Research findings show that money attitude dimensions variedly affect compulsive buying. We surveyed 750 Generation Y South Africans to examine whether gender and family resources received during childhood is influencing the varied impact of money attitude dimensions on compulsive buying. Depending on whether low or high family resources were received during childhood, we found gender differences and a similarity on how money attitude dimensions affect compulsive buying. In terms of similarity, we found that high provision of both tangible and intangible family resources during childhood promotes the development of budget money attitude, which negatively affects the development of compulsive buying behavior.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is beginning to grow significantly. The market is estimated at 26 billion IOT devices by 2020 (Gartner). Amounts of investments in this new technology and the rapid spread of connected devices highlight the great potential of this sector (Porter & Heppelmann, 2014). These new connected and smart products are revolutionizing consumers’ lives. Nevertheless, the Internet of Things raises significant challenges (security, privacy, trust…) and ethical issues. Furthermore, more and more gadgets are being added to the Internet of Things ecosystem. This raises questions about the utility and the added value of these innovations. A quantitative survey was carried out to understand why consumers resist to smart watches. To collect data, a self-administered, cross-sectional survey was given to first-year and second-year undergraduate students. We received a total of 265 survey forms. Structural equation modelling was used to test the conceptual model. Results show that the theoretical model has acceptable indicators of fit. Findings show that perceived usefulness, perceived price, intrusiveness and self-efficacy have an impact on consumer resistance to smart products. However, the effect of dependence on consumer resistance was not statistically significant. The contributions of this paper are twofold. On the one hand, to our best knowledge, no research has studied smart products through a resistance approach. To date, most research dealing with IoT are focused on adoption (Kim & Shin, 2015) or purchase intention of smart products (Chang et al., 2014). Second, our research contributes to the literature by providing an empirical evidence of the role of intrusiveness, perceived price and usefulness in the development of resistance to smart products.

