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1 – 10 of 919Hannah L. Neumann, Luisa M. Martinez and Luis F. Martinez
This study aims to test for factors affecting environmental sustainability and purchase intention in the fashion industry. Accordingly, the authors developed a framework that…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to test for factors affecting environmental sustainability and purchase intention in the fashion industry. Accordingly, the authors developed a framework that depicts the relationships between perceptions of social responsibility, consumer attitude, trust, purchase intention and perceived consumer effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was conducted with an internationally diverse sample of 216 consumers. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results indicated that perceptions of social responsibility directly affect consumers’ attitudes towards these fashion brands, as well as trust and perceived consumer effectiveness. Also, consumers need to perceive sustainability efforts of these brands as altruistic, and trust was found to be a direct predictor of purchase intention. However, both consumer attitude and perceived consumer effectiveness did not predict purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
The survey was primarily distributed to young people. Therefore, a generalisation of the findings to other age groups might be limited.
Practical implications
Practicing managers should emphasise the fact that environmental sustainability and fast fashion brands could be sustainable to increase trust among consumers.
Social implications
When it comes to environmental issues, positive perceptions regarding the companies’ social responsibility efforts are vital to enhance both consumers’ trust towards the brands and their individual feeling of empowerment.
Originality/value
This study intends to shed light on the key elements that shape consumers’ attitudes and willingness to purchase green apparel.
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Faheem Gul Gilal, Naeem Gul Gilal, Luis F. Martinez and Rukhsana Gul Gilal
This paper aims to explore whether brand corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives increase consumers’ happiness via a mediating mechanism of emotional brand attachment…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore whether brand corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives increase consumers’ happiness via a mediating mechanism of emotional brand attachment and to examine how brand CSR’s effect may be moderated by CSR fit (e.g. CSR-brand fit vs misfit) and sense of relatedness (e.g. low vs high).
Design/methodology/approach
A series of six studies (including the one that is available online), combining field and experimental data, were conducted to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Results support the hypothesis that brand CSR initiatives make consumers happy by increasing their attachment to the brand (Studies 1 and 2). This effect is strengthened both directly and indirectly through emotional attachment when brands engage in CSR fit activities (Study 3), but it is weakened when brands engage in CSR misfit activities (Study 4). Furthermore, the effect is more pronounced when brands choose CSR activities that have a high sense of relatedness, and it is eliminated when brands use CSR activities with a low sense of relatedness (Study 5). Finally, the results indicate that when brand CSR programs make consumers happy, they become more likely to purchase, spread positive word of mouth and pay a premium (Study 6).
Originality/value
This research has several major implications for business-to-consumer companies that are unsure about the value of brand CSR initiatives, want to make consumers happy but are unsure which CSR strategies to focus on and/or have decided to launch CSR initiatives but lack guidance on the specific strategies relevant to their desired performance outcomes.
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Catrin Westerberg and Luis F. Martinez
This study aims to explore young German consumer perspectives of rental fashion platforms by studying their perceived benefits, potential barriers as well as preferred clothing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore young German consumer perspectives of rental fashion platforms by studying their perceived benefits, potential barriers as well as preferred clothing categories to rent from. This “new” kind of shopping has not yet found great success among young German adults, although there is a substantial margin of growth for this generation.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study was conducted through 24 in-depth semi-structured interviews with young female and male German consumers out of Gen Y and Z. The analysis of the data was supported by the software NVivo.
Findings
Results indicate that young German consumers value renting clothes for occasions, to frequently change up their wardrobe, out of sustainability aspects and because of efficiency and convenience reasons. However, an entry barrier to the use of rental platforms still persists through a lack of awareness and information, as well as price and high demand issues.
Research limitations/implications
As the interview’s focus group was set to young German consumers, a generalization of the findings to consumers from other countries or out of other generations might be limited.
Practical implications
Managers first need to lower the currently existing entry barrier that prevents many consumers from renting fashion online by raising their awareness and providing them with sufficient information about the platform’s processes as well as their terms and conditions.
Originality/value
This research intends to better understand young German consumers’ attitude toward rental fashion platforms and why renting fashion has not yet achieved more success among them.The results first give managers helpful insights for implementing successful marketing strategies by focusing on spreading awareness among young German adults to stem current entry barriers. Second, these results serve as a basis for future quantitative research that deepens the understanding of the correlation of current findings with other variables (e.g. age, the importance of material possessions in consumers’ lives).
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Aristides I. Ferreira, Luis F. Martinez, Rosa I. Rodrigues and Carla Ilhéu
Research has shown that corporate policies affect customers’ decisions. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the influence of human resources (HR) practices on investment…
Abstract
Purpose
Research has shown that corporate policies affect customers’ decisions. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the influence of human resources (HR) practices on investment intentions in the financial sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained from 548 managers and management students. Participants were presented real news regarding two banks with contrasting HR practices. Subsequently, they had to choose – from a given virtual amount – their investment allocations.
