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This paper aims to study country of origin perceptions of Lebanese consumers with respect to potato chips, the correlation involved between country of manufacture and consumer behavior; purchase intent; and product quality.

Four hypotheses in respect to country of origin perceptions on potato chip purchases were tested. The research was conducted in three phases: qualitative research was done to determine key attributes in potato chip selection, these findings were used to create a questionnaire, and a sample from 326 Lebanese consumers was collected.

The paper finds that there are demographic differences in the evaluation of potation chips. The evaluation of specific attributes did not vary by country of origin and there were no differences in overall quality perceptions by country of origin. Snack food purchases appear to be low involvement purchases based on experiential qualities. Brand awareness and purchase appear not to be linked.

It appears that country of origin is of secondary importance; yet, it is important to note the limited number of countries tested in this study. Given the tainted food scandals involving China country or origin may play a larger role in studies testing a wider variety of countries. Future research should include products not currently available in the market.

Given the potential for high growth in the snack food market in developing countries, this study provided valuable insight into one such market. The results indicate that more study is warranted in this area.

The global cosmetics industry is an attractive business opportunity. This paper aims to study country of origin effects among Lebanese consumers' purchase of shampoo.

The research tests four hypotheses in respect of country of origins' impact on shampoo purchase decisions and concludes with marketing implications. A questionnaire was administered to 332 consumers to test four hypotheses concerning the impact of country of origin.

The data confirmed that there are no differences in either the overall quality perceptions of the product or the attribute evaluation of shampoos sourced from different countries; but the purchase intent of consumers for certain brands is affected by changes in the country of origin of the shampoo. In a low consumer involvement category such as shampoo, country of origin is not one of the key attributes affecting choice of Lebanese consumers. Purchase is driven either by practical objectives such as benefits or by experiential pleasures.

Marketers should strive to develop a leadership position in consumers' minds. Marketers should attempt to leverage or build brand awareness.

Globally the cosmetics industry represents an attractive business opportunity. The growth trend for industry is positive with new growth opportunities in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The study provides insight into one growth area and indicates that more research in this area would be of value.

The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between actual (ASC) and ideal self-congruence (ISC) and harmonious (HBP) and obsessive brand passion (OBP).

Study 1 uses a sample collected via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to test a baseline conceptual model which links ASC and ISC to HBP and OBP. Study 2 employs a sample outsourced through Qualtrics. Study 2 had dual objectives: to replicate Study 1 using a larger and more diverse sample and to test whether hedonic brand characteristics may affect the hypothesized relationships between two types of self-congruence and two types of brand passion.

The findings suggest that different types of self-congruity influence different types of consumer passion for the brand. Specifically, a fit between brand personality and one’s true self (ASC) helps develop a passion for the brand that is self-affirming and in harmony with other facets of the consumer’s life. Fit between brand personality and one’s ideal self (ISC) leads to OBP. The results suggest that hedonic benefits of a brand do not moderate the relationship between ASC and HBP.

This research examines the duality of brand passion (harmonious and obsessive) and the relationships with consumers’ ASC and ISC. It provides insight into how a product-related context variable (hedonic nature of the product) can moderate these relationships and further augments the nomological network of the dual brand passion concept in the brand consumer context.

Interfunctional coordination may be of primary importance to a firm developing a sustainable competitive advantage. This paper suggests that climate and socialization processes facilitate the development of interfunctional coordination, and thus its impact on firm performance. By merging the organizational culture, market orientation, climate, socialization, and competing values framework streams of literature to describe the process by which an organization positions itself in the competitive arena, a framework is developed and research propositions are offered.

Brand storytelling has been found to be an effective marketing tool. Unlike a brand story that originates from a firm, consumers’ brand storytelling is created, developed and shared by consumers. This research aims to examine whether consumers’ brand storytelling leads to increased favorable brand evaluations and compares its effects on consumer cognition and emotions, to a brand story generated by a firm.

Three experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses. In Study 1, a 2 (story: consumers’ brand storytelling vs brand story by a firm) × 2 (product: coffee shop vs airline mileage programs) between-subjects design was used. Studies 2 and 3 replicated Study 1 and investigated different measurements of the constructs using different brands. Additionally, a mediation analysis was conducted.

