Socially responsible joint venture, brand misconduct and recovery communication: Implications for relationship quality

There is little doubt that in the past several decades, an increasing number of organisations are seeking out strategic alliances, joint ventures, and an increasing number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in order to gain competitive advantage and enable the organisations to achieve objectives that would not have been possible without the alliance (Das & Teng, 2000; Lacey, Kennett-Hensel, & Manolis, 2014; Nowell & Harrison, 2011; Tjemkes & Furrer, 2010). Increasingly corporations and non-profit organisations or charities are using those relationships and joint projects as critical institutional positioning for achieving mutual goals (Shumate & O'Connor, 2010). These organisations are building ‘ethical brand identifications’ based on the collaborative work they are doing. In fact, as a result of the 2008 economic crash, many companies have increasingly pursued and developed structured ethics programs because those companies engaging in socially responsible activities can gain strength, power, and importance in the global marketplace (Kreng & May-Yao, 2011 945; Uccello, 2009). These CSR initiatives meant to demonstrate a system that values a culture of ethics and support, fulfilling missions, and acting as models for society (Kreng & May-Yao, 2011). Yet despite growing amounts of research analysing relationship quality, corporate social responsibility, crisis communication, and brand misconduct, little research has analysed differences among types of misconduct – for example a transgression where the organisation has broken the law or a transgression where the behaviours are ethically questionable – the relative impact of brand misconduct on corporate and charitable partners in joint venture, nor the effects that response strategies may play in managing the relationships between consumers and these ‘irresponsible’ organisations. In the following section, we describe the literature on CSR joint initiatives and brand misconduct before introducing the relationship marketing dialogue. We then highlight areas of conceptual overlap between relationship marketing, brand misconduct, and crisis response

Killer Coca-Cola vs Pouring on the pounds: Comparing the brand damage potential between negative health messaging and counterbranding strategies

Forget the war on drugs and the fight against tobacco. American public health advocates have a new foe – the soda and beverage industry. Why are sights set on soda consumption? Americans consume a massive amount of high-sugar/fructose corn syrup drinks each year. In fact, half of the U.S. population consumes more than one 12 ounce can of soda each day with some estimates as high as 2.6 glasses consumed each day (Anonymous, 2012a; Ogden, Kit, Carroll, & Park, 2011). Soda consumption is regularly linked with a litany of negative health effects including obesity, type 2 Diabetes, fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, cardiovascular problems, increased risk of stroke, malnutrition, and even cancer (Anonymous, 2012a; Jampolis, 2012; MacVean, 2012). Though the soda industry has agreed to place nutrition information on soda machines (Anonymous, 2012c) and while soda consumption fell by 1% in 2011 (though the price rose by 3% in the same year) (Geller, 2012), the reality is that Americans know it is bad for them yet that knowledge does not quench their thirst (Anonymous, 2012a). A coordinated multi-faceted approach is exactly what organizations like the American Medical Association argue (MacVean, 2012) are necessary if we are to positively affect growing obesity rates in the United States as well as those emerging in many countries around the world (Al-Rethaiaa, Fahmy, & Al-Shwaiyat, 2010; Borgmeier & Westenhofer, 2009; Lawrence et al., 2007). As a result, in recent years arguments for using counterbranding approaches in health campaigns have been growing – lead by research on anti-smoking campaigns – with research demonstrating that negative advertising (i.e., attacks on organizations or industries plus attacks on the behavior) is an effective public health tool in order to promote behavioral change (Apollonio & Malone, 2009; Eisenberg, Ringwalt, Driscoll, Vallee, & Gullette, 2004; Evans, Price, & Blahut, 2005; Farrelly, Davis, Haviland, Messeri, & Healton, 2005; Pralea, 2011; Terblanche-Smit & Terblanch, 2011). In short, a central question emerging among many health advocates is whether manufacturing a crisis for an organization or industry can help to change consumer behaviors. Thus the present study compares the effectiveness of two different approaches – a traditional health belief approach with an emergent counterbranding approach

Temporo-Spatial Dynamics of Event-Related EEG Beta Activity during the Initial Contingent Negative Variation

