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This paper aims to examine how external marketing messages, which are generally used to convey company and product information to external target audiences, influence job attitudes and behaviors of salespeople.

The study is conducted based on survey data on 348 salespeople working at regional banks in the Midwestern USA. The relationships among salespeople’s perceptions of marketing messages (i.e. in terms of value incongruence and claim inaccuracy), organizational cynicism, job attitudes (i.e. organizational commitment and job satisfaction) and behaviors (i.e. extra-role performance) are empirically tested.

Salespeople’s perceptions of value incongruence and claim inaccuracy of marketing messages heighten organizational cynicism, which in turn negatively impacts on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and extra-role performance. Also, inaccurate claim directly decreases job attitudes and behaviors.

The results are limited to salespeople in financial institutions, and future research should investigate perceptions of non-customer contact employees in other industry contexts. Future investigation may also include objective performance metrics and consumer satisfaction ratings.

Service firms should strive to align salespeople’s perceptions of marketing messages with firms’ intended goals from those messages.

Drawing on attitude theory and perspectives from sales literature, social psychology and organizational behavior literature, in the first of such investigations, the authors studied the impact of external marketing messages on salespeople’s cynicism, job attitudes and behaviors.

Zinc‐cobalt alloys have been electrodeposited from a sulphate bath. The effect of process variables, including temperature, time, concentration of cobalt sulfate and current density on the Zn‐Co deposition was investigated from kinetic and mechanistic viewpoints. Activation energies, enthalpies and entropies were determined according to Arrhenius and absolute rate theories. The codeposition mechanism of TiO₂ with cobalt‐zinc in the presence of benzyl triethanol ammonium exthoxylate (BTAE) has been studied. The optimum concentration of the additive was reported. The mechanism of incorporation of TiO₂ was suggested and confirmed in view of calculated free energy of adsorption of TiO₂. Corrosion resistance of Zn‐Co‐TiO₂ alloy was determined by a salt spray test under most of the plating conditions studied.

This paper aims to examine the regional dynamics that further consolidated Israel’s national security in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, reflecting upon the nuclear challenge between Iran and Israel and Iran's expanding activities in the region.

To prove the central argument, the study uses a conceptual framework that centers on deterrence as the main approach used by states to consolidate their influence in the Middle East region.

Iran's nuclear progress and influence in the region has strengthened Israel’s security and fostered an unprecedented open rapprochement led by USA efforts with the Gulf regimes.

The paper draws particular attention to the Iran–Israel nuclear competency, and the Israeli preferred policy options regarding Iranian activities in the region amid turbulent Middle East. In addition, the paper offers insight to the regional dynamics that further consolidated Israel’s national security in the region while maintaining a status of Arab vulnerability and backwardness.

This paper aims to advance research in the challenging area of achieving competitiveness through supply chain flexibility fit and trust development.

A structured survey questionnaire was administered to a potential list of 773 participants resulting in 348 valid responses. An empirical study was conducted on these responses.

Leveraging of flexibility in supply chain access structures and improving of trust relationships can ensure significant performance improvement.

The research relies on the use of cross sectional data instead of longitudinal data, thereby limiting the generalisibility of the findings.

The strong evidence of relationship between improved performance and capability of supply chain linkages provides Chinese business managers with practical guidelines for improving competitive edge.

The value of the paper lies in the originality of the data and context‐relevant findings. No previous study of this nature had been undertaken in China.

The aim of this study is to explore possible contingent variables that might explain these twin contradictory effects of marketing channel governance. Franchisors govern their systems to limit opportunism and enhance performance. However, the exact opposite often occurs.

This paper develops an integrative conceptual model of franchisor governance of its franchisees. This model is tested empirically with data collected from 197 Australian franchisees.

Under strong relational norms, goal congruence and outcome monitoring limit franchisee opportunism; compliance enhances franchisee performance, while opportunism reduces it. With weaker norms, outcome monitoring facilitates compliance, and goal congruence boosts franchisee performance, as does franchisee opportunism. However, norms fail to mitigate behavioral monitoring’s negative impact on opportunism.

This research confirms the positive and negative effects of franchisor governance. It also shows that norms can reverse the positive link between franchisee opportunism and performance. It additionally illustrates how goal congruence and compliance can limit opportunism and boost performance. Future research should refine this study’s measures, incorporate additional constructs into the conceptual model and test the generalizability of these findings in lesser-developed economies.

This research shows that monitoring has both positive and negative effects on franchisee opportunism and performance. To avoid monitoring’s adverse effects, franchisors are advised to enhance goal congruence, boost franchisee compliance and develop strong relational norms.

This paper shows that goal congruence, as well as franchisor outcome monitoring, can mitigate the negative effects of franchisor behavioral monitoring on franchisee opportunism, as do relational norms.

