Widespread unethical corporate misconduct in an industry triggers industry-wide crises. This rese... more Widespread unethical corporate misconduct in an industry triggers industry-wide crises. This research investigates how industry misconduct affects consumers' trust in the industry, by incorporating insights from a micro-level psychological aspect of institutions. The conceptual framework proposes that consumer legitimacy judgement lies at the core of industry trust, following an industry-wide crisis. The results demonstrate that perception of normalisation of misconduct (PNM) affects industry trust through consumer legitimacy judgement (CLJ) (Study 1). Moreover, the PNM-CLJ-industry trust relationship is stronger during industry-wide crises compared with crises that involve only one firm (Study 2), and this relationship is not dependent on the frequency of crises (Study 3). This research contributes to the knowledge of product-harm crisis by deepening understanding of the trust erosion mechanism during industry-wide crises, with a focus on legitimacy judgement. The findings have implications for prevention of industry-wide crises and for boosting ethically desirable business activities.
ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to explore how relational gatekeepers facilitate the developmen... more ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to explore how relational gatekeepers facilitate the development of relationships between out-group members and in-group members in an intercultural business environment, and to bring to the surface the inter-cultural and inter-networked nuances of guanxi. Based on interviews with managers from China and New Zealand, the workings of Chinese–Western business relationships and the roles of relational gatekeepers are explored. Empirical findings reveal three key gatekeeping roles, namely reciprocal, adaptive and symbolic, used for enabling the development of intercultural business relationships. We offer a structural hole explanation of intercultural gatekeeping in a seemingly contradictory and irreconcilable inter-networked environment. Our study also provides strategic implications of intercultural gatekeeping for foreign outsiders and recommends practical approaches for reaching the decision makers and resource integrators in jealously protected local business networks.
Many foreign companies see social media as a low cost marketing space for entering the vast Chine... more Many foreign companies see social media as a low cost marketing space for entering the vast Chinese market. This is fraught with complexity, requiring an understanding of social media behaviour, social media marketing, and the Chinese context. In this exploratory pilot study, we develop the notion of franding (online freinding of brands) as a unifying metaphor, and suggest that effective social media brand strategies resemble effective online friend behaviours. Based on this we develop some propositions and evaluate them qualitatively in interviews with young Chinese consumers. Our study suggests that conceptualizing brand social media relationships as a type of online friendship can assist in harmonizing disparate literature and provide useful insights for organizations operating in this complex area.
A clear corporate strategy communication can be a signal to financial analysts and public investo... more A clear corporate strategy communication can be a signal to financial analysts and public investors at the time of an initial public offering (IPO). This study examines IPO prospectuses of 57 biotechnology firms listed on the NASDAQ between 1997 and 2002. Using regression analysis, this article shows that the clarity, intensity, and consistency of the corporate strategy signal are not strong enough to affect the 1st-day initial returns. However, consistent communication of a prospector strategy negatively impacts 30-day initial returns, whereas consistent communication of a defender strategy positively impacts 30-day initial returns.
PurposeIndustry-wide crises involving consumer products place consumers at risk. Consumers rely o... more PurposeIndustry-wide crises involving consumer products place consumers at risk. Consumers rely on institutions that constrain corporate practice and control product quality to reduce risk. As institutions vary by country, country-of-origin (COO) acts as a salient cue for consumers to identify institutional quality and thus evaluate risk when making purchase decisions. However, in the era of globalisation, identification of institutional quality becomes complex as global value chains involve different countries such as brand origin (BO) and country-of-manufacture (COM). Therefore, this research investigates how BO and COM individually and jointly affect consumers' institutional perceptions and subsequent purchase decision-making in the presence of systemic risk.Design/methodology/approachThis research includes three studies (n = 764) employing surveys and choice modelling experiments with samples from China and the USA.FindingsThe results show that BO and COM relate to different...