Findings
Results primarily showed that participants decided to invest more money in the bank which was more profitable to them, regardless of that bank’s HR practice. But, most importantly, when the news was specifically addressed to the in-group (managers), participants decided to invest more money in the bank with the HR practice by which they identified more, although being less profitable to them.
Originality/value
The findings demonstrate the urgency for organizations to manage effectively their HR practices, as they serve as a vehicle to corporate reputation, thus affecting the relationship with the stakeholders and investors’ decisions.
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Luis F. Martinez and Dorothea S. Jaeger
Counterfeiting is an increasingly global phenomenon that threatens the economy as a whole and also presents a risk for the consumers. The purpose of this study is to explore moral…
Abstract
Purpose
Counterfeiting is an increasingly global phenomenon that threatens the economy as a whole and also presents a risk for the consumers. The purpose of this study is to explore moral emotions along with moral awareness and moral judgment with respect to their influence in the consumption of counterfeits.
Design/methodology/approach
An online questionnaire was distributed among participants (n = 225) who were asked to respond to a counterfeit purchase scenario.
Findings
Results highlight the importance of moral awareness as an essential element of moral decision-making. Also, moral emotions were found to influence moral judgment as well as purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation refers to the fact that a scenario was used to evoke participants’ emotional responses. Although the situation was realistic and the majority of the people could very well imagine experiencing the reported scenario, results might change in an actual purchase situation.
Practical Implications
This study’s findings may be particularly relevant for authorities and educators who design campaigns to curtail counterfeit consumption, thus seeking to encourage consumers to recognize the several negative consequences that result from counterfeiting behavior.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies that examine the impact of cognitive and emotional influences in a counterfeit purchase decision. Fighting this problem requires an in-depth understanding of consumers’ motivations and how they feel about engaging in this morally questionable behavior.
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Luis Filipe Lages, Graça Miranda Silva, Ana Isabel Canhoto, Luis F. Martinez and Sara Jahanmir
Businesses are increasingly called upon to support the improvement of society and the environment, and one way to do so is by expanding into international markets, particularly…
Abstract
Purpose
Businesses are increasingly called upon to support the improvement of society and the environment, and one way to do so is by expanding into international markets, particularly through exports. Despite the importance and recognised challenges of a global approach to sustainable value creation, sustainability research tends to focus on domestic contexts. This paper aims to identify the boundary conditions linking sustainable value creation practices with firm performance in the international context.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors merge the sustainable value creation and the international marketing literature to develop two propositions that capture the emerging nature of the field and the lack of concluding evidence regarding the link between international sustainable value creation practices and firm performance. The authors test these propositions empirically by analysing 519 responses to a survey of exporting firms in Portugal, using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.
Findings
The authors identify seven configurations that support sustainable value creation in an international context. These consist of varying levels of standardised and tailored offers, management experience and competitive intensity.
Practical implications
The identification of seven different configurations helps managers decide whether and how to innovate when pursuing sustainable value creation opportunities in international markets.
Social implications
The authors propose that an effective way for governments to achieve national and transnational social and environmental agendas is to help businesses that pursue sustainable value creation to succeed in international markets. Given that four of the seven pathways to improve export performance that the authors identified require international management experience, the authors posit that an effective way to support the internationalisation of those businesses is through targeted training programmes and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
Originality/value
The authors respond to calls for research to integrate the sustainable value creation and the international marketing literatures, to identify how and when firms can create sustainable value creation in an international context and thus support the resolution of global, social and environmental problems. The finding that there are multiple configurations that support this goal explains why empirical evidence collected thus far is inconclusive and helps identify the boundary conditions of existing theory.
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Aristides I. Ferreira, Luis F. Martinez, José Pereira Lamelas and Rosa I. Rodrigues
Employees’ turnover intention is a key problem that hotel managers face daily. This is partially explained by the inevitability of performing tasks with little significance and…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees’ turnover intention is a key problem that hotel managers face daily. This is partially explained by the inevitability of performing tasks with little significance and low identity. This study aims to understand how job embeddedness and job satisfaction could lessen the undesirable effect of task characteristics on turnover intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 525 employees operating in 46 Portuguese hotels was used in this study. The questionnaire included demographic variables and four reliable instruments used to measure job satisfaction, job characteristics, job embeddedness and turnover intentions. The study used a multilevel statistical approach considering both the individual and the hotel levels of analysis.
Findings
Through multilevel statistics, the findings suggest that both at the individual level and the hotel level of analysis, job satisfaction and job embeddedness fully mediated the relationship between different task characteristics (significance and identity) and turnover intentions.
Research limitations/implications
Despite a possible absence of common method variance, due to the confirmatory factor analysis, social desirability bias may exist because of the self-reported nature of the survey.
