Facing competition in a context of saturated markets characterized by rapid technological transformations presumes more than ever the need for creativity (Runco 2004), i.e. the production of new and useful (or adapted) ideas (Amabile 1996). In this paper, we focus on individual creativity, which is a subject of growing interest in research in psychology, management, and education. Beyond supernatural or genetic views of individual creativity, researchers generally agree on a multi-variant approach to creativity, which would result from cognitive factors (i.e. intellectual capacities, domain or creativity expertise, cognitive style), personality traits, and individual motivation to complete the task as well as environmental factors (Amabile 1996). If some of these factors are intrinsically personal, thus stable in the short run, environmental factors could be organized in an “architecture” likely to foster individual creativity, stressing the non-negligible role of physical elements, such as forms, space or colors (Meusberger et al. 2009). In this perspective, our objective is twofold: first to explore whether the environment color – and more specifically a blue environment – can foster individual creativity, and second to interrogate the underlying emotional mechanisms likely to explain it. Using an experiment, we show that 1/ putting individuals in a blue (vs. white) environment has a direct positive influence on the volume of ideas, but not on the quality of ideas, and that 2/ emotions mediate the influence of the color blue (vs. white) on individual creativity. Specifically, the color blue enhances pleasantness, which enhances individual creativity (both in quantity and quality), especially when individuals also experience arousal. These findings both replicate and extend the literature on the influence of colors and mood on individual creativity, and call to further research on the mediating routes likely to explain the influence of colors on individual creativity.

The present research deals with the influence of managers’ construal level and anticipatory regret behavior on evaluations of customers’ and employees’ ideas in innovation contexts. While prior research focused on positive outcomes of open innovation, we provide theory and evidence to suggest that managers’ avoidance behavior in idea evaluation processes can result in negative side effects for the assessment of employees’ ideas. We conducted an experiment with 113 managers to reveal that top managers tend to higher creativity ratings of ideas from customers in comparison to identical ideas from employees. Lower level managers showed no difference in their creativity evaluations, but differentiated their feasibility rating in favor for customers’ ideas, whereas top managers did not. Our findings contribute to existing managerial decision making research and provide initial evidence on negative outcomes of open innovation for managers’ evaluation of employees’ ideas.

Introduction In the past study, the relationship between the power structure of marketing and research and development (R&D) and NPD performance was not consistent (Atuahene-Gima & Evangelista, 2000; Engelen & Brettel, 2012; Li & Atuahene-Gima, 1999, 2001). The inconsistency may result from each study in different industrial contexts. It reflects every NPD project faces different environmental uncertainties. Furthermore, we adopt the external control perspective to glue power structure and NPD performance under a certain external environment together. Therefore, this paper tends to fulfill the gap of prior study, and the main objective of this research is to investigate whether the power structure of marketing and R&D functions have different linear relationships under the different level of environmental uncertainty. A NPD team is like a cross-functional organization that the NPD team is composed of multiple functions, and it has independent budgets. The members in the team will allocate their limited resources like budgets or positions to respond environments and to maximize profits. Theoretical Development When a NPD team faces the high market uncertain situation, marketing function can gather more resources because of its own power. Thus, R&D members in a NPD team may have less determination in the process of NPD. Even though they create a new product, marketing specialists make most decisions in the NPD team. According to function’s contribution argument, the more contribution of a certain function to the NPD process, the more positive related to the new product success (Atuahene-Gima and Evangelista, 2000; Atuahene-Gima and Luca, 2008; Li and Atuahene-Gima, 1999). Therefore, the current study proposes the hypothesis1 described below: H1: Market uncertainty will strengthen the relationship between power structure leaned to marketing and NPD successes. When a NPD team encounters the fast technological change situation, R&D function has more resources because of power. New product teams, however, usually have scare resources, so that another important function like marketing will have fewer resources than R&D function. Thus, marketers in a NPD team may have less determination in the process of NPD. The marketers may have some influence on launch stage like sales and promotion or distribution channels (Hsieh et al., 2008), but R&D specialists make most decisions in a NPD team. Therefore, the current study proposes the hypothesis2described below: H2: Technological uncertainty will strengthen the relationship between power structure leaned to R&D and NPD successes. Eisenhardt and her colleagues indicated that the organizations in high velocity environments have better performance when they decentralize the power structure (Eisenhardt, 1989; Eisenhardt and Bourgeois, 1988). They also described that this firm tended to introduce a new product line, and that its channel partners were fighting with each other by price wars but the dominant marketing function did not have enough time to perform its regular job. To maintain its power and resources, the dominant function may highlight its importance, so it will withhold external information and enable other members to perceive the external environment what dominant function expect them to perceive. When organizations find a lot of environmental changes, it is too late. Therefore, in the beginning organizations adopted decentralized power structure, and allocated resources equally. The members in organizations may not snatch resources, so they may not take political actions also. For the specialists in new product development team, they could not control their unique knowledge to withhold the information and to satisfy their own self-interests. Therefore, the relationship between marketing and R&D power distribution in a NPD team and new product financial performance is weakened in high velocity environments (Eisenhardt and Bourgeois, 1988). The hypothesis3 in the current study is below: H3: the relation between the power distribution in new product development teams and new product development successes is inverted U curve under the high technological and market uncertainty. Coping environment could rely on top manager’s backgrounds like marketing, technology or finance (Hambrick and Mason, 1984). To maintain the status of the dominant function, the dominant function will lead the organization to identify the important problems related to its function. In order to ensure keeping their power, moreover, the dominant function could institute some regulations or create norms. According to resource dependence perspective, if an organization has higher the formalization of power, the dominant function could gather more resources because of legitimacy. Further, the higher formalization of power may strengthen the relationship between power distribution and performance. Thus, our hypothesis 4 is below: H4: Under the higher formalization of power in a new product development team, the stronger relationship between the marketing and R&D power distribution and new product performance than under the lower degree of formalization of power situation. Research Design The current study used questionnaire survey and purposive sampling method to collect data. In order to eliminate the bias of common method variance (CMV), this study conducted multiple sources including project managers, the member charging marketing, and the member charging R&D to administrate questionnaires differently. In order to avoid selection bias, this study, moreover, asked the informants select the most recent new products developed and launched for minimum of twelve months. We sent three types of questionnaires to project managers, the member charging marketing, and the member charging R&D respectively. The current study sent questionnaires to 112 firms, and 69 firms are returned. The response rate is 61.61%. At new product level, there are 207 new product projects, and 100 firms are returned. The response rate is 48.31%. We also do tests of bias due to nonresponse which were conducted by using a comparison of early to late respondents’ all variable means (Armstrong & Overton, 1977). No evidence of a bias was found. The current study applied Moorman’s (1995) operationalization of new product performance is that the extent to which the product has achieved the objective of market share, sales, return on assets, profit margin, and return on investment during the first 12 months of its life in the marketplace. These items were used a 7-point Likert scale where 1 was “low” and 7 was “high”. This research adopted Homburg et al. (1999) scale to measure the power structure between marketing and R&D functions by using 100-point constant-sum scale for each NPD issue, and other previous studies also used issue-based perceptual power scale (Enz, 1989; Hinings et al., 1974; Pfeffer, 1981; Verhoef and Leeflang, 2009). The current study adopted Jaworski and Kohli’s (1993) scale to measure market and technological turbulence. The items were used a 7-point Likert scale where 1 was “extremely disagree” to 7 was “extremely agree”. In order to rule out other effects, we controlled industrial category, firm age, the number of marketing and R&D members involved in the NPD process, environmental hostility. Result and Conclusion The first finding is that under low market uncertainty and high technological uncertainty, balance of power structure tends to swing to the side of R&D function, and achieve better in NPD performance. Take IC design of High-tech industry as an instance, NPD project ends to perform better when the balance of power structure swing to the side of R&D function. The second finding is that under high market uncertainty and low technological uncertainty, NPD formalization helps to strengthen the relationship between marketing and NPD performance. Take frozen dessert in the food industry or leisure and sports fabrics in the textile industry as examples, formalization of NPD process can help marketing-driven NPD projects perform better in market. These findings advanced the understanding of the relationship between the power structure of marketing and R&D and NPD performance, rather than focusing on a single function, marketing or R&D. Furthermore, examining the relationship between the power structure of marketing and R&D and NPD performance in different environment uncertainty situations explained the inconsistency of the relationship between the power structure of marketing and R&D and NPD performance in past studies. Finally, this research conditionally supported the moderating effect of NPD formalization on the relationship between the power structure of marketing and R&D and NPD performance, and this exploration never been found.