The global coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19, has hit every corner of the world. In Au... more The global coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19, has hit every corner of the world. In Australia and New Zealand (AU & NZ), travel bans, border closures, and the stay-at-home order have severely disrupted various industries including aviation, tourism, and international education. Virgin Australia, the second biggest airline in Australia, was forced into voluntary administration. World-famous Queenstown swung from the "most prosperous" town to the "most miserable" town in New Zealand during the pandemic. Universities in both countries are seeing themselves in a deep cash crisis from the shortfall of international student revenues, especially from China and other Asian countries (Table 1).
Compared with single-brand crises, multi-brand crises have broader and deeper influence. However,... more Compared with single-brand crises, multi-brand crises have broader and deeper influence. However, there is only a limited amount of research regarding this field, especially for the phenomenon of consumer scapegoating. This research aims to further explore the consumer scapegoating effect and its psychological mechanism in the context of a multi-brand crisis. Through two experimental studies, this research discusses the influence of a multi-brand crisis and also the emergence of a scapegoat brand on two brand categories, the crisis brand category and the competing brand category. Furthermore, the current research also explores the mechanism of the consumer scapegoating effect. Results show that when a multi-brand crisis happens, consumer brand trust in the crisis brand category decreases because of assimilation, and consumer brand trust in the competing brand category increases because of contrast effect. Besides, from the perspective of the crisis brand category, the emergence of a...
Marketing Transformation: Marketing Practice in an Ever Changing World, 2017
Industry-wide product-harm crises-well-publicized instances of defective products/services or poo... more Industry-wide product-harm crises-well-publicized instances of defective products/services or poor management permeating in an industry-often strike consumers, especially in emerging markets. Emerging markets are prone to industrywide crises because of their underdeveloped institutions. For example, we have observed the milk contamination scandal in 2008 and the vaccine scandal in 2016; both happened in China. As another example, the 2017 Brazil rotten meat scandal in which more than 30 companies were reported to have unhygienic and illegal practices caused many worries about the meat exported from Brazil. An industry-wide crisis not only impairs consumers' trust in the implicated brands but also erodes their trust in the whole industry and even the regulatory system that oversees the industry (Cleeren et al. 2008; Feng et al. 2014; Knight et al. 2008). Previous research on product-harm crises mostly focuses on trust erosion in individual firms rather than in entire industries (Coombs and Holladay 1996; Klein and Dawar 2004). Industry-wide crises differ from individual firm crises because of the involvement of institutions that impact consumer trust at an industry level. Fundamental gaps are present in the studies of the impact of institutions that shape the context of firms' actions and interactions, industry practice, and consumers' responses. This paper applies an institutional and psychological perspective to evaluate the role of perceptions of institutional environments, attribution, and legitimacy judgment in trust erosion during an industry-wide crisis.
The emergence of hybrid ownership structures and their OFDI activities is a critical but under-in... more The emergence of hybrid ownership structures and their OFDI activities is a critical but under-investigated phenomenon. We proffer that ‘state-directed emerging economies’ (SDEEs) - a unique typology of emerging economies – are largely driving the emergence of hybrid ownership structures. The direct and continuous government involvement in SDEE markets and the perception this economic system creates across a variety of host countries, present the dual hurdle of liability of “origin” and liability of foreignness in the OFDI of SDEEs firms. Our study proposes ownership hybridization (i.e. mixing state and private ownership) in the home market, as a mechanism through which SDEE firms counteract these unique institutional challenges in foreign investments. We argue that through hybridization, SDEEs firms benefit from the unique resources brought into the mixture by the different ownership logics and synergistically strengthen their ability to overcome institutional challenges in foreign...
Food distribution channel members in the Peoples' Republic of China have been interviewed to dete... more Food distribution channel members in the Peoples' Republic of China have been interviewed to determine the factors that they regard as most relevant when selecting imported food products. In the Chinese market, country of origin itself appears to play little role in product evaluation by channel members. However pioneer (or first mover) status appears to play a major role in regard to beliefs concerning food products. Products believed to have been first into the market are often seen as 'genuine', with followers having a lesser status. This seems likely to be due to the long-term orientation of Chinese culture, and the value that is placed on hierarchy, tradition and history. It could also be due in part to the prevalence of counterfeit products, including food products, in the Chinese market, leading to widespread mistrust of 'non-genuine' products.
