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This study aims to determine the extent to which the use of coordinating conjunctions enhances or impairs definitional clarity.

In two studies, a sample of 736 construct definitions from the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Consumer Research over a 30-year period was judged for ambiguity and vagueness by both academic and lay judges.

The authors demonstrate that constructing definitions using both “and” and “or” increases the ambiguity and vagueness of the construct’s meaning. The most frequently used conjunction is “and” which appeared in 42 per cent of the definitions. A significant percentage (26 per cent) contain the conjunction “or.”

A framework for understanding alternative interpretations of “and” or “or” is developed. Five recommendations are proposed for evaluating the use of “and” and “or” in construct definitions. Theorists in all academic fields should not use both “and” and “or” in the same construct definition.

A five-step process is proposed for evaluating the use of “and” and “or” in construct definitions. Theorists should not use both “and” and “or” in the same construct definition.

This is the first exploration of how specific wording patterns used in construct definitions in academic research affect the clarity of the definition.

Latent constructs represent the building blocks of marketing theory. The purpose of this paper is to provide marketing researchers with a practical procedure for writing construct definitions.

The paper reviews important contributions to construct definition in the literature from marketing, management, psychology and the philosophy of science. The authors expound construct definition in both practical and theoretical spheres to motivate the proposed procedure.

A six‐step procedure for construct definition and redefinition in marketing is developed. The proposed procedure addresses important aspects of definitions including the level of abstraction, scope, nomological relationships, explanatory and predictive power, ambiguity, vagueness, and preventing construct proliferation.

While techniques for developing measures have received a great deal of attention, those for the earlier step of construct definition have not. Researchers will benefit from more precise definitions through improved model specification, better measures, and more reliable determination of the direction of causality. The role of the individual researcher's linguistic skill in construct definition must still be determined.

Marketing practitioners can also use the procedure to define latent constructs for which they must develop measures.

The literature on construct definition is fragmentary, scattered across disciplines and occasionally even arcane. It is further often descriptive of what a good definition looks like rather than prescriptive of how a good definition can be developed. The six steps are simple, broadly applicable, based on both theory and practical experience, consist of relatively few discrete steps, and feed directly into the modern measure development paradigm in marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a theory-based approach to defining the corporate reputation construct.

The approach taken is to describe how to create a well-formed nominal definition of a construct and then show how this definition is translated into an operational definition that guides the selection of an appropriate measure. New definitions of corporate social reputation and appropriate measures of this construct are provided to illustrate this framework.

The definitional framework used suggests that many measures of corporate social responsibility and reputation are under specified. Thus, the measures derived from these definitions are poorly constructed. The strengths and weaknesses of three new types of measure of corporate social reputation are reviewed.

For scholars the advantages of creating a well-formed definition are that it will lead to a valid measure of the construct under investigation. This will then help to better interpret what are significant findings and non-findings of empirical research.

This paper is an extension of the author’s previous work on defining the corporate reputation construct. Because what is meant by corporate social responsibility is contested amongst scholars this and related constructs need more precise definition and measurement. This paper offers a theory-based approach to achieve this aim.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a reconceptualization of existing constructs within the inter-organizational relationship (IOR) domain to face two main issues: the proliferation of constructs emerged because of a fast-growing body of literature, and the interchangeable and ambiguous use of constructs.

First, the authors surveyed the literature regarding IORs using a structured process supported by the use of bibliometric technique, and then the authors organized an expert panel process that contributes to refine the reconceptualization of the constructs.

The results of the analyses allow a further confirmation of the inconsistency in the definition of IOR constructs and provide a clear reconceptualization of the inter-organizational network and alliance constructs, recognized as the most relevant in this domain.

Being the first attempt to deal with the issue of construct reconceptualization in the IOR domain practically, and considering that clear construct definitions serve as a necessary basis for theory building, this paper has relevant implications for the development of theory related to the different types of IORs.

Although emerging literature has discussed different consumer–brand relationships and addictive behavior constructs, to date, it has not explored the brand addiction phenomenon. This study aims to undertake a conceptual inspection to better understand the nature of the brand addiction phenomenon, thereby providing a clear and concise conceptual definition.