Introduction Since most companies are constantly confronted with incremental technology obsolescence and the risk of disruptive innovations, they have been struggling to pursue both incremental and radical new product developments (NPD). Due to these practical concerns, scholars have conducted research to reveal which factors promote “ambidexterity (O’Reilly & Tushman, 2008)” of both explorative activities, including radical NPD, and exploitative activities, including incremental NPD, mainly focusing on organizational structures and systems. For example, previous studies have suggested organizational structures (Gibson & Birkinshaw, 2004), cross-functional integration (Brettel, Heinemann, Engelen and Neubauer, 2011), and management systems (Benner & Tushman, 2003) are the factors to promote ambidexterity. Furthermore, recent studies have emerged suggesting the importance of cognition in pursuing both radical and incremental NPD (Smith & Tushman, 2005; Eling, Griffin, & Langerak, 2014). Although the importance of cognitive processes in NPD has been suggested in some studies, the research exploring these roles is scarce. Therefore, this study attempts to fill in the gaps by revealing the roles of cognitive processes (analytical processing, intuitive processing, and associative processing) on radical and incremental NPD performance empirically. Theoretical Background and Literature Review The purpose of this section is to attempt to reveal the points not addressed adequately in extant literature. In order to do so, firstly, this section tries to classify the cognitive processing in previous studies, according to some criteria. Secondly, the section reviews the empirical research regarding the effects of cognitive processing on decision-making. Lastly, it goes on to compare the reviewed empirical studies with the classification of cognitive processing that are indicated and attempts to review the gaps in previous research. The research on cognitive processing Referring to the rule-based processing and the associative processing, proposed in Smith & Decoster (2000), as well as the logico-deductive manner of rational choice and the associative thinking, proposed in Gavetti (2005, 2012), this study proposes three types of cognitive processing: analytical, intuitive, and associative processing.Analytical processing involves a comprehensive consideration of various factors, such as market environments, competitors’ behaviors and strategic alternatives, to make a judgement. One example of analytical processing is that we use a 3C framework to make a judgement regarding a new product concept. Intuitive processing involves making a judgement based on intuition, or judging without deliberation. One example of intuitive processing is adopting the product design that arouses feeling of rightness of choice (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006) or excitement (Agor, 1986) without clear bases. Associative processing involves consciously searching for a past experience or knowledge which is similar to a current situation, and making a judgement based on it. One example of this is when we intentionally recall a past experience in NPD, or a case in another industry that is similar to the current NPD situation, and determine the strategy by following it. The empirical research on the effect of cognitive processing There is an accumulation of empirical research on the effect of cognitive processing on decision making performance, management, and marketing literature. Dean and Sharfman (1996) empirically considered the relationship between the procedural rationality, defined as “the extent to which the decision process involves the collection of information relevant to the decision and the reliance upon analysis of this information in making the choice” (p. 373) and strategic decision effectiveness. Menon, Bharadwaj, Adidam and Edison (1999) empirically examines the relationship between situation analysis, referring to “rational and systematic consideration of the organizational SWOTs in a marketing strategy domains” (p. 21), and market performance, strategy creativity, and organizational learning. Yamashita, Fukudome, Uehara, and Sasaki (2012) studies the relationship between marketing strategy, referring to the extent that the marketer uses STP framework in the phase of decision making, and business unit’s performance. The constructs, such as procedural rationality, situational analysis, and marketing strategy, seem to approximately correspond to the analytical processing indicated in the previous section. Although previous research reviewed so far only focuses on analytical processing, there is research considering other cognitive processing. De Visser et al. (2014) examines the effects of NPD team’s intuitive information processing and analytical information processing on incremental and radical NPD’s overall performance. This study suggests that analytical processing affects overall NPD performance positively while intuitive processing affects only radical NPD performance in a positive manner. Table 1 indicates the arrangement of the reviewed empirical studies. The gaps in the literature From the previous research review, this study indicates three points not addressed adequately in the literature. First, as shown in Table 1, there is little research focusing on cognitive processing aside from analytical processing (especially on associative processing). Second, the research considering the relationship between cognitive processing and radical/ incremental NPD performance is scarce (except for de Visser etal (2014)). Third, little research has considered the effects of the cognitive processing of a new product development (NPD) leader, on the NPD performance. Given these points, this study focuses on the cognitive process of a NPD leader and considers the effects of analytical processing, intuitive processing, and associative processing, on incremental/ radical NPD project performance. Table 1 Research Hypotheses Generally, the uncertainty of incremental NPD projects is low. In such situations, it is relatively easy for NPD leaders to collect and analyze various data for judgements (analytical processing), enabling them to estimate and predict the surrounding situation more accurately. Thus, analytical processing affects the incremental NPD project positively. Using intuitive processing, a NPD leader makes judgements, automatically referring to past repeated experiences (cf. Smith & DeCoster, 2000). These judgements are correct in most cases, but judgement errors are sometimes brought about, due to inaccurate application of repeated experiences to a judgement. Furthermore, due to its automatic and preconscious nature, the bases of the judgement guided by intuitive processing cannot be explained clearly (Smith & DeCoster, 2000; Eling et al., 2014), which seems to increase the frequency of conflicts. Taking these effects in consideration, this study predicts that intuitive processing does not affect incremental NPD project performance. Using associative processing, a NPD leader replaces an uncertain situation with a past experience or knowledge that is more familiar to them, in order to make a judgement. However, such replacement is not effective in incremental NPD projects because, in general, they tend to be less uncertain. Thus, it is predicted that associative processing does not affect incremental NPD project performance. H1a: As a NPD leader uses the analytical processing more frequently in an incremental NPD project, the NPD project performance will be higher. H1b: The frequency of using intuitive processing by a NPD leader does not affect the incremental NPD project performance. H1c: The frequency of using associative processing by a NPD leader does not affect the incremental NPD project performance. Generally, as the needs of radical NPD deviates from organizations’ existing routines (Smith & Tushman, 2005), its uncertainty increases. In these situations, analytical processing is not appropriate for judgements due to the factors such as a lack of information and defined criteria (March, 2006). Part of the previous research suggests the positive effect of intuitive processing on radical NPD performance due to its tendency to generate creative ideas (de Visser et al., 2014). Given this, it is predicted that intuitive processing by a NPD leader positively affects the radical NPD performance. In contrast, it is also said that intuitive processing is likely tocause error of judgement in novel situations or strategies (cf. Miller & Ireland, 2005), and conflicts. Considering these, this study does not posit that any directional relationship between intuitive processing and radical NPD project performance. Associative processing can cope with uncertain situations by relating and drawing similarities from a previous familiar experience to the current uncertain situation (Gavetti, 2012). In addition, since associative processing is a conscious mental activity, its risk of error of judgement is lower than that of intuitive processing (cf. Stanovich & West, 2000). Considering this, it is predicted that there will be a positive effect of associative processing on radical NPD project performance. H2a: The frequency of using analytical processing by a NPD leader does not affect the radical NPD project performance. H2b: The frequency of using intuitive processing by a NPD leader affects the radical NPD project performance. H2c: As a NPD leader uses the associative processing more frequently in a radical NPD project; the NPD project performance will be higher. The depth of NPD leader’s experience refers to the extent that he has engaged in many NPD projects in one product category. The width of the NPD leader’s experience means the extent that he has engaged in NPD projects in various product categories. For want of space, the detailed explanation of H3 is skipped in this abstract. H3: The depth and width of the NPD leader’s experience moderate the relationship between cognitive processing and NPD project performance. Figure 1 METHODOLOGY This study uses the data collected from Japanese high-tech manufacturing companies, through survey research. The collected data will be used to empirically test the hypotheses. At the empirical test, the samples will be divided into two groups according to the NPD radicalness, and each group will be applied hierarchical multiple regression analysis to examine the relationship among the constructs. This study incorporates three independent variables, one dependent variable, three moderator variables and three control variables, into the model. The independent variables are analytical, intuitive, and associative processing. The dependent variable is overall NPD project performance. The moderator variables are NPD radicalness, depth and width of NPD leader’s experience. The control variables are firm size, devoted resource and the development period of a new product. The main variables of this model will be measured as follows. The scales of analytical processing and intuitive processing are developed, referring to those of Epstein et al. (1996) and de Visser et al. (2014). The scale of associative processing is developed for this study by drawing on the extant literature such as Gavetti(2005; 2012). Overall NPD project performance is measured by adopting the scale of Hoegl, Weinkauf, and Gemuenden (2004). The results of the analysis will be reported at the presentation in 2016 Global Marketing Conference in Hong Kong.

