Search results

The Islamic world spans many different languages with different language structures. This paper aims to explore one way in which language structure affects consumer response to the marketing of cobrands.

Two between subject experiments were conducted using samples of participants from Saudi Arabia and the USA. The first manipulated partner brand category similarity and brand name order, along with the structure of the language used to communicate with the market. The data for this study includes Arabic speakers in Saudi Arabia as well as English speakers in the USA. The second study explores how targeting a population fluent in multiple languages of varied structure nullifies the findings from the first study and uses Latino participants in the USA.

This study finds that when brands come from similar product categories, name order did not affect cobrand evaluations, but it did when the brands come from dissimilar product categories. Here, evaluations of the cobrand are enhanced when the invited brand is in the position that adjectives occupy in the participant’s language. The authors also find that being proficient in two languages, each with a different default order for adjectives and nouns, quashes the effect of name order otherwise seen when brands from dissimilar product categories engage in cobranding.

By examining the impact of language structure on the effects of cobrand evaluation and conducting studies among participants with differing dominant languages, this research can rule out simple primacy or recency effects.

The most common reaction to an acute physical illness is anxiety, which may be followed by depression. In patients with chronic diseases, the prevalence of anxiety disorders and depression is almost twice as high as in other diseases. This study aims to extract prominent components in the design of treatment spaces on reducing hospitalized patients’ depression from both experts and patients/users’ point of views. A final model is also presented based on the findings.

This research used an exploratory mixed method. The effective components were extracted through the administration of two Likert-scale researcher-made questionnaires in two phases. Q factor analysis was conducted to reach the components. A total of 205 patients were admitted to Namazi Hospital in Shiraz, and 20 architecture and psychology experts participated in the survey. Final modeling of the data was done through path analysis.

Six factors were found to be effective by experts in reducing depression in therapeutic spaces: nature-oriented space, targeted social space, diverse space, visual comfort, logical process and safe space. On the part of patients, seven components were deemed to be effective: visual perception, naturalism, functionalism, physical security, logical process, psychological safety and diversity. Also, four main cycles were extracted from the final model with the direct effect of diversity and the other five cycles were mediated by naturalism.

A total of 15 interviews with architects and psychologists, who were available at the time of the study, were conducted in January 2018. The only general question during interviews was “In your opinion, what factors are effective in reducing the level of depression of patients in the design of treatment spaces?” This may have limited the range of factors that could be surveyed in the study. After collecting the effective factors from the aforementioned expert’s points of view, the questionnaire of experts was designed (Appendix). The expert questionnaires were distributed and edited in two stages in January 2019 among 20 architect experts who were available at the time of the study. The one-year interval between designing and administering the questionnaires occurred because of the limitations posed by the COVID-19 pandemic situation. However, the interval did not pose methodological obstacles for the study.

Evidence-based investigation of the effectiveness of proper design components of therapeutic spaces in reducing the symptoms of patients with chronic secondary depression has received little attention in the literature. Using a “conceptual model,” the present study brought the issue into its focus so as to find effective components in the design of treatment spaces that can alleviate depression symptoms in chronically hospitalized patients.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of gender diversity in the composition of engagement auditors on the disclosure of key audit matters (KAMs) in a dual-signature environment.

The authors used the unique institutional setup of Taiwan, where the law requires that audit reports be signed by two audit partners. The authors examined the effect of gender diversity composition among engagement auditors on KAM disclosure, considering behavioral differences between female and male auditors.

The empirical results indicate that gender diversity composition in the dual-signature environment is associated with the number of disclosed KAM items (KAMIT) and the length of the explanations for each KAMIT. Furthermore, the authors found that gender diversity composition, particularly when led by female audit partners, has a more pronounced impact on the explanation of each KAMIT rather than on the disclosure of KAMIT. The authors also noted that the moderating effect of audit firm specialization does not influence the gender diversity composition of audit partners in disclosing KAMs.

This study’s empirical findings demonstrate that the interaction between different gender compositions in a dual-signature environment influences KAM disclosure.

The paper proposes a research method to verify the perception bias of consumers on the freshness preservation effects of vacuum packaging (VP) and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) chilled pork packages, the influence of “sensory experience” on correcting consumers' perception bias of packaging performance and willingness-to-pay (WTP) enhancement channels.

Using data from 458 and 188 participants who completed the contingent valuation method (CVM) and auction experiment, respectively, the study aimed to uncover consumers' packing quality perception bias and WTP, and investigated the societal factors that contribute to variations in WTP.

