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Despite the acknowledged importance of an understanding of the determinants of and processes affecting the salesperson‐customer interaction, this issue still remains an enigma. Posits that, of the two main philosophical stances available in the study of human behaviour (i.e. mediationism and behaviourism), the prevailing approaches adopted in the study of the salesperson‐customer interaction are mediationistic in nature and are, for the most part, uncritically accepted. States that in order to improve current understanding of the salesperson‐customer interaction, alternative sources for explaining this dyad should be introduced into the field of study. Argues that the competing philosophical stance offered by radical behaviourism may be suitable for this purpose, providing an examination of how this approach can be utilized to explain buying behaviour within the sales interaction context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychological empowerment affects individuals’ likelihood of publicly punishing a company with whom they had unsatisfactory experiences through online complaining behaviors.

A 3 (intrapersonal empowerment: high/low/control) by 3 (interactional empowerment: high/low/control) online experiment was designed using the priming technique. Following the priming tasks, participants were given a scenario in which a restaurant failed their expectations followed by dependent and control measures.

Results revealed a significant main effect of interactional empowerment: participants in the low interactional empowerment condition reported being less likely to engage in the revenge-motivated online public complaining behaviors than participants in the control condition. The study also found a significant interaction effect between interactional and intrapersonal empowerment.

The study findings yield practical application for crisis management and relationship management. Understanding the linkage between power and online complaining behaviors should help corporate communication professionals to better perform risk assessment, environmental scanning and crisis communication and management.

Limited empirical studies have investigated the linkage between empowerment and online complaining behaviors in the consumer context. The present study fills this gap by conceptualizing online public complaining as a revenge-motivated behavior. The study yields both theoretical and practical implications.

Consumer theory and research are generally founded on the assumption that observed behaviour is mediated by intrapersonal events. This pervasive view now threatens to impede theoretical development by precluding the establishment of models based on alternative assumptions. Following Feyerabend's advocacy of the active interplay of tenaciously held, incommensurable theories as an essential component of scientific progress, this article examines the relevance to consumer theory of radical behaviourism, which accords explanatory power exclusively to the environmental consequences of behaviour, denying causative significance to intrapersonal processes and events.

In this chapter, we theorize that metaperceptions (beliefs about how one is viewed by others) derived from social identity categories will influence intrapersonal processing and resultant member interaction patterns in diverse work groups. In turn, such patterns of interactions will affect the quality of emergent states within diverse groups, ultimately impacting group-level outcomes. We will extend previous work in this area by examining the formation, nature, and consequences of metaperceptions in workgroups within which individuals vary with regard to social identities. In addition, we will describe the implications of metaperceptions for the effective leadership of diverse groups.

Scholars and practitioners in the OB literature nowadays appreciate that emotions and emotional regulation constitute an inseparable part of work life, but the HRM literature has lagged in addressing the emotional dimensions of life at work. In this chapter therefore, beginning with a multi-level perspective taken from the OB literature, we introduce the roles played by emotions and emotional regulation in the workplace and discuss their implications for HRM. We do so by considering five levels of analysis: (1) within-person temporal variations, (2) between persons (individual differences), (3) interpersonal processes; (4) groups and teams, and (5) the organization as a whole. We focus especially on processes of emotional regulation in both self and others, including discussion of emotional labor and emotional intelligence. In the opening sections of the chapter, we discuss the nature of emotions and emotional regulation from an OB perspective by introducing the five-level model, and explaining in particular how emotions and emotional regulation play a role at each of the levels. We then apply these ideas to four major domains of concern to HR managers: (1) recruitment, selection, and socialization; (2) performance management; (3) training and development; and (4) compensation and benefits. In concluding, we stress the interconnectedness of emotions and emotional regulation across the five levels of the model, arguing that emotions and emotional regulation at each level can influence effects at other levels, ultimately culminating in the organization’s affective climate.

The purpose of this case study is to examine a new entrepreneurial business in Kiev, Ukraine. The focus is the difference between employees' espoused values and their deep beliefs, which leads to conflict among and within employees.

A theory is proposed about the interaction of espoused values, theory‐in‐use and cultural beliefs. Observation and interviews with staff demonstrated that there was great effort to live out the new espoused values, and also that cultural beliefs hindered this effort.

The proposed theory was supported. The role of the leader in modeling the espoused values was seen to be important for the employees' ability to live up to the new espoused values, and deserves further research.

Limitations include: replication of the study is needed before findings can safely be generalized. The capital city effect means the findings may apply to organizations in Kiev and not other Ukrainian cities.

The implication of the study is that employees' theories‐in‐use may undermine change, even when employees affirm the change, and the modeling of the leader might be essential in order for employees to change their theories‐in‐use. This may apply in organizations beyond Ukraine.

Understanding the impact of theory‐in‐use shaped by Ukrainian culture might be valuable for non‐Ukrainians doing business in Ukraine.

Methodological pluralism in consumer research is usually confined to post‐positivist interpretive approaches. Argues, however, that a positivistic stance, radical behaviourism, can enrich epistemological debate among researchers with the recognition of radical behaviourism′s ultimate reliance on interpretation as well as science. Although radical behaviourist explanation was initially founded on Machian positivism, its account of complex social behaviours such as purchase and consumption is necessarily interpretive, inviting comparison with the hermeneutical approaches currently emerging in consumer research. Radical behaviourist interpretation attributes meaning to behaviour by identifying its environmental determinants, especially the learning history of the individual in relation to the consequences similar prior behaviour has effected. The nature of such interpretation is demonstrated for purchase and consumption responses by means of a critique of radical behaviourism as applied to complex human activity. In the process, develops and applies a framework for radical behaviourist interpretation of purchase and consumption to four operant equifinality classes of consumer behaviour: accomplishment, pleasure, accumulation and maintenance. Some epistemological implications of this framework, the behavioural perspective model (BPM) of purchase and consumption, are discussed in the context of the relativity and incommensurability of research paradigms. Finally, evaluates the interpretive approach, particularly in terms of its relevance to the nature and understanding of managerial marketing.

We present a model of organizational monitoring that integrates organizational justice and information privacy. Specifically, we adopt the position that the formation of invasiveness and unfairness attitudes is a goal-driven process. We employ cybernetic control theory and identity theory to describe how monitoring systems affect one's ability to maintain a positive self-concept. Monitoring provides a particularly powerful cue that directs attention to self-awareness. People draw on fairness and privacy relevant cues inherent in monitoring systems and embedded in monitoring environments (e.g., justice climate) to evaluate their identities. Discrepancies between actual and desired personal and social identities create distress, motivating employees to engage in behavioral self-regulation to counteract potentially threatening monitoring systems. Organizational threats to personal identity goals lead to increased invasiveness attitudes and a commitment to protect and enhance the self. Threats to social identity lead to increased unfairness attitudes and lowered commitment to one's organization. Implications for theory and research on monitoring, justice, and privacy are discussed along with practical implications.