Marketing literature have widely discussed the interplay between marketing capabilities (i.e. company resources and competences in marketing-mix area), market orientation, company innovativeness and company performance (e.g. Knight & Cavusgil, 2004; Luca & Atuahene-Gima, 2007; Moorman & Slotegraaf, 1999; Morgan, Vorhies, & Mason, 2009). However, these studies presented static view of marketing capabilities and resources which becomes less and less relevant in today uncertain market environments (Day, 2011). In this study we follow dynamic capability view (DCV) in management research (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000; Teece, Pisano, & Shuen, 1997) and we distinguish dynamic marketing capabilities (DMC) from other dynamic capabilities, company resources and competencies (Barrales - Molina, Martínez - López, & Gázquez - Abad, 2014; Morgan, 2012). Specifically, we conceptualize Dynamic Marketing Reconfiguration (DMR) as a DMC grounded explicitly in dynamic capability view and we provide empirical test for a research model, where DMR is hypothesized as factor complementing Market Orientation and influencing on company product innovation success. Corresponding with contingency theory (Donaldson, 2001; Drazin & Van de Ven, 1985), in this study we hypothesize and test the idea that DMR is a company capability that is in a good “fit” with certain organizational and environmental factors. Morgan (2012) and Barrales - Molina, et al. (2014) have proposed dynamic marketing capabilities (DMC) aligned with concepts of “market knowledge” and “marketing resources” and they distinguish DMC from other company capabilities (e.g. manufacturing capabilities, SCM capabilities). Recent marketing literature illustrated empirically that there are actually various DMCs that the focal company may utilize to achieve competitive advantage. For example, Narver, Slater & MacLachlan (2004) focus on Proactive Market Orientation that enable dynamic sensing and satisfying unconscious consumer needs through new product development. Weerawardena, et al. (2015) tested the impact of global dynamic marketing capability and market focused learning on innovation performance and company early internationalization. In this study we focus on specific dynamic marketing capability that complements prior works in this area, namely Dynamic Marketing Reconfiguration (DMR). In line with DCV we conceptualize DMR as company routines oriented at transforming market knowledge into modified and new configurations of marketing resources that are better aligned with market changes. Corresponding with prior studies on static marketing resources and capabilities (Knight & Cavusgil, 2004; Moorman & Slotegraaf, 1999; Morgan, Vorhies, & Mason, 2009), we argue that DMR utilizes such static resources dynamically by systematic enriching and combining them, and,as the consequence, the company equipped with advanced DMR can improve their alignment with the market environment. We do not assume that DMR equals strategy orientating company only at new marketing resources (e.g. utilizing new market knowledge, implementing new advertising instruments, brand repositioning, entering new market segments), but rather at improved configurations of marketing resources (e.g. combing existing resources and marketing experience with new marketing tools in effective way). Our conceptualization of DMR mirrors some real marketing practices that are observable in case of companies operating successfully in regional markets and companies operating on global scale today. The spectacular illustration of DMR is Disney corporation strategy with regard to their new product “Star Wars: the Force Awakens” that was released in December 2015. Disney have implemented very dynamic, innovative and massive approach to promotion of their new product, complementing their traditional advertising tools (e.g. TV advertisement, toys) by modern instruments, such as fan events, new computer games, cartoons and PR in social media (Bart, 2015; Schwartz, 2015). The positive influence of Market Orientation (MO) on company product innovations and company performance was widely discussed in prior studies (Atuahene-Gima, 1996; Han, Kim, & Srivastava, 1998; Hurley & Hult, 1998; Kumar, Jones, Venkatesan, & Leone, 2011). Following Narver, et al. (2004), in this study we treat MO as business’s attempt to understand and to satisfy customers’ needs. Such understanding is useful at every stage of new product development. Additionally, MO does not help the company only through positive impact on product innovativeness, but also through leveraging effectiveness of all marketing resources and instruments, because they are aligned with knowledge about customer needs. Thus, we hypothesize: H1.1: The higher Market Orientation of the company, the stronger success of its product innovations. H1.2: The higher Market Orientation of the company, the better company performance. Dynamic Marketing Reconfiguration (DMR) complements company MO in attempts to improve product innovation success, because understanding and satisfying customer needs present rather static approach to marketing-market alignment. MO is not enough in today volatile markets, when company needs to constantly reconfigure marketing resources to develop and, especially commercialize, new products (Day, 2011; Barrales - Molina, et al. 2014). DMR does not only influence positively on product innovations, but it also directly influences on company performance. Systematically adjusting marketing resources to changes in market environment leverages sales of all company products, not only newly introduced ones. Therefore, we hypothesize: H2.1: The higher Dynamic Marketing Reconfiguration in the company, the stronger success of its product innovations. H2.2: The higher Dynamic Marketing Reconfiguration in the company, the better company performance. This research is focused on product (offering) innovations as the key innovation outcome of a firm’s marketing routines. Product innovation has been established in the management and strategy literature as an important driver of firm performance (e.g. Han et al., 1998). Thus, our hypothesis is:H3: The stronger Product Innovation Success, the better company performance. Companies do not operate in a vacuum, so this study follows contingency theory that postulates finding the “fit” between environmental contingencies and internal configurations within the company (Donaldson, 2001; Van de Ven & Drazin, 1984). So far, only a few studies applying dynamic capabilities perspective have discussed the role of contingencies which creates a research gap for our understanding of DCV (Barreto, 2010). Such research gap is even more visible with regard to our knowledge of dynamic marketing capabilities (DMC), because prior empirical studies in this area have largely ignored contingencies, except environmental uncertainty and firm age (Flatten, et al., 2015). Consequently, in this study we analyse the role of two contingency factors, namely: company size (internal configuration) and industry norms related to product customization (external configuration). Prior studies have presented blurred picture of the role of company size, because dynamic capabilities were also found effective in case of small enterprises (Døving & Gooderham, 2008; Salvato, 2003). Nevertheless, in this study we incorporate original DCV reasoning, because intuitively, in SMEs company routines may be replaced by other factors that are typical advantages of small scale enterprise. On the extreme point, in micro firms (e.g. below 10 employees), there is no need to standardize certain behaviours among employees at all, because all marketing actions, including planning, execution and control are performed usually by one person. Therefore, we hypothesize: H4.1: The Dynamic Marketing Reconfiguration has stronger influence on Product Innovation Success in big and medium companies in comparison to small companies. Contingency theory suggests controlling for the effects from not only organizational features, but also environmental factors (Donaldson, 2001; Van de Ven & Drazin, 1984). We follow Lampel & Mintzberg (1996) suggestion that “…some industries favour customization and some foster standardization…” (p. 21) and we assume that all industries may be distinguished into two main categories: High customization industry vs. Low customization industry. Such distinction is based on perceived dominance of customization vs. standardization practices among competing companies and it may be treated as a proxy to the popularization of relationship marketing strategy (Grönroos, 1994) and service-dominant logic (Vargo & Lusch, 2004) in a given industry. In industries, where high product customization function as a norm, the new product development works through collaborative efforts with customers and value co-creation (Hoyer, Chandy, Dorotic, Krafft, & Singh, 2010). Dynamic marketing capabilities oriented at marketing reconfiguration may be not effective in case of companies working in high customization industries, as close customer relationships popular in such industries demand customer trust and commitment rather than dynamic marketing, including utilizing newest marketing instruments (Mitrega & Katrichis, 2010; Palmatier, Dant, Grewal, & Evans, 2006). In sum, we hypothesize: H4.2: The Dynamic Marketing Reconfiguration has weaker influence on Product Innovation Success, when it is implemented in the industry that favours high product customization. We tested our hypotheses on the cross-sectional survey data based on the sample of 155 companies operating in Poland and we applied structural equation modeling(PLS-SEM) to estimate the hypothesized research model using SmartPLS 3.0 (Hair, Hult, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2013; Ringle, Wende, & Becker, 2014). As our conceptualization of DMR is grounded in the dynamic capabilities view, we searched for such scales for this construct, which would reflect actions standardized among managers and other people involved in marketing (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000; Teece, 2007). Thus, for DMR we have adapted selected scales proposed for dynamic capabilities by Pavlou & El Sawy (2011). The market orientation was measured in line with reactive market orientation (Narver, et al. 2004), product innovation success was measured according to Ritter and Gemünden (2003) and company performance according to Reinartz et al. (2004). We applied single item measurement for our contingency factors. Specifically, company size was measured due to number of people employed in the company and industry norms with regard to product customization were measured through question: “Please specify, if your industry demands adjusting company offering to individual requirements of a given customer (e.g. detailed negotiations, product adjustments)”. After purifying measurement model through Exploratory Factor Analysis, we retained 18 items for our 4 latent constructs. The items are available by email upon request. Our measurement model received empirical support for its validity and reliability with regard to literature suggestions, i.e. AVE > 0.5; Cronbach Alpha >0.7; Alpha and Fornell-Larcker discriminant validity criterion (Fornell & Larcker, 1981; Hair et al., 2012). We conducted PLS-SEM analysis following Hair et al. (2013) suggestions. T-statistics were computed by applying a bootstrapping procedure with 5000 bootstrap samples. The detailed results of model estimation are available upon request. Path coefficients for the research model appeared to be all significant except the link between market orientation and company performance, which supports hypotheses H1.1, H2.1; H2.2 and H3, but rejects H1.2. Additionally, contingency effects were tested using Multi-Group Analysis (MGA) implemented in SmartPLS 3.0 (Ringle, et al.2014). The differences in coefficient for path DMR -> PROD. INNOV SUCCESS were found significant in sub-samples according to company size and according to customization industry norms. Specifically, in case of medium and big companies (n = 71) the influence of DMR on product innovation success was significantly stronger (b=0.59) than in case of small companies (n=84; b = 0.28). In case of companies that did not report product customization as industry norm (n=93) the influence of DMR on product innovation success was significantly stronger (b=0.46) than in case of companies that reported industry pressure on product customization (n=62; b=0.27). Thus, all hypotheses connected with contingency effects (H4.1; H4.2) received support. Our study corresponds with recent research devoted to dynamic marketing capabilities (Flatten, et al, 2015; Weerawardena, et al. 2015) and it enriches this research by looking at DMCs from a different angle. Dynamic Marketing Reconfiguration (DMR) that we focus on embraces explicitly these company routines that transform existing marketing resources into their new combinations better aligned with market changes. Thus, DMR is different to proactive market orientation (Narver, at al. 2004) as such PMO is oriented at latent customer needs, but does not assume marketing reconfiguration, e.g. in terms of utilizing new marketing tools. In contrast to Flatten et al. (2015), DMR does not focus only on dynamic pricing capabilities, but it refers to reconfiguration of all marketing resources (i.e. pricing and other marketing-mix elements as well). Our study validates and enriches study by Weerawardena, et al.(2015), where dynamic marketing capabilities were found as the leverage for innovation performance. Similarly to this recent study, our study also confirms positive influence of dynamic marketing capability on innovation performance, but study by Weerawardena et al. (2015) was limited to early internationalizing firms in US and Australia, so we provide different empirical setting for testing this influence (i.e. companies based in Poland in various stages of their internationalization). More importantly, we qualify Weerawardena et al. (2015) by combining insights from dynamic capabilities theory (Teece et al., 1997) and contingency theory (Donaldson, 2001; Van de Ven & Drazin, 1984) and we test previously neglected contingency effects, namely: company size and industry norms with regard to product customization. Our research results suggest that dynamic marketing capabilities, namely DMR, are especially important for bigger companies and for these companies that are not under pressure for strong product customization. It may mean that DMR should be not applied in case of these companies that follow relationship marketing approach (Palmatier, Scheer, Evans, & Arnold, 2008), especially these companies that operate in B2B settings. In general, our study follows recent call for better understanding of dynamic marketing capabilities through more rigorous conceptualizations and providing tests in various empirical settings (Barrales - Molina, et al, 2014).