The CVM experiment revealed that although consumers' high perception bias rate toward MAP to maintain freshness, as compared to lab test results, came along with low WTP premium to cost rate with sensory experience in the auction experiment, the proportion of consumers with quality perception bias decreased from 49.85% to 34.46%, while the WTP premium to cost rate for MAP increased largely by 36.7%. Perceptive embedding has a positive effect on chilled pork packaging WTP, while normative embedding decreases WTP.

The findings emphasize the need of public policies to promote positive consumption attitudes, while whittling the negative consumption norms, to increase the WTP for packaged child pork and promote the chilled pork market formation.

This paper aims to identify the profiles of beginner and experienced consumers (BCs and ECs) of craft beer and evaluate their perception, knowledge and purchase intention.

A total of 291 craft beer consumers including 148 BCs and 143 ECs participated in the study, which was divided into 2 stages: quantitative research through a questionnaire and conjoint analysis.

BCs are mostly female, with a lower age, income and consumption frequency, presented a shallower understanding of International Bitterness Units (IBU) and considered 7.0% alcohol by volume (ABV) as a high-relative value in craft beers. Otherwise, ECs are mostly men with a higher age and consumption frequency, and they don't consider 50 IBU as high bitterness. The results of conjoint analysis indicate that both groups of consumers attribute greater relative importance to ABV and nonalcoholic beers had lower purchase intentions. Finally, the authors show that beer with 30 IBU and 4.5% ABV is preferred by both BCs and ECs.

The authors' identification about the distinct behaviors of different groups of consumers, based on their consumption time of craft beer, as managerial implications for industries producing craft beer and, as a theoretical contribution, the authors have defined “BCs” and “ECs” based on the experiences with and durations of craft beer consumption.

Restaurant operators often use auspicious connotations embedded in the names and shapes of dishes to increase consumers’ purchase intentions. However, the interaction effect of multiple auspicious cues (i.e. food name and shape) on purchase intentions has rarely been examined in the restaurant context. Thus, grounded in processing fluency theory, this study investigates the direct influence of the two-way interaction effect of food name (auspicious vs nonauspicious) and shape (auspicious vs. nonauspicious) on purchase intentions and its indirect influence via perceived auspiciousness and positive emotions.

Utilizing a 2 (food name: auspicious name vs. nonauspicious name) × 2 (food shape: auspicious shape vs. nonauspicious shape) between-subjects design, the authors conducted two experimental studies with 356 Chinese customers. In Study 1, which focused on a main dish, we investigated the two-way interaction effect food name × food shape on purchase intentions. In Study 2, we replicated this experimental study by focusing on a different food type (i.e. dessert) to test the direct and indirect influences of the two-way interaction of food name × food shape on purchase intentions through perceived auspiciousness and positive emotions.

The results reveal that the congruity condition of auspicious names and shapes significantly influences consumers’ purchase intentions. Congruity with auspicious food cues also indirectly affects purchase intentions through consumers’ perceived auspiciousness and positive emotions. These effects were consistently observed in two experimental studies analyzing different dish types (main dish and dessert).

Restaurateurs should consider utilizing auspicious food cues to attract customers. Specifically, they should combine both food name and shape to increase their perceived auspiciousness and sales.

This study tested processing fluency theory using auspicious food cues. This study contributes to the hospitality literature by improving our understanding of the congruence effect by exemplifying the conceptual alignment between food name and food shape.

The aim of this paper is to systematically review the literature published in recognized journals focused on recognition-based heuristics and their effect on investment management activities and to ascertain some substantial gaps related to them.

For doing research synthesis, systematic literature review approach was applied considering research studies published within the time period, i.e. 1980–2020. This study attempted to accomplish a critical review of 59 studies out of 118 studies identified, which were published in reputable journals to synthesize the existing literature in the behavioural finance domain-related explicitly to recognition-based heuristics and their effect on investment management activities.

The survey and analysis suggest investors consistently rely on the recognition-based heuristic-driven biases when trading stocks, resulting in irrational decisions, and an investment strategy constructed by implementing the recognition-based heuristics, would not result in better returns to investors on a consistent basis. Institutional investors are less likely to be affected by these name-based behavioural biases in comparison to individual investors. However, under the context of ecological rationality, recognition-based heuristics work better and sometimes dominate the classical methods. The research scholars from the behavioural finance community have highlighted that recognition-based heuristics and their impact on investment management activities are high profile areas, needed to be explored further in the field of behavioural finance. The study of recognition-based heuristic-driven biases has been found to be insufficient in the context of emerging economies like Pakistan.

