Now showing 1 - 10 of 33
  • Publication
    Global validation of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS)
    (Springer, 2021-12-02)
    The five-item Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) was found to be a useful and valid mental health screener. Participants in the respective surveys were mostly from single countries such as the US, Turkey, Mexico, or Brazil. However, a cross-cultural re-examination is lacking. This study fills this gap. In several multigroup confirmatory factor analyses with 25 countries from five continents as groups, sex and age as groups, and different stages of concern with COVID-19 infection, CAS was found to be invariant across all groups; this indicates that CAS is appropriate for meaningfully comparing the results across different groups. On a global basis, Coronavirus anxiety did not differ between female and male participants. Regarding age, however, younger individuals suffered more from anxiety of the pandemic. Individualistic cultures and those with low power distance such as in the Western hemisphere had higher COVID-19 anxiety. CAS values were also higher for those individuals who had been infected by COVID-19, those whose relatives had been infected, and those who experienced COVID-19-related death in the family. Overall, CAS is a parsimonious, valid, and reliable mental health screener on a global basis.
  • Publication
    Did Electric Vehicle Sales Skyrocket Due to Increased Environmental Awareness While Total Vehicle Sales Declined during COVID-19?
    Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a global threat to humankind. In addition to many cases of illness and millions of deaths, the economy has suffered. Not surprisingly, vehicle sales have declined sharply in most countries by up to 25%. However, the overall sales of electric vehicles (EVs) did not stall; instead, they increased to previously forecasted levels. Is this increase evidence that COVID-19 has promoted sustainable action and strengthened environmental awareness, as researchers have discussed in recently published articles? Or is this merely the effect of monetary incentives by governments, as has been demonstrated in scientific research? This study examines the causes behind the surprising continuous climb of EV sales despite the outbreak of the pandemic by contrasting the influence of COVID-19 on environmental concerns and the usual monetary incentives with their potential complementary effects.
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    Scopus© Citations 9
  • Publication
    How policy measures succeeded to promote electric mobility - Worldwide Review and outlook
    (Elsevier Science, 2019) ;
    Electric vehicles (EVs) have been increasingly promoted through policy measures by governments across the world. This study investigates the effectiveness of these measures in 20 countries by measuring the influence of monetary incentives, traffic regulations favoring EVs as well as the charging infrastructure on the market share of EVs in these countries. Results from a covariance-based structural equation model show that all policy measures positively influence the percentage of EVs, specifically monetary measures in interaction with the charging infrastructure. Moreover, findings indicate that governmental measures promoting electric mobility reflect consumers' preferences in the respective countries and that countries with a high purchasing power also have a higher EV penetration. An analysis of the ratio between sold battery electric vehicles (BEVs) versus sold plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) further shows that consumers are purchasing more BEVs (vs. PHEVs) over time. A closer examination of Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Brazil, where EVs have been adopted more or less successfully, further highlights additional factors influencing EV adoption. It also emphasizes the need for collaboration among stakeholders from the public and private sectors in order to promote EVs. Finally, a worldwide outlook predicts a growing acceptance of EVs over time.
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    Scopus© Citations 104
  • Publication
    Buyer Monitoring Cross-Culturally
    (Sage, 2018-05-29) ;
    Kwortnik, Robert J.
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    Kwortnik, Lynn, and Ross demonstrated across multiple studies and service-industry contexts that voluntary tipping (a form of buyer monitoring) is a more effective employee control mechanism for improving service than is compensating workers with a service charge on the bill or a fixed wage per hour. However, Kwortnik et  al.’s studies were United States-based, where tipping behavior is common and generally accepted; such is not the case in many other countries around the world. Thus, the aim of this research note is twofold: (a) to replicate Kwortnik et al.’s results in the United States and, (b) to examine whether the results hold in other countries given cross-cultural differences that may affect the efficacy of buyer monitoring as a means to improve service. Using data from 10 countries across several continents, we show that (a) Kwortnik et al.’s findings only partially replicate in the United States, (b) the buyer monitoring principle does not hold worldwide, and (c) buyer monitoring is more effective in influencing service motivation and behavior in Western (individualistic) than in Eastern (collectivistic) cultures.