Despite a growing interest of value capture in the phenomenon of open innovation (OI), empirical evidence documenting the link between new product development (NPD), OI practices, and market performance is scarce. Drawing on organizational learning, NPD, and OI literature stream, this paper conceptualizes a framework in which open product innovation (OPI) practices are disentangled into two types: pre-launch OPI (which occurs before a new product is launched) and post-launch OPI (which occurs after a new product is launched). Specific types of OPI practices – technology in-licensing (i.e., pre-launch OPI) and product upgrades (i.e., post-launch OPI) – during the NPD process are expected to influence market performance of new products independently and interactively. This paper empirically analyzes the secondary data related to product innovation and market performance of 536 mobile games that were developed and launched by 265 local and global firms in South Korea. The results support hypotheses and indicate that NPD projects that engage in technology in-licensing by both local and global firms lead to better market performance than NPD projects that do not engage in. Furthermore, the more product upgrades that NPD projects employ during product life cycle, the better market performance. Finally, the involvement of active product upgrades strengthens market performance of global NPD projects that develop new products internally. The results regarding the role of pre-launch and post-launch OPI mechanisms contribute to research on OI and NPD, and also inform managers as to what product innovation practices are recommended to improve market performance of NPD projects.

Judging by the volume of marketplace failures, it seems that consumer innovators make biased assessments about the value of the innovativeness of new products (Gourville, 2006; Mugge & Dahl, 2013). Research suggests that consumer evaluate offerings based on form (i.e. visual appeal) and function (i.e. utilitarian appeal) (Gourville, 2006; Talke, Salomo, Weiringa & Lutz, 2009; Mugge & Dahl, 2013). In relation to innovative new products, the consumer decision-making path is unclear and the optimal mix of continuity and discontinuity across form and function is unknown. The lack of information regarding how marketers should appropriate resources to maximise returns thus, is an issue that requires resolution. To help resolve this gap, we seek to address two important practical marketing questions in the context of innovative new product introductions: (Q1) What is the impact that discontinuity and continuity across form and function have on new product adoption, and (Q2) What if any, are the underlying mediating mechanisms for different markets? To address these, we collected data from participants based in the United States of America through an online experiment. The participants were presented with four products, comprising variations of a digital camera based of continuity and discontinuity across form and function. The findings revealed that the same product could lead to differing perception of value based on the participant being an innovator or an adapter. The differing perceptions were explained by differences in assessments of potential costs and benefits from the product. Based on the findings of the study managerial recommendations on targeting the right segment for the right product were offered.