The management of the New Service Development (NSD) process remains a key research priority for service organizations. As a diverse mix of team members with different skills, perspectives and backgrounds participate in development teams and close collaboration is required among them, conflicts are likely to arise among team members. Different team members perceive conflict episodes in a different way and often embrace different conflict management behaviours and orientations (e.g. competing, avoiding) to deal with them. This study recognises NSD team as a complex system, through which individual members’ conflict management style choices enable team developmental dynamics, which sequentially lead to intragroup conflict resolution. Although a lot of work exists around the role of individual members’ conflict management styles, little research scrutiny is attracted on how teams solve intragroup conflicts and even limited empirical evidence is available regarding the linkages between individual and team factors can contribute to resolve intragroup conflicts. The present study taking under consideration the causal complexity, asymmetry and idiosyncratic nature of NSD conflict resolution, utilizes Complexity theory and leverages the advantages of fs/QCA in order to shed light on the NSD intragroup conflict resolution. Data was collected from employees in several service industries such as advertising, financial, insurance, consulting, IT services and telecommunications providers. The results confirm the major tenets of Complexity theory highlighting that any attempt to examine complex phenomena, such as NSD conflict resolution, as simple ones, based on symmetrical methodological approaches, may lead to simplistic and distorted explanations. In fact, the results demonstrate that there is not a ‘one fits all’ solution in order to solve NSD conflicts. Different facets for both the conflict-management styles and team dynamics act in various combinations in order to predict high scores in NSD conflict resolution.

