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1 – 10 of 18Jia Wells and Caroline S.L. Tan
This study aims to examine the relationships between functional value (quality and price), social value (extrinsic and intrinsic), emotional value and attitude toward a brand, as…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationships between functional value (quality and price), social value (extrinsic and intrinsic), emotional value and attitude toward a brand, as well as the direct relationship between attitude toward a brand and the purchase intention of tires. This research also explores the moderating effect of social influence on the relationship between attitude toward a brand and purchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual model based on literature is developed and tested using an online survey, with a sample of 760 active drivers gathered through purposive sample judgment. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with AMOS 28 and Hayes Process Macro 4.
Findings
The results demonstrate that extrinsic social value has a positive direct relationship with attitude toward brands. The findings also indicate that intrinsic social value has a positive influence on attitudes toward brands. Attitude toward a brand is found to have a positive direct relationship with purchase intention.
Originality/value
This research extends the existing literature on consumption values and offers insights into the specific values that influence attitudes toward tire brands as well as purchase intention. The findings provide insights to tire businesses in values that they could focus on when developing strategies to increase positive brand attitude and purchase intention.
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Abyshey Nhedzi and Caroline Muyaluka Azionya
This study answers the call for research and theorising exploring ethical communication and brand risk from the African continent. The study's purpose was to identify the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study answers the call for research and theorising exploring ethical communication and brand risk from the African continent. The study's purpose was to identify the challenges that strategic communication practitioners face in enacting ethical crisis communication in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers conducted ten in-depth interviews with South African strategic communication professionals.
Findings
The dominant theme emerging from the study is the marginalisation and exclusion of the communication function in decision-making during crisis situations. Communicators were viewed as implementers, technicians and not strategic counsel. The protection of organisational reputation was done at the expense of the ethics and moral conscience of practitioners. Practitioners were viewed and deployed as spin doctors and tools to face unwanted media interactions.
Originality/value
The article sheds light on the concepts of ethical communication and decision-making in a multicultural African context using the moral theory of Ubuntu and strategic communication. It demonstrates the tension professionals experience as they toggle between unethical capitalist approaches and African values. The practitioner's role as organisational moral conscience is hindered, suppressed and undermined by organisational leadership's directives to use opaque, complex communication, selective transparency and misrepresentation of facts.
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Amonrat Thoumrungroje, Adamantios Diamantopoulos and Nathalie Caroline Scherer
Drawing on cue utilization theory and the theory of motivated reasoning, we investigate the impact of consumer xenocentrism on product preferences in a situation where domestic…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on cue utilization theory and the theory of motivated reasoning, we investigate the impact of consumer xenocentrism on product preferences in a situation where domestic products objectively outperform their foreign counterparts.
Design/methodology/approach
We develop and test a model linking xenocentrism to consumers’ preference towards domestic vs. foreign products by (1) examining the mediating role of consumers’ ability to identify the superior product and (2) assessing the role of product involvement in potentially moderating this relationship. An experimental design was employed, whereby respondents (Thai consumers, N = 579) were asked to compare two products in the same product category, one foreign and one domestic. In one condition, the foreign product outperformed the domestic one on a range of relevant product attributes, whereas in a second condition, the opposite was the case.
Findings
Our findings provide clear evidence that xenocentric consumers often cannot recognize the superiority of domestic products and, even if they do, they still exhibit preferences toward (inferior) foreign products. Thus, for xenocentric consumers, it seems that the country of origin (COO) overrides other cues and often results in suboptimal product choices.
Originality/value
Our study adds to our theoretical understanding of the functioning of the consumer xenocentrism construct and has important implications for foreign companies targeting xenocentric consumers as well as for local firms seeking to counteract xenocentric tendencies.
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The purpose of this study is to examine how the constructs of false self, preference for online social interaction (POSI), compulsive internet use (CIU), and online disinhibition…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how the constructs of false self, preference for online social interaction (POSI), compulsive internet use (CIU), and online disinhibition affect social withdrawal in a social media context. The mediating effects of moral disengagement and cyber aggression are also tested.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using an online survey (n = 533) from consumers in Japan. This study used structural equation modeling and PROCESS to examine the proposed relationships.
Findings
The study revealed that false self positively affects moral disengagement while online disinhibition positively affects cyber aggression and moral disengagement. Preference for online social interaction and compulsive internet use both positively impacts social withdrawal. Cyber aggression and moral disengagement were established mediators between false self/ Preference for online social interaction/ compulsive internet use/ online disinhibition and social withdrawal.