In the electroencephalogram (EEG), early anticipatory processes are accompanied by a slow negative potential, the initial contingent negative variation (iCNV), occurring between 500 and 1500 ms after cue onset over prefrontal cortical regions in tasks with cue-target intervals of about 3 s or longer. However, the temporal sequence of the distributed cortical activity contributing to iCNV generation remains unclear. During iCNV generation, selectively enhanced low-beta activity has been reported. Here we studied the temporal order of activation foci in cortical regions assumed to underlie iCNV generation using source reconstruction of low-beta (13–18 Hz) activity. During the iCNV, elicited by a cued simple reaction-time task, low-beta power peaked first (750 ms after cue onset) in anterior frontal and limbic regions and last (140 ms later) in posterior areas. This activity occurred 3300 ms before target onset and provides evidence for the temporally ordered involvement of both cognitive-control and motor-preparation processes already at early stages during the preparation for speeded action

The Influence of Mirror-Visual Feedback on Training-Induced Motor Performance Gains in the Untrained Hand

The well-documented observation of bilateral performance gains following unilateral motor training, a phenomenon known as cross-limb transfer, has important implications for rehabilitation. It has recently been shown that provision of a mirror image of the active hand during unilateral motor training has the capacity to enhance the efficacy of this phenomenon when compared to training without augmented visual feedback (i.e., watching the passive hand), possibly via action observation effects [1]. The current experiment was designed to confirm whether mirror-visual feedback (MVF) during motor training can indeed elicit greater performance gains in the untrained hand compared to more standard visual feedback (i.e., watching the active hand). Furthermore, discussing the mechanisms underlying any such MVF-induced behavioural effects, we suggest that action observation and the cross-activation hypothesis may both play important roles in eliciting cross-limb transfer. Eighty participants practiced a fast-as-possible two-ball rotation task with their dominant hand. During training, three different groups were provided with concurrent visual feedback of the active hand, inactive hand or a mirror image of the active hand with a fourth control group receiving no training. Pre- and post-training performance was measured in both hands. MVF did not increase the extent of training-induced performance changes in the untrained hand following unilateral training above and beyond those observed for other types of feedback. The data are consistent with the notion that cross-limb transfer, when combined with MVF, is mediated by cross-activation with action observation playing a less unique role than previously suggested. Further research is needed to replicate the current and previous studies to determine the clinical relevance and potential benefits of MVF for cases that, due to the severity of impairment, rely on unilateral training programmes of the unaffected limb to drive changes in the contralateral affected limb

Identifying nurses' rewards: a qualitative categorization study in Belgium

BACKGROUND: Rewards are important in attracting, motivating and retaining the most qualified employees, and nurses are no exception to this rule. This makes the establishment of an efficient reward system for nurses a true challenge for every hospital manager. A reward does not necessarily have a financial connotation: non-financial rewards may matter too, or may even be more important. Therefore, the present study examines nurses' reward perceptions, in order to identify potential reward options. METHODS: To answer the research question "What do nurses consider a reward and how can these rewards be categorized?", 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with nurses were conducted and analysed using discourse and content analyses. In addition, the respondents received a list of 34 rewards (derived from the literature) and were asked to indicate the extent to which they perceived each of them to be rewarding. RESULTS: Discourse analysis revealed three major reward categories: financial, non-financial and psychological, each containing different subcategories. In general, nurses more often mentioned financial rewards spontaneously in the interview, compared to non-financial and psychological rewards. The questionnaire results did not, however, indicate a significant difference in the rewarding potential of these three categories. Both the qualitative and quantitative data revealed that a number of psychological and non-financial rewards were important for nurses in addition to their monthly pay and other remunerations. In particular, appreciation for their work by others, compliments from others, presents from others and contact with patients were highly valued. Moreover, some demographical variables influenced the reward perceptions. Younger and less experienced nurses considered promotion possibilities as more rewarding than the older and more senior ones. The latter valued job security and working for a hospital with a good reputation higher than their younger and more junior colleagues. CONCLUSION: When trying to establish an efficient reward system for nurses, hospital managers should not concentrate on the financial reward possibilities alone. They also ought to consider non-financial and psychological rewards (in combination with financial rewards), since nurses value these as well and they may lead to a more personalized reward system

Thrive: Success Strategies for the Modern-Day Faculty Member

The THRIVE collection is intended to help faculty thrive in their roles as educators, scholars, researchers, and clinicians. Each section contains a variety of thought-provoking topics that are designed to be easily digested, guide personal reflection, and put into action. Please use the THRIVE collection to help: Individuals study topics on their own, whenever and wherever they want Peer-mentoring or other learning communities study topics in small groups Leaders and planners strategically insert faculty development into existing meetings Faculty identify campus experts for additional learning, grand rounds, etc. If you have questions or want additional information on a topic, simply contact the article author or email [email protected]://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/facdev_books/1000/thumbnail.jp