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1 – 10 of 256Lingzhi Yu, Tingting Zhao and Xiucheng Fan
Relational norms, referring to shared values about behavioral rules, distinguish communal and exchange relationships based on different reciprocal expectations between actors…
Abstract
Purpose
Relational norms, referring to shared values about behavioral rules, distinguish communal and exchange relationships based on different reciprocal expectations between actors. This research explains how reciprocal expectations behind the two relationships trigger gift givers' disparate behavioral goals and further determine their gift choices.
Design/methodology/approach
The current work uses three lab experiments (N = 482) and one consumer survey (N = 422) to collect Chinese gifting data. Multiple data-analysis methods – crosstab analysis, ANOVA, linear regression and bootstrapping procedures – confirm the hypotheses.
Findings
Gift givers distinguish communal and exchange recipients. When selecting gifts for communal (exchange) recipients, people depended more strongly on rational analyses (intuition), preferring products superior on cognitive (affective) attributions. Further, givers primed to be rational decision-makers by anticipating that recipients would evaluate the gifts immediately in their presence, regardless of the communal or exchange context, preferred cognitively superior products.
Practical implications
From a managerial perspective, marketers can make targeted recommendations by highlighting the appropriate attribute dimension (cognitive or affective) after learning givers' reciprocal expectations.
Originality/value
This work contributes to the gift-giving literature by revealing the direct link between gifting goals and gift choices, extending the understanding of consumers' gift-selection strategies.
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Jiangang Du, Danhui Li, Yuxuan Zhao and Mengya Yang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of transparency on consumers' judgment and decision-making.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of transparency on consumers' judgment and decision-making.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses an experimental research design in which participants' negative emotions dynamically change driven by group emotional interactions when they are experiencing a group complaint.
Findings
The experimental results show that compared with opaque products, transparent products make consumers rely more on emotions to make judgments and decisions (Experiment 1). It is precise because transparency increases the influence of emotion on consumers' judgment and decision-making that positive emotion makes consumers' evaluation and willingness to pay higher, while negative emotion makes consumers' evaluation and willingness to pay lower (Experiments 2 and 3). Transparency will also affect consumers' subsequent judgment and decision-making methods, so they are more inclined to choose the option with the dominant emotional dimension (Experiment 4).
Originality/value
Previous studies mainly focus on the impact of transparent packaging on consumers and discuss the impact of transparent packaging on consumer product evaluation and consumption quantity. This study proves that product-related transparent elements can also affect consumers' decision-making methods, making them more dependent on emotions to make decisions, enriching the research on the influencing factors of consumer decision-making methods.
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Michael A. Lodato, Scott Highhouse and Margaret E. Brooks
Many human resource professionals erroneously believe that they can hire the best employees without the assistance of decision aids. The purpose of this study is to examine…
Abstract
Purpose
Many human resource professionals erroneously believe that they can hire the best employees without the assistance of decision aids. The purpose of this study is to examine personal and situational characteristics that may relate to preference for intuition‐based approaches to hiring employees.
Design/methodology/approach
A representative sample of 206 managers and directors of human resources management was asked to complete an online questionnaire addressing psychological constructs and career information.
Findings
The authors found that the profile of a professional who prefers intuition‐based hiring is one who is an experiential thinker (i.e. tends to make everyday decisions based on feelings), is less experienced, works for a smaller organization, and does not possess advanced professional certification. Hiring context (i.e. selecting hourly versus salaried employees) did not influence preferences for intuition‐based hiring.
Research limitations/implications
Elements of the study are cross‐sectional and based on self‐reports. This does not allow for causal interpretations and increases the risk of common method bias.
Practical implications
Qualities that serve a human resource professional well in some aspects of work performance may interfere with the adoption of evidence‐based practices.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the characteristics of human resource professionals that are associated with a preference for intuition‐based hiring, and provides a new measure of selection decision‐making approach that may be used as a dependent variable in future research on the topic.
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This paper aims to adopt the perspectives of cognition and emotions to investigate whether the interdependent self-construal of consumers in a Chinese collectivist culture, along…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to adopt the perspectives of cognition and emotions to investigate whether the interdependent self-construal of consumers in a Chinese collectivist culture, along with empathy and moral identity, evokes direct and indirect responses to corporate cause-related marketing (CRM).
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 901 valid questionnaires were retrieved, and PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test the multiple mediation and serial mediation hypotheses. The structural equation modeling was also used to confirm the results.
