Faith and Fair Trade: The Moderating Role of Contextual Religious Salience

Normative and historical arguments support the idea that religion potentially shapes decisions to support fair trade products. That said, the question of how religion influences organizational decision-makers to purchase fair trade products in a business-to-business context has remained largely unaddressed. This research examines the interactive effect of individual religious commitment and contextual religious salience on an individual's willingness to pay a price premium for a fair trade product, when buying on behalf of an organization. Findings from two experimental studies (involving 75 and 87 working individuals, respectively) reveal that the effect of a decision-maker's religious commitment on his or her willingness to pay a price premium, for the purchase of a fair trade product on behalf of an organization, is moderated by the contextual salience of religion. Specifically, when religion is highly salient in the organizational context, religious commitment is positively related to the decision-maker's willingness to pay a premium for the fair trade product; when contextual religious salience is low, religious commitment and willingness to pay a premium are unrelated. Implications for theory and practice are presented. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Organizational apology and defense: Effects of guilt and managerial status

Prior research has shown that in the aftermath of an organizational product or service failure, accommodative communication approaches, such as apologies, are not just expected by the general public, but are also more beneficial to the organization in many ways, compared to defensive communication approaches. However, much of this research has assumed that communication decisions of this nature are shaped by factors that are purely rational or strategic. In this paper, the role that guilt—a moral emotion—plays in influencing accommodative versus defensive communication responses to organizational failure is examined. The data from two experimental studies show that individuals experiencing guilt are more inclined to apologize to external stakeholders. Contrary to expectations, a second study finds that guilt seems to increase the inclinations to engage in defensive communication following an organizational failure. This defensive tendency emerges only among managers, however, as opposed to non-managers

The Kernel method of density estimation using Turbo Pascal version 4.0

Density Estimation, particularly the procedure using Kernel Functions, is fast becoming a crucial area of investigation in non-parametric statistics. This paper presents a computer program which empirically produces estimates of probability density functions using Kernel functions. It also attempts to evaluate the discrepancy of the estimates, as well as to collate observations on the resulting estimates, using as reference the limited samples generated and particular Kernel functions

Organizational Apology And Defense: Effects Of Guilt And Managerial Status

Prior research has shown that in the aftermath of an organizational product or service failure, accommodative communication approaches, such as apologies, are not just expected by the general public, but are also more beneficial to the organization in many ways, compared to defensive communication approaches. However, much of this research has assumed that communication decisions of this nature are shaped by factors that are purely rational or strategic. In this paper, the role that guilt - a moral emotion - plays in influencing accommodative versus defensive communication responses to organizational failure is examined. The data from two experimental studies show that individuals experiencing guilt are more inclined to apologize to external stakeholders. Contrary to expectations, a second study finds that guilt seems to increase the inclinations to engage in defensive communication following an organizational failure. This defensive tendency emerges only among managers, however, as opposed to non-managers