To develop a concise definition of brand addiction, the researcher applies a conceptual development procedure, which identifies potential attributes of brand addiction by assembling a descriptive set of definitions, collecting the construct’s key attributes, generating a preliminary definition of brand addiction, identifying unique and shared attributes of brand addiction with other constructs in related areas and, finally, refining the conceptual definition based on a set of guidelines.

This study defines brand addiction as a psychological state that entails an emotional attachment to a particular brand, driven by compulsive urges that generally provide pleasure. This involves dependence, habit formation, loss of control, failure to withstand impulses and tension before starting the behavior related to the addicted brand. In addition, some of the following attributes might also characterize brand addiction: social, mental and behavioral preoccupation with the brand, tolerance development, frequent engagement in activities related to the brand, restlessness or irritability when unable to engage in activities/behaviors related to the addicting brand, repeated efforts to stop the behavior and dismissal of occupational, social and recreational activities to engage in activities related to the addicting brand.

Since the concept of brand addiction has not been empirically tested, this paper has the potential to append a compulsory conceptual understanding of the concept of brand addiction by developing an accurate definition that serves in discriminating the focal concept from other constructs in related areas, and helps advance subsequent work for theory development.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the different approaches to the corporate reputation construct, in order to identify a comprehensive definition that can be used for measurement purposes, gaps identified by previous literature identified.

This is a theoretical essay. The authors analyzed studies that involve the relationship between corporate reputation and organizational performance, and the attributes of national and international corporate reputation ratings.

The authors identified a more comprehensive definition for the reputation construct, and indicated courses for the construct’s measurement, by considering: the judgment by the stakeholders (internal, suppliers, clients and the financial market); periodical evaluations under different organizational perspectives; attention to theoretical assumptions, among other aspects.

The study is a theoretical paper that presents that the research field has many definitions that cannot be used interchangeably. It indicated how the reputation construct should be operationalized for measurement purposes. This study presented a reflection on the relationship between corporate reputation and performance, showing that it is not a settled topic in the academy.

The study advances the understanding of the reputation construct measurement, considering the adopted definition and the discussion of the attributes of the main ratings on corporate reputation. The adoption of a measurement method that takes into account the definition used in this study and the features of the methodologies discussed will improve the corporate reputation assessment.

Literature indicates that a good corporate reputation can affect organizational performance and the inverse relationship is also true. As a social implication, it is extremely relevant to improve the understanding the definition and measurement methods of this construct.

This study discusses one of the most important intangible resources for organizations, contributing to the understanding of the difference between the market value and the book value of public companies. Besides it should be considered that there is one lack of a definition directly related to the measurement of the reputation construct in the literature, a gap in which this study contributes.

Despite extensive adoption of Simons’ Levers of Control (LoC) framework, there is still considerable diversity in its operationalization which impedes the coherent development of the literature and compromises its value to researchers. The purpose of this paper is to draw researchers back to the conceptual core of the framework as a basis for stable, consistent definitions of the domain of observables.

We derive the conceptual core of the framework from Simons’ writings. We highlight instability in existing operational definitions of the LoC, weaknesses in the extent to which these definitions reference this conceptual core, and inconsistencies in the restriction of LoC to formal information-based routines.

We draw on the inconsistencies identified to build the case for commensuration or a “common standard” for the framework’s use on two levels: the constructs within the framework (through reference to the conceptual core of the framework) and the framework itself (through explicit inclusion of informal controls).

We illustrate the benefits of commensuration through the potential to guide the scope of the domain of observables in empirical LoC studies, and to study LoC as complementary or competing with other management control theories.

Our approach to resolving tensions arising from inconsistencies in the empirical definitions of LoC differs from others in that we focus on the strategic variables underlying the framework to define the conceptual core. We believe this approach offers greater potential for commensuration at the level of the constructs within the framework and the framework itself.

This paper aims to promote the integration of the relative position accuracy (RPA) measurement and evaluation in digital assembly process by adopting the model-based method. An integrated framework for RPA measurement is proposed based on a model-based definition (MBD) data set. The study also aims to promote the efficiency of inspection planning of RPA measurement by improving the reusability and configurability of the inspection planning.

