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In the banking sector, the importance of consumer's perceptions for business success has been underestimated. For this reason, the present work aims to focus on the corporate brand image construct, analysing how the associations of financial brands are generated and the way such associations influence consumer behaviour.

A model is proposed that shows which are the main antecedents and consequences of corporate image of financial institutions. This model was validated through structural equation modelling. Data were collected by means of personal questionnaires addressed to 450 respondents.

Results indicate that consumer perceptions depend on brand familiarity, non‐firm communications and, to a lesser extent, on advertising. The resulting image will be an antecedent of the global attitude to the firm and, directly and indirectly, of the intention to use the branded service.

This study has been aimed at consumers in a specific region of Spain. Moreover, it only analyses well‐known institutions and the most important variables. For this reason, it would be interesting to broaden the analysis to cover different contexts.

Both corporate image and familiarity can be developed by applying thoughtful communication strategies that neutralize the effect of negative non‐firm information. Companies that develop a powerful corporate image should be more appealing to customers.

This study validates a comprehensive model that explains both the antecedents and consequences of corporate image of banks. It also proposes an up‐to‐date corporate image scale and considers the effects of firm versus non‐firm communications.

To explain and empirically test how different marketing communication channels interact with each other and contribute to brands’ diverging marketplace performance.

With a unique data set combining key variables of major passenger car brands, the paper takes a source-based perspective to investigate how firm-based communications, expert opinions and online consumer reviews interact and affect brands’ marketplace performance. Then the paper studies the three special boundary conditions under which online consumer reviews’ influence varies in competition with the other two established information sources. Lastly, a study was done to demonstrate the financial significance of investing in different information sources.

The results show that online consumer reviews mitigate the effectiveness of the other two information sources in driving brand sales. This mitigation effect is also magnified when the brand is weak, firm-based communications are modest and expert opinions are less favorable. The findings further suggest that in the emerging communication enterprise, firm-based and expert-based communications remain the core while user-based communication plays an indispensable competing and complementary role.

In the new digital era, firms are facing the daunting task of understanding and integrating multiple communication channels. The study provides important implications for both researchers and practitioners with respect to brand management and integrated communications.

Existing studies have demonstrated that each of the three communication efforts (by firms, experts and consumers) exerts a significant influence on product sales, but few studies have been conducted in settings marked by the coexistence of these efforts. In addition, the three communication efforts are likely to have different effects on brands with different market positions. The current study is contributing to the literature by filling the above gaps.

The study examines the responsibilisation of an ethnocentric consumer in commercial, meta-organisational discourses. In addition to nationalistic and patriotic discourses, the focus is on wider conceptualisations of consumer responsibility.

The paper uses critical discourse analysis as a methodological approach to conduct an empirical case study on the texts of two producer-driven labelling campaigns.

The campaign texts create possibilities for ethnocentric consumption with positioning, argumentative and classificatory discourses. Patriotic responsibilisation is emphasised, together with rationales to take action on environmental concerns.

The study highlights the responsibility of marketers over their corporate responsibility communication, suggesting that ethnocentric promotions may have the power to alter how consumers take action on various responsibility concerns.

The study surfaces the tensions that responsible consumption can entail for consumers. Indeed, nationalistic and patriotic discourses may alter our understanding of responsibility issues that may seem completely separate from the concepts of nationalism and patriotism.

The paper shows how different organisational texts are deployed to bring about the idea of ethnocentric consumption and how this relates to responsibility discourses, nationalism and patriotism.

This paper aims to study the unexplored possibility that priming firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity in consumers’ minds may impact consumers’ preference for non-firm related consumption and lifestyle choice options with intertemporal trade-offs.

Across four experimental studies, the authors looked at the impact of CSR priming on the preference of participants for later larger versus sooner smaller money (Study 1), saving versus spending (Study 2) and healthy versus unhealthy food choices (Studies 3 and 4). These choice options were not related to the focal firm that practiced CSR. The authors measured the changes in participants’ consideration of future consequences (CFC) as a potential mediator for the results.

