Customer orientation and the development of long-term relationships with customers are known conditions for growth and profit sustainability. Businesses use special treatments, inducements, and personal gestures to show their appreciation to customers. However, there are concerns about whether these inducements really create the right perceptions in customer’s mind. This study suggests that when customers believe that the firm is ethical, the inducements and special treatments received are seen in a positive light and can help develop loyalty. The (...) hypotheses were tested with responses from 299 customers of financial institutions in Chile. Results support the hypotheses that firm’s ethical reputation helps in retaining customers. Managerial implications are provided. (shrink)

Abusive supervision is quite common in the service industry. Employees’ proactive customer service performance is essential for the long-term development of service enterprises. This study enriches the antecedents of proactive customer service performance from a new theoretical perspective by incorporating the analysis of abusive supervision into the theoretical framework and fills the research gap between customer orientation and proactive customer service performance. Based on Affective Events Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, this study established the structure (...) equation model between abusive supervision and proactive customer service performance mediated by affective commitment and customer orientation. Utilizing structural equation modeling, a negative association between abusive supervision and proactive customer service performance was found, and affective commitment and customer orientation act as the mediators between abusive supervision and proactive customer service performance. In addition, the implications for future study were also discussed. (shrink)

Managing stakeholders is an important managerial aspect of corporate social responsibility. Employee stakeholder is one of the primary stakeholders that are critical to a company. Previous studies have shown inconclusive findings regarding the performance impact of managing this stakeholder, with some identifying little impact while others finding a positive association. This study further explores this issue in the context of foreign companies' subsidiaries in China. A potential mediating mechanism (i. e., customer orientation) between employee stakeholder orientation and (...) performance (both financial performance and innovation performance) was proposed; a sample of 103 Chinese subsidiaries of foreign companies which have new product development responsibilities was used to test hypotheses. A subsidiary's employee orientation was found to show a significant positive relationship with its product innovation performance, but no significant relationship with its financial results. Moreover, employee orientation showed a significant indirect relationship with both performance outcomes through customer orientation. (shrink)

The article examines the content and process of forming the principles of a customer-oriented approach to the management of transport enterprises in the context of sustainable development. The author's definition of the concept of “principles of a customer-oriented approach to the management of transport enterprises” is given on the basis of its understanding as strategic and tactical areas of activity aimed at maximizing the satisfaction of customers' needs and expectations through the use of digital technologies and innovative approaches. (...) The key principles of a customer-oriented approach to managing transport enterprises in the context of sustainable development are developed, among which the following are highlighted: understanding customer needs; personalization of service; interaction at all stages; digital transformation of processes; data analysis and forecasting; creation of a digital environment; training and development of personnel; culture of service and open communication; continuous analysis and improvement; focus on the sustainability of relations, etc. The author's own model of digital transformation of transport enterprises using the principles of a customer-oriented approach is proposed. A generalized characterization and impact on the processes of customer focus of individual digital technologies for managing customer relations of transport enterprises is presented. (shrink)

This study examines the relationship between the ethical behavior and customer orientation of insurance sales agents engaged in the selling of complex services, e.g. health, life, auto, and property insurance. The effect of ethical and customer-oriented behavior, measured by the SOCO scale (Saxe and Weitz, 1982), on the annual premiums generated by the agents is also investigated. Customeroriented sales agents are found to engage in less unethical behavior than their sales-oriented counterparts. Further, sales-oriented agents are found to (...) perceive greater levels of unethical behavior among their significant others. Alarmingly, higher levels of sales premiums are found among those agents who engage in unethical behavior. (shrink)

This paper addresses the relationship between corporate political activities (CPA) and a firm’s customer orientation (CO) from a strategy perspective. Focussing on the potential negative implications of CPA, the paper argues that CPA over time may result in path-dependency for the focal strategic system and lead to a low level of customer orientation and strategic rigidity to readdress an appropriate level of CO.

