Exchange or covenant? The nature of the member-union relationship

Drawing on a study of members of the U.K. National Union of Teachers, this article considers the extent to which economic exchange, social exchange, and covenantal considerations underpin union members' willingness to continue membership and to participate actively in their union through union citizenship behaviors (UCB). Findings suggest that the more activist forms of UCB were motivated primarily by a perceived covenantal relationship with the union. In contrast, exchange, particularly social exchange, motivations played more of a role in motivating less demanding "rank and file" UCB and intent to quit the union. Union instrumentality appeared to be a necessary but insufficient condition for union viability, having an indirect effect on UCB and intent to quit the union and also moderating the effects of pro-union attitudes. Implications for union strategy are considered

Competitive Reactions to Advertising and Promotion Attacks

How do competitors react to each other's price-promotion and advertising attacks? What are the reasons for the observed reaction behavior? We answer these questions by performing a large-scale empirical study on the short-run and long-run reactions to promotion and advertising shocks in over 400 consumer product categories over a four-year time span. Our results clearly show that the most predominant form of competitive response is passive in nature. When a reaction does occur, it is usually retaliatory in the same instrument, i.e., promotion attacks are countered with promotions, and advertising attacks are countered with advertising. There are very few long-run consequences of any type of reaction behavior. By linking reaction behavior to both cross- and own-effectiveness, we further demonstrate that passive behavior is often a sound strategy, while firms that do opt to retaliate often use ineffective instruments, resulting in “spoiled arms.” Accommodating behavior is observed in only a minority of cases, and often results in a missed sales opportunity when promotional support is reduced. The ultimate impact of most promotion and advertising campaigns depends primarily on the nature of consumer response, not the vigilance of competitors.empirical generalizations, advertising and price-promotion effects, competitive strategy, time-series analysis