The participants in the CSR condition showed a higher CFC and a higher preference for the options with long-term benefits and immediate costs over the ones with long-term costs and immediate benefits, i.e. later larger over sooner smaller money, saving over spending and healthy over unhealthy food. The authors documented a mediation role for CFC.

All the participants in the studies were from the USA. Looking at the cultural differences can enrich the understanding of the impact of CSR on preference for the options with intertemporal trade-offs. Furthermore, this paper builds its theoretical justification based on the assumption of individuals’ acceptance of CSR activities. Nevertheless, consumers may have skepticism about these activities. Future studies may investigate the effect of CSR skepticism of individuals on the proposed effects. Additionally, investigating the moderating roles of individuals’ characteristics like their prosocial concern or their knowledge about choice options might be an avenue for future research.

The findings highlight the benefits of CSR priming on consumers’ welfare and normative behavior. Firms may use the findings to understand and manage the impact of other firms’ CSR communications on the evaluation of their own products.

This research is the first to highlight the impact of CSR priming on consumers’ non-firm-related consumption and lifestyle choices with intertemporal trade-offs. The results showed the positive effect of priming firms’ CSR activities on consumers’ CFC and the mediating role of CFC.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implications of an SEC Risk Alert and two FINRA regulatory notices concerning the use of social media by registered investment advisers.

The paper analyzes the SEC Office of Compliance and Inspections National Examination Risk Alert dated January 4, 2012, including general observations and factors for investment advisors to consider such as usage guidelines, content standards, policies for representatives and solicitors, monitoring procedures and third‐party content and testimonials. It discusses FINRA's detailed, bright‐line guidance in Regulatory Notice 11‐39 (August 2011) and Regulatory Notice 10‐06 (January 2010).

The paper recommends ways for investment advisers to address the use of social media.

Until more concrete guidance and market practice has emerged, firms may benefit from taking a conservative approach by limiting the use of social media and the ability of non‐firm personnel to “like” or post content to the firm's social media website, and by retaining all records of social media interactions in case of examinations.

The paper presents analysis and practical guidance from experienced financial services lawyers.

The purpose of the study is to examine the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) on the announcement of firms’ stock market returns. The authors investigate the stock market reaction on ERP adopters and ERP vendor firms in the USA during 1990-2010. The study examines firm- and non-firm-specific factors including the role of the financial analyst in explaining the determinants of the cumulative abnormal returns surrounding ERP announcements of adopting firms.

Data on ERP system implementation announcements of 112 US firms for the period 1990-2010 were collected from LexisNexis Academics. The authors estimate abnormal returns using an event study methodology for each of the ERP announcements based on the Fama–French three-factor and Fama–French-momentum four-factor models for ERP adopters and for vendors. Subsequently, the authors explain the determinants of abnormal returns in terms of firm and non-firm behavioral variables using cross-section regression methodology.

The empirical results establish that cumulative abnormal returns of US firms on ERP system implementation announcements are positive, signifying that investors view this decision positively and that ERP implementation contributes to enhanced business value in the future. On the contrary, the impact of ERP announcements on vendors is muted. We find that the extent of financial analyst coverage negatively impacts abnormal returns, while the extent of stock market liquidity has a significant positive impact on abnormal returns.

This study is based on a sample of ERP implementing firms which are predominantly large firms and on technology provided by one vendor that is predominantly monopolistic.

Firms’ attitudes toward implementing an ERP system for future efficiency gains and the implications on the stock market (and indirectly, on the cost of equity of adopters) provide valuable insights for firms and stock markets.

This study brings clarity to the debate on stock market impacts of ERP implementation announcements – stock markets cheer such announcements. The study also contributes to the literature by examining firm-specific factors (such as performance, size and leverage) and non-firm-specific factors (such as market risk and analyst coverage) in explaining the determinants of abnormal returns of firms announcing ERP investment.

