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This paper looks at the methodology adopted for international marketing research by commercial marketing research agencies. It considers the actual practices used by providers of commercial international marketing research, and reveals that while most commercial researchers are aware of, and address, the overt problems of international marketing research (e.g. language differences), they are less aware of the more covert problems that may arise (e.g. response bias). This paper shows that no single organization can be used as benchmark for commercial international marketing research; consequently, theoretical researchers concerned with international marketing research methodology must address how they disseminate their findings to commercial marketing researchers.

The trend towards internationalisation in many service industries has increased the need for both managers and academics to collect cross‐cultural/national consumer‐perceived service quality data. Failure to establish cross‐cultural equivalence and to detect differences in cross‐national response bias will, however, affect data comparability, may invalidate the research results and could therefore lead to incorrect inferences about attitudes and behaviours across national groups. By initially focussing on developments in the mono‐cultural service quality literature, a framework is presented whereby academics and managers can assess the potential impact of these international measurement issues. Existing cross‐cultural service quality literature is reviewed and the extent to which these issues are addressed is highlighted. Methods for detecting and correcting cross‐national response biases are discussed.

The extant literature highlights the significant role of brand perceptions in buying behavior and brand equity. Despite the importance of brand perceptions and the proliferation of online brands, research in an online context is still scarce. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by investigating the effect of positive and negative comparative affective states (online vs offline) on online brand perceptions. Consistent with existing evidence, highlighting the role of culture on brand perceptions and affective states, this research is conducted in a cross-national setting to identify the stability of the hypothesized relationships among countries.

The study uses consumer survey data from five countries (UK, USA, Australia, Canada and China). After imposing metric and factor variance invariance, we used multi-group CFA to test the hypotheses regarding the impact of positive and negative comparative affective states on online brand perceptions across the five countries in the sample.

The results show that positive comparative affective states have a significant and positive impact on online brand perceptions across the countries studied, although the impact size varies by country. The findings also show that negative comparative affective states, which are context-specific and not induced by any particular brand, have no effect on online brand perceptions across the country samples.

Managers can use the findings reported in this research to inform their branding strategies. For instance, managers may focus on triggering feelings of comfort online as these lead to more favorable online brand perceptions rather than on supressing feelings of caution, as the latter do not directly impact online brand perceptions.

The study builds on and extends the recent work of Christodoulides et al. (2013) by focussing on online brand perceptions and looking into the role of affective states in a cross-national setting.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) as an underlying model to examine the similarities/differences between spoken and written peer-to-peer (P2P) communication.

An embedded mixed methods experimental design with linguistically standardized experimental stimuli was used to expose the basic linguistic differences between P2P communications that can be attributed to communication medium (spoken/written) and product type (hedonic/utilitarian).

The findings show, empirically, that consumer’s spoken language is not linguistically equivalent to that of written language. This confirms that the capability of language to convey semantic meaning in spoken communication differs from written communication. This study extends the characteristics that differentiate hedonic from utilitarian products to include lexical density (i.e. hedonic) vs lexical sparsity (i.e. utilitarian).

The findings of this study are not wholly relevant to other forms of consumer communication (e.g. viral marketing). This research used a few SFL resources.

This research shows that marketers should ideally apply a semantic approach to the analysis of communications, given that communication meaning can vary across channels. Marketers may also want to focus on specific feedback channels (e.g. review site vs telephone) depending on the depth of product’s details that need to be captured. This study also offers metrics that advertisers could use to classify media and to characterize consumer segments.

This research shows the relevance of SFL for understanding P2P communications and has potential applications to other marketing communications.

The purpose of this study is to explore consumer innovativeness as a personality trait and addresses the hedonic, social, cognitive and functional motivational elements that lie behind consumer innovativeness. It explores the weak relationship between consumer innovativeness and really new product (novel innovation) adoption and challenges the classic relationship between consumer learning, attitude and intention.

This study adopts a quantitative approach, gathering survey data via an institutional online platform. A total of 300 participants were recruited. Participants were directed to a website presenting the information of the product with the inclusion of 2D and 3D images and an avatar. For data analysis, CFA and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used.

Results indicate a positive impact of attitude on comprehension and intention. In addition, hedonic innovativeness positively impacts customer's attitude, whereas there is a negative relationship between social innovativeness and attitude. Motivational elements of innovation, with the exception of hedonic motivation, positively influence purchase intention.

