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Retail store loyalty is essential to the survival and success of a retailer. The intangible benefits provided by the social exchange in-store influence the way consumers consider their relationships with the retailer. However, its relationships with social proximity and cultural factors are not clear. Therefore, this article investigates the effects of specific cultural dimensions on loyalty behaviour, as well as the mediating role of social proximity on the relationship investigated.

This research is based on an empirical investigation undertaken in Thailand with a sample of 636 respondents. Two retail chains were investigated (Big C and Tesco). Structural equation modelling was used to test the research model and a series of research hypotheses.

The results reveal that uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation have positive direct effects on loyalty, while collectivism does not. Furthermore, social proximity significantly mediates the effects of collectivism and long-term orientation on customer loyalty. These findings show that Thailand is a specific emerging market in which retail chains should adapt their loyalty programme accordingly.

The cultural differences could be used for segmentation strategy for retailers to engage customers in a relationship with the hypermarket. Social proximity is an efficient lever to build loyalty in Thailand. In addition, retailers could utilise certainty and steadiness message as a way to build shopper loyalty.

This research underlines the social, human dimension that consumers seek, which is opposed to the online purchase. Specifically, this study highlights the mediating role of social proximity between the relationship of cultural variables and loyalty in the retail context. Additionally, this research displays the direct and positive effects of culture on retail loyalty. That is, this paper enhances how culture and shopper-retail staff interaction can be managed to achieve store loyalty.

This study aims to assess suppliers’ learning from knowledge transfers with a global truck manufacturer, considering both source and supplier capacity, and the cultural proximity between the parties.

A case study was conducted between two factories, one in Brazil and one in Germany. This study adopted a mixed-method sequential explanatory approach, which involves a quantitative phase followed by a qualitative one to provide a better understanding of the studied phenomenon. Quantitative data were collected from the automaker’s suppliers in both countries and analyzed using factor and inferential analyses. Qualitative data were obtained from the automaker’s purchasing executives, and from the company’s suppliers in both countries. Content analysis was used to analyze data.

Results suggest that both the source’s disseminative capacity and suppliers’ absorptive capacity had a positive effect on suppliers’ learning during knowledge transfers. The study also found out that cultural proximity among parties positively moderates the relationship between suppliers’ absorptive capacity and their learning. However, cultural proximity does not moderate the relationship between a source’s disseminative capacity and supplier learning.

This study’s findings are important to foster knowledge transfers by developing absorptive and disseminative capabilities in the automakers industry, in which the implementation of interorganizational learning is quite challenging due to the large number of strategic providers.

This study contributes to theoretical and conceptual consolidation of knowledge transfer, which includes cultural proximity among parties and the source’s and supplier’s disseminative and absorptive capacities, respectively. This study constructs and validates a model of knowledge transfer using a large automaker with a worldwide presence.

There is little known about investigating the importance of all proximity dimensions simultaneously as a result of geographical proximity on university-industry collaborative innovation. This paper aims to answer the question of how geographically proximate university and industry influence cognitive, social, organizational, institutional and cultural proximity within university-industry joint laboratories and finally, what is the outcome of these interplays on collaborative innovation.

The study uses an exploratory multiple-case study approach. The results are derived from 53 in-depth, semistructured interviews with laboratory directors and representatives from both the company and the university within 8 joint laboratories of Telecom Italia (TIM). The data collection was carried out in 2014 and 2015. The analysis follows a multi-grounded theory approach and relies on a mix of deductive and inductive reasoning with the final goal of theoretical elaboration.

This study finds the role of social and cultural proximity at the individual level as a result of geographical proximity as an enabler of collaborative innovation by triggering mutual learning, trust formation and frequent interactions. Cognitive proximity at the interface level could systematically influence collaborative innovation, while organizational and institutional proximity has marginal roles in facilitating collaborative innovation. The qualitative analysis offers a conceptual framework for proximity dimensions and collaborative innovation within university-industry joint laboratories.

The framework not only advances state-of-the-art university-industry collaboration and proximity dimension but also offers guidance for managers in designing collaborative innovation settings between university and industry.

With this study, the paper advances the understanding beyond solely the relationship between proximity and collaboration and shed light on the interplay between geographical proximity and other proximity dimensions in this context, which has received limited scholarly attention.