Introduction This study intends to analyse the impact of the engagement and employee experience towards the employee and employer success. The results demonstrate that organisations are conscious of the importance of retain and create happiness at work and are starting to create an internal experience for their workforce. They want to have employees engaged and retain talent. When employees are more committed to be happier at work they tend to take part of the ownership of their organisations. Employers and employees are more focused on people and the value that they can add to every single product and/or service they design, create and deliver. All this investment on internal world is feeding a better consumer experience as the quality standards are getting higher. Theoretical development The main goal is to evidence how the engagement is attaining more importance on both sides: employee and employer. In the past years, a growing number of studies and are giving more importance to the human side on organisations (e.g., Sinek, 2009; Nayar, 2010; Medeiros 2017). From the transactional economy, organizations are walking to an emotional, experience economy. In the customer-centric dynamics, organisations are taken employees first because these, once deep involved with the mission and goals of the organization, will be more devoted to customers. People “who love going to work are more productive and more creative. They go home happier and have happier families. They treat their colleagues and customers better. Inspired employees make stronger economies.” (Sinek, 2009, p.14) Without happy and empowered employees, the service will never achieve the best and higher levels to then be delivered to the customers. Company “can (should) focus on its value creators – the frontline employees. (…) in his or her knowledge, creativity commitment to tasks, and capacity to collaborate. In fact, (…) “the true value is created in the interface between the customer and the employee. (…) When a company puts its employees first, the customer actually does ultimately come first and gains the greatest benefit.” (Nayar, 2010, p.7). Internal engagement is crucial to companies’ reputation, to brand/service perception and ultimately for the business survival and successful future: “Employees who are dispositionally self-efficacious and proactive are likely to use their initiative, engage in proactive service performance, take charge to bring about change, proactively solve problems and implement ideas.” (Patterson et al., 2009). Research design According to the authors of the model applied, “we define engagement as the attitude, behaviour, the level of connectedness among customers, between customers and employees and of customers and employees with the firm.” (Kumar and Pansari, 2016, p. 498). This was the starting point for our interviews and our study. To complete this exploratory study, we’ve decided to follow a qualitative research by creating a script and interviewed 4 people in 10 organisations based in Lisbon. “Qualitative research starts from and returns to words, talk, and texts as meaningful representations of concepts.” (Pratt, 2009, p.856). The original script was written in English, then translated to Portuguese to be applied on the organisations. Each interview was fully transcript in Portuguese and the main findings and relevant content were enlightened in English to produce this paper. On each organisation, four employees were chosen: two women and two men from different departments and positions - board management, executive leadership, line managers and individual contributors. All interviewed people have Portuguese nationality and have a labour contract with their employer organisation. None outsourced employees have been selected to this study. All employees have between 25 and 50 years old. Interviews were done individually on the headquarters of each organisation. Interviews took between 45 and 60 minutes each. All conversations have been recorded with the individual’s authorisation. The note of confidentiality was explained and applied to all of them. The interviews followed the same script: three main blocks on a semi-structure script. Participants were asked to think about engagement and experience and share their thoughts and examples. Different organisations were chosen: multinational companies, agencies, national companies, private funds. The diversity of the organisations was accepted and taken as an added value to our work. To convert all audio into text, we’ve applied the google audio tool and a Huawei phone app that can transform audio into text. A final check was done in order to verify all sentences and avoid mishaps. After all transcription, a content analysis has been done and the most relevant facts, insights and details have been listed. The content analysis was done using the MAXQDA software. Results and conclusions The main goal of this exploratory study was to determine how engagement and experience are taking such an important role on employees and employers success. In order to be happier at work, employees are more committed and accountable. In the same equation, and to retain more talent, organisations are more focused on employees and how to design and delivery to them a better internal experience. The main finding confirm that happier and recognised employees work better, work more and have the ownership of the organisations they work for. Once people are happy and have good work conditions – financial, physic and technological – they will go further and beyond to deliver their tasks and when needed they will internally cooperate with their teammates or with other departments. To promote this good environment and to keep workforce with them, employers are changing the future of work, nevertheless a few organisations are not applying this or taking these questions as a priority. According to the content analysis of all interviews below a few findings that we would like to highlight: 1) Most of the interviewees say they like their jobs and they are happy at work. They feel that they are part of something: family, team, organisation, culture. 2) The feeling of belonging was mentioned multiple times – the emotional link and the human aspect of being accepted and valuable inside the organisation. 3) All interviewed people, despite the job and the position they have, spoke about the power of recognition and the importance of this aspect to retain talent. 4) All interviewed people raised the importance of happiness at work, the wellbeing variable and the crucial aspect of work/life balance. 5) All interviewed employees agreed that their organisations value more the individual, their soft skills, than the job position and the tasks that there are committed and designated to do. 6) From the point of view of organisations, as leaders and builders of a strategy, we could note that only a few are planning and designing a structured employee experience. Nevertheless, all companies have a list of benefits and create events to get together their employees and promote a better life for them. Following a more structured or more informal way, all interviewed organisations implement a list of actions to create a good work environment: flexibility on the work hours, the possibility to work from home, the team/company dinners and parties; the physical structure with infrastructures to have lunch or to have a break; the empowerment of the employees by asking them to be part of the decisions. 7) Only a few of the interviewed claim that their organisations are promoting situations of work mobility and career progression. Most of the people explained that is difficult to grow or to move from departments. 8) Both, organisations and employees, understand that the salary is not an imperative condition to work or to retain people. Employees value more other work conditions and benefits. The fact is that different and heterogeneous organisations understand and reveal concern in taking care of their people and on the importance of retain their employees. Strategies, or more simple activities, are taking place. All of 40 employees, aside their gender, ages, under all circumstances and positions, want the same: recognition, to be happy and to balance, the best way possible, their work and their life. People want to be treated as people, as an exclusive human being as each of one of human beings are: a unique person and to be recognise whenever they do an extra effort. And this is the part of the key for the success of employers and employees (see figure 1).