The paper addresses the phenomenon of the opportunism that arises from a parent (principal) toward an IJV (agent) and its antecedents. This study integrates Agency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) to discover its determinants from the perspectives of principal opportunism. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) based on a sample of 185 Chinese-foreign IJVs in China, which are useful to reals the overall story of the principal opportunism. This study finds an IJV depends on parents’ support in both knowledge- and property-based resources has more chances to subject to principal opportunism. The result also indicates that psychic distance has a negative impact on principal opportunism. fsQCA, however, provides further solutions that the specific combinations of these predictors or their negation predicts principle opportunism.

This study addresses the influence of corruption on firm innovation in Chinese market. Using both the logit model and a fuzzy-set analytical approaches based on a new official sample of 2700 privately-owned and 148 state-owned firms over the period of 2011 to 2013, the study add further evidence to growing methodological consideration regarding complexity theory. The results show a significant negative effect of corruption on firm innovation, additional, firm sale and education and market have a positive bearing on innovation activity. However, the government ownership firms have a negative and significant effect on innovation. The findings have important implication for theory, practitioners and policy-making and shed light on a new perspective to focus on the long run effect of corruption.

International Joint Venture (IJV) is one of the most popular market entry mode in emerging markets. The instability and stability of IJV have also been receiving ongoing attention in the literature (e.g. Deitz et al. 2010; Kogut 1989; Rhoades & Lush 1997; Sim & Ali 2000). IJV instability and stability are often treated as opposite to one another in the literature, and assumed the factors that account for instability has an inverse impacts on stability. However, conceptually and empirically they are not exactly two contrasting phenomena. This study adopts the perspectives of Superficial Friendship theory (Yan 2010) to differentiate the determinants of IJV instability and stability and empirically compares their determinants. The results indicate that the factors that account for instability do not have inverse impacts on stability. The empirical results not only contribute to an understanding of the different drivers of IJV instability and stability but also have important implications for international business managers in both parents and IJVs with regard to keeping an IJV profitable and successful.

The paper investigates the Brain Drain in Chinese family business based on a sample of 319 family businesses in China. Using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to uncover different combinations of conditions (pay and welfare, work environment, management style of the leaders, and career planning) that are sufficient to achieve high and low brain drain. The results show that pay and welfare is a necessary but not a sufficient condition by itself to achieve high brain drain. The findings show that three causal recipes are equifinal in achieving high brain drain. The first causal recipe combines high work environment with low level of career planning and with high pay and welfare. The second combines low work environment with high level of career planning and with high pay and welfare. Finally, the third combines high work environment with high level of management style of the leaders and with high pay and welfare. The study also found two causal configurations that are equifinal to achieve low brain drain. Moreover, these combinations are not a mirror of the combinations founded for high brain drain. This study offers several implications to both researchers and business practitioners: It is acquired that in order to prevent brain drain, the pay and welfare of employees should be raised while the management philosophy should pay attention to humans in the first place. Secondly, the leaders need to improve their own quality so as to strengthen the management of family businesses. Finally, a refined human resource system needs to be established. After brain drain, enterprises should perfect their contract constraining mechanism and, bring in suitable talents promptly so that the loss is minimised.