Advance the state-of-the-art on how frugal innovation links to sustainability outcomes and based on content analysis of empirical publications in the field of frugal innovation, analyzing when and how FI is connected with social, environmental and economic outcomes.

Quantitative content analysis on empirical papers published on frugal innovation, using data visualization techniques to disclose relationships among the constructs adopted. Materials were collected following a step-wise methodology. In total, 130 articles were identified, read in depth and coded according to five main categories: context; development; implementation, adoption, diffusion; characteristics; and impacts.

The potential of frugal innovation to drive sustainability outcomes is influenced by the type of actors developing the innovation, regarding their organizational form (large firms, small firms, non-firm actors), their geographical origin (foreign or local) or motivations (mostly profit-motivated or socially-oriented). Collaboration plays a key role along the various stages of the frugal innovation cycle and is thus relevant for its potential to drive sustainability outcomes. The results reaffirm the need for greater attention to where and when sustainability-enhancing outcomes of frugal innovation are more likely to occur.

This study provides a qualitative study based on content analysis of empirical studies to explore the associations between frugal innovations and improved economic, environmental and social sustainability outcomes. The key novelty of this study lies in the systematic coding of each paper regarding the features of the innovation, the innovators, and the outcomes achieved. This allows taking stock of the evidence emerging in such a scattered literature, quantifying the extent to which insights take place in the empirical literature, looking for correlations, and highlight research gaps to understand to what extent frugal innovation can contribute to sustainable development.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether knowledge-flows through social interaction occur within the context of a policy-driven industrial cluster.

The paper follows a single-case approach, adopting Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor cluster as the unit of analysis. Semi-structured interviews with firm- and non-firm-respondents in the cluster constitute the prime source of data.

Spontaneous social interaction leading to knowledge diffusion within the cluster may be lacking. However, policymakers may be able to remedy this somewhat by organising workshops, conferences and other events to help firms gain additional knowledge, although these measures should ideally complement, rather than replace, spontaneous face-to-face meetings.

Although policymakers may implement certain measures to try to compensate for the shortage of knowledge flows through social interaction (e.g. organising more “formal” events such as workshops and exhibitions), it is argued that these may not be sufficient in ensuring the long-term, self-sustaining success of the cluster.

The paper integrates extant literature on “organic” industrial clusters into a pre-planned, purpose-built, policy-driven cluster context. Research on policy-driven clusters is somewhat limited, with attention from scholars primarily focused on organic clusters. This paper attempts to bridge the gap for future research in the area.

This paper aims to discuss the opportunities and limitations that the location-specific advantages of the home country represent for infant multinational enterprises (MNEs). The systemic weaknesses of the home country can constrain the long-term competitiveness of its firms and, ultimately, the competitiveness of its MNEs. Many emerging countries have a constrained set of location-specific (L) assets from which their firms are able to develop ownership-specific assets.

The authors examine data for the case of India, an economy regarded as having considerable potential to expand to knowledge-intensive sectors, using a “systems of innovation” framework, merged with an analysis of L advantages.

At the macro level, India’s performance is not different from countries of similar economic structure, and its current pockets of excellence are a reflection of its L assets. The analysis suggests that the failure to foster and upgrade the L assets of emerging economies is likely to stunt the growth of their domestic firms and, ultimately, any new MNE activity in the long-term.

In the case of India, systemic policy changes are needed to upgrade the knowledge infrastructure and institutions to support a shift in the competitive advantages to new sectors outside existing pockets of excellence. Indian firms are unlikely to be able to rely on the knowledge infrastructure of their home economy and will “exit” the Indian milieu because of weaknesses in L assets, as much as to seek markets and customers elsewhere. There will be few opportunities for new generations of firms to venture abroad from a position of strength, rather than as a means to overcome their home country disadvantages.

The evidence would suggest that – like other emerging economies – Indian firms are unlikely to be able to rely on the knowledge infrastructure of their home economy and are “exiting” the Indian milieu because of its weaknesses in L assets, as much as to seek markets and customers elsewhere. Most importantly, India faces a potential shortage of skilled human capital in the medium term.