Advertising and CSR constitute the two key signaling strategies for family firms in emerging markets to attract new stakeholders and investors and to retain existing ones. However, the preference of family owners for these strategies may shift based on firm performance. We combine Signaling Theory with the Behavioral Theory of the Firm to examine how family ownership influences these strategies and whether these preferences shift when firms perform below aspiration levels. On a sample of Indian firms over the 2006–2019 period, we find that family ownership is positively related to signaling through both advertising and CSR investments. However, when the performance of the firm falls below aspiration levels, family owners invest more in CSR and less in advertising. These findings contribute to literature on family firm signaling and the shifting preferences of family owners during performance fluctuations, in emerging markets.
Spillovers from geographic clustering have received considerable attention, yet there is an implicit assumption that firms can effectively process all available information in clustered environments. This study examines how clustering affects firms’ operations and is constrained by the informational environment. We draw on the attention-based view (ABV) and propose that the operational benefits of clustering are bounded by firms’ attentional capacity, creating an inverted U-shaped relationship in which efficiency gains initially increase with cluster density but diminish when information volume exceeds capacity. We test these predictions by analyzing how proximity to same-industry firms affects operational efficiency in resource utilization. Leveraging power consumption data from 2317 privately owned Canadian firms (2012–2016), we find that while initially beneficial, clustering benefits plateau and decline when processing demands exceed capacity. These constraints are less pronounced in mature, financially stable firms and in those with top management teams appropriately sized for their clustering environment. Our findings identify boundaries to the benefits of clustering and clarifying when attention becomes a binding constraint.
In the context of digital media, emoji have become indispensable tools of expression in online communication and exert a significant influence on the perceived helpfulness of User-Generated Content (UGC). Guided by the Information Adoption Model (IAM) and Symbolic Interactionism, this study examines how emojis—operationalized as symbolic cues through usage intensity measures—not only influence perceptions of content quality but also shape meaning through dynamic social interaction. The results reveal that the impact of emoji is not uniformly positive; rather, emoji function as a double-edged sword. While the existence of emoji enhances UGC helpfulness, excessive usage leads to diminishing returns and even negative outcomes. In terms of interaction effects, emoji amplify the positive influence of content sentiment and creator popularity on helpfulness, and mitigate the adverse effects of content complexity. Furthermore, while emotional content embedded in emoji alters the strength of these moderating effects, it does not change their direction.
Leaders need diversity intelligence (DQ) to effectively manage all employees in the workplace but specifically, they need better knowledge, education, training, and behavior to lead protected class employees. This DQ scale was developed to help leaders assess their knowledge, education, training, and behavior towards protected class employees. This study sought to (1) advance DQ theory by developing and testing the DQ scale; (2) investigate the relationship between leaders’ knowledge and behaviors based upon validation of the scale. The qualitative results and the pilot study helped us to create the factors for the DQ scale that is comprised of three subscales. The quantitative results, using both confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, validated the factor structure of the DQ scale.
While virtual reality (VR) presence experiences have transformed how online visitors engage with destinations, their psychological mechanisms remain underexplored. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model, we develop a dual-path model to reveal pathways of two presence experiences (realistic and immersive) that are elicited by distinct visualization modes (panoramic and modeled). We conducted two single-factor between-subject experiments. Study 1 (n = 76) preliminarily demonstrated the difference across visualization modes. Study 2 (n = 205) further supported the proposed dual-path model. For the direct realism path, panoramic VR generates higher realistic presence that promotes visit intention directly. As for the indirect immersion path, modeled VR creates greater immersive presence, influencing visit intention indirectly, mediated by psychological closeness. This contributes a nuanced perspective on how VR shapes visitor behaviors. Practically, we offer a strategic framework for enhancing VR experiences that align with specific persuasion goals, whether to facilitate decision-making directly or to engage visitors through psychological closeness.