While companies in the field of e-commerce have long engaged in the collection of large amounts of customer data and consider them one of their most important assets, insurance companies have only recently started to collect customer data on a large scale (Smith, Dinev & Xu, 2011). Recently, insurance companies have developed tariffs which adjust premiums based on collected data about the insurant’s behavior (e.g. steps/day, visits to the gym etc.). Benefits like fitness courses or lower insurance rates are provided to encourage a healthy lifestyle and attract healthy customers. However, this model can only succeed, if customers are willing to disclose data. As many customers fear an intrusion of their privacy by companies and consider personal health data to be especially sensitive, this disclosure cannot be taken for granted (Anderson & Agarwal, 2011). The paper evaluates two main influencing factors for the willingness to disclose private health data (benefit offered to customers and sensitivity of data requested). It analyzes their effect by conducting an online scenario-based quasiexperiment with 408 participants. Participants are presented with six hypothetical offers by a health insurance (financial and non-financial benefits; low, medium, high data sensitivity) and indicate how they would respond to these offers in terms of data disclosure. We control for individual heterogeneity by including privacy concerns and trust as between-subject factors (Malhotra, Kim, & Agarwal, 2004). Our results indicate that the willingness to disclose health data can be increased by financial rewards at low and medium sensitivity levels. If information is highly sensitive, the willingness to provide data decreases and cannot be compensated by a tariff reduction. Health care providers should therefore carefully consider which data points they choose as mandatory to participate in personalized insurance tariffs, as they could easily scare off potential customers. In our study non-financial benefits (prevention courses) are not able to increase the willingness to disclose data as much as financial benefits. This could be due to a general preference for financial rewards or to the unknown quality of the courses offered.

The sport industry is now operated on a global scale. With the aid of information technology, fans are now able to access sport products regardless of geographical proximity. In contrast to the overwhelming predisposition toward the local fan in sport fandom studies, in this article we study the distant fan as a unique focal object. The whole study is guided by following questions: RQ1: What motives drive a distant fan’s involvement with their favorite NBA team? RQ2: Are there differences in the motives associated with the different stages of psychological connection? RQ3: Are there differences in the amount of media consumption at the different stages of psychological connection? In the current study we utilize the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) (Funk & James, 2001; 2006) to investigate the psychological connection of distant fans to a focal sports team. The model posits that the developmental progression is mediated by combined efforts of both sociological and psychological factors which are segmented into four hierarchical stages: awareness, attraction, attachment and allegiance. By identifying underlying influential factors in different stages, the PCM provides a theoretical basis for the exploration of the distant fan’s incremental psychological connection with the team. In this study we assess the strength of connection for the distant fan who only consumes a mediated form of the focal product, and attempt to identify motives driving each level of connection. An online survey was distributed to a Chinese sports message board to assess the motives of distant fans (N=281) following teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and strength of psychological connection to the NBA, based on the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM).There were significant differences in the motives for following a distant team among the respondents at different stages of psychological connection. Significant differences were also found among distant fans at the respective stages regarding media consumption. This study contributes to the advanced knowledge of the distant fan. By utilizing the PCM, it allows for the segmentation of a specific fan population and differentiates the motives and behaviors associated with different stages of an individual’s psychologicalconnection with a team. A conceptual framework is also provided to identify factors driving formation and progression of psychological connection with a distant team.

This study was conducted to investigate Generation Y (Gen Y) South Africans’ beliefs about generic medicines. The results indicate that Gen Y believe in the important attributes of generic medicines. Younger, black and ungraduated Gen Y have less belief in the efficacy of generic medicine than older, non-blacks and postgraduates.

Evidence indicates that lower levels of obesity among school-age children can be achieved through active school travel modes which include walking. This research aims to empirically investigate the explanatory potential of the Ecological and Cognitive Active Commuting (ECAC) model to explain walking to school behaviour among Queensland children. The results from an online survey of 537 carers in Queensland, Australia indicate that the ECAC explained 53.4% of the variance in walking to school. Distance to school moderates the associations among walking to school behaviours, perceived risks, and social norms. Data indicates that changing carers’ social norms and lowering the perceived risks carers associate with walking to school will increase the incidence of walking to school in Queensland.