The purpose of this study was to explore possible types of brand proximity based on respective psychological causal antecedents, and also to uncover possible marking outcomes of brand proximity.

Data were collected from young adult respondents through semi-structured depth interviewing. The data were coded using a grounded theory method to interpret causal relationships between concepts.

Data coding resulted in a causal process model showing various psychological factors that would predict various brand proximity types, and also various attitudinal outcomes of brand proximity. Important emerging market context-specific findings are that the majority of Asian consumers feel emotionally close to developed foreign country originated brands, and that they use brands as a means to escape from various stress factors present in their daily lives.

A value of the study lies in exploring the contemporary types of psychological brand proximity and associated factors in the domain of consumer-brand relationship for the first time among Asian young adults.

Cross-cultural research constitutes a pivotal topic for marketing; however, the literature indicates that there are a few studies analyzing social media reviews from a cross-cultural perspective using cultural proximity (supra-national level) as a proxy of culture. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify cross-cultural differences in service evaluations and specifically, in hotel appraisals among tourists from Central, Eastern (including Post-Soviet States), Northern and Southern Europe.

A quantitative approach has been taken by studying online user-generated ratings of hotels on Trip Advisor. In total, 1,055 reviews of five hotels in Greece were used for the study.

Multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variances results confirm cultural differences in overall service evaluations and attributes (value, location, sleeping quality, rooms, cleanliness and service) of tourists from various European regions. Specifically, Eastern Europeans uploaded more reviews than any other European group, whereas Northern Europeans were more generous in their appraisals than Eastern, Southern and Central Europeans.

The results of the study could be used for segmentation purposes of the European tourism market and for recognizing, which aspects of their services need to be improved based on the segments they serve. Moreover, managers should encourage Northern and Eastern Europeans to upload their reviews as both groups are more generous in their evaluations. Moreover, the findings are useful to marketers of other services.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines cross-cultural differences in hotel appraisals from a supra-national perspective including developed (Northern and Western Europe), developing (Southern Europe) and emerging tourism markets (Eastern Europe).

The purpose of this study is to explore the definition of local food through the concept of perceived proximity in order to improve the understanding of food locality and to propose a new framework for analysis.

The paper presents an exploratory research through 32 semi-structured interviews with six agri-food industry stakeholders carried out in Quebec, Canada. Thematic analysis is used to identify the main dimensions of the proximity of a local food. A conceptual framework based on the results is presented.

The results suggest that local food can be defined according to nine dimensions of proximity: geographic, process, price, identity, relational, functional, cultural, access and experiential.

This study allows the concept of local food to be broken down into a constellation of perceived proximities and expands the understanding of the differences in the perception of food locality.

Despite their popularity among tourists, information about low-cost accommodation is limited. The study aims to focus on hostels as tourist accommodation. The purpose of this paper is to document the perceptions of hostel front-desk employees about customers and examine employees’ perceptions from a cultural perspective. As culture moderates behavior in general, in light of the cultural difference postulate which proposes that guests and hosts who are from similar or proximate cultures are more likely to experience positive service encounter and that encounter between guests and hosts from distant cultures may be more challenging to service providers, the study compares the perceptions of hostel Western front-desk employees with those of Eastern front-desk employees of their customers. Customers are categorized into four groups – Western customers, Eastern, Middle Eastern/Arab and African. Exploratory interviews paved the development of perception items, which were later on used in a questionnaire to serve the study’s purpose. The paper has managerial and theoretical implications and offers suggestions for further research to advance understanding about this neglected tourism environment.

Preliminary/exploratory short interviews with hostel employees in London paved the development of perception items, which were later on used in a questionnaire. There are about 190 hostels in the London area. The questionnaire was self-administered and successfully completed by 113 front-desk employees working in London hostels. t-test statistics was used to examine whether the two groups of employees hold different perceptions about their culturally different group of customers.

Results indicate that, generally, differences in perception exist among hostel employees about their customer groups. For example, Western customers are perceived as nicer and more tip-givers than Eastern customers, but they also complain more and are more demanding than their counterparts. Asian customers are perceived to be friendlier, least troublesome and least demanding than the other customer groups. African customers are the least positively perceived. As for Middle Eastern (Arab) customers, they are perceived rather somewhat positively and yet the least favorite. Furthermore, no statistical differences were observed between Western employees and Eastern employees’ perceptions about their customer groups, except that the latter perceives Asian customers to be more troublesome and more complaining.