Despite increasing interest being given to dysfunctional customer behavior in multiple service sectors, it is unclear how and why different types of dysfunctional customer behavior affect frontline employees’ emotional labor during the service interactions. Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, we propose a conceptual model in which verbal abuse, disproportionate demand, and illegitimate complaint differentially influence frontline employees’ emotional labor strategies. Further, the boundary conditions of these relationships are considered by introducing perceived organizational support and customer (...) orientation as moderators. Using survey data from 436 frontline employees of five call centers in China, hypotheses were tested through a hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicated that verbal abuse and illegitimate complaint exerted positive effects on surface acting. Particularly, these positive effects were weaker when frontline employees perceived organizational support was high. Also, verbal abuse’s positive effect on surface acting was weaker when frontline employees’ customer orientation was high. Customer’s verbal abuse, disproportionate demand, and illegitimate complaint negatively influenced frontline employees’ deep acting. The negative effect of disproportionate demand on deep acting was weaker when perceived organizational support was high. However, when frontline employees’ customer orientation was high, the negative effects of disproportionate demand and illegitimate complaints on deep acting were weaker. (shrink)

Ein gelungenes Arzt-Patient-Verhältnis, das auf gegenseitigem Vertrauen und ärztlicher Verantwortung basiert, ist ein zentraler Bestandteil des Ideals der ärztlichen Profession. Aktuell wird vielfach von einem neuen „ökonomischen Paradigma“ in der Medizin gesprochen, das dieses Verhältnis vermeintlich unterminiert. Als ein wichtiges Merkmal dieses Paradigmas gilt das Verständnis vom Patienten als Kunden, der charakterisiert ist durch seine Selbstbestimmung bzw. Autonomie. Wie stellt sich die Kundenrolle nun aber bei vulnerablen Patientengruppen dar, die in ihrer Autonomie eingeschränkt sind, und was bedeutet dies wiederum für (...) das Arzt-Patient-Verhältnis? In dem vorliegenden Artikel wollen wir deshalb die Fragestellung verfolgen, ob sich ärztliche Verantwortung bzw. das Arzt-Patient-Verhältnis ändert, wenn sich der (vulnerable) Patient als Kunde begreift. Als Analysesetting dient die Palliativmedizin, da sie als Beispiel für eine besonders vulnerable Patientengruppe gelten kann. Als Basis der Argumentation werden die Ergebnisse einer qualitativen Studie herangezogen, welche die Einstellungen von Palliativpatienten zum Thema „der Patient als Kunde“ erhob sowie der Frage nachging, ob sich Palliativpatienten, speziell im Rahmen von medizinischen Entscheidungen, als selbstbestimmt begreifen. Die Studienergebnisse zeigen, dass Autonomie relational verstanden werden muss und dem Arzt eine entscheidende Rolle in der Ermöglichung von Patientenselbstbestimmung zukommt – ganz unabhängig von der Selbstattribuierung der Befragten als Kunde oder Patient. Anschließend werden diese Ergebnisse dahingehend analysiert, ob sie als Ausdruck einer Veränderung des Arzt-Patient-Verhältnisses und der ärztlichen Verantwortung gegenüber den Patienten zu werten sind. Hieraus folgernd wird nach den praktischen Implikationen für das Arzt-Patient-Verhältnis auf der Grundlage der „Ethics of Care“ gefragt sowie auf die individuelle Betreuungsnotwendigkeit, speziell von vulnerablen Patientengruppen, verwiesen. (shrink)

Three studies were conducted to explore the psychological determinants of COVID-deterrent behaviors. In Study 1, using data collected and analyzed both before and after the release of COVID-19 vaccines, mask-wearing, other preventative behaviors like social distancing, and vaccination intentions were positively related to assessments of the Coronavirus Behavioral Health Mindset ; belief in the credibility of science; progressive political orientation; less use of repressive and more use of sensitization coping; and the attribution of COVID-19 safety to effort rather than (...) ability, powerful forces, fate, or luck. In Study 2, favorable COVID-19 vaccination intentions were related to greater willingness to work, lower emotional distress, and greater customer experience mindset. Study 3 examined the personality and motives of individuals who volunteered to help deliver COVID-19 inoculations to the local community. The vaccine-giving volunteers, especially those with prosocial motives, had high CVBHM scores, belief in the credibility of science, low use of repressive coping, greater attribution of COVID-19 protection to effort, low likelihood of voting conservative, were older, and had more education than others. The majority of public health volunteers expressed prosocial motives to help people or join a cause, but many expressed the personal motives of getting the COVID-19 vaccination for themselves, conveying a public image of compassion, or structuring time. Based on the three research studies, a COVID-19 Mindset Hierarchy model is proposed to integrate the results. (shrink)

