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1 – 10 of 27Mark Yi-Cheon Yim, Eunice (Eun-Sil) Kim and Hongmin Ahn
In keeping with recent body image social trends, consumer demand for the adoption of plus-size models is increasing, although the use of thin models remains prevalent. The current…
Abstract
Purpose
In keeping with recent body image social trends, consumer demand for the adoption of plus-size models is increasing, although the use of thin models remains prevalent. The current study explores how consumers process information about fashion products displayed on different sizes of models in advertisements, focusing on model and consumer body sizes and both genders. As an underlying mechanism explaining how the relationship between model and consumer body sizes shapes consumer purchase intention, this study explores the role of guilt, shame and mental imagery.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study uses a text analytics technique to identify female consumers' general opinions of thin models in advertising. Employing a 3 (consumer body size: normal, overweight, obese) × 2 (model body size: thin, plus-size) × 2 (gender: male, female) between-subjects online experiment (n = 718), the main study comparatively analyzes the influences of plus-size and thin models on consumer responses.
Findings
The results reveal that, despite body positivity movements, thin models still generate negative emotions among female consumers. For obese female consumers, advertisements featuring plus-size models produce fewer negative emotions but not more mental imagery than advertisements featuring thin models. Conversely, for obese male consumers, advertisements featuring plus-size models generate more mental imagery but not more negative emotions than advertisements featuring thin models. The results also reveal that the relationship between consumer body size and guilt is moderated by perceived model size, which is also moderated by gender in generating mental imagery. While guilt plays a mediating role in enhancing mental imagery, resulting in purchase intention, shame does not take on this role.
Originality/value
This study is the first to present an integrated model that elucidates how consumers with varying body sizes respond to different sizes of models in advertising and how these responses impact purchase intentions.
Research limitations/implications
Our findings only apply to contexts where consumers purchase fashion clothing in response to advertisements featuring thin versus plus-size models.
Practical implications
Exposing normal-size consumers to plus-size models generates less mental imagery, and thus, practitioners should seek to match the body sizes of the models featured in advertising to the body sizes of their target audience or ad campaigns that include both plus-size and thin models may help improve message persuasiveness in fashion advertising. Moreover, guilt-appeal advertising campaigns using thin models would appeal more to thin consumers of both genders than shame-appeal advertising.
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Hanna Shin, Yan Li and Nara Youn
The authors investigated the factors influencing consumer evaluations of advertisements for ethical luxury products that incorporate animal rights and protection concerns. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors investigated the factors influencing consumer evaluations of advertisements for ethical luxury products that incorporate animal rights and protection concerns. The authors empirically examined how ethical messages influence advertisement persuasiveness through ethical consumer guilt and positively impact consumer evaluations of ethical luxury products. Furthermore, the authors explored the moderating role of consumers’ independent versus interdependent self-construals.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted four experimental studies on the interplay among ethicality, luxury brand positioning and self-construal. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that moral emotions were responsible for the effect of ethical luxury advertisements that address animal welfare on brand attitude.
Findings
Advertisement messages signaling a luxury brand’s ethical efforts increase empathy through ethical consumer guilt, thereby generating favorable attitudes toward luxury products. However, this effect is limited to consumers with independent self-construal in South Korea and the United States of America.
Originality/value
The authors offer novel insights into the roles of ethical consumer guilt and empathy in the positive effects of ethical messages from luxury brands. Furthermore, the authors identified brand type and self-construal as boundary conditions for the effects observed across different consumer groups and markets.
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Xingxin Li, Yanfei Wang, Yu Zhu and Lixun Zheng
Drawing on affective events theory (AET), this study aims to investigate how and when leader voice solicitation affects employees’ innovative behavior. Specifically, this study…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on affective events theory (AET), this study aims to investigate how and when leader voice solicitation affects employees’ innovative behavior. Specifically, this study proposes that leader voice solicitation evokes employees’ feelings of pride, which subsequently motivate employees’ innovative behavior. Moreover, collectivism orientation plays a moderating role in this process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected 251 supervisor–subordinate dyadic data in two phases and employed structural equational modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results revealed that employees’ feelings of pride mediate the positive relationship between leader voice solicitation and employees’ innovative behavior. Collectivism orientation intensifies the mediated relationship.
Originality/value
This study extends the potential outcome variables of leader voice solicitation. Moreover, it introduces a novel theoretical perspective to explore the impact of leader voice solicitation on employees. Importantly, this study examines the mediating effect of pride and the moderating effect of collectivism orientation, deepening the understanding of how and when leader voice solicitation affects innovative behavior.
