Gifts, emotions and cognitive processes: an inquiry of gift receiving from a consumer psychology perspective

Gift exchange is a universal, social, cultural, and economic phenomenon. Over the past 90 years, it has fascinated scholars from different disciplines within the social sciences thanks to its diffusion across societies and centuries. Since Marcel Mauss' foundational paper (1925), scholars have agreed on the social integrative function of gifts, which are tools to build and maintain relationships. Giving gifts generates a virtuous circle of reciprocity, within which gifts are exchanged to attain a balanced reciprocity between the parties. Gifts are also intrinsically associated with identity definition and influence recipients' and givers' self-view. Above all, the gift is a symbolic communication, "a language that employs objects instead of words as its lexical elements" (Caplow, 1984, p. 1320), by which the giver communicates a variety of meanings, such as affection for the recipient, image of the recipient, or intention with regard to the relationship with the recipient

Experimental evidence of unethical gift reconstruction in consumer moral reasoning

There are empirical evidences that consumers do not walk the talk. Although they express a preference for ethical products, they often consume indifferently. Nonetheless, we know little about the factors that facilitate unethical consumption. This article uses the experimental method to investigate the unethical consumption in the gifting experience context and the impact of psychological distance. An exploratory study shows that consumers are willing to accept morally questionable gifts in order to not hurt the giver. Moreover, two experiments demonstrate that consumers are a. eager to accept an unethical gifted product and b. they cognitively reconstruct it as less unethical. However, the unethical gift cannot be reconciled from an emotional standpoint, resulting in an emotional misalignment. The recipient feels guilty about the decision, especially if the product is sourced locally. Several theoretical and managerial contributions are derived from this study’s findings

Rigorous, transparent, and eye-catching: exploring the universalistic parameters of impactful theory building in management

In the management discipline, scholarly impact is most commonly measured using a researcher perspective, by counting the number of times a particular article is mentioned in the references section of other articles (Aguinis, Shapiro, Antonacopoulou, and Cummings, 2014). This approach conceptualizes scholarly impact using a measurable indicator, the citation count an article receives. Several studies have been conducted to examine what drives scholarly impact in the field of management. The originality of the idea, rigor of the study, and clarity of writing have been identified as the most significant universalistic parameters of scholarly impact (Judge, Colbert, Cable, and Rynes, 2007). This dissertation sets out to do a detailed examination of these parameters. The six articles included in the thesis do so in two ways: either by offering recommendations for improving these universalistic parameters of scholarly impact or by further exploring the relationship between the universalistic parameters and scholarly impact. Our first empirical article, here relayed in Chapter II, focuses on case studies, and analyzes the methodological rigor of all case studies published during the period 1996-2006. We point out different types of replication logic, and illustrate how their individual research actions have differential effects on the internal and external validity (in that order of priority) of the emerging theory. Chapter III follows up on the previous chapter, extending the investigation to quantitative as well as qualitative research, and offers replication logic as a tool for analyzing deviant cases identified during the course of a qualitative or quantitative study. We call this technique the ‘Deviant Case Method’ (‘DCM’). Through this study, we explain the theoretical consequentiality (Aguinis et al., 2013; Cortina, 2002) of analyzing three different kinds of outliers (construct, model fit, and prediction outliers/ deviant cases) and offer DCM for analyzing prediction outliers/deviant cases. In Chapter IV, we extend this method to have a look at medium-N studies. Here we focus on inconsistent or deviant cases which turn up during a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). We offer a method called ‘Comparative Outlier Analysis’ (‘COA’) which combines DCM and Mill’s canons (1875) to examine these multitude of inconsistent cases. We explicate this using exemplars from fields like politics, marketing, and education. Unlike in other disciplines or methods, it is far from clear what the label ‘transparent research procedures’ constitutes in management field studies, with adverse effects during write-up, revision, and even after publication. To rectify this, in Chapter V, we review field studies across seven major management journals (1997- 2006) in order to develop a transparency index, and link it to article impact. Chapter VI is a sequel to the previous chapter. We propose a new method for assessing the methodological rigor of grounded theory procedures ex-post using an audit trail perspective. While existing research on the methodological sophistication of grounded theory was typically done from the perspective of the author or producer of the research, our perspective is customer-centric, both in terms of the end-customer (i.e. the reader or other author), as well as the intermediate customer (i.e. reviewers and editors). The last empirical article in the thesis, Chapter VII, focuses on yet another parameter influencing impact: the style of academic writing. Specifically, we focus on the attributes of article titles and their subsequent influence on the citation count. At this early stage of theory development on article titles, we do this in the specific application context of management science. We conclude with Chapter VIII where we sum up the findings and implications of all preceding studies and put forth suggestions for future research