When substitute products are recommended, online consumers are more likely to evaluate products based on concrete attributes than abstract attributes and to perceive subordinate attributes as more important. When complementary products are recommended, concrete or subordinate attributes considered relatively less important, leading to less choice difficulty during the comparison process. Introduction Retailers use recommendation systems to support Internet shoppers who face the problem of searching for and selecting the right product from a vast assortment of options. Previous research argues that online recommendations help decision making by reducing consumers’ cognitive effort, while other studies claim that online recommendations increase consumers’ confusion (Xiao & Benbasat, 2007). One of the reasons for this lack of consensus seems the characteristics of recommendations not considered in the research. This study attempts to investigate how recommended product types, whether they involve complementary or substitute products, influence consumers’ decision-making process when shopping for fashion products. We address recommendations of complementary and substitute products prime consumers’ construal levels in different ways; consumers compare products at a lower construal level when substitute products are recommended than when complementary products are. We also demonstrate that consumers, as a consequence, evaluate alternatives based on concrete attributes (i.e., the physical and aesthetic characteristics of products), as opposed to abstract attributes (i.e., values and qualities), when substitute products are recommended, and perceive product attributes previously considered less important as being more important after recommendations. Literature Review Recommendations of Complementary and Substitute Products A recommendation system is the electronic software that implicitly and/or explicitly elicits the interests or preferences of consumers and provides recommendations (Xiao & Benbasat, 2007). In online fashion stores, such a recommendation system is often found as a form of recommendations of substitute (i.e., similar) or complementary (i.e., matching) products on the product detail pages. Presenting complementary or substitute products on a webpage can serve as a product display that affects consumers’ purchase decision. Because online shoppers move through webpages vertically (i.e., between product list pages) or horizontally (i.e., from product list pages to product detail pages), the simultaneous comparison of all alternatives can be difficult (Lee & Yi, 2014). Accordingly, consumers make local choices after comparisons on a single page, which subsequently affects the global choice (Simonson & Tversky, 1992). To explain how recommending complementary or substitute products affects decision making, this study adopts Construal Level Theory (Liberman & Trope, 1998) as its theoretical framework. It claims that people construe an event or an object at different levels of abstraction, from a lower-level, concrete to a higher-level, abstract construal, and represent it more abstractly as psychological distance increases (Liberman & Trope, 1998). Recent studies of assortment found that benefit-based organizations of assortment lead to more abstract construal, relative to attribute-based organizations of assortment (Lamberton & Diehl, 2013). Given that recommended substitute products share similar attributes with alternatives and are from the same product categories, the distance between the alternatives and recommended products is relatively short. Meanwhile, complementary products are recommended based on their benefits and selected among different product categories relatively far from the alternatives. Therefore, we suggest H 1 that consumers evaluate and compare alternatives in a concrete way when substitute products are recommended, on the other hand, in an abstract way when complementary products recommended. Recommendations and Product Comparison The attributes considered during evaluation are expected to differ since different levels of construal are induced by two types of recommendations. During the purchase decision, consumers often perform relative comparisons across options on attributes (Bettman, Luce, & Payne, 1998). For fashion products, both concrete and abstract attributes exist within a hierarchical structure, whereby abstract attributes are determined by concrete ones (Kim & Rhee, 1991). Prior research on construal level indicates that concrete attributes are emphasized as psychological distance decreases, whereas abstract attributes become salient as this distance increases (Liberman, Trope, & Wakslak, 2007). Accordingly, we posit H 2 that when substitute products are recommended, consumers weigh concrete attributes more than abstract attributes. On the other hand, when complementary products are recommended, where abstract benefits are emphasized, consumers consider abstract attributes more important than concrete attributes. Recommendations also influence consumers’ experience of difficulty during the comparison process. When examining alternatives based on attributes, consumers have a tendency to give more weight to attributes that they think are important (Dhar, Nowlis, & Sherman, 1999). Thus, choice task entails distinction between more and less important attributes (Sela, Berger, & Nardini, 2013), which leads to clear preference and less difficulty of choice. Research suggests that construal level affects the change in attribute weights for central or peripheral features in that a high construal level decreases comparison relative to a low construal level by shifting attention away from low-level details (Khan, Zhu, & Kalra, 2011). This finding implies that one can distribute attribute weights better at a high construal level, while one may weigh unimportant attributes heavily at a low construal level. Accordingly, we propose H 3 that consumers distinguish important core attributes from less important subordinate ones when complementary products are recommended. On the contrary, when susbtitue products are recommended, consumers consider subordinate attributes more important after recommendations, making the comparison of the alternatives difficult. Method Seven hundred and two females in their 20s and 30s in South Korea participated in online survey. The survey used a 2 (products: shirts and jackets) × 2 (recommendation: substitute and complementary) between-subject design. We randomly assigned half the participants to the shirts condition and the other half to the jackets condition. After giving purchasing scenarios with product assortments of six products, we asked participants to look around the assortments and select tentative purchase options. Participants then were asked to rate the perceived importance of concrete and abstract product attributes. Later, we recommended four substitute or complementary products for each of the two most preferred alternatives. After allowing participants sufficient time to explore the recommended products, we asked them to make their final decision. After indicating their choices, participants completed several questions related to their choice process on seven-point scales. We measured behavioral identification, perceived importance of concrete and abstract attributes, information overload during the selection process, and choice difficulty. To investigate the possibility that participants’ personal tendencies affect the choice, we additionally measured maximization tendency, fashion involvement and perceived fit for recommendation and Internet shopping experience. Finally, demographic characteristics were measured. The stimuli photos used in the study were collected from five Internet shopping malls to increase external validity, and selected on the judgments of the researchers and experts after a pre-test. Results Respondents exhibited no differences in maximization tendency, fashion involvement, perceived fit for recommendation, or experience of Internet shopping regardless of the recommended stimulant. However, as expected, respondents of substitute products with recommendations showed a lower behavioral identification score than did those of recommended complementary products. This result indicates recommendation of substitute products induces a lower construal level, accepting H 1. The perceived importance of product attributes varied by recommendations. Prior to product recommendations, no difference in the importance of concrete or abstract attributes was observed between the groups. However, the perceived importance of concrete attributes increased after recommendation of substitute products, while no significant change in the importance of concrete attributes was found after recommendation of complementary products. Recommendation have no effect on the change in the perceived importance of abstract attributes. Rather, product type did have an effect: the importance of abstract attributes increased after recommendations when jackets were compared. These results imply that recommendation of substitute products solely had an effect on the evaluation of concrete attributes, partially supporting H 2. Recommendations were also found to affect the increase in the importance of subordinate product attributes. Participants were likely to weigh subordinate, concrete attributes more after recommendation of substitute products than after recommendation of complementary products. In addition, when substitute products were recommended, participants considered subordinate, concrete attributes more importantly than subordinate, abstract attributes. The increase in the importance of subordinate, abstract attributes was irrespective of recommendation type. This result supports the notion that recommendation types can systematically influence the evaluation of options. When substitute products were recommended, consumers tend to assess products based on concrete attributes and perceive subordinate attributes as more important than before recommendations. On the contrary, when complementary products were recommended, the types of attributes served as evaluation criteria were unchanged and did not accompany an increase in the importance of subordinate attributes. According to Sela et al. (2013), the distinction between important and unimportant attributes blurs as the importance of subordinate attributes increases, which implies it becomes difficult to compare options. Indeed, regardless of product types, respondents in the present study were more likely to experience difficulty in making a decision when substitute products were recommended than when complementary products were, supporting H 3. Conclusion This study contributes to theory and practice in many ways. Our work demonstrated that the recommendation type alters the perception of the importance of the attributes of fashion products by affecting consumers’ construal levels. Furthermore, we extended the literature on recommendation systems by identifying additional factors that influence consumers’ decision-making process. Prior research has focused on the horizontal presentation of recommendation. We, however, investigated how vertical presentation, namely recommendation on product detail webpages, affected the evaluation of alternatives. Practically, the findings have important managerial implications. Retailers provide recommendations to increase sales by helping consumers efficiently make a purchase decision. Nevertheless, consumers may engage in a complex comparison process when substitute products recommended. When complementray products recommended, the attributes used as comparison criteria are relatively consistent and steady. Thus, retailers can predict a consumer’s final choice based on the early prediction of his/her preferences. The results of this study are useful for offline retailers as well as online retailers wishing to marketing and sales strategies.

