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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate cause-related marketing (CRM) promotions as a brand-oriented international market entry strategy that can leverage an unfamiliar brand in a new international market. One of the challenges CRM promotions face is skepticism toward the campaign and for that reason, many brands form alliances with well-known charities familiar to the consumer, hoping that the trust and goodwill generated by the charity will be transferred to the brand. The authors manipulate price and donation presentation formats to show an alternative means for overcoming skepticism.

The research is undertaken in two studies. Study 1 uses a sample collected on Amazon’s MTurk, whereas study 2 is undertaken in the real world with participants from Norway. Analysis of variance and partial least square are, respectively, used to test the hypotheses.

The first study shows that presenting the donation explicitly vis-à-vis the price makes a less familiar charity produce the same trustworthy effects as that a well-known one does. Moreover, the second study shows that it strengthens utility from the transaction and weakens skepticism of CRM promotions to impact brand evaluations.

The primary focus of the research was consumers’ familiarity with the charity but other variables could have a significant impact in judgments. For instance, the importance consumers attach to the cause that the charity supports, spatial distance of the brand and charity, brand familiarity. Manipulating these in future studies would not only contribute to the CRM literature but also to that of international marketing.

Firms in international markets can derive competitive advantages with the help of CRM campaigns. Moreover, alliances with familiar charities that are local can help combat nationalistic feelings prevalent in many markets. The separated presentation format can also help overcome some of the additional skepticism found in international markets.

The findings support the Better Business Bureau’s Standards for Charity Accountability that seek transparency in communicating CRM promotions. The explicit presentation of price and donation, in addition to providing this transparency, also gives consumers a clear understanding of the CRM promotions’ details, which will increase their self-efficacy in making more informed decisions.

This research contributes to strengthening knowledge on donation-price formats, offers brands entering international markets a singular way of gaining credibility and competitive advantage, and empirically confirms the proposed outcomes of a theoretical model for promotions.

This paper aims to explore not only the utilitarian but also the hedonic persuasive effects of promotional techniques like 99-ending prices and the influence of consumers’ decision style when evaluating these appeals. Evidence suggests that retailers use 99-ending prices as a promotional technique, based mostly on its savings appeal.

Three complementary studies were performed. A first field study among 317 shoppers allows to test the hypotheses for two groups of decision-makers (intuitive and analytical) using structural equation modeling based on the partial least squares algorithm. Then, a laboratory experiment assigned to 123 respondents manipulates the decision-making style and, in turn, tests more precisely the proposed hypotheses. Finally, the third study replicates the laboratory experiment with 104 respondents without manipulating decision-making; rather it is measured, which allows to test the effect of internal-based versus contextual-based decision style.

First, the 99-ends are not strictly associated to utilitarian benefits (savings, quality or convenience) but also to hedonic benefits fulfilling consumer’s needs for exploration, value expression and entertainment. Second, a better understanding of the moderating role of the decision-making style is obtained: consumers in an intuitive decision mode give importance only to hedonic benefits; and there are differences in the analytical decision mode: when the decision-making style is internal (measured as a personal trait), consumers give importance to both utilitarian and hedonic benefits; however, when the decision-making style is contextual (manipulated), consumers focus only on utilitarian benefits.

It is necessary to check the robustness of the results depending on other marketing variables (e.g. product category knowledge, purchase frequency) and individual consumers’ differences in price-sensitivity (e.g. price consciousness).

The findings help to better understand the image effect of 99-ends underlying both consumers’ individual differences and contextual effects. Findings also help retailers and pricing managers in their use of 99-ends as a promotional technique.

This research contributes to a better understanding of the persuasive promotional effect associated to 99-ends. The study demonstrates that utilitarian benefits cannot fully explain consumers’ responses to 99-ends, as 99-end prices can also provide stimulation, entertainment and help fulfill consumers’ needs for information, exploration and self-esteem. The authors further examine the moderating role of the decision-making style between promotional benefits and proneness to buy 99-ends products. The intuitive mode, either internal or contextual, activates hedonic benefits, whereas the analytical mode activates both utilitarian and hedonic benefits when the mode of processing is internal and only utilitarian benefits when the mode of processing is contextual.

This paper seeks to propose Albert Hirschman's theory of “exit, voice and loyalty” as a complementary conceptual framework to Hofstede's cultural dimensions and use them in conjunction to compare consumer satisfaction with services across cultures.

A model of satisfaction with complex services (higher education) is developed and then tested in two different cultures, Colombia and Spain, with a sample of 879 students. Structural equation modeling based on the partial least squares algorithm is used to test the proposed model.

Colombian students are more satisfied with the educational system than Spanish ones. This is explained by cultural and contextual differences that pose greater restrictions on accessibility to higher education, provide fewer choice alternatives and present more switching costs for the Colombian student.

This study applies the conditions of Hirschman's theory in an international setting, offering a rich basis for understanding differences in consumer satisfaction that accounts for intra‐national diversity.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to introduce a conceptual model for assessing undergraduate student learning outcomes and satisfaction that involves concepts drawn from the services marketing and assessment literatures; second, to illustrate the utility of the model as implemented in an academic department (geography) within a large American university, and third, to demonstrate the applicability of the model by replicating the study at different scales: an entire undergraduate program (business administration) in a large Spanish university and another program (nursing) involving various universities of a Spanish region.

A multi‐method approach is used which comprises quadrant analysis, ANOVA tests and structural equation modeling techniques. A questionnaire was designed for data collection.

The main finding is the support found for the proposed model at different scales. Results of the multi‐method approach provide specific guidelines to departments using this approach to improve student learning outcomes and satisfaction.

The paper provides a conceptual model and supporting tools that can be used by other academic departments or higher education institutions to assist in the evaluation of how students perceive their learning outcomes and satisfaction with their undergraduate program.

The value of this multi‐method approach is that it is simple to implement, and at the same time provides a richness of information for diagnosis and decision‐making. The model was tested with data collected in different undergraduate programs and different countries, allowing the authors not only to find support for the model, but also to consider cultural differences among student perceptions.

In the performance measurement and management research field, the applicability of performance measurement systems (PMS) in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and public administration has been considered a challenge. The diversity of these organizations makes it difficult to define proper terminology and organizational characteristics. PMS evolution has not yet been able to capture all performance dimensions of a public administration and, especially for NPO considering its dynamic and multiple goals. The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework that identifies and classifies the factors that influence the design of PMSs in NPOs and public administration.

The study was developed through a systematic literature review (SLR). A set of 29 papers were intensely studied, and the results provide a multi-disciplinary and holistic set of factors.

A set of ten factors that influence the design of PMSs in NPO and public administration were found. They were categorized into three groups: factor related to purpose, stakeholders and management.

The study synthesized the literature and provided a conceptual framework of the factors that influence the design of PMSs in NPO and public administration. No individual paper collected in the SLR shows a similar organization of the factors as the present paper. The set of factors indicates the importance of this study for NPO and public administration, and how complex a PMS in an NPO and public administration can become. The conceptual model presented can further assist practitioners in developing design process observing the role that the identified factors play.