Corporate social responsibility is a force to “pull” customers to the organizational mission and values, and influence them to contribute to the organization. The primary purpose of the research is to assess how CSR contributes to customer value co-creation. The research also seeks evidence on the moderation mechanisms of servant leadership and relationship marketing orientation for the effect of CSR on customer value co-creation behavior. The data were collected from 873 employees and 873 customers in software industry (...) in Vietnam context. The data analysis supported the positive effect of CSR on customer value co-creation behavior. Servant leadership and relationship marketing orientation were also found to play moderating roles for the CSR–customer value co-creation linkage. (shrink)

For many years, researchers and practitioners have sought out meaningful indicators of sales performance. Yet, as the concept of performance has broadened, the understanding of what makes up a successful seller, has become far more complicated. The complexity of buyer–seller relationships has changed therefore as the definition of sales performance has expanded, cultivating a growing interest in ethical/unethical actions since they could potentially have impacts on sales performance. Given this environment, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact (...) of moral judgment on sales performance and sellers engaging in a customer-oriented selling approach. Specifically, by utilizing a sample of 345 business-to-business salespeople, this study examines the relationships between moral judgment, customer-oriented selling, and outcome and behavior based performance. Results, managerial implications, and opportunities for future research are provided. (shrink)

Very few studies have looked upon the construct of workplace spirituality in sales organization context. This paper integrates workplace spirituality with sales literature. The paper points out that self-interest transcendence is a common aspect in the workplace spirituality concept which emerged a decade ago and in most of the relationship-oriented selling characteristics—customer orientation, adaptability, service orientation, and ethical selling behavior. Based on the common aspect of self-interest transcendence, we propose that workplace spirituality could be a causal precursor (...) to relationship-oriented selling characteristics. We present guidelines for future research, implications for practice and a few potential downsides of workplace spirituality in sales organization. (shrink)

This study examines the moderating effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the association between market orientation and firm performance in the context of an emerging economy. The results from a sample of firms that operate in Dubai indicate that CSR has a synergistic effect on the impact of market orientation on business performance. The results of our research on the moderating effects of CSR on market orientation subsets reveal that although CSR moderates the association between (...) class='Hi'>customer orientation and business performance, it does not moderate the association between competitive orientation and interfunctional coordination and performance. The results of this study are discussed, and implications for practitioners and researchers are presented. (shrink)

Corporate social responsibility has become of great interest to both researchers and practitioners alike with much discussion on whether the costs outweigh the performance implications. CSR has become a firm strategic tool as firms recognize that the customer value proposition and CSR is integrated with the focus on how to differentiate the firm from the view of the customer. We utilized market orientation theory as our foundation for our research as it explains how organizations adapt to their (...) customer environment to develop competitive advantages. With the current customer focus on CSR, MO assists the field in identifying a possible firm differentiation. Our research found that firms that ranked high on CSR correlated positively to performance. We also found our theoretically developed constructs of firm customer orientation and firm market orientation correlated with the firm adopting CSR. The results also indicated that CSR positively mediates CO and MO to firm performance. As past research had mixed results over the direct relation of MO to performance, our research suggests that CSR may be the missing variable to explain the MO/performance relationship. (shrink)

The writer examines the evidence regarding the claim that English lawyers of the early seventeenth century exhibited a jurisprudential outlook dominant enough to be correctly called ‘the common law mind’ - an understanding in which the common law was conceptualized as immemorially-old custom. He argues that there was no dominant common law mind in the period; that there were at least two widely-held orientations to the common law among common lawyers. One, held by some of the more traditional lawyers, did (...) emphasize the antiquity of the common law and identify it with custom; the other, taken by equally prominent lawyers who had been influenced by their educations in philosophy, logic and humanistic scholarship, was more concerned with conceptualizing the law as reason. The writer examines what lawyers meant when they spoke of the law as reason and about the artificial reason of the law. (shrink)