Introduction Aim Research in the Swedish retail sector 2017, shows that 37% of the public in Sweden has attitudes and behavior that make them part of the Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability group (Lohas). Lohas is a method (see Lohas.se) to measure sustainable living in a global context (Swedish Sustainability Ranking 2017). This make Sweden in the forefront. Furthermore, the Swedish government has issued a new law (entered into force in 2017) that demands Swedish companies with more than 250 employees or a certain turnover to annually report their sustainability efforts and how it connects to their business model. This is the background for our study investigating different industry sectors in Sweden. In this environment, retailers such as IKEA, Apoteket, Max Burger, Clas Ohlson, and H&M, followed by others, have gained recognition regarding their strong brands as well as good practice within sustainability. Sustainability has recently become more relevant to study. In Sweden repeated surveys, (2004-2017), have shown that Swedish retailers are perceived as the most reputable and sustainable of all companies. What is the background that makes retailers so trusted and sustainable among the general public and customers in Sweden? The purpose of this paper is to present and analyze the underlying factors which give retailers in Sweden such a high sustainability scores over time i.e. what factors are important to achieve sustainable brand equity in the Swedish retail sector. A detailed comparison will be made of two large surveys carried out in 2016 and 2017. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores the branding framework Customer-Based Brand Equity as well as Points of Difference (POD) and Points of Parity (POP) in a projective retailer sustainability perspective, Keller, Apéria and Georgson (2012). The overall customer brand equity framework is developed by Keller (1993). PODs is defined as unique associations, strong and favorable, linked to a brand. POPs are associations that can be shared with other brands, Keller, Sternthal, and Tybout (2002). Ailawadi and Keller (2004) discuss the importance of measuring retailer brand equity. According to the researchers brand equity has been one of the most challenging and important issues for both academics and managers. The chosen framework and the analysis for the study is the corporate brand level. A sustainability index, developed by Apéria, has been developed and tested during the period 2015-2017. The sustainability index measures four dimensions of sustainability: environment/climate, society/ethics, longterm/future perspective, and openness (see figure 1). The index is inspired by the Triple bottom line approach. The data comes from the Swedish Sustainability Ranking, the largest survey on sustainability in Sweden. More than 18,000 online surveys were carried out in 2016 and 25,000 surveys carried out in 2017. The panelists participating in the survey were recruited in order to be representative of the Swedish general public, age 18-74 years. 190 well-known and visible consumer companies were measured in 2016 and 200 companies and organizations in 2017. These companies were selected because they are well-known, salient and represent important categories from a consumer point of view. Our view of salience is based on Ehrenberg, Barnard and Scriven (1997). A pre-study was carried out in 2015 in order to understand consumer criterias for choice of retailer. In 2016, 32 retailers where measured in a specific retailer frame of reference. 4,225 surveys where carried out among general public who participated in the study. In the 2017 survey, 35 retailers were measured and 3,416 surveys were carried out, also in a retailer frame of reference targeting the general public. All respondents taking part in the study initially ranked companies with product, brand, and sustainability attributes. The respondents ranked these retailers with approximately 35 brand- attitude questions (Likert scale from 1-7). In the second part of the interview each respondent also indirectly, through a projective approach, described the retailer. The perspective of reputation and sustainability metrics has traditionally been used in a strict rational point of view. One example of reputation metrics is the RepTrak model described by Fombrun, Ponzi, and Newburry (2015), and van Riel (2012). Chun and Davies (2004) and J. Aaker (1997) have also discussed corporate character and brand personality from a rational point of view. Ailawadi and Keller (2004) have pointed out that brand personality as an area deserves greater attention from research. The authors of this article argue that a complementary perspective is needed to fully understand how consumers evaluate corporate brands and sustainability and the complexity behind this process. The authors propose to add emotional components in the evaluation, as a complement to the traditional rational view. The proposed way to understand the emotional side of a corporate brand is to use projective techniques (Apéria 2001, Apéria and Back 2004, Keller, Apéria and Georgson 2012). An advantage of projective techniques is that they may elicit responses that respondents may be unwilling or unable to give by traditional interview methods. In this retailer study we used projective techniques in order to explore the more emotional aspects of the retailers. Findings The results from the analyze presents Swedish retailers as representing the most sustainable of all company categories in Sweden. During a period between 2004-2017 the retail category have been in top positions of the Swedish reputation and sustainability ranking, measured in a longitudinal study. Apoteket, The Body Shop and Clas Ohlson have been ranked as number one, one time each. While IKEA has been number one eleven times during the period. During the last two years, 2016 and 2017 IKEA was ranked as number one, based on the sustainability index. The analyze has shown that the highly sustainable retailers operating in the Swedish market primarily are characterized by strong brands as well as strong perceptions of sustainability. An interesting example is the local Swedish fast-food company Max Burgers that strongly outperforms McDonald´s both as a brand as well on sustainability. Successful retailers have different personalities, and archetypes compared with other corporate categories. The analysis reveals that the strongest retailers with a high sustainability index are characterized by having strong brand personalities. Furthermore, the analysis also reveals that the archetypes characterizing these retailers are we-oriented archetypes such as: ordinary/familiar, stable/down to earth, but also the ego-oriented archetype focused/specialist. Examples of retailers with a strong brand personality are IKEA, The Body Shop, Stadium, ICA, Zara and H&M. When we compare the data from the study 2016 with 2017 we see the same results. Our results from both studies indicate that local retailers are more positively evaluated than international. We-orientated brands score higher than ego-orientated. Some retail categories are perceived better than others are. Examples of strong retail categories are pharmacies, furniture, food, and sport stores and weak retailer categories are hamburger restaurants, consumer electronics and telecom stores. However, there is always an opportunity for a retailer to be stronger than the category they represent. One example, earlier mentioned is the local hamburger chain Max Burgers that strongly outperforms international competitors such as Burger King and McDonald´s, when we compare their sustainability indexes. The results indicate that both rational and emotional factors constitute an important part of the Sustainable Brand Equity Model. This new model (see figure 2) has been developed and tested during surveys 2015-2017 by one of the authors as a part of the Swedish Sustainability Ranking. Central components of the model are sustainability indexes, corporate brand personality, brand associations meeting need segments which lead to brand loyalty and trust capital. Finally, our survey shows that retailers needs to be strong in both brand and sustainability. It´s not enough to only excel in sustainability. Research limitations/implications The Sustainability survey was carried out both in 2016 and 2017 in a retailer frame of reference including different retailers from different sectors. The authors recognize that Swedes rank retailers as the most reputable and sustainable category of companies every year. In different countries the general public has different opinions about which companies they found most reputable (Apéria, Simcic Brønn, and Schultz, 2004). Originality/value The authors compares the chosen 32 retailers studied in 2016 with 35 retailers studied in 2017 with the same method. In both surveys we used both rational questions and emotional projective questions in order to understand the retailers in-depth. In both surveys a sustainability index was used in order to rank the retailers.

Brands motivate consumers to engage in positive, supportive as well as negative, oppositional actions (e.g., Gregoire, Tripp, and Legoux 2009; Lovett, Peres, and Shachar 2013; Wolter 2015). However, although extensive research has been afforded to positive and negative brand-related communication by consumers of a brand (e.g., Baker, Donthu, and Kumar 2016; Berger 2014; Hollebeek, Glynn, and Brodie 2014; King, Racherla, and Bush 2014), attention on negative brand-related communication by non-consumers is lacking. Yet, brands are constantly subjected to negativity, slander, avoidance, and hate (e.g., Zarantonello et al. 2016) from consumers who are psychologically, behaviorally, and ideologically disconnected from them (Hegner, Fetscherin, and van Delzen 2017). Accordingly, researchers have expounded that it is imperative to investigate – in addition to positive brand outcomes and brand development strategies – negative brand outcomes and brand defense strategies (Veloutsou and Guzman 2017). Responding to such calls, this study focuses on the construct of online brand derision. Online brand derision is conceptualized as the volitional act of avoiding, openly ridiculing, discrediting, or denigrating a brand in the online environment. Correspondingly, drawing from diverse literature streams such as brand-related communication, social identity theory, and social dominance theory, this study develops and tests a framework of the antecedents of brand derision in the online environment. Results from analysis of data gathered from 320 respondents reveal that some consumers are likely to perceive a discord between themselves and the users of a brand, which along with an oppositional self-categorization of the self and the brand, influences hostile cognitive judgments and attitudinal evaluations regarding the brand. Consequently, animosity toward the brand influences online brand derision. The results further indicate support for the moderating effects of consumers’ social dominance orientation and extraversion on brand animosity’s influence on brand derision. Based on the findings, several theoretical and managerial implications as well as directions for future research are offered.