Findings
The empirical results showed that consumer self-construal exerts a positive influence on consumer responses to corporate CRM through empathy. The results also suggest that CRM events provoke empathetic responses in consumers and trigger their moral identity, which in turn affects their evaluations on CRM corporations and their purchase intentions for CRM goods.
Research limitations/implications
The present study targeted the relatively affordable CRM events in convenience stores to investigate consumer responses; the results may not be applicable to CRM events in other industries. Besides that, as this study is focused on CRM activity, respondents may have more positive evaluation.
Practical implications
Corporations are advised to improve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication strategies. These should rely on factual, sincere, easy-to-understand and appropriate communication to trigger moral identity in consumers. Because empathy is regarded as the core of human moral and emotional systems, corporations are advised to associate their charitable events with social emotions to strengthen consumer perceptions, enhance moral identity and promote prosocial behaviors.
Originality/value
This study verified the serial multiple mediating effect of empathy and moral identity in the relationship between consumer self-construal and responses to corporate CRM. Corporations are advised to improve their CSR communication strategies and public expression of moral actions to raise consumer empathy and moral identity, so as to improve consumer responses to CRM.
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Yoon-Na Cho, Ha Eun Kim and Nara Youn
During these unprecedented times, acts of charity are deemed essential to help individuals in need and support the social safety net. Given the importance of prosocial behavior…
Abstract
Purpose
During these unprecedented times, acts of charity are deemed essential to help individuals in need and support the social safety net. Given the importance of prosocial behavior for survival through the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, the authors investigate the effects of partitioning experiential consumption and self-construal on consumer responses.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature on partitioning and self-construal, the findings across three experimental studies provide novel insights into the interplay between partitioning and self-construal, and offer psychological processes on prosocial and behavioral intention.
Findings
Individuals with predominantly independent (vs. interdependent) self-construals and those primed with independent (vs. interdependent) self-construals showed higher prosocial intention when the experiential product ad was in an aggregated (vs. partitioned) format. The fit between the type of format and self-construal leads to the high control coping mechanism, and ultimately prosocial intention.
Originality/value
Partitioning experiential consumption has not been directly examined using self-construal, providing novel insights into consumer reactions during the pandemic. This paper provides practical implications to practitioners and researchers to better understand and adapt to shifting digital consumption patterns.
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Zahra Afaq, Amir Gulzar and Shahab Aziz
This study assessed the roles of atmospheric harmony, human crowding and sensation seeking towards hedonic value to determine re-patronage intention amongst mall consumers…
Abstract
Purpose
This study assessed the roles of atmospheric harmony, human crowding and sensation seeking towards hedonic value to determine re-patronage intention amongst mall consumers. Additionally, this study aims to investigate the moderating roles of past experience amidst mall consumers within the context of Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
The study data were collected from 334 mall consumers of Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi by using the judgemental sampling technique. Data analysis was performed using SmartPLS 3 via partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
This study revealed that atmospheric harmony and human crowding displayed positive and adverse impacts, respectively, on hedonic value. The sensation seeking tendencies exerted by the consumers displayed no significant impact on hedonic value in light of mall habitat. The hedonic value exhibited a mediating role for the relationships of re-patronage intention with atmospheric harmony and human crowding. Besides, a significant interaction was noted between hedonic value and past experience in light of re-patronage intention.
Originality/value
The proposed model embeds hedonic value as a second higher-order construct, apart from amalgamating environmental and psychological factors of the mall shoppers to determine their re-patronage intentions. The study outcomes posit that mall re-patronage intention is built on several factors that offer mall managers an opportunity to enrich the hedonic consumption experience among mall consumers, aside from ensuring their re-patronage intention.
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Thommie Burström and Timothy L. Wilson
The premise of this paper is that tension exists among participants and parties engaged in projects. The uniqueness of development virtually assures this. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
The premise of this paper is that tension exists among participants and parties engaged in projects. The uniqueness of development virtually assures this. The purpose of this paper is to propose that tension is a product of the precursors of complexity, uncertainty and equivocality, and an attempt is made to characterize tension as it arises in projects – its genesis and its nature.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth case study was conducted in a manner in which the contextually sensitive empirical researches for which Nordic studies are known. Within discussions on the strategy, decision making, intra- and inter-project interdependencies and managing across development sites associated with a flagship project, 77 statements concerning tension were identified for analysis. Through a literature review, 12 tension-driving factors were identified. These factors were used as base for analysis.
