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This paper aims to highlight the least effective and most effective methods for evaluating job candidates.

The paper is based on the lessons learned by the industrial psychologists of PSP Metrics, Inc, throughout the 65 years the company has been assisting businesses in improving the quality and productivity of their human capital.

Traditional selection criteria such as education, experience and job knowledge are not the most likely predictors of candidate success. Multiple meetings with candidates, behavioral interviewing and psychometric profiling are more successful methods of selection.

The information gives HR professionals practical advice on how to improve the quality of their selection process.

Examines the steps necessary to change an organization to make it more efficient and competitive including changing the corporate culture by identifying company values and overcoming barriers to change. Competence modelling clarifies the leadership expectations of the organization for its executives, and a 360 degree evaluation of leaders’ performance in demonstrating desired behaviours assesses whether the expectations are being met. The competence model, once defined, can be used to determine criteria for hiring and promotion. Contends that companies seizing an early opportunity to change are able to create or maintain a competitive advantage in a rapidly changing business environment.

Postulates that successful executives are those who continue to learn and to challenge themselves throughout their careers, thereby extending their own careers as well as leading their organizations. Illustrates how a 360 evaluation of an executive’s competencies and behaviors, coupled with professional feedback, can enable an executive to gauge his or her current effectiveness and point the way to beneficial career development strategies.

Recommends a succession planning process based on key competences, not job titles, to provide greater flexibility and a more strategic and future focus. Discusses the use of a competency model and evaluation methods to identify and develop individuals with the desired skills and talents to lead organizations into the future.

Brand pages are a very popular tool for companies to communicate with consumers in SNSs. Although brand pages could be considered virtual brand communities, they differ in several aspects. Thus, this chapter reviews the literature on brand pages attending to the main differences with other virtual communities, the motivations to join brand pages and its consequences for consumers and brands.

The studies reviewed have allowed us to identify the main characteristics of brand pages as a communication tool, as well as the definition of an important research agenda for this topic.

We have identified the main unique aspects that characterize brand pages as a virtual brand community. The motivations to become members of brand pages are analyzed as well as the positive consequences of these pages on the marketing variables. We also identified the research needs on brand pages.

This chapter can be useful to both, marketers, by showing them how brand pages work and what motivate consumers to join it; and researchers, by showing them the main gaps on brand pages that should be addressed in future studies.

This chapter highlights the role of brand pages as a communication tool. It constitutes an attempt to review the literature and organize knowledge on brand pages. The characteristics of brand pages and virtual brand communities, the motivations to participate, the consequences for the brand and an important research agenda are developed.

This study aims to explore the relation among US audit partners’ characteristics, their career advancement and audit quality.

This study uses data from Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Form AP, Auditor Reporting of Certain Audit Participants, and publicly available online data sources. The hand-collected data on audit partners’ personal characteristics include gender, work experience and educational background. The measures for audit quality include restatements and audit fees.

The authors find that audit partner characteristics matter for the time it takes an individual to reach partnership after completing a bachelor’s degree. There are significant differences in work experience and educational background between partners in the largest (Big N) audit firms and smaller (non-Big N) audit firms. Audit partner traits are related to audit quality, and the effects differ between Big N and non-Big N partners.

The literature has examined audit partners’ career paths using international data. However, little empirical academic research has examined the career advancement of US audit partners. This study provides initial insights on the career advancement of US partners on a large scale and complements the recent research that examines audit partner characteristics and audit quality in the US market.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and replicate the indirect effect of smartphone brand tribalism on purchase intent via brand pride and brand attitude.

Using survey data from 190 US (Study 1) and 432 Qatari (Study 2) smartphone consumers, path analysis is used to evaluate the hypotheses.

For these disparate samples, only the defense of the tribal brand dimension of brand tribalism influences brand pride, which in turn leads to a sequential process of brand attitude and purchase intention.

Using only smartphone data from the USA and Qatar may hinder external validity. As effect sizes in this context are understood, researchers have additional benchmarks for future brand tribalism and brand pride research.

The psychological underpinning and presence of brand tribes in society cannot be overlooked by strategists. Such tribal-laden following is too evident within smartphone communities. By further understanding the effect of brand tribalism on brand pride and subsequent attitudinal response and behavioral intent, marketers and brand leaders are in an improved position to develop strategies that appeal to targeted customers, ultimately growing and strengthening their brand value.

Supported by the anthropological view of brand tribalism, this paper contributes to the branding literature by examining the indirect effect of brand tribalism on purchase intention via brand pride and brand attitude. The posited model, previously untested and replicated here across two ethnically diverse samples, shows more explanatory power for defense of the tribal brand on brand pride as compared to the other brand tribalism dimensions. A novel and valid, multi-item brand pride measure is also developed.

The purpose of this paper is to revitalize consumer socialization as a topic of study by presenting a critical review of the concept. The aim is to advance our current understanding of conceptual issues and to outline issues and directions for future research. Consumer socialization can be better understood by studying its multidisciplinary roots and by critically reviewing its definition and meanings. It is suggested that the scope of consumer socialization be expanded to encompass life-long consumer socialization, different life events and spheres of consumption, dialogs, negotiations, and translations, as well as the socio-cultural context in which socialization occurs. In order to capture the complexity of consumer socialization and to maintain the field of consumer socialization as a vital research area, there is a need to rethink both the theories and the methods used. Researchers are encouraged to expand the use of socio-cultural theories and ethnographic methods. Interdisciplinary research is also recommended, allowing a multifaceted pluralism in the study of consumer socialization.