A framework for evaluating public opinion towards franchising is proposed and empirically tested in an emerging market, India. Franchising in an emerging market was selected as the context because – (1) future growth is likely to come from newly emerging markets, (2) franchising is primarily seen as a foreign concept in emerging markets and has attracted its fair share of attention, both positive and negative. The results indicate that people evaluate franchising using four key factors – well being of small businesses, socio‐economic, socio‐cultural well being, and employment opportunity. This study further investigates the relationship between these factors and patronage behaviour. Some of these factors were associated with patronage behaviour and the associated residual feeling. Clearly, in order to succeed in emerging and developing markets, the franchising industry must pay heed to public opinion.

This study aims to focus on the effect of interlayer bonding and thermal decomposition on the mechanical properties of fused filament fabrication-printed polylactic acid specimens at high extrusion temperatures.

A printing process, that is simultaneous manufacturing of contour and specimen, is used to improve the printing accuracy at high extrusion temperatures. The effects of the extrusion temperature on the mechanical properties of the interlayer and intra-layer are evaluated via tensile experiments. In addition, the microstructure evolution affected by the extrusion temperature is observed using scanning electron microscopy.

The results show that the extrusion temperature can effectively improve the interlayer bonding property; however, the mechanical properties of the specimen for extrusion temperatures higher than 270°C may worsen owing to the thermal decomposition of the polylactic acid (PLA) material. The optimum extrusion temperature of PLA material in the three-dimensional (3D) printing process is recommended to be 250–270°C.

A temperature-compensated constitutive model for 3D printed PLA material under different extrusion temperatures is proposed. The present work facilitates the prediction of the mechanical properties of specimens at an extrusion temperature for different printing temperatures and different layers.

This is the first attempt to examine the theoretical and empirical linkages between franchisee personality traits and franchisee‐franchisor relationship quality.

A self‐report online survey was used in this research to collect data from a random sample of 225 franchisees drawn across 80 franchise systems. Personality was represented by the Big Five personality traits (IPIP‐B5 scales) and relationship quality was conceptualized as a 23‐item second‐order construct (incorporating trust, commitment and relationship satisfaction). Regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Four of the five personality dimensions had the predicted effect on the outcome variable of relationship quality. Dimensions of “agreeableness”, “conscientiousness”, “emotional stability” had a positive effect on relationship quality, while “extraversion” had a negative effect on the dependent variable. Implications of these results are discussed.

Although personality is a valid predictor of work‐related behaviours, future research should investigate the impact of other individual‐level influences (e.g. autonomy, self‐esteem, entrepreneurial fervour) on franchisee‐franchisor relationship quality. Overall, the authors recommend administration of the Big Five tests in franchisee recruitment and ongoing management activities.

The manuscript introduces the need to extend current inter‐organisational approaches to understanding franchise relationships through the inclusion of interpersonal constructs like personality dimensions. In effect, it calls for a marriage of B2B and B2C perspectives to examining the franchising and more generally the relationship marketing phenomenon.

Examines the effects of financial resource availability and system size on ownership redirection patterns – the argument that successful franchisors will acquire less successful franchisee units, resulting in corporate ownership – in 12 franchising business sectors. Discusses the theory of ownership redirection in more depth. Hypothesizes that: as franchise systems gain increased financial resources, there is a greater likelihood of ownership redirection favouring the franchisors; and that, as the size of the franchise system increases, there is a greater likelihood of ownership redirection favouring the franchisors. Draws on data from the US “Franchising in the economy”, over the period 1977‐1986. Conducts a LISREL‐based path analytic approach. Finds a more complex interplay of effects than anticipated, particularly that differences occur depending on the business sector – uniform effect patterns occur in educational products and services, laundry and dry cleaning services, and rental equipment; conversion orientation patterns occur in hotels, motels and campsites; cautious redirection patterns occur in the automotive products and services industry; and, finally, strategic dilemma patterns occur in food retailing. Concludes that further research is required to substantiate (or not) the theory on ownership redirection.

The purpose of this research is to investigate differences in customer perceptions of quality between credence and experience industries. The paper expands on the implications of national versus local firms and does so within a franchise context.

Based on a sample of 349 consumers, three core SERVQUAL dimensions (reliability, security and tangibility) were analyzed to determine customer perceptions of quality. A mixed-factorial designed was used to evaluate different scenarios of purchasing intentions, measuring the main and interactive effects of service type and criticality among franchised and local brands.

Significant differences were found in customer perceptions of quality between experience- and credence-based services. A significant moderating effect of the level of criticality was shown to play an important role in customers’ perceptions.

This experimental laboratory study highlights the importance for managers to understand the differences in perceptions of customers when dealing between service types and acting under conditions of varying criticality. This holds true for both franchised and non-franchised businesses.

This study offers one of the first investigations of customer perceptions of quality in specific industry types (i.e. credence and experience) within a franchise system. Depending on the industry type, customers have different expectations of quality. The authors offer several specific ways in which managers can use this knowledge to their advantage.