The skilful understanding and knowledge of the recognition-based heuristic-driven biases will help the investors, financial institutions and policy-makers to overcome the adverse effect of these behavioural biases in the stock market. This article provides a detailed explanation of recognition-based heuristic-driven biases and their influence on investment management activities which could be very useful for finance practitioners’ such as investor who plays at the stock exchange, a portfolio manager, a financial strategist/advisor in an investment firm, a financial planner, an investment banker, a trader/ broker at the stock exchange or a financial analyst. But most importantly, the term also includes all those persons who manage corporate entities and are responsible for making its financial management strategies.

Currently, no recent study exists, which reviews and evaluates the empirical research on recognition-based heuristic-driven biases displayed by investors. The current study is original in discussing the role of recognition-based heuristic-driven biases in investment management activities by means of research synthesis. This paper is useful to researchers, academicians, and those working in the area of behavioural finance in understanding the role that recognition-based heuristics plays in investment management activities.

The purpose of this research is to identify how a reward programme name (“loyalty programme” (LP) versus “customer club” (CC)) influences the type of central rewards expected and their impact on loyalty to the retailer.

The authors conducted a survey followed by an experiment.

Central rewards from programmes called LP are equally hard and soft, whereas central rewards from programmes called CC are mainly soft. Providing customers with central rewards increases satisfaction with the programme and loyalty to the retailer, but only for programmes called LP.

Loyalty managers are advised to pay particular attention to the consistency between the type of rewards they offer and the reward programme name that carries them. Contrary to the name LP that leads to me-too programmes, the name CC offers more flexibility to choose the rewards, providing opportunities to stand out from competing programmes.

By building on a new and original theoretical approach, this research is the first attempt to investigate the effect of the reward programme naming decisions on customers' evaluations and responses.

This study aims to use a qualitative approach to explore and clarify the mechanism by which heuristic-driven biases influence the decisions and performance of individual investors actively trading on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). It also aims to identify how to overcome the negative effect of heuristic-driven biases, so that finance practitioners can avoid the expensive errors which they cause.

This study adopts an interpretative approach. Qualitative data was collected in semistructured interviews, in which the target population was asked open-ended questions. The sample consists of five brokers and/or investment strategists/advisors who maintain investors’ accounts or provide investment advice to investors on the PSX, who were selected on a convenient basis. The researchers analyzed the interview data thematically.

The results confirm that investors often use heuristics, causing several heuristic-driven biases when trading on the stock market, specifically, reliance on recognition-based heuristics, namely, alphabetical ordering of firm names, name memorability and name fluency, as well as cognitive heuristics, such as herding behavior, disposition effect, anchoring and adjustment, repetitiveness, overconfidence and availability biases. These lead investors to make suboptimal decisions relating to their investment management activities. Due to these heuristic-driven biases, investors trade excessively in the stock market, and their investment performance is adversely affected.

This study provides a practical framework to explore and clarify the mechanism by which heuristic-driven biases influence investment management activities. To the best of authors’ knowledge, the current study is the first to focus on links between heuristic-driven biases, investment decisions and performance using a qualitative approach. Furthermore, with the help of a qualitative approach, the investigators also highlight some factors causing an increased use of heuristic variables by investors and discuss practical approaches to overcoming the negative effects of heuristics factors, so that finance practitioners can avoid repeating the expensive errors which they cause, which also differentiates this study from others.

Engaging in webcare, i.e. responding to online reviews, can positively affect consumer attitudes, intentions and behavior. Research is often scarce or inconsistent regarding the effects of specific webcare strategies on business performance. Therefore, this study tests whether and how several webcare strategies affect hotel bookings.

We apply machine learning classifiers to secondary data (webcare messages) to classify webcare variables to be included in a regression analysis looking at the effect of these strategies on hotel bookings while controlling for possible confounds such as seasonality and hotel-specific effects.

The strategies that have a positive effect on bookings are directing reviewers to a private channel, being defensive, offering compensation and having managers sign the response. Webcare strategies to be avoided are apologies, merely asking for more information, inviting customers for another visit and adding informal non-verbal cues. Strategies that do not appear to affect future bookings are expressing gratitude, personalizing and having staff members (rather than managers) sign webcare.

These findings help managers optimize their webcare strategy for better business results and develop automated webcare.

We look into several commonly used and studied webcare strategies that affect actual business outcomes, being that most previous research studies are experimental or look into a very limited set of strategies.