Transparency of reporting practices in quantitative field studies: The transparency sweet spot for article citations

Intuitively, there would appear to be a direct positive link between the transparency with which research procedures get reported and their appreciation (and citation) within the academic community. It is therefore not surprising that several guidelines exist, which demand the reporting of specific features for ensuring transparency of quantitative field studies. Unfortunately, it is currently far from clear which of these features do get reported, and how this affects the articles’ citations. To rectify this, we review 200 quantitative field studies published in five major journals from the field of management research over a period of 20 years (1997–2016). Our results reveal that there are significant gaps in the transparent reporting of even the most basic features. On the other hand, our results show that copious reporting of transparency is productive only up to a certain degree, after which more transparent articles get cited less, pointing to a ‘transparency sweet spot’ that can be achieved by reporting mindfully

Brand Suicide? Memory and Liking of Negative Brand Names

Negative brand names are surprisingly common in the marketplace (e.g., Poison perfume; Hell pizza, and Monster energy drink), yet their effects on consumer behavior are currently unknown. Three studies investigated the effects of negative brand name valence on brand name memory and liking of a branded product. Study 1 demonstrates that relative to nonnegative brand names, negative brand names and their associated logos are better recognised. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that negative valence of a brand name tends to have a detrimental influence on product evaluation with evaluations worsening as negative valence increases. However, evaluation is also dependent on brand name arousal, with high arousal brand names resulting in more positive evaluations, such that moderately negative brand names are equally as attractive as some non-negative brand names. Study 3 shows evidence for affective habituation, whereby the effects of negative valence reduce with repeated exposures to some classes of negative brand name

Cannot make do without you: Outsourcing by knowledge-intensive new firms in supplier networks

How do new firms operating in dynamic environments organize their operations? Building on the transaction cost theory and the resource based view and using case study data from ten biotechnology start-ups and twenty of their suppliers, this research reveals that new firms outsourcing to highly-embedded suppliers are likely to secure access to a wider supplier network, attain best-in-class operational knowledge, and avoid supplier opportunism while facing low levels of relationship-specific investments. New firms outsourcing to suppliers at the network periphery are more likely to realize cost efficiencies, expose themselves to opportunism, uncertainty, and higher levels of relationship-specific investments but low levels of operational knowledge. We propose that new firms build five outsourcing competencies to realize benefits

Managing knowledge in organisations : a critical analysis of extant approaches and conceptual aids

