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This study aims to explore the role of consumers’ expectation violation in brands’ negative eWOM management on social media. The effects of brand feedback strategies (i.e. compensation and causal attribution) and brand type (i.e. full-service vs low-cost) in consumers’ expectation violations and the impact of such violations on consumers’ satisfaction and responses to a brand (i.e. brand love and brand hate) were examined.

This study used a 2 (causal attribution: external/brand) × 2 (compensation: present/absent) × 2 (brand type: low cost vs full service) × 2 (industry: airline and hotel) between-subjects experimental design.

Results indicated that the presence (vs absence) of compensation can result in positive consumer expectation violations, which can lead to consumer satisfaction and brand love. Alternately, the absence of compensation can result in negative consumer expectation violations, which can lead to consumers dissatisfaction and brand hate. Moreover, brand type (i.e. full-service vs low-cost) significantly interacted with the presence of compensation in influencing consumers’ responses. The attribution of the cause did not significantly influence consumers’ responses.

This study highlights the importance of knowing consumers’ expectations when responding to negative eWOM on social media. Offering compensation is an effective strategy for restoring consumer satisfaction. Specifically, for low-cost brands, offering compensation can lead to even more favorable responses.

This study pioneers in exploring the roles of different brand feedback strategies and brand type in influencing consumers’ responses to brands’ handling of negative eWOM. This study revealed the underlying mechanism through the theoretical lens of expectancy violation and examined the impact of expectation violations on consumer satisfaction and brand love and brand hate.

This paper aims to evaluate alternative theories about how perceived innovativeness and perceived relational skills interact with gender to explain evaluations by managers of scientists and engineers' promotability into management.

A cross‐sectional design is used. The sample (n=2,278) is drawn from 24 large US corporations. Separate surveys are administered in each corporation to scientists and engineers and to managers evaluating them.

Managers rate men and women equally promotable. Furthermore, women whom managers perceived to be especially innovative receive higher evaluations of promotability than similarly accomplished men. And, among those perceived to have low relational skills, women and men are evaluated similarly.

More research is needed to evaluate how ambivalent stereotypes and pressures from organizations to suppress categorical thinking might combine to affect evaluation and selection processes in diverse work settings.

Companies should be concerned about the potential tendency for managers to reward a few individuals when they exceed stereotypical expectations. Employees should be aware of and actively manage the impressions that managers have of them with regard to innovativeness and relational skills.

This paper calls attention to the role of ambivalence and legitimacy theories that predict that women will receive higher evaluations when they exceed stereotypical expectations of innovativeness and that when women do not meet stereotypical expectations of relational skills, managers will temper their harshness in evaluating them. In developing this analysis, it seeks to contribute to the understanding of evaluation processes by considering the context in which evaluations take place.

The study aims to examine the effects of proactive vs passive environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), factoring in the moderating effects of price and the mediating effects of company–consumer identification(C-C identification) on consumer responses.

An experiment with general consumer samples was conducted. A randomized 2 (CSR levels: proactive CSR vs passive CSR) × 2 (price as a CSR trade-off: higher price vs lower price) full factorial design was used.

The study findings revealed that proactive environmental CSR not only engendered more positive C-C identification but also resulted in more favorable consumer attitudes, stronger supportive communication intent and purchase intent. In addition, when a company demonstrates proactive CSR, consumers' C-C identification is generally positive irrespective of price differences, and in turn, more positive reactions follow. When a company takes a passive approach and offers lower prices, respondents showed significantly less positive C-C identification, and less favorable responses. This indicates that passive environmental CSR programs can potentially backfire, especially when combined with lower prices. This study also shows the important mediating impact of C-C identification on consumer responses.

This study is one of the few to explore consumer perceptions of and reactions toward the food industry's environmental CSR programs by degree of CSR involvement and price differences in the context of SMEs. This study's findings provide useful information to SME managers and public relations practitioners who work closely with SMEs, allowing them to make informed strategic decisions, especially when they evaluate the extent of their company's commitment to environmentally proactive CSR practices and its communication to consumers.

