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1 – 10 of 497Vaishali Sangwan and Moutusy Maity
Emerging economies are dominated by an unorganized retail landscape, with complex sociocultural norms dictating the behavior of retailers and customers. The purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Emerging economies are dominated by an unorganized retail landscape, with complex sociocultural norms dictating the behavior of retailers and customers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of consumer embarrassment in an emerging marketing, India.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts a grounded theory approach and undertakes 31 in-depth interviews with consumers in India. The data is analyzed inductively and iteratively simultaneously with data collection.
Findings
The study uncovers that sociocultural normative influences, the retail environment’s structural constraints, interaction-based buying processes and customers’ perceptions play a role in eliciting embarrassment in traditional stores. The traditional format retailers play a significant role in evoking embarrassment and, surprisingly, also in facilitating coping. Contrary to the extant findings, purchasing embarrassing products online may not ensure anonymity and elicit embarrassment. The findings contribute to understanding the phenomenon of embarrassment in emerging markets.
Originality/value
There is a dearth of research examining consumer embarrassment in emerging markets, with extant studies investigating the phenomenon in the modern retail setup of developed economies. The retail landscape of India is predominantly unorganized, with distinct transactional processes and physical characteristics that are starkly different from modern retail stores. Moreover, sociocultural normative forces have distinct influences on the informal setup of unorganized retail.
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Librarianship’s dominant conception of the freedom to read is governed by a liberal principle of noninterference, wherein free readers are those who face no intentional…
Abstract
Purpose
Librarianship’s dominant conception of the freedom to read is governed by a liberal principle of noninterference, wherein free readers are those who face no intentional intervention in their choice of materials. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how this account fails to adequately capture systemic threats that impoverish people’s reading lives.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper deploys informal argumentation to expose a flaw in the dominant account of the freedom to read. The author uses a case study of comparative titles or comps, an editorial decision-making and justificatory convention that reproduces racial inequality in Anglophone trade publishing.
Findings
Comps present one example of how everyday norms and practices of literary production render people’s reading lives pervasively unfree, even absent some intent to interfere in them. The going account of the freedom to read calls, at best, for a greater diversity of book-commodities from which consumers may choose. However, the comp case suggests that this distributive remedy will be insufficient without relevant changes to the institutional arrangements that condition readers' choices in the first place.
Originality/value
This paper draws together insights from Library and Information Science, political philosophy and print culture studies to illuminate limitations in librarianship’s standard conception of the freedom to read. This reveals the need for an alternative, structural account of that freedom with significant implications for practice.
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Yi Lu, Gayani Karunasena and Chunlu Liu
From May 2024, Victoria (Australia) will mandatorily raise the minimum house energy rating standards from 6 to 7 stars. However, the latest data shows that only 5.73% of new…
Abstract
Purpose
From May 2024, Victoria (Australia) will mandatorily raise the minimum house energy rating standards from 6 to 7 stars. However, the latest data shows that only 5.73% of new Victorian houses were designed beyond 7-star. While previous literature indicates the issue’s link to the compliance behaviour of building practitioners in the design phase, the underlying behavioural determinants are rarely explored. This study thus preliminarily examines building practitioners’ compliance behaviour with 7-star Australian house energy ratings and beyond.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a widely-applied method to initially examine an under-explored phenomenon, eight expert interviews were conducted with building practitioners, a state-level industry regulator and a leading national building energy policy researcher. The study triangulated the data with government-led research reports.
Findings
The experts indicate that most building practitioners involved in mainstream volume projects do not go for 7 stars, mainly due to perceived compliance costs and reliance on standardized designs. In contrast, those who work on custom projects are more willing to go beyond 7-star mostly due to the moral norms for a low-carbon environment. The experts further agree that four behavioural determinants (attitudes towards compliance, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and personal norms) co-shape building practitioners’ compliance behaviour. Interventions targeting these behavioural determinants are recommended for achieving 7 stars and beyond.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates the behavioural determinants that influence building practitioners’ compliance decisions, and offers insight regarding how far they will go to meet 7 stars. It can facilitate the transition to 7 stars by informing policymakers of customized interventions to trigger behaviour change.
