Search results

The study here responds to the view that the crucial problem in strategic management (research) is firm heterogeneity – why firms adopt different strategies and structures, why heterogeneity persists, and why competitors perform differently. The present study applies complexity theory tenets and a “neo-configurational perspective” of Misangyi et al. (2016) in proposing complex antecedent conditions affecting complex outcome conditions. Rather than examining variable directional relationships using null hypotheses statistical tests, the study examines case-based conditions using somewhat precise outcome tests (SPOT). The complex outcome conditions include firms with high financial performances in declining markets and firms with low financial performances in growing markets – the study focuses on seemingly paradoxical outcomes. The study here examines firm strategies and outcomes for separate samples of cross-sectional data of manufacturing firms with headquarters in one of two nations: Finland (n = 820) and Hungary (n = 300). The study includes examining the predictive validities of the models. The study contributes conceptual advances of complex firm orientation configurations and complex firm performance capabilities configurations as mediating conditions between firmographics, firm resources, and the two final complex outcome conditions (high performance in declining markets and low performance in growing markets). The study contributes by showing how fuzzy-logic computing with words (Zadeh, 1966) advances strategic management research toward achieving requisite variety to overcome the theory-analytic mismatch pervasive currently in the discipline (Fiss, 2007, 2011) – thus, this study is a useful step toward solving the crucial problem of how to explain firm heterogeneity.

This paper aims to examine the impact an individual’s long-term orientation (a cultural dimension) has on their attitude, behavioral intention and actual voluntary security actions taken in the context of the dangers related to poor account access management.

The paper relied upon survey data and actual usage information from a culturally diverse sample of 227 individuals who were introduced to the specific security problem and the accepted solution of using a password manager application.

The paper provides empirical evidence that the effect of positive attitudes increased when individuals were more long-term oriented, but the effect was reversed for average/negative attitudes toward the voluntary security behavior. Furthermore, participants with high long-term orientation and strong positive attitudes toward the security action actually adopted password manager applications 57 per cent more than the average adoption rate across the sample.

Due to the research approach (survey data), security context and sample population, the research results may lack generalizability.

The findings suggest that security awareness messaging and training should account for differences in long-term orientation of the target audience and integrate the distinctly different types of messages that have been shown to improve an individual’s participation in voluntary security actions.

The paper addresses previous research calls for examining possible cultural differences that impact security behaviors and is the only study that has focused on the impact of long-term orientation, specifically on voluntary security actions.

In the context of relationship marketing, identifying the elements that contribute to creating value for companies has become essential for managing customer satisfaction and retention. The literature has focused on business-to-end consumer relationships and there are few contributions in the business-to-business context, especially in the tourism industry. The aim of this study is to analyze the process of relationship value creation between tourism companies from the more relevant antecedents proposed in the literature: relationship benefits, long-term orientation and attitude towards the main provider.

A survey was conducted with 309 travel agency managers who assessed the relationship with their main provider. All constructs were measured with multiple-item scales adapted from the literature. The proposed relationships were tested with a causal model estimated by robust maximum likelihood algorithm showing adequate fix indices.

The results show that attitude toward the service provider, long-term relationship and relational benefits – multi-dimensional construct formed by confidence, social and special treatment benefits – make a significant contribution to the value formation in the relationship with the main provider. Furthermore, relationship benefits exert the greatest effect on relationship value.

Based on the authors findings, practical suggestions for developing and maintaining successful long-term relations between tourism companies are proposed. To avoid the characteristic disintermediation of the travel industry, both providers and client agencies must be aware of the importance of perceived relationship value. Interpersonal elements such as trust, affective ties and preferential treatment are important aspects in the creation of that value. Service differentiation strategies are also the key to improving supplier image and perceived value in relation to the competition. Finally, the appropriate combination of ICT investment and customized service can provide major opportunities for reinforcing relations between tourism companies.

The paper provides empirical evidence of the impact of relationship benefits, attitude and long-term orientation on relationship value in the business-to-business tourism context.

This study aims to investigate the effects of perceived tangible and intangible resource inequity and the moderating effect of long‐term orientation on future collaboration.

Outcome and moderating measures were developed using structural equation modeling. Data were collected at the project level of customer‐supplier relationships via survey among German and Swiss firms. The results were generated with regression and subgroup analyses.

The higher the negative tangible inequity or intangible inequity, the lower the customers' willingness to collaborate on future projects with suppliers. However, negative intangible inequity showed a stronger negative effect than negative tangible inequity. When long‐term orientation is in the model, the effects of inequity are stronger in short‐term relationships.

The study extends equity theory and provides a fruitful basis for future research at the project level of the customer‐supplier relationships. Specifically, since the effects of negative intangible inequity are stronger than the effects of negative tangible inequity, intangible resources may be more important than tangible resources to the future of customer‐supplier relationships. Since prior research does not delineate between tangible and intangible inequity, this is a unique finding and an important contribution to the application of equity theory in business. Cultural homogeneity is a limitation of the study. Furthermore, a longitudinal study could add insight.