The first part of Chapter 2.21 of the Arthaśāstra deals with the activities of the Customs Superintendent, containing recommendations regarding the collection of customs duty. Scholars have encountered several difficulties in understanding the meaning and purposes of the activities described. An auction-like procedure described in the text has been analyzed by some as the normal operation of a market, with the payments to the treasury mentioned there taken as a hitherto-unknown market tax—the price of trading in the market. Other paragraphs (...) in the text describe seemingly self-contradictory trader actions. Interpretations of these actions have involved the imbuing of traders with complex psychological beliefs regarding the actions of other traders. This article proposes an economic model of the underlying market structure, which leads to a different and integrated reading of the text. In this reading, the author of the text, recognizing the incentive for importers to undervalue their goods, suggests the auction procedure and accom- panying penalty payments to elicit truthful revelation of importers’ valuations and to maximize customs levy collections. By comparing the procedure in the Arthaśāstra to modern-day regulations intended to combat tax evasion, the article provides early evidence of the use of sophisticated mechanisms to elicit truthful value revelation. (shrink)

As customer return rates increase, retailer bottom lines suffer from customers’ misuse of the policies and to the ethics of such practice. The purpose of this study is to explore customers’ orientation toward return behaviors, and to develop a return orientation assessing these dimensions. This research identified three dimensions relevant to consumer return behavior: the planned/unethical returner; the eager returner; and the reluctant/educated returner. A retest with another sample confirmed these three dimensions. Each dimension was analyzed for (...) its relationship with consumer ethical beliefs as measured by the Muncy–Vitell Consumer Ethics Scale, ethical philosophies and shopping behaviors. These relationships supported the ethical and unethical aspects of returner orientation. Results of this research imply that the core aspect of returner orientation is relevant to ethical behavior and misuse of retail return policies. The three return orientations identified partially support the Rosenbaum & Bitner-Olson research. (shrink)

Despite the recognition of the importance of philosophy-based management in recent Japanese management practices, there has been little effort to systematically examine this topic from a normative view. With a sample of 152 electrical machinery companies, this study attempts to identify the underlying value orientations incorporated in the normative statement of corporate management philosophy and furthermore examines the complex relationships between corporate value orientations and various performance indexes. The article shows that although the adoption of a corporate management philosophy does (...) not contribute to corporate financial performance directly, some value orientations might contribute to non-financial performance and long-term performance potentials. Especially, CSR environmental performance might be contributed by customer orientation and harmony; human resource management performance is associated with partner orientation and harmony; growth potential might be related with global orientation, entrepreneurship, and honesty. Furthermore, the negative relationship between increase of sales effort and CSR environmental performance also implies that it deserves careful consideration and attention for a company to balance the interests of various stakeholders. (shrink)

Within the context of service inquiries, and the specialized inferential logic associated with the particularized activities there is a gap in the orientations of customers and service representatives. Specifically, one problem that arises in customer service encounters is that customers and service representatives appear to arrive at different understandings of what constitutes a relevant response to a service inquiry. By examining one type of customer service context, calls to an electronic repair facility, this article offers a conversation analytic (...) account of how customers use formulations to collaboratively achieve a mutually agreed upon answer to their service inquiry and close the gap in the underlying logics that emerge in these calls. (shrink)

The degree to which the early dharma literature was an extrapolation from the earlier ritual codes can be seen from a number of shared features of form and content. One of these that has not received more than passing notice is the fact that the Dharmaśāstric principle of regarding customary norms as a valid basis of dharma, both in general and in limited spheres, has its origins in ritual rules in the śrautasūtras and gṛhyasūtras. Passages from the Baudhāyanaśrautasūtra and numerous (...) gṛhyasūtras show that already in these rulebooks established practices of particular social groups were accepted as a valid authority in certain contexts where explicit textual warrant was lacking, and that a further distinction was there made between the general norms of experts and the valid particular norms of locality or social group. (shrink)

Transdisciplinarity includes the assumption that within new institutional settings, scientific research becomes more closely responsive to practical problems and user needs and is therefore often subject to considerable application pressure. This raises the question whether transdisciplinarity affects the epistemic standards and the fruitfulness of research. Case studies show how user-orientation and epistemic innovativeness can be combined. While the modeling involved in all cases under consideration was local and focused primarily on features of immediate practical relevance, it was informed by (...) theoretical insights from basic research. Conversely, industrial research turns out sometimes to produce theoretical understanding. These findings highlight an interactive relationship between science and technology (moderate emergentism), which is distinct from the traditional view of a one-sided dependence of technology on science (cascade model) and from the newly received independence account (emergentism). (shrink)

