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Building on prior research in interactions between sales and marketing departments, the purpose of this paper is to investigate departmental alignment among professional hockey teams. By using a single industry sample, the authors are able to identify high and low performers, along with structural antecedents that lead to higher alignment (Rouse and Daellenbach, 1999). Expiring inventory, customer knowledge, and volatile demand enhance the need for alignment and suggest opportunities for innovative mechanisms to share information among departments (Mullin et al., 2007).

Through the usage of Kotler et al.’s (2006) survey instrument, the authors survey NHL Vice Presidents of sales and marketing to assess levels of structural alignment. The authors further explores strategies for alignment through qualitative interviews of select team executives.

The authors find examples of high alignment, achieved through structural elements of proximity, cross-functional tasks, financial incentives, and new technologies. The qualitative interviews provide insight into how organizations attempt to create high levels of alignment.

These results help advance the literature by identifying high performers and going inside organizations for the source of a competitive advantage, thus following Rouse and Dallenbach’s (1999) approach for theory development. The authors also contributes by identifying strategies for practitioners to apply as they attempt to design optimal work structures.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of belonging to brand communities in improving consumer well-being and brand evaluations.

Two studies were conducted. Study 1 manipulates the framing of a brand to be either socially- or product-oriented and measures brand community joining intentions based on underlying levels of consumer loneliness and need to belong. Study 2 manipulates feelings of belongingness with a brand community and measures its impact on relatedness satisfaction, state loneliness and brand evaluations.

Study 1 finds that lonely consumers with a high need to belong are more likely to express intentions to join a brand community when it is socially-oriented. Study 2 finds that belonging to a brand community improves relatedness satisfaction which, in turn, reduces state loneliness and improves brand evaluations.

This research has significant implications for marketing practitioners who are looking to foster relationships among consumers in the form of brand communities, especially given the positive impact of these communities on consumer well-being. These findings suggest that marketers should create brand communities that foster a social (rather than product) focus to create a sense of belongingness with the brand and among its community members, and that doing so can improve relatedness satisfaction needs and reduce consumer loneliness.

This research contributes to the growing literature on consumer loneliness and is among the first to identify the positive psychological outcomes of socially-oriented brand communities on loneliness.

The basis of this study is Kelley’s (1992) two-dimensional model, which measures five follower types. Previous investigations did not support the validity of Kelley’s model. Although the model is utilized in research, the validity and reliability of the Kelley Followership Questionnaire (KFQ) is still in question. In this study, the KFQ validity was tested after revision of the instrument. Factor analysis revealed a three-factor model disputing the theorized two-factor model. Factors of the KFQ-R convergent validity were supported by significant correlations with critical thinking disposition and work engagement scales. This research project is intended to promote the study of the followership construct.

Scholars have identified several predictors of learner satisfaction, but little research addresses the impact of intragroup conflict in a virtual learning context. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potentially deleterious effects of perceived intragroup relationship conflict on virtual learners’ intention to re-enroll.

Data were systematically collected from virtual learners using an online questionnaire and then analyzed by multiple regression models.

The results show that emotional expressiveness is an antecedent to perceived intragroup relationship conflict, and the relationship is moderated by individuals’ perceived enjoyment of computer-mediated communication. Virtual learners with a higher emotional expressiveness (i.e. extraverts) experience higher perceived relationship conflict, which in turn, lowers their intention to re-enroll.

The study confirms the antecedent and consequence of perceived intragroup relationship conflict in a virtual learning context.

Educational institutions and businesses may use three proposed strategies to deal with intragroup relationship conflict.

The study contributes to the limited knowledge on how to effectively manage virtual learning interactions by educational institutions and businesses.

Presents a futurist’s view of education in the USA, taking into account reliably forecastable realities (the knowable future), which will impact upon how education will be delivered and necessitate changes in education content and strategies.

In antitrust class-action litigation, courts are increasingly unlikely to accept the presumption that all class members were harmed by price-fixing among a group of firms or by exclusionary behavior by a single firm. Econometric methods typically applied in antitrust and other settings estimate the average effect of the challenged conduct, but do not inform impact for individual class members. We present classwide econometric methods and statistical tests for detecting the existence (or lack thereof) of common impact and determining what proportion (if any) of the proposed class suffered injury in many class actions. We conclude that econometric tools can meaningfully inform the legal process, even when courts demand proof of common impact.