Mark Peterson

Methodological issues in cross‐cultural marketing research: A state‐of‐the‐art review

Notes that methodological problems are hampering the growth of cross‐cultural marketing research and presents a review of methodological issues to address these problems. Organizes these issues around a six‐step framework which includes elements such as problem definition, the development of an approach and research design formulation. Notes that the marketing research problem can be defined by comparing the phenomenon or behaviour in separate cultural contexts and eliminating the influence of the self‐reference criterion. Discusses issues in data analysis such as treatment of outliers and standardization of data. Concludes with an interpretation of results and report presentation.

Marketing research: A state-of-the-art review and directions for the twenty-first century

This article provides observations on the state of the art in marketing research during 1987–1997. As such, it updates the earlier state-of-the-art review by Malhotra (1988), which won theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) Best Article Award. The primary thrust of articles published in theJournal of Marketing Research during 1987–1997 is reviewed to determine important areas of research. In each of these areas, the authors summarize recent developments, highlight the state of the art, offer some critical observations, and identify directions for future research. They present a cross-classification of various techniques and subject areas, and make some observations on the applications of these techniques to address specific substantive and methodological issues in marketing research. The article concludes with some general directions for marketing research in the twenty-first century.

Marketing research in the new millennium: emerging issues and trends

Given the focus of the special issue, the present paper combines both the academic and the practitioner perspectives to highlight several issues and emerging trends that will shape the role of marketing research in the new millennium. These include a redefinition of the marketing researcher, the on‐going nature of marketing research, qualitative research, quantitative research, international marketing research, Internet marketing research, and ethical issues in marketing research.

The effects of music, wait-length evaluation, and mood on a low-cost wait experience

Abstract Waiting time research has implicitly assumed customers incur high waiting costs during service delays. However, few studies have explicitly measured customer perceptions of waiting costs. Our study examined the effects of judgment about music, wait-length evaluation, and customer mood on subjects overall experience evaluations in a low-cost wait situation. Results showed that while music likeability influenced both wait-length evaluation and mood, only mood contributed to subjects evaluation of their overall experience. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.

Perceived Uncertainty and Firm Performance in SMEs: The Role of Personal Networking Activities

In this article we propose and test a model of the effects of perceived environmental uncertainty on personal networking activities and firm performance, utilizing a sample of owner-managers from 153 small firms in the high technology sector. We predicted that as the level of uncertainty perceived in the environment by decision makers increased, they would engage in increased external and internal networking activities. This increased networking in response to perceived uncertainty would then result in improved financial performance for their firms. The data provide support for the effects of perceived uncertainty on internal networking and firm performance. We found that as the level of perceived uncertainty in the environment increased, so did the frequency of internal networking. Increased internal networking in response to increased perceived uncertainty resulted in better firm performance. The data, however, do not provide support for our predictions related to external networking and firm performance.

Survivors of “W‐day”: an assessment of the impact of Wal‐Mart’s invasion of small town retailing communities

A mail survey of 428 Nebraska and Kansas businesses from five towns in which Wal‐Mart opened stores between 1989‐1994 resulted in 191 returns regarding retailer response and subsequent performance impact. Less than one third of the businesses with

Attitude functions in consumer research: comparing value–attitude relations in individualist and collectivist cultures

1 million or more in sales reported a negative impact. In contrast, nearly one half of the businesses with less than

Comparative Marketing Measures of Societal Quality of Life: Substantive Dimensions in 186 Countries

1 million in sales reported a negative impact, with the effect most felt among those retailers located in the central business district. An inverse relationship was observed between changes in retail strategy and store performance.

The Role of Advising in Non-Returning Students' Perceptions of Their University.

Abstract Culture, and the influence that cultural values have on attitudes and behavior, is an important topic in cross-cultural consumer research. The relationship between values and the psychological purposes (functions) of attitudes are investigated in a cross-cultural study on consumer groups from the individualist culture, US, and collectivist culture, Colombia. The primary objective of this study is to test the moderating role of attitude functions (the goals served by attitudes) in the value–attitude relationship. In an attempt to extend attitude function theory to other cultures, it is expected that value–attitude relations will be stronger when people have value-expressive (or social-identity) attitudes than when they have utilitarian attitudes. Similarly, value–attitude relationships are expected to vary between idiocentric (individualist) and allocentric (collectivist) individuals within each culture. Overall results support the moderating role of attitude functions, as values were related to attitudes only when ad appeals emphasized a social-identity function, but not when they emphasized a utilitarian function.

Country segmentation based on objective quality‐of‐life measures

Annual ratings of seven comparative marketing measures of societal quality of life (QOL) in 186 countries were analyzed to understand the nature of QOL related to commerce. Confirmatory factor analyses and other multivariate analyses showed evidence for three substantive dimensions of QOL: benefits, costs, and sustainability.