Illustrations: 31 Figures Description: The present work is a masterful compilation which, from its nature and scope, and from the method followed in its preparation, exhibits that it is not merely a dictionary, but it is in fact more than that. Arranged alphabetically, this dictionary has been conceived on a large scale and written by a deft hand. The work is divided into two volumes. Volume I deals with India and the Middle East and contains 2250 titles, and volume II (...) deals with China and Japan and has 1500 titles, and together they cover the vast field of Oriental philosophy, encompassing all human experiences and disciplines. Captured in the pages of this monumental work are the lives of the prophets, social and religious reformers, Asian philosophies and spiritual disciplines of the living faiths of the east. The dictionary is destined to be welcomed as an exhaustive work on comparative religion also, inasmuch as it covers the whole ground of Oriental philosophy and its tangents. The entire volume is a combination of scholarly knowledge and spiritual awareness; their importance therefore is both to scholars and seekers of truth. There is perhaps no other work on record that accomplishes both ends-the propounding of the custom of the peoples of the Orient and an insight into their spiritual ideals both ancient and modern. All in all, the Dictionary of Oriental Philosophy may be judges to have been written by a hand of master dialectician with perception and exactitude. (shrink)

Just as values are like beacons for an individual, so they are for a profession, especially for HRD—a value–based management profession. Given the sweeping changes taking place in the business environment, it is plausible that the value orientation of HRD professionals have also changed. In an attempt to understand this, the study being presented here identified 11 value orientations, with ethico–moral, customer and quality orientations the three top ranking value orientations of HRD professionals. The study also discusses respondents’ (...) rating of their organization on the encouragement provided to employees in their job to practice the values they consider as the ones guiding their professional life. It concludes that though: (a) professionals still value strong humanistically–oriented values, business–oriented values seem to have taken priority over the same; (b) organizations encourage practice of all the 11 value orientations, they have come a long way from the traditional welfare approach or paternalistic attitude. (shrink)

This article aims to analyze the relationship between intellectual capital and innovation through market orientation in the Indonesian film Industry as a creative economy in the new economic age based on information intensification and creativity with superior ideas, knowledge and competencies of human resources. To collect data, a questionnaire was used. Out of 65 populations of film companies, by random sampling, 56 were selected as representative samples. The Partial Least Square Structural Path-Modeling (PLS-PM) was used to test the hypotheses. (...) The research outcomes revealed that intellectual capital, market orientation, and innovation are fairly high. Intellectual capital has a positive effect on market orientation and innovation. Market orientation mediates the effect of intellectual capital on innovation. Intellectual capital may directly affect the innovation of the Indonesian film industry and through market orientation. Human capital, structural capital, and customer capital must be strengthened to support customer orientation, competitor orientation, and internal integration of the company, so that innovations in products, processes, and strategies can be increased. This study implies that the innovation will develop more with the pertinent intellectual capital and suitable market orientation. (shrink)

Customers’ declining receptivity to conventional marketing tools has been a challenge for convenience stores. To overcome this, retailers are turning to social media as a new, potent marketing tool for creating business prospects and encouraging direct customer interaction. However, it is still unknown how social media marketing affects the shifts in customer behavior. This paper expands on the relationship of “loyalty program + virtual community experience → perceived value → customer loyalty” in the traditional convenience store scenario, (...) refining the variables of virtual community experience, perceived value, and customer loyalty. It also compares the effectiveness of different LP design structures and explores the mediation impact of program loyalty and the moderation effect of alternative attractiveness. The results demonstrate the superior performance of LPs with an expiry policy and differential returns and highlight the importance of enhancing members’ virtual community experiences in fostering customer perceived value and loyalty. The results also show the minor negative moderation impact of community group buying and prove that emotional value significantly impacts customer loyalty. Still, the social value does not affect program loyalty. The recommendations are offered, such as designing growing-oriented and periodical zeroing LPs, as well as using new social media marketing tools to empower traditional marketing techniques and constructing a “convenience store + community group buying” model. The findings have substantial theoretical and practical implications for traditional convenience stores in properly implementing loyalty and social media marketing tactics to maximize customer value and loyalty with a limited budget. (shrink)