The results show that consumers’ brand storytelling increases favorable brand attitudes. Consumers present deeper cognitive processing and higher experienced positive emotions when they read consumer brand storytelling as compared to a firm-created brand story, leading to a more favorable brand attitude.

There is a lack of empirical research investigating how consumers’ brand storytelling is different from brand stories created by firms, and how consumers’ brand storytelling influences brand attitudes. This study extends the literature by clarifying how consumers respond to consumers’ brand storytelling and evaluates brands by exploring the underlying mechanism for the effect of brand storytelling via consumers’ cognitions and emotions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test through an experiment, an innovative online video teaching module that significantly improves financial literacy in college of business students. Specific business major financial literacy levels are also tested.

A total of 244 college of business students were given a financial literacy test. Half of the students were exposed to the “treatment” (watched a video module), while other half were not. The videos comprised 67 min of micro-lectures that students could download, free of charge, at their own convenience. The researchers analyzed the impact of a previous personal finance course on students’ financial literacy levels and tested across four business majors.

The video intervention was the most successful at increasing financial literacy, surprisingly more so than having taken a past personal finance course. Interaction effects were not significant. Four college majors were tested with a shorter, improved financial literacy measure – finding, to our surprise that non-quantitative business majors (particularly marketing students) are not less financially literate than other majors. Supporting past research, the authors found that female and African-American college students performed significantly lower on the test.

The research adds value to the literature by developing and testing a modern, novel teaching innovation to improve financial literacy in young adults. Using an experimental setting, the authors showed that the innovation was more effective than the commonly proscribed personal finance course. This is one of the few studies to measure financial literacy levels for specific college of business majors.

This chapter explores “politic talks” (also known as political information) on the websites of academic libraries in land-grant state universities of the South in the context of a global retreat of democracy that emerged during former President Trump’s regime as the 45th President of the United States. The exploratory qualitative evaluation applies website content analysis of seven information offerings in three categories that include: (1) information sources (collections, resources), information policy and planning (assigned role, strategic representation), and connections (internal, external, news and events). Promising practices and illustrative examples of “politic talks” representation on academic library websites show how they are serving as significant providers of political information during current politically turbulent times. The discussion of these findings in relation to each state’s voting likelihood based on trends since 2000 has significant political implications in enhancing the role of academic libraries moving forward.

In this chapter, Barbara Zesik draws on her experience as an HR Director in international businesses and on her empirical research with actors in talent situations across multiple industry sectors to explore the tensions between the rhetoric and reality of life in talent pools. Focussing on the relatively under-researched social and political aspects of managing talent and using seldom heard voices from people in talent programmes she illustrates how talent identification and management ‘really works’ and offers suggestions for better practice.

Managerial anxiety as a key obstacle to managerial capability, effectiveness and meaningful talent management is explored and organisational failures, such as the lack of development for managers and the persistent use of lag-measures, such as performance ratings, in talent assessment are analysed. Empirical research, conducted applying a social constructivist perspective, is relevant to academics and practitioners alike by offering a less theoretical, and perhaps more realistic perspective of talent management practices in organisations for academics and a more pragmatic, approachable and relatable viewpoint for practitioners.

Proposes that benefits would accrue as a result of the development of a halo marketing campaign for firms forced to serve unprofitable markets, and the pharmaceutical industry is used as an example. Halo marketing should allow firms to garner increased positive firm image and/or increased brand equity from serving these markets, as opposed to the unavailable traditional benefit of profit. Utilizes the international tourism literature to illustrate how firms may effectively use halo marketing since this literature has a history of applying halo marketing to increase travel to tourist destinations. Also integrates the corporate reputation literature base. Presents five research propositions regarding how these concepts could be applied to firms serving unprofitable markets.

We combine insights from the strategic management and international business literatures in order to explore the moderating role of business group characteristics on the link between innovation and internationalization in the context of the pharmaceutical sector in India. We test our three hypotheses on a sample of 219 Indian pharmaceutical firms affiliated with business groups, over a five-year period (2005–2010) in a panel of 1,096 firm-year observations. Results indicate that, contrary to our contention, research expenditure is negatively associated with export intensity, implying that firms in the Indian pharmaceutical sector may face a trade-off between investing in innovation and international expansion. As expected, business group characteristics significantly impact the strength of the relationship between innovation and internationalization. Theoretical and practitioner implications are discussed.