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This paper explores the potential negative side-effects of the sustainability movement in societies with large segments of materialistic consumers. Across three studies, there is evidence that a conflict between materialistic and green value profiles can arise in consumers. When it arises, it seems to be related to diminished well-being. Study 1 shows that consumers with a higher value conflict (VC) experienced higher levels of stress. Consumers with higher degrees of stress then reported lower satisfaction with life. Study 2 reveals the underlying process by which this value conflict affects well-being. The results suggest that the value conflict is related to a reduced clarity of consumers’ self-concept (SCC), which in turn is related to increased levels of stress and a lower satisfaction with life. Results of Study 3 show that preference for consistency (PfC) serves as a boundary condition to this effect. The negative effect of VC on SCC is most pronounced among consumers high in PfC, while low PfC consumers seem to suffer less from the negative consequences of a conflict between green and materialistic values. Conceptual and public-policy implications of these results are discussed.

This paper examines the role of calculative practices in the creation of the Charlie Chaplin museum, a multiparty cultural project with the mission to ‘bring back’ the great entertainer in an ‘authentic’ and commercially viable way. As with many other cultural organizations, there are multiple parties with competing and even conflicting objectives, leading to disagreement not only about the final objectives but also about the evaluative principles that would guide the parties towards consensus and productive action. Previous research in such settings has commonly portrayed accounting as a mediating practice which helps reconcile the dilemma between commerce and culture. We put forward accounting as a catalyzing – rather than compromising – factor in producing cultural goods. We develop this claim by examining the transformative power of calculative practices during the creation of the Chaplin museum.

Customers admiring celebrities tend to have a more favorable evaluation of the brands endorsed by their idols (Rockwell and Giles, 2009).

Sharing instead of buying is regaining traction among today's consumers. This study aims at identifying segments of sharing consumers to unearth potentially viable clusters of a consumer behavior that is a market of growing economic relevance. By means of a qualitative study and a survey with a roughly representative sample of 1121 Swiss-German and German consumers, a set of trait-related, motivational, and perceived socioeconomic variables is identified that can be used to group individuals into segments that differ with regard to their approach to sharing. A cluster analysis based on these variables suggests four potential clusters of sharing consumers-sharing idealists, sharing opponents, sharing pragmatists, and sharing normatives. Two sets of testable propositions are derived that can guide further research in this domain and pave the way to a more targeted approach to the growing market of "sharing" businesses.

Although brand authenticity is gaining increasing interest in consumer behavior research and managerial practice, literature on its measurement and contribution to branding theory is still limited. This article develops an integrative framework of the concept of brand authenticity and reports the development and validation of a scale measuring consumers' perceived brand authenticity (PBA). A multi-phase scale development process resulted in a 15-item PBA scale measuring four dimensions: credibility, integrity, symbolism, and continuity. This scale is reliable across different brands and cultural contexts. We find that brand authenticity perceptions are influenced by indexical, existential, and iconic cues, whereby some of the latters' influence is moderated by consumers' level of marketing skepticism. Results also suggest that PBA increases emotional brand attachment and word-of-mouth, and that it drives brand choice likelihood through self-congruence for consumers high in self-authenticity.

By means of an ethnographic approach, this research examines perceptions of fairness and consumer behavior in an emerging nonmonetary sharing system. In contrast to market exchanges, which are defined by clear rules and principles of reciprocity, the redistribution of goods in a “sharing” context is in many cases less institutionalized and thus open to contestation. We draw on concepts from institutional theory to map out the interplay of different and partly contradicting fairness perceptions in an emerging nonmonetary sharing system and explain how those are negotiated and synthesized. We explicitly highlight a nonrelational fairness principle, leading to the stabilization of the sharing system under study through processes of “goal sharing” and “hierarchical coupling.” We discuss our findings in terms of their implications on sharing theory and the role of fairness within this literature stream.