Introduction This paper’s goal is to assess the effects of customer participation behavior on perceived e-service quality and satisfaction in Greek e-shops. The author builds on and expands previous efforts by investigating customer participation using a multi-dimensional construct developed by Yi and Gong (2013) with the goal of dwelling deeper in the effects of individual dimensions of customer participation (i.e. information seeking, information sharing and responsible behavior) on consumers’ perceptions. The findings show that one of the three dimensions of customer participation behavior, namely responsible behavior, positively affects both perceived service quality as well as customer satisfaction, while information seeking affects only e-service quality and information sharing does not affect any of the two dependent variables. Theoretical development The author, in agreement with the service-dominant view proposed by Vargo and Lusch (2004; 2008), emphasizes the notion that the customers of a provided service are not just simple recipients of a final product, but also co-creators in its production process. Research on customer participation, has revealed its positive influence on perceived quality (Cermak et al., 1994) and satisfaction (Yang et al., 2017), while in some cases studies pointed out when this relationship does not hold, as well as investigate moderators affecting it (Yim et at., 2012). There have been studies that support the positive effect that aspects of customer participation have on customer satisfaction (Dong et al., 2015; Yim et al., 2012; Chan et al., 2010; Kellogg et al., 1997) and perceived service quality (Dong et al., 2015). At the same time, there have been few studies probing into the relationship between customer participation behavior and perceived service quality and satisfaction in the context of the production and distribution of services from self-service technologies, where a high level of customer/user activity and low provider activity is required (Wünderlich et al., 2013), which stresses the importance of the customers’ role in attaining value co-creation. According to Yi and Gong (2013) customer value co-creation behavior comprises two dimensions; customer participation behavior and customer citizenship behavior. This study focuses on customer behavior that is necessary for value co-creation, namely on customer participation behavior, since it is this that is usually manifest in the context of the interaction of customers with an e-shop. In accordance with the terminology utilized by Kelley et al. (1990), this study focuses on customer technical quality- as expressed by information seeking, information sharing and responsible behavior, according to Yi and Gong (2013)- since interaction with an e-shop is usually standardised and does not facilitate the development of interpersonal relationships between customers and employees. Research design To check the hypotheses formulated in this study, the services offered by e-shops in Greece were examined and assessed. What drew attention on the e-commerce and e-shopping sector, was the fact that through the long lasting economic crisis in Greece, it was one of the few that managed to flourish. A survey was carried out using a structured questionnaire for a sample of 335 adults, customers of 125 Greek e-shops. Customer participation behavior (composed of three dimensions, namely information seeking, information sharing and responsible behavior) was measured using Yi and Gong’s (2013) multidimensional and hierarchical scale that consists of 11 items, rated on a seven-point Likert format. E-service quality was measured through the use of a one-item scale developed expressly for this purpose by Lee and Lin (2005), who also used a one-item scale to measure customer satisfaction. Result and conclusion The results obtained from the analysis, supported the propositions that customer information seeking and customer responsible behavior enhance perceived service quality, while at the same time customer responsible behavior increases customer satisfaction. Claims that customer information seeking, or customer information sharing enhance customer satisfaction, could not find any support, as did the proposition that customer information sharing enhances perceived service quality. These results provide useful insight when it comes to designing an on-line store in a way that it would enhance the customers’ perceptions on the attained service quality, as well as their perceptions on their satisfaction. In order to succeed, enterprises should develop organisational socialisation (Kelley et al., 1990; Kelley et al., 1992) in such an extent, that it would establish a climate of trust that will lead customers to assume a responsible behavior towards the e-shop.

When consumers are faced with various discounts, they are likely to find some easier to comprehend than others and this degree of difficulty will impact purchase decisions. This study explains complexity as a dimension of psychological distance using different types of discounts. Current research examines that easy-to-process discounts appear near and difficult-to-process discounts appear far. Applying construal level theory, this research investigates that the dollar discount leads to higher likeability of the attribute-appeal message and the percent discount lead to higher likeability of the benefit-appeal message. The dollar discount is low-level construal, as is an attribute message (i.e., how approach) whereas the percentage discount is high-level construal like a benefit message (i.e., why approach).

During the last decades, consumers have become increasingly concerned about social and environmental issues (Cone, 2009; Kleanthous, 2011) and “want the brands they use to reflect their concerns and aspirations for a better world” (Bendell and Kleanthous, 2007, p. 5). Ethical and environmental consumerism has become a mainstream phenomenon in contemporary consumer culture (Doane, 2001; Low and Davenport, 2007) and consumers either reward or punish companies that stress or ignore the importance of social and environmental excellence (Grail Research, 2010). From a firm perspective, investing in activities promoting sustainable development is increasingly recognized as an important source of competitive advantage (Porter and Kramer, 2006) and demonstrates a differentiator in most of the industries. According to a study conducted by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture nearly 97% of the participating CEOs see sustainability as important to their company’s future success (UN and Accenture, 2016). The main reason and motivation to take action in sustainability issues is not the potential for revenue growth and cost reduction but rather the enhanced performance of the brand, trust and reputation (Lacy et al., 2010). Hence, financial rewards seem not to be the prioritized key driver for sustainability-oriented actions, since most companies are not able to explicitly quantify the benefits of their activity (UN and Accenture, 2016). But even though ethical and environmental issues have become an essential component for the evaluation and selection of brands and potential consumers may care about ethical issues, they are unlikely to compromise on traditional product attributes, such as value, quality, price, and performance (Chen and Chang, 2012). Accordingly, examining the influence of a brands sustainability orientation - as perceived by consumers - on brand related factors such as brand reputation and perceived brand value is of special importance for marketing research and practice. For that reason, the present paper examines the effect of brand sustainability on brand reputation and customer perceived value of a brand. Therefore, a measurement instrument was developed, that considers implicit and explicit pathways of human information processing and thus combines conscious and unconscious evaluations of a brands sustainability. Finally, the transfer from a positive customer evaluation to brand performance in terms of brand-related perception and brand-related behavior is examined.