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This study aims to contribute to discussions on peace between hostile nonmajor powers by focusing on the behavior of major powers. Specifically, alliances between nonmajor and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to contribute to discussions on peace between hostile nonmajor powers by focusing on the behavior of major powers. Specifically, alliances between nonmajor and major powers are explored to determine whether such ties contribute to transitions to higher levels of peace. Moreover, systemic factors involving power dynamics and relationships between major powers are also evaluated.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple data sets which altogether covered the era from 1816 to 2010 were analyzed. All pairs of countries that were former foes were considered. Cox hazard regression was conducted.
Findings
Systemic instability is influential at transitions from lowest levels of peace for nonmajor power dyads. Eras where major powers are operating multilaterally appear to play a highly limited role in nonmajor powers attaining stable peace. However, alliances with major powers are relatively more crucial in these discussions for nonmajor powers and contribute to higher levels of peace being attained by nonmajor powers.
Research limitations/implications
Further research in particular with case studies can help to elucidate and extend the statistical findings.
Practical implications
Based on the findings, the design and operations of alliances can create more space to hear a wider range of issues that allies can be facing.
Originality/value
While major powers clearly have considerable capacity and global outreach, there has been little attention to whether and how they contribute to former foes attaining higher quality of peace.
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V.G. Girish, Anindita Saha, R. Rex Immanuel and Bona Kim
The study aims to analyse the structural relationships of authenticity, health concern and sustainable intelligence in the farm restaurant context. Different types of restaurants…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to analyse the structural relationships of authenticity, health concern and sustainable intelligence in the farm restaurant context. Different types of restaurants have been targeted to understand consumer behaviour; however, the behavioural intention of visitors dining at the farm restaurants was rarely explored.
Design/methodology/approach
With the backdrop of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study highlights the understanding, particularly on personal values associated with the behavioural intention of consumers visiting the farm restaurant. Data were collected, circulating questionnaires onsite and online at a farm restaurant. Structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the data.
Findings
Study findings reveal that personal values such as authenticity, health concern and sustainable intelligence positively influence the mediating constructs of TPB towards behavioural intention to revisit the farm restaurant.
Originality/value
This research might be the first one, exclusively focused on understanding the behavioural intention of the consumers visiting the farm restaurant, based on their personal values. This study specifically enriches the farm restaurant literature from the academic perspective and offers insights to farm restaurant owners and managers about the priorities of the consumers visiting the farm restaurant.
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Michele Stasa Ouzký and Ondřej Machek
The goal of this paper is to examine the mediating role of organizational social capital between family firms' organizational culture, characterized by their group vs individual…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this paper is to examine the mediating role of organizational social capital between family firms' organizational culture, characterized by their group vs individual orientation and external vs internal orientation, and their performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A structural equation model is developed and tested in a sample of 176 US family firms recruited through Prolific Academic.
Findings
The authors show that group vs individual cultural orientation fosters bonding social capital, while external vs internal cultural orientation fosters bridging social capital. In turn, family firm performance is only enhanced by bridging social capital, not bonding social capital, which appears to have neutral to negative direct performance effects. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that bonding social capital facilitates the establishment of bridging ties, leading to overall positive performance outcomes.
Originality/value
The understanding of how organizational culture influences family business heterogeneity and performance, along with the clarification of how bonding social capital fosters or hinders performance, provides novel insights for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand the complexities within the unique context of family businesses.
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Syed Shah Shah Alam, Taslima Jannat, Chieh Yu Lin, Nor Asiah Omar and Yi Hui Ho
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that affect managers’ ethical decision-making in export-oriented readymade garments in Bangladesh.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that affect managers’ ethical decision-making in export-oriented readymade garments in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an empirical study based on the quantitative approach undertaking a cross-sectional survey method where a convenience sampling technique was applied. The analysis was done using partial least square structural equation model applying Smart-PLS version 3.0.
Findings
This study confirmed that all the components of cognitive appraisal processes, including perceived severity, perceived vulnerability, response efficacy and self-efficacy, have a significant influence on attitude. Attitude, in turn, mediates the relationship between these variables and the behavioural intention of ethical practice, except for perceived vulnerability. Besides, moral obligation is found to mediate the relationship between attitude, self-efficacy and the behavioural intention of ethical decision-making. The study also found that ethical climate and subjective norms have a direct influence on behavioural intention. Furthermore, behavioural intention, ethical climate and self-efficacy are positively related to actual decision-making behaviour. However, this study did not find any direct effect of subjective norms on moral obligation.