Dieser Beitrag erortert wie Fuhrungskrafte ihre Mitarbeiter zu markenorientiertem Verhalten motivieren konnen, im Sinne von sowohl markenstutzendem Intra-Rollen Verhalten als auch von markenstarkendem Extra-Rollen Verhalten. Im Hinblick darauf erweist sich ein Fuhrungskonzept als geeignet, das Elemente eines transaktionalen Fuhrungsstils mit denen eines transformationalen Fuhrungsstils kombiniert. Allerdings kommt es dabei auf aktives Motivationsmanagement durch die richtige Gewichtung der Komponenten an. Bei einer zu starken Betonung transaktionaler Beeinflussungsmasnahmen (leistungsabhangige Belohnung, Vorschriften, Kontrollen) besteht die Gefahr, die Eigenmotivation der Mitarbeiter zu markenorientiertem Verhalten und in Folge deren Leistung als Markenbotschafter zu schmalern.

PurposeThis paper presents an inter‐institutional collaboration project. The project's goal was to develop a new teaching program that fosters pre‐university innovation and entrepreneurship education. The purpose of this paper is to derive implications for future inter‐institutional collaborations.Design/methodology/approachThe development and testing of the new teaching program corresponds to the design science paradigm.FindingsThe findings illustrate that inter‐institutional collaboration can generate completely new approaches that are able to deal with new challenges in education.Research limitations/implicationsThis research focuses only on one specific inter‐institutional collaboration project. The findings are limited to this project.Practical implicationsThe paper discusses implications for future educational collaboration projects to develop new teaching programs.Originality/valueThe paper presents a collaboration project between university, school and industry. It illustrates that new teaching approaches can be successfully realised in collaboration. The paper also reports the applicability of a new, namely transformational, teaching approach.

Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie rufen als Kunde bei „Krombacher“ an und geraten an eine Dame, die Ihnen ruhig und sachlich Ihre Frage beantwortet. Nicht weiter verwunderlich, denken Sie? Laut einer aktuell veroffentlichten Untersuchung zum markenkonformen Verhalten in Kundentelefonaten ware das jedoch nicht „on-brand“, also markenadaquat, weil das sprachliche Verhalten der Mitarbeiterin und ihr Geschlecht nicht zu den Eigenschaften der Marke „Krombacher“ passen. Denn die ist „mannlich“ und „lebhaft“.

Markenadäquates Mitarbeiterverhalten ist im Rahmen der Forschung zur internen Markenführung sowohl theoretisch als auch anhand zahlreicher Fallstudien eingehend untersucht worden. Dieser Artikel befasst sich mit dem verbalen Mitarbeiterverhalten in telefonischen Kundenkontakten. Im Rahmen einer experimentellen Untersuchung mit fiktiven Kundentelefonaten wird untersucht, inwiefern die kundenseitige Wahrnehmung eines Kundenkontaktmitarbeiters hinsichtlich seines On-brand Verhaltens von dessen verbalen Verhalten determiniert ist und gezielt gesteuert werden kann. Als zentrales Konstrukt zur Beurteilung der Passung zwischen Mitarbeiterverhalten und Marke dient hierbei die geschlechtliche Markenpersönlichkeit. Es zeigt sich, dass sich mit Hilfe eines semantisch-lexikalischen-prosodischen Steuerinstruments das verbale Verhalten von Kundenkontakt Mitarbeitern so manipulieren lässt, dass es vom Rezipienten als passend zur repräsentierten Marke wahrgenommen wird.

This article reports two studies on how managers can elicit brand-building behavior from frontline employees. Study 1 examines the mechanisms by which brand-specific transactional and transformational leadership influence employees’ brand-building behavior. The results from a survey of 269 customer-contact employees show that brand-specific transactional leaders influence followers through a process of compliance, leading to an increase in turnover intentions and a decrease in in-role and extra-role brand-building behaviors. In contrast, brand-specific transformational leaders influence followers through a process of internalization, leading to a decrease in turnover intentions and an increase in in-role and extra-role brand-building behaviors. In turn, both processes are mediated by employees’ perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness with regard to their work roles as brand representatives. Moreover, the results show that brand-specific transactional leadership moderates the influence of brand-specific transformational leadership in a nonlinear, inverse U-shaped way, so that a medium level of transactional leadership maximizes the positive effects of transformational leadership. Study 2 addresses whether managers can learn brand-specific transformational leadership. A field experiment shows that brand-specific transformational leadership can indeed be learned through management training.

