As social media penetrates more deeply into people’s everyday lives, social commerce (a type of commerce that combines SNS features and possibility for commercial transactions) has enjoyed unprecedented growth. Shopping on Facebook is a representative example of social commerce platform that allows consumers to interact with other users, exchange information and purchase products without leaving a Facebook page. Social commerce presents great opportunities for marketers in terms of leveraging social aspects of shopping experience. It also offers a large potential for Korean companies to reach various target markets, as well as establish their presence abroad. Yet, acceptance of social commerce as a legitimate shopping channel has been slow, and consumers are still hesitant to shop via Facebook. This study draws on uses and gratification theory and the concept of perceived risk to examine how different motives for SNS use and the associated types of perceived risks can affect the purchase intention on the platform. Empirical data from 288 young users of Facebook were analyzed. Findings identified two main motives for SNS use: information-related motive and communication-related motive. Information-related motive significantly affected the intention to shop on Facebook, whereas communication- related motive did not have any significant influence. Risks associated with shopping via Facebook included delivery risk, security risk, social risk and economic risk. Overall, consumers perceived a higher level of security and social risk associated with shopping on Facebook. However, only social risk had a significant negative influence on the purchase intention. Awareness and previous experience of buying via social commerce platform positively affected consumers’ purchase intention.

이 논문이 천착하는 것은 예수회의 무굴 제국 선교 역사 가운데 스페인 출신의 선교사 제롬 사비에르가 이끌었던 제3차 선교이다. 특히, 그리스도교에 대한 관심이 지대했던 무굴 제국의 황제 악바르의 요청에 따라 사비에르가 집필한 Mirʾāt Al-Quds (The Mirror of Holiness)에 주목한다. 악바르는 사비에르에게 그리스도의 생애를 페르시아어로 집필할 것을 요청하였고, 사비에르는 1602년 Mirʾāt Al-Quds라는 제목의 저서를 황제에게 봉헌했다. 사비에르는 이 책을 통해 일차적으로 악바르의 지적 욕구를 충족시키고자 했을 뿐만 아니라, 궁극적으로 그리스도의 신성을 입증하고 악바르를 그리스도교로 개종시키려는 목적을 갖고 있었다. 사비에르의 Mirʾāt Al-Quds는 무슬림의 예수 이해와 충돌을 일으켰고, 결국 악바르의 후계자인 자한기르 시대에 예수회 선교사와 무굴 제국의 무슬림 학자들 간의 궁정 토론을 촉발하였다.

A citric acid functionalized graphene oxide nanocomposite was successfully synthesized and the structure and morphology of the nanocatalyst were comprehensively characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction patterns, atomic force microscopy images, scanning electron microscopy images, transmission electron microscopy images, and thermogravimetric analysis. The application of this nanocatalyst was exemplified in an important condensation reaction to give imidazole derivatives in high yields and short reaction times at room temperature. The catalyst shows high catalytic activity and could be reused after simple work up and easy purification for at least six cycles without significant loss of activity, which indicates efficient immobilizing of citrate groups on the surface of graphene oxide sheets.

The present study applies asymmetric analysis and models complex antecedent conditions to identify shoppers with high purchase intentions to sustainable fashion products’ (SFPs) and high eWOM intention. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method was used to assess the cause-and effect process. The examination was based on information process, and decision making of consumers in two countries (China and Korea) was found to vary by nationality. Specifically, consumers in the two countries provided different responses on sustainable fashion change configuration, suggesting differences in the characteristics of sustainable and non-sustainable fashion consumers and sustainable fashion intentions. The results show that various casual recipes on sustainable fashion change the configuration and sustainable fashion intention on corners 1 and 4. Both Chinese and Korean consumers do not have several unique demographic and fashion expenditure configurations that characterize consumers with high intention to buy and eWOM intention favorable toward sustainable fashion. In the Chinese consumers’ data, computing with words (CWW) showed that young•married•low-income•low-education•low-fashionexpenditure cases (consumers) were lower on negation purchase and eWOM intentions (i.e., an accurate screening configuration identifying consumers high io non-sustainable fashion intentions). The results also help identify consumer characteristics of sustainable fashion consumers and non-sustainable fashion consumers. Specifically, the results of the fsQCA suggest dissimilar confirmation to achieve purchase intention and eWOM intention of sustainable fashion and provide meaningful academic and managerial implications. The results of the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis also support and clarify the role of the theory of information process and the theory of reasoned action towards sustainable fashion.

