The effect of product variety on purchase probability

Regarding the effect of product variety on purchase probability, there exist findings which demonstrate a positive effect of variety for small assortments and a negative effect of variety for large assortments. Despite these results, little evidence exists about the causal mechanism of this effect. We conduct a field study among German consumer electronics customers to investigate the previously proposed constructs of anticipated product utility, anticipated regret and evaluation costs. The results suggest that anticipated regret and evaluation costs play a powerful role in explaining the negative link between variety and purchase probability for high variety assortments. Anticipated product utility on the other hand serves to explain part of the positive causality for low variety assortments. The results obtained give rise to recommendations for the planning of assortments.

Sins of the parents: Self-control as a buffer between supervisors' previous experience of family undermining and subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision

Drawing upon social learning theory, the intergenerational transmission of violence hypothesis, and research on self-control, we develop a model of the relationships among previous experiences of family undermining, self-control, and abusive supervision. We tested the model with data obtained from supervisor–employee matched pairs in Study 1 and matched triads in Study 2. Results revealed that: 1) supervisors who experienced higher levels of family undermining (whether reported by the immediate supervisor or a sibling) during childhood are more likely to engage in abusive supervisory behaviors as adults; and 2) this relationship is moderated such that it is stronger for supervisors with low self-control. Overall, our results highlight the role of self-control in mitigating the impact of supervisors' previous experiences of family undermining on subordinate perceptions of abusive supervision, even after controlling for previously established antecedents.     

Training für ein Leben mit Vielfalt?

Training for a life in multiplicity. The competence of trainers in intercultural settings Training in intercultural skills is often requested in social and administrative organizations and institutions. Since up to now an education for intercultural trainers analogous to traditional training in psycho-social skills doesn’t exist, the author discusses the standards of quality which are generally applied in measuring the professional competence of psychosocial trainers and which standards should be applied to those offering intercultural trainings.     

Wachstumsbedingungen von Ein-Personen-Gründungen – Eine Längsschnittbeobachtung über acht Jahre

This study analyzes the growth potential of one-person startups on the basis of the framework model proposed by Gilbert, McDougall and Audretsch (2006) by postulating five key groups of enterprise growth predictors: entrepreneur characteristics, resources, strategy, industry, and organizational structures and systems. The framework model was adapted to suit the specific circumstances of one-person startups. The model was tested using a longitudinal data set comprising 188 Austrian one-person startups which were observed over a period of eight years. At the end of the observation period, the businesses included in the study had an average of 1.33 employees. The gender of the founder, capital requirements at the time of establishment, and growth strategy proved to be the most important predictors of growth. In addition, human capital resources also tended to have a positive impact. In summary, it is possible to draw empirically reliable conclusions about growth potential on the basis of the “seriousness” of an one-person startup project.     

Signed Roman domination in graphs

In this paper we continue the study of Roman dominating functions in graphs. A signed Roman dominating function (SRDF) on a graph G=(V,E) is a function f:V→{?1,1,2} satisfying the conditions that (i) the sum of its function values over any closed neighborhood is at least one and (ii) for every vertex u for which f(u)=?1 is adjacent to at least one vertex v for which f(v)=2. The weight of a SRDF is the sum of its function values over all vertices. The signed Roman domination number of G is the minimum weight of a SRDF in G. We present various lower and upper bounds on the signed Roman domination number of a graph. Let G be a graph of order n and size m with no isolated vertex. We show that $\gamma _{\mathrm{sR}}(G) \ge\frac{3}{\sqrt{2}} \sqrt{n} - n$ and that γ _sR(G)≥(3n?4m)/2. In both cases, we characterize the graphs achieving equality in these bounds. If G is a bipartite graph of order n, then we show that $\gamma_{\mathrm{sR}}(G) \ge3\sqrt{n+1} - n - 3$ , and we characterize the extremal graphs.     

Practical implications of the resource-based view

Managers use many decision making tools when developing a firm’s strategic direction. Ideally, such tools yield a good solution for an acceptable amount of application effort. This paper presents the results of an experimental research project that compares the effectiveness of a theory-based strategic decision making tool, theVRIO-framework, with two alternative decision making heuristics for predicting the stock-market performance of different companies. First, we assess how the predictions of theVRIO-framework contrast with decisions based on “gut feeling” using the forecasts derived from a recognition-based decision making tool, theRecognition Heuristic. Secondly, theVRIO-framework’spredictive power is compared to predictions derived fromAnalyst Ratings. Our results suggest that the predictions of theVRIO-framework are superior to those of theRecognition Heuristic and theAnalyst Ratings, supporting the practical usefulness of resource-based theory. We conclude that resource analysis is important to strategic decision making and discuss the implications of our findings for future research and management practice.     

Supervisor commitment to employees: Does agreement among supervisors' and employees' perceptions matter?

Using 322 matched employee–supervisor dyads, we investigate how level and direction of employee–supervisor (dis)agreement on supervisor's affective commitment to the employee relate to organizational commitment, emotional exhaustion, leader–member exchange, and job performance. Results from polynomial regression and response surface analyses indicate that level of employee–supervisor agreement matters: the most beneficial outcomes appear when supervisors and employees agree that the supervisor is highly committed to the employee whereas the least favorable outcomes appear when dyads' members agree that the supervisor has low commitment to the employee. Direction of employee–supervisor disagreement is also important as employee overestimation of supervisor commitment is associated with more favorable outcomes than employee underestimation. However, for two of the outcomes (organizational commitment and emotional exhaustion), the effect of employee–supervisor disagreement was attributable to a main effect of employee perceptions of supervisor commitment. We discuss the implications of these findings for the understanding of employee–supervisor relationships.     

Social media? It's serious! Understanding the dark side of social media

Research and practice have mostly focused on the “bright side” of social media, aiming to understand and help in leveraging the manifold opportunities afforded by this technology. However, it is increasingly observable that social media present enormous risks for individuals, communities, firms, and even for society as a whole. Examples for this “dark side” of social media include cyberbullying, addictive use, trolling, online witch hunts, fake news, and privacy abuse. In this article, we aim to illustrate the multidimensionality of the dark side of social media and describe the related various undesirable outcomes. To do this, we adapt the established social media honeycomb framework to explain the dark side implications of each of the seven functional building blocks: conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, groups, and identity. On the basis of these reflections, we present a number of avenues for future research, so as to facilitate a better understanding and use of social media.