Research limitations/implications
Although restricted to cyberaggression, owing to the reciprocal relationship between cyber victimization and cyberaggression, cyber victimization can be included for further study. This study expands the understanding of social withdrawal within the context of social media.
Practical implications
Based on the findings, policies and programs that address mental health that build self-esteem, self-confidence and reduce anxiety ought to be undertaken. Managing and formulating guidelines on anonymity should also be taken into consideration.
Originality/value
This research demonstrates the crucial constructs that affect social media users negatively from the aspects of cyberaggression, moral disengagement and social withdrawal. It also establishes the importance of mental health in reducing adverse effects from social media.
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Christina Donovan and Hannes Hautz
This paper seeks to illustrate how interventionist education reforms shape dis/trust-building processes and their impact on teacher professionalism in vocational education and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to illustrate how interventionist education reforms shape dis/trust-building processes and their impact on teacher professionalism in vocational education and training (VET) across national contexts. Using trust as the object of analysis, we discuss the affective mechanisms of becoming a professional in a standards-based neoliberal environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Through an analysis of VET teacher narratives in England and Austria, the paper draws attention to the ways in which policy instrumentalism has created a culture of distrust in VET. Drawing upon foundational work on system trust developed by Niklas Luhmann, we illustrate how conditions for trust sit at symbolic thresholds, which set the conditions for professional recognition within VET.
Findings
Our analysis revealed that attempts to standardise VET strategy are fuelled by the need for existential security and predictability, leading to tensions in the cultivation of system trust. Conditions for professional recognition across both contexts were based on practices of documentation and subordination, narrowly defining modes of legitimate self-expression in organisations. This constitutes a crisis of trust in VET teacher professionalism, which undermines pedagogical autonomy and integrity.
Practical implications
We seek to highlight the impact that reduced trust in the governance of VET can have on issues associated with teacher motivation, well-being and retention. The consideration of trust is therefore essential both for policy design and implementation in VET organisations.
Originality/value
The application of trust theory offers a distinctive lens through which to understand the impact of accountability, performativity and governance processes upon teacher subjectivity within VET across national contexts.
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The paper introduces the autoethnography as a healing and everyday resistance strategy for marginalized voices. The focus is to deliver the author’s own reflections on some key…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper introduces the autoethnography as a healing and everyday resistance strategy for marginalized voices. The focus is to deliver the author’s own reflections on some key moments and experiences to stimulate the discussion on autoethnography as a critical instrument channeling one’s reflexivity in the higher education context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a case study of Chinese academic professionals to inspire the discussion on the research and practical values of autoethnography. It also provides conceptual reflections on the political meaning and functions of autoethnography.
Findings
The paper highlights two key aspects of autoethnography in the higher education context. Firstly, it emphasizes the importance of autoethnography in navigating the personal political front. Secondly, it promotes the integration of autoethnography into the ordinary lives of overseas Chinese academic professionals for daily healing and resistance.
Originality/value
The paper explores political sensitivity as an important dimension of workplace ethnography. Recognizing political sensitivity avows autoethnography a political act and a research framework, through which the (auto)ethnographer examines his or her own principles for negotiating justice and interpreting the ownership of personal identity against the influx of politically-charged opinions from the surrounding.
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Krystal Wilkinson and Clare Mumford
One in six people globally are affected by infertility, and many turn to fertility treatment in a bid to have a child(ren). While many countries offer work-related legislative…
Abstract
One in six people globally are affected by infertility, and many turn to fertility treatment in a bid to have a child(ren). While many countries offer work-related legislative protections and provisions for those who are successful in conceiving a child, in the form of maternity and paternity-related supports and protection again discrimination – the same cannot be said for those struggling to conceive. There are similar inequalities when it comes to workplace policy and support. Drawing on data from our two-year research study on “complex fertility journeys” and employment, this chapter sets out the work-life challenges that arise when individuals find themselves navigating the considerable “reproductive work” of fertility treatment alongside the demands of paid employment, and how affected employees respond. It also touches on the challenges experienced by line managers tasked with offering support. The chapter concludes with implications for practice in terms of making organizations more “fertility friendly,” which should extend beyond support for attending fertility treatment appointments to include awareness raising, manager training, and support for the varied outcomes of treatment cycles, including involuntary childlessness.
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