The measurement of meaning

Despite recurring concerns about common method variance (CMV) in survey research, the information systems (IS) community remains largely uncertain of the extent of such potential biases. To address this uncertainty, this paper attempts to systematically examine the impact of CMV on the inferences drawn from survey research in the IS area. First, we describe the available approaches for assessing CMV and conduct an empirical study to compare them. From an actual survey involving 227 respondents, we find that although CMV is present in the research areas examined, such biases are not substantial. The results also suggest that few differences exist between the relatively new marker-variable technique and other well-established conventional tools in terms of their ability to detect CMV. Accordingly, the marker-variable technique was employed to infer the effect of CMV on correlations from previously published studies. Our findings, based on the reanalysis of 216 correlations, suggest that the inflated correlation caused by CMV may be expected to be on the order of 0.10 or less, and most of the originally significant correlations remain significant even after controlling for CMV. Finally, by extending the marker-variable technique, we examined the effect of CMV on structural relationships in past literature. Our reanalysis reveals that contrary to the concerns of some skeptics, CMV-adjusted structural relationships not only remain largely significant but also are not statistically differentiable from uncorrected estimates. In summary, this comprehensive and systematic analysis offers initial evidence that (1) the marker-variable technique can serve as a convenient, yet effective, tool for accounting for CMV, and (2) common method biases in the IS domain are not as serious as those found in other disciplines.

Common Method Variance in IS Research: A Comparison of Alternative Approaches and a Reanalysis of Past Research

Branding has emerged as a top management priority in the last decade due to the growing realization that brands are one of the most valuable intangible assets that firms have. Driven in part by this intense industry interest, academic researchers have explored a number of different brand-related topics in recent years, generating scores of papers, articles, research reports, and books. This paper identifies some of the influential work in the branding area, highlighting what has been learned from an academic perspective on important topics such as brand positioning, brand integration, brand-equity measurement, brand growth, and brand management. The paper also outlines some gaps that exist in the research of branding and brand equity and formulates a series of related research questions. Choice modeling implications of the branding concept and the challenges of incorporating main and interaction effects of branding as well as the impact of competition are discussed.

/pdf/brands-and-branding-research-findings-and-future-priorities-2n1yuyrxc1.pdf

Brands and Branding: Research Findings and Future Priorities

The authors conduct a meta-analysis that aggregates empirical findings from the market orientation literature. First, the study provides a quantitative summary of the bivariate findings regarding the antecedents and the consequences of market orientation. Second, the authors use multivariate analyses of aggregate study effects to identify significant antecedents of market orientation and the process variables that mediate the relationship between market orientation and performance. In addition, using regression analysis, the authors find that the market orientation–performance relationship is stronger in samples of manufacturing firms, in low power-distance and uncertainty-avoidance cultures, and in studies that use subjective measures of performance. The authors also find that the market orientation–performance correlation is stronger for both cost-based and revenue-based performance measures in manufacturing firms than in service firms. On the basis of the findings, the authors conclude with a ...

https://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~moorman/Marketing-Strategy-Seminar-2015/Session%202/Kirca,%20Jayachandran,%20and%20Bearden.pdf

Market Orientation: A Meta-Analytic Review and Assessment of Its Antecedents and Impact on Performance

▶ Compact, hands-on and step-by-step introduction to quantitative market research techniques ▶ Presents the most important techniques and shows how to translate theoretical choices into SPSS and how to analyze the output ▶ Range of education elements such as learning objectives, keywords, self-assessment tests, case studies ▶ Innovative supplementary online concept, including mobile tags, sample datasets and additional cases

A Concise Guide to Market Research

In this paper we tabulate norms of affective meaning / connotative meaning for several categories of stimuli that should interest researchers in consumer behavior, branding, website design, and more generally in marketing, language, graphic design, and psychology. All stimuli (182 logos, 68 colors, 120 products and services, 128 names, and 102 typefaces) have been rated on Osgood’s dimensions of Evaluation, Potency, and Activity (E, P, A). Researchers may copy and paste the ratings elsewhere, for instance into Excel. They may use and reproduce the data without restriction, other than to cite the source. We briefly describe the Osgood framework, and evaluate its advantages and disadvantages. The additional value of having many sources of affect consistently rated within a single coherent framework, is that they may be brought to bear on a single problem. This advantage is illustrated with examples of published work that has used these norms.

Norms for Osgood's affective meaning (wvaluation, potency, activity): ratings of logos, colors, products and services, names, and typefaces

textThe universality of design perception and response is tested using data collected from ten countries: Argentina, Australia, China, Germany, Great Britain, India, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, and the United States. A Bayesian, finite-mixture, structural-equation model is developed that identifies latent logo clusters while accounting for heterogeneity in evaluations. The concomitant variable approach allows cluster probabilities to be country specific. Rather than a priori defined clusters, our procedure provides a posteriori cross-national logo clusters based on consumer response similarity. To compare the a posteriori cross-national logo clusters, our approach is integrated with Steenkamp and Baumgartner’s (1998) measurement invariance methodology. Our model reduces the ten countries to three cross-national clusters that respond differently to logo design dimensions: the West, Asia, and Russia. The dimensions underlying design are found to be similar across countries, suggesting that elaborateness, naturalness, and harmony are universal design dimensions. Responses (affect, shared meaning, subjective familiarity, and true and false recognition) to logo design dimensions (elaborateness, naturalness, and harmony) and elements (repetition, proportion, and parallelism) are also relatively consistent, although we find minor differences across clusters. Our results suggest that managers can implement a global logo strategy, but they also can optimize logos for specific countries if desired.

/pdf/cross-national-logo-evaluation-analysis-an-individual-level-1ned81riol.pdf

Cross-National Logo Evaluation Analysis: An Individual Level Approach

appropriateness The interactive effects of colors and products on perceptions of brand logo

A meta-analysis of applications of diffusion models

Research question: While cross-border sport sponsorships are widespread, such partnerships introduce a notable complication – consumers in one country may dislike the sponsor’s country of origin (COO). This raises the question as to whether animosity towards a sponsor’s COO negatively affects sponsorship outcomes, and if so, how it can be addressed. For the latter, we examine holistic sponsor-object fit as well as a set of its constituent elements.

Research methods: Data collection pertained to a brand engaged in a hypothetical sponsorship. Study 1 involves a Serbian brand sponsoring the Croatia national football team and for Study 2 German sponsors of the England national football team. Survey data are analyzed using a latent modeling approach.

Results and findings: Study 1 shows that animosity reduces consumers’ attitude towards the sponsorship. However, higher perceived sponsor-object fit weakens this effect. Study 2 replicates this finding, and on a more granular level establishes the moderating properties of several sub-dimensions of fit. Congruence in color, personality and status ameliorate animosity.

Implications: We outline implications for sponsors operating in environments where their COO invokes animosity and how sponsor-object fit may mitigate this.

Paul Andrew Bottomley

Papers

Norms for Osgood's affective meaning (wvaluation, potency, activity): ratings of logos, colors, products and services, names, and typefaces

Cross-National Logo Evaluation Analysis: An Individual Level Approach

appropriateness The interactive effects of colors and products on perceptions of brand logo

A meta-analysis of applications of diffusion models

Configuring perceived fit to mitigate consumer animosity in the context of cross-border sport sponsorships