Introduction The fashion business is known as one of the major industries that is suffering from rising concerns about the consumption of its product, which led to a reorganization of the fashion supply chain to become more sustainable three decades ago. The interest in the concept of sustainability and demand for sustainable marketing activities is gradually growing in the fashion industry due to the negative image and press it receives. Within the luxury fashion segment, the three main themes that are recognized to contribute to sustainability are exclusivity, craftmanship and limited production. However, luxury brands are increasingly shifting their attention and commitment towards environmental and social issues to be incorporated in the concept of sustainability. Yet, the majority of consumers has little understanding or misunderstands the concept of sustainable fashion and marketing, which leads to a gap between attitudes towards sustainability and actual behavior. As a result, fashion brands are trying to leverage their brand by making sustainability a key marketing strategy to raise awareness about social, environmental, economic and cultural issues. Extant research has not explored this recent trend to understand how consumers evaluate fashion brands with a sustainable marketing communication, especially in the context of luxury brands. This study investigates how luxury and mass fashion brands can utilize sustainable marketing contents in social media communication to reach their target group and enhance their equity with sustainability associations. Theoretical Development Associative network models of memory have served as a fundamental framework for a wide range of studies related to the formation and transfer of associations. According to associative network theory, brand knowledge is represented in form of an associative network of memory nodes connected to each other. Nodes are activated when cues, such as advertising, are presented. Mere exposure to cues was shown to be sufficient to active associations and facilitate association transfer. While brands are continuously attempting to make use of associative power to leverage brand equity, extant research has provided compelling reasons to accept that association transfer can also result in brand dilution when a retrieval of conflicting or negative associations occurs. Especially in the context of luxury brands consisting of very unique associations and being different from mass brands in many regards, managing the brand’s associative network is a crucial task in order to send the right signals to consumers and maintain exclusivity. This study investigates how social media communication of different sustainability dimensions affects brand attitude and how it ultimately impacts behavioral outcomes in an attempt to build brand equity for mass and luxury fashion brands. Method and Data The hypotheses are tested with 273 respondents who participated in an online experiment. They were first asked to state their involvement with the category fashion. Subsequently, subjects were presented with a brand post either for the mass or luxury brand including claims related to one of the four sustainability dimensions or no claims for the control group respectively. The experiment consisted of a 2 (brand: mass or luxury) x 5 (sustainability dimensions: none, cultural, economic, environmental, social) factorial design. The measures that followed included attitudinal as well as behavioral constructs related to the brand, sustainability as well as social media use. Analysis of covariance is applied to test for main effects and interaction effects. Summary of Findings This study provides evidence that social media communication of a sustainable brand affects the purchase intention of consumers. The findings indicate a significant difference between the mass and the luxury brand used for this study. The mass brand exhibits the potential to leverage associations with cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability. However, the results only reveal a marginally significant higher purchase intention when cultural sustainability is communicated compared to when the brand does not provide any sustainable associations. In contrast, the luxury brand suffers from significant brand dilution across all four sustainability dimensions resulting in a decline in purchase intention. Key Contributions The findings reveal that sustainability communication exerts a diverging influence depending on the type of brand that is involved. This study suggests that mass brands are able to benefit from sustainability communication in an attempt to leverage brand equity. However, for a luxury brand this type of associations rather presents a liability that might dilute the brand. The findings of this study provide important insights for brand managers. Since mass brands are currently increasing efforts into sustainable communication in the fashion industry, the results suggest that this might be a promising investment. However, luxury brands are advised to carefully manage the communication of salient content related to sustainability as it might harm the invaluable and unique associations inherent in a luxury brand.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to verify whether cultural aspects influence consumers’ product appraisal by analyzing how consumers from two different countries choose products by designers with a diverse cultural background. Design/Methodology: A questionnaire was applied, with 321 female respondents (217 from Brazil, 104 from Israel) who chose swimsuits from two different styles (“Classic” and “Trendy”) in four different options: bikini, one-piece, solid colors, and print options. Findings: Both countries presented a preference for design from the same cultural background, but while Brazilian respondents opted mostly for designs by Brazilian designers, Israeli respondents chose more openly. Israeli respondents presented a much higher restriction on bikini models compared to one-pieces, while Brazilians presented the opposite type of rejection. Research implications: The results suggest that cultural aspects influence consumers’ choices in product appraisal, as respondents tend to choose designs made under the same cultural influence. Originality/value: behavior, product appraisal, swimwear, cross-cultural 1 Yael_

