Setayesh Sattari

How readable are mission statements? An exploratory study

Purpose – Mission statements are fairly ubiquitous, particularly among large organizations. However, if they are to have a chance of achieving the desired positive outcomes, they must first be readable and comprehensible to the targeted stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this issue, to answer the question of whether the mission statements of large companies are readable or not.Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis and appropriate scores were employed to investigate the readability of the mission statements collected from a random sample of 100 firms in the Fortune 500 annual rankings.Findings – The results indicate that on average, the mission statements of the studied companies are not that readable, and that in the case of many of them, the mission statements assume the readings skills of a university graduate.Research limitations/implications – The results of this paper suggest that if the target audience of a mission statement is broad, and includes stakeholders such as...

Reading between the vines: analyzing the readability of consumer brand wine web sites

Purpose – Many audiences might view wine brand web sites as complex or unapproachable. Wine drinking is no longer a pastime of the affluent and elite; rather, it is increasingly popular among younger consumer groups and those from broader socio‐economic backgrounds. In order to communicate effectively with newer consumer demographics, wine brand web sites must first and foremost be understandable and readable. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this issue, aiming to answer the question of whether the web sites of popular wine brands are readable or not.Design/methodology/approach – To investigate the readability of consumer brand wine web sites, web site copy from the 20 most popular wine brands in the USA was calculated across multiple readability indices employing content analysis.Findings – The findings suggest that, while certain target demographics may be assumed by grouping wine brand web sites based on readability measures, there are marked differences in readability across wine web sites ...

Service quality in the Iranian cellular telecommunication market

This paper evaluates service quality in Irans mobile telecom market based on the well-known SERVQUAL model, with modifications made by Wang Po-Lo (2002) to reflect the industry attributes of mobile telecom. Based on 250 respondents, results indicate that there is a support for the application of this model in Iran.

Consumer Behavior Research : A Synthesis of the Recent Literature

This article analyzes 12 years of recent scholarly research on consumer behavior published in the five leading international journals in this field. Analyzing academic contributions to a specific area of research provides valuable insights into how it has evolved over a defined period. The approach was to briefly discuss content analysis and its application in scholarly literature review studies. The methodology used here involves the classification of topics to evaluate key trends in consumer behavior literature. It includes a ranking of topics published, typology of the published articles, the research classification in terms of methodologies, and analysis techniques. The most cited articles in the field and within each journal are also examined. The comprehensive literature review of consumer behavior research undertaken in this article could advance the discipline of consumer behavior research by elucidating the evolution of consumer behavior literature in the studied period.

Understanding industries-universities collaboration tendency, a Swedish-Tunisian comparative study

In order to understand the industries-universities collaboration (IUC) tendency on technology development in developed and developing countries, we analyze the current state of affairs in Sweden and Tunisia. Empirical investigation from 45 companies in both countries was conducted to measure their propensity (actual) and predisposition (in the future) to collaborate with the universities. R&D managers first proposed a categorization of the IUC with regard to the technology development stages. Then, they explained to which extent their industries have been cooperating with the research centers at the universities and their intentions for future partnership. Results show that industries in Sweden are more involved in developing new processes; while Tunisian companies cooperate more with the universities to acquire new knowledge. Swedish companies tend to work on new technologies development as well. Conclusions on tendencies in both countries are drawn and recommendations for the universities are offered.

Understanding Consumers’ Perception of Sustainable Consumption: A ZMET Approach

Considering importance of consumers’ understanding of sustainability in shaping their attitude toward CSR and its successful implementation, this research uses the Zaltman metaphor elicitation tech ...

Requiem for a brand : consumer response to brand elimination

While companies may seek to rejuvenate and/or adapt their brands, circumstances will arise where the company may seek its brand closure. Studies on the consumer-side of brand death are sparse. This paper argues that how consumers react toward brand deletion can be explained by grief and bereavement theories used in psychology.

Brand personality of a city : identity vs. image

This study investigates the perceived destination image and identity by applying the concept of brand personality and empirically examines their effects on loyalty towards a city as a brand. This affords a deeper understanding of how branding works in this context and provides a framework by which local governments can manage such loyalty.

Salesperson’s Personality and the Relationship Quality Differences Between Customers and Friends

This paper sheds light on the quality of relationships between salespeople and their customers and friends as well as how their personality traits affect these relationships. The findings revealed that salespeople’s personality traits do not influence relationship quality with customers in the same way as with friends, and significant differences exist.

Preferences of young news consumers: A conjoint analysis

As more people choose to obtain their news online, most notably young people, it became of interest to look at the changing habits of online news consumers. Using conjoint analysis of Swedish college students, this paper aims to answer the question, which news attributes within various news categories are most preferred by today’s online news consumers? Results indicate that accuracy and source credibility are the most important attributes across many news categories, followed by immediacy. Interestingly, interactivity was, overall, the least preferred attribute for young, online news consumers in one of the most Internet-connected countries in the world.