Collecting highly private data from consumers with nonapparent or even hidden characteristics, such as homosexuals, is difficult for two reasons: First, the resulting data sets are rather small and nonrepresentative due to reachability and nonresponse problems. Second, data quality is often unsatisfying, for example, due to social desirability problems. To handle these problems, we recommend an online research strategy. We make our case by reporting on a Germany-wide online study on homosexuals where we applied a three-step procedure for recruiting participants. We were successful in generating a sample of considerable size (n = 6,274) and heterogeneity, and in obtaining high-quality responses. Implications for marketing researchers and advertising professionals are provided.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to outline a set of principles which enable companies and managers to effectively handle people as a resource and allow them to turn teams into high performance teams.Design/methodology/approachThe Alinghi sailing team's approach to establishing and managing a high performance team was explored by means of an ethnographic case study. The development, organization and leadership principles of the team were subjected to intense scrutiny. This was done by interviewing the key players in the different areas (sailing crew, design team and management) at different stages, by observation of the group at work and video analyses. To substantiate the findings from interviews and observations, workshops with team members and experts were organized.FindingsThe Swiss Alinghi sailing team was the undisputed winner of the famous America's Cup in 2003 and managed to defend it successfully in July 2007 – against strong competition. The principles implemented by team founder Ernesto Bertarelli also offer a valuable model for managers.Originality/valueThe study is a useful tool for companies and managers who wish to create and manage high performance teams.

Research can provide heartwarming experiences which uplift researchers and participants, providing occasions for personal growth and change . Our article makes this case and illustrates heartwarming research experiences using examples from our own research.

Mitarbeiter spielen fur den Markenerfolg eines Unternehmens eine zentrale Rolle. Sie sind es, die die Marke nach ausen hin verkorpern und durch ihr Verhalten an den Kundenkontaktpunkten das Markenerlebnis der Kunden wesentlich pragen (Berry 2000; Hartline et al. 2000). Die Relevanz markenorientierten Mitarbeiterverhaltens – des so genannten Brand Behavior – belegt zudem eine neue empirische Studie (Henkel et al. 2007), die zeigt, dass der Markenerfolg eines Unternehmens wesentlich davon abhangt, inwieweit die Mitarbeiter das offiziell kommunizierte Markenversprechen in der Interaktion mit den Kunden leben. Mitarbeiter mussen deshalb zu Markenbotschaftern werden. Eine Herausforderung, der sich vor allem Fuhrungskrafte stellen mussen, denn ihr Verhalten hat innerhalb des Unternehmens eine ganz besondere Signalwirkung – im Positiven wie im Negativen. Man denke nur an den neuen Ford-Chef Alan Mulally, der bei seiner Antrittspressekonferenz erklarte, er selbst fahre privat keinen Ford, sondern einen Lexus, weil es das beste Auto auf der Welt sei. Abgesehen von dem PR-Debakel, das dieser Fauxpas nach ausen ausloste, gab Mulally der Belegschaft damit zu verstehen, dass das eigene Produkt keines ist, mit dem man sich wirklich identifizieren kann. Oder der ehemalige Bahn-Chef Hartmut Mehdorn: In einem Interview auserte er, dass Zugfahrten ab vier Stunden eine Tortur seien und man in diesem Fall lieber das Auto nehme solle. Fur diesen Fehltritt handelte er sich die zweifelhafte Auszeichnung des „Marketing Flop des Jahres“ sowie das Kopfschutteln seiner Mitarbeiter ein. Stolz auf die eigene Marke fordert hingegen ein Manager bei seiner Belegschaft, wenn er selbst zum „Reklamelaufer“ fur sein Unternehmen wird. Puma-Vorstandschef Joachim Zeitz z. B. ist dafur bekannt, dass er selbst bei hochoffiziellen Anlassen die hauseigenen Sneakers zum Anzug tragt, und Freenet-Chef Eckhard Spoerr ist selten ohne eine der grasgrunen Taschen anzutreffen, die sein Unternehmen als Werbegeschenk verteilt (Reppesgaard 2007).