Practical implications
Managers should increase the perceived costs of employees leaving the hotel by introducing training programs and plans for career development. Also, to increase job embeddedness, managers should also rethink the organizational dynamics of this industry.
Originality/value
This research provides empirical evidence of the antecedents and mediators of employees’ intentions to leave the hotel industry both at the individual and at the hotel level (multilevel approach).
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Dalvia Rodrigues and Luis F. Martinez
The purpose of this paper is to unfold how different digital marketing tools and strategies influence recruitment effectiveness. More specifically, it focusses on understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to unfold how different digital marketing tools and strategies influence recruitment effectiveness. More specifically, it focusses on understanding if, and how, information sources’ credibility, content marketing, and organisational reputation influence candidates’ decision to apply for a job in the Portuguese market.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research, aligned with a content analysis, was conducted to focus on the insights from the 21 participants interviewed, to understand their thoughts and experiences regarding the subject.
Findings
The results show that digital marketing tools owned by the company are seen to be more credible and more relevant for the job application decision. LinkedIn is considered to be a more credible platform for advertising job openings than Facebook. In terms of content marketing, LinkedIn has a positive influence on candidates’ decision, as well as companies’ reputation.
Practical implications
This study provides practical implications which are useful for both HR and marketing managers, namely, the implementation of an integrated marketing communication strategy, the reinforcement of the company’s website and LinkedIn page and a presence on universities’ platforms, and also in terms of the information that content marketing should focus on.
Originality/value
This research paper incorporates marketing insights into a well-known HRM subject – recruitment, and thus adds further knowledge to the literature and prepares the ground for researchers who wish to explore this subject further.
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Aristides I Ferreira, Luis F. Martinez, Cary Cooper and Diana M. Gui
Some underlying mechanisms regarding presenteeism still remain unclear, namely, the construct of “presenteeism climate” and the importance of “leadership” Leader-Member Exchange…
Abstract
Purpose
Some underlying mechanisms regarding presenteeism still remain unclear, namely, the construct of “presenteeism climate” and the importance of “leadership” Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) for presenteeism. In order to shed some light into this phenomenon, the purpose of this paper is to develop and apply a new scale of presenteeism climate.
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1, the authors identified a pool of items from the literature and, in Study 2 (n=147) the authors tested 26 items that were pilot studied with exploratory factor analysis. In Study 3 (n=293) the authors tested a three-factor model – extra-time valuation, supervision distrust and co-workers competitiveness – with confirmatory factor analysis.
Findings
Results showed that LMX has a negative correlation with presenteeism climate. Study 3 also showed that this structure remained invariant with additional samples from employees working in hospitals from Ecuador (n=90) and China (n=237). Finally, the authors included suggestions for future studies to overcome the limitations of this research.
Practical implications
This study has implications for managers and academics, as it emphasizes the importance of favorable behaviors between leaders and employees in order to decrease presenteeism and its adverse consequences.
Originality/value
The main contribution consists of identifying dimensions of presenteeism climate and developing measures. Additionally, the authors contribute to the literature on leadership by studying the influence of LMX on presenteeism climate.
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Diane Zandee, Ambika Zutshi, Andrew Creed and André Nijhof
The paper aims to provide managerial recommendations for implementing circular economy (CE) principles in both organizational and interorganizational contexts, including when…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to provide managerial recommendations for implementing circular economy (CE) principles in both organizational and interorganizational contexts, including when using digital tools, such as building information modeling (BIM) and blockchain. Drawn from the construction sector in the Netherlands, the findings can be generalized to similar sectors where a company may receive multiple inputs as part of its supply chain augmented by digital technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
Design addresses the research question: what are the strategic and tactical approaches of organizations on the CE pathway? Sub-questions target initiatives pursued by participants, and look toward information, roles and functions for supporting the CE process. Applying a multiple-case study approach (21 semi-structured interviews with 29 participants) the paper explores strategic initiatives of construction companies implementing CE pathways. The strength of the research design comes from facilitation of rich and deep qualitative insights from Netherlands-based managers embedded within global supply chains contributing to conceptual mapping. A limitation is data from one country (though representing both national and multinational companies).
Findings
Interviewed managers share guidance for production-related construction companies anchored in materials and product design. Recommendations include to (1) develop both internally and externally the awareness of CE amongst leaders, (2) communicate with internal and external stakeholders for shared vision across the supply chain, (3) start with pilot projects, and (4) ensure product data-integration for CE business models through computer modeling and blockchain for decision-making processes, choices of materials, business model coordination and product (re)design. Continuous learning about CE roles and responsibilities amidst organizational process restructuring is required throughout linear to CE transitions. Extending the time for the CE principles evaluation process would allow for reconsideration of decisions made for CE implemented projects.
Originality/value
A novel CE gameplan with a hurdles and recommendations checklist provides an operational interface with decision making points between internal factors for the host organization and external supply chain partners.
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