Food distribution channel members in the Peoples' Republic of China have been interviewed regardi... more Food distribution channel members in the Peoples' Republic of China have been interviewed regarding the key factors that determine where they source imported food products. Concerns about food safety and mistrust of food production systems within China result in imported food products generally enjoying a higher reputation than locally produced food products, unless the locally produced products carry famous international brands. Little discrimination was evident between different source countries. A high level of importance is placed on brands, the reputation of intermediaries within the channel, and the reputation of retail outlets, but country of origin effects appear confined to specific food categories.
Food distribution channel members in the Peoples’ Republic of China have been interviewed to dete... more Food distribution channel members in the Peoples’ Republic of China have been interviewed to determine the factors that they regard as most relevant when selecting imported food products. In the Chinese market, country of origin itself appears to play little role in product evaluation by channel members. However, an unanticipated finding in this exploratory study is that pioneer (or first mover) status appears to play a major role in regard to beliefs concerning the country of origin of food products. Products considered to have been first into the market are often perceived as having better quality or being the ‘genuine’ one, with followers having a lesser status. This seems likely to be due to the longterm orientation of Chinese culture, and the value that is placed on hierarchy, tradition and history. It could also be due in part to the prevalence of counterfeit products, including food products, in the Chinese market, leading to widespread mistrust of ‘non-genuine’ products.
2007 International Conference on Wavelet Analysis and Pattern Recognition, 2007
... The idea of RFSDDA is inspired by ordinary RFSA and DDA. In this hybrid algorithm, DDA is use... more ... The idea of RFSDDA is inspired by ordinary RFSA and DDA. In this hybrid algorithm, DDA is used to outline the upper boundary of moving areas and the actual MOS is performed by RFSA. ... The moving object in this video is a person holding a cricket bat while walking. ...
Widespread unethical corporate misconduct in an industry triggers industry-wide crises. This rese... more Widespread unethical corporate misconduct in an industry triggers industry-wide crises. This research investigates how industry misconduct affects consumers' trust in the industry, by incorporating insights from a micro-level psychological aspect of institutions. The conceptual framework proposes that consumer legitimacy judgement lies at the core of industry trust, following an industry-wide crisis. The results demonstrate that perception of normalisation of misconduct (PNM) affects industry trust through consumer legitimacy judgement (CLJ) (Study 1). Moreover, the PNM-CLJ-industry trust relationship is stronger during industry-wide crises compared with crises that involve only one firm (Study 2), and this relationship is not dependent on the frequency of crises (Study 3). This research contributes to the knowledge of product-harm crisis by deepening understanding of the trust erosion mechanism during industry-wide crises, with a focus on legitimacy judgement. The findings have implications for prevention of industry-wide crises and for boosting ethically desirable business activities.
ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to explore how relational gatekeepers facilitate the developmen... more ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to explore how relational gatekeepers facilitate the development of relationships between out-group members and in-group members in an intercultural business environment, and to bring to the surface the inter-cultural and inter-networked nuances of guanxi. Based on interviews with managers from China and New Zealand, the workings of Chinese–Western business relationships and the roles of relational gatekeepers are explored. Empirical findings reveal three key gatekeeping roles, namely reciprocal, adaptive and symbolic, used for enabling the development of intercultural business relationships. We offer a structural hole explanation of intercultural gatekeeping in a seemingly contradictory and irreconcilable inter-networked environment. Our study also provides strategic implications of intercultural gatekeeping for foreign outsiders and recommends practical approaches for reaching the decision makers and resource integrators in jealously protected local business networks.
