BI Open (Norwegian Business School)
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Traditional and environmentally friendly attributes in products of highly design-oriented firms: an exploratory study in the perception of Italian entrepreneurs
Get PDFPurpose: The aim of this study was to empirically examine how much traditional attributes and green attributes characterize products within design-oriented firms. Further, we explored how these attributes relate to the perceived level of innovation of the firms. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory research was carried out in 86 Italian manufacturing companies that are members of the Industrial Design Association. Using the questionnaire method, the entrepreneurs’ perceptions have been analyzed. Data have been treated with hierarchical cluster analysis. Findings: The analysis shows that environmental sustainability is the least important attribute of a design product and four clusters of highly design-oriented firms differ by design-product attributes. Further, the least green firms are also the least innovative in terms of incremental and general innovation. Research limitations/implications: The small size of the sample and the provenance of firms from a single country imply limited generalizability, and further research on the topic is recommended. Practical implications: Design-driven innovation based on traditional design attributes provides many competitive advantages to firms. However, given the growing concern about environmental challenges, investing in green attributes in design products allows for remaining competitive and more effective in innovation. Originality/value: This study, for the first time, reveals the heterogeneity among design-oriented firms, particularly regarding the presence and assortment of traditional design attributes, as well as the incorporation of environmentally friendly attributes in their products. Moreover, the study uncovers the relationship between varying levels of green attributes in the offerings and the perception of the firm’s innovativeness.Traditional and environmentally friendly attributes in products of highly design-oriented firms: an exploratory study in the perception of Italian entrepreneurspublishedVersio
Consumer vulnerability dynamics and marketing: Conceptual foundations and future research opportunities
Get PDFInspired by the goal of making marketplaces more inclusive, this research provides a deeper understanding of consumer vul- nerability dynamics to develop strategies that help reduce these vulnerabilities. The proposed framework, first, conceptualizes vulnerability states as a function of the breadth and depth of consumers’ vulnerability; then, it sketches a set of vulnerability indicators that illustrate vulnerability breadth and depth. Second, because the breadth and depth of vulnerability vary over time, the framework goes beyond vulnerability states to identify distinct vulnerability-increasing and vulnerability-decreasing pathways, which describe how consumers move between vulnerability states. In a final step, the framework proposes that organizations can (and should) support consumers to mitigate vulnerability by helping consumers build resilience (e.g., via distinct types of resilience-fueling consumer agency). This framework offers novel conceptual insights into consumer vul- nerability dynamics as well as resilience and provides avenues for future research on how organizations can better partner with consumers who experience vulnerabilities.publishedVersio
Austerity without deficits: The global political economy of Norway’s fiscal paradox
Get PDFThis article advances a new theoretical understanding of the global political economy of austerity through an examination of austerity policies in Norway, a country with soaring fiscal surpluses. Critical scholarship has analyzed austerity as an incoherent economic idea – a product of unreasonable public accounting, or simply ideological nonsense. No national context seems to confirm such a view more than Norway, where wage growth has been curbed and welfare spending restrained in a context of unprecedented public prosperity. Yet, this article argues that there is a rational core to Norwegian ‘austerity without deficits’, if seen from the vantage point of capital in globally integrated neoliberal capitalism. Examining the development of Norwegian economic policies since the 1970s, we demonstrate how the Norwegian state has imposed austerity measures in order to bolster national capital’s global competitiveness. Disciplining labor and public budgets is, we argue, the cost of doing business in today’s world economy. We call this uneven and combined austerity: combining national economies in a global structure of interlocking dependence, neoliberal austerity imposes limits to popular demands for welfare and better material conditions of living, even in countries where public money abounds.publishedVersio
The influence of emotional cues and anthropomorphism on product temperature expectations
Get PDFThroughout six online experiments (four pre-registered), in which participants were tasked to evaluate their temperature expectations of different beverages with or without emotional cues (i.e., emoji facial expressions) with specific temperature associations, we found that imbuing a product with emotional content can influence its expected temperature in online settings. A negative valence, low arousal (i.e., sad) expression on the receptacle of a hot beverage (e.g., hot chocolate milk, coffee) led to a lower expected temperature compared to a beverage with a positive valence, high arousal (i.e., happy) expression and a control condition without any expression. Notably, a happy expression did not result in any significant difference in expected temperature. In addition, there were no significant differences with cold beverages (i.e., iced chocolate milk, beer). We found that the influence of the sad emoji expression was enhanced with higher levels of anthropomorphism (i.e., making individuals focus on the emotions of the product). Our results suggest that the mechanism behind these effects is based on the product being imbued with the emotional connotation of the sad expression and, subsequently, its corresponding temperature association. Our research adds to the literature on consumer behaviour, food and anthropomorphism, and the relationship between temperature and emotions, and it has applications related to food expectations.publishedVersio
Moral decision-making at night and the impact of night work with blue-enriched white light or warm white light: a counterbalanced crossover study
