Journal of Business Research最新文献

Research has focused on exploring the distinction between human employees and AI robots. However, little is known about customer perceptions of service fairness towards AI robots (vs. human employees). A mixed-methods approach was adopted including a qualitative study which aimed to generate an understanding of customer fairness perception towards AI robots (vs. human employees). The quantitative study examined this difference, the boundary conditions, and the downstream effect on customer responses. The results indicated that customers perceive robotic services as fairer than human employees, especially in relation to distributive and procedural fairness. This effect was stronger for customers with low power distance belief. Differences in fairness perceptions can also impact on customer revisit intention, recommendation intention, satisfaction, and subjective well-being. The study extends an understanding of customer attitudes towards AI robots by considering the machine heuristic model and fairness theory, and provides insights for managers to properly utilize AI robots to enhance service fairness on the service industry frontline.

This study examines the impact of innovation performance feedback on the outward foreign direct investment (FDI) of emerging market firms by differentiating between innovation quantity and innovation quality. It also explores the moderating role of inward FDI spillovers in local industrial environments. Using a zero-inflated negative binomial model, the findings show that: (1) the further a firm is below or above its innovation performance aspirations, the less outward FDI it will take; (2) inward FDI spillovers will strengthen the relationship between positive innovation quantity feedback and outward FDI while weakening the relationship of negative innovation quantity feedback; and (3) inward FDI spillovers will weaken the relationship between innovation quality feedback (both negative and positive) and outward FDI.

Understanding customer experiences through customer journeys has become a managerial priority. The customer experience literature divides customer journeys into stages, but these divisions disregard the customer’s perspective. Research has shown that individuals partition extended processes—such as customer journeys—into events, thereby influencing how they subsequently remember their experiences. Therefore, this paper seeks to conceptualize customer journey partitioning and its influence on the remembered experience. Based on the event segmentation and experienced utility literature, we propose that customers partition their journeys when they encounter distinctive changes, and that the interaction of customer journey partitioning and the sequence of lived experiences influences the remembered experience. We then discuss implications for customer journey design and present boundary conditions that provide nuance to these implications. This paper contributes to the customer experience literature by conceptualizing customer journey partitioning, understanding its influence on the remembered experience, and proposing new dimensions for customer journey design.

Built on the evolutionary stimulus-organism-response model, this study examines how customer encounters with different interaction mechanisms (stimuli) evoke service-quality perceptions and sentiments (organisms) that impact customer loyalty (responses) to accommodation-sharing services. It draws important service-quality dimensions and sentiments from Airbnb reviews and examines which patterns lead to the highest levels of customer loyalty. It is the first study to integrate social media analytics and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to explain the attitudinal and behavioral components of customer loyalty. A distinctive aspect of the findings is the prescriptive causal recipes that allow hosts to prioritize certain resources, focusing more on the key dimensions (order winners) that most affect customer loyalty. The findings also show that configurations leading to high-level attitudinal loyalty differ from those leading to high-level behavioral loyalty in accommodation sharing.

This perspective paper, including the role of an editorial, systematically reviews extant studies on ‘multinational corporations’ corruption’ and ‘digitalization’ in the international business (IB) domain, revealing why this special issue is both timely and necessary. We chronologically identify recent key studies that have been influential in the research on corruptive practices and digitalization in IB, and examine their main findings. We find that interdisciplinary research simultaneously exploring corruptive practices and digitalization is still in its infancy, and while some contributions have been made, there is still a large research vacuum. In addition, we introduce the twelve papers chosen for this special issue, which we believe represent meaningful breakthroughs and offer useful academic implications. We conclude by suggesting invaluable paths for future research to extend our understanding of the theme.

While global branding and international production processes tend to blur the impact of country-of-origin mentions, consumer interest in more limited areas of origin, such as terroir, seems to be growing steadily. This research examines the ability of terroir perceptions to promote brand relationship quality. Two studies were conducted: a first exploratory projective qualitative (album on line method) study investigates consumer perceptions of terroir. A second study, based on a structural equation modeling approach, makes it possible to specify and test a causal model anchored in the affective and cognitive pathways of the BRQ model proposed by Nyffenegger et al. (2015).

The results highlight how terroir can increase enchantment and the affective and cognitive quality of the brand relationship. They also suggest that the mechanisms underlying this relational potential lie in psychological distance from place and the ability of terroir to promote perceived brand authenticity.

We draw upon theories of social media engagement to explore the factors affecting the success of the various influencer types, based on the size of their audience. We use the social media content of 8,076 influencers and employ sentiment analysis of text and facial recognition analysis of pictures in their content to examine what drives engagement. We show that the social media content of micro-influencers is more likely to be marked as favourite, while the content of other influencer types is more likely to be shared. We further show that including pictures in the content can result in higher engagement and that showing a person in the pictures also affects engagement, but the strength of this effect depends on the size of the influencer’s audience. Our findings provide novel insights into the theories of social media engagement and sorely needed practical implications regarding content creation on social media platforms.

Service robot research recognizes that dyadic customer–service provider interactions do not occur in isolation, yet it has not comprehensively detailed human–robot interaction (HRI) in collective service settings. The current article analyzes 1107 online hotel reviews referring to service robots, identifying how customers appraise and cope with HRI during collective service experiences. From this, the authors propose a conceptual model of the impact of HRI on post-purchase outcomes. Tests of the model with field data from 310 customers who interacted with a restaurant robot reveal that challenge appraisals of HRI drive problem-focused, emotion-focused, and support-seeking coping strategies. In contrast, threat appraisals lead only to emotion-focused coping. Such coping efforts during collective service experiences produce shared realities of the robot across customers, reducing their switching intention and enhancing relational service well-being. Service providers should actively mitigate threat appraisals, promote challenge appraisals and support customers in coping with frontline service robots.

With the coming of age of business‐to‐business (B2B) marketing in the last three decades, the influence of culture on cross-cultural B2B relationships has received considerable attention in the academic literature in recent years. Despite the efforts, the research domain suffers from theoretical limitations, fragmented efforts, and practical concerns, which need attention. This article aims to consolidate the existing knowledge by unpacking the evolution of this research domain over time and to provide grounds for future research. Using the theory, context, characteristics, and methods (TCCM framework), we conduct a systematic literature review of 74 relevant articles published between 1993–2024 and critically evaluate the progression of research in this domain. We contribute to the existing pool of knowledge by investigating the theories, contexts, characteristics, and methods used in existing cross-cultural B2B research and offer concrete suggestions for upcoming research in the domain. Further, we also advance a conceptual framework that provides a comprehensive understanding of the key mediators, moderators, and outcomes of B2B relationships in a cross-cultural context, thus providing key avenues for future research.

Digital technology brings opportunities and challenges for human resource management (HRM). However, little is understood about how the compatibility between employees’ needed and organizations’ supplied digitalization of HRM (DHRM) is associated with employee outcomes. In this study, we drew on the person-environment (P-E) fit theory and utilized a manager-employee paired sample from 205 firms to explore the relationship between fit in employees’ needed and organizations’ supplied DHRM (i.e., algorithmic recording and automatic analysis) and employees’ cognitive responses. Results indicate that fit in DHRM is a double-edged sword. While fit in the algorithmic recording is positively related to perceived insider status, fit in the automatic analysis is negatively related to competence mobilization. Furthermore, the relationship between misfit in DHRM and employees’ cognitive responses is moderated by leaders’ influence tactics in terms of leader empathy and coalition influence tactics. This study enriches research on DHRM by examining fit from a dyadic perspective.