Martin Klarmann

What Drives Key Informant Accuracy

In an effort to establish and enhance the accuracy of key informant data, organizational survey studies are increasingly relying on triangulation techniques by including supplemental data sources that complement information acquired from key informants. Despite the growing popularity of triangulation, little guidance exists as to when and how it should be conducted. Addressing this gap, the authors develop hypotheses linking a comprehensive set of study characteristics at the construct, informant, organizational, and industry levels to key informant accuracy. Two studies test these hypotheses. The first study is a meta-analysis of triangulation applications. Using data from 127 studies published in six major marketing and management journals, the authors identify antecedents to key informant reliability. The second study, using eight multi-informant data sets, analyzes antecedents to key informant validity. The results from these studies inform survey researchers as to which conditions particularly call for the use of triangulation. The authors conclude by offering guidelines on when and how to employ triangulation techniques.

Customer Uncertainty Following Downsizing: The Effects of Extent of Downsizing and Open Communication

Although downsizing has become a nearly universal managerial practice, many downsizing initiatives fail. To explain this phenomenon, previous research has mainly investigated possible negative consequences for employees remaining in the firm while largely neglecting customer reactions to downsizing and the issues surrounding its implementation. The authors describe three studies analyzing how downsizing at a firms point of customer contact affects customers and how managers can influence customer reactions through open communication. The first study, a manager study, is based on an executive survey of a sample of more than 100 downsizing projects. The other two studies are customer studies that use an experimental scenario method. Across the two methods, results show that the extent of downsizing is linked to customer uncertainty. In addition, both survey results and experimental results reveal that open downsizing communication carries substantial risks for downsizing firms. Although open communication reduces customer uncertainty if customers have strong informal ties with the firms employees or perceive a firms products as important, it may increase customer uncertainty in other situations.

Empirische Controllingforschung — Anmerkungen aus der Perspektive des Marketing

Die Bedeutung empirischer betriebswirtschaftlicher Forschung im deutschsprachigen Raum hat in den letzten Jahren stark zugenommen. Eine Auswertung der fuhrenden deutschsprachigen betriebswirtschaftlichen Zeitschriften durch Krafft/Haase/Siegel zeigt ein deutliches Wachstum des Anteils statistisch-okonometrischer Arbeiten seit Beginn der 90er Jahre.1 In einer ahnlich ausgerichteten Untersuchung stellt Hauschildt allerdings fest, dass empirische Forschung im deutschsprachigen Raum immer noch ein deutlich geringeres Gewicht hat als auf internationaler Ebene.2 Empirische Arbeiten machen nur einen Anteil von 32% an den zwischen 1997 und 2000 in fuhrenden deutschsprachigen Zeitschriften veroffentlichten Forschungsarbeiten aus, wahrend in fuhrenden internationalen Fachzeitschriften im gleichen Zeitraum 75% der Arbeiten empirische Untersuchungen zum Gegenstand haben.

Using Multi-Informant Designs to Address Key Informant and Common Method Bias

The important key informant and common method problems in survey research are taken up in this article. The authors focus on the question how researchers can rely on multiinformant designs in order to limit the threats of key informant and common method bias on the validity and reliability of survey research. In particular, they show how researchers can effectively design studies that employ multiple informants and how multi-informant data can be aggregated in order to obtain more accurate results than can be obtained with single informant studies.

Mass Layoffs: When and How Do They Affect Customer Satisfaction?

Downsizing seems to be one of the most appealing cost-cutting strategies to companies all around the world. Having emerged as a response to the economic slowdown of the 1980s (Baumol et al, 2003), this controversial management practice remains a topic of highest prominence even today. In fact, between 2000 and 2008 (i.e., even before the financial crisis) more than 10 million U.S. employees lost their jobs in over 52,000 mass layoff events (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2009). Interestingly, previous research shows that the attempt to improve performance through mass layoffs often fails. In search for explanations, researchers have begun to examine the effects of mass layoffs (often referred to as “downsizing”) on customer satisfaction and found first evidence of a negative relationship. As Chadwick et al (2004, p. 406) note, “The general consensus among researchers over the last two decades is that organizational performance is as likely to suffer as it is to improve after downsizing.” In this context, marketing researchers have focused on understanding the effect of downsizing on customer satisfaction, with first studies reporting a negative relationship (Lewin, 2009; Lewin and Johnston, 2008; Lewin et al, 2010, e.g.).

Understanding Downsizing from the Customers’ Perspective: The Role of Customer Uncertainty and Downsizing Communication

During the last two decades, more and more firais have relied on downsizing, i.e., major work force reductions, to cut costs and improve productivity and competitiveness. For instance, in 2006 and 2007, Ford cut 30,000 jobs in line with a turnaround program in North America. In 2007, Johnson & Johnson announced the elimination of up to 4,800 jobs worldwide and Airbus announced a three-year cost-cutting program including up to 10,000 job cuts. However, there is no clear consensus in the literature, whether downsizing increases organizational efficiency or not.

Organisation von Marketing und Vertrieb in Zeitschriftenverlagen: Status Quo und aktuelle Entwicklungen

ZusammenfassungBei der Organisation ihrer Marktbearbeitungsaktivitäten stehen Zeitschriftenverlage vor einer besonderen Herausforderung. Sie agieren auf zwei interdependenten Märkten: dem Lesermarkt und dem Anzeigenmarkt. Hinzu kommt, dass sich die Rahmenbedingungen des Wettbewerbs in der Branche in den vergangenen Jahren stark verändert haben. Auf Grundlage von mehr als 50 Experteninterviews zeichnet der vorliegende Beitrag ein Bild vom Status Quo der Organisation der Marktbearbeitung in Zeitschriftenverlagen. Ausgehend von einer Betrachtung wichtiger Marktentwicklungen wird aufgezeigt, mit welchen organisationalen Veränderungen die Verlage auf das veränderte Marktumfeld reagieren.