The main limitation of the study lies in the measurement of purchase intention, as actual purchases cannot be assessed as the products are not yet available. The findings encourage marketers to target innovators first, ideally innovators motivated by hedonic needs.

The findings encourage marketers to target innovators first, perhaps for a long-term, innovators motivated by hedonic needs, as they are the ones who change their attitude positively towards novel innovation when presented in an aesthetically pleasant manner.

This study challenges the classic theories identifying the link between comprehension, attitude and purchase intention within the field of innovation. The findings indicate that while interacting with really new products, comprehension does not necessarily lead to attitude and intention but attitude does positively influence both intention and comprehension.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate cultural variations in the qualities that White Americans and Hispanic Americans believe power-holders should embody, and the situations in which these norms influence consumer satisfaction.

Two experimental studies (n1=130 and n2=121) and one field study (n=241) were conducted with White American and Hispanic participants. Results were analysed using ANOVA and regression.

White Americans are predisposed to apply to power-holders injunctive norms of treating others justly and equitably, whereas Hispanics are predisposed to apply injunctive norms of treating others compassionately. These cultural variations in the use of injunctive norms were more evident in business or service contexts in which power was made salient, and emerged in the norms more likely to be endorsed by White American and Hispanic participants (Study 1), their approval of hypothetical negotiators who treated suppliers equitably or compassionately (Study 2), and their evaluations of powerful service providers in a real-life, on-going and consequential interaction (Study 3).

This research suggests key implications for our theoretical understanding of the role of social norms in carrying cultural patterns, as well as for cross-cultural theories of consumer satisfaction with service providers.

Marketers should pay attention to signals of fairness (compassion) in their services, as perceptions of fairness (compassion) by White American (Hispanic) consumers can boost satisfaction ratings. This is particularly important in service encounters that might be characterized by power differentials, such as those in health care and financial services.

As consumer markets grow more culturally diverse, it is important for marketers to understand how distinct notions of power impact the attitudes and behaviors of consumers from different cultures. This research investigates the implications of distinct power concepts for multi-cultural consumers’ evaluations of service providers, an important and under-researched area with implications for global service management.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate self-perceived age among Baby Boomers in the UK, Germany, Japan, and Hungary, and identifies two horizontal segments based on the way consumers view their age.

Questionnaires were used to sample 880 Baby Boomers. Structural equation modeling is used to investigate multinational measurement invariance of the cognitive age scale.

Two distinct segments are identified, providing support for a young-at-heart consumer culture in all nations in the study. Results also find cognitive age to exhibit partial measurement invariance, which is expected given the disparate nations under study.

This research contributes to cross-cultural global age research which is still in an early pioneering stage. The study builds on a small number of previous studies that validate cognitive age, extends current knowledge of the measurement properties of cognitive age, and identifies two distinct international segments of Baby Boomers. Further research needs to delve into the antecedents of self-perceived age, particularly in the ways in which different life experiences and cultures may impact age identities.

The study has implications for marketing managers wishing to target the increasingly important young-at-heart Baby Boomer.

The study uses four non-American countries, uses samples matched for chronological age, and does not use convenience samples, which make it unique in the cognitive age literature. The study has value for marketing managers, global age researchers, and consumer culture researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine alternative approaches to measuring service evaluation across cultures. This paper aims to assess: differences between cognitive and affective measures and their ability to predict behavioral intentions and the impact of service features on these measures.

A self‐completion survey of African (East/West), Chinese, and English higher education students includes service quality, satisfaction, affect (emotions/feelings), and behavioral intentions scales relating to retail banking.

For all groups, overall quality, satisfaction, and positive affect predict behavioral intentions. Negative affect is significant for English consumers. Differences across cultures are identified in the determinants of service evaluation, for example, assurance and responsiveness, but these are antecedents of affect and not of overall service quality or satisfaction.

The sample is drawn from cultural groups (based on Hofstede's individualism continuum) of higher education students in the UK. The implications for generalizability of findings to wider populations and the need to recognize the considerable diversity within the cultural sample groupings is emphasized.

Service providers should include measures of affect in surveys which aim to assess the role of service features in overall evaluation and behavioral intentions towards the service. This will provide valuable data for managerial decision making and resource allocation. Cultural comparisons derived from cognitive‐based Western measures may fail to identify elements of service quality which impact on behavioral intentions.

No other studies have directly compared a range of alternative service‐related measures as predictors of behavioral intentions across cultures, or included African consumers who are rarely represented in service evaluation studies.