Taking attribution theory as an overarching framework, the study aims to examine how employees attribute and respond to a colleague's approach crafting.

Two complementary studies, including a scenario experiment (Study 1; N = 114) and an online survey (Study 2; N = 220), were conducted to test the hypothesized model.

Study 1 found support for the attribution of a prosocial motive to approach crafting, which in turn led to more social support and less social undermining among observers. This mediation was stronger when the job crafter was perceived as less other-oriented. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 and further showed that when observers attributed both high impression management and prosocial motives to approach crafting, the positive relationship between their prosocial motive attribution and social support for the job crafter got weakened, while the negative relationship between their prosocial motive attribution and social undermining of the job crafter was strengthened.

The findings demonstrate that approach crafting gives rise to specific attributions and reactions toward the job crafter, which enrich the understanding of the social consequences of job crafting in the workplace.

Despite abundant research on the negative effect of gender stereotypes on female leaders, it remains unclear whether leader competence perceived by the subordinates could overcome this backlash effect. Drawing on expectation states theory and expectancy violation theory, the authors investigate how the interaction among leaders' gender roles, leader sex and subordinates' perceived leader competence influences leader effectiveness through subordinates' affective trust.

Data were collected through two-wave surveys among 489 participants from various sectors in different parts of China. SPSS and Hayes PROCESS were used to test the hypotheses.

High competence perceived by the subordinates helps female leaders to overturn the negative effect of masculinity and strengthen the positive effect of femininity, whereas this positive moderation does not hold for male leaders.

This study addresses the ongoing debate about “female advantage” in leadership by showing that female leaders benefit from high perceived competence and are penalized by low perceived competence to a greater extent than male leaders in terms of leader effectiveness.

The present experimental study aims to investigate when a food safety incident occurs, how country image influences consumers' trust and purchase intention, as well as the relationship between trust and purchase intention.

Participants (N = 1,590) were randomly allocated into one of the eight conditions [(country competence: high vs low) × (country warmth: high vs low) × (clean green image: high vs low)], read the corresponding country image descriptions, and rated measures on trust in food safety and quality, and purchase intention of fruit imported from this exporting country before and after reading a fictional food safety incident scenario.

Results showed that the food safety incident led to a significant decrease in trust and purchase intention across all conditions. However, trust in food safety and quality, and purchase intention were still higher in high competence, warmth or clean green image conditions. The decreased magnitude of trust in food safety was larger when country competence and clean green image was high, and when country warmth was low. Food safety incident caused purchase intention to become more dependent on trust in food safety than food quality.

This study provides a novel insight into the impacts of food safety incidents on consumers' responses in different country image contexts including the human-related and environment-related dimensions.

The study aims to examine the conceptualization of online abuse (OA) and identifies theories, countries of research, top-cited articles, methodologies, antecedents, mediators, outcomes and moderators of OA and future research opportunities. Two research questions are addressed. How have the past studies on OA progressed regarding theories, context, characteristics and methodology? What future research opportunities can be done in this area?

This study systematically reviews, synthesizes and integrates OA literature using the well-recommended preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) rules. The literature on OA was synthesized based on the Theory–Context–Characteristics–Methodologies (TCCM) framework given by Paul and Rosado-Serrano.

Through an examination of TCCM used in OA research, the review presents an all-inclusive and up-to-date overview of the research in this arena and sets a future research agenda to spur scholarly research. This systematic literature review has analyzed top-quality sample papers, published in the past decade. As a result, it contributes to a better understanding of this relationship by analyzing the different types of use and the value added to the shopping experience.

This study provides groundwork for researchers and promotes a deeper understanding of OA.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects that the framing of contractual performance incentives have on supplier’s behavioural and relational responses and on the buyer–supplier relationship.

The authors conducted three in-depth case studies of contractual relationships, which exhibit differences in terms of how performance incentives are framed, i.e., using promotion, prevention and “hybrid” frames, respectively. The study involved 38 semi-structured interviews and content analysis of contract agreements.

