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This study examined whether marketing an apparel product via an advertisement with a sustainability vs a conventional message would affect consumer perception of the brand's CSR image and their attitude toward the brand.

An online experiment via a posttest-only between-group design with random assignment was administered with a college student sample from a large northeastern university in the US.

Exposure to an advertisement with a sustainability message had a direct effect on the brand's CSR image, which mediated the relationship between advertisement exposure and (1) perceived brand innovativeness and (2) consumer-brand identification. CSR image positively predicted brand innovativeness, consumer-brand identification and attitude toward the brand. Prior attitude toward sustainable apparel was a significant moderator between advertisement exposure and (1) CSR image and (2) consumer-brand identification.

This study is among the first to test the effects of apparel advertising with a sustainability message on the relationship between consumer and the brand. Study findings contribute to industry knowledge by elucidating the potential effects of an apparel ad with a sustainability message on a brand's CSR image and innovativeness as well as consumer identification with and attitude toward the brand.

Extant research addressing how consumers respond to electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) remains limited. Even less attention has been devoted to examining the trustworthiness of consumer reviewers with different ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of reviewer ethnicity, review valence and social distance (to three different ethnic groups) on perceived reviewer trustworthiness, brand attitude and purchase intention toward a product evaluated by reviewers of three ethnic backgrounds.

The study adopted a 2 (review valence)×3 (reviewer ethnicity) design; 398 participants were randomly assigned to one of the six conditions. A mock product-review web page for each study condition was created to manipulate review valence and reviewer ethnicity.

Results show that while review valence, reviewer ethnicity and social distance each had a significant effect on perceived reviewer trustworthiness, only review valence had an influence on brand attitude and purchase intention. The interaction between reviewer ethnicity and review valence also had a significant effect on perceived reviewer trustworthiness, brand attitude and purchase intention.

The current study is the first to apply social distance theory to explain cross-cultural perception of trust, as it extends and updates the original social distance scale to broaden its empirical relevance to contemporary society via an eWOM marketing context. As social distance is a fluid and timely concept to study the diverse ethnic cultural environment, the current findings carry strong implications to future research in a wide variety of digital communication and marketing contexts, among others.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the insertion of an endorsement – or the lack of it – in conjunction with product information relevancy, have an impact on consumers' purchase intentions related to a particular product.

An experiment was conducted to test the research hypotheses posited by this study. A 3 × 2 factorial design manipulating three product‐communication forms was employed. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two counterbalanced subgroups associated with each of the six experimental conditions, with 12 experimental conditions. The experimental stimuli included two type of product‐performance information, each highlighting either the “superb power” or “superb control” feature of a tennis racquet.

Study findings indicate that product information relevancy to consumers' desired product characteristics had a significant influence on purchase intention.

The study described in this paper suffers from the generic limitations of all laboratory studies with forced exposure to stimuli in that the external validity is sacrificed at the cost of the internal validity. A related external validity issue involves the generalizability of the present research findings across different types of products.

Endorsements – while potentially effective in enhancing purchase intention – may elicit different responses from consumers, depending upon the content class and information relevancy. In order to level the playing field, advertisers may wish to consider advertising strategies that not only feature endorsements, but also provide potential consumers with easy access to publicity articles that further substantiate these claims. For promoting products, it is imperative that ease of access to this third‐party information becomes a strategic priority. In addition to prominently displaying and drawing attention to the endorsement in their advertising, advertisers may also want to obtain and manage available endorsements on their own web sites.

The paper compares the effectiveness of three forms of product communication in relation to endorsement and product‐information relevancy on consumers' purchase intentions; it also contributes in expanding the understanding of these relations to the online product promotion context. Given that performance relevancy in product information is rather prevalent in the online environment, the paper's findings can also help inform both researchers and practitioners in this particular area of research inquiries in the future.

The purpose of this study is to design and develop a testing device to simulate interaction between human hand–arm dynamics, right-angle (RA) computer-controlled power torque tools and joint-tightening task-related variables.

The testing rig can simulate a variety of tools, tasks and operator conditions. The device includes custom data-acquisition electronics and graphical user interface-based software. The simulation of the human hand–arm dynamics is based on the rig’s four-bar mechanism-based design and mechanical components that provide adjustable stiffness (via pneumatic cylinder) and mass (via plates) and non-adjustable damping. The stiffness and mass values used are based on an experimentally validated hand–arm model that includes a database of model parameters. This database is with respect to gender and working posture, corresponding to experienced tool operators from a prior study.

The rig measures tool handle force and displacement responses simultaneously. Peak force and displacement coefficients of determination (R2) between rig estimations and human testing measurements were 0.98 and 0.85, respectively, for the same set of tools, tasks and operator conditions. The rig also provides predicted tool operator acceptability ratings, using a data set from a prior study of discomfort in experienced operators during torque tool use.

