Gerald Albaum

Ethical Attitudes of Future Business Leaders Do They Vary by Gender and Religiosity

Corporations have multiple stakeholder groups. One stakeholder group consists of undergraduate business students, who collectively constitute the future leadership of corporations. Given the so-called ethical and legal lapses that have occurred in the early 2000s in such companies as Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen, and Tyco, it is increasingly important to know the ethical perspectives of future business leaders so that their future behavior can be anticipated. This article reports on a survey of nearly 3,000 undergraduate business students from 58 universities and colleges in 32 states regarding certain general ethics-related attitudes and the degree of ethicality these students possess. Survey findings are relatively consistent with those generally reported in the literature—female survey participants are slightly but significantly more ethically inclined than male survey participants, and survey participants who report being very religious are slightly but significantly more ethically inclined than survey participants who are less religious.

A comparison of response characteristics from web and telephone surveys

Increasingly, web surveys are being used to supplement telephone survey data and some predict internet methods will one day replace telephone interviews as the primary method for surveying general populations. Despite these trends, few studies have systematically compared response differences between the two methods. This article describes a study in which both telephone and web surveys were used to collect data on the corporate reputation of an international firm. Findings reveal significant differences in sample characteristics, response effects and overall costs. In addition to demographic differences, the web garnered a lower response rate, more item omissions, and produced more negative or neutral evaluations than did the telephone survey. Factor structure for the corporate reputation construct was simpler in the web-based data. Predictability of behavioural measures was essentially equivalent between the two modes; however, cost-per-contact was significantly lower in the web survey.

Adaptation of International Marketing Strategy Components, Competitive Advantage, and Firm Performance: A Study of Hong Kong Exporters

The authors examine how firms adapt different components of their marketing strategies in foreign markets compared with their domestic market and how such adaptation decisions influence the firms competitive positions and performance in foreign markets. The authors conceptualize that adaptation of a marketing-mix component is a purposeful process that is influenced by a firms past adaptation strategy, and they investigate the importance of that marketing-mix component to the firms success. The authors propose that the adaptation process helps define a firms competitive advantage, which in turn affects its performance in the foreign market. The authors develop hypotheses and propositions and test them with a sample of 183 export firms in Hong Kong.

Strategic firm type and export performance

This study adopts the Miles and Snow typology as a framework for analyzing export performance of manufacturing firms. The study investigates the role of distinctive competence and various strategic responses of firms belonging to each strategic type on their foreign market performance. The results of this study show that a firm’s strengths and strategic responses are related and that the impact of strategic responses on export performance differs according to the firm’s strategic type. Based on these results, the strengths that defenders, prospectors and analyzers should build and maintain as well as the strategic responses that each should pursue are identified.

The effects of transfer of marketing methods on export performance: an empirical examination

The debate about standardization versus adaptation for foreign market has received increased attention in the literature since the early 1980s. This increase is due in part to the globalization of markets for many goods and services. Largely ignored in the rhetoric has been the issue of transference of marketing strategies and tactics. This is especially apparent with regards to empirical studies on this issue. The little research that has been done on transference has centered on advertising. This paper extends the research base to other elements of the marketing mix and assesses the relations between these elements and performance. Owing to the friction that exists between headquarters and subsidiaries or foreign intermediaries, this paper proposes that adaptation of strategies enhances performance, whereas transference reduces performance. As such, the study answers Jains (Jain, S.C. (1989) Journal of Marketing, Vol. 53, January, pp. 70-79) call for empirical examinations of the relations between adaptation and performance.

Technology and Business-to-Consumer Selling: Contemplating Research and Practice

Selling to consumers is becoming increasingly complex and difficult due to changes in the channel structure of the marketplace. These changes are being driven in part by a technological revolution incorporating interactive digital media. This introduction to the special issue presents a brief overview of technology-focused research in business-to consumer selling. The goal of the introduction is to suggest and illustrate a research agenda that depicts the role and implications of technology in business-to-consumer selling.

Management of Marketing Research Projects: Does Delivery Method Matter Anymore in Survey Research?

This study compared both online and offline survey modes in a single study about peoples attitudes toward furniture shopping. Differences in sample characteristics were obtained between modes and between sample and population parameters. Overall, online and offline modes of survey delivery appear to be equally susceptible to population parameter biases except for gender. Online modes had lower response rates and higher item omission rates than offline modes. Online modes did not emerge as the lowest cost per respondent as hypothesized. Furthermore, results suggested that the quality of data obtained by online modes may be somewhat inferior to data collected by offline survey modes.

A comparative study of the management styles of marketing managers in Australia and the People's Republic of China

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to compare the management style of marketing managers in Australia with the counterparts in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).Design/methodology/approach – Based on the differences in cultural dimensions and context, five hypotheses related to management decision‐making styles were developed and tested by questionnaire survey. Sixty seven valid Australia samples and 104 valid Chinese samples were obtained through mail survey and personal interviews, respectively.Findings – Results show that PRC managers have significantly higher scores in the five management style dimensions (namely: information utilization, complexity, group decision‐making, risk acceptance and technology orientation) than their Australian counterparts.Research limitations/implications – The research is limited by the small sample size. The findings may be limited by measurement equivalence issues and further investigation of management style differences across more countries is clearly needed....

Sovereignty change influences on consumer ethnocentrism and product preferences: Hong Kong revisited one year later

Abstract The sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom (UK) to China (PRC) in mid-1997. This study examines changes in consumer ethnocentrism and product preferences of Hong Kong residents. A number of differences were found — the 1998 posthandover group was more ethnocentric, and had significantly greater preferences for both Hong Kong-made and PRC-made products as compared to their prehandover counterpart. Further analyses indicated that ethnocentrism scores were related to product preferences. These preferences were consequently related to actual purchase behavior.

Attitudes of migrants towards foreign‐made products: an exploratory study of migrants in Australia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the attitudes of Asian and Western migrants and native‐borns in Australia toward foreign‐made products and the impact of consumer ethnocentrism on attitude formation.Design/methodology/approach – The research was designed as a personal interview survey using shopping mall intercepts. A total of 206 consumers were asked to indicate their preferences for foreign‐made versus Australian‐made products for five diverse products. Respondents also responded to a short version of the CETSCALE, a scale measuring consumer ethnocentrism. Respondents were classified as Australian‐born, Asian‐born migrants, or Western‐born migrants.Findings – Consumer ethnocentrism is negatively related to attitudes toward foreign‐made products for both overseas‐born (Asian and Western) migrants and local‐born Australians. Asian‐born migrants reported a significantly lower level of consumer ethnocentrism than both of the other respondent groups. Within the Western migrant group, males had...