Introduction Brand equity has been receiving utmost attention in academia and practice over the past decades and continues to be of significant interest. Brands have been identified as one of the most valuable assets and firms try to leverage brands in increasingly complex brand portfolios. A large body of literature exists on spillover effects with regard to brand extensions. However, little is known about how corporate branding within product brand communication impacts brand equity. Therefore, this study examines to what extent product brand attitudes spill over to corporate brands. Furthermore, it investigates how corporate branding affects corporate brand attitude. Finally, the role of product brand familiarity, corporate brand familiarity and involvement in brand leverage and dilution is assessed. Method and data Answers to these questions are provided with a sample of 407 subjects that participated in an online experiment and were presented with a print ad either for brands in the FMCG or pharmaceutical category. The experiment included a 2 (corporate brand familiarity: high or low) x 2 (product brand familiarity: high or low) x 2 (category involvement: high or low) x 2 (corporate brand presence: yes or no) factorial design. Measures included brand attitude, attitude towards the ad, brand familiarity and category involvement. Analysis of covariance is employed to test for main effects and interaction effects, pairwise comparisons to test for group differences and multigroup analysis by means of structural equation modelling and path analysis to test for differences in effect sizes for the spillover between product brands and corporate brands. Summary of findings The study provides evidence that corporate brand presence in product brand communication affects corporate brand attitude and that a significant effect is observed for the affective component of corporate brand attitude. No significant effect is found for the cognitive component. Other than expected, the findings demonstrate that corporate brand presence of familiar corporate brands in the high-involvement category (FMCGs) leads to affective corporate brand dilution. Consistently and irrespective of category, the results indicate that corporate brand presence leads to affective corporate brand dilution when corporate brand familiarity and product brand familiarity are low or when product brand familiarity and corporate brand familiarity are high. A tendency for affective brand leverage is indicated for unfamiliar corporate brands when product brands are familiar, which however requires further investigation. Moreover, the findings indicate that the degree of spillover effects differs for the two categories as hypothesized. Stronger positive effects occur in the high-involvement category of FMCGs. Key contributions The findings reveal that corporate brand presence affects corporate brand attitude while differentiating between an affective and cognitive component. Such a differentiation is indispensable as affective effects prevail. Furthermore, this study sheds light on category-specific effects. While corporate brands in the FMCG category evoke stronger positive spillover, the negativity effect of corporate brand presence supersedes and results in brand dilution irrespective of product brand familiarity. Independent of category, when product brands and corporate brands are either low in familiarity or high in familiarity, corporate brands suffer from brand dilution. However, brand dilution is not observed when unfamiliar corporate brands appear with familiar product brands indicating potential for brand leverage. The findings of this study provide new insights into the interplay between product brands and corporate brands and offer valuable guidance for brand communication in both categories. Although corporate branding within product brand communication is increasingly being practiced, these results should encourage brand managers to carefully consider whether corporate brand presence enhances brand equity or presents a liability.

Introduction The attributes of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) have a significant influence on the actions of the organization and, ultimately, firm performance (Chatterjee & Hambrick, 2007; Kashmiri, Nicol, & Arora, 2017). Recently, there has been growing interest in one particular CEO attribute, i.e., narcissism and how this individual characteristic affects actions taken by the firm and the outcomes achieved. Narcissistic CEOs have been described as “having an inflated self-concept that is enacted through a desire for recognition and a high degree of self-reference when interacting with others (Resick, Whitman, Weingarden, & Hiller, 2009: pg. 1367).” Prior research has found that CEOs with a more narcissistic personality make riskier decisions by changing the company’s strategy more often (Chatterjee & Hambrick, 2007), making acquisitions more frequently and of larger targets (Chatterjee & Hambrick, 2007), adopting discontinuous technologies (Gerstner, König, Enders, & Hambrick, 2013), and expanding international business activities (Oesterle, Elosge, & Elosge, 2016). The results of previous studies show that by pursuing decisions with greater risk and involving the firm in wide-ranging efforts, the actions of narcissistic CEOs lead to fluctuating firm performance (Chatterjee & Hambrick, 2007) and diminishes the positive effect of various firm activities. While these prior studies have provided valuable insight, the strong emphasis on the organizational actions taken as a consequence of the narcissistic CEO has not added to our understanding of the relationship between CEOs who seek personal affirmation, admiration, and attention and important intervening variables for firm performance such as corporate brand reputation. Corporate brand reputation signals the status of an organization and influences the actions of capital markets, investors, consumers, and applicants in the job market (Fombrun & Shanley, 1990). Managers actively work to construct favourable corporate brand reputations through the actions the firm takes and the information selectively released to the media and public. Yet, the literature suggests that narcissistic CEOs spend time focusing on how to enhance their own image rather than on achieving organizational goals (Resick et al., 2009). In this regard, the attention-seeking CEO likely becomes a focal point for the corporate brand. However, no research to date has examined the relationship between the narcissistic CEO’s personality and the effects of corporate brand reputation. This study fills the gap in the literature by investigating how CEO narcissism influences the effectiveness of corporate brand reputation on firm performance. Theoretical development The literature on corporate brands noted that corporate brand reputation is a critical intangible asset that affects firm performance (Roberts & Dowling, 2002). Stakeholders use corporate brand reputation as a means to compare and contrast competitors Researchers have noted various advantages for highly reputable firms: customers are willing to pay more for offerings (Roberts & Dowling, 2002) and accept new product innovations (Dowling, 2002); managers accept lower remuneration (Tavassoli, Sorescu, & Chandy, 2014) and receive higher payoff for investments (Benjamin & Podolny, 1999). These types of advantages allow for greater performance. Thus, consistent with prior literature, we argue the following: Hypothesis 1: Corporate brand reputation has a positive effect on future firm performance. Research has shown that CEO narcissism diminishes the effect of the firm’s positive actions. Petrenko, Aime, Ridge, and Hill (2016) argue that narcissistic CEOs pursue Corporate Social Responsibility efforts (CSR) as a means to enhance their own image. Yet, the authors found that the narcissistic CEOs actually reduce the positive affect of CSR initiatives. Likewise, Engelen, Neumann, and Schmidt (2016) examined the effect CEO narcissism had on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance finding that CEO narcissism lessens the positive effect of entrepreneurial orientation. These results are due to the narcissistic CEOs perpetual need for attention and self-affirmation which leads to unconcentrated work initiatives and a lack of attention to the needs of employees. When subordinates’ needs are ignored they develop a sense of powerlessness, incompetence and a lack of desire to present their own ideas. This environment diminishes entrepreneurial engagement (Engelen et al., 2016; Wales, Patel, & Lumpkin, 2013). In line with this view, we believe the attention-seeking narcissistic CEO competes with the development of the corporate brand and will dampen the positive effect of highly reputable brands on firm performance. Thus, we argue the following: Hypothesis 2: CEO narcissism diminishes the positive effect of corporate brand reputation on firm performance. Method We compiled a unique unbalanced panel composed of data from COMPUSTAT, ExecuComp, and Fortune Most Admired Companies listing. Our sample includes 993 firm-year observations consists of 237 CEOs from 144 U.S companies on eight-year period, 2009-2016. Data on CEOs were collected from the ExecuComp databases. Financial performance data were from COMPUSTAT. Firm reputation was obtained from firm’s published score in the Fortune “Most Admired Companies” survey in a given year. The fortune rating is obtained through surveys from executives and directors, and has been widely used in previous research (Love, Lim, & Bednar 2017). Our independent and control variables are measured in the year prior to the one in which the survey ratings are published. CEO narcissism is invariant meaning narcissism is a relatively stable disposition similar to Chatterjee and Hambrick’s (2011) and obtained by averaging data from the second and third years of each CEO’s tenure (t + 1 and t + 2). First year of the CEO’s tenure was not considered because of frequently mentioned anomalies reported at first year. CEO narcissism was measured with the same way as Chatterjee and Hambrick’s (2011). Thus, it combines indicators for (1) the prominence of the CEO’s photograph in the company’s annual report; (2) the CEO’s prominence in the company’s press releases; (3) the CEO’s use of first-person singular pronouns in interviews; (4) the CEO’s cash relative pay where cash compensation divided by that of the second-highest paid executive in the firm; and (5) the CEO’s non-cash relative pay where non-cash compensation divided by that of the second-highest-paid executive in the firm. Dependent variables were measures annually and consider available data after the second-year tenure of CEO (n > 2), yielding a 380 firm-years, 61 CEOs for testing our hypothesis. Firm performance was measured with Tobin’s Q (TQ), calculated by dividing the firm’s market value by firm’s asset replacement costs. We have the CEO, the firm, and the industry level control variables. CEO level control variables are CEO age, CEO tenure, CEO gender, CEO stock ownership as the percentage of company stock owned by the CEO, whether the CEO was also board chairman (duality). Firm-level control variables are firm’s the prior year performance, firm size (natural logarithm of revenues t+n–1), firm age, for each dependent variable, to consider strategy or performance tendencies, we included performance value for the firm in the year prior to the start of the CEO’s tenure (t – 1). Industry control variables are dummies for the industry sector (manufacturing, regulated and services industries), the industry average (for all firms in the sample, always excluding the focal firm) in each year (t + n), for each dependent variable to be able to control for industry tendencies. To control for endogeneity i.e. narcissistic CEOs are drawn to certain situations and/or that some conditions, we followed exactly the same procedure of Chatterjee and Hambrick’s (2011). Thus, we regressed CEO narcissism on firm revenues, age, ROA, and calendar year for the year prior to the CEO’s start, ROA change between first and second years of CEO tenure, measures in t+1, namely power (CEO/chair duality and CEO ownership), CEO age, industry dummies. Using the regression coefficients of the significant variables, we calculated each CEO’s predicted narcissism score and included that value as an endogeneity control in our analyses. We used generalized estimating equations (GEE) (Liang & Zeger, 1986), which derive maximum likelihood estimates and accommodate non-independent observations. Due to multiple observations for almost all firms, there is non-independency in our model. We specified a Gaussian (normal) distribution with an identity link function. The covariance structure of the repeated measurement was autoregressive of order one (AR(1)). We used robust variance estimators in our estimations. We used the xtgee routine in Stata 14.2. Results and conclusions The results provide considerable support for hypotheses 1 and 2. Hypothesis 1 predicted that corporate reputation has a positive effect on firm performance (b = .02, p < .01). CEO narcissism is a moderating effect between corporate brand reputation and firm performance. Specifically, CEO narcissism diminishes the positive effect of corporate reputation on firm performance (b = -.04, p < .05). Besides, CEO narcissism have a negative main effect on firm performance (b = -.14, p < .05). Corporate reputation is an intangible asset for firms and positively associated with firm performance according to our results. Little is known so far about the CEO and corporate brand relationship and the role of CEO brands in creating value for the company (Bendisch, Larsen, & Trueman, 2013). We investigated how CEO narcissism influence the relationship between firm’s reputations and firm performance which have not been investigated so far. Since CEOs are the face of the company and it contributes to corporate brand value, narcissistic CEOs might diminish the effect of corporate brand reputation on firm performance with their actions and messages. We find support for our ideas. As a future research, we suggest investigating this issue for different industry sectors and different firm performance measures. Besides, the process of what type of actions of CEOs might diminish brand value should be investigated further. When narcissistic CEOs reduce corporate brand reputation, another potential topic worth to investigate further.