Personalised nutrition can contribute significantly to the prevention of non-communicable dietary related diseases by providing dietary suggestions based on individual’s nutritional needs. Adoption of the concept of personalised nutrition by individuals is crucial for the success of personalised nutrition services. However, consumers’ adoption intention of personalised nutrition services is not only the result of cognitive deliberations of benefits and risks, but several studies in other contexts show that affective and contextual factors also play an important role in explaining consumers’ adoption intention. This study therefore examines whether affective factors (i.e., measured by means of ambivalent feelings) and contextual factors (i.e., eating context) increase the understanding of consumers' intentions to use personalized nutrition services. An online survey study was conducted among a total of 996 participants in the Netherlands. The results of a number of estimated fully latent structural regression models show that the intention to use personalized nutrition is not only positively driven by a weighing of benefits and risks (i.e., privacy calculus), which is also established in previous studies, but also negatively by ambivalent feelings. In turn, the results show that ambivalence towards personalized nutrition is predicted by privacy risk and the extent to which someone perceives the eating context as a barrier for personalized nutrition. Taken together, the current study implies that to stimulate the adoption of personalized nutrition services not only benefits and risks of personalized nutrition should be addressed, but also consumers’ ambivalent feelings regarding the concept and contextual factors that may prohibit adoption.

To remain competitive in the realm of the Internet, developers of new business models not only have to take into account the behavior of online consumers, but also their misbehavior. Today, companies are faced with special challenges regarding consumer misbehavior, particularly in the segment of online content providers (e.g. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc.), where it has become a common practice to share an account with multiple persons, while only one of them is the rightful owner. Such misbehavior may lead to negative consequences, such as direct and indirect financial performance implications, increased workload to deal with dysfunctional customer behavior, underestimated membership, and a lack of understanding the true customer base (Harris & Raynolds, 2003; Hwang et al., 2009). Therefore this study investigates account sharing as a part of customer misbehavior with a qualitative approach to identify customers’ reasons for account sharing. Thereby this investigation makes meaningful implications for companies (e.g., Netflix) and research alike.

Purpose – Research on technology acceptance involves one's psychological aspect, known as technology readiness. Particularly in the digital acceptance context related to mobile advertising, this psychological condition is referred to digital readiness. Nasution, Rusnandi, Qodariah and Arnita (2018) argue that digital readiness is a prominent factor in the adoption of technology and digital applications. They have proven the importance of this digital readiness in their research on digital mastery level in a telecommunication company in Indonesia. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of digital readiness on the acceptance toward mobile advertising among millennials in Bandung, Indonesia. Relevant theories – Mobile advertising is part of digital advertising, as stated by Nasution & Aghniadi (2016), they define mobile advertising as a form of digital advertising that has attentions on engaging a strong communication to audience. This type of advertising adoption is still continuously growing and becoming preferable form of advertising for the Millenials. Researchers developed a model that links the influence of digital readiness to mobile advertising acceptance. In addition to these relationships, the research model they developed from the Technology Acceptance Model also included the influence of perceived usefulness and perceived risk to mobile ads acceptance. Design/methodology/approach – The research model is developed from Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with a specific attention to assessing whether digital readiness influences the respondents’ perception of usefulness and risk of mobile advertising. The research performs quantitative approach using survey that is formed based on previous literature and conceptual model. Structural equations modelling (SEM) is also conducted to test the constructed model and the proposed hypotheses. Byme (2010) states the significance of the estimated coefficients for the hypothesis relationships which indicate whether the relationship between constructs held true or not. This research will then compare between three models that are differed by range of respondents’ ages. First model will be combined age that is 17-24 years old, second model is 17-20 years old and third model is 21-24 years old. Findings – The results show that digital readiness has a significant influence towards mobile advertising acceptance among Millennials, in which action readiness is more considered than attitudinal readiness in terms of further assessing mobile advertising. In addition, the study also illustrates Millennials’ perception of usefulness and risk of receiving mobile advertising. Younger group (17 – 20 years old) will not be affected much by usefulness of mobile advertising rather than the older group who will consider much about usefulness on accepting mobile advertising. The group also will take risk along with their ability to accept mobile advertising. It contradicts with the older group (21 – 24 years old) who see risk as hindrance in accepting mobile advertising. Research limitations/implications – The area coverage of respondents only included several cities across Java and does not concern about the place of origin of respondents. Besides, this research also possesses an age limit for its respondents that range from 17 to 24 years old to limit the diversity of attitudes, beliefs and perceptions. Originality/value – This study focuses on the concept of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in which the digital readiness is applied in the context that has not been conducted in Indonesia. Researchers conducted an empirical study on the effect of digital readiness on mobile advertising that is part of digital technology. The results of this research provide opportunities for digital readiness applications in research on the adoption of other digital technologies. Paper type - Applied research

