Michelle Guthrie, Hye‐Shin Kim and Jaehee Jung
This paper seeks to examine women's perceptions of brand personality in relation to women's facial image and cosmetic usage. This study seeks to develop a better understanding of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine women's perceptions of brand personality in relation to women's facial image and cosmetic usage. This study seeks to develop a better understanding of how various factors influence perceptions of cosmetic brands.
Design/methodology/approach
An electronic survey was administered to a sample of 225 female participants at a mid‐Atlantic university in the USA. The survey included items measuring facial image, cosmetic usage, brand personality, and brand attitude. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the relationship among variables.
Findings
While the brand personality of competence was found to be important across all three brands, consumer perceptions pertaining to the remaining brand personality traits differed. This study found that consumers' facial image influenced the total quantity of cosmetics used but not the variation in quantity in different situations. Results also indicate that a relationship exists between facial image and brand perceptions. Also, it was found that a different group of brand personality traits influenced brand attitude for each cosmetic brand.
Research limitations/implications
By examining how facial image and cosmetic usage determine brand perceptions, companies can improve their marketing strategies to enhance customer satisfaction and increase their customer base. Moreover, by identifying the brand personalities that attract consumers, companies can pin‐point the characteristics customers look for in a product, which in turn can be used to enhance brand image. Further research on different age groups and cultures should be conducted to better understand cosmetic consumers.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the area of consumer behavior and cosmetics. From this study, a better understanding of cosmetic consumers is gained and the results provide brand marketers with valuable information.
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The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the consumer‐based brand equity of apparel products by three consumer groups across cultures – Americans in the USA, South…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the consumer‐based brand equity of apparel products by three consumer groups across cultures – Americans in the USA, South Koreans in the USA, and South Koreans in Korea. Also examined was cross‐cultural effects of brand equity on purchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 300 college students were recruited for the survey from local universities and organizations in the USA and South Korea. The MBE and OBE models were used to measure brand equity of the three apparel brands (i.e. Polo, Gap, and Levi's).
Findings
Among the elements of brand equity, the perceived brand quality and brand awareness/association reported by American college students were significantly greater than those reported by South Koreans in the USA and Korea. For both South Korean groups, brand loyalty was the most important element of brand equity. In the relationship between elements of brand equity and purchase intention, brand loyalty showed positive correlation with purchase intention across all three consumer groups.
Research limitations/implications
Further research might include more apparel brands in different price points. An investigation of the prices of various apparel brands in different countries will be useful for cross‐cultural comparisons.
Originality/value
With a lack of brand equity studies on fashion products and even fewer studies of cross‐cultural comparisons in brand equity, this study should be valuable information for firms branding their products and making marketing strategies from the global perspective.
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Meeok Cho, Jaehee Jo, Taejin Jung and Natalie Kyung Won Kim
The purpose of this study is to examine whether the use of videoconferencing for communication between the audit committee (AC) and auditors affects the quality of client firms’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether the use of videoconferencing for communication between the audit committee (AC) and auditors affects the quality of client firms’ audits.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes the mandatory disclosure information on AC–auditors communication using 1,065 Korean listed firm-years for the fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The details of AC–auditor communication (i.e. the extent of firms’ use of videoconferencing) are manually collected from audit reports.
Findings
This study finds that videoconferencing has a negative impact on audit quality, suggesting that it is not an effective communication medium between AC and auditors. The results are robust to alternative research designs (e.g. entropy-balanced sample, propensity score matching analysis and change analysis) that address endogeneity concerns. This study also finds that while the negative effect of videoconferencing is mitigated by holding more frequent AC meetings, neither AC independence nor expertise mitigates this effect.
Research limitations/implications
This paper suggests that videoconferencing may affect audit quality by hurting the discussion between the AC and auditors.
Practical implications
The findings that videoconferencing impairs the effectiveness of ACs and thus lowers audit quality have practical implications as the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed how AC members and auditors interact. This study offers timely and valuable insights into the potential implications of these pandemic-induced changes on audit environments.
Originality/value
This study provides large-sample empirical evidence that directly examines the effect of videoconferencing on audit quality, enhancing the understanding of the communication dynamics between the AC and auditors. This study also contributes to the literature on the role of ACs in emerging markets by highlighting the information processing role of the AC.
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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between employees’ perception of their jobs and attitudes by investigating the effect of job resources (i.e. social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between employees’ perception of their jobs and attitudes by investigating the effect of job resources (i.e. social support) on the relationship between job demands (i.e. workload, role ambiguity) and job-related well-being (i.e. efficacy, job satisfaction) among government employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained from federal government employees responding to the 2012 Federal Employees Viewpoint Survey (US Office of Personnel Management, 2012). To test the hypotheses, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted.
Findings
Results revealed that social support served to mitigate feelings of inefficacy and simultaneously enhanced job satisfaction among employees experiencing work overload or role ambiguity, which supports the buffer hypothesis.
Research limitations/implications
Since this study analyzes data collected by OPM, some items could not be modified, and using a limited number of items could be a limitation of this paper. Given that there has been a research stream linking public service motivation to work attitudes in the field of public management, the current study suggests there may be additional factors (i.e. job demands and resources) to enhance public sector employees’ work attitudes.
Practical implications
This study suggests the importance of government agencies adopting management strategies that encourage higher levels of social support from supervisors or colleagues in order to increase employees’ positive attitudes toward organizations.
Originality/value
This study focuses specifically on public sector employees, a population that has received limited attention in this area.
