Sex and Puffery in Advertising: An Absolutely Sensational and Sexually Provocative Experiment

A sample of 295 students participated in a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 between subjects full factorial design experiment which examined the effects of advertising puffery and sexuality on attitude toward the ad. Subjects viewed ads and were evaluated on the following factors: model nudity (nude/clothed), message puffery (puffed/non-puffed message), and sex of the model (male/female). Additionally, sex of the subject was used as a blocking variable to create the fourth factor. No main effects were found for nudity or puffery. A strong and consistent opposite-sex effect was found for men where they preferred the female model. In contrast, women were not consistent with the opposite-sex effect. Men preferred the non-puffed message while women preferred the puffed message. Managerial implications are offered for the findings. Key words: Puffery; Sex; Print advertising; Nudity; Attitud

The Importance Of Cultural Diversity In The Educational Environment Scale (ICDEE): Development And Testing

College campuses are part of a dynamic and culturally diverse marketplace.  As that diversity continues to grow and become an increasingly important component of students= educational environment, university officials need to further their understanding of the students= perspective of cultural diversity on campus.  The primary objective in this study was the development and empirical testing of a multi-item paper-and-pencil scale called the Importance of Cultural Diversity in the Educational Environment Scale (ICDEE).   Findings showed that the ICDEE demonstrated adequate internal reliability.  Implications of the results and administrative applications of the   scale in assessment efforts are discussed and avenues for future research are presented.   Let us not be blind to our differences B but let us also direct attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved.  And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity B John F. Kennedy, 196

An extension of consumer environmental behavior research among expatriates

A wealth of research has explored different configurations of consumer environmental beliefs, attitudes, and values, and their influence on consumer environmental behavior. It is essential that a more comprehensive understanding of what lies at the root of consumer environmental beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors be developed. This study aims to address some of the limitations in the current literature by theorizing and examining a consumer environmental behavior model that includes three antecedents, a mediator, and a moderator construct. The authors offer a new configuration that includes moderated and mediated effects of consumer cognitive, psycho-social and demographics variables on consumer environmental behavior. This study was administered to respondents from Saudi Arabia. The sample consists of Saudi-Arabians, non-Saudi Arabs, Americans, Europeans, South-East Asians, sub-continentals as well as other expatriates. Unavailability of sample frames necessitated the past researchers to use some kind of judgmental sampling techniques in Saudi Arabia. A total of 677 usable responses were used for this study. The model included three antecedents: consumer environmental awareness, consumer perception of human-nature relationship, and consumer perception of local environmental condition representing the most important categories of predictors of environmental behavior identified in meta-analysis. The effects of these antecedents on consumer environmental behavior were mediated by consumer environmental responsibility, which, in turn, influenced consumer environmental behavior. The model also assumed that consumer faith in science and technology moderated all the four relationships involving antecedents, mediator and the outcome. The findings of the study identified several important observations. First, the roles of environmental psycho-social and cognitive variables in determining consumer environmental behavior are contingent upon levels of faith in science and technology and may not be direct but rather indirect through the mediator of consumer environmental responsibility. More importantly, the authors have provided support for a non-conventional moderated and mediated model of consumer environmental behavior.Scopu

Examining The Impact Of Job Embeddedness On Salesperson Deviance: The Moderating Role Of Job Satisfaction

This study investigates the dysfunctional outcomes of salesperson job embeddedness as moderated by job satisfaction. Our findings suggest that among salespeople with low job satisfaction, organizational job embeddedness is positively linked with organizational deviance, interpersonal deviance, and customer-directed deviance. However, among salespeople with high job satisfaction, job embeddedness is negatively linked with organizational deviance and not significantly linked with either interpersonal or customer-directed deviance. The managerial implications of this study suggest that sales managers should be proactive in mitigating salesperson deviance behaviors through a variety of methods that may enhance salesperson satisfaction, particularly among salespeople who are embedded. Such managerial methods may include the following: 1) more assertive communication of acceptable norms with salespeople, 2) proper mentoring, 3) developing coordinated monitor and control systems, and 4) setting appropriate expectations for new hire salespeople by providing realistic job previews