The purpose of this study was to examine what motivated consumers to purchase the products that they viewed from User Generated Content (UGC) on YouTube. The current research collected 198 YouTube users online survey on their attitude toward UGC, their perceived credibility of UGC, their user activity, parasocial interaction and their purchase intention of the products being reviewed. The results showed these examined variables were positive correlated. Additionally, active users and passive users not only held different attitudes toward UGC and different purchase intentions for the products being reviewed, but also the predictive power was varied.

With increasing challenges like climate change, companies are confronted with rising expectations from stakeholders, especially consumers. The paper investigates consumers’ reactions towards CSR strategies using a case-study and focus-groups. Results imply that digitally-based strategies at the core of newly found fashion companies are perceived generally positive, although with mixed impressions.

The objective is to explore how fashion websites affect consumers’ perception and evaluation of footwear. Mixed methodologies including eye-tracking experiments, field note and semi-structured interviews were conducted. According to our results, the relationship between pupil dilation and fixation count is related. Many participants were more concerned about the style and comfort of the product.

Peer review has been around since journals were first published. Peer review organized by journal editors is, however, relatively recent, having become popular in the mid-1900s. Prior to that time, editors decided what to publish. The change of approach has not been good for science. Mandatory journal peer review is biased against the proper scientific study of important problems. It is also unreliable, slow, expensive, and has led to the mindless publication of many incorrect and useless studies. We suggest that journal peer review should be replaced by assessment of whether a paper follows proper scientific procedures. We describe the development of checklist software to aid in this process. Using the software would reduce the time and cost of reviewing research papers and help to avoid biased reviews. We pretested the software using a convenience sample of published papers and compared preliminary findings with those from software designed to assess the conformity of advertisements with evidence-based persuasion principles. The online journal PLoS employ a criterion they call “soundness,” which is akin to assessing conformance to science, for choosing articles to publish. Since that journal was founded ten years ago, PLoS has become the world’s largest publisher of research articles. We suggest that journal editors, PhD programs, universities, law courts, and research funders including governments adopt the Conformance to Science checklist to efficiently identify research worthy of support and use, and to thereby encourage the growth of scientific knowledge.

This article investigates the effects of beauty vloggers’ (video bloggers) eWOM and sponsored advertising on followers utilizing Sina Weibo, thereby exploring the concepts of eWOM, opinion leadership, and social status. This exploratory qualitative study found that vlogging differs from traditional blogging in that direct advertising that fosters ease of purchase of a product is appreciated by followers, whilst direct marketing, which in this case refers to simply describing the benefits of products and/or services, is seen as unfavorable. Moreover, this research found a relationship between the influence of vloggers, expertise of followers, the level of detail in adverts, and the level of trust. This provides valuable insights into attitudes and perceptions of followers of beauty vlogs, which can utilized as practical implications to develop targeted advertising strategies for companies seeking to promote their products and brands through third party vlogs.

The rapid development of the internet has enlarged the scale and scope of marketing communication and supported a base for electronic word–of-mouth (e-WOM). According to Bickart and Schindler (2001), e-WOM usually includes personal experiences and opinions transmitted via the written words in virtual social networks. Studies on e-WOM in virtual communities suggest that e-WOM strongly influences attitudes and behaviors of consumers and thus importance of e-WOM is growing in marketing communication and advertising. Accordingly, a lot of researchers have investigated to identify factors influencing e-WOM activity. Noticeably, characteristics of e-WOM receivers (e.g. Awad & Ragowsky, 2008; Godes & Mayzlin, 2004) and usage experiences of e-WOM in Social Network Service (SNS) (e.g. Flanagin & Metzer, 2000; Johnson, Kaye, Bicard, & Wong, 2008) have been frequently examined. These factors are expected to contribute to a research model in the current research. Based on previous studies, this research investigates factors which have a positive impact on diffusion of e-WOM information. Specifically, three characteristics of e-WOM receivers are suggested as antecedents: perception of instrumentality of e-WOM, perception of usefulness of e-WOM, and perception of trust in e-WOM. In addition, a moderating variable is proposed: usage experiences of e-WOM. A Structured questionnaire is designed to measure the proposed factors and diffusion of e-WOM information with a five-point Likert scale. An online survey is used to collect responses of consumers who have experienced e-WOM information on a certain goods or services in SNS within the last three months. 358 usable responses are used for statistical analyses to examine the proposed research model. This study will contribute to the e-WOM research field where there is little published work to identify characteristics of e-WOM receivers and their effects on diffusion of e-WOM information, suggest the model of information processing of e-WOM, and consider both roles of e-WOM receivers and senders of consumers. It may also provide managerial implications to devise a better marketing communication strategy by harnessing e-WOM and encouraging influential individuals as considerable promoters to shape the scope of advertising and e-WOM processes.