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Hyejo Hailey Shin, Seunghun Shin and Jaehee Gim
This study aims to identify the knowledge development and thematic evolvement in hospitality and tourism technology research, and to suggest potential directions for studies in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the knowledge development and thematic evolvement in hospitality and tourism technology research, and to suggest potential directions for studies in hospitality and tourism research.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 440 technology articles published from 1990 to 2022 were retrieved from six top-tier journals. By using bibliometric analysis, 440 technology articles were analyzed to discover the proportion of technology research in the hospitality and tourism discipline, knowledge development, intellectual turning points and thematic evolvement of hospitality and tourism technology research.
Findings
The findings indicated that the proportion of technology research has continuously increased over the past three decades. The findings revealed the key intellectual turning points in technology research. The topical trends showed the popular topics of technology research for the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and from 2020. The thematic map analysis results described how the major themes in technology research have evolved and shifted.
Research limitations/implications
By synthesizing past three decades of hospitality and tourism technology research, this study provides an overview of how technology research has evolved in the context of hospitality and tourism and offers suggestions for future studies on technology.
Originality/value
To the best knowledge of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first bibliometric analysis focusing on technology research in the hospitality and tourism discipline, thereby providing a broad understanding of how technology research has developed in the discipline.
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Marcus Crede, Jaehee Jong and Peter Harms
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the effectiveness of transformational leadership behaviors are moderated by a country’s cultural values and cultural practices.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the effectiveness of transformational leadership behaviors are moderated by a country’s cultural values and cultural practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors describe a meta-analytic review of the relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance (task performance and OCBs) using data from over 57,000 individuals, 215 samples and 34 countries. The authors examine whether this relationship is moderated by the cultural values and practices of the country in which the study was located – after first controlling for methodological factors.
Findings
The authors find that cultural values and practices moderate the transformational leadership – employee performance relationship such that the relationship is much stronger in countries whose culture is incongruent with transformational leadership.
Research limitations/implications
Data were only available for 34 countries and it is unclear what role industry type and job type play in determining transformational leadership effectiveness or if these situational variables are confounded with culture. The findings call into question the generalizability of transformational leadership across countries and cultures.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that the value of transformational leadership behaviors may be limited in developed economies such as Western Europe and North America, while transformational leadership is most effective in Africa, the Middle East, South America and parts of Southeast Asia.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to examine the generalizability of transformational leadership across 34 countries and is by far the largest review ever conducted into the relationship between transformational leadership and subordinate performance.
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Jaehee Gim and SooCheong (Shawn) Jang
This study aims to examine how information asymmetry, which refers to an information gap between a firm’s management and its investors regarding the firm’s true value, influences…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how information asymmetry, which refers to an information gap between a firm’s management and its investors regarding the firm’s true value, influences firms’ dividend and investment decisions in the restaurant industry. This study also investigated the moderating role of a firm’s level of franchising in the relationship between information asymmetry and these behaviors of restaurant firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used generalized method of moments panel regression analyses. Principal component analysis was also used to create a composite index of information symmetry.
Findings
This study demonstrated that in asymmetric information environments, restaurant managers tend to reduce dividend payments. In addition, this study showed that information asymmetry leads to restaurant managers’ investment inefficiency. However, the investment inefficiency of the restaurant industry was found to decrease as restaurant firms’ level of franchising increases.
Practical implications
Firms’ dividends and investment decisions are of great interest to investors because these decisions heavily influence investors’ wealth-maximization goals. By shedding light on the previously unrecognized determinants of dividend and investment behaviors in the restaurant industry, this study helps individual investors to make informed investing decisions.
Originality/value
Conflicting arguments can be made regarding the impact of asymmetric information environments on the dividend and investment behaviors of restaurant firms. This study aimed to verify these as-yet unclear relationships in the restaurant industry.
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Sharmila Pudaruth, Thanika Devi Juwaheer and Yogini Devi Seewoo
This paper aims to explore the factors influencing the purchasing patterns of eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products among female customers in Mauritius. It also…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the factors influencing the purchasing patterns of eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products among female customers in Mauritius. It also investigates upon the relative significance of these factors in predicting the preference to buy and recommend eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products to others.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies the data reduction technique by using exploratory factor analysis on a sample of 150 female consumers and condenses a set of 35 attributes into a list of eight comprehensible factors influencing the purchasing patterns of eco-friendly and beauty care products among females in Mauritius. Multiple regression analysis was also conducted to investigate upon the importance of the eight dimensions in influencing the behavioural intentions of females to purchase eco-friendly products and their likeliness to engage in referral for eco-friendly products.
Findings
The factor analysis identified that the purchasing patterns for eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products is influenced by a combination of eight factors namely: “women lifestyles, self-image health and economic considerations”, “ethical consumerism among females”, “pharmacological essence of green cosmetics and beauty care products”, “visual appeal and physical cues in cosmetic stores”, “price-conscious decisions and effective promotion”, “belief on ethical claims in green messages”, “brand image and usage experience” and “sales representatives and social influences”. The results of the regression analysis have also suggested that the behavioural intention and referral of female customers is primarily derived from one predictor factor related to “women lifestyles, self-image, health and economic conditions”.
Practical implications
In terms of marketing strategies, cosmetic and beauty care organisations should promote greater ethical concerns among female customers through effective green advertising messages. Greater emphasis should be placed on the pharmacological essence of green advertising. Cosmetic executives should also focus on health-related benefits while marketing cosmetics and beauty care products.
Originality/value
The paper aims to fill up the significant gap in the literature on purchasing patterns for eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products among female customers. This study remains one of few research work designed to address different factors influencing the purchasing patterns for green cosmetics and beauty care products in the context of developing countries such as Mauritius. Yet, it would serve as a roadmap for cosmetics and beauty care companies to understand the factors impacting on purchasing patterns of eco-friendly cosmetics and beauty care products in similar contexts.