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This paper aims to investigate the effect of retailers’ consumer communications in prompting the choice of an in-stock alternative to an out-of-stock first-choice product.

Four between-subjects experiments assessed the extent to which the likelihood of a retail customer switching to a similarly-priced alternative when a first choice was out-of-stock was affected by messages concerning stockout status (Studies 1a and 1b). They further examined the interaction effects on participants’ preference of messages comparing the available versus unavailable options and stating stockout status (Study 2) and those giving information on the reasons for the stockout and on its status (Study 3).

Participants maintained their original preference for an out-of-stock product unless an external restriction on choice prompted them to forsake it or they perceived a strong reason to opt for an in-stock alternative. There was a greater tendency to switch if the alternative offered a potential “gain” or the reasons given for a stockout were irrelevant to product performance, whether the participant was expecting imminent re-stocking. Switching was triggered when the available alternative was directly comparable to the original or the retailer’s explanation related to an attribute judged trivial, but only if short supply was expected to continue.

The studies add to current understanding of how shoppers respond to unavailability of a first-choice product by examining the effect on switching behavior of messages about the stockout situation that are communicated deliberately or inadvertently by retailers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between HR practice (four aspects), organisational commitment and citizenship behaviour at primary schools in Taiwan. The four human resource (HR) aspects include: recruitment and placement (RP), teaching, education and career (TEC) development, support, communication and retention (SCR), and performance and appraisal (PA).

With the assistance from the school HR managers and using an anti-common method variance strategy, research data from 568 incumbent teachers in Taiwan are collected, analysed and evaluated.

Different from prior studies, highlighting the merits of HR practice, the study discovers that HR practice may not necessarily contribute to citizenship behaviour. Teachers with positive perceptions of RP and TEC are more likely to demonstrate citizenship behaviour, whereas teachers with positive perceptions of SCR and PA are not. In addition, the study finds three moderators: affective organisational commitment (AOC), rank of positions, and campus size. The analysis shows that teachers with more AOC, higher positions and from smaller campus are more likely to demonstrate organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB).

The study provides a closer look at the HR-OCB relationship in Taiwan. It reveals that a positive perception of HR practice may not necessarily contribute to OCB occurrence. In addition, the results indicate that teachers have different views about varying HR aspects. Specifically, aspects of RP and TEC development receive relatively higher levels of positive perception, whereas aspects of SCR and PA receive relatively lower levels of positive perception. Questions arise as to whether HR practice may lead to more OCB at primary schools. If this statement is true, school managers shall think further of how to promote OCB using other policies, rather than relying on the HR practice investigated here.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of supervisor gossip in the workplace. This paper proposes a hypothetical model in which supervisor gossip has an effect on leader-member exchange (LMX), in turn resulting in perceived supervisor ostracism among subordinates.

A dyadic research design was applied to collect data from Taiwanese employees. Supervisors participated in a survey containing measures of supervisor gossip and control variables, whereas subordinates responded to a questionnaire on LMX, perceived supervisor ostracism, and control variables.

The results indicated that positive supervisor gossip significantly affected LMX. Furthermore, healthy LMX reduced subordinates’ perceptions of supervisor ostracism.

All participants were recruited in Taiwan, which is a limitation for generalising the research findings. Future studies should investigate multiple societies of various cultural profiles.

To improve the quality of the supervisor-subordinate relationship, supervisors should adopt a positive informal communication style, and organisations should provide supervisors with information regarding the implications of workplace gossip, illustrating the substantial benefits of positive gossip and the potential drawbacks of negative gossip.

The present study highlighted the role of supervisor workplace gossip in the field of leadership and empirically investigated the impact of supervisor gossip on subordinates’ reactions.

This study established and examined a moderated mediation model connecting workplace ostracism with job performance. Drawing from the viewpoint of self-esteem threat, the model posits that the effect of workplace ostracism on job performance is mediated by levels of organization-based self-esteem, while the relationship between workplace ostracism and organization-based self-esteem is moderated by performance goal orientation.

Multisource data were collected from 160 employees and their immediate supervisors in Taiwan.

As predicted in the research model, workplace ostracism was found to decrease organization-based self-esteem and, therefore, hinder employees' job performance. Performance goal orientation was found to buffer the negative effect of workplace ostracism on job performance via organization-based self-esteem.

To eliminate the negative impact of workplace ostracism, supervisors can help ostracized employees to self-regulate by aligning their performance goal orientation to reduce the perception of self-esteem threat.

This study provides evidence of boundary conditions for the relationship between workplace ostracism and job performance and explores the impact of self-regulation on ostracized employees' organization-based self-esteem and subsequent job performance.

To investigate customer satisfaction with service encounters characterized by an over‐attentive level of service, and the contextual and individual factors moderating the resulting satisfaction scores.

The first of three formal experiments tests the prediction that consumer reactions vary with the margin between actual and expected levels of service. The second examines the influence of the tendency to psychological reactance on participants’ responses to excessive service. The third assesses the effect of a predisposition to suspiciousness on satisfaction scores, in scenarios which, respectively, specify that extremely over‐attentive service or “normal” service are directed at participants personally or is offered to all customers unselectively.

The first experiment found moderately excessive service to be acceptable to most participants but unexpectedly over‐attentive service to affect satisfaction negatively. The second found the negative impact of extremely over‐attentive service to be limited to participants with a greater tendency to psychological reactance. The third found that a high predisposition to suspicion resulted in lower satisfaction levels whether the scenario specified extremely over‐attentive service that was personal or on offer to all, whereas the satisfaction scores of participants with a lower predisposition to suspicion were not affected in those scenarios.

Whereas the relevant literature has focussed on customer reactions to service that falls below expectations, this paper studies service encounters in which it surpasses them. It hypothesizes a counterproductive effect on customer satisfaction and identifies contextual and individual factors that explain and predict that outcome.

This study aims to examine the relative effectiveness of demand-related and supply-related explanations of the scarcity of a product, and specifically the extent to which decision context and individual factors moderate purchase intention in response to those explanations.

The first of two formal experiments examines the effects of the two kinds of scarcity on participants ' purchase intentions with respect to utilitarian and hedonic product types. The second tests for self-monitoring differences in participants ' relative susceptibility to scenarios characterizing scarcity as either demand-generated or supply-generated, when their decisions are either private or subject to third-party scrutiny.

Experiment 1 shows that participants shopping for a utilitarian product are more inclined to respond positively to what they understand to be demand-generated scarcity, and less inclined to do so if the scarcity was attributed to limited supply; whereas the converse holds true for a hedonic product. Experiment 2 shows that for high self-monitors, increased purchase intention was the outcome of matching the alleged reason for scarcity to the demands of the decision context; low self-monitors were ready to consider demand-scarce products regardless of whether they knew that their consumption decisions would be subject to third-party scrutiny or private.

The paper identifies contextual and individual factors that explain and predict the extent to which one type of scarcity appeal may be more effective than another in influencing consumers ' purchasing decisions.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

This study examined the link between workplace ostracism and job performance. The study found that workplace ostracism had a direct adverse effect upon performance but was also moderated by both organizational-based self-esteem and performance goal orientation.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.