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies, using a scenario-based experiment, were conducted to investigate the effects that regulatory focus has on consumers’ intentions to buy themselves a gift.
Findings
The results support the proposition that the chronic form of regulatory focus in success and failure situations has a significant impact on the intention to purchase a gift to oneself and show that the situational form of regulatory focus has an influence on self-gift purchase intention as well. They also confirm that situations that are congruent with consumers’ self-regulatory mindset lead to stronger self-gift purchase intentions.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this research lies in delineating the role that some specific dispositional and situational factors play in shaping consumers’ perceptions of success and failure events and how this impacts the eventual purchase of a gift to oneself. This contrasts with previous research on self-gift giving, where success and failure situations are assumed to be perceived similarly by consumers. Marketing managers wishing to stimulate consumers’ propensity to buy themselves gifts should consider using regulatory focus as a segmentation basis. Marketing communications should be adapted to consumers’ self-regulatory mindset.
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François A. Carrillat, Alain d’Astous and Emilie Morissette Grégoire
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how firms can use social media such as Facebook to recruit top job prospects.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how firms can use social media such as Facebook to recruit top job prospects.
Design/methodology/approach
In the context of a fictitious event presumably sponsored by a potential employer, a sample of university students became members of a new private and secret Facebook user group dedicated to this event for a period of four days. They were exposed to event sponsorship activation messages varying systematically with respect to the mode of processing (i.e. passive or active) and their focus (i.e. the brand or the event).
Findings
The results show that their expectations as regards the salary that they would require to become employees were higher in the active mode of processing. Also, their attitude toward the sponsor as an employer was more favorable when the activation messages focussed on the brand rather than on the event. In addition, further analyses showed that the effects of message focus and mode of processing on the attitudinal responses toward the sponsoring employers were mediated by the degree of elaboration and richness of social interactions of the Facebook group's members as well as their attitude toward the activation messages.
Practical implications
Managers seeking to gain a recruiting edge through their social media presence should use online messages that stimulate more active processing and that have high entertainment value since this leads to more favorable responses toward the employer. These messages should insist more on the brand than on the event that is sponsored.
Originality/value
This study is the first study to foray into the usage of social networking sites for recruitment purposes. It represents one of the few research efforts to monitor the interactions of users in a social media platform by means of a controlled experiment performed in situ through the creation of an ad hoc Facebook group.
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Miao Wang, Jianfeng Cai and Hina Munir
Drawing on the social cognition theory, the purpose of this research is to explore how selected individual and organizational determinants, namely individual academic output (AO…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the social cognition theory, the purpose of this research is to explore how selected individual and organizational determinants, namely individual academic output (AO) and previous commercialization experience, organizational scientific reputation and entrepreneurial support policies (ESPs) influence their broadly-defined academic entrepreneurial intentions, involving spin-off intention (SOI), patenting and licensing intention (PLI), contract research and consulting intention (CCI) through theory of planned behaviour (TPB) modelling.
Design/methodology/approach
The current research constructs the framework by combining reciprocal determinism in the social cognition theory with TPB. To testify the hypotheses, partial least squares structural equational modelling (PLS–SEM) technique with 272 observations from Chinese universities was utilized.
Findings
The findings show that academic-related determinants, namely individual AO and organizational reputation (OR), are more likely to influence academic scientists' SOI through TPB modelling, while entrepreneurial-related determinants in terms of individual previous commercialization experience (PCE) and ESPs in higher education organizations are more influential for promoting behavioural intention to all kinds of academic entrepreneurship activities through TPB modelling. The more formal academic entrepreneurship involvement (engaging in creating spin-offs) is better explained through TPB modelling, especially the continuous mediating effects of subjective norms and entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control are more effective on spin-off activities. In addition, subjective norms are more influential in mediating relationships between individual or organizational antecedents and academic entrepreneurial intentions in the Chinese context.
Originality/value
Combining the social cognition theory and TPB, this study first investigated how individual intentions to engage in broadly-defined academic entrepreneurial activities are promoted through TPB modelling. The results, relating to the divergence of different determinants shaping different academic entrepreneurial intentions through various paths in TPB modelling, will provide insight into university managers and policymakers to improve academic entrepreneurship engagement in the Chinese context.
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François A Carrillat and Alain d'Astous
The complementarity factor stipulates that a sponsorship leveraging strategy can lead to suboptimal consumer responses unless advertising complements, rather than reinforces, the…
Abstract
The complementarity factor stipulates that a sponsorship leveraging strategy can lead to suboptimal consumer responses unless advertising complements, rather than reinforces, the nature of the event-sponsor relationship. Study 1 showed that the best strategy when the sponsor is an official product provider for the event is to leverage the sponsorship through advertisements that emphasise its overall image and value as opposed to its products. However, the reverse is true when the sponsor is an official event partner, where a product-oriented sponsorship leveraging yields the best outcomes. Study 2 replicated the complementarity factor effect using a different event and different set of stimulus brands. It showed that consumer attributions, with respect to the sponsor's motivations, are the key mediating psychological mechanism.
