Despite increasing interest toward luxury vintage products, companies often struggle to understand why consumers buy those products. This article is aimed to advance knowledge about luxury vintage product consumption by identifying the latent determinants of Italian consumers purchasing of these products. The article utilizes the means-end chain (MEC) approach and the laddering interview technique to achieve this goal. Results show that consumers buy luxury vintage products mainly to satisfy their individual identity, improve their self-confidence, and achieve a sense of fulfillment. The hierarchical value mapping resulting from the MEC analysis demonstrates that luxury vintage product consumption is undeniably aimed to improve consumers perception of their desired and ideal individual self-image. The article discusses the managerial implications of the study, along with its limitations and directions for future research.

This research investigates the use of English in luxury fashion print advertising, which continues to be the main channel to communicate new luxury fashion collections and products. The research aims to find cultural adaptations from the original Anglo-Saxon country to the target country. Further, this research examines the use of images in fashion magazines and, in particular, their capacity to deliver brand personality and aesthetics by creating a narrative engagement. By analyzing thirty print advertisements from U.S. and Spanish life-style magazines using the semiotic approach, checking for linguistic differences, and employing a robust, cross-cultural qualitative analysis, the authors conclude that each linguistic element in an advertisement may invoke an underlying message that can be comprehended by the majority of consumers, and that language selection itself can have a strong symbolic meaning.

The purpose of this article is to present evidence for the use of a diagnostic scale for the selection and training of professional sales representatives. While most psychologists and marketers express support for the value of emotional intelligence in personal-selling activities, marketing lacks a valid, reliable, and cost-effective measurement for this dimension that hiring managers and trainers can utilize for selection and development. A simplified scale is presented to assess emotional intelligence ability for prospective and existing sales people. A comprehensive manual is presented for proper use, scoring, and interpretation of the measurement.

How interpersonal interactions within a course affect student satisfaction differently between face-to-face and online modes is an important research question to answer with confidence. Using students from a marketing course delivered face-to-face and online concurrently, our first study demonstrates that student-to-professor and student-to-student interactions have different effects on course satisfaction based on delivery mode. The second study provides evidence for the cause of this effect, demonstrating that course delivery mode adjusts students' interpersonal evaluations of other students, but not of the professor. These findings have important implications for course instructors and administrators.

PurposeThis paper aims to establish the main factors that underlie store attributes, to examine which exert the greatest influences on the achievement of a maximum level of customer satisfaction. This study seeks to determine if there are significant differences not only in the factor compositions but also in their influence on customer satisfaction, depending on the country of residence of focal customers.Design/methodology/approachThe test of the proposed framework consists of analyses of two samples of customers that purchased in grocery stores in Spain and the USA. Following a factor analysis of the principal components, a binary logistic regression analysis tests the influence of the identified factors on customer satisfaction.FindingsThis work contributes to extant literature by assessing differences in the main factors that contribute to satisfaction with food stores, depending on the location of the customer.Practical implicationsThis work is especially useful to grocery retailers that operate, or plan to operate, in different countries; it outlines key factors to consider to achieve upper‐bounded customer satisfaction scores.Originality/valueThe proposed classification of attributes and factors, according to their importance for customers' evaluations in different countries, includes three main factors. The first‐order factor includes the most valued attributes by all customers, independent of the country of residence. The second‐order factors include attributes with lesser importance though still valued by customers; the importance depends on the country of residence. Finally, the third‐order factor attributes are valued relatively less.

Marketing and information systems scholars have explored several factors that affect sales force automation (SFA) technology adoption. In this study, we introduce a new antecedent to the SFA adoption model, management commitment alignment (MCA). We show that alignment between top management and immediate supervisors' commitment to the SFA technology is an important factor in influencing SFA adoption. Results show that while commitment from both leadership levels (perfect alignment) is the most conducive to SFA adoption, misaligned commitment conditions have differential effects on adoption. Specifically, even when supervisors are committed to sales technology, lack of top management commitment can hurt SFA adoption. Managerial implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Can A Brand Lend A Helping Hand? ................................................................................. 4 Distance Perceptions....................................................................................................... 4 Logos as Cues for Locations........................................................................................... 5 Helping Behavior in the Form of Directions .................................................................. 5 Mood Effect on Helping Behavior.................................................................................. 6 Methods............................................................................................................................... 8 Design and Participants................................................................................................... 8 Procedure ........................................................................................................................ 8 Field Settings ................................................................................................................. .9 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................. 9 Results................................................................................................................................. 9 Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 10 Explanation of Findings................................................................................................ 10 Alternative Explanations............................................................................................... 11 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 12 Future Research ............................................................................................................ 12 References......................................................................................................................... 14 Appendix I – StatisticalTesting Details ........................................................................... 15 ,,Can A Brand 3 Abstract This paper explores the degree to which the use of specific brands versus the use of generic products may influence an individual’s behavior in helping someone,reach a destination. Through field testing, subjects were requested todirect a confederate to either a Starbucks or a coffee shop. The purpose was to assess the differences in behavior between those that received a specific business request (Starbucks) and those that received an ambiguous, generic request (coffee shop). With ananalysis of the relevant literature on helping behavior and field experimentation,I determine the degree to which the individuals offer help as influenced by the different type of request. This study concludes with a discussion of results and suggestions for further exploration.