Many foreign companies see social media as a low cost marketing space for entering the vast Chine... more Many foreign companies see social media as a low cost marketing space for entering the vast Chinese market. This is fraught with complexity, requiring an understanding of social media behaviour, social media marketing, and the Chinese context. In this exploratory pilot study, we develop the notion of franding (online freinding of brands) as a unifying metaphor, and suggest that effective social media brand strategies resemble effective online friend behaviours. Based on this we develop some propositions and evaluate them qualitatively in interviews with young Chinese consumers. Our study suggests that conceptualizing brand social media relationships as a type of online friendship can assist in harmonizing disparate literature and provide useful insights for organizations operating in this complex area.
A clear corporate strategy communication can be a signal to financial analysts and public investo... more A clear corporate strategy communication can be a signal to financial analysts and public investors at the time of an initial public offering (IPO). This study examines IPO prospectuses of 57 biotechnology firms listed on the NASDAQ between 1997 and 2002. Using regression analysis, this article shows that the clarity, intensity, and consistency of the corporate strategy signal are not strong enough to affect the 1st-day initial returns. However, consistent communication of a prospector strategy negatively impacts 30-day initial returns, whereas consistent communication of a defender strategy positively impacts 30-day initial returns.
PurposeIndustry-wide crises involving consumer products place consumers at risk. Consumers rely o... more PurposeIndustry-wide crises involving consumer products place consumers at risk. Consumers rely on institutions that constrain corporate practice and control product quality to reduce risk. As institutions vary by country, country-of-origin (COO) acts as a salient cue for consumers to identify institutional quality and thus evaluate risk when making purchase decisions. However, in the era of globalisation, identification of institutional quality becomes complex as global value chains involve different countries such as brand origin (BO) and country-of-manufacture (COM). Therefore, this research investigates how BO and COM individually and jointly affect consumers' institutional perceptions and subsequent purchase decision-making in the presence of systemic risk.Design/methodology/approachThis research includes three studies (n = 764) employing surveys and choice modelling experiments with samples from China and the USA.FindingsThe results show that BO and COM relate to different...
The global coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19, has hit every corner of the world. In Au... more The global coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19, has hit every corner of the world. In Australia and New Zealand (AU & NZ), travel bans, border closures, and the stay-at-home order have severely disrupted various industries including aviation, tourism, and international education. Virgin Australia, the second biggest airline in Australia, was forced into voluntary administration. World-famous Queenstown swung from the "most prosperous" town to the "most miserable" town in New Zealand during the pandemic. Universities in both countries are seeing themselves in a deep cash crisis from the shortfall of international student revenues, especially from China and other Asian countries (Table 1).
Compared with single-brand crises, multi-brand crises have broader and deeper influence. However,... more Compared with single-brand crises, multi-brand crises have broader and deeper influence. However, there is only a limited amount of research regarding this field, especially for the phenomenon of consumer scapegoating. This research aims to further explore the consumer scapegoating effect and its psychological mechanism in the context of a multi-brand crisis. Through two experimental studies, this research discusses the influence of a multi-brand crisis and also the emergence of a scapegoat brand on two brand categories, the crisis brand category and the competing brand category. Furthermore, the current research also explores the mechanism of the consumer scapegoating effect. Results show that when a multi-brand crisis happens, consumer brand trust in the crisis brand category decreases because of assimilation, and consumer brand trust in the competing brand category increases because of contrast effect. Besides, from the perspective of the crisis brand category, the emergence of a...
Marketing Transformation: Marketing Practice in an Ever Changing World, 2017
Industry-wide product-harm crises-well-publicized instances of defective products/services or poo... more Industry-wide product-harm crises-well-publicized instances of defective products/services or poor management permeating in an industry-often strike consumers, especially in emerging markets. Emerging markets are prone to industrywide crises because of their underdeveloped institutions. For example, we have observed the milk contamination scandal in 2008 and the vaccine scandal in 2016; both happened in China. As another example, the 2017 Brazil rotten meat scandal in which more than 30 companies were reported to have unhygienic and illegal practices caused many worries about the meat exported from Brazil. An industry-wide crisis not only impairs consumers' trust in the implicated brands but also erodes their trust in the whole industry and even the regulatory system that oversees the industry (Cleeren et al. 2008; Feng et al. 2014; Knight et al. 2008). Previous research on product-harm crises mostly focuses on trust erosion in individual firms rather than in entire industries (Coombs and Holladay 1996; Klein and Dawar 2004). Industry-wide crises differ from individual firm crises because of the involvement of institutions that impact consumer trust at an industry level. Fundamental gaps are present in the studies of the impact of institutions that shape the context of firms' actions and interactions, industry practice, and consumers' responses. This paper applies an institutional and psychological perspective to evaluate the role of perceptions of institutional environments, attribution, and legitimacy judgment in trust erosion during an industry-wide crisis.
