Word of mouth and interpersonal communication: A review and directions for future research

People often share opinions and information with their social ties, and word of mouth has an important impact on consumer behavior. But what drives interpersonal communication and why do people talk about certain things rather than others? This article argues that word of mouth is goal driven and serves five key functions (i.e., impression management, emotion regulation, information acquisition, social bonding, and persuasion). Importantly, I suggest these motivations are predominantly self- (rather than other) serving and drive what people talk about even without their awareness. Further, these drivers make predictions about the types of news and information people are most likely to discuss. This article reviews the five proposed functions and well as how contextual factors (i.e., audience and communication channel) may moderate which functions play a larger role. Taken together, the paper provides insight into the psychological factors that shape word of mouth and outlines additional questions that deserve further study.     

A contingent perspective on the advantages of stores' strategic philanthropy for influencing consumer behaviour

The importance and implications of organisational‐level charitable giving, or strategic philanthropy, are often overlooked in international consumer literature. Drawing on the utilitarian human capital perspective from economics, the social norm theory from sociology, motivation theory from psychology and the strategy–environment coalignment paradigm in organisational science, this research develops a contingent framework for strategic philanthropy. The empirical results indicate that if drug stores put more emphasis on strategic philanthropy as perceived by customers in the community, customers will have stronger social ties with the store and be more loyal to the store. In addition, it was found that the impact of strategic philanthropy on patronage loyalty is moderated by customer characteristics (gender and ethnicity) and context factors (service quality and cause severity). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interpersonal influences on goals: Current and future directions for goal contagion research

A growing body of research documents goal contagion, a phenomenon whereby people are likely to catch—to adopt and pursue for themselves—the goals they see others pursuing. Here, I situate goal contagion relative to other ideas about where goals come from and then review existing scholarship on the phenomenon itself and the processes that underlie it. I then point to four larger questions that goal contagion researchers must answer in the years to come. The first two of these questions (what levels of the self‐regulatory hierarchy are subject to contagion and what role goal contagion affords for consciousness and intention) delve deeper into the process of the phenomenon, while the second two (how goal contagion affects social relationships and how it plays into goal pursuit more broadly) highlight how researchers have largely ignored the question of how goal contagion might influence people's broader lives.     

Recent research on emergent verbal behavior: clinical applications and future directions

This paper describes recent studies that have evaluated the functional independence of verbal operants. Procedures that facilitate the emergence of untrained verbal operants and important areas of future research to increase efficiency of language programs for children diagnosed with developmental disabilities are discussed.     

Weathering a political storm. A contextual perspective on a psychological research controversy

In the spring of 1999, a storm of controversy arose at the local, state, and national levels surrounding an article on the effects of child sexual abuse published in 1998 in Psychological Bulletin. The article was vehemently denounced by various media outlets, conservative grassroots organizations, members of the general public, state legislatures, and ultimately by the United States Congress. The authors chronicle these unprecedented events and related challenges faced by the American Psychological Association. The authors also describe the Association's efforts to resolve the crisis, while staunchly upholding academic freedom and scientific integrity, and review the lessons learned for the field of psychology.     

Emotional intelligence research in Australia: Past contributions and future directions

Emotional intelligence (EI) is an intriguing and popular area of research, focusing as it does on individual differences in qualities at the intersection of intelligence and emotion. Research to date has focused on three key questions: (a) How to define EI? (b) How to measure EI? and (c) What is EI good for? This review describes the key contributions of Australian researchers to these questions before outlining the current focus and future directions of EI research in Australia. Australian research teams have been instrumental in clarifying the definition of EI, developing innovative measures of EI and examining the life domains EI influences. We suggest that with the contributions of Australian research to the earlier definitional and measurement questions, Australian researchers are now able to address questions about the processes and mechanisms by which EI translates into positive outcomes in diverse life domains.     

An analysis of recent meditation research and suggestions for future directions

Abstract

Meditation offers a rich and complex field of study. Over the past 40 years, several hundred research studies have demonstrated numerous significant findings including changes in psychological, physiological, and transpersonal realms. This paper attempts to summarize these findings, and to review more recent meditation research. We then suggest directions for future research, emphasizing the necessity to continue to expand the paradigm from which meditation research is conducted, from a predominantly re‐ductionistic, biomedical model to one which includes subjective and transpersonal domains and an integral perspective.     