Get PDFBackground: Cognitive function, including moral decision-making abilities, can be impaired bysleep loss. Blue-enriched light interventions have been shown to ameliorate cognitive impairmentduring night work. this study investigated whether the quality of moral decision-making during simulated night work differed for night work in blue-enriched white light, compared to warmwhite light. Methods: Using a counterbalanced crossover design, three consecutive night shifts wereperformed in blue-enriched white light (7000 K) and warm white light (2500 K) provided byceiling-mounted leD luminaires (photopic illuminance: ~200 lx). at 03:30 h on the second shift (i.e.twice) and at daytime (rested), the Defining issues test-2, assessing the activation of cognitiveschemas depicting different levels of cognitive moral development, was administered. Data from30 (10 males, average age 23.3 ± 2.9 years) participants were analysed using linear mixed-effectsmodels. Results: Activation of the post-conventional schema (P-score), that is, the most mature morallevel, was significantly lower for night work in warm white light (eMM; estimated marginal mean= 44.3, 95% ci = 38.9–49.6; pholm=.007), but not blue-enriched white light (eMM = 47.5, 95% ci =42.2–52.8), compared to daytime (eMM = 51.2, 95% ci = 45.9–56.5). also, the P-score was reducedfor night work overall (eMM = 45.9, 95% ci = 41.1–50.8; p=.008), that is, irrespective of lightcondition, compared to daytime. Neither activation of the maintaining norms schema (MN-score),that is, moderately developed moral level, nor activation of the personal interest schema (i.e. thelowest moral level) differed significantly between light conditions. the MN-score was howeverincreased for night work overall (eMM = 26.8, 95% ci = 23.1–30.5; p=.033) compared to daytime(eMM = 23.1, 95% ci = 18.9–27.2).Conclusion: the results indicate that moral decisions during simulated night work in warm whitelight, but not blue-enriched white light, become less mature and principle-oriented, and morerule-based compared to daytime, hence blue-enriched white light may function as a moderator. Further studies are needed, and the findings should be tentatively consideredMoral decision-making at night and the impact of night work with blue-enriched white light or warm white light: a counterbalanced crossover studypublishedVersio
Price it High if it is Varied: Perceived Heterogeneity and the Effectiveness of Discount Framing Strategies for Travel Packages
Get PDFIn recent years, consumers have been confronted with the proliferation of package bundling (i.e., marketing multiple products or services together in a single package at a discounted price) in the tourism industry. This paper aims to investigate how different discount framing strategies affect consumers’ purchase intention of a vacation package. Through four experimental studies, this paper reveals that the perceived heterogeneity of a component influences the effectiveness of different discount framing strategies. In particular, consumers prefer the vacation package in which the high-heterogeneity component is not discounted, while the low-heterogeneity component is discounted. The effect of perceived heterogeneity on purchase intention can be explained by the perceived quality of the component. Therefore, the effect is mitigated when quality assurance cues are present.publishedVersio
The impact of corporate social irresponsibility on prosocial consumer behavior
Get PDFCorporate social irresponsibility (CSI) refers to violations of the social contract between corporations and society. Existing literature documents its tendency to evoke negative consumer responses toward the firm involved, including unethical consumer behaviors. However, limited research attention deals with its potential impacts on prosocial consumer behavior. With six studies, the current research reveals that when consumers perceive harm due to CSI, they engage in more prosocial behavior due to the arousal of their anger. This effect is weaker among consumers who find the focal CSI issue more personally relevant but stronger among consumers with strong self-efficacy for promoting justice. Perceptions of CSI harm increase with the degree of control that the focal firm has over the CSI. This research thus establishes an effect of CSI harm on prosocial consumer behaviors, through the emotional mechanism of anger; it further shows that consumers seek to restore justice by engaging in prosocial behaviors.acceptedVersio
Making Switches: Key Strategic Decisions When Moving From a Local, Independent Operator to a Wholly Owned Subsidiary
Get PDFEntering a foreign market entails making the important mode decision of how to operate there. But the initial mode choice is not always forever and may be reassessed as business circumstances change. The mode shifting process—that is, how switches from one mode to another unfold—has scarcely been described, so we lack a systematic outline of this process. In this article, we take a first step toward such an outline. Adopting the established distinction between the formation and implementation phases of strategy making and execution, we describe the critical strategic decisions managers need to make about how to carry out a mode switch. Regarding the formation phases, we discuss the identification and consideration of entry mode switches as viable options, and whether companies plan or not for such shifts. Regarding the implementation phases, we differentiate between the integrating and collaborating decisions that define the type of switches made by companies.Making Switches: Key Strategic Decisions When Moving From a Local, Independent Operator to a Wholly Owned SubsidiarypublishedVersio
Non-Standard Errors
Get PDFIn statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data‐generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidence‐generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty—nonstandard errors (NSEs). We study NSEs by letting 164 teams test the same hypotheses on the same data. NSEs turn out to be sizable, but smaller for more reproducible or higher rated research. Adding peer‐review stages reduces NSEs. We further find that this type of uncertainty is underestimated by participants.publishedVersio
Social, Demographic, and Psychological Factors Associated with Middle-Aged Mother’s Vocabulary: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study
Get PDFBased on a sample of 8271 mothers, this study explored a set of psychological and sociodemographic factors associated with their vocabulary, drawing on data from a large, nationally representative sample of children born in 2000. The dependent variable was maternal vocabulary assessed when cohort members were at fourteen years of age, and the mothers were in their mid-forties. Data were also collected when cohort members were at birth, 9 months old, and at ages 3, 7, 11 and 14 years. Correlational analysis showed that family income at birth, parent–child relationship quality at age 3, maternal educational qualifications at age 11, and maternal personality trait Openness at age 14 were significantly and positively associated with maternal vocabulary. It also showed maternal malaise at 9 months and children’s behavioral adjustment at age 7, and maternal traits Neuroticism and Agreeableness at age 14 were significantly and negatively associated with maternal vocabulary. Maternal age was also significantly and positively associated with vocabulary. Regression analysis showed that maternal age, malaise, parent–child relationship quality, children’s behavioral adjustment, maternal educational qualifications, and traits Openness and Agreeableness were significant predictors of maternal vocabulary, accounting for 33% of total variance. The implications and limitations are discussed.publishedVersio