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    Scopus© Citations 2
  • Publication
    How to create reproducible brand personality scales
    (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)
    By means of personality traits, brands can be characterized in a concise and comprehensible manner that predestines a brand’s personality for management with the assessment of brand characteristics and comparison with competing brands. To be able to do comparisons, the respective personality model has to be reproducible. The differing measurements must be invariant across brands, time, and, if needed, cultures. This reproducibility, however, is in question for existing brand personality scales. Recent studies could not replicate several of the existing solutions, neither in other countries nor for other brands than those in the respective studies in which the scales were generated. This study examines potential causes for invariance problems and identifies a more stringent application of the psycho-lexical approach as a remedy. The study traces back to Galton’s (Fortn Rev 36:179–185, 1884) thoughts about synonyms. When factor items possess substantially more pairwise synonyms with items within this factor than with traits outside that respective factor, the personality model will turn out to be reproducible. Surveys were conducted in the USA, Germany, and France to test for cross-cultural invariance. Implications, particularly for global branding, will be discussed.
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    Scopus© Citations 8
  • Publication
    The Power of Innovativeness in Manufacturer–Retailer Relationships
    (Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2016-09-22)
    Lennerts, Silke
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    Eisend, Martin
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    Molner, Sven
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    Brexendorf, Tim
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    Purpose: Retailers often challenge manufacturers through aggressive store brand policies and severe listing constraints. This study investigates manufacturer innovativeness as a managerial lever to shift the power balance between manufacturers and retailers. Methodology/approach: Using data from 277 senior managers of Swiss and German consumer goods manufacturers and analyzing these data with structural equation modelling, the authors test hypotheses about the impact of manufacturer innovativeness on manufacturer–retailer relationship characteristics (i.e., retailer dependency, store brand aggressiveness, and listing constraints. Findings: The study demonstrates that manufacturer innovativeness enhances retailer dependency, which in turn positively affects overall manufacturer performance. This relationship can be explained further: By increasing retailer dependency,manufacturers suppress retailers’ store brand aggressiveness and attenuate retailers’ listing constraints. Store brand aggressiveness affects overall manufacturer Performance through listing constraints. Research implications: Identifying levers such as innovativeness that assist manufacturers in fostering their power over retailers provides a new mode for understanding how manufacturers can influence the balance of power between manufacturers and retailers. The study provides support for the approach/inhibition theory of power on the inter-organizational level. Organizations with increased power are assumed to have approach-related tendencies and act in goal-consistent manner, whereas organizations with reduced power are assumed to develop the tendency to pursue inhibition-related actions, e.g., attending to threats. Furthermore, this study identifies channel relationship characteristics such as retailer dependency as a mediating path between manufacturer innovativeness and performance. Practical implications: Managers need to strengthen the firm’s innovative capacity to enhance the performance of their companies. By developing the capability to provide radical innovations, manufacturers are able to enhance their performance not only directly but also indirectly by strengthening the manufacturer’s position with regard to retailers. This study underscores the relevance of innovativeness for strengthening the manufacturer’s position in its relationship with retailers that avoids problems with aggressive store brands and constrained listing conditions.
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    Scopus© Citations 5
  • Publication
    Customers' choice of a salesperson during the initial sales encounter
    (Elsevier, 2016)
    In retailing, the initial encounter of a customer with a salesperson (SP) is crucial. Easily accessible cues, such as physical, task, or social attractiveness, may help in the choice process of an SP. Another cue is SP gender. Enhancing the current literature about brand gender, this research analyzes a possible match between brand and SP gender including aspects of physical, task, and social attractiveness characteristics, as well as the customers' requirements of rather core or relational aspects for the specific brand. Androgynous brands that attracted attention in recent publications are included in the analyses as well.
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    Scopus© Citations 9
  • Publication
    The impact of brand gender on brand equity: Findings from a large-scale crosscultural study in ten countries
    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of brand gender on brand equity across countries and cultures in various product domains. Design/methodology/approach – Consumers from ten countries on four continents rated 20 global brands, leading to a total of 16,934 cross-clustered observations. Linear mixed effect models examined a series of nested models, testing three novel brand gender effects with respect to the impact of androgynous brands on brand equity and the moderating role of consumers’ biological sex as well as individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Additional robustness tests provide support on form, metric, and scalar invariance of the measurements and the robustness of the observed effects across countries and cultures. Findings – The current research reveals that androgynous brands generate higher brand equity relative to exclusively masculine, exclusively feminine, and undifferentiated brands. The authors also show a brand gender congruence effect such that male consumers value masculine brands higher than females while female consumers value more feminine brands higher than males. Finally, highly masculine brands generate higher brand equity in more individualistic countries whereas highly feminine brands generate higher brand equity in more collectivistic countries. Originality/value – This is the first research examining and demonstrating the positive influence of androgynous brand gender perceptions on brand equity. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is also the first paper examining brand gender effects across countries and cultures.
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    Scopus© Citations 43