Parents' ethnic-racial socialization practices: a review of research and directions for future study

Recently, there has been an emergence of literature on the mechanisms through which parents transmit information, values, and perspectives about ethnicity and race to their children, commonly referred to as racial or ethnic socialization. This literature has sought to document the nature of such socialization, its antecedents in parents' and children's characteristics and experiences, and its consequences for children's well-being and development. In this article, the authors integrate and synthesize what is known about racial and ethnic socialization on the basis of current empirical research, examining studies concerning its nature and frequency; its child, parent, and ecological predictors; and its consequences for children's development, including ethnic identity, self-esteem, coping with discrimination, academic achievement, and psychosocial well-being. The authors also discuss conceptual and methodological limitations of the literature and suggest directions for future research.     

Similarities and differences between traumatic and emotional memories: review and directions for future research

The authors review theory and empirical research on the characteristics of memories for traumatic versus emotional events, with the goal of bringing together the cognitive and clinical perspectives on this issue. They consider the most important approaches to the study of traumatic and emotional memory and summarize the results of recent studies that have compared autobiographical recollections of traumatic and nontraumatic emotional experiences (positive and negative), either in nonclinical or clinical samples. Overall, findings from the current empirical literature are inconsistent. Although some researchers have found that traumatic memories are retrieved differently than are emotional memories, others have demonstrated that the phenomenological characteristics of these memory types are highly similar. The authors discuss methodological issues that could help researchers to interpret the inconsistencies found in the empirical findings. Last, they suggest possible directions for future research that may advance researchers' knowledge of memory, trauma, and emotion.     

A developmental contextual perspective on identity construction in emerging adulthood: change dynamics in commitment formation and commitment evaluation

A developmental contextual test of a dual-cycle model of identity formation is presented. In addition to a commitment-formation cycle-represented by Marcia's (1966) classical dimensions of exploration in breadth and commitment making--the model comprises a commitment-evaluation cycle--constituted by 2 additional dimensions of exploration in depth and identification with commitment. In a sample of 402 college students assessed 4 times over 2 years, both dimensions of the commitment-formation cycle and exploration in depth increased across time. Identification with commitment showed a slight decrease across time. Latent growth curve (LGC) modeling analyses indicated that the 2 identity cycles are interwoven in a dynamic interplay that defines identity formation. Contextual influences on identity development were identified through a natural experiment. Commitment evaluation constituted the core identity cycle in the normative-progression group (i.e., students who moved on to the sophomore year). Both commitment formation and commitment evaluation were at work in the reorientation group (i.e., students who repeated their freshman year or changed their major). Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Informant discrepancies in assessments of psychosocial functioning in school-based services and research: Review and directions for future research

Psychosocial functioning plays a key role in students' wellbeing and performance inside and outside of school. As such, techniques designed to measure and improve psychosocial functioning factor prominently in school-based service delivery and research. Given that the different contexts (e.g., school, home, community) in which students exist vary in the degree to which they influence psychosocial functioning, educators and researchers often rely on multiple informants to characterize intervention targets, monitor intervention progress, and inform the selection of evidence-based services. These informants include teachers, students, and parents. Across research teams, domains, and measurement methodologies, researchers commonly observe discrepancies among informants' reports. We review theory and research—occurring largely outside of school-based service delivery and research—that demonstrates how patterns of informant discrepancies represent meaningful differences that can inform our understanding of psychosocial functioning. In turn, we advance a research agenda to improve use and interpretation of informant discrepancies in school-based services and research.     

Political consumer behaviour among university students in Brazil and Germany: The role of contextual features and core political values

This study investigates the relationship between political consumerism and core political values (CPVs) among university students in Brazil (N = 414) and Germany (N = 222). Despite the prerequisite to endorse values that are compatible with political consumerism, contextual features of one's immediate environment might affect overall levels of political consumerism. Our results show that political consumerism is significantly associated with higher income in Brazil (but not in Germany). After controlling for income, political consumerism was practised more frequently in Germany than in Brazil, in urban compared with rural areas, and was not dependent on gender. The urban–rural split was stronger in Brazil than in Germany. These results confirm our hypothesis that contextual features are associated with political consumerism. Furthermore, the political value Equality positively predicted political consumerism in both countries. In contrast, Traditional Morality and support of Free Enterprise negatively predicted political consumerism, although the effect sizes of these relationships were only small. These results suggest that political consumerism among university students is widespread in Germany but not in Brazil. Interestingly, regardless of its low prevalence in Brazil, political consumerism is positively associated with the CPV of Equality among university students in both countries.     