Findings
These statements were analyzed for content to produce a model associating tension with its precursors and the literature on tension. It is found that due to innovation turbulence, tension-driving factors are cascaded in and around organization(s). Tension is manifested in various ways for different stakeholders and tension management is performed through cognitive and emotional responses. The texture of tension is characterized by fluidity, multiplicity and parallelism.
Research limitations/implications
Case studies can of course not be generalized; they are valuable, however, in indicating important observations for further studies.
Practical implications
A contribution is made to management theory where knowledge about project context is seen as essential in order to understand best practices for project execution and effectiveness.
Originality/value
Although common, even virtually assured in projects, tension tends to be neglected in successful management. This study associates the genesis of tension through the underlying contributions of complexity, uncertainty and equivocality. It is believed to be the first study of its type.
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Yunhui Huang, Zhijie Lin and Lu Yang
Previous research about online recommendation systems has focused largely on their impact on customers' purchase decisions regarding the products being recommended, but it has…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research about online recommendation systems has focused largely on their impact on customers' purchase decisions regarding the products being recommended, but it has mostly ignored how they may affect focal product evaluation. This research aimed to examine the influence of recommendation type (i.e. substitute-based vs complement-based) on focal product evaluation dependent on the brand image (i.e. warm vs competent).
Design/methodology/approach
Four laboratory experiments were conducted. Study 1 adopted an implicit association task. Studies 2 and 3 used a 2 (image: warmth vs competence) × 2 (product display: complements vs substitutes) between-subjects experimental design. Study 4 used a 2 (decision stage) × 2 (image) × 2 (product display) × continuous (need for cognition) between-subjects design.
Findings
Study 1 demonstrated a general “complementation (competition)—warmth (competence)” association. Studies 2 and 3 found that when a focal product had a warm (competent) image, complement-based (substitute-based) recommendations led customers to evaluate it more favorably than substitute-based (complement-based) recommendations. Study 3 further demonstrated that processing fluency mediates the above effect. Study 4 showed that this effect relies on heuristic processing and disappears for those who are in the screening stage or have a high need for cognition.
Originality/value
Theoretically, this research extends the understanding of the stereotype content model of focal product brand image, the feelings-as-information process, and moderating roles of processing stage and need for cognition in e-commerce contexts. Practically, the findings provide online retailers a guideline for customizing their recommendation systems.
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– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of human consciousness relative to financial risk perceptions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of human consciousness relative to financial risk perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach
After conceptually identifying that risk perceptions qualify as a Qualia, survey data are gathered from investment experts to clarify the implications.
Findings
Financial risk perceptions are Qualia and as such should have a strong affective influence on risk perceptions. This suggests that aggregate market measures of financial risk may be difficult to obtain and utilize.
Research limitations/implications
Sample size could be larger and more complete implications need to be investigated. Sample unlikely to exhibit significant bias.
Practical implications
Going to be difficult to devise aggregate measures of financial risk across market participants.
Social implications
Risk is going to be heavily affective in orientation and interpersonal Trust is a financial risk attribute.
Originality/value
Is quite original as the author has never seen another paper look to the implications of consciousness for financial risk perceptions or even Trust. Breaks new ground!
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Kirsi Snellman, Henri Hakala and Katja Upadyaya
We theorize the critical role of angel investors' affective experiences and first impressions in the context of entrepreneurial finance. We develop a model and propositions to…
Abstract
Purpose
We theorize the critical role of angel investors' affective experiences and first impressions in the context of entrepreneurial finance. We develop a model and propositions to illustrate why angel investors make the decision to continue screening, thus explaining why certain investment proposals make it, while others do not.
Methodology/Approach
Drawing on affective events theory and the literature on affective experiences, we theorize how the perceptions of pitches that trigger positive or/and negative physiological arousal, short-lived emotions, and associated thoughts are different, thus allowing us to build new theory of how these different experiences can influence the outcome of the evaluation process in the initial screening stage.
Findings
Our model suggests that the initial evaluation unfolds in five stages: perception of an entrepreneurial pitch, physiological arousal, emotions, first impression, and a decision to continue screening. When different manifestations of physiological arousal and subsequent emotions set the tone of first impressions, they can be either a positive, negative, or mixed experience. While positive and mixed first impression can lead to selection, negative first impression can lead to rejection.
Originality/Value
We illustrate what is of value for angel investors when they look for new investments, and why certain entrepreneurial pitches lead to the decision to continue screening, while others do not. We propose that what angel investors feel is particularly important in situations where they are not yet making the ultimate decision to invest money but are involved in decisions about whether to continue to spend time to investigate the investment proposal.
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