The works have been carried out on three layers. In the data layer, an extended MBD data set is constructed to describe the objects and data for defining RPA measurement items; In definition layer, a model based and hierarchical structure for RPA item definition is constructed to support quick definition for RPA measurement items. In function layer, a toolset consisting three modules is constructed in a sequence from measurement planning to RPA value solving to visualized displaying again. Based on this framework, a prototype system is developed.

The paper provides an identified practice of model-based inspection. It suggests that MBD is valuable in promoting both the integration and efficiency of digital inspection.

The templates and constructed geometry objects given in this paper are still limited in a scenario of aircraft assembly. The integrity and universality of them still need follow-up works.

The paper includes implications for the model based digital inspection, the digital assembly and the extended application of MBD.

This paper expands the application of MBD in inspection and fulfils the need to promote the integration and efficiency of digital inspection in large-scale component assembly.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding social entrepreneurship via a systematic literature review (SLR) of the construct’s varied definitions to assess the means by and the context in which the phenomenon is studied.

The SLR follows a deliberative, replicable, methodical and transparent process, including a quality assessment tool of definitional sources. SLR results are organized around Gartner’s (1985) framework of new value creation, thus additionally analysing the dimensionality with which social entrepreneurship has been studied. Finally, a qualitative analysis of the definitions reviews commonalities of themes within definitions to assess trends.

Significant research has been dedicated to defining social entrepreneurship. However, many efforts do not explore the full dimensionality of the concept, as findings reveal that no definition explored the four dimensions of entrepreneurship posited by Gartner (1985). Further, a time-series review of definitions demonstrates limited advancement in definitional development. Geographic location of definition authors and key word analysis challenge previous research on the activation of social entrepreneurship in literature.

Although the SLR was conducted in a controlled manner, this study is time-bound and only reviews English-language publications. While results are analysed using a recognized framework (i.e. Gartner, 1985), other conceptual models are available. Although two researchers independently categorized and analysed definitions, assessment of quality was limited. The results offer an insight into how the conceptualization of social entrepreneurship may be advanced as well as the important role of practitioners in the development of the construct’s theory and practice.

The detailed appraisal of definitions may guide practitioners as they strive to define their own organizational efforts. The multi-dimensional conversation of social entrepreneurship in this study enables the leaders of different organizational types to ensure their social entrepreneurship activities consider all dimensions (i.e. environment, individual, organization and process). The SLR allows the practitioner to further engage in deep discussion on the future of the field by cataloguing their influence on the multi-dimensionality of the social entrepreneurship construct. Organizational leaders may also use the findings to generate more discussion around what is missing from the definitions (i.e. empathy, responsibility, resourcefulness and transparency).

The findings synthesize social entrepreneurship definitions across multi-disciplinary fields and contexts and within a multi-dimensional framework utilizing an infrequently used literature review method within social sciences.

The purpose of this paper is to ask how two normative definitions of sustainable development identified in the Brundtland report contribute to individual definitions constructed by a network of professional actors working in the construction industry.

This paper draws on 74 questionnaires generated from a purposive sample of professional actors working in the construction sector. These questionnaires are analysed using a coding strategy based on pre-defined categories generated from a review of academic and policy literature.

The results show that these definitions mostly appeal to actors working in roles with a strong input into the design process. The evidence suggests that all professional actors in the construction industry construct definitions of sustainable development to valorise their professional role, to support professional critiques of the industry or to reinforce their personal ideological beliefs.

These results present a challenge to a normative agenda aimed at “pinning the concepts down” to an unequivocal, universal definition. It suggests that research might be better redirected towards a context dependent and pragmatic use of the term.

These findings suggest that future policy making should acknowledge multiple, sector and role-specific definitions of sustainable development. It also suggests that a better understanding of this diversity within the construction industry could improve the efficiency of the design, procurement and construction process.

These findings provide new insight into the “in use” definitions of sustainable development in the construction industry and question some of the academic arguments that support a single, universal definition of the term.