Although researchers have compared Western people’s behaviors and attitudes with those of Eastern people, differences may also exist within cultural groups, especially between East Europeans and West Europeans, between Middle Eastern and North Africans or between Americans and Canadians, despite cultural proximity. Therefore, it is always reasonable to interpret cultural differences studies cautiously.

Hostel management is advised not to take cultural proximity/distance between employees and customers for granted and, thus, should not assume that Eastern employees are more likely to provide better service to Eastern customers than Western employees or that Western employees are more likely to do so to Western customers because they are culturally similar or proximate. In an increasingly globalized world and mobile and culturally diverse workforce in the hospitality sector, it becomes necessary to raise employees’ awareness about cultural differences and their probable effects on perceptions. This is especially true for hostels because of their social characteristic.

Despite the importance of hostels to the tourism and hospitality industry, not much is known about their customers or their employees. In addition to contributing to employee perception in general, which is also a neglected area of study, this paper used cultural distance/proximity to assess differences in perception between Eastern employees and Western employees about four culturally different groups of hostel customers. In light of the impacts of globalization on consumer behavior, this paper joins other research to challenge the cultural distance postulate in the service encounter context.

The purpose of this study is to find out the factors that influence dental travelers’ revisit intention (RI) to Tijuana, Mexico.

Based on the push and pull model, five constructs were included: quality service, price, supporting services, cultural proximity and quality information. The information was obtained by applying an online survey to a sample of 384 dental tourists in Tijuana, Mexico, who were repeat patients of a dental clinic in Tijuana after the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploratory factor analysis, average variance explained and composite reliability were conducted to ensure the validity of each construct. Multiple regression analysis was done to identify predictors of travelers’ RI.

The results obtained show that cultural proximity, quality service, price and supporting services influenced the travelers’ revisit behavior after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge on travel behavior in dental tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, which has been scarcely studied. Also, RI was analyzed, focusing on repeated travelers to propose a model mainly for borders or frontiers where developed and developing countries co-exist and interact.

Increasingly, sourcing decisions are routinely including contract manufacturers and suppliers in developing countries. While many studies have researched and identified the criteria for selecting suppliers in general terms, there has been a dearth of studies on the criteria for choosing amongst suppliers in developing countries including suppliers in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the criteria for choosing amongst suppliers in different developing countries.

The methodology consists of a series of case studies involving six firms some of which are sourcing from developing countries and some that are based in developing countries and supply lead firms in developed countries.

Cost, physical and cultural proximity, political factors and reliability are found to be the primary criteria for sourcing decisions that include suppliers in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Further, the paper identifies why these criteria are used and the drawbacks in using them.

A key limitation of the study is generalizability. Based on the use of a case study methodology, caution should be exercised in generalizing the results of the study.

In spite of the limitations, this paper contributes to the extant literature on sourcing from developing countries. It provides valuable insights for global purchasing managers interested in sourcing from developing countries in terms of the criteria for choosing a particular location for sourcing and selecting a supplier within a given location.

According to the reviewed literature, in order to build effective and efficient global supply (GS) strategies, multinational companies (MNCs) need to define and implement adequate headquarters' control and follow‐up systems for GS management performance in order to guarantee world supply consistence and alignment. The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on how key variables affect GS headquarters‐subsidiary control systems and their complementary behaviours across culturally similar business units.

Multiple case study methodology, with a sample including seven Italian MNCs, has expanded their operations to the Mercosur area (Latin America's Southern Common Market) and designed to guarantee theoretical replication in the analysis of the empirical evidence.

It was found that, although cultural similarities strongly influence MNCs' GS headquarters‐subsidiary control systems, other factors, such as purchasing and globalization sourcing strategy centralization and globalization process evolution, lead companies to implement complementary formal control systems that are consistent with the sharply personalized profile set by cultural proximity.

In order to expand and deepen these conclusions, further research will be necessary to validate these findings in a wider sample, including companies from various countries of origin and destination. In any case, a longitudinal study could help to shed some light on the evolution of headquarters‐subsidiary relationships within global sourcing strategies.

The paper enables better understanding of the impact of and interactions between key driving factors in GS headquarters‐subsidiary control systems in cases of strong cultural similarities through a multi‐case sample study.