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Padma Angmo and Rachna Mahajan
Virtual influencers (VIs), who are fictional characters, have gained popularity in recent years, particularly among Generation Z and millennials. With the hype surrounding VIs…
Abstract
Purpose
Virtual influencers (VIs), who are fictional characters, have gained popularity in recent years, particularly among Generation Z and millennials. With the hype surrounding VIs, more research is required. Thus, this study aims to examine how Gen Z members and millennials react to VIs used for marketing purposes.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows an exploratory approach. The data were collected from 29 participants (14 male and 15 female) through two focus groups and semi-structured interviews.
Findings
The authors found that opinions about VIs were mixed, and two main themes emerged from the study: (1) challenges and potential and (2) decision-making and psychological aspects.
Originality/value
This study broadens the paradigm for analysing the efficacy of VIs. This emerging topic is of relevance for the marketing sector as well as for transdisciplinary research and practice.
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This study examines how the presence of labor unions affects a firm’s pay disparity between executives and employees and its financial statement comparability.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how the presence of labor unions affects a firm’s pay disparity between executives and employees and its financial statement comparability.
Design/methodology/approach
It uses firm-level labor union data in Korea and applies regression analyses to a sample of 1,776 firm-year observations from 2004 to 2008.
Findings
The authors find that unionized firms have a smaller pay disparity between executives and employees than non-unionized firms, suggesting that labor unions place pressure on the pay structure. Unionization also lowers financial statement comparability, which helps managers of unionized firms maintain information asymmetry. Further, this negative relationship between unionization and financial statement comparability is stronger in non-chaebol firms, implying that they are more motivated than chaebol firms to reduce their financial statement comparability in response to the presence of labor unions. In addition, the negative relationship between unionization and financial statement comparability is pronounced in profit-making firms, firms with less analyst following, firms with fewer foreign investors and firms in more competitive product markets.
Research limitations/implications
The finding that firms adjust comparability in response to labor unions interests regulators and policymakers, who emphasize the role of comparability in providing usefulness to information users.
Originality/value
The findings add to the existing literature on the effect of labor unions on firms' pay structures and accounting choices.
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Cheryl Ann Lambert, Michele E. Ewing and Toqa Hassan
Fake news stories have become a central element of crises that corporate public relations practitioners have confronted. Whether such stories are rumors, outright lies or…
Abstract
Purpose
Fake news stories have become a central element of crises that corporate public relations practitioners have confronted. Whether such stories are rumors, outright lies or deliberate attempts to discredit corporations, they have the same impact and require specific strategies for public relations practitioners to effectively respond. The purpose of this study is to uncover strategies to manage crises that arise from fake news and if and how these strategies differ for other corporate crises.
Design/methodology/approach
In this multi-method study of 21 in-depth interviews and a 8-person focus group with senior-level corporate public relations practitioners, authors explored decision-making strategies for responding to fake news crises. Transcripts of interviews and the focus group were thematically analyzed.
Findings
Results reveal insights regarding how public relations practitioners determine if and when to respond to fake news crises in corporations; what response strategies public relations practitioners have the autonomy to employ for fake news crises in corporations, and how public relations practitioners control media narratives during fake news crises in corporations.
Practical implications
The findings guide public relations practitioners to craft an autonomous decision-making process and effective online listening strategies—establishing a watchful waiting approach—and determine if the fake news issue is a passing moment or movement swirling into a crisis.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined the perspectives of crisis communication experts about minimizing and managing fake news crises. The study identifies opportunities for future research focused on crises originating from fake news and disinformation.
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Bohee So and Ki Han Kwon
This study, a narrative literature review, aims to examine the combined benefits of the active and passive use of social media (SM) for well-being (WB), physical and mental health…
Abstract
Purpose
This study, a narrative literature review, aims to examine the combined benefits of the active and passive use of social media (SM) for well-being (WB), physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A search strategy has been carried out in the databases: Riss, PubMed, Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar, including all the articles published until 19 October 2023.
Findings
SM offers various benefits, including global risk awareness, health information, social connections and support. With the natural increase in physical inactivity due to COVID-19 social restrictions, SM has been identified as an appropriate tool for promoting physical activity (PA) at home to improve health.
Research limitations/implications
It suggests that the combined use of active and passive benefits of SM could potentially play an important role in public health by increasing individuals’ health behaviours. In addition, dissemination, sharing and social interaction of information provided by YouTube can encourage healthy behaviours, contribute to WB, physical and mental health and raise public health awareness.
