Patricia Huddleston

Ethnocentrism of Polish and Russian consumers: are feelings and intentions related

Investigates ethnocentric tendencies of Polish and Russian consumers and whether tendencies vary by country, demographic characteristics and store type (formerly state owned or private). Examines whether ethnocentrism affects product selection decisions. Poles are significantly more ethnocentric than Russians. Ethnocentric Poles are older, more likely to be female, less educated, and have lower incomes than less ethnocentric consumers. For Russians, the more ethnocentric consumers are less educated. Degree of ethnocentrism is not related to purchase intention for Poles but is related for Russians. Consumers who shop at formerly state‐owned stores are significantly more ethnocentric than private store shoppers for both countries.

Does It Matter if I Hate Teamwork? What Impacts Student Attitudes toward Teamwork

The ability to work in teams is a skill that is often taught in universities to be applied in the business world. This study of junior and senior college students shows that project grades, perceived workload, time in class for project work, use of peer evaluations, and absence of a “free-rider” problem were significant predictors of attitudes toward teamwork. On the basis of their results, the authors suggest assigning a reasonable workload, allowing class time to work on projects, and using peer evaluations as strategies for improving student teamwork experiences.

Consumer ethnocentrism, product necessity and Polish consumers’ perceptions of quality

Poland appears to be an attractive consumer market, based on strong demand for consumer products during the past several years. However, this may not be the case for Western marketers, because of the influence of strong feelings of national pride on behavior of Polish consumers. Measures of consumer ethnocentrism may provide Western marketers with the information necessary to target consumers who do not allow nationalistic feelings to influence product quality evaluation and purchase behavior. Also, the necessity of the product to consumers may provide marketers with clues on which products will be accepted in the Polish marketplace. The purpose of this study is to learn, for various consumer products, whether Polish consumers’ perceptions of product quality differ based on consumer ethnocentric tendency, product necessity, and country of origin. A repeated measures ANOVA test provides empirical evidence that perceived quality differs by necessity, by product, by country, and consumer ethnocentrism influences quality perceptions of Polish consumers.

Customer satisfaction in food retailing: comparing specialty and conventional grocery stores

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast customer perceptions related to satisfaction with conventional grocery stores as compared to specialty grocery stores. The study examines store attributes of product assortment, price, quality, and service in order to determine which attributes have the greatest impact on store satisfaction for each store format.Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey was sent to a sample of specialty and conventional grocery store customers. The ten state sample was drawn from US households located in postal (ZIP) codes in areas where national specialty stores (e.g. whole foods) were located.Findings – Perception of satisfaction were higher among specialty grocery store customers compared to conventional grocery store customers. For both store formats, store price, product assortment, service and quality positively influenced satisfaction. Stepwise regression indicated that each store attribute contributed differently to store satisfaction for conventiona...

Retailer premium own‐brands: creating customer loyalty through own‐brand products advantage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model which investigates antecedents, consequences, and contingency factors of retailer own‐brand product advantage. The paper develops propositions and managerial implications.Design/methodology/approach – It summarizes an empirical work related to the key constructs of the theoretical model and identifies gaps in the literature. The paper provides definitions of each antecedent and outcome of retailer own product advantage and discusses managerial implications of the proposed framework.Findings – Retailers who have higher degree of customer participation, innovation, and brand orientations are likely to have a stronger own‐brand product advantage. In turn, those retailers are more likely to have loyal customers and superior own‐brand financial performance. These relationships will be influenced by retailer image, market power, number of national brands and category size, technology complexity, and competitive intensity.Research limitations/...

Effects of E-Tailer and Product Type on Risk Handling in Online Shopping

Abstract Franchising is emerging as a highly effective strategy for growth, job creation, and economic development and is spreading rapidly around the globe. However, the pursuit of global markets by franchisors has traditionally relied on employing just three generic franchising options (i.e., direct franchising, master franchising, area development). This paper presents a more expansive view of strategic choice for franchisors by presenting first-mover, platform, and conversion strategies as additional strategic approaches that may be utilized to meet the challenge of expanding into international markets. Propositions are advanced to first suggest which strategic approaches aremost appropriate under varied foreign market conditions and then how these approaches should be linked to the three generic licensing options to create combination strategies based on franchisor experience/capabilities and similar/dissimilar markets. A contingency model of global franchising is presented, which depicts the above relationships and provides an overall framework that can assist franchisors in solving the foreign expansion and distribution question. Managerial and research implications are then provided.

Demographic and Lifestyle Characteristics as Predictors of Fashion Opinion Leadership Among Mature Consumers

This study identifies demographic and lifestyle characteristics as predictors of fashion opinion leadership for mature consumers. A fashion opinion leader is an individual who has influence on decisions of other people to accept or reject an innovation (Rogers, 1983). A sample of 711 out of 2003 mature consumers completed questionnaires for a 35 percent response rate. The underlying lifestyle characteristics and the dimensions of fashion opinion leadership in the mature consumer were determined with factor analysis. Multiple regression analysis revealed that lifestyle dimensions of Positive Thinker, Shopper, Socially Active and Credit Prone were predictors of fashion opinion leadership. No demographic characteristics (age, income, educational level, house size, occupation) were predictors of fashion opinion leadership.

Job motivators in Russian and Polish retail firms

Success of retail firms is dependent on a motivated workforce, yet little is known about what job characteristics motivate employees from former command economies. Investigates 11 valent job motivators for Russian and Polish retail sales staff and their expectations of receiving these rewards. Retail sales managers rated the importance of these motivators to their employees. Data were collected in two Russian and two Polish cities. The most important motivators to Russian and Polish sales employees are pay and friendliness of co‐workers. In most cases, managers’ perceptions of job motivators were similar to their employees. The expectation of receiving incentives were measured and results show both Russian and Polish employees had significantly lower expectations of receiving all 11 job motivators relative to the importance they attached to them.

A resource‐based view of the small firm: Using a qualitative approach to uncover small firm resources

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative study of small retailers, designed to uncover perceptions of resources which may be utilized to create competitive advantages and improve performance. The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm has focused on large firms, and this study extends RBV to the small firm.Design/methodology/approach – Using focus groups of small retailers within four communities in the USA, open‐ended questioning and discussions were utilized to help elicit responses about owners resources.Findings – The concepts of community brand identity, local social capital and environmental hostility (though not part of the original discussion guide), emerged as important constructs. Both community brand identity and social capital were articulated by focus group participants as resources which helped them to be successful. Brand identity was seen as important regardless of environment, while social capital emerged as a resource used more in hostile environments.Research lim...

Getting customers downtown: The role of branding in achieving success for central business districts

Purpose – To extend the research focuses of downtown business districts beyond the urban planning literature through application of the resource‐based theory of the firm. Downtowns may act like firms (with a collection of SBUs), and therefore should possess resources that provide competitive advantages.Design/methodology/approach – A multi‐method approach (focus groups; survey) is used to examine, a priori, the resources that provide competitive advantage for downtowns, including brand identity, business mix and community characteristics. Structural equation modeling is used to test the measurement of the constructs as well as estimate the effects of those constructs on downtown success. The data were collected from business owners within 11 downtown business districts in the US Midwest.Findings – Confirmatory factor analyses reveal that brand identity, business mix and community characteristics are three distinct measures of downtown resources. Brand identity was found to have a significant and positive ...