Purpose – This paper holds a purpose to examine the influence of perceived utility, contextual relevance and lifestyle on the acceptance of mobile advertising among millennials in Indonesia (specifically in Bandung). The three factors represent an extension of the general model of mobile advertising which is largely influenced by the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). The factors are proposed to extend the model to include factors at individual (receiver), object (message) and contextual levels. Lifestyle, Perceived Utility, and Contextual Relevance are factors at individual, object and context that are posited to influence the acceptance of mobile advertising in this study. Specifically, the current study is aimed at elaborating the role of those factors in influencing the acceptance of mobile advertising among millennials in Bandung, Indonesia. Relevant theories – mobile marketing definition and scope from various literature, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), theory of perceived utility, consumers’ utilization of contextual information in mobile advertising, and the influence of lifestyle – as representation of individual factor – on mobile advertising acceptance are the most relevant theories for the current paper. Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted by devising a new model that includes acceptance of mobile advertising, attitude toward mobile advertising, subjective norm in relation to mobile advertising, perceived utility of mobile advertising, contextual relevance of message and income (as representation of individual lifestyle). The questionnaires distributed to young adults segment within varsity area. The data is then examined and evaluated through structural equation modelling (SEM) which requires analysis on measurement and path model. Findings – The study resulted in several findings, mostly confirming proposed hypotheses in varying degrees. The results conclude that attitude is of great importance in the acceptance of mobile advertising. Subjective norms and contextual relevance are positively related to attitudes — which lead to acceptance, while both perceived utility and income in negative relations to attitude and acceptance consecutively. Research implications and limitations – This study adds up to the growing amount of related research in various countries. Companies making use of the mobile advertising as part of their promotional strategies should always think of the manner and matter by which the advertisements arrive while serving as benefit for marketers and consumers. A good mobile advertising strategy will put more effort into giving useful information that is appropriate to the context and consumer segments it targeted. This research is conducted on respondents from Indonesian consumers, specifically in the area of Bandung, which may not represent the other segments of users of mobile advertising. In addition, the case covers a convenience sample of consumers that may again impact the representativeness of the research findings. Originality/value – This study provides findings on the effects of contingency factors that have been missing in the previous research on the acceptance of mobile advertising. Paper type – Applied research

