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This study examined the influence of mediator insight on disputants' perceptions and behaviors in negotiation. Participants played the role of student employee representatives and bargained with student management representatives over a number of issues. During the course of the negotiation, a mediator made recommendations as to how the conflict should be resolved. The experiment varied (1) the amount of information disputants believed mediators possessed about their interests and needs and (2) mediator recommendations (e.g., integrative, compromise, non/ integrative). The results indicated that perceived insight (i.e., the level of information about the conflict) had strong effects on disputants' perceptions of mediator credibility. Perceptions of mediator credibility, in turn, were found to influence disputants' general perceptions of the mediator (e.g., acceptability, confidence, satisfaction) and perceptions of the mediator's recommendations.

The purpose of the present studies was to derive an integrative taxonomy of responses to social conflict. In Study 1, we had college‐age participants sort 33 responses to conflict, taken from various research domains, according to their similarities. From this, we generated two different classification systems: a very simple low‐dimensional system, obtained through multi‐dimensional scaling; and a complex high‐dimensional system, obtained through cluster analysis. To aid in the interpretation of the structures, in Study 2 we collected a set of ratings on each of the conflict responses. The results from Study 2 indicated that many of the labels used to describe conflict responses in past research could be used to describe some aspects of these taxonomies. However, no dimension or set of dimensions was sufficient to describe all classes of conflict responses. The results are discussed in terms of their larger theoretical and practical implications.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how third‐party managers' cognitive need (motivational tendency) for closure influences their decisions on how to intervene in conflict.

The data were collected from 61 undergraduate business students. All participants had managerial experience and may represent future managers. Participants read a scenario describing a hypothetical conflict between members of a project team and evaluated the likelihood of choosing different strategies to intervene in the conflict.

Results showed that individuals with a high need for closure were more likely to choose an autocratic procedure and less likely to choose mediation than individuals with a low need for closure. The option of letting disputants resolve the conflict themselves was somewhat unattractive to those with a high need for closure.

The use of a scenario approach may limit the generalizability of the results. Future studies should examine the need for closure in field settings. The results of this study extend the theory of managerial dispute resolution by showing how individual difference factors influence the choice of conflict intervention strategies.

The ability to manage conflict effectively is critical for third‐party managers. Managers need to understand how their need (or motivation) for closure influences how they choose to intervene in conflict. These choices influence managerial effectiveness.

This is one of the first papers to examine the influence of individual difference factors, such as the cognitive need for closure, on the choice of managerial conflict intervention strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review the literature that explores the relationships between store image and store patronage behaviour, thereby providing the practical analytical framework with measurements that aids marketers to build strategical marketing plans to attract loyal customers to their retail shops.

A systematic literature review method was applied to this study which analysed the literature of peer-reviewed articles in English-language journals and specific online databases. In total, 863 peer-reviewed articles which were published between 1950 and 2017 were examined to provide the practical framework with measurements for further discussion.

It was found that within the eight identified dimensions of store image – merchandise, service, convenience, promotion, client, physical facilities, atmosphere and institutions, there are corresponding sub-sections that must be recognised, e.g. merchandise is made up of quality, assortment, price, fashion and guarantee. These dimensions have been analysed and discussed in the context of their impact on store patronage. However, because of the lack of clarity in predictors of store patronage, there has been confusion in academic discussions. Therefore, it is proposed that store patronage should be investigated with two parameters, customer and manager store image alignment and past purchase experiences.

This study contributes to providing a useful discussion platform with an analytical framework and measurements. Due to the selected term-based search method, even with the authors’ maximum effort, the number of selected publications is limited.

This study introduces a practical conceptual framework for the measurements that need to be utilised by the marketers while building marketing strategies for attracting consumers to enhance their patronage behaviours. Retail services need to create a reinvented discussion platform with respect to store image and patronage. Consumers may perceive store image as being embedded in the store environment as a trigger for their patronage behaviour and, using the proposed analytical framework, the retailers can analyse and refine their marketing plans effectively.

This study presents the overall reappraisals of the initial literature with regard to the holistic development, implications and impact of store image on store patronage. Moreover, the paper seeks to provide a robust discussion paradigm for developing perspectives for improving patronage behaviours, thereby bridging the gap between store image and store patronage by attempting to use the relevant literature to contribute to constructive future discussions and useful dimensions while building marketing strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new strategic marketing tool: a peripheral product anecdote (PPA), or a brief, interesting story that is loosely connected to a product but not connected to its history, quality or usage. A PPA is contrasted with similar tools, such as product/brand heritage claims. This study investigates when PPAs are most effective at increasing willingness to pay.

Five experiments examine the effect of different PPAs on willingness to pay. This study examines product-use situation as a moderator (Studies 3 and 4) and conversational value as a mediator (Studies 2 and 4).

Customers will pay a premium for products with PPAs, but only when they intend to use the products in social situations where they could share the anecdote with others. Mediation analyses reveal these anecdotes are valuable because they provide purchasers with a conversation topic (a source of social currency).

In contrast to brand heritage stories, nearly any firm can associate a PPA with their product. These anecdotes are a low-cost way for firms to increase willingness to pay for products. PPAs are innovative and varied, unlike brand heritage stories which tend to be static.

This paper shows that customers sometimes want packaged goods, such as beer and snacks, to help them have conversations and will pay more for products that do so. It introduces the PPA as one way marketers can help customers achieve this goal of conversation.

ARNOLD BENNETT was a man of two worlds. In the terms of Max Beerbohm's cartoon “Old Self” was plump, wealthy, self‐assured, a landmark of the London scene, a familiar of press magnates, the owner of a yacht; “Young Self” was thin, ambitious, far‐sighted, industrious, secretly terribly anxious to justify himself to himself and decidedly provincial.

Political correctness, also known as “PC,” has generated much discussion on both the Right and the Left. The greatest debate comes from college campuses. Political correctness derives from the principle that ethnic diversity, i.e., multiculturalism, can and should be preserved and protected. Ironically, the term originated in the Marxist era, when it was used to enforce conformity in the advancement of a particular Marxist view. The term became obsolete until it was revived in the 1980s (D'Souza, 1991).

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.

This study provides evidence on the relationship between scale characteristics and participant responses for percentage-based scales (i.e., 101 points) in accounting research. A 4 × 1 between-subjects experiment examines how common labeling designs affect various statistical properties, including means, variance, normality of the distribution, and frequency of responses. The results indicate that labels on percentage-based scales have a significant impact on the distribution of participants' responses. Labeling only the endpoints is the lone condition that results in normally distributed data. Additional analyses suggest that labels on percentage-based scales influence participant responses in multiple ways. First, as the number of labels increases, participants may not adequately consider, and thus ultimately select, unlabeled points. Second, while participants seem to inherently interpret percentage-based scales in quartiles and deciles, labeling as such exacerbates this tendency. Finally, when more labels are present, participants seem to engage an anchoring heuristic when selecting their response. Taken as a whole, the results suggest that accounting researchers may benefit from labeling only the endpoints of percentage-based scales.