Erhard Lick, Angela Bargenda and Dhoha Trabelsi
The article seeks to enrich the body of research on store atmospherics by identifying how storefront window design impacts store entry decisions. An innovative multimodal design…
Abstract
Purpose
The article seeks to enrich the body of research on store atmospherics by identifying how storefront window design impacts store entry decisions. An innovative multimodal design approach is presented, considering both visual and verbal constituents.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 draws on a corpus of high-end storefront windows to create a categorization regarding different levels of verbo-visual complexity. The survey in Study 2 (n = 234) serves two purposes: first, to confirm these levels of complexity and second, to investigate the relation between the complexity of window design and store entry decisions.
Findings
Study 2 confirms the order of complexity established in Study 1. The results reveal an inverted-U relationship between window complexity and store entry propensity. Windows of medium level of complexity produce shoppers' relatively highest store entry propensity.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that retailers would benefit from adopting verbo-visual window designs of medium complexity, as this combination optimizes the likeliness of consumers to enter stores.
Originality/value
Research on store atmospherics has until recently primarily focused on in-store cues. Studies on store windows remain vastly underrepresented in extant scholarship. The article not only fills this gap but also incorporates an original interdisciplinary angle on multimodality, which offers new methodological perspectives for research in retail and distribution scholarship.
Details
Keywords
Dhoha Trabelsi, Saqib Aziz and Jean-Jacques Lilti
This paper empirically examines the catering theory of Baker and Wurgler (2004) in the particular context of France. Considering the characteristics of French market – known for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper empirically examines the catering theory of Baker and Wurgler (2004) in the particular context of France. Considering the characteristics of French market – known for its high concentration of capital – it attempts to highlight the role family control plays in the managerial tendencies to satisfy non-informative dividend demands.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper focuses on a large data set of French firms included in the SBF-250 index over a period of 1992-2010. It uses a variety of dividend policy measures, including dividend premium, percentage of dividend-paying firms and probability of paying dividends. It adopts appropriate empirical specifications (time-series and probit models) to substantiate the research hypotheses.
Findings
The empirical findings show that the percentage of payers rises with the dividend premium, and that the dividend premium and the confidence index of French households are negatively correlated. This reflects the sensitivity of dividend demand to investor sentiment. Moreover, results of multivariate panel regression show a positive and statistically significant effect of the dividend premium on the firm’s tendency to pay, after controlling for firm characteristics. Finally, it finds that the dividend premium effect disappears in the case of family-controlled firms. This result is in line with the long-term orientation of family firms.
Research limitations/implications
The study focuses on the dividend payment behavior of French firms. Although dividends are deeply engrained in France, authors believe that it will be interesting to look at the whole payout policy and particularly the role played by share repurchases.
Practical implications
Addressing short-term catering and managerial opportunism, the results of this study may be of interest for shareholders, potential investors and regulators.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that provides empirical evidence on Baker and Wurgler (2004) catering theory by considering the particularity of French market where, unlike the US, percentage of dividend-paying firms is high and the corporate ownership structures are different.