Introduction The concept of brand equity has been receiving considerable interest from academia and practice in the past decades. While mutual understanding exists on the importance of establishing high-equity brands, less agreement among academics and practitioners prevails regarding its conceptualization and operationalization. Many approaches have been proposed to measure brand equity in academic literature and numerous competing companies such as Millward Brown, Interbrand, or Young & Rubicam offer commercial metrics and brand evaluations, which are likely to estimate different values to a specific brand. This study reflects a consumer-based perspective on brand equity, which resides in the heart and mind of the consumer and captures the value a brand endows beyond the attributes and benefits its products imply. Growing calls for the accountability of marketing has resulted in increasing interest in marketing metrics, which includes mind-set metrics to address the “black box” between marketing actions and consumer actions in the market. Theoretical Development One of the most prominent conceptualizations of brand equity is based on the premise that brand equity is “the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand” consisting of brand awareness and brand image as the predominant dimensions that shape brand knowledge. In this model, a crucial role is ascribed to consumer’s associations with a brand as a reflection of its image. Accordingly, brand building and differentiation is based on establishing favorable, strong, and unique associations. Human associative network theory is a widely accepted concept to explain the storage and retrieval of information and has been largely applied in the context of brands. Associative network theory suggests that brand information is stored in long-term memory in a network of nodes that are linked to brand associations such as attributes, claims or evaluations. Consumers use brand names as cues to retrieve associations. Once cues activate corresponding nodes and consumers retrieve information from memory, the activation spreads to related nodes. Consequently, a transfer of associations can also occur through associative chains in a process of attitude formation. Consumer response to a brand can be of attitudinal and behavioral character and research on attitudes supports the general notion that both, affective and cognitive structures, explain attitude formation. The predictive properties of attitudes regarding actual behavior have been acknowledged by prior research and the attitude-behavior relationship has been established. Research Design Operationalization of Brand Equity This study distinguishes between attitudinal and behavioral measures of brand equity. The behavioral measures of brand equity should reflect the attitudinal brand equity components in predicting product-market outcomes. High brand equity should lead to a willingness to pay a price premium, purchase intention and willingness to recommend. Survey Brand equity measures are tested with two waves of data collection2 from online surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016. Respondents were recruited from a professional panel provider to ensure that the same respondents participated in wave two after a year from the first wave. Participants were selected according to a quota regarding age and gender to increase representativeness and were then randomly assigned to one of the three industries beer, insurance, and white goods capturing brand equity from different perspectives and allowing for a more holistic view. Sample The sample for the first wave consists of 2.798 respondents. The sample was matched with the response from wave two and only those respondents were selected who participated in both waves. Given the panel mortality rate, the final sample size for longitudinal analysis is 1.292 observations. The respondents’ age ranges from 18 to 74 with 52 percent being male and 48 percent female. Analysis Panel regression is used to estimate models assessing the relative importance of various brand equity metrics regarding the three outcome variables for the three categories included. The results suggest that no universal brand equity metric dominates that can be applied to predict behavioral outcomes across categories. Yet, category-specific brand equity metrics prevail across outcomes. Consumers seem to evaluate a strong brand as an entity they can personally connect to in the insurance category. In the beer category, consumers’ evaluation of strong brands reflects deep affect and the perception of product quality. High equity brands relate to loyal consumers with strong affective evaluations in the category of durable household products. Moreover, the results indicate that brand equity measurement can be simplified to a small subset of metrics without risking loss of model fit and predictive power. Discussion While a plethora of brand equity metrics exists, the results of this study suggest that brand managers can apply a small subset of available metrics to track their brands’ equity and predict behavior without implementing long surveys that require considerable time and effort from increasingly overloaded consumers. Yet, adjustments to the composition of brand equity metrics might be inevitable in light of category-specific effects. Moreover, the results reveal that a consideration of metrics capturing affective components such as brand self-connection and deep feelings such as brand love is indispensable for brand equity measurement. Including emotional measures and extending established brand equity metrics that are deeply rooted in extant research might provide a considerable advantage when it comes to measuring brand value in different product categories. References are available upon request.