In times of rapid technological change and increasing global competition, the brand constitutes one of the few resources to ensure sustainable competitive advantage (Lindemann, 2003). An important brand attribute companies need to build and communicate to consumers is brand authenticity. The technological and economic dynamics of our modern times can have destabilizing social consequences, particularly during the uncertainty caused by economic or political crises – which robs individuals of their need for stability and continuity. In these times, the human desire for authenticity may be especially strong (Turner & Manning, 1988). But what drives the authenticity of a brand? Recent research has identified brand heritage, that is, a company’s active use of its past and legacy, as beneficial for achieving competitive advantage (Urde, Greyser, & Balmer, 2007; Balmer, 2009). Previous conceptualizations of brand heritage highlight longevity, core values, use of symbols and an emphasis on history (Urde et al., 2007). Balmer (2013) builds on these conceptualizations, identifying six traits an institution should possess to be regarded as having a corporate heritage, including institution trait constancy (e.g. in terms of organizational culture; product, process and quality focus; location; group and class associations; design, style and sensory utilization; and corporate communications). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research so far has examined brand heritage as part of a corporate brand’s identity and authenticity for the specific case of post-Soviet brands whose embeddedness in a turbulent political and social environment over the last 200 years makes brand heritage management challenging. Using Balmer’s (2013) institutional trait constancy framework (Figure 1), the purpose of this study is to understand the identity of post-socialist corporate brands as corporate heritage brands and the challenges faced by managers in ensuring trait constancy of their corporate brands in the context of building and leveraging an authentic corporate heritage. A specific focus will be on analyzing how the heritage of corporate brands in post-socialist countries is connected to, and affected by, long-term societal developments including fundamental political and social regime shifts (i.e. presocialism, socialism and post-socialism). Our empirical application is the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, and here in particular the confectionary industry because confectionary brands form an integral part of the traditions and culture of a society (Tellström, Gustafsson, &Mossberg, 2006). The paper draws on case studies of three Russian iconic corporate brands in the confectionary category (Babaevsky, Krasny Octyabr and Rot Front), and one Latvian iconic confectionary brand Laima. Through these case studies, the following research questions are answered: RQ1: How does institutional trait constancy manifest itself in corporate heritage brands in post-socialist countries? RQ2: How do long-term societal developments in these countries challenge institutional trait constancy in a brand heritage management context? Our findings suggest that successful brand heritage management in a post-Soviet context requires consistency regarding organizational culture, and here in particular adaptability and resilience, along with a focus on history and traditions. It also needs consistency in terms of product, process and quality foci, as well as regarding design, style and sensory utilization. Consistency as to location, group associations and corporate communications also matters. We argue that it is critical for academics and practitioners to better understand how brands become embedded in long-term social developments and consumer life-style and how the society feeds back into maintaining their brand heritage. On that basis, our findings can be used for development of effective branding heritage strategies to assist companies in their brand heritage management, and in sustaining their long-term competitive advantage in uncertain times.

