Mohammed Abdur Razzaque

Ethics and purchasing dilemma: A singaporean view

Emergence of purchasing as a strategic function has not only broadened the scope of purchasing, it has also changed the responsibilities of the purchasing managers by empowering them to spend large sums of money in procuring goods and services. However, this has also presented them with an array of ethical dilemmas involving questionable purchasing practices. This study proposes a framework to examine ethicality of decision making when faced with such dilemmas and presents the results of a survey conducted to assess the ethical inclinations of purchasers operating in Singapore. The results give credence to the notion that ethicality of behavior is culture-specific and reconfirms the existence of ethical relativism.

Chinese cultural values and gift‐giving behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study undertaken to investigate the gift‐giving behavior of consumers in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) during the Chinese New Year and the influence exerted by Chinese cultural values on such behavior.Design/methodology/approach – Using a survey among a large sample of people in the city of Tianjin, gift‐giving behavior was measured by the importance accorded to gift‐giving, the amount given, the effort spent on gift selection and brand orientation when selecting gifts. The cultural values examined were renqing (human obligations), guanxi (relationship), yuan (destiny or fate), reciprocity, family orientation and Mianzi (face). Factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data.Findings – Results indicated that Chinese cultural values as a whole as well as most of its components investigated in this research had positive effects on the various gift‐giving behaviors. The “face” component was, however, found...

Effects of Dependence and Trust on Channel Satisfaction, Commitment and Cooperation

ABSTRACT Although researchers in the area of channel behavior have examined issues of dependence and trust on satisfaction, commitment and cooperation independently, the joint effects of dependence and trust on the listed dependent variates have received little attention in the literature. This study seeks to fill that void via an experiment conducted in Singapore. Extending on the work of Andaleeb (1996), an experimental design to create treatment groups with differing levels of dependence and trust was used to establish the relationships between the dependent and independent constructs. Research results highlight the important mediating effect of trust on dependence in determining attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Specifically, all three dependent constructs were rated highly under conditions of high trust, regardless of the level of dependence, pointing to the overbearing influence of trust in shaping channel dynamics.

Challenges to logistics development: the case of a Third World country ‐ Bangladesh

The current trend of changes in global business is highlighting the importance of logistics in the development of Third World business and industries. Literature reveals that many of these Third World nations lack logistics facilities; the task of developing a good logistics system in these nations is quite challenging. Attempts to understand these challenges by looking at Bangladesh, a new entrant from the Third World in the globalization race. Based on a survey of the country’s logisticians, identifies five broad challenges facing logistics development in Bangladesh and proposes a schematic model that integrates efforts of, and inputs from, four sources to solve these problems. Argues that the proposed model is also adaptable in other developing nations.

Skill requirements: perception of the senior Asian logisticians

Reports the findings of a cross‐cultural survey on the skill requirements of senior‐level logistics executives as perceived by the logistics practitioners themselves from two developing South‐east Asian nations, namely, Singapore and Malaysia. The study reveals that in the sampled nations, logistics has emerged as a discipline by itself and that the logisticians in these countries are aware that to succeed as logistics executives in the complex business environment of today, they need to be multi‐skilled generalists rather than technically‐oriented specialists.

Religiosity and Muslim consumers' decision‐making process in a non‐Muslim society

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to empirically investigate the impact of religious commitment of Muslim consumers in a non‐Muslim country on their purchase decision‐making process and develop a broad‐based taxonomy of these consumers based on that. It also aims at identifying the sources of information that Muslim consumers perceive to be most important in influencing their decision making and then measuring them in terms of consumer trust and influence. Finally, it intends to examine the effect of product information/labelling on the decision making of different categories of Muslim consumers.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses responses obtained from a convenient sample of Muslim consumers living in various suburbs of Sydney metropolitan area, who are the main grocery buyers of their respective households. It utilizes a single cross‐sectional design employing a combination of computer assisted and self‐completion survey.Findings – The research reports that food and personal hygiene pr...

Scientific Method, Marketing Theory Development and Academic vs Practitioner Orientation: A Review

This article presents a critical review of two highly debated issues -- the metatheoretical underpinnings of marketing science, and academic versus practitioner orientation of marketing theory development. It identifies the major factors underlying these controversies, discusses their relevance for the development of marketing and argues that knowing the objectives of marketing and the ways to achieve them are more important than determining whether marketing is a science. The academics and practitioners are the two most important shapers of marketing knowledge who should pursue both basic as well as applied research and adopt contextually related methodological pluralism in their research efforts.

Gatekeeping in organizational purchasing: an empirical investigation

Owing to the complexity of the task and the risks inherent in it, the effectiveness of any organizational buying decision largely depends on the information available for the decision‐makers’ use. Within any typical organization, flow of the information needed in the decision‐making process is influenced by the gatekeepers – the people who link the organization with the outside environment. However, despite the important role played by these people, not much is known about their behavior. This research makes an attempt to study gatekeeping behavior and examine factors which may influence this behavior.

Roles of customer involvement in rapport and satisfaction

Purpose – The study investigates different roles (antecedent, mediator and moderator roles) of customer involvement in rapport and satisfaction. It is also designed to reveal the comparative impact of three types of relational benefits (confidential, social and special treatment benefits) on customer involvement. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling (using Amos) is used for analyzing the data, collected from a survey of 212 sample respondents of the private commercial banking sector. Findings – Results suggest that customer involvement does have antecedent and mediated influence on rapport-satisfaction link while the moderation impact of customer involvement is not supported. In contrast, social treatment benefit is found as the most important relational benefit for developing customer involvement in Bangladesh followed by confidence and special treatment benefit. Research limitations/implications – Findings will assist bank management to set effective future strategies and to manage...

Roles of trust on rapport and satisfaction in services

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report antecedent roles of competence, contractual and goodwill trust on rapport and satisfaction in banking services in a developing country context. The study also identifies the mediating influence of these three types of trust between rapport and customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Data collected from a sample of 212 bank customers were analysed using AMOS-based structural equation modelling. Findings – While all three types of trust have significant impact on satisfaction, only competence and goodwill trust positively influenced rapport. Results also demonstrate that competence and goodwill trust had complementary mediation impacts in the rapport-satisfaction context; however, mediation influence of contractual trust was not significant. Finally, influence of rapport was found to be positive towards satisfaction. Practical implications – Management should focus on building goodwill and competence trust with bank customers. Bank managers shoul...