Deviations from linearity may influence handle force and displacement measurements. Stiction (Coulomb friction) in the overall rig, as well as in the air cylinder piston, is neglected. The rig’s mechanical damping is not adjustable, despite the fact that human hand–arm damping varies with respect to gender and working posture. Deviations from these assumptions may affect the correlation of the handle force and displacement measurements with those of human testing for the same tool, task and operator conditions.

This test rig will allow the rapid assessment of the ergonomic performance of DC torque tools, saving considerable time in lineside applications and reducing the risk of worker injury. DC torque tools are an extremely effective way of increasing production rate and improving torque accuracy. Being a complex dynamic system, however, the performance of DC torque tools varies in each application. Changes in worker mass, damping and stiffness, as well as joint stiffness and tool program, make each application unique. This test rig models all of these factors and allows quick assessment.

The use of this tool test rig will help to identify and understand risk factors that contribute to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) associated with the use of torque tools. Tool operators are subjected to large impulsive handle reaction forces, as joint torque builds up while tightening a fastener. Repeated exposure to such forces is associated with muscle soreness, fatigue and physical stress which are also risk factors for upper extremity injuries (MSDs; e.g. tendinosis, myofascial pain). Eccentric exercise exertions are known to cause damage to muscle tissue in untrained individuals and affect subsequent performance.

The rig provides a novel means for quantitative, repeatable dynamic evaluation of RA powered torque tools and objective selection of tightening programs. Compared to current static tool assessment methods, dynamic testing provides a more realistic tool assessment relative to the tool operator’s experience. This may lead to improvements in tool or controller design and reduction in associated musculoskeletal discomfort in operators.

We examined the attitudes of millennial-aged business students toward economic, social and environmental corporate responsibility (CR). Currently, these individuals are of an age that they have entered the workforce and are now ascending or have ascended into roles of leadership in which they have decision-making power that influences their company’s CR agenda and implementation. Thus, following the ecological systems perspective, we tested both the macro influence of cultural values (survival/self-expression and traditional/secular-rational values) and structural forces (income inequality, welfare socialism and environmental vulnerability) on these individuals’ attitudes toward CR.

This is a multilevel study of 3,572 millennial-aged students from 28 Asian, American, Australasian and European societies. We analyzed the data collected in 2003–2009 using hierarchical linear modeling.

In our multilevel analyses, we found that survival/self-expression values were negatively related to economic CR and positively related to social CR while traditional/secular-rational values was negatively related to social CR. We also found that welfare socialism was positively related to environmental CR but negatively related to economic CR while environmental vulnerability was not related to any CR. Lastly, income equality was positively related to social CR but not economic or environment responsibilities. In sum, we found that both culture-based and structure-based macro factors, to varying extents, shape the attitudes of millennial-aged students on CR in our sample.

Our study is grounded in the ecological systems theory framework, combined with research on culture, politico-economics and environmental studies. This provides a multidisciplinary perspective for evaluating and investigating the impact that societal (macro-level) factors have on shaping attitudes toward businesses’ engagement in economic, social and environmental responsibility activities. Additionally, our multilevel research design allows for more precise findings compared to a single-level, country-by-country assessment.

During the 1990s the value to an intending professional accountant of undertaking a period of liberal (general) studies was promoted internationally by a number of individuals and organisations, including the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (the “Institute”). The Institute significantly changed its admissions policy for Chartered Accountants in 1996 and one change was to require four years of degree level study with a compulsory liberal studies component. This study surveys the perceptions of New Zealand accounting practitioners on the impact of this compulsory liberal component. The results of this study demonstrate that there is little support from accounting practitioners for IFAC’s claim that liberal education “can contribute significantly to the acquisition of professional skills”, including intellectual, personal and communication skills. In addition, the majority of respondents did not perceive any improvements in the professional skills of the staff that had qualified under the Institute’s current admissions policy. However, any perceived improvements were mainly attributed to the Institute’s admissions policy change. Notwithstanding the lack of support for the assertion that liberal education develops professional skills, there is a strong belief by respondents in the value of liberal education for intending professional accountants.

One reason for the severe short age of nurses is the un will ing ness of males to pursue the profession in great numbers. This article explores people’s negative stereotypic beliefs about males in the nursing profession. Participants were asked to provide evaluations and trait descriptions of both male and female nurses. The results revealed that both male and female participants harbored favorable impressions of female nurses but unfavorable impressions of male nurses. Male participants were especially likely to form negative evaluations of men who pursue the nursing profession. Exploratory multivariate analyses of trait descriptions revealed that male nurses are viewed as feminine, non traditional, intelligent, and caring. Additional results suggest that unfavorable stereo types of male nurses can be moderated by highlighting the masculine qualities of nurses’ job duties. Implications for the recruitment of males into nursing are discussed.