This research offers a distinction between the effects of tangible and intangible resource inequity; it disaggregates the concepts of tangible and intangible resource inequity and tests the effects of either “positive inequity” (i.e. receiving more than deserved) or “negative inequity” (i.e. receiving less than deserved); and it separates short‐term from long‐term oriented companies to allow for a more discrete analysis, than prior approaches, of the effects of inequity on the propensity for future collaboration.

This paper aims to study the effect of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation) on corporate tax avoidance as proxied by the effective tax rate.

A sample of 944 observations during 2016 was analyzed at three different quantiles (Q 0.25, Q 0.50 and Q 0.75) based on a quantile regression approach.

Using Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation), the authors find that individualism and masculinity are negatively associated with effective tax rates, and this negative relationship is more pronounced under low tax aggressiveness regime (third quantile). By contrast, long-term orientation is positively associated with the effective tax rate, and this relationship is more prevailing under aggressive tax regime (first quantile). These findings remain stable when using cash effective tax rate as an alternative measure for tax avoidance.

This study adds to the extant literature a further understanding of the impact of cultural dimensions on tax avoidance. The use of quantile regression approach shows how the effect of masculinity, individualism and long-term orientation on tax avoidance varies under different tax management regimes.

The aim of this study is to analyze in depth the possible influence of a firm's market orientation on its own attitudinal loyalty toward a supplier.

An empirical study was carried out through two structured surveys of 141 industrial firms. Data were compiled in two stages (with a time lag of one year). The time lag instituted between the collection of market orientation data and the other model constructs alleviates the common method problem.

The results show that the direct influence of the buyer's market orientation on attitudinal loyalty is negative but that an indirect positive effect also exists through communication, conflict, satisfaction, and trust. The research also reveals that these results are not contingent on the buyer's dependence on the supplier.

This study's main contribution consists of shedding new light on the intense marketing debate about the effects of market orientation.

Practitioners can use the findings of this research to segment their customer base and develop specific programs adapted to each target.

The present work is the first to directly address the influence of a firm's market orientation on its attitudinal loyalty toward its strategic suppliers. Structured academic research on this topic is lacking, even though more firms are market‐oriented because of increasing competition, which means that the interest of suppliers in the effects of this orientation will become more pronounced.

In organizational markets, many companies tend to reduce the number of providers to focus on establishing relationships with few of them. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of relationship value and dependence of supplier on long‐term orientation and customer loyalty in the setting of relationships between travel agencies and their main providers.

A partial least square regression is performed to test a proposed model that links several relational variables with outcomes in terms of customer loyalty.

Results provide support for the positive indirect influence of relationship value on long‐term orientation, while customer dependence of the main provider does not seem to exert a significant effect. These findings support the importance of value creation for providers in their relationships with their customers.

This study allows us to suggest that service companies, such as travel agents, should concentrate on investing in generating benefits for customers through offering value‐added services, thus providing evidence that the supplier has no incentives to opportunistic behaviors.

Although literature has reported the importance of both relational and market conditions for customer‐supplier relationships that involve physical distribution of goods and might require important investments in technological solutions to coordinate their relationships, little attention has been paid to service companies.

This paper aims to examine the influence of the salesperson’s characteristics (organizational commitment [OC] and disposition to innovate) on buyer’s behaviors in buyer – supplier relationships. A model is proposed depicting the effects of the salesperson’s OC and disposition to innovate on buyer’s long-term orientation and opportunism through partner-specific value to the buyer.

Data were collected from 155 sales professionals of Japanese manufacturers. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

As predicted, the salesperson’s OC and disposition to innovate enhance buyer’s long-term orientation through providing partner-specific value to the buyer, and in turn, buyer’s long-term orientation mitigates opportunism.

The salesperson plays an important role for developing and maintaining Buyer-seller relationships. Based on authors’ results, firms should promote salespeople’s OC because a highly committed salesperson is likely to be more innovative when managing the relationship with the buyer and, in turn, increase the relationship-specific value to the buyer.

This study makes two contributions to Buyer-seller relationship literature. First, previous studies on the salesperson focus on the social aspects in the relationship. This study, however, examines the salesperson characteristics in the exchange, and the results reveal the importance of including the salesperson characteristics in studying Buyer-seller relationships. Second, this study proposes the salesperson’s partner-specific value as a key boundary-spanning aspect mediating the salesperson characteristics and buyer’s behaviors in Buyer-seller relationships. The results confirm the argument, thus providing impetus for further studying different types and dimensions of transaction-specific assets in Buyer-seller relationships.

This paper aims to shed light on the relationship between long-term orientation (LTO) and the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in family firms while adopting a stewardship perspective.

A survey of the top managers of family firms in Iran's science and technology parks was conducted, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the collected data.

The research results showed that LTO has a positive effect on innovativeness and proactiveness and a negative effect on riskiness. Therefore, family firms' LTO pays off by enhancing their EO.

In today's competitive world, EO is gradually becoming an inevitable necessity in many industries. Executives who want their firms to have a high level of performance should pay special attention to entrepreneurial behaviors. The present research informs the family firms' managers and practitioners to be long-term oriented to embrace more innovativeness and proactiveness, and less riskiness.

So far, the relationship between the LTO and entrepreneurial characteristics of family firms has remained ambiguous; this research is one of the first studies investigating this relationship.