Originality/value
The findings presented in this study highlight the combined benefits of differentiating the features of SM use. Compared to other SM platforms, YouTube can be used as a useful tool for home-based PA that promotes health by enabling people to remain active and avoid barriers to PA due to social restrictions during the global crisis. In addition, some recommendations from the findings may help protect against potential risks and improve public health outcomes during global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, among the general public using SM.
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Eyyub Can Odacioglu, Lihong Zhang, Richard Allmendinger and Azar Shahgholian
There is a growing need for methodological plurality in advancing operations management (OM), especially with the emergence of machine learning (ML) techniques for analysing…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing need for methodological plurality in advancing operations management (OM), especially with the emergence of machine learning (ML) techniques for analysing extensive textual data. To bridge this knowledge gap, this paper introduces a new methodology that combines ML techniques with traditional qualitative approaches, aiming to reconstruct knowledge from existing publications.
Design/methodology/approach
In this pragmatist-rooted abductive method where human-machine interactions analyse big data, the authors employ topic modelling (TM), an ML technique, to enable constructivist grounded theory (CGT). A four-step coding process (Raw coding, expert coding, focused coding and theory building) is deployed to strive for procedural and interpretive rigour. To demonstrate the approach, the authors collected data from an open-source professional project management (PM) website and illustrated their research design and data analysis leading to theory development.
Findings
The results show that TM significantly improves the ability of researchers to systematically investigate and interpret codes generated from large textual data, thus contributing to theory building.
Originality/value
This paper presents a novel approach that integrates an ML-based technique with human hermeneutic methods for empirical studies in OM. Using grounded theory, this method reconstructs latent knowledge from massive textual data and uncovers management phenomena hidden from published data, offering a new way for academics to develop potential theories for business and management studies.
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Priyanka Thakral, Koustab Ghosh and Dheeraj Sharma
The purpose of this paper is to integrate academic research on hubristic organizational leaders by proposing a comprehensive conceptual framework and research directions on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to integrate academic research on hubristic organizational leaders by proposing a comprehensive conceptual framework and research directions on the hubristic literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper systematically reviewed 25 years of literature on hubristic organizational leaders based on the PRISMA methodology.
Findings
The literature on hubristic leaders is analyzed, and a conceptual framework is presented that highlights the antecedent, consequence, mediators and moderators. Literature has primarily focused on the negative impact of hubris leadership concerning firm performance and destructive behaviors. Few scholars have explored the positive side of hubris leadership, relating it to innovation and product success.
Originality/value
This paper presents the first systematic review of hubristic organizational leaders, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. The review provides an improved grasp of the current status of research, trends and potential future research directions.
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Sebastián Javier García-Dastugue and Horacio E. Rousseau
Managerial “awareness” of supply chain management (SCM) principles is a key antecedent of SCM adoption. However, supply chain awareness (SCA) provides fertile ground for further…
Abstract
Purpose
Managerial “awareness” of supply chain management (SCM) principles is a key antecedent of SCM adoption. However, supply chain awareness (SCA) provides fertile ground for further development. The authors combine extant research with the attention-based view of the firm to further develop SCA and theorize about its effect in an understudied context.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors combine SCA with supply chain orientation, of which awareness is central. The authors combine qualitative and archival data for a 10-year period to test SCA in nonprofits. SCA was measured unobtrusively to avoid respondent bias; then, the authors explore how SCA relates to revenue generation from services provided.
Findings
SCA correlates positively with revenue generation. Drawing on a contingency perspective, the authors test two moderators relevant to nonprofits. The positive effect of SCA on revenue is stronger for nonprofits collocated in cities with corporate headquarters but weaker for those with larger boards.
Research limitations/implications
The study further advances the notion of awareness for studying SCM phenomena and provides evidence of its relevance in the unexamined context of human services nonprofit organizations (NPOs). This work has implications for how attention to SCM principles shapes organizational outcomes, the factors that moderate these relationships and the importance of unobtrusively measuring awareness in SCM research. The authors used WayBack Machine to harvest websites. However, the quality and depth of text obtained prior to 2008 were lower than those of later years. Additionally, archival data for NPOs are limited.
Practical implications
Findings inform about the fit between nonprofit resources, type of board and fit with how to fund operations. This research provides an alternative way for policy makers to assess NPO capacity by focusing on the fundamental SCM concepts.
Social implications
The authors contribute to the dialogue about NPOs developing financial independence through revenue generation from services sold to end customers.
Originality/value
NPOs are seldom studied in SCM. This is an attempt to study NPOs by combining qualitative and quantitative data.
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