The emergence of hybrid ownership structures and their OFDI activities is a critical but under-in... more The emergence of hybrid ownership structures and their OFDI activities is a critical but under-investigated phenomenon. We proffer that ‘state-directed emerging economies’ (SDEEs) - a unique typology of emerging economies – are largely driving the emergence of hybrid ownership structures. The direct and continuous government involvement in SDEE markets and the perception this economic system creates across a variety of host countries, present the dual hurdle of liability of “origin” and liability of foreignness in the OFDI of SDEEs firms. Our study proposes ownership hybridization (i.e. mixing state and private ownership) in the home market, as a mechanism through which SDEE firms counteract these unique institutional challenges in foreign investments. We argue that through hybridization, SDEEs firms benefit from the unique resources brought into the mixture by the different ownership logics and synergistically strengthen their ability to overcome institutional challenges in foreign...
Food distribution channel members in the Peoples' Republic of China have been interviewed to dete... more Food distribution channel members in the Peoples' Republic of China have been interviewed to determine the factors that they regard as most relevant when selecting imported food products. In the Chinese market, country of origin itself appears to play little role in product evaluation by channel members. However pioneer (or first mover) status appears to play a major role in regard to beliefs concerning food products. Products believed to have been first into the market are often seen as 'genuine', with followers having a lesser status. This seems likely to be due to the long-term orientation of Chinese culture, and the value that is placed on hierarchy, tradition and history. It could also be due in part to the prevalence of counterfeit products, including food products, in the Chinese market, leading to widespread mistrust of 'non-genuine' products.
Food distribution channel members in the Peoples' Republic of China have been interviewed regardi... more Food distribution channel members in the Peoples' Republic of China have been interviewed regarding the key factors that determine where they source imported food products. Concerns about food safety and mistrust of food production systems within China result in imported food products generally enjoying a higher reputation than locally produced food products, unless the locally produced products carry famous international brands. Little discrimination was evident between different source countries. A high level of importance is placed on brands, the reputation of intermediaries within the channel, and the reputation of retail outlets, but country of origin effects appear confined to specific food categories.
Food distribution channel members in the Peoples’ Republic of China have been interviewed to dete... more Food distribution channel members in the Peoples’ Republic of China have been interviewed to determine the factors that they regard as most relevant when selecting imported food products. In the Chinese market, country of origin itself appears to play little role in product evaluation by channel members. However, an unanticipated finding in this exploratory study is that pioneer (or first mover) status appears to play a major role in regard to beliefs concerning the country of origin of food products. Products considered to have been first into the market are often perceived as having better quality or being the ‘genuine’ one, with followers having a lesser status. This seems likely to be due to the longterm orientation of Chinese culture, and the value that is placed on hierarchy, tradition and history. It could also be due in part to the prevalence of counterfeit products, including food products, in the Chinese market, leading to widespread mistrust of ‘non-genuine’ products.
2007 International Conference on Wavelet Analysis and Pattern Recognition, 2007
... The idea of RFSDDA is inspired by ordinary RFSA and DDA. In this hybrid algorithm, DDA is use... more ... The idea of RFSDDA is inspired by ordinary RFSA and DDA. In this hybrid algorithm, DDA is used to outline the upper boundary of moving areas and the actual MOS is performed by RFSA. ... The moving object in this video is a person holding a cricket bat while walking. ...
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Papers by Hongzhi Gao