Different interpretations exist regarding Khubilai’s 1280 edict prohibiting the Muslim method of slaughtering sheep and the practice of circumcision. By analyzing primary sources in the Chinese and Persian languages this article provides a new translation of the original text of the edict, showing that the Yuan established as a guiding principle that each subject group should follow its own customs. This article argues that the Yuan government prohibited the two Muslim practices because Mongol rulers believed that Muslims violated the guiding (...) principle by forcing other peoples to follow the two practices. This article further argues that the Yuan court insisted on each group following its own customs because the power structure and legal system of the Mongol-Yuan Empire largely rested on differences and boundaries. (shrink)

This research uses an experimental approach to investigate the relationship between market orientation of a company and its level of success in international business. The aim of the study was to develop and use a market orientation scale that is appropriate to the sector. It was discovered that there are four hidden traits that drive market orientation. These include customers, rivals, departmental response, and overall customer satisfaction. According to the results, orientation toward one's customers is (...) more essential than any of the other traits, while orientation toward one's competitors has an inverted U-shaped connection with performance. The performance of the firm was not found to correlate in any way with the responsiveness of its departments. With the help of the comprehensive conceptualization, managers are able to develop specific kinds of orientations that are essential for higher levels of performance. (shrink)

Due to huge advancements in natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, chatbots are gaining significance in the field of customer service. For users, it may be hard to distinguish whether they are communicating with a human or a chatbot. This brings ethical issues, as users have the right to know who or what they are interacting with (European Commission in Regulatory framework proposal on artificial intelligence. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/regulatory-framework-ai, 2022). One of the solutions is to include a disclosure at the (...) start of the interaction (e.g., “this is a chatbot”). However, companies are reluctant to use disclosures, as consumers may perceive artificial agents as less knowledgeable and empathetic than their human counterparts (Luo et al. in Market Sci 38(6):937–947, 2019). The current mixed methods study, combining qualitative interviews (n = 8) and a quantitative experiment (n = 194), delves into users’ responses to a disclosed vs. undisclosed customer service chatbot, focusing on source orientation, anthropomorphism, and social presence. The qualitative interviews reveal that it is the willingness to help the customer and the friendly tone of voice that matters to the users, regardless of the artificial status of the customer care representative. The experiment did not show significant effects of the disclosure (vs. non-disclosure). Implications for research, legislators and businesses are discussed. (shrink)

In the expanding field of the gig economy, the interactions between app-workers and customers have become focal areas of academic investigation. Drawing from the conservation of resources (COR) theory, we propose and test a moderated dual mediation model to examine the impact of customer injustice on app-workers’ work outcomes, including withdrawal behaviors and service performance. Employing a mixed-method approach comprising two multi-wave, multisource field studies and an online scenario experiment, our findings provide support for the following hypotheses: customer (...) injustice fosters withdrawal behaviors and undermines service performance by inducing app-workers to experience increased emotional exhaustion and reduced service-oriented self-efficacy. Nevertheless, the impacts of these associations are weakened when app-workers engage more frequently in online community support seeking behaviors. Theoretical implications and practical applications of our findings are discussed in the context of the burgeoning gig economy. (shrink)

A major challenge in global sales research is helping managers understand sales ethics across countries. Addressing this challenge, our research investigates whether a few demographic variables and psychographic variables reduce unethical sales behaviors (USBs) in Canada, Mexico, and the USA. Further, using literatures associated with business ethics, national culture, and customer orientation advocacy, we hypothesize why sales managers should expect similarities and differences in USBs between countries. We tested hypotheses using a sales contest scenario and six USBs, examining (...) survey responses from 948 business-to-business salespeople of a multinational company’s sales force in Canada, Mexico, and the USA. The results reveal that several psychographic variables (such as commitment, relationship to sales manager, and achievement need) affect salespeople’s tendency to engage in USBs differently in each country. In addition, business ethics, individualism, and customer orientation advocacy associated with each country can be used to anticipate similarities and differences in USBs between countries. This research offers important theoretical contributions and implications for more effectively managing sales forces and reducing USBs across countries. (shrink)