Social games where players play together with others in multiplayer mode are currently emerging and attracting attention in the media after the success of e.g. Pokemon GO. Nevertheless, little is known about the profitability of social players. Previous gaming research that has profiled different types of players has focused on games played alone, without social mechanics (cf. Vahlo et al., 2017). From a marketing perspective, it is also interesting to study the effects of merely watching game play or browsing new game ads as a mode of entertainment, and what kind of effect that has on future behaviour. Passive participation as a type of aesthetic entertainment has been acknowledged in eSports context (Seo, 2013). This paper analyses big data of a gaming company on an individual player level, including different types of single play and multiplayer gaming sessions and in-game purchase behaviour data. We compare the effects of social and non-social ingame mechanics on how individuals spend money in-game over time, frequency of play, sessions as well as the length of played sessions in minutes during the gamers’ whole lifecycle. The anonymized repository data includes gaming behaviour, in-game purchase behaviour related to the use of one specific digital game in the USA. The game can be played both alone, and with others as a team. We used structural equation modeling to analyse the behavior of 23 049 randomly selected players, who have played the game for at least one week. The data included the individual players’ total session history during their play lifecycle. Interestingly, social play with other people is a strong predictor of money spent in the long term. Social play also prompts long-term interest in the game, as friends invite and encourage each other to play with or against other virtual teams. Nevertheless, social play is not for everyone! The results help to optimize player journeys and to make strategic decisions that support long term profitability of gaming companies.

As customer loyalty becomes a key to the profitability, companies in game industry have shifted its marketing focus from acquisition to retention of customers. The present study investigates the factors presumably affecting reacquisition of the lost customers using actual transactional data. The research interest lies in not just regaining the lost customers but also keeping them. One of the objectives of the current paper is to figure out who would “stay alive” (i.e. keep using the service) after responding to the reacquisition campaign. Since few customers actively respond to a reacquisition campaign, the distribution of the response measurement is highly skewed. To handle this problem, this study uses “quantile regression (QR)” method in estimating the model. For the analyses of gamers’ real behavior, a dataset on one of the most successful online games in Korea, Sudden Attack, was utilized. This study focused on the customers who became inactive, i.e., no log-ins, during the 12-week period of April 19th to July 11th, 2012. Some of them returned when the win-back campaign was conducted beginning July 12th until August 8th (“Period 1”), and others didn’t. And further, some of those who returned stayed active (i.e., logged in) during the 4-week period after the campaign was over (“Period 2”), and others left again. In each of the four cases, a random sample of 1,000 users was drawn for the analysis. The estimation model includes four sets of variables: demographic variables (age, location), RFM variables (recency, frequency, monetary value), behavioral variables (level, experience, number of chats, kill per death ratio), and social variables (number of friends, number of gifts). The analyses confirmed their linear and/or non-linear effects in Period 1(win-back) and Period 2 (retention).

Recommender systems based on Collaborative Filtering (CF) algorithms have established an extensive means for retailers to suggest personalized item lists that will maximize each consumer’s utility. Nevertheless, in the mobile game industry, which characterized by the intense competition from the avalanche of other game options and fast-changing demands of game users, there has been no marked success with recommender systems. Instead, app stores merely show summaries of general market trends without any individual-level information, fail to suggest personalized lists based on preferences of the future. For modeling dynamics of game usage, we assume that an individual’s preferences on games can be represented as the proportion of each game’s running time, which can be calculated in daily basis by the individual’s usage time for each game apps divided by the individual’s total capacity. Then, we construct a tensor filled with the induced preferences. For the next step, we apply Bayesian probabilistic tensor factorization (BPTF), an extension of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to consider dynamic pattern, to restore all the empty entries of the tensor. Each restored component becomes an estimate of each user’s preference on each game at certain period. For empirical analysis, we use mobile log data in app-level for total 1,000 panels over 2 years. Top 100 mobile games in cumulative usage time are treated as focal apps in this study, making the dimension of the tensor by 1000 (users) * 100 (focal games) * 730 (2 years). We compare the model performance by the root-mean-squared error (RMSE) with that of baseline model, the static counterpart in collaborative filtering algorithm (Salakhutdinov, and Mnih, 2008). The results showed that our model (BPTF) defeats the baseline throughout overall user-game pairs, especially outperforming under the conditions that there are severe fluctuations in daily usage pattern and when the life span of newly adopted apps are relatively short. Furthermore, we compose personalized suggestions, which consists of the top-10 highly likable lists according to the predicted usage patterns for each individual, and compare the performance with that of the established general recommender system in app stores. For that matter, our suggestion also outweighed the existing recommender system by the typical performance metrics that commonly used in the mobile game industry.

Inconsistent findings about role stress and performance motivates this study. Data from 240 customer service representatives (CSRs) and 27 supervisors showed that role conflicts (involving supervisors and consumers) negatively relate to performance, while CSRs’ adaptive behavior mediates the relationship. CSRs’ feedback seeking moderates effects of role conflicts on adaptive behaviors.

Since the liberalization of gaming industry in 2002, Macau has become the leading destination for gaming, leisure and entertainment in Asia. Recently, few large-scaled integrated resorts (IRs) have been established and opened to public, bringing more diversified destinations for visitors in Macau. These include casino, hotel, food and beverage, retail, entertainment, etc. With this, there is no doubt that IR operators have to understand how consumers behave and respond to value added products in the IRs. Differentiating one IR from another raises the significance of innovating resort products to retain existing consumers and attract new ones. This research has investigated the impact of potential non-gaming value added products at Venetian Macao Resort on consumers’ patronage and has identified what key subitems can be added to stimulate consumers’ feedback and make them revisit the resort, recommend it to others or be interested in visiting it someday. Questionnaire was designed according to the structural equation modeling (SEM). Results proved the importance of potential value added products at Venetian Macao Resort in influencing consumers’ intention. Based on the findings, suggestions were offered to the management group of Venetian Macao Resort for its future implementation of value added products. Moreover, the results will encourage other IRs in Macau to improve further towards the goal of shaping Macau in becoming a world class tourist destination. First time visitors are more likely to consume in the areas of hotel, retail and casino, while multi-time visitors would prefer to spend on hotel, retail and F&B. To some extent, implies that casino does not seem to be the key activity to make the previous guests return. In addition, spending in hotel, retail and F&B are ranked high on visitors’ preferences, indicating that visitors at Venetian Macao Resort are willing to have diversified consumptions in the non-gaming areas. Moreover, the ways of value adding in terms of promotional pricing, new technology application, upgrading of products, customization and rewarding system can be used frequently as references for the future product improvement at the resort.

This research was conducted to examine factors affecting tweens´ brand preference for mobile network choice decisions. The results suggest that mobile network providers’ attributes, satisfaction and perceived risk have significant impact on brand preference. Further, tweens´ choices are more likely to be affected by the choices of other people within their local (district) geographic area.