First, while promotion-framed incentives lead to positive supplier responses and improved relationships, prevention-framed incentives result in negative responses and deteriorating relations. Second, hybrid-framed incentives can lead to productive supplier responses when positive ex ante expectations are met, although the creation of such positive expectations in the first place depends on the proportionality of bonus and penalty elements. Third, promotion- and hybrid-framed incentives do not by default lead to positive effects, as these are contingent on factors pertaining to contractual clarity. Fourth, the overarching purpose of the contract moderates the effects of contract framing on supplier responses.

The study contributes to contracting research by showing how the framing of performance incentives influences supplier behavioural and relational responses. It also extends the existing literature on contract framing by examining the effects of hybrid-framed incentives, and stressing that contract framing should be considered in joint with the clarity and overall purpose of the contract to elicit desired supplier behaviours.

Managers of buying firms may differentiate their approach to contract framing depending on the type of supplier relationship in focus. Furthermore, effective design of promotion- and hybrid-framed incentives requires attention to: realistic performance targets (on the short, medium and long term); salient bonuses related to these targets; incentive structures that appropriately balance rewards and risks; and: mechanisms that explicate and consider uncontrollable factors in the calculation of bonus–malus payments.

The paper extends the literature stressing the psychological impact of contracts on buyer–supplier relationships by highlighting that contractual clarity and the overarching purpose of the contract moderate the effects of contract framing on supplier behavioural and relational responses.

Abusive supervision provokes subordinates’ interpersonal deviant behavior. It is, therefore, essential to explore the contingent factors of this relationship. Drawing upon gender role theory, this study aims to explore how subordinate and leader genders moderate the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinate interpersonal deviance. Furthermore, this study posits a three-way interaction effect of abusive supervision with leader and subordinate genders on interpersonal deviance.

Multisource survey data were collected from 45 supervisors and 170 subordinates in eight companies in China. The data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS.

The results showed that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and interpersonal deviance was stronger among female leaders than male leaders. Furthermore, the authors found a three-way interaction effect between abusive supervision and leader and subordinate genders on subordinates’ interpersonal deviance. Compared with female subordinates, male subordinates engaged in significantly more interpersonal deviance when experiencing abusive supervision from a female leader than from a male leader.

The authors reveal that gender differences exist in the effect of abusive supervision on subordinates’ interpersonal deviant behavior. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that subordinate and leader genders jointly influence the effect of abusive supervision. Finally, the findings extend the literature on gender’s moderating effects from constructive and neutral leader behaviors to destructive leader behaviors.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of prior-CSR reputation in protecting a company’s CSR reputation during product-harm crises and how it influences consumers’ crisis-related behavioral intentions (i.e. supportive communication, resistance to negative information and crisis resiliency). The authors test whether the impact of prior-CSR reputation differs by crisis type as well.

A randomized 2 (CSR reputation: good vs bad) × 2 (product-harm crisis type: tampering vs preventable) full factorial design in two industry settings (food industry and retail industry) with consumer samples was conducted.

The results revealed the determinant role of positive prior-CSR reputation in protecting reputational assets. A company with positive CSR reputation experiences no decrease in its CSR reputation during victim crises and fairly minor decreases during preventable crises. However, a company with a bad prior-CSR reputation experiences a greater decline in its CSR reputation across both crises; the level of decline during victim crises was as substantial as the decline experienced during a preventable crisis. The prior-CSR reputation directly affects consumers’ crisis-related intentions, and indirectly does so through post-CSR reputation. As post-CSR reputation becomes more positive, consumers display greater resistance to negative information, supportive communication intent and crisis resiliency.

This study advances the understanding of the role of corporate reputation during crises and provides additional empirical evidence of how the buffering effect of CSR can extend beyond product-related intentions among consumers. The findings can induce companies to adopt CSR programs more systematically and proactively under a long-term strategic plan.