Sustainable luxury is a strategic issue for managers and for society, yet it remains poorly understood. This research seeks to clarify how corporate social responsibility actions directly and indirectly affect consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for luxury brand products, as well as how a long-term orientation might moderate these relationships. A scenario study presents fictional CSR actions of two brands, representing different luxury products, to 1,049 respondents from two countries. The results of a structural equation modeling approach (...) show that the luxury brands’ CSR actions negatively affect customer WTPP overall and for each brand. The luxury brands’ functional and symbolic value dimensions positively mediate the effects of CSR actions on WTPP, whereas social value does not. The effects of CSR actions and brand symbolic value on WTTP do not differ between countries. The effect of functional value on WTPP differs across countries, such that it is stronger for high-LTO than low-LTO cultures. Inversely, the effect of social on customer WTPP is stronger for low-LTO than high-LTO cultures. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for luxury brand managers. (shrink)

Studies on fair-trade consumption have concentrated on economic, demographic, and ethical issues, and research on consumers’ moral emotions and self-orientation is limited. Although consumers’ satisfaction with their consumption has been emphasized in consumer studies and marketing, little substantive empirical research has addressed ethical consumers’ emotional satisfaction and the link between their motivations and happiness. This study focused on ethical consumers who regularly purchase fair-trade coffee to understand their moral emotions and self-orientation as motivations for fair-trade consumption and determine (...) whether empathy and self-oriented motivations led to their happiness. A survey was conducted on 471 regular purchasers of at least one cup of fair-trade coffee weekly or a pack of fair-trade coffee beans monthly. The survey data were analyzed using partial least squares. The results showed that guilt was positively associated with empathy, which positively influenced self-actualization. Contrary to the proposed hypothesis, empathy did not elicit consumers’ happiness. As expected, narcissism affected self-actualization, which in turn elicited happiness. Happiness was positively associated with customers’ repurchase intentions for fair-trade coffee. The results of this study demonstrate the strong associations of the paths from narcissism to self-actualization, self-actualization to happiness, and self-actualization to repurchase intentions compared to the paths from guilt to empathy, empathy to happiness, and empathy to repurchase intentions. Contrary to common expectations, the results indicate that self-oriented motivations focused on self-actualization rather than moral emotions play key roles in ethical consumers’ happiness with fair-trade consumption. (shrink)

Strategic orientation and innovation are vital determinants for accelerating the performance of small-to-medium-sized enterprises. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence confirming the innovation at the product and process levels that instigated the SMEs’ performance. Moreover, the mediating effect of process and product innovation can play a significant role in strategic orientation and manufacturing SMEs’ performance. In this respect, this study aims to examine the mediating effect of product and process innovation between strategic orientation and the (...) performance of Malaysian manufacturing SMEs. The questionnaire survey gathered data from 360 manufacturing SMEs and was analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling to achieve these research objectives. The study analysis established that customer and entrepreneurial orientation significantly influence product and service innovation. However, the market orientation is significant for process innovation but insignificant for product-level innovation among SMEs. The study’s consequences exposed that process innovation has significantly mediated between the strategic orientation and SMEs performance. It implies that market, entrepreneurial, and customer-related strategies would substantially improve SMEs’ performance by harnessing innovation at product and process levels. The core insights provided by the current work are to strengthen the strategic orientation that can promote product and process innovation, thereby harnessing the SMEs’ performance. Additionally, the study’s significance and limitations were reported at the end. (shrink)

This study has been designed to investigate whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) orientations have shifted in their priority in response to society's changing expectations. For this sample of U.S.-based multinational chemical subsidiaries, it appears that the top priority continues to be economic responsibilities, followed closely by legal responsibilities. A socially accountable corporation ... must be a thoughtful institution, able to rise above economic interest to anticipate the impact of its actions on all individuals and groups, from shareholders to employees to (...) customers, to fellow-breathers of the air and fellow-sharers of the land. A successful business organization must possess a moral sense as well as an economic sense (Thornton Bradshaw, President of Atlantic Richfield Co. inBusiness and Society: Strategies for the 1980's, 1980, p. xiv). (shrink)

This paper examines anger expression in a corpus of 66 customer service complaints posted to the Mexican X/Twitter account of the online cab company, Uber. Specifically, building on work on emotions and (im)politeness as well as work on service-related anger episodes, it focuses on how these complainers signal their anger, and how these emotional expressions are related to rapport management orientation. Adopting a qualitative perspective, we observed complainers in this corpus expressing anger explicitly (using specific lexical choices such (...) as profanities), implicitly (for example, asking rhetorical questions with semantic connotations of anger), or indulging in anger behaviours (threatening retaliatory behaviour). The majority of these strategies would be considered rapport challenging, however, certain more constructive, rapport enhancing strategies were also observed: for example, complainers portrayed themselves as approachable using medium specific in-group slang or provided means to open a dialogue to solve whatever problem they were complaining about. (shrink)