Practical implications
The organization should include an emphasis on building ethical culture and setting an ethical code of conduct within the organization to sustain ethical practice within employees. However, the practitioner should work on enhancing self-efficacy to curb unethical practices by individuals.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the management of garments manufacturers by a practical and theoretical understanding of what influences the ethical behavioural decision-making process. Valuable guidelines are provided on the ethical decision-making process in the garments manufacturing companies for future researchers.
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Yuxiao Ye, Yiting Han and Baofeng Huo
In this research, we explore the adverse impact of foreign ownership on operational security, a critical operational implication of the liability of foreignness (LOF).
Abstract
Purpose
In this research, we explore the adverse impact of foreign ownership on operational security, a critical operational implication of the liability of foreignness (LOF).
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical analysis is based on a multi-country dataset from the World Bank Enterprises Survey, which contains detailed firm-level information from over 8,902 firms in 82 emerging market countries. We perform a series of robustness checks to further confirm our findings.
Findings
We find that a high ratio of foreign ownership is associated with an increased likelihood of security breaches and higher security costs. Our results also indicate that high levels of host countries’ institutional quality and firms’ local embeddedness can mitigate such vulnerability in operational security.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to uncover the critical operational implication of the LOF, indicating that a high ratio of foreign ownership exposes firms to operational security challenges.
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Oswald A. J. Mascarenhas, Munish Thakur and Payal Kumar
In Chapter 1, we critically reviewed the foundations of the free enterprise capital system (FECS), which has been successful primarily because of its wealth and asset accumulation…
Abstract
Executive Summary
In Chapter 1, we critically reviewed the foundations of the free enterprise capital system (FECS), which has been successful primarily because of its wealth and asset accumulation potentiality and actuality. In this chapter, we critically argue that this capacity has been grounded upon the profit maximization (PM) theories, models, and paradigms of FECS. The intent of this chapter is not anti-PM. The PM models of FECS have worked and performed well for more than 200 years of the economic history of the United States and other developed countries, and this phenomenon is celebrated and featured as “market performativity.” However, market performativity has not truly benefitted the poor and the marginalized; on the contrary, market performativity has wittingly or unwittingly created gaping inequalities of wealth, income, opportunity, and prosperity. Critical thinking does not combat PM but challenges it with alternative models of profit sharing that promote social wealth, social welfare, social progress, and opportunity for all, which we explore here. Economic development without social progress breeds economic inequality and social injustice. Economic development alone is not enough; we should create a new paradigm in which economic development is the servant of social progress, not vice versa. Such a paradigm shift involves integrating the creativity and innovativity of market performativity and the goals and drives of social performativity together with PM, that is, from market performativity to social performativity.
Magdalena Adamus and Eva Ballová Mikušková
Following Goldberg’s paradigm, this study aims to investigate whether women and men are at risk of differential treatment by HR professionals in recruitment and dismissal…
Abstract
Purpose
Following Goldberg’s paradigm, this study aims to investigate whether women and men are at risk of differential treatment by HR professionals in recruitment and dismissal processes and focuses on the impact of exogenous factors, such as discrimination and gender norms.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 155 individuals with experience as HR professionals participated in a randomised vignette study. In Task 1, they evaluated three applicants (all three either men or women) for the post of regional sales manager based on the applicant’s competences, hireability, likeability and proposed salary. In Task 2, participants were asked to select one of the six employees for dismissal and provide a rationale for their choice.
Findings
In Task 1, female applicants were offered significantly lower salaries than male applicants. In addition, average and low-performing male applicants were assessed as less likeable than identical females. In Task 2, the willingness to dismiss increased when employees with frequent absences were presented as men.
Originality/value
By involving a sample of HR professionals, the study contributes to the literature and practice by highlighting the differential treatment of women and men in the labour market. While women are likely to experience direct discrimination in the form of significantly lower pay offers, men may suffer a backlash due to lower educational attainment and absenteeism. The findings suggest that the labour market situation for women is complex and affected by norms and expectations requiring men to behave in a masculine and career-oriented way.
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