Introduction An important decision that a manufacturer has to make in distributing a product to customers is the degree of forward channel integration (Aulakh & Kotabe, 1997; Coughlan et al., 2001; John & Weitz, 1988). Transaction cost economics (TCE) developed by Williamson (1975, 1985, 1986, 1999) has been one of the leading theoretical frameworks used to explain the channel integration decision (Frazier, 1999; Watson et al., 2015). TCE is generally a theory for explaining the choice of an efficient governance structure in transactions and includes asset specificity, uncertainty, and frequency as its explanatory variables. According to Williamson (1985, 1986, 1999), much of the explanatory power of TCE is driven by asset specificity. TCE-based channel integration studies argue that as asset specificity increases, firms are expected to increase the degree of channel integration. This study proposes to extend existing research in four important ways. First, existing studies have not examined individual dimensions of asset specificity. This study examines two important dimensions discussed by TCE: human asset specificity and physical asset specificity. Second, existing studies have tended to measure asset specificity in a particular way (i.e., with a particular set of questionnaire items). This study examines the robustness of the estimated asset specificity-integration relationship to alternative measures of asset specificity. Third, existing studies have focused on firms in one country such as the United States, Canada, or Germany. This study empirically examines the roles and relative importance of human and physical asset specificity in channel integration in two countries with different cultures, the United States and Japan. Fourth, existing studies have not investigated the possibility of endogeneity between asset specificity and channel integration. This study tests whether asset specificity is endogenous in explaining channel integration through an instrumental variables and two-stage least squares (IV-2SLS) approach. Literature Review In the context of distribution channels, asset specificity refers to the extent to which durable, transaction-specific investments in human and/or physical assets are needed to distribute the product in question (John & Weitz, 1988; Klein et al., 1990; Shervani et al., 2007). Examples of such investments include (1) the time and effort employed to acquire the firm-specific, product-specific, and customer-specific knowledge needed for distribution activities, and (2) specialized physical equipment and facilities (e.g., warehouses, deliver vehicles, refrigeration equipment, demonstration facilities, and repair and service centers) (Anderson, 1985; Bello & Lohtia, 1995; Brettel et al., 2011a, 2011b; John & Weitz, 1988; Shervani et al., 2007; Williamson, 1985, 1986). According to TCE, when the assets needed to distribute a product are non-specific, the use of independent channels is a priori more efficient than the use of integrated channels based on the benefits of distribution specialists and competition in the market place (Anderson, 1985). Conversely, a high level of specific assets, whether human or physical, has important implications for the degree of channel integration. The primary consequence is to reduce a large number of relationships between a manufacturer and independent channel members to a small number of relationships, which may expose the transaction in question to opportunistic behavior. Because the unique productive value created by a high level of specific assets makes it costly to switch to a new relationship, the use of independent channels will not be effective as a safeguard against opportunism (John & Weitz, 1988; Shervani et al., 2007). Channel integration provides a safeguard against opportunism by permitting (1) the better monitoring and surveillance of integrated channels relative to independent channels, and (2) the reduction of profits from opportunistic behavior since employees in integrated channels do not ordinarily have claims to profit streams (John & Weitz, 1988). As a result, as asset specificity increases, manufacturers are expected to increase the degree of channel integration to exercise greater control over the channels (John & Weitz, 1988; Shervani et al., 2007). This leads to the following basic TCE hypothesis concerning asset specificity and channel integration: TCE hypothesis. Asset specificity will be positively related to the degree of channel integration. Existing studies of channel integration tend to provide support or partial support for the hypothesized positive relationship between asset specificity and channel integration. One limitation of key studies is that they have not fully explored the dimensions of asset specificity because they treat asset specificity as unidimensional or examine only one dimension of asset specificity. Specifically, Anderson and Schmittlein (1984), Anderson (1985), Anderson and Coughlan (1987), and Krafft et al. (2004) focus on human asset specificity. While John and Weitz (1988), Shervani et al. (2007), and Brettel et al. (2011a) consider both human and physical asset specificity in their theoretical discussions, their empirical analyses focus only on human asset specificity. Klein et al. (1990), Aulakh and Kotabe (1997), and Brettel et al. (2011a) use a single measure of asset specificity that contains distinct items measuring human and physical asset specificity. Importantly, none of these studies has examined the dimension of physical asset specificity while controlling for the impact of human asset specificity. These observations suggest that further research is needed that explicitly measures and evaluates the relative importance of human and physical asset specificity in the channel integration decision. Research Hypotheses Based on the above literature review, we seek to extend existing research by distinguishing between two types of asset specificity, human and physical