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Alain d'Astous and Karim Chnaoui
This article reports the results of an experimental study in which four factors were manipulated in the context of an evaluation of two sports garments by 172 consumers: t-shirts…
Abstract
This article reports the results of an experimental study in which four factors were manipulated in the context of an evaluation of two sports garments by 172 consumers: t-shirts and athletic shoes. These factors were intended usage situation (sport versus pleasure), brand name (national versus private brand), price (discount versus no discount), and store name (sports shop versus department store). Some significant interactions were obtained between some of the manipulated factors suggesting the necessity of qualifying the brand name, store name, and price discount effects on consumer perceptions. The results of the study are discussed in light of the existing marketing literature and the implications for sports marketing practice.
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Sadrudin A. Ahmed, Alain d’Astous and Christian Champagne
This article presents the results of a survey of 202 male Taiwanese consumers. In this study, consumer judgements of two technological products varying in their level of…
Abstract
This article presents the results of a survey of 202 male Taiwanese consumers. In this study, consumer judgements of two technological products varying in their level of complexity made in highly, moderately, and newly industrialised countries were obtained in a multi‐attribute context. The results show that the country‐of‐origin image of moderately and newly industrialised countries was less negative for technologically simpler products (i.e. a television) than they were for technologically complex products (i.e. a computer). It appears that the negative image of moderately and newly industrialised countries can be attenuated by making Taiwanese consumers more familiar with products made in these countries and/or by providing them with other product‐related information such as brand name and warranty. Newly industrialised countries were perceived more negatively as countries of design than as countries of assembly, especially in the context of making technologically complex products. The image of foreign countries as producers of consumer goods was positively correlated with education. The more familiar consumers were with the products of a country, the more favourable was their evaluation of that country. Consumer involvement with purchasing a technologically complex product such as a computer was positively associated with the appreciation of products made in moderately industrialised countries. Managerial and research implications are derived from these results.
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Alain d'Astous and Sadrudin A. Ahmed
This paper presents the results of a survey of 187 male consumers in Morocco. In this study, country‐of‐origin information was manipulated along three dimensions: country of…
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a survey of 187 male consumers in Morocco. In this study, country‐of‐origin information was manipulated along three dimensions: country of design, country of assembly and country of materials origin. Consumer judgments of the quality and purchase value of automobiles, televisions and shoes were obtained in a multi‐cue context. The results show that Moroccan consumers make a distinction between the different dimensions of country‐of‐origin information and that their perceptions are significantly affected by each dimension. However, the pattern of effects varies across dependent variables and products. Differences in the evaluations of countries are greatly attenuated when country‐of‐origin information is presented along with other informational cues such as price and brand name.
Sadrudin A. Ahmed and Alain d'Astous
This article presents the results of a survey of 250 Canadian male consumers. In this study consumer judgements of products made in both highly and newly industrializing countries…
Abstract
This article presents the results of a survey of 250 Canadian male consumers. In this study consumer judgements of products made in both highly and newly industrializing countries were obtained in a multi‐attribute and multidimensional context. The results show that younger and less affluent respondents react more favorably towards products made in newly industrializing East Asian countries. The country‐of‐origin image of East Asian countries is less negative for products that generate a medium level of involvement (e.g., a VCR). This negative image of East Asian countries is attenuated by providing other product‐related information to consumers such as brand name and warranty. East Asian countries are perceived more negatively as countries of design than as countries of parts and assembly. In comparison with products made in highly developed countries, products made in East Asia are perceived to be poorer in terms of performance, quality and originality but more economical.
The purpose of this paper is to examine country perceptions in China from the point of view of the personality concept.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine country perceptions in China from the point of view of the personality concept.
Design/methodology/approach
A country personality scale developed in a Western country was adapted to the Chinese social context and used to position 11 different countries, including China, on six personality dimensions. This was accomplished by means of a survey of 184 adult Chinese people from the city of Beijing.
Findings
The results show that the adapted scale has good psychometric properties, that it behaves appropriately with respect to some theoretical expectations, and that it brings about results that are consistent with common sense and with previous country image research.
Research limitations/implications
The study should be replicated with a more representative sample of Chinese people and a larger array of country stimuli.
Originality/value
The paper shows that the country personality scale can be used to better understand how Chinese consumers think of a product's country of origin and suggest appropriate product positioning strategies to help multinational corporations define their strategic actions with respect to China.
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Sadrudin A. Ahmed and Alain d′Astous
Investigates the effects of three countries of origin, three brandnames and three levels of price and service on consumers′ perceptions ofthe purchase value of an automobile…
Abstract
Investigates the effects of three countries of origin, three brand names and three levels of price and service on consumers′ perceptions of the purchase value of an automobile. Based on data collected from a random sample of 179 Canadians and 197 Belgians, the results indicate that the effects of price are not very important. Brand name is a more important cue than made‐in for Belgian consumers, but not for Canadian consumers. Concludes that modifications to marketing strategies for global products may be needed from one consuming country to another.
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