David J. Burns

Need for uniqueness: shopping mall preference and choice activity

Since the store mix and product offerings of many regional shopping malls are very similar, often the primary discriminator between many of these centres is merely location. Making the choice to shop at a regional shopping mall other than the one nearest to one′s place of residence, therefore, does not appear to be a logical choice in many instances. Such behaviour, however, appears to be relatively common. It would appear, therefore, that regional shopping mall choice may not always be based solely on the offerings and location of the available shopping alternatives. Appears to provide support for the hypothesis that regional shopping mall choice can be an avenue for expression of an individual′s need for uniqueness. Suggests that outshopping activity as it relates to choice of regional shopping mall, may, at least in part, be prompted by the personal uniqueness which can be experienced by choosing to patronize regional shopping malls other than the one which is nearest to one′s place of residence.

Atmospherics and retail environments: the case of the “power aisle”

Aims to examine the relationship between the merchandising strategies employed in the configuration of a power aisle and consumers’ price perceptions of those products within a warehouse grocery store setting. The results suggest that a power aisle comprising a smaller number of stock‐keeping units (SKUs) and a correspondingly greater quantity of each item will convey a lower price image than will a power aisle comprising a greater number of SKUs and a correspondingly smaller quantity of each item. Evidence that the merchandising policies used in the power aisle of a warehouse grocery store have the ability to affect consumers’ perceptions of those prices, therefore, was observed.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Need for Uniqueness in Malaysia and the United States

Abstract It has been hypothesized and empirically supported that an individuals need for uniqueness is a factor that leads to the expression of innovative behavior. This need for uniqueness has been hypothesized to be environmentally, or culturally, based, raising concerns as to its stability across cultures. This study was conducted to investigate the possibility that the need for uniqueness varies in form across cultures. The results suggest that for collegiate business students the need for uniqueness does vary among cultural settings. This finding raises questions concerning the cross-cultural transferability of innovative behavior models that incorporate this need.

Explaining Innovative Behaviour: Uniqueness-Seeking and Sensation-Seeking

The authors investigate innovative behaviour from a motivational perspective. They propose a model of innovative behaviour and test a portion of it; the results support the model. Innovative behaviour appears to be a channel used for the expression of the internal motives of uniqueness-seeking and sensation-seeking.

An Examination of Classical Conditioning Principles in an Ecologically Valid Advertising Context

The objective of this study was to apply classical conditioning principles in an examination of the effect of affectively valenced advertising on brand attitudes and purchase intentions. The most often-cited research on conditioning in an advertising context has primarily used artificial ads for fictitious brands as stimuli to gauge effect on attitudes. For increased ecological validity, practitioner developed television commercials for actual brands were used in a 2 (brand familiarity) X 2 (affect) X 3 (repetition) experimental design. As hypothesized, results suggest that ad affect’s influence on brand attitudes was inhibited by familiarity with the brand regardless of ad repetition, while unfamiliar brands showed evidence of a direct affect transfer from ad to brand. Implications for advertising managers in the areas of creative strategies and pretesting are discussed.

A Suggested Ethical Framework for Evaluating Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions

The 1980s witnessed a dramatic increase in hostile takeovers in the United States. Proponents argue that well- planned mergers enhance the value of the firm and the value of the firm to society. Critics typically argue that undesired takeovers ultimately harm society due to external costs not borne by the acquiring firm. To be socially responsible, the manager must consider the effects of the merger/acquisition on all stakeholders. Different traditional ethical frameworks for decision making are proposed and reviewed. A model is proposed.

Adoption decision making process: A pilot study of effects of psychological needs

The present study examined an aspect of the adoption process which has received minimal research attention—time. Specifically, this study investigated the relationships between progression through the adoption process and the psychological needs for sensation and uniqueness. The results suggest that there exists an association between ones need for sensation and progression through the adoption process. A significantly weaker relationship was observed for the need for uniqueness.

Use of the service meat counter: an exploration

From the perspective of an image‐generating department to the perspective of profitability, the meat department possesses unsurpassed importance within the US grocery store. Surprisingly, the meat department is the subject of relatively little published research. Examines one aspect of the meat department ‐ customer use of the service meat counter vis‐a‐vis the self‐service meat counter. Results indicate that customers’ use of the service meat counter appears not to be a simplistic phenomenon. When used, the service meat counter appears to be viewed as a complement to the self‐service meat counter, not a replacement. The demographic factors examined did not appear to have the potential to serve as successful segmentation factors as far as use of the service meat counter is concerned.

Machiavellianism and Ethical Perceptions of Retail Situations

The honesty and integrity of business personnel have come under increasing scrutiny over the past several decades. There appears to be an increasing belief that the ethical character of society is declining (Zinkhan, Bisesi and Saxton 1989), a belief which is furthered by the visibility of a number of recent questionable business practices (Lysonski and Gaidis 1991).

The Effectiveness of Instruction in Accounting Ethics Education: Another Look

Abstract This study examines the effectiveness of instruction in accounting ethics as measured by the impact of that instruction on the incidence of student plagiarism in a college writing assignment. This study avoids the potential problems inherent in measuring Machiavellianism via a psychological questionnaire by using a “reverse methodology,” whereby Machiavellianism is assessed directly from behavior. The results support past research suggesting that traditional collegiate ethical education may not affect students’ ethical choices. The findings also suggest that increasing penalties for ethical failures may be an effective means of deterring students and business professionals from engaging in inappropriate activities. This study supports the use of a behavioral measure of Machivellianism as a means of evaluating the effectiveness of alternative instructional methods in ethics. This behavioral approach is superior to the traditional questionnaire methodology because Machivellianism is judged based on actual behavior rather than having students respond to hypothetical and often stereotyped ethical cases, whereby the student can provide an artificial response that will be viewed favorably by the evaluator. The findings suggest that higher education needs to recognize the relevance of factors beyond mere ethical education when preparing students for the ethical challenges they will face in the business world. This paper employs a unique “reverse methodology” to measure Machiavellianism. This reverse methodology has greater external validity in quasi-experimental ethical studies because the results can be extrapolated to real-world scenarios where there is a cost to behaving ethically.