asset specificity. As already explained, TCE and TCE-based channel integration studies argue that both human and physical asset specificity are positive drivers of the degree of channel integration. Thus, our research hypotheses are the following: Hypothesis 1. Human asset specificity will be positively related to the degree of channel integration. Hypothesis 2. Physical asset specificity will be positively related to the degree of channel integration. Research Methodology As shown in Table 1, previous empirical studies attempt to test the basic TCE hypothesis concerning asset specificity and channel integration using (1) a particular measure of asset specificity, (2) data from a single national survey of firms in the United States, Canada, or Germany, and (3) methods such as an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis and a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. In contrast with these studies, we seek to test the above two hypotheses concerning two types of asset specificity and channel integration using (1) different measures of asset specificity, (2) data from parallel national surveys of firms in two countries with different cultures, the United States and Japan, and (3) the methods used in prior empirical analyses and an IV-2SLS approach, which is a widely accepted method for investigating the potential endogeneity problem of focal explanatory variables (Antonakis et al., 2010, 2014; Zaefarian et al., 2017). This research strategy is partly based on the guidelines for high-quality replication studies articulated by Bettis et al. (2016b). The aims are to assess the generalizability of important prior results using different survey data drawn from different research contexts and to assess the robustness of these results using different measures and methods, thereby providing important additional evidence that contributes to the establishment of repeatable cumulative knowledge (Bettis et al., 2016a, 2016b). We developed the survey questionnaire in several steps. Following John and Weitz (1988), Shervani et al. (2007), and Brettel et al. (2011b), the dependent variable, channel integration, was operationalized by the percentage of sales through direct channels. We measured the focal explanatory variable, asset specificity, in four ways: (1) a four-item scale of human asset specificity used by Shervani et al. (2007), (2) a four-item scale of physical asset specificity based on Bello and Lohtia (1995) and Klein et al. (1990), (3) a six-item scale of human and physical asset specificity used by Klein et al. (1990), and (4) a four-item scale of human and physical asset specificity used by Brettel et al. (2011a). We also included four control variables: environmental uncertainty, behavioral uncertainty, financial performance, and channel members’ capabilities. Based on existing studies, manufacturers of electronic and telecommunication, metal, and chemical products in industrial (business-to-business) markets were selected as the setting for the empirical test. The unit of analysis was the domestic channel integration decision made at a product-market level. Respondents were sales/marketing managers (or executives) knowledgeable about channel design and strategies. In the United States, a professional marketing research company administered the data collection. In Japan, respondents were surveyed by mail. In total, we obtained 235 usable responses from US managers and 279 responses from Japanese managers. Results and Conclusions Following similar studies (John & Weitz, 1988; Shervani et al., 2007), an OLS regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The results, shown in Table 1, exhibit significant explanatory power for each model. As expected, (1) human asset specificity exhibits significant positive relationships with the degree of channel integration in both the United States and Japan (Models 1 & 2). These findings support Hypothesis 1. Conversely, (2) physical asset specificity does not have the expected significant positive relationships with the degree of channel integration in both the United States and Japan (Models 1 & 3). These findings do not support Hypothesis 2. Also, (3) asset specificity (Klein et al., 1990) and (4) asset specificity (Brettel et al., 2011a), two composite measures of human and physical asset specificity, exhibit the expected significant coefficients (Models 4 & 5). Additionally, we conducted a similar analysis using a structural equation modelling approach. The results mirrored those of OLS regression, thus providing further support for it. To assess the problem of potential endogeneity between asset specificity and channel integration, we employed IV-2SLS. We used (1) the level of the product’s technical content and (2) the need for coordination between production and distribution activities as instruments for human/physical asset specificity. Our instruments were individually significant predictors of asset specificity and met the exclusion restriction. However, the endogeneity test revealed no evidence of endogeneity. Thus, asset specificity was treated as exogenous in the model. In summary, our preliminary results suggest that human asset specificity, not physical asset specificity, is relevant to the channel integration decision. This finding is significant in that TCE-based channel integration studies tend to measure only one type of asset specificity. We are currently conducting additional analyses to better understand the relationship between human and physical asset specificity, for example, (1) the effects of human and physical asset specificity on different kinds of direct distribution, and (2) a multiple equation model in which human asset specificity is a function of physical asset specificity and direct distribution is a function of both human and physical asset specificity. We believe that our results will have important implications for the ways in which managers approach the channel integration decision.