Thesis (M.Comm.) -- University of Stellenbosch, 1999.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Given the increased interest in the management of knowledge in corporations, there is a need for an analysis of the current level of sophistication of the most salient approaches and conceptual aids to knowledge management (KM). This study investigates the currently popular approaches to conceptualise knowledge and its management, in order to ultimately contribute towards a better understanding of the concept of KM. The study was conducted by way of investigation of the concept of knowledge as an organisational resource and the provision of critical analyses of current approaches and conceptual aids to KM. Theoretical investigations involving a comprehensive study of international research, both popular and academic, on relevant aspects of KM were undertaken in view of the purpose of this study. The most important conclusion that can be forwarded was that extant KM approaches and conceptual aids are not sufficiently sensitive to the resource they seek to manage, viz. knowledge. An investigation of the concept of knowledge, as the resource to be managed through KM, was first undertaken. The investigation revealed that particularly important for the conceptualisation of knowledge in a business context, are the complex properties of this resource that impact its manageability. It was demonstrated that recent thinking on these properties has undergone a consolidation, through which two key aspects are crystallising, viz. firstly that knowledge can be tacit or explicit; and that it can, secondly, reside at the level of the individual employee, the group, organisational, or interorganisational level in the corporation. A significant conclusion was that the extant two-dimensional conceptualisation of knowledge does not encapsulate all aspects of knowledge that are impacting its manageability. A critical analysis of the concept of KM was subsequently made. For this purpose, three conceptual models of KM that are currently popular among scholars, and that exemplify the potential of extant conceptual aids for managing knowledge in organisations, have been chosen eclectically: i) Spender (1996), ii) Hedlund (1995), and iii) Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). Strengths and deficiencies of these models were discussed in order to enhance an understanding of the potential of the KM concept as it is currently portrayed in the literature. It was established that the three models analysed all use the above-mentioned inadequate two-dimensional conceptualisation of knowledge as a platform and conceptual frame of reference. This commonality was shown to compromise the potential of extant approaches and models for managing knowledge in organisations, and recommendations were made to overcome these deficiencies in future research in the KM field.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Angesichts des zunehmenden Interesses an organisationalem Wissensmanagement ist es an der Zeit, aktuelle Konzeptionalisierungen von Wissen und seinem Management zu hinterfragen. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht das Konzept organisationalen Wissens, und analysiert kritisch aktuelle Managementmodelle fuer dieses Wissen. Die Basis dieser Untersuchung ist eine umfassende Analyse internationaler Literatur. Ais wichtigste Schlussfolgerung dieser Analyse bleibt festzuhalten, dass die untersuchten Wissensmanagement Modelle nicht ausreichend sensibel fuer die Resource Wissen sind. Die Untersuchung umfasst zwei Kernkomplexe. Im ersten wurde die aktuelle Konzeptionalisierung der Resource Wissen kritisch beleuchtet. Besonderes Augenmerk wurde auf die komplexen Eigenschaften organisationalen Wissens gerichtet, welche dessen Management zu beeinflussen scheinen. Die Literaturanalyse konnte zeigen, dass sich im Bereich dieser Eigenschaften eine Konsolidierung abzeichnet, durch welche zwei Kerneigenschaften kristallisieren, naemlich, erstens die Unterscheidung in stilles und explizites Wissen, und, zweitens die Frage ob solches Wissen auf der Ebene des einzelnen Mitarbeiters, der Gruppe, der ganzen Unternehmung, oder aber in Unternehmenskollaboration zu finden ist. Es konnte demonstriert werden, dass diese zweidimensionale Konzeptionalisierungen nicht aile relevanten Eigenschaften organisationalen Wissens umfasst, und daher dessen Komplexitaet nicht vollauf gerecht wird. Im zweiten Schritt der Untersuchung wurden drei aktuelle Modelle des Wissensmanagments kritisch analysiert. Zu diesem Zweck wurden drei Modelle eklektisch ausgewaehlt, naemlich i) Spender (1996), ii) Hedlund (1995), and iii) Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). Die individuellen Annahmen, Staerken und Schwaechen der einzelnen Modelle wurden untersucht, wodurch gezeigt werden konnte, dass die drei Modelle auf der inadequaten Konzpeptionalisierung von Wissen aufbauen, welche im ersten Teil der Untersuchung vorgestellt wurde. Es wurde argumentiert dass diese Gemeinsamkeit das Potential der untersuchten Modelle limitieren koennte, und Vorschlaege zur Verbesserung der Konzeptionalisierung von Wissen und seinem Management wurden gemacht.Maste