This paper explores the managerial aspects of the relationship with stakeholders, under the assumption that transfer of knowledge is being made from relationship marketing and market orientation perspectives. These marketing tools may prove useful to manage the relationship with other stakeholders, as has been the case with customers. This study focuses on a sample of Spanish companies representing 43% of listed companies with the largest market capitalization. Given that this is the first time that corporate relationship with stakeholders is (...) analyzed in Spain, a qualitative technique (case analysis) was used. The main conclusion of the study is that most of the participant companies have a reactive position vis-à-vis stakeholders management systems. This attitude is reflected in their concern exclusively about ethical indexes managers. (shrink)

This article examines the extent to which diversity characteristics and stakeholder role influence individuals’ corporate social orientation (CSO). Our findings indicate that one’s relationship to the organization as well as diversity, gender, and race influence one’s CSO. Specifically, we found that employees’ greatest concern was economic whereas customers had a stronger ethical orientation. The results also suggest that women as well as Black employees and customers place more emphasis on whether an organization is fulfilling its discretionary responsibilities than (...) do males and Whites. A model using the concept of value congruence is presented to guide future research. (shrink)

The financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic have caused many enterprises to suffer great losses. Thus, companies have to take measures such as pays cut, furloughs, or layoffs, which caused dissatisfaction among employees and triggered labor disputes. Therefore, this study explores the service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior in order to understand the behavioral intentions of employees through their mental states, job attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. This study conducted questionnaire (...) surveys for employees in different industries, collected 281 valid questionnaires, and applied Structural Equation Model for the analysis. The results show: employees believe organizational justice in the organization is important, and when they feel treated fairly, their job attitudes and beliefs are enhanced. Employees’ job attitudes and beliefs support service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior, in other words, they have positive job attitudes and beliefs and will actively provide better service to customers. When employees are treated reasonably and fairly by the organization and have positive job attitudes and perceived behavior control, their spontaneous service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior is stimulated, thus increasing organizational development. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence is a cutting-edge technology that has been widely applied in tourism operations. To enhance tourists' experience, many tourism suppliers introduced AI devices to interact with tourists. Previous studies classified AI devices as task- and social- oriented based on their functions; however, current models that explain customers' intention to use AI devices did not reflect the discrepancy between the two different types. Therefore, this paper attempts to fill this gap by proposing a theoretical model for the use of task-oriented (...) AI devices. Based on the multi-stage appraisal framework and the Structural Equation Modeling analysis, this paper presents the following findings: utilitarian motivation, interaction convenience, and task-technology fit are the factors appraised in the first stage; perceived competence and flow experience are the factors appraised in the second stage; utilitarian motivation, interaction convenience, and task-technology fit are positively associated with perceived competence. Perceived competence positively influences flow experience, which further affects customers' switching intention from task-oriented AI devices to human service; the serial mediating effect of perceived competence and flow experience between the stimulus mentioned in the first appraisal stage and the switching intention is confirmed. This study reveals the underlying psychological mechanism when customers use task-oriented AI devices, and it provides a theoretical framework for task-oriented AI device adoption. (shrink)

In June 2018 the Supreme Court of the United States decided the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop, in which baker Jack Phillips refused to provide a cake for a same-sex wedding. The Court decided the case on fairly narrow grounds; in particular, it set aside the question of whether Phillips illegally discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation by refusing to sell the same cake to a gay couple that he would sell to a heterosexual couple. Concurring opinions by Justices (...) Kagan and Gorsuch do address that question, however, and in this paper I explore the debate between them. By distinguishing between design-based and use-based refusals of service and then arguing that some use-based refusals are tantamount to discrimination on the basis of protected traits, I argue that Jack Phillips did indeed discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. I also argue that another baker, who refused to create a “Leviticus 18:22 ‘Homosexuality is a detestable sin’ ” cake, did not discriminate on the basis of religion. I thus side with Justice Kagan against Justice Gorsuch on the question of whether the Colorado commission treated the two bakers inconsistently. (shrink)