The present paper is an addition to the relevance debate in marketing literature. Research is said to be ‘relevant,’ if it leads to change, alteration or validation of how managers think, talk or act. However, the majority of the literature on relevance debate talks about the decline in relevance, yet no study has scientifically measured it. The present study uses content analysis to analyze the trends in different types of relevance across three different eras of marketing eras (i.e., commoditization, generalization and post-debate era). We also conducted a second study to check the relative importance of different types of relevance to the managers using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results reveal a U-shaped curve of the relevance across these different eras. They also reveal the influence of the relevance debate on the research conducted by academicians. Out of the eight types of managerial relevance identified, “Forecasts” was ranked the highest, followed by “Rhetoric devices” and “Uncovering causal relationships.” Finally, the study also presents a view for an academician to shape his/her research concerning the current needs of the industry.

Digital revenues from music and video have surpassed the physical revenues and, remarkably, access-based services are solely responsible for the growth of digital revenues, whereas (legal) downloading behavior and revenues from paying for ownership are declining (ERA, 2017; IFPI, 2017). However, access-based digital consumption business models are heavily dependent on customers’ continued use of their services. Through two studies, this research aims to investigate customers’ behavioral trajectories in digital entertainment services. Study 1 examines cross-lagged effects of non-financial personal investment on frequency of use and vice versa, while relating attitudinal and demographical antecedents to both trajectories. Study 2 investigates the moderating influence of financial investment on the relation between non-financial investment on frequency of use in a video streaming service with a freemium business model and studies at what point in time users decide to switch from a free service to a paid service. The results of the first study indicate that there are effects of the frequency of use of a service on the amount of non-financial investment put in the service (i.e. creating a list of favorites for later consumption), but the effects of non-financial investment on frequency of use are only found for women. Furthermore, in line with the self-service literature, perception of hedonic rewards is the strongest predictor of frequency of use and the amount of non-financial investment made in the service. For men, perceived ease of use is negatively related with the amount of non-financial investment made, indicating that men are less likely to see the added value of personal investment, when it is easy to find what they are looking for. Lastly, older people perceive new digital entertainment platforms as less hedonically rewarding, less easy to use and less useful, suggesting that they are more favorably disposed towards traditional forms of entertainment, such as the traditional TV. The results of the second study are still in progress and will be presented at the 2018 GMC conference.

Using two samples of LinkedIn portraits from American (n = 480) and Israeli (n = 300) users, we found that most LinkedIn portraits adhere to popular recommendations found on the Internet. However, there were cross-cultural differences in the level of formality and adherence to popular advice, with Americans more than Israelis presenting themselves in a formal manner and in an appropriate location and position. Occupation categories did not prove to moderate the cultural effects on the portraits features. Future research is needed to generalize these findings to other cultures, geographical areas, religions, and occupations. These findings have implications for SNS users and recruiters.

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.

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.

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.

This study focuses on analyzing the variables that moderate the effectiveness of the advertising flyers, one of the most used tools in retailing, to improve product sales. In previous literature, studies analyzed and confirmed the effectiveness of flyers to increase the traffic store, the general store sales or the synergistic effect of them to highlight and improve the effectiveness of promotions. Despite their confirmed effectiveness on these issues and their large use by retailers and manufacturers, it is missed studies that analyze the variables that may moderate their effectiveness on the sales of the products displayed on it. In fact, only Zhang et al. (2009) tried to analyze if the location in which the product is displayed have an influence on its effectiveness. According to them, they obtained inconclusive results due to their sample size. This study, considering the consumer’s cognitive process, analyzes how the presentation and the position of the product in flyers have an effect on their effectiveness to increase the displayed product’s sales. The results show that (i) the special signage on a displayed product in flyers increases their effectiveness to increase displayed product’s sales, and (ii) not only being highlighted increases the effect of the flyer, but that the product positioning affects decisively. For example, some locations -such as the cover, the top of the pages and areas on the left-, increase the visibility of the product and are more effective than other positions to increase displayed product’s sales. These results are in line with previous studies that indicate the importance of the directionality of reading to capture the customer’s attention in other environments. In sum, as happens inside the store or in the shelf, depending on if the product is displayed with a special signage or in an area where the customers pay more attention due to the standard cognitive process, the effectiveness of the flyers increase. Thus, retailers and manufacturers must consider how and where to be in the flyer, not just being.

This study investigates an under-developed research area, sports partnership management, to deepen the understanding of the strategic implications derived from a sports club’s partnerships. A relationship perspective to the portfolio framework is employed by considering the complexity of a partnership as the managerial input variable, and the value impact of the partnership as the output variable. It adopts a longitudinal single case study design, allowing aspects of both exploration and explanation through evidence from multiple sources within the organization. The data collection entails a three-phase empirical research process, collecting data from different sources within a professional sports club. Based on a dataset containing two waves of contract data collected in Phase 2 coupled with interviews in Phase 1 and discussions in Phase 3, this research provides three meaningful applications of a partnership portfolio framework. Theoretically, this research provides insights into enhancing the rigor of the operationalization of a portfolio analysis by paying particular attention to the validity of the portfolio framework and its measurement issues. Practically, the study offers a framework for analyzing its partnership portfolio that provides insights into the current status of the portfolio and ways to build, sustain and/or improve the management of their partnerships.