Fostering integrity in research: Definitions, current knowledge, and future directions

Over the last 25 years, a small but growing body of research on research behavior has slowly provided a more complete and critical understanding of research practices, particularly in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. The results of this research suggest that some earlier assumptions about irresponsible conduct are not reliable, leading to the conclusion that there is a need to change the way we think about and regulate research behavior. This paper begins with suggestions for more precise definitions of the terms "responsible conduct of research," "research ethics," and "research integrity." It then summarizes the findings presented in some of the more important studies of research behavior, looking first at levels of occurrence and then impact. Based on this summary, the paper concludes with general observations about priorities and recommendations for steps to improve the effectiveness of efforts to respond to misconduct and foster higher standards for integrity in research.     

The sales manager as a unit of analysis: a review and directions for future research

This article analyzes empirical research in which the sales manager is the unit of analysis to determine what knowledge has been generated by sales scholars about sales managers and sales management practice. It examines what we have learned from sales managers about their jobs and themselves with particular emphasis on the managerial relevance of the work. While the sales literature is vast and despite the importance of sales managers being widely recognized and accepted, an extensive search of the sales literature identified only 163 articles in which the sales manager was the focus of empirical research about what they do. To help better understand what has been discovered, these articles are examined and categorized according to the main focus of each article's research. The results show that with respect to sales managers, our knowledge is limited and substantial opportunities exist for additional research to expand our understanding of the nature, roles, and impact of sales managers as well as providing usable advice for the practice of sales management.     

Consumer's doppelganger: A role model perspective on intentional consumer mimicry

This paper focuses on the consumer's doppelganger effect, the inclination of consumers to intentionally mimic other individuals' consumption behaviors. Taking a role model perspective, we look at the inclination of Israeli teenage girls to resonate with role models with whom they have unidirectional (study 1; N = 152) and bidirectional (study 2; N = 343) relationships. The findings demonstrate that consumers' doppelgangers have a strong inclination to intentionally emulate other individuals' consumption behavior when they perceive them as consumer role models, an assessment that is rooted in their view of these individuals as relevant. The contributions of this research relate to the study of mimicry, role modeling, and family consumption. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of deal exclusivity on consumer response to targeted price promotions: A social identification perspective

Discounts offered selectively to consumers are commonplace in the market and reflect the assumption that individuals will respond positively to targeted discounts. We consider whether exclusive deals evoke more positive responses than inclusive offers, an outcome referred to as a deal exclusivity effect. Contrary to the intuition that targeted promotions will always be evaluated more favorably than inclusive offers, we show that deal exclusivity effects (1) can be attenuated based upon factors influencing the extent to which recipients identify with other deal recipients and (2) are mediated by the offer's ability to enable the recipient to engage in self-enhancement.     

基于自我决定理论的工作动机研究脉络及未来走向

对2018年5月为止基于自我决定理论的工作动机研究英文文献的系统检索得到了97篇实证研究样本。基于自我决定理论的核心假设, 运用“环境-基本心理需要-工作动机-结果”的理论模型对工作动机前因和结果的研究脉络进行了仔细地分析和归纳, 结果表明员工基本心理需要满足和自主性工作动机作为中介变量可解释自主性支持的工作环境和员工个体特征对工作行为、态度和心理健康的积极影响。将来的主要研究议题：一是对控制性工作环境具体因素对员工基本心理需要阻滞、控制性动机和去动机以及员工工作行为、态度和心理健康影响的研究; 二是不同动机类型对员工业绩、行为和态度影响的过程以及情境因素的研究; 三是外部奖励(包括薪酬、基于业绩的奖励等)对员工工作动机、基本心理需要、工作业绩和心理健康的影响及边界条件的深入研究。